---
title: "Metamorphoses"
author: "Ovid"
translator: "Brookes More"
title_ru: "Метаморфозы"
author_ru: "Овидий"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 25 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/25/
cite: "Ovid, tr. Brookes More, Metamorphoses, section 25. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/25/"
---

# Metamorphoses

*Ovid, tr. Brookes More*

Russian: Метаморфозы, Овидий

Bodies changed into new forms, from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar: Daphne, Narcissus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Icarus, Orpheus.

> Latin: ed. Hugo Magnus, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0959.phi006, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Brookes More, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 25. Book XIII · lines 1–493

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/25/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/ovid-metamorphoses/25/#p-N

[¶0] The chiefs were seated, and the soldiers form
a circle round them. Then Ajax, the approved
lord of the seven-fold shield, arose and spoke.
Impatient in his wrath, he looked with stern,
set features, out over Sigaean shores,
and over the fleet of ships upon the beach,
and, stretching out his hands, he said,
“We plead,
O Jupiter, our cause before the ships,—
Ulysses vies with me! He did not shrink
from giving way before the flames of Hector,
when I withstood them and I saved the fleet.
'Tis safer then to fight with lying words
than with his hands. I am not prompt to speak,
nor he to act. I am as good in war
and deadly battle as he is in talk.
Pelasgians, I do not suppose my deeds
must here be mentioned: you have witnessed them
but let Ulysses tell of deeds which he
performed without a witness and which Night
alone is conscious of. I own the prize
we seek is great, but such a rival makes
it small. To Ajax there s no cause for pride
in having any prize, however great,
for which Ulysses hoped. But he has won
reward enough already. He can boast,
when vanquished, that he strove with me.
“I, even if my merit were in doubt
should still excell in birth. I am the son
of Telamon, who with great Hercules
brought low the power of Troy and in the ship
of Jason voyaged even to the Colchian shores.
His father, Aeacus, now is a judge
among the silent shades—where Sisyphus
toils and is mocked forever with the stone.
Great Jove himself calls Aeacus his son.
Thus, Ajax is the third from Jupiter.
But, Greeks, let not this line of my descent
avail me, if I do not share it with
my cousin, great Achilles. I demand
these arms now due me as a cousin. Why
should this one, from the blood of Sisyphus,
and like him for his thefts and frauds, intrude
the names of that loathed family upon
honored descendants of brave Aeacus?
“Will you deny me arms because I took
arms earlier, no man prompting me,
and call this man the better, who last of all
took up arms, and, pretending he was mad,
declined war, till the son of Naplius
more shrewd than he (but to his future cost)
discovered the contrivance of the fraud
and had the coward dragged forth to the arms
he had avoided. And shall this man have
the world's best arms, who wanted none?
Shall I lack honor and my cousin's gift
because I faced the danger with the first?
“Would that his madness had been real, or
had been accepted as reality
and that he never had attended us,
as our companion to the Phrygian towers,
this counsellor of evil! Then, good son
of Poeas, Lemnos would not hold you now,
exposed through guilt of ours! You, as men say,
hidden in forest lairs, are moving with your groans
the very rocks and asking for Ulysses
what he so well deserves—what, if indeed
there still are gods, you shall not ask in vain.
And now, one of our leaders, he that was
sworn to the same arms with ourselves! by whom
the arrows of great Hercules are used,
as his successor; broken by disease
and famine, clothed with feathers, now must feed
on birds and squander for his wretched fare
the arrows destined for the wreck of Troy.
“At least he lives, because he has not stayed
too near Ulysses. Hapless Palamedes
might wish that he too had been left behind,
then he would live or would have met a death
without dishonor. For this man, who well
remembered the unfortunate discovery
of his feigned madness, made a fraudulent
attack on Palamedes, who he said
betrayed the Grecian interest. He proved
his false charge to the Greeks by showing them
the gold which he himself hid in the ground.
By exile or by death he has decreased
the true strength of the Greeks. And so he fights,
for such things men have cause to fear Ulysses!
“Should he excel the faithful Nestor by
his eloquence, I'd yet be well convinced
the way he forsook Nestor was a crime,
old Nestor, who implored in vain his aid,
when he was hindered by his wounded steed
and wearied with the years of his old age,
was then deserted by that scheming man.
The charge that I have made is strictly true,
and the son of Tydeus knows it all too well;
for he at that time called him by his name,
rebuked him and upbraided his weak friend
for coward flight.
“The gods above behold
the affairs of men with justice. That same man
who would not help a friend now calls for help;
he who forsook a friend, should be forsaken,
the law he made returns upon himself.
He called aloud on his companions;
I came and saw him trembling, pale with fear,
and shuddering, at the thought of coming death.
I held my shield above him where he lay,
and that way saved the villain's dastard life,
and little praise I have deserved for that.
If you still wish to claim this armor, let
us both return to that place and restore
the enemy, your wound, and usual fear—
there hide behind my shield, and under that
contend with me! Yet, when I faced the foe,
he, whom his wound had left no power to stand,
forgot the wound and took to headlong flight.
“Hector approached, and brought the gods with him
to battle; and, wherever he rushed on,
not only this Ulysses was alarmed,
but even the valiant, for so great the fear
he caused them. Hector, proud in his success
in blood and slaughter, I then dared to meet
and with a huge: stone from a distance hurled
I laid him flat. When he demanded one
to fight with, I engaged him quite alone,
for you my Greek friends, prayed the lot
might fall upon me, and your prayers prevailed.
If you should ask me of this fight, I will
declare I was not vanquished there by him.
“Behold, the Trojans brought forth fire and sword
and Jove, as well, against the Grecian fleet,
where now has eloquent Ulysses gone?
Truly, I did protect a thousand ships
with my breast, saving the hopes of your return.—
for all these many ships, award me arms!
But, let me speak the truth, the arms will gain
more fame than I, for they will share my glory.
And they need Ajax, Ajax needs not them.

