ADMETUS: God, these old men! How they pray for death!
How heavy is their life in the slow drag of days!
And yet, when Death comes near them,
You will not find one who will rise and walk with him,
Not one whose years are still a burden to him!

[ἌΔΜΗΤΟΣ: μάτην ἄρ᾽ οἱ γέροντες εὔχονται θανεῖν,
γῆρας ψέγοντες καὶ μακρὸν χρόνον βίου:
ἢν δ᾽ ἐγγὺς ἔλθῃ θάνατος, οὐδεὶς βούλεται
θνῄσκειν, τὸ γῆρας δ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ ἔστ᾽ αὐτοῖς βαρύ.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Alcestis [Ἄλκηστις ], l. 669ff (438 BC) [tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1936)]
    (Source)

Admetus chiding his elderly father, Pheres, who has declined to die to save his son's life, leaving it to Alcestis to do so.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Unmeaning is the old man's wish to die,
Of age complaining and life's engthen'd course;
For, at th' advacne of death, none has the will
To die; old age is no more grievous to them.
[tr. Potter (1781)]

With unmeaning prayers
Do aged men court Death, when they complain
That they are old, and that life's space is long:
But, if pale Death draw near, their wishes change,
And they the weight of years no longer feel.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

In vain then; do old men pray to be dead, complaining of age, and the long time of life: but if death come near, not one is willing to die, and old age is no longer burdensome to them.
[tr. Buckley (1858)]

To useless, useless end the Old beseech for Death,
reviling age advanc'd and Life's protracted term,
for, when Thanatos comes nigh, ne'er wisheth one of them
to die; they find old age no longer burdensome.
[tr. HBL (1884)]

'Tis not with honesty
That old men pray to die, and chide old age
And a long term of life, for if death comes
And faces them, not one would wish to die,
And age to them is burdensome no more.
[tr. Cudworth (1888)]

'Tis vain, I see, the old man's prayer for death, his plaints at age and life's long weariness. For if death do but draw near, not one doth wish to die; old age no more they count so burdensome.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
[Bartlett's (1892)]

For nought the agèd pray for death's release,
Plaining of age and weary-wearing time.
Let death draw near — who then would die? Not one:
No more is eld a burden unto them.
[tr. Way (1894)]

The aged idly pray that death may come,
Find fault with years and the long decline of life;
But, when death nears, their wish to die is gone
And hoary age no longer is a burden.
[tr. Beloit College (1908)]

How falsely do these old men pray for death,
Cursing their weight of years, their weary breath!
When Death comes close, there is not one that dares
To die; age is forgot and all its cares.
[tr. Murray (1915)]

Vainly do old men pray for death, regretting their age and the long span of life. If death draws near, none wants to die, and age is no more a burden to him.
[tr. Aldington (1930)]

I have heard old men pray for death, abhorring the long slow senile years: hypocrites! Let death come within sight, they decline to die! Old age has lost its terrors!
[tr. Vellacott (1953)]

It seems that old men, who find fault with age and length of years, pray for death insincerely. For once death comes near, none of them wishes to die, and age is no longer burdensome to them.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]

How insincere they are, these prayers for death voiced by the elderly, these complaints they make against old age and the tedious passing of the years! If death draws near, not one of them wants to die; old age is suddenly a burden that weighs lightly on their shoulders.
[tr. Davie (1996)]

Vainly do the old say they wish to die,
cursing old age and the length of life;
when death comes near, no one wishes
to die, and old age no longer seems burdensome to them.
[tr. Rabinowitz (1999)]

Old men! They moan and groan about old age and they pray for death to come.
They lie! Their prayers are lies! Lies because the moment they see death approaching them, suddenly they have no problem with their old age and with their lengthy life! Suddenly none of them want to die! They moan and groan no more!
[tr. Theodoridis (2008)]

What empty prayers for death old people make when they complain about a long life and old age: when death is right there, no one wants to die: old age no longer seems so bad.
[tr. Kitzinger (2016)]

In vain old people pray for death,
cursing their old age and long life span,
but when death shows his face no one wants to die
and old age is no longer such a heavy burden.
[tr. Luschnig / Luschnig (2019)]