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Alcestis (Balaustion’s Adventure), the daughter of
Pelias, was the wife of Admetus, son of Pheres, who was king of
Pherae in Thessaly. Apollo, when—for an offence against Jupiter—he
was banished from heaven, had been kindly received by Pheres, and
had obtained from the Fates a promise that his benefactor should
never die if he could find another person willing to lay down his
life for him. The story how this promise was obtained is set forth
with great dramatic force in Mr. Browning’s Apollo and the
Fates (q.v.). Alcestis volunteered to die in the place
of her husband when he lay sick unto death. Her sacrifice was
accepted, and she died. But Hercules, who had been hospitably
entertained by Pheres, hearing of the tragic circumstance, brought
Alcestis from Hades out of gratitude to his host, and presented
her to her grief-stricken husband. Euripides has used these
circumstances as the basis of his tragedy of Alcestis.
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