> Latin: Consedere duces, et vulgi stante corona
surgit ad hos clipei dominus septemplicis Aiax,
utque erat impatiens irae, Sigeia torvo
litora respexit classemque in litore vultu
intendensque manus “agimus, pro Iuppiter!” inquit
“ante rates causam, et mecum confertur Ulixes!
At non Hectoreis dubitavit cedere flammis,
quas ego sustinui, quas hac a classe fugavi.
Tutius est igitur fictis contendere verbis,
quam pugnare manu! Sed nec mihi dicere promptum,
nec facere est isti: quantumque ego Marte feroci
quantum acie valeo, tantum valet iste loquendo.
Nec memoranda tamen vobis mea facta, Pelasgi,
esse reor: vidistis enim. Sua narret Ulixes,
quae sine teste gerit, quorum nox conscia sola est.
Praemia magna peto, fateor; sed demit honorem
aemulus: Aiaci non est tenuisse superbum,
sit licet hoc ingens, quidquid speravit Ulixes.
Iste tulit pretium iam nunc temptaminis huius,
quod, cum victus erit, mecum certasse feretur.
Atque ego, si virtus in me dubitabilis esset,
nobilitate potens essem, Telamone creatus,
moenia qui forti Troiana sub Hercule cepit
litoraque intravit Pagasaea Colcha carina.
Aeacus huic pater est, qui iura silentibus illic
reddit, ubi Aeoliden saxum grave Sisyphon urget.
Aeacon agnoscit summus prolemque fatetur
Iuppiter esse suam: sic a Iove tertius Aiax.
Nec tamen haec series in causam prosit, Achivi,
si mihi cum magno non est communis Achille:
frater erat, fraterna peto! Quid sanguine cretus
Sisyphio furtisque et fraude simillimus illi
inseris Aeacidis alienae nomina gentis?
An quod in arma prior nulloque sub indice veni,
arma neganda mihi, potiorque videbitur ille,
ultima qui cepit detrectavitque furore
militiam ficto, donec sollertior isto
et sibi inutilior timidi commenta retexit
Naupliades animi vitataque traxit ad arma?
Optima num sumat, quia sumere noluit ulla:
nos inhonorati et donis patruelibus orbi,
obtulimus quia nos ad prima pericula, simus?
Atque utinam aut verus furor ille, aut creditus esset,
nec comes hic Phrygias umquam venisset ad arces
hortator scelerum. Non te, Poeantia proles,
expositum Lemnos nostro cum crimine haberet!
Qui nunc, ut memorant, silvestribus abditus antris
saxa moves gemitu Laertiadaeque precaris
quae meruit: quae, si di sunt, non vana precaris!
Et nunc ille eadem nobis iuratus in arma,
heu! pars una ducum, quo successore sagittae
Herculis utuntur, fractus morboque fameque
velaturque aliturque avibus, volucresque petendo
debita Troianis exercet spicula fatis.
Ille tamen vivit, quia non comitavit Ulixen;
mallet et infelix Palamedes esse relictus:
viveret aut certe letum sine crimine haberet!
Quem male convicti nimium memor iste furoris
prodere rem Danaam finxit fictumque probavit
crimen et ostendit, quod iam praefoderat, aurum.
Ergo aut exsilio vires subduxit Achivis,
aut nece: sic pugnat, sic est metuendus Ulixes.
Qui licet eloquio fidum quoque Nestora vincat,
haud tamen efficiet, desertum ut Nestora crimen
esse rear nullum. Qui cum imploraret Ulixem
vulnere tardus equi fessusque senilibus annis,
proditus a socio est. Non haec mihi crimina fingi
scit bene Tydides, qui nomine saepe vocatum
corripuit trepidoque fugam exprobravit amico.
Adspiciunt oculis superi mortalia iustis!
En eget auxilio, qui non tulit, utque reliquit,
sic linquendus erat: legem sibi dixerat ipse.
Conclamat socios: adsum videoque trementem
pallentemque metu et metuentem morte futura;
opposui molem clipei texique iacentem
servavique animam (minimum est hic laudis) inertem.
Si perstas certare, locum redeamus in illum:
redde hostem vulnusque tuum solitumque timorem
post clipeumque late et mecum contende sub illo!
At postquam eripui, cui standi vulnera vires
non dederant, nullo tardatus vulnere fugit.
Hector adest secumque deos in proelia ducit,
quaque ruit, non tu tantum terreris, Ulixe,
sed fortes etiam: tantum trahit ille timoris.
Hunc ego sanguineae successu caedis ovantem
eminus ingenti resupinum pondere fudi,
hunc ego poscentem, cum quo concurreret, unus
sustinui, sortemque meam vovistis, Achivi,
et vestrae valuere preces! Si quaeritis huius
fortunam pugnae, non sum superatus ab illo.
Ecce ferunt Troes ferrumque ignesque Iovemque
in Danaas classes: ubi nunc facundus Ulixes?
Nempe ego mille meo protexi pectore puppes,
spem vestri reditus: date pro tot navibus arma!
Quod si vera licet mihi dicere, quaeritur istis,
quam mihi, maior honos, coniunctaque gloria nostra est,
atque Aiax armis, non Aiaci arma petuntur.

