---
title: "Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 23 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/23/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι, section 23. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/23/"
---

# Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι

*Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod*

Diogenes, Menippus, Alexander, Achilles and the rest in Hades, where beauty, wealth and power count for nothing.

> Greek: ed. Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg066, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg066.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 23. Dialogue 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/23/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/23/#p-N

[¶0] 1. AGAMEMNON: If you went mad, Ajax, and killed only yourself, instead of all of us as you had intended, why do you blame Odysseus? Why wouldn’t you look at him the other day, when he came to consult the prophet, or even deign to speak to your fellow-soldier and comrade, but went striding past him with your head in the air? AJAX: And quite right, too, Agamemnon. He was personally to blame for my madness, by being my only rival for the arms.

> Greek: 1. ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ: Εἰ σὺ μανείς, ὠ Αἶαν, σεαυτὸν ἐφόνευσας, ἐμέλλησας δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας, τί αἰτιᾷ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καὶ πρῴην οὔτε προσέβλεψας αὐτόν, ὁπότε ἧκεν μαντευσόμενος, οὔτε προσειπεῖν ἠξίωσας ἄνδρα συστρατιώτην καὶ ἑταῖρον, ἀλλ’ ὑπεροπτικῶς μεγάλα βαίνων παρῆλθες; ΑΙΑΣ: Εἰκότως, ὦ Ἀγαμέμνον· αὐτὸς γοῦν μοι τῆς μανίας αἴτιος κατέστη μόνος ἀντεξετασθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις.

[¶1] AGAMEMNON: Did you expect to be unopposed and to overcome us all without a struggle? AJAX: Yes, under the circumstances. The armour belonged to me by natural right, as it was my cousin’s, and the rest of you, though far superior to him, wouldn’t compete, but left the prize for me; the son of Laertes, however, whom I’d often saved when in danger of being cut to pieces by the Phrygians, claimed he was my superior and more deserving of the arms.

> Greek: ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ: Ἠξίους δὲ ἀνανταγώνιστος εἶναι καὶ ἀκονιτὶ κρατεῖν ἁπάντων; ΑΙΑΣ: Ναί, τά γε τοιαῦτα· οἰκεία γάρ μοι ἦν ἡ πανοπλία τοῦ ἀνεψιοῦ γε οὖσα. καὶ ὑμεῖς οἱ ἄλλοι πολὺ ἀμείνους ὄντες ἀπείπασθε τὸν ἀγῶνα καὶ παρεχωρήσατέ μοι τῶν ἄθλων, ὁ δὲ Λαέρτου, ὃν ἐγὼ πολλάκις ἔσωσα κινδυνεύοντα κατακεκόφθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Φρυγῶν, ἀμείνων ἠξίου εἶναι καὶ ἐπιτηδειότερος ἔχειν τὰ ὅπλα.

[¶2] 2. AGAMEMNON: Blame Thetis, then, my good man. She ought to have left you the arms as a legacy to a kinsman, but she brought them and delivered them up to the community. AJAX: No, Odysseus is to blame, as the only one to make a rival claim.

> Greek: 2. ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ: Αἰτιῶ τοιγαροῦν, ὦ γενναῖε, τὴν Θέτιν, ἣ δέον σοὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν τῶν ὅπλων παραδοῦναι συγγενεῖ γε ὄντι, φέρουσα ἐς τὸ κοινὸν κατέθετο αὐτά. ΑΙΑΣ: Οὔκ, ἀλλὰ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα, ὃς ἀντεποιήθη μόνος.

[¶3] AGAMEMNON: There’s some excuse for him, Ajax, as he’s only a man, and was eager for glory, the sweetest thing of all, the thing for which each of us faced danger, especially as he was judged your better—and, what’s more, by Trojans. AJAX: I know who voted against me, but it’s not right to discuss the gods. However, as far as Odysseus is concerned, I couldn’t stop myself from hating him, even if Athena herself ordered me to do so.

> Greek: ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ: Συγγνώμη, ὦ Αἶαν, εἰ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ὠρέχθη δόξης ἡδίστου πράγματος, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ ἡμῶν ἕκαστος κινδυνεύειν ὑπέμενεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐκράτησέ σου καὶ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Τρωσὶ δικασταῖς. ΑΙΑΣ: Οἶδα ἐγώ, ἥτις μου κατεδίκασεν· ἀλλ’ οὐ θέμις λέγειν τι περὶ τῶν θεῶν. τὸν δ’ οὖν Ὀδυσσέα μὴ οὐχὶ μισεῖν οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην, ὦ Ἀγάμεμνον, οὐδ’ εἰ αὐτή μοι ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ τοῦτο ἐπιτάττοι.