Note 43 — FIRST DISCOURSE (continued 2)
A. R. (Alfred Richard) Allinson translation
P. 67:
◆Capaneus was one of the mythical seven heroes who marched from Argos against Thebes (Aeschylus, Septem contra Thebas). “During the siege, he was presumptuous enough to say, that even the fire of Zeus should not prevent his scaling the walls of the city; but when she saw his body was burning, his wife Euadné leaped into the flames and destroyed herself.”
◆Alcestis was a daughter of Pelias, and the wife of Admetus, King of Pheræ in Thessaly. According to the legend, Apollo having induced the Fates to promise Admetus deliverance from death, if at the hour of his decease his father, mother or wife would die for him, Alcestis sacrificed herself for her husband’s sake. But Heracles brought her back again from the underworld, and “all ended well.” The story is the subject of Euripides’ beautiful play of Alcestis.