[¶1] Let the Ithacan compare with deeds like mine
his sleeping Rhesus, his unwarlike Dolon,
Helenus taken, and Pallas gained by theft—
all done by night and all with Diomed.
If you must give these arms for deeds so mean,
then give the greater share to Diomed.
“Why give arms to Ulysses, who by stealth
and quite unarmed, has always done his work,
deceiving his unwary enemy
by stratagems? This brilliant helmet, rich
with sparkling gold, will certainly betray
his plans, and will discover him when hid.
His soft Dulichian head beneath the helm
of great Achilles will not bear the weight;
Achilles' heavy spear from Pelion must
be burdensome for his unwarlike hands:
nor will the shield, graven with the vasty world
beseem a dastard left hand, smooth for theft.
“Why caitiff, will you beg them for a gift,
which will but weaken you? If by mistake,
the Grecian people should award you this,
it would not fright the foe but offer spoils
and that swift flight (in which alone you have
excelled all others, dastard wretch!) would soon
grow laggard, dragging such a weight. And that
good shield of yours, which has but rarely felt
a conflict, is unhurt; for mine, agape
with wounds a thousand from swift-striking darts,
a new one must be found.
“In short, what need
is there for words? Let us be tried in war.
Let all the arms of brave Achilles now
be thrown among the foe; order them all
to be retrieved; and decorate for war
whoever brings them back, a worthy prize.”
Ajax, the son of Telamon, stopped speech,
and murmuring among the multitude
followed his closing words, until Ulysses,
Laertian hero, stood up there and fixed
his eyes a short time on the ground; then raised
them towards the chiefs; and with his opening words,
which they awaited, the grace of his art
was not found wanting to his eloquence.
“If my desire and yours could have prevailed,
O noble Greeks, the man who should receive
a prize so valued, would not be in doubt,
and you would now enjoy your arms, and we
enjoy you, great Achilles. Since unjust
fate has denied him both to me and you,
(and here he wiped his eyes dry with his hands,
as though then shedding tears,) who could succeed
the great Achilles better than the one
through whom the great Achilles joined the Greeks?
Let Ajax win no votes because he seems
to be as stupid as the truth declares.
Let not my talents, which were always used
for service of the Greeks, increase my harm:
and let this eloquence of mine (if such
we call it) which is pleading now for me,
as it has pleaded many times for you,
awake no envy. Let each man show his best.
“Now as for ancestors and noble birth
and deeds we have not done ourselves, all these
I hardly call them ours. But, if he boasts
because he is the great grandson of Jove,
the founder of my family, you know,
is Jupiter; by birth I am just the same
degree removed from Jupiter as he.
Laertes is my father, my grandsire is
Arcesius; and my great grandsire is Jove,
and my line: has no banished criminal.
My mother's grandsire, Mercury, would give
me further claims of birth—on either side a god.
“But not because my mother's line is better
and not because my father certainly,
is innocent of his own brother's blood,
have I advanced my claim to own those arms.
Let personal merit weigh the cause alone.
Let Ajax win no credit from the fact
that Telamon, was brother unto Peleus.
Let not his merit be that he is near by blood,
may honor of manhood weigh in your award!
“But, if you seek the heir and next of kin,
Peleus is father, and Pyrrhus is the son
of great Achilles. Where is Ajax then?
These arms might go to Phthia or to Scyros!
Teucer might claim the prize because he is
Achilles' cousin. Does he seek these arms?
And, if he did, would you allow his claim?
“Since then the contest lies in deeds alone,
though I have done more than may be well told,
I will recall them as they have occurred.
“Achilles' Nereid mother, who foresaw
his death, concealed her son by change of dress.
By that disguise Ajax, among the rest,
was well deceived. I showed with women's wares
arms that might win the spirit of a man.
The hero still wore clothing of a girl,
when, as he held a shield and spear, I said
‘Son of a goddess! Pergama but waits
to fall by you, why do you hesitate
to assure the overthrow of mighty Troy?’
With these bold words, I laid my hand on him—
and to: brave actions I sent forth the brave:
his deeds of Bravery are therefore mine
it was my power that conquered Telephus,
as he fought with his lance; it was through me
that, vanquished and suppliant? he at last was healed.
I caused the fall of Thebes; believe me, I
took Lesbos, Tenedos, Chryse and Cilla—
the cities of Apollo; and I took
Scyros; think too, of the Lyrnesian wall
as shaken by my hand, destroyed, and thrown
down level with the ground. Let this suffice:
I found the man who caused fierce Hector's death,
through me the famous Hector now, lies low!
And for those arms which made Achilles known
I now demand these arms. To him alive
I gave them—at his death they should be mine.
“After the grief of one had reached all Greece,
and ships a thousand, filled Euboean Aulis;
the breezes long expected would not blow
or adverse held the helpless fleet ashore.
Then ruthless oracles gave their command,
that Agamemnon should make sacrifice
of his loved daughter and so satisfy
Diana's cruel heart. The father stood
up resolute, enraged against the gods,
a parent even though a king. I turned,
by tactful! words, a father's tender heart
to the great issue of the public weal.
I will confess it, and when I have confessed,
may the son of Atreus pardon: I had to plead
a difficult case before a partial judge.
The people's good, his brother's, and stern duty,
that followed his great office, won his ear,
till royal honor outweighed claims of blood.
I sought the mother, who could not be won
by pleading but must be deceived by craft.
Had Ajax gone to her, our thousand sails
would still droop, waiting for the favoring breeze.
“As a bold envoy I was even sent
off to the towers of Ilium, and there
I saw the senate-house of lofty Troy,
and, fearless, entered it, while it was full
of heroes. There, undaunted, I spoke for
the cause which all the Greeks had given me.
Accusing Paris, I demanded back
the gold and stolen Helen, and I moved
both Priam and Antenor. All the while
Paris, his brothers, and their robber crew
could scarce withhold their wicked hands from me.
And all this, Menelaus, is well known to you:
that was the first danger I shared with you.

