Except possibly Anne Pippin Burnett, "The Virtues of Admetus," CP 60, 1965: 240-55. I find it somewhat disingenuous of Burnett and others to say that Euripides avoids the "crucial moment" of when Admetus accepted the sacrifice. As Michael Lloyd points out in one of the best recent articles on Alcestis, "Euripides' Alcestis," G&R 32, 1985: 119-131, "crucial events from the past are, as it were, reenacted in the play itself" (120). Even Buxton (note 2, above) admits that in the Pheres scene "Euripides confronts us with the moral issue implicit in the starting point of the plot..." (26). True, but not as Buxton says for the first time. The maid had hinted. But his reaction to his wife's request can hardly be anything else than a "reenactment" of his earlier reaction (outside the drama) to her acceptance.