Reader

PROTESILAUS O master and king, and Zeus of our world, and you, daughter of Demeter, scorn not a lover’s prayer. PLUTO What do you ask of us? Who are you? PROTESILAUS I am Protesilaus, son of Iphiclus, from Phylace, one who served with the Achaean army, and first man to die at Troy. I beg to be released and restored to life for a little. PLUTO That’s a love that’s common to all the dead, but will come to pass for none of them. PROTESILAUS My love, Aidoneus, is not for life, but for my wife, whom, while still but newly wed, I left in her bower and sailed away; and then, by evil fortune, I was slain by Hector, while I was landing; and so my love for my wife is eating my heart out, my lord; could I be restored to her sight even for a short while, I would gladly return here again.

PLUTO Have you not drunk, Protesilaus, from the waters of Lethe? PROTESILAUS Deeply have I drunk, my lord, but my affliction was too strong. PLUTO Then be patient; in time, she will join you here; you won’t have to go up there. PROTESILAUS I can’t bear to wait, Pluto. You’ve been in love yourself, before now, Pluto, and know what it’s like. PLUTO What good will it do you to return to life for a single day, if shortly afterwards you must bewail the same misfortune? PROTESILAUS I think I’ll be able to persuade her to follow me here, so that soon you’ll have two of us dead instead of one. PLUTO All this would be wrong, and has never happened before.

PROTESILAUS Let me refresh your memory, Pluto. You gave up Eurydice to Orpheus for this very reason, and sent back my kinswoman, Alcestis, Both Alcestis and Protesilaus were descended from Aeolus. 1 as a favour to Heracles. PLUTO Do you want that fair bride of yours to see you as you are now—a bare unsightly skull? What sort of a welcome will she give you, if she can’t even recognise you? She’ll be frightened, I’m sure, and run away from you, and you’ll find your long journey up to earth to have been a waste of time. PERSEPHONE Then, dear husband, you must put matters right, and instruct Hermes to touch Protesilaus with his wand the moment he’s in the light, and make him the handsome youth he was when he left the bridal chamber. PLUTO Well, Hermes, since Persephone agrees, take him up and make him into a bridegroom again. And you, sir, remember you’ve only been given one day.