> Latin: Conferat his Ithacus Rhesum imbellemque Dolona
Priamidenque Helenum rapta cum Pallade captum:
luce nihil gestum est, nihil est Diomede remoto.
Si semel ista datis meritis tam vilibus arma,
dividite, et pars sit maior Diomedis in illis!
Quo tamen haec Ithaco, qui clam, qui semper inermis
rem gerit et furtis incautum decipit hostem?
Ipse nitor galeae claro radiantis ab auro
insidias prodet manifestabitque latentem.
Sed neque Dulichius sub Achillis casside vertex
pondera tanta feret, nec non onerosa gravisque
Pelias hasta potest imbellibus esse lacertis,
nec clipeus vasti concretus imagine mundi
conveniet timidae nataeque ad furta sinistrae:
debilitaturum quid te petis, Improbe, munus?
Quod tibi si populi donaverit error Achivi,
cur spolieris, erit, non cur metuaris ab hoste,
et fuga, qua sola cunctos, timidissime, vincis,
tarda futura tibi est gestamina tanta trahenti.
Adde quod iste tuus, tam raro proelia passus,
integer est clipeus: nostro, qui tela ferendo
mille patet plagis, novus est successor habendus.
Denique (quid verbis opus est?) spectemur agendo!
Arma viri fortis medios mittantur in hostes:
inde iubete peti et referentem ornate relatis?”
Finierat Telamone satus vulgique secutum
ultima murmur erat, donec Laertius heros
adstitit atque oculos paulum tellure moratos
sustulit ad proceres exspectatoque resolvit
ora sono; neque abest facundis gratia dictis.
“Si mea cum vestris valuissent vota, Pelasgi,
non foret ambiguus tanti certaminis heres,
tuque tuis armis, nos te poteremur, Achille.
Quem quoniam non aequa mihi vobisque negarunt
fata” (manuque simul veluti lacrimantia tersit
lumina), “quis magno melius succedit Achilli,
quam per quem magnus Danais successit Achilles?
Huic modo ne prosit, quod, uti est, hebes esse videtur,
neve mihi noceat, quod vobis semper, Achivi,
profuit ingenium, meaque haec facundia, siqua est,
quae nunc pro domino, pro vobis saepe locuta est,
invidia careat, bona nec sua quisque recuset.
Nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi,
vix ea nostra voco; sed enim quia rettulit Aiax
esse Iovis pronepos, nostri quoque sanguinis auctor
Iuppiter est, totidemque gradus distamus ab illo.
Nam mihi Laertes pater est, Arcesius illi,
Iuppiter huic, neque in his quisquam damnatus et exsul.
Est quoque per matrem Cyllenius addita nobis
altera nobilitas: deus est in utroque parente.
Sed neque materno quod sum generosior ortu,
nec mihi quod pater est fraterni sanguinis insons,
proposita arma peto: meritis expendite causam,
dummodo, quod fratres Telamon Peleusque fuerunt,
Aiacis meritum non sit nec sanguinis ordo,
sed virtutis honor spoliis quaeratur in istis!
Aut si proximitas primusque requiritur heres,
est genitor Peleus, est Pyrrhus filius illi.
Quis locus Aiaci? Phthiam haec Scyrumve ferantur!
Nec minus est isto Teucer patruelis Achilli:
num petit ille tamen? num si petat, auferat illa?
Ergo operum quoniam nudum certamen habetur:
plura quidem feci, quam quae comprendere dictis
in promptu mihi sit; rerum tamen ordine ducar.
Praescia venturi genetrix Nereia leti
dissimulat cultu natum, et deceperat omnes,
in quibus Aiacem, sumptae fallacia vestis.
Arma ego femineis animum motura virilem
mercibus inserui, neque adhuc proiecerat heros
virgineos habitus, cum parmam hastamque tenenti
“nate dea,” dixi “tibi se peritura reservant
Pergama! quid dubitas ingentem evertere Troiam?”
iniecique manum fortemque ad fortia misi.
Ergo opera illius mea sunt: ego Telephon hasta
pugnantem domui, victum orantemque refeci;
quod Thebae cecidere, meum est, me credite Lesbon,
me Tenedon Chrysenque et Cillan, Apollinis urbes,
et Scyrum cepisse, mea concussa putate
procubuisse solo Lyrnesia moenia dextra,
utque alias taceam, qui saevum perdere posset
Hectora, nempe dedi: per me iacet inclitus Hector.
Illis haec armis, quibus est inventus Achilles,
arma peto: vivo dederam, post fata reposco. —
Ut dolor unius Danaos pervenit ad omnes
Aulidaque Euboicam complerunt mille carinae,
exspectata diu, nulla aut contraria classi
flamina erant, duraeque iubent Agamemnona sortes
inmeritam saevae natam mactare Dianae.
Denegat hoc genitor divisque irascitur ipsis
atque in rege tamen pater est. Ego mite parentis
ingenium verbis ad publica commoda verti.
Nunc equidem (fateor, fassoque ignoscat Atrides!)
difficilem tenui sub iniquo iudice causam.
Hunc tamen utilitas populi fraterque datique
summa movet sceptri, laudem ut cum sanguine penset.
Mittor et ad matrem, quae non hortanda, sed astu
decipienda fuit: quo si Telamonius isset,
orba suis essent etiamnum lintea ventis.
Mittor et Iliacas audax orator ad arces,
visaque et intrata est altae mihi curia Troiae
(plenaque adhuc erat illa viris), interritus egi,
quam mihi mandarat communis Graecia causam,
accusoque Parim praedamque Helenamque reposco
et moveo Priamum Priamoque Antenora iunctum.
At Paris et fratres et qui rapuere sub illo,
ni tenuere manus (scis hoc, Menelae) nefandas,
primaque lux nostri tecum fuit illa pericli.

[¶2] “I need not linger over the many things
which by my counsel and my bravery
I have accomplished through this long-drawn war.
“A long time, after the first battle clash,
the foe lay quiet within city walls,
giving no challenge for an open fight—
he stood nine years of siege before we fought
what were you doing all that tedious time,
what use were you, good only in a fight?
If you will make inquiry of my deeds:
I fashioned ambuscades for enemies;
and circled our defenses with a trench;
I cheered allies so they might all endure
with patient minds a long, protracted war;
I showed how our own army might subsist
and how it could be armed; and I was sent
wherever the necessity required.
“Then, at the wish of Jove, our king, deceive
by A false dream, bids us give up the war—
he could excuse his order by the cause.
Let Ajax tell him Troy must be laid low
or let him fight—at least he can do that!
Why does he fail to stop the fugitives?
Why not take arms and tell the wavering crowd
to rally round him? Would that be too much
for one who never speaks except to boast?
But now words fail me: Ajax turns and flees!
I witnessed it and was ashamed to see
you turn disgraced, preparing sails for flight.
With exclamations and without delay,
I said, ‘What are you doing? O my friends,
has madness seized you that you will quit Troy,
which is as good as taken? What can you
bear home, after ten years, but your disgrace?’
“With these commanding words, which grief itself
gave eloquence, I brought resisting Greeks
back from their purposed flight. Atrides called
together his allies, all terror struck.
Even then, Ajax the son of Telamon
dared not vouchsafe one word. But impudent
Thersites hurled vile words against the kings,
and, thanks to me, he did not miss reproof.
I rose and spoke to my disheartened friends,
reviving their lost courage with my words
from that time forth, whatever deeds this man,
my rival, may have done, belong to me.
'Twas I who stayed his flight and brought him back.
“Which of the noble Greeks has given you praise
or sought your company? Yet Diomed
has shared his deeds with me and praises me,
and, while Ulysses is with him, is brave
and confident. 'Tis worthy of regard,
when out of many thousands of the Greeks,
a man becomes the choice of Diomed!
“It was not lot that ordered me to go;
and yet, despising dangers of the night,
despising dangers of the enemy,
I slew one, Dolon, of the Phrygian race,
who dared to do the very things we dared,
but not before I had prevailed on him
to tell me everything, by which I learned
perfidious actions which Troy had designed.
“Of such things now, I had discovered all
that should be found out, and I might have then
returned to enjoy the praise I had deserved.
But not content with that, I sought the tent
of Rhesus, and within his camp I slew
him and his proved attendants. Having thus
gained as a conqueror my own desires,
I drove back in a captured chariot,—
a joyous triumph. Well, deny me, then.
The arms of him whose steeds the enemy
demanded as the price of one night's aid.
Ajax himself has been more generous.
“Why should I name Sarpedon's Lycian troops
among whom I made havoc with my sword?
I left Coeranos dead and streaming blood,
with the sword I killed Alastor, Chromius,
Alcander, Prytanis, Halius, and Noemon,
Thoon and Charops with Chersidamas,
and Ennomus—all driven by cruel fate,
not reckoning humbler men whom I laid low,
battling beneath the shadow of the city walls.
And fellow citizens, I have my wounds
honorable in the front. Do not believe
my word alone. Look for yourselves and see!”
Then with one hand, he drew his robe aside.
“Here is a breast,” he cried, “that bled for you!
But Ajax never shed a drop of blood
to aid his friends, in all these many years,
and has a body free of any wound.
“What does it prove, if he declares that he
fought for our ships against both Troy and Jove?
I grant he did, for it is not my wont
with malice to belittle other's deeds.
But let him not claim for himself alone
an honor in which all may have a share,
let him concede some credit due to you.
Disguised within the fear inspiring arms
of great Achilles, Actor's son drove back
the host of Trojans from our threatened fleet
or ships and Ajax would have burned together.
“Unmindful of the king, the chiefs, and me,
he dreams that he alone dared to engage
in single fight with Hector—he the ninth
to volunteer and chosen just by lot.
But yet, O brave chief! What availed the fight?
Hector returned, not injured by a wound.
“Ah, bitter fate, with how much grief I am
compelled to recollect the time, when brave
Achilles, bulwark of the Greeks, was slain.
Nor tears, nor grief, nor fear, could hinder me:
I carried his dead body from the ground,
uplifted on these shoulders, I repeat,
upon these shoulders from that ground
I bore off dead Achilles, and those arms
which now I want to bear away again.
I have the strength to walk beneath their weight,
I have a mind to understand their worth.
Did the hero's mother, goddess of the sea,
win for her son these arms, made by a god,
a work of wondrous art, to have them clothe
a rude soldier, who has no mind at all?
He never could be made to understand
the rich engravings, pictured on the shield—
the ocean, earth, and stars in lofty skies;
the Pleiades, and Hyades, the Bear,
which touches not the ocean, far beyond
the varied planets, and the fire-bright sword
of high Orion. He demands a prize,
which, if he had it, would be lost on him.
“What of his taunting me, because I shrank
from hardships of this war and I was slow
to join the expedition? Does he not see,
that he reviles the great Achilles too?
Was my pretense a crime? then so was his.
Was our delay a fault? mine was the less,
for I came sooner; me a loving wife
detained from war, a loving mother him.
Some hours we gave to them, the rest to you.
Why should I be alarmed, if now I am
unable to defend myself against
this accusation, which is just the same
as you have brought against so great a man?
Yet he was found by the dexterity
of me, Ulysses, and Ulysses was
not found by the dexterity of Ajax.
“It is no wonder that he pours on me
reproaches of his silly tongue, because
he charges you with what is worthy shame.
Am I depraved because this Palamedes has
improperly been charged with crime by me?
Then was it honorable for all of you,
if you condemned him? Only think, that he,
the son of Naplius, made no defence
against the crime, so great, so manifest:
nor did you only hear the charges brought
against him, but you saw the proof yourselves,
and in the gold his villainy was shown.

