Three White Leopards

"'Tis not enough for thee to have blocked

In other days Admetus' doom

With craft of magic wine, which mocked

The three grey Sisters of the Tomb."

--Alcestis, Euripides

Evidently (thanks Lawrence/Henry), Alcestis was an inspiration for Eliot's The Cocktail Party. These lines offer insight into Eliot's three white leopards in "Ash-Wednesday." The three grey sisters of the tomb seem to be redeemed in the three white leopards, which represent the way to the via negativa in "Ash-Wednesday." These three white leopards, then, stand in relation to the three grey sisters of the tomb in the same way that death (actual or metaphorical) after Christ stands in relation to death with no hope of meaning.