ADMETUS:Then in my dreams you’d come and go,
Making me glad; to see a loved face even in dreams
Brings pleasure, for as long as the illusion lasts.ἌΔΜΗΤΟΣ:ἐν δ᾽ ὀνείρασιν
φοιτῶσά μ᾽ εὐφραίνοις ἄν: ἡδὺ γὰρ φίλους
κἀν νυκτὶ λεύσσειν, ὅντιν᾽ ἂν παρῇ χρόνον.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Alcestis [Ἄλκηστις ], l. 354ff (438 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1974)]
(Source)
Telling Alcestis that, after she has died for him, he wants her to visit him in his dreams.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:For visiting my dreams
Shalt thou delight me; for to see a friend
Is grateful to the soul, come when he will
Though an unreal vision of the night.
[tr. Potter (1781)]By visiting my dreams thou wilt delight me,
For it is grateful see those we love
At any hour, e'en in the midnight gloom.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]And in my dreams visiting me, thou mayst delight me, for a friend is sweet even to behold at night, for whatever time he may come.
[tr. Buckley (1858)]And, haunting me in dreams, thou may'st delight my heart; in stilly night
a darling sweet to see, whatever time it comes!
[tr. HBL (1884), l. 365ff]And coming oft
To see me in my dreams, thou'lt give me joy;
For sweet it is to see e'en in the night
The friend we love as long as he remains.
[tr. Cudworth (1888)]And thou wilt come to me in dreams and gladden me. For sweet it is to see our friends, come they when they will, e'en by night.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]In dreams shalt thou
Haunt me and gladden: sweet to see the loved,
Though but a fleeting presence night-revealed.
[tr. Way (1894)]Oh, visit me in my dreams, for thus
Thou wilt rejoice my heart, since sweet it is
To see one's friends if e'er they come at night.
[tr. Beloit College (1908)]And good dreams of thee will come
Like balm. ’Tis sweet, even in a dream, to gaze
On a dear face, the moment that it stays.
[tr. Murray (1915)]Often you will gladden me, appearing in my dreams; for sweet it is to look on those we love in dreams, however brief the night.
[tr. Aldington (1930)]Often, I think, in sleep you will come to me:
A sweet thing,
To revisit in dreams the dear dead that we loved.
[tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1936)]Then in my dreams you would come to cheer me; it is a comfort to see a dear face even in a dream, for as long as the vision lasts.
[tr. Vellacott (1953)]And perhaps you will cheer me by visiting me in dreams. For even in sleep it is pleasant to see loved ones for however long we are permitted.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]In my dreams you would flit to and fro, bringing me joy' for joy it is to see a loved one, even in dreams, for as long as the vision lasts.
[tr. Davie (1996)]Wandering through my dreams, you will cheer me up; it is sweet
to see our loved ones even in the night, for however long they stay near.
[tr. Rabinowitz (1999)]And if you visit me in my dreams my joy will be even greater. It is a sweet thing to see one’s loved ones in dreams, even though it is for a short time.
[tr. Theodoridis (2008)]Coming in dreams
you could bring me pleasure. For it is sweet to see
dear ones even at night, for as long as they can stay.
[tr. Luschnig / Luschnig (2019)]
Quotations about:
haunting
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Envy none. Every heart has some secret chamber of horrors, and those who seem the most gay have often the grimmest skeletons.
Minna Antrim (1861–1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Naked Truth and Veiled Allusions (1902)
(Source)
Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.
It is by no means certain that our individual personality is the single inhabitant of these our corporeal frames […] We all do things both awake and asleep which surprise us. Perhaps we have cotenants in this house we live in.