> Latin: Longa referre mora est, quae consilioque manuque
utiliter feci spatiosi tempore belli.
Post acies primas urbis se moenibus hostes
continuere diu, nec aperti copia Martis
ulla fuit: decimo demum pugnavimus anno.
Quid facis interea, qui nil nisi proelia, nosti?
Quis tuus usus erat? Nam si mea facta requiris,
hostibus insidior, fossas munimine cingo,
consolor socios, ut longi taedia belli
mente ferant placida, doceo, quo simus alendi
armandique modo, mittor, quo postulat usus.
Ecce Iovis monitu, deceptus imagine somni,
rex iubet incepti curam dimittere belli.
Ille potest auctore suam defendere vocem:
non sinat hoc Aiax delendaque Pergama poscat,
quodque potest, pugnet! Cur non remoratur ituros?
Cur non arma capit? det, quod vaga turba sequatur!
Non erat hoc nimium numquam nisi magna loquenti.
Quid quod et ipse fugit? Vidi, puduitque videre,
cum tu terga dares inhonestaque vela parares.
Nec mora, “quid facitis? quae vos dementia” dixi
“concitat, o socii? captam dimittite Troiam!
Quidve domum fertis decimo, nisi dedecus, anno?”
Talibus atque aliis, in quae dolor ipse disertum
fecerat, aversos profuga de classe reduxi.
nec Telamoniades etiam nunc hiscere quicquam
audet, at ausus erat reges incessere dictis
Thersites etiam, per me haud impune protervus!
Erigor et trepidos cives exhortor in hostem
amissamque mea virtutem voce reposco.
Tempore ab hoc, quodcumque potest fecisse videri
fortiter iste, meum est, qui dantem terga retraxi.
Denique de Danais quis te laudatve petitve?
At sua Tydides mecum communicat acta,
me probat et socio semper confidit Ulixe.
Est aliquid, de tot Graiorum milibus unum
a Diomede legi (nec me sors ire iubebat!),
si tamen et spreto noctisque hostisque periclo
ausum eadem, quae nos, Phrygia de gente Dolona
interimo, non ante tamen, quam cuncta coegi
prodere, et edidici, quid perfida Troia pararet.
Omnia cognoram, nec, quod specularer, habebam,
et iam promissa poteram cum laude reverti.
Haud contentus eo petii tentoria Rhesi
inque suis ipsum castris comitesque peremi
atque ita captivo victor votisque potitus
ingredior curru laetos imitante triumphos;
cuius equos pretium pro nocte poposcerat hostis,
arma negate mihi, fueritque benignior Aiax!
Quid Lycii referam Sarpedonis agmina ferro
devastata meo? Cum multo sanguine fudi
Coeranon Iphitiden et Alastoraque Chromiumque
Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytanimque,
exitioque dedi cum Chersidamante Thoona
et Charopem fatisque inmitibus Ennomon actum
quique minus celebres nostra sub moenibus urbis
procubuere manu. Sunt et mihi vulnera, cives,
ipso pulchra loco; nec vanis credite verbis:
adspicite en!” vestemque manu deduxit et “haec sunt
pectora semper” ait “vestris exercita rebus.
At nil impendit per tot Telamonius annos
sanguinis in socios et habet sine vulnere corpus!
Quid tamen hoc refert, si se pro classe Pelasga
arma tulisse refert contra Troasque Iovemque?
Confiteorque, tulit (neque enim benefacta maligne
detractare meum est), sed ne communia solus
occupet atque aliquem vobis quoque reddat honorem,
reppulit Actorides sub imagine tutus Achillis
Troas ab arsuris cum defensore carinis.
Ausum etiam Hectoreis solum concurrere telis
se putat, oblitus regisque ducumque meique,
nonus in officio et praelatus munere sortis.
Sed tamen eventus vestrae, fortissime, pugnae
quis fuit? Hector abit violatus vulnere nullo!
Me miserum, quanto cogor meminisse dolore
temporis illius, quo Graium murus, Achilles
procubuit! Nec me lacrimae luctusque timorque
tardarunt, quin corpus humo sublime referrem.
His umeris, his, inquam, umeris ego corpus Achillis.
et simul arma tuli, quae nunc quoque ferre laboro!
Sunt mihi, quae valeant in talia pondera, vires,
est animus certe vestros sensurus honores.
Scilicet idcirco pro nato caerula mater
ambitiosa suo fuit, ut caelestia dona,
artis opus tantae, rudis et sine pectore miles
indueret? neque enim clipei caelamina novit,
Oceanum et terras cumque alto sidera caelo
Pleiadasque hyadasque inmunemque aequoris arcton
diversasque urbes nitidumque Orionis ensem:
Quid quod me duri fugientem munera belli
arguit incepto serum accessisse labori,
nec se magnanimo maledicere sentit Achilli?
Si simulasse vocas crimen, simulavimus ambo;
si mora pro culpa est, ego sum maturior illo.
Me pia detinuit coniunx, pia mater Achillem,
primaque sunt illis data tempora, cetera vobis.
Haud timeo, si iam nequeam defendere, crimen
cum tanto commune viro: deprensus Ulixis
ingenio tamen ille, at non Aiacis Ulixes!
Neve in me stolidae convicia fundere linguae
admiremur eum, vobis quoque digna pudore
obicit. An falso Palameden crimine turpe est
accusasse mihi, vobis damnasse decorum?
Sed neque Naupliades facinus defendere tantum
tamque patens valuit, nec vos audistis in illo
crimina: vidistis, pretioque obiecta patebant.

[¶3] “Nor am I to be blamed, if Vulcan's isle
of Lemnos has become the residence
of Philoctetes. Greeks, defend yourselves,
for you agreed to it! Yes, I admit
I urged him to withdraw from toils of war
and those of travel and attempt by rest
to ease his cruel pain. He took my advice
and lives! The advice was not alone well meant
(that would have been enough) but it was wise.
Because our prophets have declared, he must
lead us, if we may still maintain our hope
for Troy's destruction—therefore, you must not
intrust that work to me. Much better, send
the son of Telamon. His eloquence
will overcome the hero's rage, most fierce
from his disease and anger: or else his
invention of some wile will skilfully
deliver him to us.—The Simois
will first flow backward, Ida stand without
its foliage, and Achaia promise aid
to Troy itself; ere, lacking aid from me,
the craft of stupid Ajax will avail.
“Though, Philoctetes, you should be enraged
against your friends, against the king and me;
although you curse and everlastingly
devote my head to harm; although you wish,
to ease your anguish, that I may be given
into your power, that you may shed my blood;
and though you wait your turn and chance at me;
still I will undertake the quest and will
try all my skill to bring you back with me.
If my good fortune then will favor me,
I shall obtain your arrows; as I made
the Trojan seer my captive, as I learned
the heavenly oracles and fate of Troy,
and as I brought back through a host of foes
Minerva's image from the citadel.
“And is it possible, Ajax may now
compare himself with me? Truly the Fates
will hold Troy from our capture, if we leave
the statue. Where is valiant Ajax now,
where are the boasts of that tremendous man?
Why are you trembling, while Ulysses dares
to go beyond our guards and brave the night?
In spite of hostile swords, he goes within
not only the strong walls of Troy but even
the citadel, lifts up the goddess from
her shrine, and takes her through the enemy!
If I had not done this, Telamon's son
would bear his shield of seven bull hides in vain.
That night I gained the victory over Troy—
'Twas then I won our war with Pergama,
because I made it possible to win.
“Stop hinting by your look and muttered words
that Diomed was my partner in the deed.
The praise he won is his. You, certainly
fought not alone, when you held up your shield
to save the allied fleet: a multitude
was with you, but a single man gave me
his valued help.
“And if he did not know
a fighting man can not gain victory
so surely as the wise man, that the prize
is given to something rarer than a brave right hand,
he would himself be a contender now
for these illustrious arms. Ajax the less
would have come forward too, so would the fierce
Eurypylus, so would Andraemon's son.
Nor would Idomeneus withhold his claim,
nor would his countryman Meriones.
Yes, Menelaus too would seek the prize.
All these brave men, my equals in the field,
have yielded to my wisdom.
“Your right hand
is valuable in war, your temper stands
in need of my direction. You have strength
without intelligence; I look out for
the future. You are able in the fight;
I help our king to find the proper time.
Your body may give service, and my mind
must point the way: and just as much as he
who guides the ship must be superior
to him who rows it; and we all agree
the general is greater than the soldier; so,
do I excel you. In the body lives
an intellect much rarer than a hand,
by that we measure human excellence.
“O chieftains, recompense my vigilance!
For all these years of anxious care, award
this honor to my many services.
Our victory is in sight; I have removed
the opposing fates and, opening wide the way
to capture Pergama, have captured it.
Now by our common hopes, by Troy's high walls
already tottering and about to fall,
and by the gods that I won from the foe,
by what remains for wisdom to devise
or what may call for bold and fearless deeds—
if you think any hope is left for Troy,
remember me! Or, if you do not give
these arms to me, then give them all to her!”
And he pointed to Minerva's fateful head.
The assembled body of the chiefs was moved;
and then, appeared the power of eloquence:
the fluent man received, amid applause,
the arms of the brave man. His rival, who
so often when alone, stood firm against
great Hector and the sword, and flames and Jove,
stood not against a single passion, wrath.
The unconquerable was conquered by his grief.
He drew his sword, and said:—“This is at least
my own; or will Ulysses also claim
this, for himself. I must use this against
myself—the blade which often has been wet,
dripping with blood of Phrygians I have slain,.
Will drip with his own master's: blood,
lest any man but Ajax vanquish Ajax.”
Saying this, he turned toward the vital spot
in his own breast, which never had felt a wound,
the fated sword and plunged it deeply in.
though many sought to aid, no hand had strength
to draw that steel—deep driven. The blood itself
unaided drove it out. The ensanguined earth
sprouted from her green turf that purple flower
which grew of old from Hyacinthine blood.
Its petals now are charged with double freight—
the warrior's name, Apollo's cry of woe.

> Latin: Nec Poeantiaden quod habet Vulcania Lemnos,
esse reus merui: factum defendite vestrum,
consensistis enim. Nec me suasisse negabo,
ut se subtraheret bellique viaeque labori
temptaretque feros requie finire dolores.
Paruit et vivit! Non haec sententia tantum
fida, sed et felix, cum sit satis esse fidelem.
Quem quoniam vates delenda ad Pergama poscunt,
ne mandate mihi: melius Telamonius ibit
eloquioque virum morbis iraque furentem
molliet aut aliqua producet callidus arte.
Ante retro Simois fluet et sine frondibus Ide
stabit et auxilium promittet Achaia Troiae,
quam, cessante meo pro vestris pectore rebus,
Aiacis stolidi Danais sollertia prosit!
Sis licet infestus sociis regique mihique,
dure Philoctete, licet exsecrere meumque
devoveas sine fine caput cupiasque dolenti
me tibi forte dari nostrumque haurire cruorem,
te tamen adgrediar mecumque reducere nitar,
tamque tuis potiar (faveat Fortuna!) sagittis,
quam sum Dardanio, quem cepi, vate potitus,
quam responsa deum Troianaque fata retexi,
quam rapui Phrygiae signum penetrale Minervae
hostibus e mediis. Et se mihi comparat Aiax?
Nempe capi Troiam prohibebant fata sine illo:
fortis ubi est Aiax? Ubi sunt ingentia magni
verba viri? Cur hic metuis? cur audet Ulixes
ire per excubias et se committere nocti
perque feros enses non tantum moenia Troum,
verum etiam summas arces intrare suaque
eripere aede deam raptamque adferre per hostes?
Quae nisi fecissem, frustra Telamone creatus
gestasset laeva taurorum tergora septem.
Illa nocte mihi Troiae victoria parta est,
Pergama tunc vici, cum vinci posse coegi!
Desine Tydiden vultuque et murmure nobis
ostentare meum: pars est sua laudis in illo.
Nec tu, cum socia clipeum pro classe tenebas,
solus eras: tibi turba comes, mihi contigit unus.
Qui nisi pugnacem sciret sapiente minorem
esse nec indomitae deberi praemia dextrae,
ipse quoque haec peteret, peteret moderatior Aiax
Eurypylusque ferox claroque Andraemone natus,
nec minus Idomeneus patriaque creatus eadem
Meriones, peteret maioris frater Atridae:
quippe manu fortes nec sunt tibi Marte secundi,
consiliis cessere meis. Tibi dextera bello
utilis: ingenium est, quod eget moderamine nostro;
tu vires sine mente geris, mihi cura futuri;
tu pugnare potes, pugnandi tempora mecum
eligit Atrides; tu tantum corpore prodes,
nos animo; quantoque ratem qui temperat, anteit
remigis officium, quanto dux milite maior,
tantum ego te supero; nec non in corpore nostro
pectora sunt potiora manu: vigor omnis in illis.
At vos, o proceres, vigili date praemia vestro,
proque tot annorum cura, quibus anxius egi,
hunc titulum meritis pensandum reddite nostris.
Iam labor in fine est: obstantia fata removi
altaque posse capi faciendo Pergama cepi.
Per spes nunc socias casuraque moenia Troum
perque deos oro, quos hosti nuper ademi,
per siquid superest, quod sit sapienter agendum,
siquid adhuc audax ex praecipitique petendum est,
este mei memores! Aut si mihi non datis arma,
huic date!” — et ostendit signum fatale Minervae.
Mota manus procerum est, et quid facundia posset,
re patuit, fortisque viri tulit arma disertus.
Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum ignesque Iovemque
sustinuit totiens, unam non sustinet iram,
invictumque virum vicit dolor: arripit ensem
et “meus hic certe est! an et hunc sibi poscit Ulixes?
Hoc” ait “utendum est in me mihi, quique cruore
saepe Phrygum maduit, domini nunc caede madebit,
ne quisquam Aiacem possit superare nisi Aiax.”
Dixit et in pectus tum demum vulnera passum,
qua patuit ferro, letalem condidit ensem.
Nec valuere manus infixum educere telum:
expulit ipse cruor, rubefactaque sanguine tellus
purpureum viridi genuit de caespite florem,
qui prius Oebalio fuerat de vulnere natus;
littera communis mediis pueroque viroque
incripta est foliis, haec nominis, illa querellae.

[¶4] The conqueror, Ulysses, now set sail,
for Lemnos, country of Hypsipyle,
and for the land of Thoas, famed afar,
those regions infamous in olden days,
where women slew their husbands. So he went
that he might capture and bring back with him
the arrows of brave Hercules. When these
were given back to the Greeks, their lord with them,
a final hand at last prevailed to end
that long fought war. Both Troy and Priam fell,
and Priam's wretched wife lost all she had,
until at last she lost her human form.
Her savage barkings frightened foreign lands,
where the long Hellespont is narrowed down.
Great Troy was burning: while the fire still raged,
Jove's altar drank old Priam's scanty blood.
The priestess of Apollo then, alas!
Was dragged by her long hair, while up towards heaven
she lifted supplicating hands in vain.
The Trojan matrons, clinging while they could
to burning temples and ancestral gods,
victorious Greeks drag off as welcome spoil.
Astyanax was hurled down from the very tower
from which he often had looked forth and seen
his father, by his mother pointed out,
when Hector fought for honor and his country's weal.
Now Boreas counsels to depart. The sails,
moved by a prosperous breeze, resound and wave—
the Trojan women cry,—“Farewell to Troy!
Ah, we are hurried off!” and, falling down,
they kiss the soil, and leave the smoking roofs
of their loved native land. The last to go
on board the fleet was Hecuba, a sight
most pitiful. She was found among the tombs
of her lost sons. While she embraced each urn
and fondly kissed their bones, Ulysses came
with ruthless hands and bore her off, his prize
she in her bosom took away the urn
of Hector only, and upon his grave
she left some white hair taken from her head,
a meager gift, her white hair and her tears.
Across the strait from Troy, there is a land
claimed by Bistonian men, and in that land
was a rich palace, built there by a king
named Polymnestor. To him the Phrygian king
in secret gave his youngest son to rear,
his Polydorus, safe from Troy and war,
a prudent course, if he had not sent gold
arousing greed, incitement to a crime.
Soon, when the fortunes of the Trojans fell,
that wicked king of Thrace took his own sword,
and pierced the throat of his poor foster son
and then, as if the deed could be concealed,
if he removed the body, hurled the boy
from a wild cliff into the waves below.
Until the sea might be more calm, and gales
of wind might be subdued, Atrides moored
his fleet of ships upon the Thracian shore;
there, from wide gaping earth, Achilles rose,
as large as when he lived, with look as fierce,
as when his sword once threatened Agamemnon.
“Forgetting me do you depart, O Greeks?”
He said, “And is your grateful! memory
of all my worth interred with my bones?
Do not do so. And that my sepulchre
may have due worship, let Polyxena
be immolated to appease the ghost:
of dead Achilles.” Fiercely so he spoke.
The old friends of Achilles all obeyed
his unforgiving shade; and instantly
the noble and unhappy virgin—brave,
more like a man than woman—was torn from
her mother's bosom, cherished more by her,
since widowed and alone. And then they led
the virgin as a sacrifice from there
up to the cruel altar. When the maid
observed the savage rites prepared for her,
and when she noticed Neoptolemus
stand by her with his cruel sword in hand,
his fixed eyes on her countenance; she said:—
“Do not delay my generous gift of blood,
with no resistance thrust the ready steel
into my throat or breast!” And then she laid
both throat and bosom bare. “Polyxena
would never wish to live in slavery.
And such rites win no favor from a god.
Only I fondly wish my mother might
not know that I have died. My love of her
takes from my joy in death and gives me fear.
Not my death truly, but her own sad life
should be the most lamented in her tears.
Now let your men stand back, that I may go
with dignity down to the Stygian shades,
and, if my plea is just, let no man's hand
touch my pure virgin body. A nobler gift
to him, whoever he may be, whom you
desire to placate with my death today,
shall be a free maid's blood. But, if my words—
my parting wish, has power to touch your hearts,
(King Priam's daughter, not a captive, pleads)
freely return my body to my mother,
let her not pay with gold for the sad right
to bury me—but only with her tears!
Yes, when she could, she also paid with gold.”
After she said these words, the people could
no more restrain their tears; but no one saw
her shed one tear. Even the priest himself,
reluctantly and weeping, drove the steel
into her proffered breast. On failing knees
she sank down to the earth; but still maintained
a countenance undaunted to the last:
and, even unto death, it was her care
to cover all that ought to be concealed,
and save the value of chaste modesty.
The Trojan matrons took her and recalled,
lamenting, all the sons of Priam dead,
the wealth of blood one house had shed for all.
And they bewailed the chaste Polyxena
and you, her mother, only lately called
a royal mother and a royal wife,—
the soul of Asia's fair prosperity,;
now lowest fallen in all the wreck of Troy.
The conquering Ulysses only claimed
her his because she had brought Hector forth:
and Hector hardly found a master for
his mother. She continued to embrace
the body of a soul so brave, and shed
her tears, as she had shed them often before
for country lost, for sons, for royal mate.
She bathed her daughter's wounds with tears and kissed
them with her lips and once more beat her breast.
Her white hair streamed down in the clotting blood,
she tore her breast, and this and more she said:

> Latin: Victor ad Hypsipyles patriam clarique Thoantis
et veterum terras infames caede virorum
vela dat, ut referat Tirynthia tela, sagittas.
Quae postquam ad Graios, domino comitante, revexit,
imposita estque fero tandem manus ultima bello,
Ilion ardebat, neque adhuc consederat ignis,
exiguumque senis Priami Iovis ara cruorem
combiberat tracta atque comis antistita Phoebi
non profecturas tendebat ad aethera palmas.
Dardanidas matres patriorum signa deorum,
dum licet, amplexas succensaque templa tenentes
invidiosa trahunt victores praemia Grai.
Mittitur Astyanax illis de turribus, unde
pugnantem pro se proavitaque regna tuentem
saepe videre patrem monstratum a matre solebat.
Iamque viam suadet boreas, flatuque secundo
carbasa mota sonant, iubet uti navita ventis.
“Troia, vale! rapimur” clamant, dant oscula terrae
Troades et patriae fumantia tecta relinquunt.
Ultima conscendit classem (miserabile visu!)
in mediis Hecube natorum inventa sepulcris:
prensantem tumulos atque ossibus oscula dantem
Dulichiae traxere manus, tamen unius hausit
inque sinu cineres secum tulit Hectoris haustos;
Hectoris in tumulo canum de vertice crinem,
inferias inopes, crinem lacrimasque reliquit.
Est, ubi Troia fuit, Phrygiae contraria tellus,
Bistoniis habitata viris: Polymestoris illic
regia dives erat, cui te commisit alendum
clam, Polydore, pater Phrygiisque removit ab armis,
consilium sapiens, sceleris nisi praemia magnas
adiecisset opes, animi inritamen avari.
Ut cecidit fortuna Phrygum, capit impius ensem
rex Thracum iuguloque sui demisit alumni
et, tamquam tolli cum corpore crimina possent,
exanimem scopulo subiectas misit in undas.
Litore Threicio classem religarat Atrides,
dum mare pacatum, dum ventus amicior esset.
Hic subito, quantus cum viveret esse solebat,
exit humo late rupta similisque minanti
temporis illius vultum referebat Achilles,
quo ferus iniustum petiit Agamemnona ferro,
“inmemores” que “mei disceditis” inquit “Achivi,
obrutaque est mecum virtutis gratia nostrae?
Ne facite! utque meum non sit sine honore sepulcrum,
placet Achilleos mactata Polyxena manes!”
Dixit, et inmiti sociis parentibus umbrae,
rapta sinu matris, quam iam prope sola fovebat,
fortis et infelix et plus quam femina virgo
ducitur ad tumulum diroque fit hostia busto.
Quae memor ipsa sui, postquam crudelibus aris
admota est sensitque sibi fera sacra parari,
utque Neoptolemum stantem ferrumque tenentem
utque suo vidit figentem lumina vultu,
utere iamdudum generoso sanguine!” dixit,
“nulla mora est: aut tu iugulo vel pectore telum
conde meo! (iugulumque simul pectusque retexit)
Mors tantum vellem matrem mea fallere posset!
Mater obest minuitque necis mihi gaudia, quamvis
non mea mors illi, verum sua vita gemenda est.
Vos modo, ne Stygios adeam non libera manes,
ite procul, si iusta peto, tactuque viriles
virgineo removete manus! Acceptior illi,
quisquis is est, quem caede mea placare paratis,
liber erit sanguis. Siquos tamen ultima nostri
verba movent oris (Priami vos filia regis,
nunc captiva rogat), genetrici corpus inemptum
reddite, neve auro redimat ius triste sepulcri,
sed lacrimis! Tunc, cum poterat, redimebat et auro.”
Dixerat, at populus lacrimas, quas illa tenebat,
non tenet; ipse etiam flens invitusque sacerdos
praebita coniecto rupit praecordia ferro.
Illa super terram defecto poplite labens
pertulit intrepidos ad fata novissima vultus.
Tunc quoque cura fuit partes velare tegendas,
cum caderet, castique decus servare pudoris.
Troades excipiunt deploratosque recensent
Priamidas et quid dederit domus una cruoris,
teque gemunt, virgo, teque, o modo regia coniunx,
regia dicta parens, Asiae florentis imago,
nunc etiam praedae mala sors, quam victor Ulixes
esse suam nollet, nisi quod tamen Hectora partu
edideras: dominum matri vix repperit Hector!
Quae corpus complexa animae tam fortis inane,
quas totiens patriae dederat natisque viroque,
huic quoque dat lacrimas lacrimas in vulnera fundit
osculaque ore tegit consuetaque pectora plangit
canitiemque suam concreto in sanguine verrens
plura quidem, sed et haec laniato pectore dixit: