---
title: "Ajax · Αἴας"
author: "Sophocles"
translator: "Richard Jebb"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/
cite: "Sophocles, tr. Richard Jebb, Ajax · Αἴας. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/"
---

# Ajax · Αἴας

*Sophocles, tr. Richard Jebb*

Denied the arms of Achilles, the great warrior is driven mad by Athena, and wakes to his shame.

> Greek: ed. Francis Storr, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0011.tlg003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Richard Jebb, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0011.tlg003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

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

## Contents

1. [Lines 1–499](https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/1.md)
2. [Lines 500–979](https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/2.md)
3. [Lines 980–1420](https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/3.md)

## 1. Lines 1–499

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/1/#p-N

[¶0] Athena:
Always, son of Laertes, have I observed you on the prowl to snatch some means of attack against your enemies. So now at the tent of Ajax by the ships where he has his post at the camp’s outer edge, I watch you
for a long time as you hunt and scan his newly pressed tracks, in order to see whether he is inside or away. Your course leads you well to your goal, like that of a keen-scenting Laconian hound. For the man has just now gone in,
with sweat dripping from his head and from his hands that have killed with the sword. There is no further need for you to peer inside these doors. Rather tell me what your goal is that you have shown such eagerness for, so that you may learn from her who holds the knowledge.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἀεὶ μέν, ὦ παῖ Λαρτίου, δέδορκά σε
πεῖράν τινʼ ἐχθρῶν ἁρπάσαι θηρώμενον·
καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ σκηναῖς σε ναυτικαῖς ὁρῶ
Αἴαντος, ἔνθα τάξιν ἐσχάτην ἔχει,
πάλαι κυνηγετοῦντα καὶ μετρούμενον
ἴχνη τὰ κείνου νεοχάραχθʼ, ὅπως ἴδῃς
εἴτʼ ἔνδον εἴτʼ οὐκ ἔνδον. εὖ δέ σʼ ἐκφέρει
κυνὸς Λακαίνης ὥς τις εὔρινος βάσις.
ἔνδον γὰρ ἁνὴρ ἄρτι τυγχάνει, κάρα
στάζων ἱδρῶτι καὶ χέρας ξιφοκτόνους.
καί σʼ οὐδὲν εἴσω τῆσδε παπταίνειν πύλης
ἔτʼ ἔργον ἐστίν, ἐννέπειν δʼ ὅτου χάριν
σπουδὴν ἔθου τήνδʼ, ὡς παρʼ εἰδυίας μάθῃς.

[¶1] Odysseus:
Voice of Athena, dearest to me of the gods,
how clearly, though you are unseen, do I hear your call and snatch its meaning in my mind, just as I would the bronze tongue of the Tyrrhenian trumpet! And now you have discerned correctly that I am circling my path on the track of a man who hates me, Ajax the shield-bearer.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ὦ φθέγμʼ Ἀθάνας, φιλτάτης ἐμοὶ θεῶν,
ὡς εὐμαθές σου, κἂν ἄποπτος ᾖς ὅμως,
φώνημʼ ἀκούω καὶ ξυναρπάζω φρενὶ
χαλκοστόμου κώδωνος ὡς Τυρσηνικῆς.
καὶ νῦν ἐπέγνως εὖ μʼ ἐπʼ ἀνδρὶ δυσμενεῖ
βάσιν κυκλοῦντʼ, Αἴαντι τῷ σακεσφόρῳ·

[¶2] It is he and no other that I have been tracking so long. For tonight he has done us a deed beyond comprehension—if he is indeed the doer. We know nothing for certain, but drift in doubt. And so I of my of accord took up the burden of this search.

> Greek: κεῖνον γάρ, οὐδένʼ ἄλλον, ἰχνεύω πάλαι.
νυκτὸς γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῆσδε πρᾶγος ἄσκοπον
ἔχει περάνας, εἴπερ εἴργασται τάδε·
ἴσμεν γὰρ οὐδὲν τρανές, ἀλλʼ ἀλώμεθα·
κἀγὼ ʼθελοντὴς τῷδʼ ὑπεζύγην πόνῳ.

[¶3] For we recently found all the cattle, our plunder, dead—yes, slaughtered by human hand—and with them the guardians of the flocks. Now, all men lay responsibility for this crime to him. And further, a scout who had seen him
bounding alone over the plain with a newly-wet sword reported to me and declared what he saw. Then immediately I rush upon his track, and sometimes I follow his signs, but sometimes I am bewildered, and cannot read whose they are. Your arrival is timely, for truly in all matters, both those of the past
and those of the future, it is your hand that steers me.

> Greek: ἐφθαρμένας γὰρ ἀρτίως εὑρίσκομεν
λείας ἁπάσας καὶ κατηναρισμένας
ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτοῖς ποιμνίων ἐπιστάταις.
τήνδʼ οὖν ἐκείνῳ πᾶς τις αἰτίαν νέμει.
καί μοί τις ὀπτὴρ αὐτὸν εἰσιδὼν μόνον
πηδῶντα πεδία σὺν νεορράντῳ ξίφει
φράζει τε κἀδήλωσεν· εὐθέως δʼ ἐγὼ
κατʼ ἴχνος ᾄσσω, καὶ τὰ μὲν σημαίνομαι,
τὰ δʼ ἐκπέπληγμαι κοὐκ ἔχω μαθεῖν ὅτου.
καιρὸν δʼ ἐφήκεις· πάντα γὰρ τά τʼ οὖν πάρος
τά τʼ εἰσέπειτα σῇ κυβερνῶμαι χερί.

[¶4] Athena:
I know it, Odysseus, and some time ago I came on the path as a lookout friendly to your hunt.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἔγνων, Ὀδυσσεῦ, καὶ πάλαι φύλαξ ἔβην
τῇ σῇ πρόθυμος εἰς ὁδὸν κυναγίᾳ.

[¶5] Odysseus:
And so, dear mistress, do I toil to good effect?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἦ καί, φίλη δέσποινα, πρὸς καιρὸν πονῶ;

[¶6] Athena:
Know that that man is the doer of these deeds.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ὡς ἔστιν ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε τἄργα ταῦτά σοι.

[¶7] Odysseus:
Then to what end did he thrust his hand so senselessly?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
καὶ πρὸς τί δυσλόγιστον ὧδʼ ᾖξεν χέρα;

[¶8] Athena:
He was mad with anger over the arms of Achilles.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
χόλῳ βαρυνθεὶς τῶν Ἀχιλλείων ὅπλων.

[¶9] Odysseus:
Why, then, his onslaught upon the flocks?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
τί δῆτα ποίμναις τήνδʼ ἐπεμπίπτει βάσιν;

[¶10] Athena:
It was in your blood, he thought, that he was staining his hand.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
δοκῶν ἐν ὑμῖν χεῖρα χραίνεσθαι φόνῳ.

[¶11] Odysseus:
Then was this a plot aimed against the Greeks?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἦ καὶ τὸ βούλευμʼ ὡς ἐπʼ Ἀργείοις τόδʼ ἦν;

[¶12] Athena:
Yes, and he would have accomplished it, too, had I not been attentive.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
κἂν ἐξεπράξατʼ, εἰ κατημέλησʼ ἐγώ.

[¶13] Odysseus:
And what reckless boldness was in his mind that he dared this?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ποίαισι τόλμαις ταῖσδε καὶ φρενῶν θράσει;

[¶14] Athena:
Under night’s cover he set out against you, by stealth and alone.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
νύκτωρ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς δόλιος ὁρμᾶται μόνος.

[¶15] Odysseus:
And did he get near us? Did he reach his goal?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἦ καὶ παρέστη κἀπὶ τέρμʼ ἀφίκετο;

[¶16] Athena:
He was already at the double doors of the two generals.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
καὶ δὴ ʼπὶ δισσαῖς ἦν στρατηγίσιν πύλαις.

[¶17] Odysseus:
How, then, did he restrain his hand when it was eager for murder?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
καὶ πῶς ἐπέσχε χεῖρα μαιμῶσαν φόνου;

[¶18] Athena:
It was I who prevented him, by casting over his eyes oppressive notions of his fatal joy, and I who turned his fury aside on the flocks of sheep and the confused droves guarded by herdsmen, the spoil which you had not yet divided.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἐγώ σφʼ ἀπείργω, δυσφόρους ἐπʼ ὄμμασι
γνώμας βαλοῦσα τῆς ἀνηκέστου χαρᾶς,
καὶ πρός τε ποίμνας ἐκτρέπω σύμμικτά τε
λείας ἄδαστα βουκόλων φρουρήματα·

[¶19] Then he fell upon them and kept cutting out a slaughter of many horned beasts as he split their spines in a circle around him. At one time he thought that he was killing the two Atreidae, holding them in his very hand; at another time it was this commander, and at another that one which he attacked. And I, while the man ran about in diseased frenzy,
I kept urging him on, kept hurling him into the snares of doom. Soon, when he rested from this toil, he bound together the living oxen along with with all the sheep and brought them home, as though his quarry were men, not well-horned cattle. And now he abuses them, bound together, in the house. But to you also will I show this madness openly, so that when you have seen it you may proclaim it to all the Argives. Be of good courage and stand your ground, and do not regard the man as a cause of disaster for you. I will turn away the beams of his eyes
and keep them from landing on your face.
To Ajax.

> Greek: ἔνθʼ εἰσπεσὼν ἔκειρε πολύκερων φόνον
κύκλῳ ῥαχίζων· κἀδόκει μὲν ἔσθʼ ὅτε
δισσοὺς Ἀτρείδας αὐτόχειρ κτείνειν ἔχων,
ὅτʼ ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλον ἐμπίτνων στρατηλατῶν.
ἐγὼ δὲ φοιτῶντʼ ἄνδρα μανιάσιν νόσοις
ὤτρυνον, εἰσέβαλλον εἰς ἕρκη κακά.
κἄπειτʼ ἐπειδὴ τοῦδʼ ἐλώφησεν πόνου,
τοὺς ζῶντας αὖ δεσμοῖσι συνδήσας βοῶν
ποίμνας τε πάσας εἰς δόμους κομίζεται,
ὡς ἄνδρας, οὐχ ὡς εὔκερων ἄγραν ἔχων,
καὶ νῦν κατʼ οἴκους συνδέτους αἰκίζεται.
δείξω δὲ καὶ σοὶ τήνδε περιφανῆ νόσον,
ὡς πᾶσιν Ἀργείοισιν εἰσιδὼν θροῇς.
θαρσῶν δὲ μίμνε μηδὲ συμφορὰν δέχου
τὸν ἄνδρʼ· ἐγὼ γὰρ ὀμμάτων ἀποστρόφους
αὐγὰς ἀπείρξω σὴν πρόσοψιν εἰσιδεῖν.

[¶20] You there, you who bind back your captive’s arms, I am calling you, come here! I am calling Ajax! Come out in front of the house!

> Greek: οὗτος, σὲ τὸν τὰς αἰχμαλωτίδας χέρας
δεσμοῖς ἀπευθύνοντα προσμολεῖν καλῶ·
Αἴαντα φωνῶ· στεῖχε δωμάτων πάρος.

[¶21] Odysseus:
What are you doing, Athena? Do not call him out.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
τί δρᾷς, Ἀθάνα; μηδαμῶς σφʼ ἔξω κάλει.

[¶22] Athena:
Hold your peace! Do not earn a reputation for cowardice!

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
οὐ σῖγʼ ἀνέξει μηδὲ δειλίαν ἀρεῖ;

[¶23] Odysseus:
No, by the gods, let it content you that he stay inside.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
μὴ πρὸς θεῶν, ἀλλʼ ἔνδον ἀρκείτω μένων.

[¶24] Athena:
What is the danger? Was he not a man before?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τί μὴ γένηται; πρόσθεν οὐκ ἀνὴρ ὅδʼ ἦν;

[¶25] Odysseus:
Yes, a man hostile to me in the past, and especially now.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἐχθρός γε τῷδε τἀνδρὶ καὶ τανῦν ἔτι.

[¶26] Athena:
And is not the sweetest mockery the mockery of enemies?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
οὔκουν γέλως ἥδιστος εἰς ἐχθροὺς γελᾶν;

[¶27] Odysseus:
I am content that he stay within his tent.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀρκεῖ τοῦτον ἐν δόμοις μένειν.

[¶28] Athena:
Do you fear to see a madman right before your eyes?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
μεμηνότʼ ἄνδρα περιφανῶς ὀκνεῖς ἰδεῖν;

[¶29] Odysseus:
I would not shrink from him in fear, if he were sane.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
φρονοῦντα γάρ νιν οὐκ ἂν ἐξέστην ὄκνῳ.

[¶30] Athena:
But he will not see you now, even though you stand nearby.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ νῦν σε μὴ παρόντʼ ἴδῃ πέλας.

[¶31] Odysseus:
How could that be, if he still sees with the same eyes?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
πῶς, εἴπερ ὀφθαλμοῖς γε τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὁρᾷ;

[¶32] Athena:
I shall darken them, though their sight is keen.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἐγὼ σκοτώσω βλέφαρα καὶ δεδορκότα.

[¶33] Odysseus:
It is true: all is possible when a god contrives.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
γένοιτο μέντἂν πᾶν θεοῦ τεχνωμένου.

[¶34] Athena:
Stand silent, then, and stay where you are.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
σίγα νυν ἑστὼς καὶ μένʼ ὡς κυρεῖς ἔχων.

[¶35] Odysseus:
I must stay. But I would prefer to be far from here!

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
μένοιμʼ ἄν· ἤθελον δʼ ἂν ἐκτὸς ὢν τυχεῖν.

[¶36] Athena:
You there, Ajax, once again I call you! Why do you show so little regard for your ally?
Enter Ajax, holding a blood-stained whip in his hand.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ὦ οὗτος, Αἴας, δεύτερόν σε προσκαλῶ.
τί βαιὸν οὕτως ἐντρέπει τῆς συμμάχου;

[¶37] Ajax:
Welcome, Athena! Welcome, daughter sprung from Zeus! How well have you stood by me! I will crown you with trophies of pure gold in gratitude for this quarry!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὦ χαῖρʼ Ἀθάνα, χαῖρε Διογενὲς τέκνον,
ὡς εὖ παρέστης· καί σε παγχρύσοις ἐγὼ
στέψω λαφύροις τῆσδε τῆς ἄγρας χάριν.

[¶38] Athena:
A fine pledge. But tell me this—have you dyed your sword well in the Greek army?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
καλῶς ἔλεξας· ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνό μοι φράσον,
ἔβαψας ἔγχος εὖ πρὸς Ἀργείων στρατῷ;

[¶39] Ajax:
I can make that boast. I do not deny it.

> Greek: Αἴας:
κόμπος πάρεστι κοὐκ ἀπαρνοῦμαι τὸ μή.

[¶40] Athena:
And have you launched your armed hand against the Atreidae?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἦ καὶ πρὸς Ἀτρείδαισιν ᾔχμασας χέρα;

[¶41] Ajax:
Yes, so that never again will they dishonor Ajax.

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὥστʼ οὔποτʼ Αἴανθʼ οἵδʼ ἀτιμάσουσʼ ἔτι.

[¶42] Athena:
The men are dead, as I interpret your words.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τεθνᾶσιν ἄνδρες, ὡς τὸ σὸν ξυνῆκʼ ἐγώ.

[¶43] Ajax:
Dead they are. Now let them rob me of my arms!

> Greek: Αἴας:
θανόντες ἤδη τἄμʼ ἀφαιρείσθων ὅπλα.

[¶44] Athena:
I see. And the son of Laertes, how does his fortune with respect to you? Has he escaped you?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
εἶεν, τί γὰρ δὴ παῖς ὁ τοῦ Λαερτίου,
ποῦ σοι τύχης ἕστηκεν; ἢ πέφευγέ σε;

[¶45] Ajax:
That blasted fox! You ask me where he is?

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἦ τοὐπίτριπτον κίναδος ἐξήρου μʼ ὅπου;

[¶46] Athena:
Yes, I do. I mean Odysseus, your adversary.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ἔγωγʼ· Ὀδυσσέα τὸν σὸν ἐνστάτην λέγω.

[¶47] Ajax:
My most pleasing prisoner, mistress, he sits inside. I do not wish him to die just yet.

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἥδιστος, ὦ δέσποινα, δεσμώτης ἔσω
θακεῖ· θανεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν οὔ τί πω θέλω.

[¶48] Athena:
Until you do what? Or win what greater advantage?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
πρὶν ἂν τί δράσῃς ἢ τί κερδάνῃς πλέον;

[¶49] Ajax:
Until he be bound to a pillar beneath my roof—

> Greek: Αἴας:
πρὶν ἂν δεθεὶς πρὸς κίονʼ ἑρκείου στέγης.

[¶50] Athena:
What evil, then, will you inflict on the poor man?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τί δῆτα τὸν δύστηνον ἐργάσει κακόν;

[¶51] Ajax:
—and have his back crimsoned by the lash, before he dies.

> Greek: Αἴας:
μάστιγι πρῶτον νῶτα φοινιχθεὶς θάνῃ.

[¶52] Athena:
Do not abuse the poor man so cruelly!

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
μὴ δῆτα τὸν δύστηνον ὧδέ γʼ αἰκίσῃ.

[¶53] Ajax:
In all else, Athena, I bid you take your pleasure, but he will pay this penalty and no other.

> Greek: Αἴας:
χαίρειν, Ἀθάνα, τἄλλʼ ἐγώ σʼ ἐφίεμαι·
κεῖνος δὲ τίσει τήνδε κοὐκ ἄλλην δίκην.

[¶54] Athena:
Well, then, since it delights you to do so, put your arm to use; spare no portion of your plan.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
σὺ δʼ οὖν, ἐπειδὴ τέρψις ἥδε σοι τὸ δρᾶν,
χρῶ χειρί, φείδου μηδὲν ὧνπερ ἐννοεῖς.

[¶55] Ajax:
I go to my work. And I give you this commission: be always for me the close-standing ally that you have been for me today!
Exit Ajax.

> Greek: Αἴας:
χωρῶ πρὸς ἔργον· σοὶ δὲ τοῦτʼ ἐφίεμαι,
τοιάνδʼ ἀεί μοι σύμμαχον παρεστάναι.

[¶56] Athena:
Do you see, Odysseus, how great is the strength of the gods? Whom could you have found more prudent than this man,
or better able to do what the situation demanded?

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
ὁρᾷς, Ὀδυσσεῦ, τὴν θεῶν ἰσχὺν ὅση;
τούτου τίς ἄν σοι τἀνδρὸς ἢ προνούστερος
ἢ δρᾶν ἀμείνων ηὑρέθη τὰ καίρια;

[¶57] Odysseus:
I know of no one, but in his misery I pity him all the same, even though he hates me, because he is yoked beneath a ruinous delusion—I think of my own lot no less than his.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδένʼ οἶδʼ· ἐποικτίρω δέ νιν
δύστηνον ἔμπας, καίπερ ὄντα δυσμενῆ,
ὁθούνεκʼ ἄτῃ συγκατέζευκται κακῇ,
οὐδὲν τὸ τούτου μᾶλλον ἢ τοὐμὸν σκοπῶν·

[¶58] For I see that all we who live are nothing more than phantoms or fleeting shadow.

> Greek: ὁρῶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν ὄντας ἄλλο πλὴν
εἴδωλʼ ὅσοιπερ ζῶμεν ἢ κούφην σκιάν.

[¶59] Athena:
Therefore since you witness his fate, see that you yourself never utter an arrogant word against the gods, nor assume any swelling pride, if in the scales of fate you are weightier
than another in strength of hand or in depth of ample wealth. For a day can press down all human things, and a day can raise them up. But the gods embrace men of sense and abhor the evil.
Exit Odysseus and Athena. Enter the Chorus of Salaminian Sailors, followers of Ajax.

> Greek: Ἀθήνα:
τοιαῦτα τοίνυν εἰσορῶν ὑπέρκοπον
μηδέν ποτʼ εἴπῃς αὐτὸς εἰς θεοὺς ἔπος,
μηδʼ ὄγκον ἄρῃ μηδένʼ, εἴ τινος πλέον
ἢ χειρὶ βρίθεις ἢ μακροῦ πλούτου βάθει.
ὡς ἡμέρα κλίνει τε κἀνάγει πάλιν
ἅπαντα τἀνθρώπεια· τοὺς δὲ σώφρονας
θεοὶ φιλοῦσι καὶ στυγοῦσι τοὺς κακούς.

[¶60] Chorus:
Son of Telamon, you who hold
your throne on wave-washed Salamis near the open sea, when your fortune is fair, I rejoice with you. But whenever the stroke of Zeus, or the raging rumor of the Danaans with the clamor of their evil tongues attacks you, then I shrink with great fear and shudder in terror,
like the fluttering eye of the winged dove. Just so with the passing of the night loud tumults oppressed us to our dishonor, telling how you visited the meadow wild with horses and destroyed
the cattle of the Greeks, their spoil, prizes of the spear which had not yet been shared, how you killed them with flashing iron. Such are the whispered slanders that Odysseus moulds and breathes into the ears of all,
and he wins much belief. For now he tells tales concerning you that easily win belief, and each hearer rejoices with spiteful scorn at your burdens more than he who told. Point your shaft at a noble spirit,
and you could not miss; but if a man were to speak such things against me, he would win no belief. It is on the powerful that envy creeps. Yet the small without the great are a teetering tower of defence.

> Greek: Χορός:
Τελαμώνιε παῖ, τῆς ἀμφιρύτου
Σαλαμῖνος ἔχων βάθρον ἀγχιάλου,
σὲ μὲν εὖ πράσσοντʼ ἐπιχαίρω·
σὲ δʼ ὅταν πληγὴ Διὸς ἢ ζαμενὴς
λόγος ἐκ Δαναῶν κακόθρους ἐπιβῇ,
μέγαν ὄκνον ἔχω καὶ πεφόβημαι
πτηνῆς ὡς ὄμμα πελείας.
ὡς καὶ τῆς νῦν φθιμένης νυκτὸς
μεγάλοι θόρυβοι κατέχουσʼ ἡμᾶς
ἐπὶ δυσκλείᾳ, σὲ τὸν ἱππομανῆ
λειμῶνʼ ἐπιβάντʼ ὀλέσαι Δαναῶν
βοτὰ καὶ λείαν,
ἥπερ δορίληπτος ἔτʼ ἦν λοιπή,
κτείνοντʼ αἴθωνι σιδήρῳ.
τοιούσδε λόγους ψιθύρους πλάσσων
εἰς ὦτα φέρει πᾶσιν Ὀδυσσεύς,
καὶ σφόδρα πείθει· περὶ γὰρ σοῦ νῦν
εὔπειστα λέγει, καὶ πᾶς ὁ κλύων
τοῦ λέξαντος χαίρει μᾶλλον
τοῖς σοῖς ἄχεσιν καθυβρίζων.
τῶν γὰρ μεγάλων ψυχῶν ἱεὶς
οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις· κατὰ δʼ ἄν τις ἐμοῦ
τοιαῦτα λέγων οὐκ ἂν πείθοι·
πρὸς γὰρ τὸν ἔχονθʼ ὁ φθόνος ἕρπει.
καίτοι σμικροὶ μεγάλων χωρὶς
σφαλερὸν πύργου ῥῦμα πέλονται·

[¶61] For the lowly stand most upright and prosperous when allied with the great, and the great when served by less. But foolish men cannot learn good precepts in these matters beforehand. It is men of this sort that subject you to tumult, and
we lack the power to repel these charges without you, O King. For when they have escaped your eye, they chatter like flocking birds. But, terrified by a mighty vulture,
perhaps, if you should appear, they would quickly cower without voice in silence.

> Greek: μετὰ γὰρ μεγάλων βαιὸς ἄριστʼ ἂν
καὶ μέγας ὀρθοῖθʼ ὑπὸ μικροτέρων.
ἀλλʼ οὐ δυνατὸν τοὺς ἀνοήτους
τούτων γνώμας προδιδάσκειν.
ὑπὸ τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν θορυβεῖ
χἠμεῖς οὐδὲν σθένομεν πρὸς ταῦτʼ
ἀπαλέξασθαι σοῦ χωρίς, ἄναξ.
ἀλλʼ ὅτε γὰρ δὴ τὸ σὸν ὄμμʼ ἀπέδραν,
παταγοῦσιν ἅπερ πτηνῶν ἀγέλαι·
μέγαν αἰγυπιὸν δʼ ὑποδείσαντες
τάχʼ ἂν ἐξαίφνης, εἰ σὺ φανείης,
σιγῇ πτήξειαν ἄφωνοι.

[¶62] Chorus:
Was it Artemis ruler of bulls, Zeus’s daughter, that drove you, O powerful Rumor, O mother of my shame,
drove you against the herds of all our people? Was she exacting retribution, perhaps, for a victory that had paid her no tribute, whether it was because she had been cheated of the glory of captured arms, or because a stag had been slain without gifts for recompense? Or can the bronze-cuirassed Lord of War
have had some cause for anger arising out of an alliance of spears, and taken vengeance for the outrage by contrivance shrouded in night?

> Greek: Χορός:
ἦ ῥά σε Ταυροπόλα Διὸς Ἄρτεμις—
ὦ μεγάλα φάτις, ὦ
μᾶτερ αἰσχύνας ἐμᾶς—
ὥρμασε πανδάμους ἐπὶ βοῦς ἀγελαίας,
ἦ πού τινος νίκας ἀκάρπωτον χάριν,
ἤ ῥα κλυτῶν ἐνάρων
ψευσθεῖσʼ, ἀδώροις, εἴτʼ ἐλαφαβολίας;
ἢ χαλκοθώραξ μή τινʼ Ἐνυάλιος
μομφὰν ἔχων ξυνοῦ δορὸς ἐννυχίοις
μαχαναῖς ἐτίσατο λώβαν;

[¶63] Chorus:
For never of your own heart alone, son of Telamon, would you have gone so far down the sinister path
as to fall upon the flocks. When the gods send madness, it cannot but reach its target, but may Zeus and Phoebus avert the evil rumor of the Greeks! And if it is the great kings who slander you with their furtive stories,
or if it is he born of the abject line of Sisyphus, do not, my king, do not win me an evil name by keeping your face still hidden in the tent by the sea.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὔ ποτε γὰρ φρενόθεν γʼ ἐπʼ ἀριστερά,
παῖ Τελαμῶνος, ἔβας
τόσσον, ἐν ποίμναις πίτνων·
ἥκοι γὰρ ἂν θεία νόσος· ἀλλʼ ἀπερύκοι
καὶ Ζεὺς κακὰν καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀργείων φάτιν.
εἰ δʼ ὑποβαλλόμενοι
κλέπτουσι μύθους οἱ μεγάλοι βασιλῆς
ἢ τᾶς ἀσώτου Σισυφιδᾶν γενεᾶς,
μὴ μή, ἄναξ, ἔθʼ ὧδʼ ἐφάλοις κλισίαις
ὄμμʼ ἔχων κακὰν φάτιν ἄρῃ.

[¶64] Chorus:
Come now, up from your seat, wherever you are settled in this long-lived pause from battle
and are making the flame of disaster blaze up to the sky! The violent insolence of your enemies rushes fearlessly about in the breezy glens, while the tongues of all the army cackle out a load of grief.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλʼ ἄνα ἐξ ἑδράνων, ὅπου μακραίωνι
στηρίζει ποτὲ τᾷδʼ ἀγωνίῳ σχολᾷ
ἄταν οὐρανίαν φλέγων.
ἐχθρῶν δʼ ὕβρις ὧδʼ ἀτάρβητα
ὁρμᾶται ἐν εὐανέμοις βάσσαις,
πάντων καγχαζόντων
γλώσσαις βαρυάλγητα·

[¶65] For me, sorrow stands firmly planted.
Enter Tecmessa.

> Greek: ἐμοὶ δʼ ἄχος ἕστακεν.

[¶66] Tecmessa:
Mates of the ship of Ajax, offspring of the race that springs from the Erechtheids, the soil’s sons, cries of grief are the portion of us who care from afar for the house of Telamon.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ναὸς ἀρωγοὶ τῆς Αἴαντος,
γενεᾶς χθονίων ἀπʼ Ἐρεχθειδῶν,
ἔχομεν στοναχὰς οἱ κηδόμενοι
τοῦ Τελαμῶνος τηλόθεν οἴκου.

[¶67] Ajax, our terrible, mighty lord of untamed power, now lies plagued by a turbid storm of disease.

> Greek: νῦν γὰρ ὁ δεινὸς μέγας ὠμοκρατὴς
Αἴας θολερῷ
κεῖται χειμῶνι νοσήσας.

[¶68] Chorus:
And what is the heavy change from the fortune of yesterday which this night has produced?

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δʼ ἐνήλλακται τῆς ἡμερίας
νὺξ ἥδε βάρος;

[¶69] Daughter of Teleutas the Phrygian, speak, since for you his spear-won mate bold Ajax maintains his love, so that with some knowledge you could suggest an explanation.

> Greek: παῖ τοῦ Φρυγίου Τελεύταντος,
λέγʼ, ἐπεὶ σὲ λέχος δουριάλωτον
στέρξας ἀνέχει θούριος Αἴας·
ὥστʼ οὐκ ἂν ἄϊδρις ὑπείποις.

[¶70] Tecmessa:
Oh, how am I to tell a tale too terrible for words?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
πῶς δῆτα λέγω λόγον ἄρρητον;

[¶71] Grave as death is the suffering which you will hear. By madness our glorious Ajax was seized in the night, and he has been subjected to utter disgrace. All this you may see inside his dwelling—butchered victims bathed in blood,
sacrifices of no hand but his.

> Greek: θανάτῳ γὰρ ἴσον βάρος ἐκπεύσει.
μανίᾳ γὰρ ἁλοὺς ἡμὶν ὁ κλεινὸς
νύκτερος Αἴας ἀπελωβήθη.
τοιαῦτʼ ἂν ἴδοις σκηνῆς ἔνδον
χειροδάϊκτα σφάγιʼ αἱμοβαφῆ,
κείνου χρηστήρια τἀνδρός.

[¶72] Chorus:
What report of the fiery warrior have you revealed to us, unbearable, nor yet escapable—
a report which the great Danaans propound, which their powerful storytelling spreads! Ah, me, I shudder at the future’s advancing step. In public view the man will die
because the dark sword in his frenzied hand massacred the herds and the horse-guiding herdsmen.

> Greek: Χορός:
οἵαν ἐδήλωσας ἀνέρος αἴθονος
ἀγγελίαν ἄτλατον οὐδὲ φευκτάν,
τῶν μεγάλων Δαναῶν ὕπο κλῃζομέναν,
τὰν ὁ μέγας μῦθος ἀέξει.
οἴμοι φοβοῦμαι τὸ προσέρπον· περίφαντος ἁνὴρ
θανεῖται, παραπλάκτῳ χερὶ συγκατακτὰς
κελαινοῖς ξίφεσιν βοτὰ καὶ βοτῆρας ἱππονώμας.

[¶73] Tecmessa:
Ah! Then it was from there, from there that he came to me with his captive flock!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὤμοι· κεῖθεν κεῖθεν ἄρʼ ἡμῖν
δεσμῶτιν ἄγων ἤλυθε ποίμνην·

[¶74] Of part, he cut the throats on the floor inside; some, striking their sides, he tore asunder. Then he caught up two white-footed rams and sheared off the head of one and its tongue-tip, and flung them away;
the other he bound upright to a pillar, and seizing a heavy strap from a horse’s harness he flogged it with a whistling, doubled lash, while he cursed it with awful imprecations which a god, and no mortal, had taught him.

> Greek: ὧν τὴν μὲν ἔσω σφάζʼ ἐπὶ γαίας,
τὰ δὲ πλευροκοπῶν δίχʼ ἀνερρήγνυ.
δύο δʼ ἀργίποδας κριοὺς ἀνελὼν
τοῦ μὲν κεφαλὴν καὶ γλῶσσαν ἄκραν
ῥιπτεῖ θερίσας, τὸν δʼ ὀρθὸν ἄνω
κίονι δήσας
μέγαν ἱπποδέτην ῥυτῆρα λαβὼν
παίει λιγυρᾷ μάστιγι διπλῇ,
κακὰ δεννάζων ῥήμαθʼ, ἃ δαίμων
κοὐδεὶς ἀνδρῶν ἐδίδαξεν.

[¶75] Chorus:
The time has come for each of us to veil his head and steal away on foot, or to sit and take on the swift yoke of rowing,
giving her way to the sea-faring ship. So angry are the threats which the brother-kings, the sons of Atreus, speed against us! I fear to share in bitter death beneath an onslaught of stones,
crushed at this man’s side, whom an untouchable fate holds in its grasp.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὥρα τινʼ ἤδη τοι κρᾶτα καλύμμασι
κρυψάμενον ποδοῖν κλοπὰν ἀρέσθαι
ἢ θοὸν εἰρεσίας ζυγὸν ἑζόμενον
ποντοπόρῳ ναῒ μεθεῖναι.
τοίας ἐρέσσουσιν ἀπειλὰς δικρατεῖς Ἀτρεῖδαι
καθʼ ἡμῶν· πεφόβημαι λιθόλευστον Ἄρη
ξυναλγεῖν μετὰ τοῦδε τυπείς, τὸν αἶσʼ ἄπλατος ἴσχει.

[¶76] Tecmessa:
It grips him no longer. For like a southerly wind after it has started up sharply without bright lightning he grows calm. And now in his right mind he has new pain.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οὐκέτι· λαμπρᾶς γὰρ ἄτερ στεροπῆς
ᾄξας ὀξὺς νότος ὣς λήγει,
καὶ νῦν φρόνιμος νέον ἄλγος ἔχει·

[¶77] To look on self-made suffering, when no other has had a hand in it—this induces sharp pains.

> Greek: τὸ γὰρ ἐσλεύσσειν οἰκεῖα πάθη,
μηδενὸς ἄλλου παραπράξαντος,
μεγάλας ὀδύνας ὑποτείνει.

[¶78] Chorus:
But if he has stopped his madness, I have good hope that all may yet be well, since the trouble is of less account once it has passed.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλʼ εἰ πέπαυται, κάρτʼ ἂν εὐτυχεῖν δοκῶ·
φρούδου γὰρ ἤδη τοῦ κακοῦ μείων λόγος.

[¶79] Tecmessa:
And which, if the choice were given you, would you choose—to distress your friends, and have joy yourself, or to share the grief of friends who grieve?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
πότερα δʼ ἄν, εἰ νέμοι τις αἵρεσιν, λάβοις,
φίλους ἀνιῶν αὐτὸς ἡδονὰς ἔχειν,
ἢ κοινὸς ἐν κοινοῖσι λυπεῖσθαι ξυνών;

[¶80] Chorus:
The twofold sorrow, lady, is certainly the greater evil.

> Greek: Χορός:
τό τοι διπλάζον, ὦ γύναι, μεῖζον κακόν.

[¶81] Tecmessa:
Then we are ruined now, although the plague is past.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἡμεῖς ἄρʼ οὐ νοσοῦντες ἀτώμεσθα νῦν.

[¶82] Chorus:
What do you mean? I do not understand what you say.

> Greek: Χορός:
πῶς τοῦτʼ ἔλεξας; οὐ κάτοιδʼ ὅπως λέγεις.

[¶83] Tecmessa:
That man, while afflicted, found joy for himself in the dire fantasies that held him, though his presence distressed us who were sane. But now, since he has had pause and rest from the plague,
he has been utterly subjected to lowly anguish, and we similarly grieve no less than before. Surely, then, these are two sorrows, instead of one?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἁνὴρ ἐκεῖνος, ἡνίκʼ ἦν ἐν τῇ νόσῳ,
αὐτὸς μὲν ἥδεθʼ οἷσιν εἴχετʼ ἐν κακοῖς,
ἡμᾶς δὲ τοὺς φρονοῦντας ἠνία ξυνών·
νῦν δʼ ὡς ἔληξε κἀνέπνευσε τῆς νόσου,
κεῖνός τε λύπῃ πᾶς ἐλήλαται κακῇ
ἡμεῖς θʼ ὁμοίως οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἢ πάρος.
ἆρʼ ἔστι ταῦτα δὶς τόσʼ ἐξ ἁπλῶν κακά;

[¶84] Chorus:
Indeed, I agree, and so I fear that a blow sent by a god has hit him. How could it be otherwise, if his spirit is no lighter
than when he was plagued, now that he is released?

> Greek: Χορός:
ξύμφημι δή σοι καὶ δέδοικα μὴ ʼκ θεοῦ
πληγή τις ἥκῃ. πῶς γάρ, εἰ πεπαυμένος
μηδέν τι μᾶλλον ἢ νοσῶν εὐφραίνεται;

[¶85] Tecmessa:
This, you must know, is how matters stand.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὡς ὧδʼ ἐχόντων τῶνδʼ ἐπίστασθαί σε χρή.

[¶86] Chorus:
In what way did the plague first swoop down on him? Tell us who share your pain how it happened.

> Greek: Χορός:
τίς γάρ ποτʼ ἀρχὴ τοῦ κακοῦ προσέπτατο;
δήλωσον ἡμῖν τοῖς ξυναλγοῦσιν τύχας.

[¶87] Tecmessa:
You will hear all that took place, since you are involved.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἅπαν μαθήσει τοὔργον ὡς κοινωνὸς ὤν.

[¶88] In the dead of night when the evening lamps were no longer aflame, he seized a two-edged sword and wanted to leave on an aimless foray. Then I admonished him and said, “What are you doing, Ajax? Why do you set out unsummoned on this expedition,”
“neither called by messenger, nor warned by trumpet? In fact the whole army is sleeping now.” But he answered me curtly with that trite jingle: “Woman, silence graces woman.” And I, taking his meaning, desisted, but he rushed out alone.

> Greek: κεῖνος γὰρ ἄκρας νυκτός, ἡνίχʼ ἕσπεροι
λαμπτῆρες οὐκέτʼ ᾖθον, ἄμφηκες λαβὼν
ἐμαίετʼ ἔγχος ἐξόδους ἕρπειν κενάς.
κἀγὼ ʼπιπλήσσω καὶ λέγω· τί χρῆμα δρᾷς,
Αἴας; τί τήνδʼ ἄκλητος οὔθʼ ὑπʼ ἀγγέλων
κληθεὶς ἀφορμᾷς πεῖραν οὔτε τοῦ κλύων
σάλπιγγος; ἀλλὰ νῦν γε πᾶς εὕδει στρατός.
ὁ δʼ εἶπε πρός με βαίʼ, ἀεὶ δʼ ὑμνούμενα·
γύναι, γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φέρει.
κἀγὼ μαθοῦσʼ ἔληξʼ, ὁ δʼ ἐσσύθη μόνος.

[¶89] What happened out there, I cannot tell. But he came in with his captives hobbled together—bulls, herding dogs, and his fleecy quarry. Some he beheaded; of some he cut the twisted throat or broke the spine; others
he abused in their bonds as though they were men, though falling only upon cattle. At last he darted out through the door, and dragged up words to speak to some shadow—now against the Atreidae, now about Odysseus—with many a mocking boast of all the abuse that in vengeance he had fully repaid them during his raid.

> Greek: καὶ τὰς ἐκεῖ μὲν οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν πάθας·
ἔσω δʼ ἐσῆλθε συνδέτους ἄγων ὁμοῦ
ταύρους, κύνας βοτῆρας, εὔερόν τʼ ἄγραν.
καὶ τοὺς μὲν ηὐχένιζε, τοὺς δʼ ἄνω τρέπων
ἔσφαζε κἀρράχιζε, τοὺς δὲ δεσμίους
ᾐκίζεθʼ ὥστε φῶτας ἐν ποίμναις πίτνων.
τέλος δʼ ὑπᾴξας διὰ θυρῶν σκιᾷ τινι
λόγους ἀνέσπα, τοὺς μὲν Ἀτρειδῶν κάτα,
τοὺς δʼ ἀμφʼ Ὀδυσσεῖ, συντιθεὶς γέλων πολύν,
ὅσην κατʼ αὐτῶν ὕβριν ἐκτίσαιτʼ ἰών·

[¶90] After that he rushed back again into the house, and somehow by slow, painful steps he regained his reason. And as he scanned the room full of his disastrous madness, he struck his head and howled; he fell down, a wreck amid the wrecked corpses of the slaughtered sheep, and there he sat
with clenched nails tightly clutching his hair. At first, and for a long while, he sat without a sound. But then he threatened me with those dreadful threats, if I did not declare all that had happened, and he demanded to know what on earth was the business he found himself in.

> Greek: κἄπειτʼ ἐπᾴξας αὖθις ἐς δόμους πάλιν,
ἔμφρων μόλις πως ξὺν χρόνῳ καθίσταται,
καὶ πλῆρες ἄτης ὡς διοπτεύει στέγος,
παίσας κάρα ʼθώϋξεν· ἐν δʼ ἐρειπίοις
νεκρῶν ἐρειφθεὶς ἕζετʼ ἀρνείου φόνου,
κόμην ἀπρὶξ ὄνυξι συλλαβὼν χερί.
καὶ τὸν μὲν ἧστο πλεῖστον ἄφθογγος χρόνον·
ἔπειτʼ ἐμοὶ τὰ δείνʼ ἐπηπείλησʼ ἔπη,
εἰ μὴ φανοίην πᾶν τὸ συντυχὸν πάθος,
κἀνήρετʼ ἐν τῷ πράγματος κυροῖ ποτέ.

[¶91] And in my fear, friends, I told him all that had been done, as far as I knew it for certain. But he immediately groaned mournful groans, such as I had never heard from him before. For he had always taught that such wailing
was for cowardly and low-hearted men. He used to grieve quietly without the sound of loud weeping, but instead moaned low like a bull. And now, prostrate in such miserable fortune, tasting no food, no drink,
the man sits idly where he has fallen in the middle of the iron-slain cattle. And plainly he plans to do something terrible. Somehow his words and his laments say as much. Ah, my friends—for it was my errand to ask you this—come in and help him, if in any way you can.

> Greek: κἀγώ, φίλοι, δείσασα τοὐξειργασμένον
ἔλεξα πᾶν ὅσονπερ ἐξηπιστάμην.
ὁ δʼ εὐθὺς ἐξῴμωξεν οἰμωγὰς λυγράς,
ἃς οὔποτʼ αὐτοῦ πρόσθεν εἰσήκουσʼ ἐγώ·
πρὸς γὰρ κακοῦ τε καὶ βαρυψύχου γόους
τοιούσδʼ ἀεί ποτʼ ἀνδρὸς ἐξηγεῖτʼ ἔχειν·
ἀλλʼ ἀψόφητος ὀξέων κωκυμάτων
ὑπεστέναζε ταῦρος ὣς βρυχώμενος.
νῦν δʼ ἐν τοιᾷδε κείμενος κακῇ τύχῃ
ἄσιτος ἁνήρ, ἄποτος, ἐν μέσοις βοτοῖς
σιδηροκμῆσιν ἥσυχος θακεῖ πεσών·
καὶ δῆλός ἐστιν ὥς τι δρασείων κακόν.
τοιαῦτα γάρ πως καὶ λέγει κὠδύρεται.
ἀλλʼ, ὦ φίλοι, τούτων γὰρ οὕνεκʼ ἐστάλην,
ἀρήξατʼ εἰσελθόντες, εἰ δύνασθέ τι·

[¶92] Men of his kind can be won over by the words of friends.

> Greek: φίλων γὰρ οἱ τοιοίδε νικῶνται λόγοις.

[¶93] Chorus:
Tecmessa, daughter of Teleutas, terrible is your news that our lord has been possessed by his sorrows.
Within.
Ajax: wailing.

> Greek: Χορός:
Τέκμησσα, δεινά, παῖ Τελεύταντος, λέγεις
ἡμῖν, τὸν ἄνδρα διαπεφοιβάσθαι κακοῖς.

[¶94] Oh! Ah, me! Ah, me!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶95] Tecmessa:
Soon there will be more sorrow, it seems. Did you not hear
Ajax, did you not hear his resounding howl?
Ajax: wailing.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
τάχʼ, ὡς ἔοικε, μᾶλλον· ἢ οὐκ ἠκούσατε
Αἴαντος οἵαν τήνδε θωΰσσει βοήν;

[¶96] Oh! Ah, me! Ah, me!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶97] Chorus:
The man seems to be sick, or else to be still pained by the disease which was recently with him, since he sees its traces.
Ajax: wailing.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἁνὴρ ἔοικεν ἢ νοσεῖν ἢ τοῖς πάλαι
νοσήμασιν ξυνοῦσι λυπεῖσθαι παρών.

[¶98] Oh my son, my son!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ παῖ παῖ.

[¶99] Tecmessa:
Ah, miserable me! Eurysaces, it is for you he calls! What can his purpose be? Where are you? I am miserable!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὤμοι τάλαινʼ· Εὐρύσακες, ἀμφὶ σοὶ βοᾷ.
τί ποτε μενοινᾷ; ποῦ ποτʼ εἶ; τάλαινʼ ἐγώ.

[¶100] Ajax:
Teucer! Where is Teucer? Will his raid last for ever? While I perish?

> Greek: Αἴας:
Τεῦκρον καλῶ. ποῦ Τεῦκρος; ἢ τὸν εἰσαεὶ
λεηλατήσει χρόνον, ἐγὼ δʼ ἀπόλλυμαι;

[¶101] Chorus:
He seems to be sane—open the door!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἁνὴρ φρονεῖν ἔοικεν. ἀλλʼ ἀνοίγετε.

[¶102] Perhaps merely at the sight of me he will come to a more respectable mood.

> Greek: τάχʼ ἄν τινʼ αἰδῶ κἀπʼ ἐμοὶ βλέψας λάβοι.

[¶103] Tecmessa:
There, it is open. Now you can look on this man’s deeds, and his true condition.
Ajax is discovered sitting amidst the slaughtered cattle.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἰδού, διοίγω· προσβλέπειν δʼ ἔξεστί σοι
τὰ τοῦδε πράγη, καὐτὸς ὡς ἔχων κυρεῖ.

[¶104] Ajax:
Ah, good sailors, you alone of my friends
who alone still abide by the true bond of friendship, see how great a wave has just now crested over and broken around me, set on by a murderous storm!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ
φίλοι ναυβάται, μόνοι ἐμῶν φίλων,
μόνοι ἔτʼ ἐμμένοντες ὀρθῷ νόμῳ,
ἴδεσθέ μʼ οἷον ἄρτι κῦμα φοινίας ὑπὸ ζάλης
ἀμφίδρομον κυκλεῖται.

[¶105] Chorus:
Ah, lady, too true, it seems, was your testimony!

> Greek: Χορός:
οἴμʼ ὡς ἔοικας ὀρθὰ μαρτυρεῖν ἄγαν.

[¶106] The fact proves that he is not sane.

> Greek: δηλοῖ δὲ τοὔργον ὡς ἀφροντίστως ἔχει.

[¶107] Ajax:
Ah, you clan staunch in maritime skill, who embarked and stroked the oar-blade upon the brine, in you, in you alone
I see a defense against suffering. Come, slay me on top of these!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ
γένος ναΐας ἀρωγὸν τέχνας,
ἅλιον ὃς ἐπέβας ἑλίσσων πλάταν,
σέ τοι σέ τοι μόνον δέδορκα πημονὰν ἐπαρκέσοντʼ·
ἀλλά με συνδάϊξον.

[¶108] Chorus:
Hush! Speak words of better omen! Do not cure evil by prescribing evil; do not increase the anguish of your mad disaster.

> Greek: Χορός:
εὔφημα φώνει· μὴ κακὸν κακῷ διδοὺς
ἄκος, πλέον τὸ πῆμα τῆς ἄτης τίθει.

[¶109] Ajax:
Do you see the bold, the strong of heart,
the dauntless in battles with the enemy—do you see me now, terrible in the force of my hands against beasts unformidable? Oh, the mockery! How I have been violated!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὁρᾷς τὸν θρασύν, τὸν εὐκάρδιον,
τὸν ἐν δαΐοις ἄτρεστον μάχαις,
ἐν ἀφόβοις με θηρσὶ δεινὸν χέρας;
ὤμοι γέλωτος, οἷον ὑβρίσθην ἄρα.

[¶110] Tecmessa:
Ajax, my lord, I beg you, do not talk this way!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
μή, δέσποτʼ Αἴας, λίσσομαί σʼ, αὔδα τάδε.

[¶111] Ajax:
Away with you! Will you not take yourself outside!

> Greek: Αἴας:
οὐκ ἐκτός; οὐκ ἄψορρον ἐκνεμεῖ πόδα;

[¶112] Ah, me! Ah, me!

> Greek: αἰαῖ αἰαῖ.

[¶113] Chorus:
By the gods I plead, give way and acquire good sense!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὦ πρὸς θεῶν ὕπεικε καὶ φρόνησον εὖ.

[¶114] Ajax:
My rotten fortune!—I let slip from my grasp those men who were begging for punishment,
and fell instead on cattle with twisted horns and fine goats, making their dark blood flow!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὦ δύσμορος, ὃς χερὶ μὲν
μεθῆκα τοὺς ἀλάστορας, ἐν δʼ ἑλίκεσσι
βουσὶ καὶ κλυτοῖς πεσὼν αἰπολίοις
ἐρεμνὸν αἷμʼ ἔδευσα.

[¶115] Chorus:
Why grieve when the deed is past recall? These things can never be but as they are.

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δῆτʼ ἂν ἀλγοίης ἐπʼ ἐξειργασμένοις;
οὐ γὰρ γένοιτʼ ἂν ταῦθʼ ὅπως οὐχ ὧδʼ ἔχειν.

[¶116] Ajax:
Ah, you who spy out all things,
you ready tool of every crime, ah, son of Laertes, you filthiest sneak in all the army, I am sure you laugh loud and long for joy!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ πάνθʼ ὁρῶν ἁπάντων τʼ ἀεὶ
κακῶν ὄργανον, τέκνον Λαρτίου,
κακοπινέστατόν τʼ ἄλημα στρατοῦ,
ἦ που πολὺν γέλωθʼ ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς ἄγεις.

[¶117] Chorus:
It is at the god’s dispensation that every man both laughs and mourns.

> Greek: Χορός:
ξύν τοι θεῷ πᾶς καὶ γελᾷ κὠδύρεται.

[¶118] Ajax:
Yet if only I could see him, even shattered as I am!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἴδοιμι μήν νιν, καίπερ ὧδʼ ἀτώμενος.

[¶119] Oh! Oh!

> Greek: ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶120] Chorus:
Make no big threats! Do you not see the trouble you are in?

> Greek: Χορός:
μηδὲν μέγʼ εἴπῃς· οὐχ ὁρᾷς ἵνʼ εἶ κακοῦ;

[¶121] Ajax:
O Zeus, forefather of my forebears, if only I might destroy that deep dissembler, that hateful sneak, and
the two brother-kings, and finally die myself, also!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὦ Ζεῦ, προγόνων προπάτωρ,
πῶς ἂν τὸν αἱμυλώτατον, ἐχθρὸν ἄλημα,
τούς τε δισσάρχας ὀλέσσας βασιλῆς
τέλος θάνοιμι καὐτός;

[¶122] Tecmessa:
When you make that prayer, pray at the same time for me that I, too, may die. What reason is there for me to live when you are dead?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὅταν κατεύχῃ ταῦθʼ, ὁμοῦ κἀμοὶ θανεῖν
εὔχου· τί γὰρ δεῖ ζῆν με σοῦ τεθνηκότος;

[¶123] Ajax:
Ah, Darkness, my light!
O Gloom of the underworld, to my eyes brightest-shining, take me, take me to dwell with you—yes, take me. I am no longer worthy to look for help to the race of the gods,
or for any good from men, creatures of a day. No, the daughter of Zeus, the valiant goddess, abuses me to my destruction. Where, then, can a man flee? Where can I go to find rest?

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ
σκότος, ἐμὸν φάος,
ἔρεβος ὦ φαεννότατον, ὡς ἐμοί,
ἕλεσθʼ ἕλεσθέ μʼ οἰκήτορα,
ἕλεσθέ μʼ· οὔτε γὰρ θεῶν γένος οὔθʼ ἁμερίων
ἔτʼ ἄξιος βλέπειν τινʼ εἰς ὄνασιν ἀνθρώπων.
ἀλλά μʼ ἁ Διὸς
ἀλκίμα θεὸς
ὀλέθριʼ αἰκίζει.
ποῖ τις οὖν φύγῃ;
ποῖ μολὼν μενῶ;

[¶124] If my past achievements go to ruin, my friends, along with such victims as these near me, and if I am inclined to foolish plunderings, then with sword driven by both hands all the army would murder me!

> Greek: εἰ τὰ μὲν φθίνει, φίλοι, τοιοῖσδʼ
ὁμοῦ πέλας, μώραις δʼ ἄγραις προσκείμεθα,
πᾶς δὲ στρατὸς δίπαλτος ἄν με
χειρὶ φονεύοι.

[¶125] Tecmessa:
Ah, what misery for me that a valuable man should speak words of a sort which he would never before now have endured to speak!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὦ δυστάλαινα, τοιάδʼ ἄνδρα χρήσιμον
φωνεῖν, ἃ πρόσθεν οὗτος οὐκ ἔτλη ποτʼ ἄν.

[¶126] Ajax:
Ah! You paths of the sounding sea, you tidal caves and wooded pastures by the shore, long, long, too long indeed
have you detained me here at Troy. But no more will you hold me, no more so long as I have the breath of life. Of that much let sane men be sure. O neighboring streams of Scamander,
kindly to the Greeks, no more shall you look on Ajax, whose equal in the army—here I will boast—
Troy has never seen come from the land of Hellas. But now deprived of honor I lie low here in the dust!

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἰὼ
πόροι ἁλίρροθοι
πάραλά τʼ ἄντρα καὶ νέμος ἐπάκτιον,
πολὺν πολύν με δαρόν τε δὴ
κατείχετʼ ἀμφὶ Τροίαν χρόνον· ἀλλʼ οὐκέτι μʼ, οὐκ
ἔτʼ ἀμπνοὰς ἔχοντα· τοῦτό τις φρονῶν ἴστω.
ὦ Σκαμάνδριοι
γείτονες ῥοαί,
εὔφρονες Ἀργείοις,
οὐκέτʼ ἄνδρα μὴ
τόνδʼ ἴδητʼ, ἔπος
ἐξερῶ μέγʼ, οἷον οὔτινα
Τροία στρατοῦ δέρχθη χθονὸς μολόντʼ ἀπὸ
Ἑλλανίδος· τανῦν δʼ ἄτιμος
ὧδε πρόκειμαι.

[¶127] Chorus:
In truth I do not know how to restrain you, nor how to let you speak further, when you have fallen on such harsh troubles.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὔτοι σʼ ἀπείργειν οὐδʼ ὅπως ἐῶ λέγειν
ἔχω, κακοῖς τοιοῖσδε συμπεπτωκότα.

[¶128] Ajax:
Aiai! Who would ever have thought that my name would so descriptively suit my troubles? For well now may Ajax cry “Aiai”—yes, twice and three times. Such are the harsh troubles with which I have met. Look, I am one whose father’s
prowess won him the fairest prize of all the army, whose father brought every glory home from this same land of Ida; but I, his son, who came after him to this same ground of Troy with no less might and proved the service of my hand in no meaner deeds,
I am ruined as you see by dishonor from the Greeks. And yet of this much I feel sure: if Achilles lived, and had been called to award the first place in valor to any claimant of his arms, no one would have grasped them before me.

> Greek: Αἴας:
αἰαῖ· τίς ἄν ποτʼ ᾤεθʼ ὧδʼ ἐπώνυμον
τοὐμὸν ξυνοίσειν ὄνομα τοῖς ἐμοῖς κακοῖς;
νῦν γὰρ πάρεστι καὶ δὶς αἰάζειν ἐμοὶ
καὶ τρίς· τοιούτοις γὰρ κακοῖς ἐντυγχάνω·
ὅτου πατὴρ μὲν τῆσδʼ ἀπʼ Ἰδαίας χθονὸς
τὰ πρῶτα καλλιστεῖʼ ἀριστεύσας στρατοῦ
πρὸς οἶκον ἦλθε πᾶσαν εὔκλειαν φέρων·
ἐγὼ δʼ ὁ κείνου παῖς, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐς τόπον
Τροίας ἐπελθὼν οὐκ ἐλάσσονι σθένει
οὐδʼ ἔργα μείω χειρὸς ἀρκέσας ἐμῆς,
ἄτιμος Ἀργείοισιν ὧδʼ ἀπόλλυμαι.
καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γʼ ἐξεπίστασθαι δοκῶ·
εἰ ζῶν Ἀχιλλεὺς τῶν ὅπλων τῶν ὧν πέρι
κρίνειν ἔμελλε κράτος ἀριστείας τινί,
οὐκ ἄν τις αὔτʼ ἔμαρψεν ἄλλος ἀντʼ ἐμοῦ.

[¶129] But now the Atreidae have made away with them to a man without scruples and thrust away the triumphs of Ajax. And if these eyes and this warped mind had not swerved from the purpose that was mine, they would have never in this way procured votes in judgment against another man.

> Greek: νῦν δʼ αὔτʼ Ἀτρεῖδαι φωτὶ παντουργῷ φρένας
ἔπραξαν, ἀνδρὸς τοῦδʼ ἀπώσαντες κράτη.
κεἰ μὴ τόδʼ ὄμμα καὶ φρένες διάστροφοι
γνώμης ἀπῇξαν τῆς ἐμῆς, οὐκ ἄν ποτε
δίκην κατʼ ἄλλου φωτὸς ὧδʼ ἐψήφισαν.

[¶130] As it was, the daughter of Zeus, the grim-eyed, unconquerable goddess, tripped me up at the instant when I was readying my hand against them, and shot me with a plague of frenzy so that I might bloody my hands in these grazers. And those men exult to have escaped me—
not that I wanted their escape. But if a god sends harm, it is true that even the base man can elude the worthier. And now what shall I do, when I am plainly hated by the gods, abhorred by the Greek forces and detested by all Troy and all these plains?

> Greek: νῦν δʼ ἡ Διὸς γοργῶπις ἀδάματος θεὰ
ἤδη μʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς χεῖρʼ ἐπεντύνοντʼ ἐμὴν
ἔσφηλεν, ἐμβαλοῦσα λυσσώδη νόσον,
ὥστʼ ἐν τοιοῖσδε χεῖρας αἱμάξαι βοτοῖς·
κεῖνοι δʼ ἐπεγγελῶσιν ἐκπεφευγότες,
ἐμοῦ μὲν οὐχ ἑκόντος· εἰ δέ τις θεῶν
βλάπτοι, φύγοι τἂν χὠ κακὸς τὸν κρείσσονα.
καὶ νῦν τί χρὴ δρᾶν; ὅστις ἐμφανῶς θεοῖς
ἐχθαίρομαι, μισεῖ δέ μʼ Ἑλλήνων στρατός,
ἔχθει δὲ Τροία πᾶσα καὶ πεδία τάδε.

[¶131] Shall I leave my station at the ships and the Atreidae to their own devices in order to go home across the Aegean? And how shall I face my father Telamon, when I arrive? How will he bear to look on me, when I stand before him stripped, without that supreme prize of valor
for which he himself won a great crown of fame? No, I could not bear to do it! But then shall I go against the bulwark of the Trojans, attacking alone in single combats and doing some valuable service, and finally die? But, in so doing I might, I think, gladden the Atreidae.

> Greek: πότερα πρὸς οἴκους, ναυλόχους λιπὼν ἕδρας
μόνους τʼ Ἀτρείδας, πέλαγος Αἰγαῖον περῶ;
καὶ ποῖον ὄμμα πατρὶ δηλώσω φανεὶς
Τελαμῶνι; πῶς με τλήσεταί ποτʼ εἰσιδεῖν
γυμνὸν φανέντα τῶν ἀριστείων ἄτερ,
ὧν αὐτὸς ἔσχε στέφανον εὐκλείας μέγαν;
οὐκ ἔστι τοὔργον τλητόν. ἀλλὰ δῆτʼ ἰὼν
πρὸς ἔρυμα Τρώων, ξυμπεσὼν μόνος μόνοις
καὶ δρῶν τι χρηστόν, εἶτα λοίσθιον θάνω;
ἀλλʼ ὧδέ γʼ Ἀτρείδας ἂν εὐφράναιμί που.

[¶132] That must not happen. Some enterprise must be sought whereby I may prove to my aged father that in nature, at least, his son is not gutless. It is a stain upon a man to crave the full term of life, when he finds no variation from his ignominious troubles.

> Greek: οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα. πεῖρά τις ζητητέα
τοιάδʼ ἀφʼ ἧς γέροντι δηλώσω πατρὶ
μή τοι φύσιν γʼ ἄσπλαγχνος ἐκ κείνου γεγώς.
αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ἄνδρα τοῦ μακροῦ χρῄζειν βίου,
κακοῖσιν ὅστις μηδὲν ἐξαλλάσσεται.

[¶133] What joy is there in day following day, now advancing us towards, now drawing us back from the verge of death? I would not buy at any price the man who feels the glow of empty hopes.
The options for a noble man are only two: either live with honor, or make a quick and honorable death. You have heard all.

> Greek: τί γὰρ παρʼ ἦμαρ ἡμέρα τέρπειν ἔχει
προσθεῖσα κἀναθεῖσα τοῦ γε κατθανεῖν;
οὐκ ἂν πριαίμην οὐδενὸς λόγου βροτὸν
ὅστις κεναῖσιν ἐλπίσιν θερμαίνεται·
ἀλλʼ ἢ καλῶς ζῆν ἢ καλῶς τεθνηκέναι
τὸν εὐγενῆ χρή. πάντʼ ἀκήκοας λόγον.

[¶134] Chorus:
No man shall say that you have spoken a bastard word, Ajax, or one not bred of your own heart. Yet at least pause; dismiss these thoughts, and grant friends the power to rule your purpose.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐδεὶς ἐρεῖ ποθʼ ὡς ὑπόβλητον λόγον,
Αἴας, ἔλεξας, ἀλλὰ τῆς σαυτοῦ φρενός·
παῦσαί γε μέντοι καὶ δὸς ἀνδράσιν φίλοις
γνώμης κρατῆσαι, τάσδε φροντίδας μεθείς.

[¶135] Tecmessa:
Ajax, my lord, the fortune that humans are compelled to endure is their gravest evil. I was the daughter of a free-born father mighty in wealth, if any Phrygian was. Now I am a slave, for somehow the gods so ordained,
and even more so did your strong hand. Therefore, since I have come into your bed, I wish you well, and I do beg you, by the Zeus of our hearth, by your marriage-bed in which you coupled with me, do not condemn me to the cruel talk
of your enemies, do not leave me to the hand of a stranger! On whatever day you die and widow me by your death, on that same day, be sure, I shall also be seized forcibly by the Greeks and, with your son, shall obtain a slave’s portion.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὦ δέσποτʼ Αἴας, τῆς ἀναγκαίας τύχης
οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν μεῖζον ἀνθρώποις κακόν.
ἐγὼ δʼ ἐλευθέρου μὲν ἐξέφυν πατρός,
εἴπερ τινὸς σθένοντος ἐν πλούτῳ Φρυγῶν·
νῦν δʼ εἰμὶ δούλη· θεοῖς γὰρ ὧδʼ ἔδοξέ που
καὶ σῇ μάλιστα χειρί. τοιγαροῦν, ἐπεὶ
τὸ σὸν λέχος ξυνῆλθον, εὖ φρονῶ τὰ σά,
καί σʼ ἀντιάζω πρός τʼ ἐφεστίου Διὸς
εὐνῆς τε τῆς σῆς, ᾗ συνηλλάχθης ἐμοί,
μή μʼ ἀξιώσῃς βάξιν ἀλγεινὴν λαβεῖν
τῶν σῶν ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν, χειρίαν ἐφείς τινι.
ᾗ γὰρ θάνῃς σὺ καὶ τελευτήσας ἀφῇς,
ταύτῃ νόμιζε κἀμὲ τῇ τόθʼ ἡμέρᾳ
βίᾳ ξυναρπασθεῖσαν Ἀργείων ὕπο
ξὺν παιδὶ τῷ σῷ δουλίαν ἕξειν τροφήν.

## 2. Lines 500–979

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/2/#p-N

[¶0] Then one of my masters will name me bitterly, shooting me with taunts: “See the concubine of Ajax, who was the mightiest man in the army. See what menial tasks she tends to, in place of such an enviable existence!” Such things will men say, and so will destiny afflict me
while the shame of these words will stain you and your family. Show respect to your father, whom you abandon in miserable old age, and respect your mother with her share of many years, who often prays to the gods that you may come home alive.

> Greek: καί τις πικρὸν πρόσφθεγμα δεσποτῶν ἐρεῖ
λόγοις ἰάπτων· ἴδετε τὴν ὁμευνέτιν
Αἴαντος, ὃς μέγιστον ἴσχυσεν στρατοῦ,
οἵας λατρείας ἀνθʼ ὅσου ζήλου τρέφει.
τοιαῦτʼ ἐρεῖ τις· κἀμὲ μὲν δαίμων ἐλᾷ,
σοὶ δʼ αἰσχρὰ τἄπη ταῦτα καὶ τῷ σῷ γένει.
ἀλλʼ αἴδεσαι μὲν πατέρα τὸν σὸν ἐν λυγρῷ
γήρᾳ προλείπων, αἴδεσαι δὲ μητέρα
πολλῶν ἐτῶν κληροῦχον, ἥ σε πολλάκις
θεοῖς ἀρᾶται ζῶντα πρὸς δόμους μολεῖν·

[¶1] Pity, too, my king, your son. Pity him the great sorrow which at your death you will bequeath both to him and to me, if robbed of nurturing care he must spend his days apart from you, an orphan tended by guardians who are neither family nor friends. I have nothing left to which I can look,
save you, and you are the reason. Your spear ravaged my country to nothingness, and another fate has brought down my mother and father, giving them a home in Hades in their death. What homeland, then, could I have without you? What wealth? My welfare is entirely in your hands.

> Greek: οἴκτιρε δʼ, ὦναξ, παῖδα τὸν σόν, εἰ νέας
τροφῆς στερηθεὶς σοῦ διοίσεται μόνος
ὑπʼ ὀρφανιστῶν μὴ φίλων, ὅσον κακὸν
κείνῳ τε κἀμοὶ τοῦθʼ, ὅταν θάνῃς, νεμεῖς.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐκέτʼ ἔστιν εἰς ὅ τι βλέπω
πλὴν σοῦ. σὺ γάρ μοι πατρίδʼ ᾔστωσας δόρει,
καὶ μητέρʼ ἄλλη μοῖρα τὸν φύσαντά τε
καθεῖλεν Ἅιδου θανασίμους οἰκήτορας.
τίς δῆτʼ ἐμοὶ γένοιτʼ ἂν ἀντὶ σοῦ πατρίς;
τίς πλοῦτος; ἐν σοὶ πᾶσʼ ἔγωγε σῴζομαι.

[¶2] So remember me, too. A true man should cherish remembrance, if anywhere he takes some pleasure. It is kindness that always begets kindness. But whoever lets the memory of benefits seep from him, he can no longer be a noble man.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ἴσχε κἀμοῦ μνῆστιν· ἀνδρί τοι χρεὼν
μνήμην προσεῖναι, τερπνὸν εἴ τί που πάθοι.
χάρις χάριν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τίκτουσʼ ἀεί·
ὅτου δʼ ἀπορρεῖ μνῆστις εὖ πεπονθότος,
οὐκ ἂν γένοιτʼ ἔθʼ οὗτος εὐγενὴς ἀνήρ.

[¶3] Chorus:
Ajax, I wish that pity touched your heart as it does mine. Then you would approve her words.

> Greek: Χορός:
Αἴας, ἔχειν σʼ ἂν οἶκτον ὡς κἀγὼ φρενὶ
θέλοιμʼ ἄν· αἰνοίης γὰρ ἂν τὰ τῆσδʼ ἔπη.

[¶4] Ajax:
She will have approval as far as I am concerned, if only she takes heart and graciously does my bidding.

> Greek: Αἴας:
καὶ κάρτʼ ἐπαίνου τεύξεται πρὸς γοῦν ἐμοῦ,
ἐὰν μόνον τὸ ταχθὲν εὖ τολμᾷ τελεῖν.

[¶5] Tecmessa:
Dear Ajax, I will obey you in everything.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἀλλʼ ὦ φίλʼ Αἴας, πάντʼ ἔγωγε πείσομαι.

[¶6] Ajax:
Then bring me my son, so that I may see him.

> Greek: Αἴας:
κόμιζέ νύν μοι παῖδα τὸν ἐμόν, ὡς ἴδω.

[¶7] Tecmessa:
But in my fear I released him from my keeping.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
καὶ μὴν φόβοισί γʼ αὐτὸν ἐξελυσάμην.

[¶8] Ajax:
Because of these troubles of mine? Or what do you mean?

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς κακοῖσιν; ἢ τί μοι λέγεις;

[¶9] Tecmessa:
Yes, for fear that somehow the poor child would get in your way, and die.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
μὴ σοί γέ που δύστηνος ἀντήσας θάνοι.

[¶10] Ajax:
Yes, that would have been truly worthy of my destiny.

> Greek: Αἴας:
πρέπον γέ τἂν ἦν δαίμονος τοὐμοῦ τόδε.

[¶11] Tecmessa:
Well, at least I took care to avert that disaster.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἀλλʼ οὖν ἐγὼ ʼφύλαξα τοῦτό γʼ ἀρκέσαι.

[¶12] Ajax:
I approve of your action and of your foresight.

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἐπῄνεσʼ ἔργον καὶ πρόνοιαν ἣν ἔθου.

[¶13] Tecmessa:
How, then, can I serve you, as things stand now?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
τί δῆτʼ ἂν ὡς ἐκ τῶνδʼ ἂν ὠφελοῖμί σε;

[¶14] Ajax:
Let me speak to him and see him face to face.

> Greek: Αἴας:
δός μοι προσειπεῖν αὐτὸν ἐμφανῆ τʼ ἰδεῖν.

[¶15] Tecmessa:
Oh, yes—he is close by, watched by our servants.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
καὶ μὴν πέλας γε προσπόλοις φυλάσσεται.

[¶16] Ajax:
Then why is his presence delayed?

> Greek: Αἴας:
τί δῆτα μέλλει μὴ οὐ παρουσίαν ἔχειν;

[¶17] Tecmessa:
My child, your father calls you. Bring him here, servant, whichever of you is guiding his steps.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὦ παῖ, πατὴρ καλεῖ σε. δεῦρο προσπόλων
ἄγʼ αὐτὸν ὅσπερ χερσὶν εὐθύνων κυρεῖς.

[¶18] Ajax:
Is the man coming? Or has he missed your call?

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἕρποντι φωνεῖς ἢ λελειμμένῳ λόγων;

[¶19] Tecmessa:
Here now one of the servants approaches with him.
Enter the Servant and Eurysaces.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
καὶ δὴ κομίζει προσπόλων ὅδʼ ἐγγύθεν.

[¶20] Ajax:
Lift him; lift him up here. Doubtless he will not shrink to look on this newly-shed blood, if he is indeed my true-born son and heir to his father’s manners. But he must at once be broken into his father’s harsh ways and moulded to the likeness of my nature.

> Greek: Αἴας:
αἶρʼ αὐτόν, αἶρε δεῦρο· ταρβήσει γὰρ οὒ
νεοσφαγῆ που τόνδε προσλεύσσων φόνον,
εἴπερ δικαίως ἔστʼ ἐμὸς τὰ πατρόθεν.
ἀλλʼ αὐτίκʼ ὠμοῖς αὐτὸν ἐν νόμοις πατρὸς
δεῖ πωλοδαμνεῖν κἀξομοιοῦσθαι φύσιν.

[¶21] Ah, son, may you prove luckier than your father, but in all else like him. Then you would not prove base. Yet even now I may well envy you on this account, that you have no perception of these evils about us. Yes, life is sweetest when one lacks sense, [for lack of sensation is a painless evil]
that is, until one learns to know joy or pain. But when you come to that knowledge, then you must be sure to prove among your father’s enemies of what mettle and of what lineage you are. Meanwhile feed on light breezes, and nurse your tender life for your mother’s joy.

> Greek: ὦ παῖ, γένοιο πατρὸς εὐτυχέστερος,
τὰ δʼ ἄλλʼ ὅμοιος· καὶ γένοιʼ ἂν οὐ κακός.
καίτοι σε καὶ νῦν τοῦτό γε ζηλοῦν ἔχω,
ὁθούνεκʼ οὐδὲν τῶνδʼ ἐπαισθάνει κακῶν·
ἐν τῷ φρονεῖν γὰρ μηδὲν ἥδιστος βίος,
[τὸ μὴ φρονεῖν γὰρ κάρτʼ ἀνώδυνον κακόν]
ἕως τὸ χαίρειν καὶ τὸ λυπεῖσθαι μάθῃς.
ὅταν δʼ ἵκῃ πρὸς τοῦτο, δεῖ σʼ ὅπως πατρὸς
δείξεις ἐν ἐχθροῖς, οἷος ἐξ οἵου ʼτράφης.
τέως δὲ κούφοις πνεύμασιν βόσκου, νέαν
ψυχὴν ἀτάλλων, μητρὶ τῇδε χαρμονήν.

[¶22] There is no Greek—I know it for certain—who will do violence to you with hard outrages, even when you are without me. So trusty is the guard, Teucer himself, whom I will leave at your gates. He will not falter in his care for you, although now he walks a far path, busied with the hunt of enemies.

> Greek: οὔτοι σʼ Ἀχαιῶν, οἶδα, μή τις ὑβρίσῃ
στυγναῖσι λώβαις, οὐδὲ χωρὶς ὄντʼ ἐμοῦ.
τοῖον πυλωρὸν φύλακα Τεῦκρον ἀμφί σοι
λείψω τροφῆ τʼ ἄοκνον ἔμπα, κεἰ τανῦν
τηλωπὸς οἰχνεῖ, δυσμενῶν θήραν ἔχων.

[¶23] O my warriors, my seafaring comrades! On you as on him, I lay this shared task of love: give my command to Teucer! Let him take this child to my home and set him before the face of Telamon, and of my mother, Eriboea,
so that he may become the comfort of their age into eternity [until they come to the deep hollows of the god below]. And order him that no commissioners of games, nor he who is my destroyer, should make my arms a prize for the Greeks. No, you take this for my sake, Son, my broad shield from which you have your name.
Hold it and wield it by the sturdy thong, this sevenfold, spear-proof shield! But the rest of my arms shall be my gravemates.
To Tecmessa.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ, ἄνδρες ἀσπιστῆρες, ἐνάλιος λεώς,
ὑμῖν τε κοινὴν τήνδʼ ἐπισκήπτω χάριν,
κείνῳ τʼ ἐμὴν ἀγγείλατʼ ἐντολήν, ὅπως
τὸν παῖδα τόνδε πρὸς δόμους ἐμοὺς ἄγων
Τελαμῶνι δείξει μητρί τʼ, Ἐριβοίᾳ λέγω,
ὥς σφιν γένηται γηροβοσκὸς εἰσαεί,
[μέχρις οὗ μυχοὺς κίχωσι τοῦ κάτω θεοῦ],
καὶ τἀμὰ τεύχη μήτʼ ἀγωνάρχαι τινὲς
θήσουσʼ Ἀχαιοῖς μήθʼ ὁ λυμεὼν ἐμός.
ἀλλʼ αὐτό μοι σύ, παῖ, λαβὼν ἐπώνυμον,
Εὐρύσακες, ἴσχε διὰ πολυρράφου στρέφων
πόρπακος, ἑπτάβοιον ἄρρηκτον σάκος·
τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τεύχη κοίνʼ ἐμοὶ τεθάψεται.

[¶24] Come, take the child right away, shut tight the doors and make no laments before the house.
God, what a weepy thing is woman. Quick, close the house! It is not for a skilful doctor to moan incantations over a wound that craves the knife.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ὡς τάχος τὸν παῖδα τόνδʼ ἤδη δέχου
καὶ δῶμα πάκτου, μηδʼ ἐπισκήνους γόους
δάκρυε· κάρτα τοι φιλοίκτιστον γυνή.
πύκαζε θᾶσσον· οὐ πρὸς ἰατροῦ σοφοῦ
θρηνεῖν ἐπῳδὰς πρὸς τομῶντι πήματι.

[¶25] Chorus:
I am afraid when I hear this eager haste. Your tongue’s sharp edge does not please me.

> Greek: Χορός:
δέδοικʼ ἀκούων τήνδε τὴν προθυμίαν·
οὐ γάρ μʼ ἀρέσκει γλῶσσά σου τεθηγμένη.

[¶26] Tecmessa:
Ajax, my lord, what can you have in mind?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὦ δέσποτʼ Αἴας, τί ποτε δρασείεις φρενί;

[¶27] Ajax:
Do not keep asking me, do not keep questioning. Self-restraint is a virtue.

> Greek: Αἴας:
μὴ κρῖνε, μὴ ʼξέταζε· σωφρονεῖν καλόν.

[¶28] Tecmessa:
Ah, how I despair! Now, by your child, by the gods, I implore you, do not betray us!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἴμʼ ὡς ἀθυμῶ· καί σε πρὸς τοῦ σοῦ τέκνου
καὶ θεῶν ἱκνοῦμαι, μὴ προδοὺς ἡμᾶς γένῃ.

[¶29] Ajax:
You annoy me too much. Do you not know
that I no longer owe any service to the gods?

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς· οὐ κάτοισθʼ ἐγὼ θεοῖς
ὡς οὐδὲν ἀρκεῖν εἴμʼ ὀφειλέτης ἔτι;

[¶30] Tecmessa:
Hush, no impiety!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
εὔφημα φώνει.

[¶31] Ajax:
Speak to those who hear.

> Greek: Αἴας:
τοῖς ἀκούουσιν λέγε.

[¶32] Tecmessa:
You will not listen?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
σὺ δʼ οὐχὶ πείσει;

[¶33] Ajax:
Already your words have been too many.

> Greek: Αἴας:
πόλλʼ ἄγαν ἤδη θροεῖς.

[¶34] Tecmessa:
Yes, because I am afraid, my king!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ταρβῶ γάρ, ὦναξ.

[¶35] Ajax: To the Attendants.
Close the doors this instant!

> Greek: Αἴας:
οὐ ξυνέρξεθʼ ὡς τάχος;

[¶36] Tecmessa:
In the name of the gods, be softened!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
πρὸς θεῶν, μαλάσσου.

[¶37] Ajax:
You have foolish hope, I think,
if you plan so late to begin schooling my temper.
Ajax is shut into the tent. Exit Tecmessa with Eurysaces.

> Greek: Αἴας:
μῶρά μοι δοκεῖς φρονεῖν,
εἰ τοὐμὸν ἦθος ἄρτι παιδεύειν νοεῖς.

[¶38] Chorus:
O famous Salamis, you, I know, have your happy seat among the waves that beat your shore, eternally conspicuous in the eyes of all men.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὦ κλεινὰ Σαλαμίς, σὺ μέν που
ναίεις ἁλίπλακτος, εὐδαίμων,
πᾶσιν περίφαντος ἀεί·

[¶39] But I, miserable, have long been delayed here, still making my bed through countless months in the camp on the fields of Ida.
I am worn by time and with anxious expectation still of a journey to Hades the abhorred, the unseen.

> Greek: ἐγὼ δʼ ὁ τλάμων παλαιὸς ἀφʼ οὗ χρόνος
Ἰδαῖα μίμνων λειμώνιʼ ἔπαυλα μηνῶν
ἀνήριθμος αἰὲν εὐνῶμαι
χρόνῳ τρυχόμενος,
κακὰν ἐλπίδʼ ἔχων
ἔτι μέ ποτʼ ἀνύσειν
τὸν ἀπότροπον ἀΐδηλον Ἅιδαν.

[¶40] Chorus:
And now a new struggle awaits me, ah, me!—a match with
Ajax, hard to cure, sharing his tent with a madness of divine origin. It is he whom mighty in bold war you dispatched from you once far in the past. But now he is changed; he grazes his thoughts in isolated places
and has been found a heavy sorrow for his friends. His hands’ former achievements, deeds of prowess supreme,
have fallen without friends, without friends, before the unfriendly, miserable Atreidae.

> Greek: Χορός:
καί μοι δυσθεράπευτος Αἴας
ξύνεστιν ἔφεδρος, ὤμοι μοι,
θείᾳ μανίᾳ ξύναυλος·
ὃν ἐξεπέμψω πρὶν δή ποτε θουρίῳ
κρατοῦντʼ ἐν Ἄρει· νῦν δʼ αὖ φρενὸς οἰοβώτας
φίλοις μέγα πένθος ηὕρηται.
τὰ πρὶν δʼ ἔργα χεροῖν
μεγίστας ἀρετᾶς
ἄφιλα παρʼ ἀφίλοις
ἔπεσʼ ἔπεσε μελέοις Ἀτρείδαις.

[¶41] Chorus:
Surely his mother, companion of antiquity and
grey with age, when she hears that he has been afflicted with the ruin of his mind will raise a loud cry of wailing. It is not the nightingale’s piteous lament
that she, unhappy, will sing. Rather in shrill-toned odes the dirge will rise, while the hollow sound of beating hands and the shredding of grey hair will fall upon her breast.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἦ που παλαιᾷ μὲν σύντροφος ἁμέρᾳ,
λευκῷ δὲ γήρᾳ μάτηρ νιν ὅταν νοσοῦντα
φρενομόρως ἀκούσῃ,
αἴλινον αἴλινον
οὐδʼ οἰκτρᾶς γόον ὄρνιθος ἀηδοῦς
ἥσει δύσμορος, ἀλλʼ ὀξυτόνους μὲν ᾠδὰς
θρηνήσει, χερόπλακτοι δʼ
ἐν στέρνοισι πεσοῦνται
δοῦποι καὶ πολιᾶς ἄμυγμα χαίτας.

[¶42] Chorus:
Yes, better hid in Hades is the man plagued by foolishness, who by the lineage from where he springs is noblest of the enduring Achaeans, yet now is
constant no more in his inbred temperament, but wanders outside himself. O Telamon, unhappy father, how heavy a curse upon your son awaits your hearing, a curse which never yet has
any life-portion of the heirs of Aeacus nourished but his!
Enter Ajax, sword in hand, followed by Tecmessa.

> Greek: Χορός:
κρείσσων παρʼ Ἅιδᾳ κεύθων ὁ νοσῶν μάταν,
ὃς ἐκ πατρῴας ἥκων γενεᾶς ἄριστος
πολυπόνων Ἀχαιῶν,
οὐκέτι συντρόφοις
ὀργαῖς ἔμπεδος, ἀλλʼ ἐκτὸς ὁμιλεῖ.
ὦ τλᾶμον πάτερ, οἵαν σε μένει πυθέσθαι
παιδὸς δύσφορον ἄταν,
ἃν οὔπω τις ἔθρεψεν
αἰὼν Αἰακιδᾶν ἄτερθε τοῦδε.

[¶43] Ajax:
All things the long and countless years first draw from darkness, and then bury from light; and there is nothing which man should not expect: the dread power of oath is conquered, as is unyielding will.

> Greek: Αἴας:
ἅπανθʼ ὁ μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος χρόνος
φύει τʼ ἄδηλα καὶ φανέντα κρύπτεται·
κοὐκ ἔστʼ ἄελπτον οὐδέν, ἀλλʼ ἁλίσκεται
χὠ δεινὸς ὅρκος χαἰ περισκελεῖς φρένες.

[¶44] For even I, who used to be so tremendously strong—yes, like tempered iron—felt my tongue’s sharp edge emasculated by this woman’s words, and I feel the pity of leaving her a widow and the boy an orphan among my enemies. But I will go to the bathing-place and
the meadows by the shore so that by purging my defilements I may escape the heavy anger of the goddess. Then I will find some isolated spot, and bury this sword of mine, most hateful weapon, digging down in the earth where none can see.

> Greek: κἀγὼ γάρ, ὃς τὰ δείνʼ ἐκαρτέρουν τότε,
βαφῇ σίδηρος ὣς ἐθηλύνθην στόμα
πρὸς τῆσδε τῆς γυναικός· οἰκτίρω δέ νιν
χήραν παρʼ ἐχθροῖς παῖδά τʼ ὀρφανὸν λιπεῖν.
ἀλλʼ εἶμι πρός τε λουτρὰ καὶ παρακτίους
λειμῶνας, ὡς ἂν λύμαθʼ ἁγνίσας ἐμὰ
μῆνιν βαρεῖαν ἐξαλύξωμαι θεᾶς·
μολών τε χῶρον ἔνθʼ ἂν ἀστιβῆ κίχω,
κρύψω τόδʼ ἔγχος τοὐμόν, ἔχθιστον βελῶν,
γαίας ὀρύξας ἔνθα μή τις ὄψεται·

[¶45] Let Night and Hades keep it underground! For ever since I took into my hand this gift from Hector, my greatest enemy, I have gotten no good from the Greeks. Yes, men’s proverb is true:
the gifts of enemies are no gifts and bring no good. And so hereafter I shall, first, know how to yield to the gods, and, second, learn to revere the Atreidae. They are rulers, so we must submit. How could it be otherwise? Things of awe and might
submit to authority. So it is that winter with its snow-covered paths gives place to fruitful summer; night’s dark orbit makes room for day with her white horses to kindle her radiance; the blast of dreadful winds
allows the groaning sea to rest; and among them all, almighty Sleep releases the fettered sleeper, and does not hold him in a perpetual grasp. And we men—must we not learn self-restraint? I, at least, will learn it, since I am newly aware that an enemy is to be hated only as far as
suits one who will in turn become a friend. Similarly to a friend I would wish to give only so much help and service as suits him who will not forever remain friendly. For the masses regard the haven of comradeship as treacherous. But concerning these things it will be well. You, wife,
go inside and pray to the gods that the desires of my heart be completed to the very end. Exit Tecmessa. You also, my comrades, honor my wishes just as she does, and command Teucer, when he comes, to take care of us, and to be kind to you at the same time.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ νὺξ Ἅιδης τε σῳζόντων κάτω.
ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐξ οὗ χειρὶ τοῦτʼ ἐδεξάμην
παρʼ Ἕκτορος δώρημα δυσμενεστάτου,
οὔπω τι κεδνὸν ἔσχον Ἀργείων πάρα.
ἀλλʼ ἔστʼ ἀληθὴς ἡ βροτῶν παροιμία,
ἐχθρῶν ἄδωρα δῶρα κοὐκ ὀνήσιμα.
τοιγὰρ τὸ λοιπὸν εἰσόμεσθα μὲν θεοῖς
εἴκειν, μαθησόμεσθα δʼ Ἀτρείδας σέβειν.
ἄρχοντές εἰσιν, ὥσθʼ ὑπεικτέον. τί μήν;
καὶ γὰρ τὰ δεινὰ καὶ τὰ καρτερώτατα
τιμαῖς ὑπείκει· τοῦτο μὲν νιφοστιβεῖς
χειμῶνες ἐκχωροῦσιν εὐκάρπῳ θέρει·
ἐξίσταται δὲ νυκτὸς αἰανὴς κύκλος
τῇ λευκοπώλῳ φέγγος ἡμέρᾳ φλέγειν·
δεινῶν τʼ ἄημα πνευμάτων ἐκοίμισε
στένοντα πόντον· ἐν δʼ ὁ παγκρατὴς ὕπνος
λύει πεδήσας, οὐδʼ ἀεὶ λαβὼν ἔχει.
ἡμεῖς δὲ πῶς οὐ γνωσόμεσθα σωφρονεῖν;
ἔγωγʼ· ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ ἀρτίως ὅτι
ὅ τʼ ἐχθρὸς ἡμῖν ἐς τοσόνδʼ ἐχθαρτέος,
ὡς καὶ φιλήσων αὖθις, ἔς τε τὸν φίλον
τοσαῦθʼ ὑπουργῶν ὠφελεῖν βουλήσομαι,
ὡς αἰὲν οὐ μενοῦντα· τοῖς πολλοῖσι γὰρ
βροτῶν ἄπιστός ἐσθʼ ἑταιρείας λιμήν.
ἀλλʼ ἀμφὶ μὲν τούτοισιν εὖ σχήσει· σὺ δὲ
ἔσω θεοῖς ἐλθοῦσα διὰ τάχους, γύναι,
εὔχου τελεῖσθαι τοὐμὸν ὧν ἐρᾷ κέαρ.
ὑμεῖς δʼ, ἑταῖροι, ταὐτὰ τῇδέ μοι τάδε
τιμᾶτε, Τεύκρῳ τʼ, ἢν μόλῃ, σημήνατε
μέλειν μὲν ἡμῶν, εὐνοεῖν δʼ ὑμῖν ἅμα.

[¶46] I am going to where my journey inexorably leads. But you do as I say, and before long, perhaps, though I now suffer, you will hear that I have found rest and peace.
Exit Ajax.

> Greek: ἐγὼ γὰρ εἶμʼ ἐκεῖσʼ ὅποι πορευτέον·
ὑμεῖς δʼ ἃ φράζω δρᾶτε, καὶ τάχʼ ἄν μʼ ἴσως
πύθοισθε, κεἰ νῦν δυστυχῶ, σεσωσμένον.

[¶47] Chorus:
I shiver with rapture; I soar on the wings of sudden joy!
O Pan, O Pan, appear to us, sea-rover, from the stony ridge of snow-beaten Cyllene. King, dancemaker for the gods, come, so that joining with us you may set on the Nysian and the Cnosian steps,
your self-taught dances. Now I want to dance. And may Apollo, lord of Delos, step over the Icarian sea
and join me in his divine form, in eternal benevolence!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἔφριξʼ ἔρωτι, περιχαρὴς δʼ ἀνεπτόμαν.
ἰὼ ἰὼ Πὰν Πάν,
ὦ Πὰν Πὰν ἁλίπλαγκτε, Κυλλανίας χιονοκτύπου
πετραίας ἀπὸ δειράδος φάνηθʼ, ὦ
θεῶν χοροποίʼ ἄναξ, ὅπως μοι
Νύσια Κνώσιʼ ὀρχήματʼ αὐτοδαῆ ξυνὼν ἰάψῃς·
νῦν γὰρ ἐμοὶ μέλει χορεῦσαι.
Ἰκαρίων δʼ ὑπὲρ πελαγέων μολὼν ἄναξ Ἀπόλλων
ὁ Δάλιος εὔγνωστος
ἐμοὶ ξυνείη διὰ παντὸς εὔφρων.

[¶48] Chorus:
Ares has dispelled the cloud of fierce trouble from our eyes. Joy, joy! Now, Zeus, now can the white radiance of prosperous days approach
our swift, sea-speeding ships, since Ajax forgets his pain anew, and has instead fully performed all prescribed sacrifices to the gods with worship and strict observance. The strong years make all things fade.
And so I would not say that anything was beyond belief, when beyond our hopes, Ajax has been converted from his fury and mighty struggles against the Atreidae.
Enter the Messenger, from the Greek camp.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἔλυσεν αἰνὸν ἄχος ἀπʼ ὀμμάτων Ἄρης.
ἰὼ ἰώ, νῦν αὖ,
νῦν, ὦ Ζεῦ, πάρα λευκὸν εὐάμερον πελάσαι φάος
θοᾶν ὠκυάλων νεῶν, ὅτʼ Αἴας
λαθίπονος πάλιν, θεῶν δʼ αὖ
πάνθυτα θέσμιʼ ἐξήνυσʼ εὐνομίᾳ σέβων μεγίστᾳ.
πάνθʼ ὁ μέγας χρόνος μαραίνει,
κοὐδὲν ἀναύδατον φατίσαιμʼ ἄν, εὖτέ γʼ ἐξ ἀέλπτων
Αἴας μετανεγνώσθη
θυμοῦ τʼ Ἀτρείδαις μεγάλων τε νεικέων.

[¶49] Messenger:
Friends, my first news is this:

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ἄνδρες φίλοι, τὸ πρῶτον ἀγγεῖλαι θέλω·

[¶50] Teucer has just now returned from the Mysian heights. He has come to the generals’ quarters mid-camp, and is being shouted at by all the Greeks at once. Recognizing him from a distance as he approached, they gathered around him
and then pelted him with jeers from every side—no one held back—calling him “the brother of the maniac, of the plotter against the army,” and saying that he would not be able to avoid entirely losing flesh and life before their flying stones. In this way they had come to the point where swords
had been plucked from sheaths and were drawn in their hands. But then the conflict, when it had nearly run its full course, was halted by the conciliatory words of the elders. But where shall I find Ajax, to tell him this? To our lord I must tell all.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος πάρεστιν ἄρτι Μυσίων ἀπὸ
κρημνῶν· μέσον δὲ προσμολὼν στρατήγιον
κυδάζεται τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἀργείοις ὁμοῦ.
στείχοντα γὰρ πρόσωθεν αὐτὸν ἐν κύκλῳ
μαθόντες ἀμφέστησαν, εἶτʼ ὀνείδεσιν
ἤρασσον ἔνθεν κἄνθεν οὔτις ἔσθʼ ὃς οὔ,
τὸν τοῦ μανέντος κἀπιβουλευτοῦ στρατοῦ
ξύναιμον ἀποκαλοῦντες, ὡς οὐκ ἀρκέσοι
τὸ μὴ οὐ πέτροισι πᾶς καταξανθεὶς θανεῖν·
ὥστʼ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἦλθον ὥστε καὶ χεροῖν
κολεῶν ἐρυστὰ διεπεραιώθη ξίφη.
λήγει δʼ ἔρις δραμοῦσα τοῦ προσωτάτω
ἀνδρῶν γερόντων ἐν ξυναλλαγῇ λόγου.
ἀλλʼ ἡμὶν Αἴας ποῦ ʼστιν, ὡς φράσω τάδε;
τοῖς κυρίοις γὰρ πάντα χρὴ δηλοῦν λόγον.

[¶51] Chorus:
He is not inside, but is recently departed. He has yoked a new purpose to his new mood.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐκ ἔνδον, ἀλλὰ φροῦδος ἀρτίως, νέας
βουλὰς νέοισιν ἐγκαταζεύξας τρόποις.

[¶52] Messenger:
No! Oh, no! Too late, then, was he who sent me on this errand, or I myself came too slowly.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ἰοὺ ἰού·
βραδεῖαν ἡμᾶς ἆρʼ ὁ τήνδε τὴν ὁδὸν
πέμπων ἔπεμψεν ἢ ʼφάνην ἐγὼ βραδύς.

[¶53] Chorus:
What is this urgent matter? What part of it has been neglected?

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δʼ ἐστὶ χρείας τῆσδʼ ὑπεσπανισμένον;

[¶54] Messenger:
Teucer declared that Ajax should not slip out of the house, until he himself arrives.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἀπηύδα Τεῦκρος ἔνδοθεν στέγης
μὴ ʼξω παρήκειν, πρὶν παρὼν αὐτὸς τύχῃ.

[¶55] Chorus:
Well, he is departed, I repeat, bent on the purpose that is best for him—to be rid of his anger at the gods.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλʼ οἴχεταί τοι, πρὸς τὸ κέρδιστον τραπεὶς
γνώμης, θεοῖσιν ὡς καταλλαχθῇ χόλου.

[¶56] Messenger:
These words betray great foolishness, if there is any wisdom in the prophecies of Calchas.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ τἄπη μωρίας πολλῆς πλέα,
εἴπερ τι Κάλχας εὖ φρονῶν μαντεύεται.

[¶57] Chorus:
What does he prophesy? What knowledge of this affair do you bring?

> Greek: Χορός:
ποῖον; τί δʼ εἰδὼς τοῦδε πράγματος πάρει;

[¶58] Messenger:
This much I know and witnessed on the spot. Leaving the royal circle of the chiefs who sat in council,
Calchas separated himself from the Atreidae and put his right hand with all kindness into the hand of Teucer. The prophet then addressed him and strictly commanded him to use every possible resource to keep Ajax inside his tent for the duration of this day that now shines on us, and to prevent him from moving about
if he wished ever to look on him alive. For this day alone will the anger of divine Athena lash at him. That was the prophet’s warning. “Yes,” the seer went on to explain, “lives that have grown too proud and no longer yield good fall on grave difficulties sent from the gods,”
“especially when someone born to man’s estate forgets that fact by thinking thoughts too high for man. And Ajax, even at the time he first set out from home, showed himself foolish, when his father advised him well. For Telamon told him, ‘My son, seek victory in arms, but always seek it with the help of god.’ Then with a tall boast and foolishly he replied, ‘Father, with the help of the gods even a worthless man might achieve victory; but I, even without that help, fully trust to bring that glory within my grasp.’”

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
τοσοῦτον οἶδα καὶ παρὼν ἐτύγχανον.
ἐκ γὰρ συνέδρου καὶ τυραννικοῦ κύκλου
Κάλχας μεταστὰς οἶος Ἀτρειδῶν δίχα,
εἰς χεῖρα Τεύκρου δεξιὰν φιλοφρόνως
θεὶς εἶπε κἀπέσκηψε, παντοίᾳ τέχνῃ
εἶρξαι κατʼ ἦμαρ τοὐμφανὲς τὸ νῦν τόδε
Αἴανθʼ ὑπὸ σκηναῖσι μηδʼ ἀφέντʼ ἐᾶν,
εἰ ζῶντʼ ἐκεῖνον εἰσιδεῖν θέλοι ποτέ.
ἐλᾷ γὰρ αὐτὸν τῇδε θἠμέρᾳ μόνῃ
δίας Ἀθάνας μῆνις, ὡς ἔφη λέγων.
τὰ γὰρ περισσὰ κἀνόνητα σώματα
πίπτειν βαρείαις πρὸς θεῶν δυσπραξίαις
ἔφασχʼ ὁ μάντις, ὅστις ἀνθρώπου φύσιν
βλαστὼν ἔπειτα μὴ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον φρονῇ.
κεῖνος δʼ ἀπʼ οἴκων εὐθὺς ἐξορμώμενος
ἄνους καλῶς λέγοντος ηὑρέθη πατρός.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐννέπει· τέκνον, δόρει
βούλου κρατεῖν μέν, σὺν θεῷ δʼ ἀεὶ κρατεῖν.
ὁ δʼ ὑψικόμπως κἀφρόνως ἠμείψατο·
πάτερ, θεοῖς μὲν κἂν ὁ μηδὲν ὢν ὁμοῦ
κράτος κατακτήσαιτʼ· ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ δίχα
κείνων πέποιθα τοῦτʼ ἐπισπάσειν κλέος.

[¶59] “So much he boasted. Then once again in answer to divine Athena—at a time when she was urging him forward and telling him to turn a deadly hand against the enemy—he answered her with words terrible and blasphemous, ‘Queen, stand beside the other Greeks; where Ajax stands, battle will never break our line.’ It was by such words, you must know, that he won for himself the intolerable anger of the goddess since his thoughts were too high for man. But if he survives this day, perhaps with the god’s help we may find means to save him.”

> Greek: τοσόνδʼ ἐκόμπει μῦθον. εἶτα δεύτερον
δίας Ἀθάνας, ἡνίκʼ ὀτρύνουσά νιν
ηὐδᾶτʼ ἐπʼ ἐχθροῖς χεῖρα φοινίαν τρέπειν,
τότʼ ἀντιφωνεῖ δεινὸν ἄρρητόν τʼ ἔπος·
ἄνασσα, τοῖς ἄλλοισιν Ἀργείων πέλας
ἵστω, καθʼ ἡμᾶς δʼ οὔποτʼ ἐκρήξει μάχη.
τοιοῖσδέ τοι λόγοισιν ἀστεργῆ θεᾶς
ἐκτήσατʼ ὀργήν, οὐ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον φρονῶν.
ἀλλʼ εἴπερ ἔστι τῇδε θἠμέρᾳ, τάχʼ ἂν
γενοίμεθʼ αὐτοῦ σὺν θεῷ σωτήριοι.

[¶60] With those words the seer finished, and at once Teucer rose from his seat and sent me with these orders for you to follow. But if I have been cheated of success, Ajax does not live. Otherwise Calchas has no skill.

> Greek: τοσαῦθʼ ὁ μάντις εἶφʼ· ὁ δʼ εὐθὺς ἐξ ἕδρας
πέμπει με σοὶ φέροντα τάσδʼ ἐπιστολὰς
Τεῦκρος φυλάσσειν. εἰ δʼ ἀπεστερήμεθα,
οὐκ ἔστιν ἁνὴρ κεῖνος, εἰ Κάλχας σοφός.

[¶61] Chorus:
Poor Tecmessa, born to misery,
come out and see this man and his news. The razor lies close at our throat, poised to cut off all joy.
Enter Tecmessa, with Eurysaces.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὦ δαΐα Τέκμησσα, δύσμορον γένος,
ὅρα μολοῦσα τόνδʼ ὁποῖʼ ἔπη θροεῖ·
ξυρεῖ γὰρ ἐν χρῷ τοῦτο μὴ χαίρειν τινά.

[¶62] Tecmessa:
Why do you stir me from my place of rest, when I have just found peace from those relentless troubles?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
τί μʼ αὖ τάλαιναν, ἀρτίως πεπαυμένην
κακῶν ἀτρύτων, ἐξ ἕδρας ἀνίστατε;

[¶63] Chorus:
Listen to this man, and
hear the news of Ajax that he has brought us—news at which I felt sudden grief.

> Greek: Χορός:
τοῦδʼ εἰσάκουε τἀνδρός, ὡς ἥκει φέρων
Αἴαντος ἡμῖν πρᾶξιν ἣν ἤλγησʼ ἐγώ.

[¶64] Tecmessa:
Oh, no, what is your news, man? Surely we are not ruined?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἴμοι, τί φής, ἄνθρωπε; μῶν ὀλώλαμεν;

[¶65] Messenger:
I have no clue of your condition, but know only that, if Ajax is away, I have little hope for him.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
οὐκ οἶδα τὴν σὴν πρᾶξιν, Αἴαντος δʼ ὅτι,
θυραῖος εἴπερ ἐστίν, οὐ θαρσῶ πέρι.

[¶66] Tecmessa:
But he is away, so I am in agony to know what you mean.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
καὶ μὴν θυραῖος, ὥστε μʼ ὠδίνειν τί φής.

[¶67] Messenger:
Teucer strictly commands that you keep Ajax under shelter of his tent and not allow him to go out alone.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ἐκεῖνον εἴργειν Τεῦκρος ἐξεφίεται
σκηνῆς ὕπαυλον μηδʼ ἀφιέναι μόνον.

[¶68] Tecmessa:
But where is Teucer? And why these orders?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ποῦ δʼ ἐστὶ Τεῦκρος, κἀπὶ τῷ λέγει τάδε;

[¶69] Messenger:
He has just now returned, and he suspects that such a departure carries death for Ajax.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
πάρεστʼ ἐκεῖνος ἄρτι· τήνδε δʼ ἔξοδον
ὀλεθρίαν Αἴαντος ἐλπίζει φέρειν.

[¶70] Tecmessa:
Oh, misery! From whom can he have learned this?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἴμοι τάλαινα, τοῦ ποτʼ ἀνθρώπων μαθών;

[¶71] Messenger:
From Thestor’s son, the prophet. His prophecy applies to today, when the issue is one of life or death for Ajax.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
τοῦ Θεστορείου μάντεως, καθʼ ἡμέραν
τὴν νῦν, ὅτʼ αὐτῷ θάνατον ἢ βίον φέρει.

[¶72] Tecmessa:
Ah, me! My friends, protect me from the doom threatened by fate! Hurry, some of you, to speed Teucer’s coming;
let others go to the westward bays, and others to the eastward, and there seek the man’s disastrous path. I see now that I have been deceived by my husband and cast out of the favor that I once had with him. Ah, my child, what shall I do? I must not sit idle.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἲ ʼγώ, φίλοι, πρόστητʼ ἀναγκαίας τύχης,
καὶ σπεύσαθʼ, οἱ μὲν Τεῦκρον ἐν τάχει μολεῖν,
οἱ δʼ ἑσπέρους ἀγκῶνας, οἱ δʼ ἀντηλίους
ζητεῖτʼ ἰόντες τἀνδρὸς ἔξοδον κακήν.
ἔγνωκα γὰρ δὴ φωτὸς ἠπατημένη
καὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς χάριτος ἐκβεβλημένη.
οἴμοι, τί δράσω, τέκνον; οὐχ ἱδρυτέον·

[¶73] I too will go as far as my strength will carry me. Move, let us be quick, this is no time to sit still, if we wish to save a man who is eager for death.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ εἶμι κἀγὼ κεῖσʼ ὅποιπερ ἂν σθένω.
χωρῶμεν, ἐγκονῶμεν, οὐχ ἕδρας ἀκμὴ
σῴζειν θέλοντας ἄνδρα γʼ ὃς σπεύδῃ θανεῖν.

[¶74] Chorus:
I am ready to help, and I will show it in more than word. Speed of action and speed of foot will follow together.
Exeunt Tecmessa and the Chorus. A Servant takes Eurysaces into the tent. The scene changes to a lonely place on the shore. Enter Ajax, still with sword.

> Greek: Χορός:
χωρεῖν ἕτοιμος, κοὐ λόγῳ δείξω μόνον·
τάχος γὰρ ἔργου καὶ ποδῶν ἅμʼ ἕψεται,

[¶75] Ajax:
The sacrificial killer stands planted in the way that will cut most deeply—if I have the leisure for even this much reflection. First, it is the gift of Hector, that enemy-friend who was most hateful to me and most hostile to my sight; next, it is fixed in enemy soil, the land of Troy,
newly-whetted on the iron-devouring stone; and finally I have planted it with scrupulous care, so that it should prove most kind to me by a speedy death. Yes, we are well equipped. And so, O Zeus, be the first to aid me, as is proper.

> Greek: Αἴας:
ὁ μὲν σφαγεὺς ἕστηκεν ᾗ τομώτατος
γένοιτʼ ἄν, εἴ τῳ καὶ λογίζεσθαι σχολή·
δῶρον μὲν ἀνδρὸς Ἕκτορος ξένων ἐμοὶ
μάλιστα μισηθέντος ἐχθίστου θʼ ὁρᾶν·
πέπηγε δʼ ἐν γῇ πολεμίᾳ τῇ Τρῳάδι,
σιδηροβρῶτι θηγάνῃ νεηκονής·
ἔπηξα δʼ αὐτὸν εὖ περιστείλας ἐγώ,
εὐνούστατον τῷδʼ ἀνδρὶ διὰ τάχους θανεῖν.
οὕτω μὲν εὐσκευοῦμεν· ἐκ δὲ τῶνδέ μοι
σὺ πρῶτος, ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ γὰρ εἰκός, ἄρκεσον.

[¶76] It is no large prize that I ask you to award me. Send on my behalf some messenger with news of my downfall to Teucer, so that he may be the first to raise me once I have fallen on this sword and made it newly-wet, and so that I am not first spotted by some enemy
and cast out and exposed as prey to the dogs and birds. For this much, Zeus, I appeal to you. I call also on Hermes, guide to the underworld, to lay me softly to sleep with one quick, struggle-free leap, when I have broken open my side on this sword.

> Greek: αἰτήσομαι δέ σʼ οὐ μακρὸν γέρας λαχεῖν.
πέμψον τινʼ ἡμῖν ἄγγελον, κακὴν φάτιν
Τεύκρῳ φέροντα, πρῶτος ὥς με βαστάσῃ
πεπτῶτα τῷδε περὶ νεορράντῳ ξίφει,
καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἐχθρῶν του κατοπτευθεὶς πάρος
ῥιφθῶ κυσὶν πρόβλητος οἰωνοῖς θʼ ἕλωρ.
τοσαῦτά σʼ, ὦ Ζεῦ, προστρέπω, καλῶ δʼ ἅμα
πομπαῖον Ἑρμῆν χθόνιον εὖ με κοιμίσαι,
ξὺν ἀσφαδάστῳ καὶ ταχεῖ πηδήματι
πλευρὰν διαρρήξαντα τῷδε φασγάνῳ.

[¶77] And I call for help to the eternal maidens who eternally attend to all sufferings among mortals, the dread, far-striding Erinyes, asking them to learn how my miserable life is destroyed by the Atreidae.
And may they seize those wicked men with most wicked destruction, just as they see me [fall slain by my own hand, so slain by their own kin may they perish at the hand of their best-loved offspring]. Come, you swift and punishing Erinyes, devour all the assembled army and spare nothing!

> Greek: καλῶ δʼ ἀρωγοὺς τὰς ἀεί τε παρθένους
ἀεί θʼ ὁρώσας πάντα τἀν βροτοῖς πάθη,
σεμνὰς Ἐρινῦς τανύποδας, μαθεῖν ἐμὲ
πρὸς τῶν Ἀτρειδῶν ὡς διόλλυμαι τάλας,
καί σφας κακοὺς κάκιστα καὶ πανωλέθρους
ξυναρπάσειαν, ὥσπερ εἰσορῶσʼ ἐμὲ
[αὐτοσφαγῆ πίπτοντα, τὼς αὐτοσφαγεῖς]
[πρὸς τῶν φιλίστων ἐκγόνων ὀλοίατο.]
ἴτʼ, ὦ ταχεῖαι ποίνιμοί τʼ Ἐρινύες,
γεύεσθε, μὴ φείδεσθε πανδήμου στρατοῦ·

[¶78] And you, Helios, whose chariot-wheels climb the steep sky, when you see the land of my fathers, draw in your rein spread with gold and tell my disasters and my fate to my aged father and to the unhappy woman who nursed me.

> Greek: σὺ δʼ, ὦ τὸν αἰπὺν οὐρανὸν διφρηλατῶν
Ἥλιε, πατρῴαν τὴν ἐμὴν ὅταν χθόνα
ἴδῃς, ἐπισχὼν χρυσόνωτον ἡνίαν
ἄγγειλον ἄτας τὰς ἐμὰς μόρον τʼ ἐμὸν
γέροντι πατρὶ τῇ τε δυστήνῳ τροφῷ.

[¶79] Poor mother! Indeed, I think, when she hears this news, she will sing a song of loud wailing throughout the entire city. But it is not for me to weep in vain like this. No, the deed must quickly have its beginning. O Death, Death, come now and lay your eyes on me!

> Greek: ἦ που τάλαινα, τήνδʼ ὅταν κλύῃ φάτιν,
ἥσει μέγαν κωκυτὸν ἐν πάσῃ πόλει.
ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἔργον ταῦτα θρηνεῖσθαι μάτην,
ἀλλʼ ἀρκτέον τὸ πρᾶγμα σὺν τάχει τινί.
ὦ Θάνατε Θάνατε, νῦν μʼ ἐπίσκεψαι μολών.

[¶80] And yet I will meet you also in that other world and there address you. But you, beam of the present bright day, I salute you and the Sun in his chariot for the last time and never again. O light! O sacred soil
of my own Salamis, firm seat of my father’s hearth! O famous Athens, and your race kindred to mine! And you, springs and rivers of this land—and you plains of Troy I salute you also—farewell, you who have nurtured me! This is the last word that Ajax speaks to you.
The rest he will tell to the shades in Hades.
Ajax falls upon his sword. The Chorus reenters in two bands.

> Greek: καίτοι σὲ μὲν κἀκεῖ προσαυδήσω ξυνών.
σὲ δʼ, ὦ φαεννῆς ἡμέρας τὸ νῦν σέλας,
καὶ τὸν διφρευτὴν Ἥλιον προσεννέπω,
πανύστατον δὴ κοὔποτʼ αὖθις ὕστερον.
ὦ φέγγος, ὦ γῆς ἱερὸν οἰκείας πέδον
Σαλαμῖνος, ὦ πατρῷον ἑστίας βάθρον
κλειναί τʼ Ἀθῆναι καὶ τὸ σύντροφον γένος
κρῆναί τε ποταμοί θʼ οἵδε, καὶ τὰ Τρωϊκὰ
πεδία προσαυδῶ, χαίρετʼ, ὦ τροφῆς ἐμοί·
τοῦθʼ ὑμὶν Αἴας τοὔπος ὕστατον θροεῖ,
τὰ δʼ ἄλλʼ ἐν Ἅιδου τοῖς κάτω μυθήσομαι.

[¶81] First Semichorus:
Toil follows toil yielding toil! Where, where have I not trudged? And still no place can say that I have shared its secret.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 1:
πόνος πόνῳ πόνον φέρει.
πᾷ πᾷ
πᾷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔβαν ἐγώ;
κοὐδεὶς ἐπίσταταί με συμμαθεῖν τόπος.

[¶82] Listen! A sudden thud!

> Greek: ἰδού.
δοῦπον αὖ κλύω τινά.

[¶83] Second Semichorus:
We made it, we shipmates of your voyage.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 2:
ἡμῶν γε ναὸς κοινόπλουν ὁμιλίαν.

[¶84] Semichorus 1:
What news, then?

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 1:
τί οὖν δή;

[¶85] Semichorus 2:
All the westward flank of the ships has been scoured for tracks.
Semichorus 1:
And did you find anything?

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 2:
πᾶν ἐστίβηται πλευρὸν ἕσπερον νεῶν
Ἡμιχόριον 1:
ἔχεις οὖν;

[¶86] Semichorus 2:
Only an abundance of toil. There was nothing more to see.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 2:
πόνου γε πλῆθος, κοὐδὲν εἰς ὄψιν πλέον.

[¶87] Semichorus 1:
Neither, as a matter of fact, has the man been seen along the path that faces the shafts of the morning sun.

> Greek: Ἡμιχόριον 1:
ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μὲν δὴ τὴν ἀφʼ ἡλίου βολῶν
κέλευθον ἁνὴρ οὐδαμοῦ δηλοῖ φανείς.

[¶88] Chorus:
Who, then, can guide me? What toiling
fisherman, busy about his sleepless hunt, what nymph of the Olympian heights or of the streams that flow toward
Bosporus, can say whether she has anywhere seen the wanderings of fierce-hearted Ajax? It is cruel that I, who have roamed with such great toil, cannot come near him with a fair course,
but fail to see where the enfeebled man is.
Enter Tecmessa near the corpse of Ajax.

> Greek: Χορός:
τίς ἂν δῆτά μοι, τίς ἂν φιλοπόνων
ἁλιαδᾶν ἔχων ἀΰπνους ἄγρας,
ἢ τίς Ὀλυμπιάδων θεᾶν ἢ ῥυτῶν
Βοσπορίων ποταμῶν, τὸν ὠμόθυμον
εἴ ποθι πλαζόμενον λεύσσων
ἀπύοι; σχέτλια γὰρ
ἐμέ γε τὸν μακρῶν ἀλάταν πόνων
οὐρίῳ μὴ πελάσαι δρόμῳ,
ἀλλʼ ἀμενηνὸν ἄνδρα μὴ λεύσσειν ὅπου.

[¶89] Tecmessa:
Ah, me, ah, me!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶90] Chorus:
Whose cry broke from that nearby grove?

> Greek: Χορός:
τίνος βοὴ πάραυλος ἐξέβη νάπους;

[¶91] Tecmessa:
Ah, misery!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἰὼ τλήμων.

[¶92] Chorus:
There, I see his unfortunate young bride, who was the prize of his spear,
Tecmessa, dissolved in that pitiful wailing.

> Greek: Χορός:
τὴν δουρίληπτον δύσμορον νύμφην ὁρῶ
Τέκμησσαν, οἴκτῳ, τῷδε συγκεκραμένην.

[¶93] Tecmessa:
I am lost, destroyed, razed to the ground, my friends!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ᾤχωκʼ, ὄλωλα, διαπεπόρθημαι, φίλοι.

[¶94] Chorus:
What is it?

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δʼ ἔστιν;

[¶95] Tecmessa:
Here is our Ajax—his blood newly shed, he lies folded around the sword, burying it.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
Αἴας ὅδʼ ἡμῖν ἀρτίως νεοσφαγὴς
κεῖται, κρυφαίῳ φασγάνῳ περιπτυχής.

[¶96] Chorus:
Ah, no! Our homecoming is lost! Ah, my king, you have killed me, the comrade of your voyage! Unhappy man—broken-hearted woman!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὤμοι ἐμῶν νόστων·
ὤμοι, κατέπεφνες, ἄναξ,
τόνδε συνναύταν, τάλας
ὦ ταλαίφρων γύναι·

[¶97] Tecmessa:
His condition demands that we cry “aiai.”

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ὡς ὧδε τοῦδʼ ἔχοντος αἰάζειν πάρα.

[¶98] Chorus:
But by whose hand can the ill-fated man have contrived this end?

> Greek: Χορός:
τίνος ποτʼ ἆρʼ ἔπραξε χειρὶ δύσμορος;

[¶99] Tecmessa:
He did it with his own hand; it is obvious. This sword which he planted in the ground and on which he fell convicts him.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
αὐτὸς πρὸς αὑτοῦ, δῆλον· ἐν γάρ οἱ χθονὶ
πηκτὸν τόδʼ ἔγχος περιπετὲς κατηγορεῖ.

[¶100] Chorus:
Ah, what blind folly I have displayed! All alone, then, you bled, unguarded by your friends! And I took no care, so entirely dull was I, so totally stupid. Where, where lies inflexible Ajax, whose name means anguish?

> Greek: Χορός:
ὤμοι ἐμᾶς ἄτας, οἶος ἄρʼ αἱμάχθης, ἄφαρκτος φίλων·
ἐγὼ δʼ ὁ πάντα κωφός, ὁ πάντʼ ἄϊδρις,
κατημέλησα. πᾷ πᾷ
κεῖται ὁ δυστράπελος, δυσώνυμος Αἴας;

[¶101] Tecmessa:
No, he is not to be looked at! I will cover him over entirely with this enfolding shroud, since no one—no one, that is, who loves him—could bear to see him spurt the darkened gore of his self-inflicted slaughter up his nostrils and out of the bloody gash.
Ah, what shall I do? What loved one is there to lift you in his arms? Where is Teucer? How timely would be his arrival, if he would but come to compose the corpse of his brother here! Ah, unlucky Ajax, from so great a height you are fallen so low!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οὔτοι θεατός· ἀλλά νιν περιπτυχεῖ
φάρει καλύψω τῷδε παμπήδην, ἐπεὶ
οὐδεὶς ἄν, ὅστις καὶ φίλος, τλαίη βλέπειν
φυσῶντʼ ἄνω πρὸς ῥῖνας ἔκ τε φοινίας
πληγῆς μελανθὲν αἷμʼ ἀπʼ οἰκείας σφαγῆς.
οἴμοι, τί δράσω; τίς σε βαστάσει φίλων;
ποῦ Τεῦκρος; ὡς ἀκμαῖʼ ἄν, εἰ βαίη, μόλοι,
πεπτῶτʼ ἀδελφὸν τόνδε συγκαθαρμόσαι.

[¶102] Even among your enemies you are worthy of mourning!
Chorus:
You were bound, poor man, with that unbending heart you were bound, it seems, to fulfill a harsh destiny of limitless toils! So wild to my ears
were the words of hatred which in your fierce mood you moaned against the Atreidae with such deadly passion. True it is that that moment was a potent source of sorrows,
when the arms were made the prize for a contest in the skills of warfare!

> Greek: ὦ δύσμορʼ Αἴας, οἷος ὢν οἵως ἔχεις,
ὡς καὶ παρʼ ἐχθροῖς ἄξιος θρήνων τυχεῖν.
Χορός:
ἔμελλες, τάλας, ἔμελλες χρόνῳ
στερεόφρων ἄρʼ ἐξανύσσειν κακὰν
μοῖραν ἀπειρεσίων πόνων. τοῖά μοι
πάννυχα καὶ φαέθοντʼ ἀνεστέναζες
ὠμόφρων ἐχθοδόπʼ Ἀτρείδαις
οὐλίῳ σὺν πάθει.
μέγας ἄρʼ ἦν ἐκεῖνος ἄρχων χρόνος
πημάτων, ἦμος ἀριστόχειρ
… ὅπλων ἔκειτʼ ἀγὼν πέρι.

[¶103] Tecmessa:
Ah! Ah!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶104] Chorus:
True anguish, I know, pierces your heart.

> Greek: Χορός:
χωρεῖ πρὸς ἧπαρ, οἶδα, γενναία δύη.

[¶105] Tecmessa:
Ah! Ah, me!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
ἰώ μοί μοι.

[¶106] Chorus:
I do not wonder, lady, that you wail and wail again, when you have just lost one so loved.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐδέν σʼ ἀπιστῶ καὶ δὶς οἰμῶξαι, γύναι,
τοιοῦδʼ ἀποβλαφθεῖσαν ἀρτίως φίλου.

[¶107] Tecmessa:
It is for you to analyze my troubles, but for me to feel them too fully.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
σοὶ μὲν δοκεῖν ταῦτʼ ἔστʼ, ἐμοὶ δʼ ἄγαν φρονεῖν.

[¶108] Chorus:
I must agree.

> Greek: Χορός:
ξυναυδῶ.

[¶109] Tecmessa:
Oh, my son, to what a heavy yoke of slavery
we advance! What cruel task-masters stand over us!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἴμοι, τέκνον, πρὸς οἷα δουλείας ζυγὰ
χωροῦμεν, οἷοι νῷν ἐφεστᾶσιν σκοποί.

[¶110] Chorus:
Ah, the deeds of the two ruthless Atreidae which you name in our present grief would be unthinkable! May the gods hold them back!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὤμοι, ἀναλγήτων
δισσῶν ἐθρόησας ἄναυδʼ
ἔργʼ Ἀτρειδᾶν τῷδʼ ἄχει.
ἀλλʼ ἀπείργοι θεός.

[¶111] Tecmessa:
These events that you see would not have happened as they have without the will of the gods.

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οὐκ ἂν τάδʼ ἔστη τῇδε μὴ θεῶν μέτα.

[¶112] Chorus:
Yes, they have brought upon us a burden too heavy to bear.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄγαν ὑπερβριθὲς γὰρ ἄχθος ἤνυσαν.

[¶113] Tecmessa:
Yet what suffering the divine daughter of Zeus, fierce Pallas, engenders for Odysseus’ sake!

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
τοιόνδε μέντοι Ζηνὸς ἡ δεινὴ θεὸς
Παλλὰς φυτεύει πῆμʼ Ὀδυσσέως χάριν.

[¶114] Chorus:
No doubt the much-enduring hero exults in his dark soul and mocks in loud laughter at these frenzied sorrows—what shame!—
and with him, when they hear the news, will laugh the royal brothers, the Atreidae.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἦ ῥα κελαινώπαν θυμὸν ἐφυβρίζει πολύτλας ἀνήρ,
γελᾷ δὲ τοῖσδε μαινομένοις ἄχεσιν
πολὺν γέλωτα, φεῦ φεῦ,
ξύν τε διπλοῖ βασιλῆς κλύοντες Ἀτρεῖδαι.

[¶115] Tecmessa:
Then let them mock and rejoice at this man’s misery. Perhaps, even though they did not cherish him while he lived, they will lament his death, when they meet with the difficulties of war. Men of crooked judgment do not know what good
they have in their hands until they have thrown it away. His death is more bitter to me than it is sweet to the Greeks; but in any case to Ajax himself it is a joy, since he has accomplished all that he desired to get—his longed-for death. So why should they exult over him?

> Greek: Τέκμησσα:
οἱ δʼ οὖν γελώντων κἀπιχαιρόντων κακοῖς
τοῖς τοῦδʼ· ἴσως τοι, κεἰ βλέποντα μὴ ʼπόθουν,
θανόντʼ ἂν οἰμώξειαν ἐν χρείᾳ δορός.
οἱ γὰρ κακοὶ γνώμαισι τἀγαθὸν χεροῖν
ἔχοντες οὐκ ἴσασι, πρίν τις ἐκβάλῃ.
ἐμοὶ πικρὸς τέθνηκεν ἢ κείνοις γλυκύς,
αὑτῷ δὲ τερπνός· ὧν γὰρ ἠράσθη τυχεῖν
ἐκτήσαθʼ αὑτῷ, θάνατον ὅνπερ ἤθελεν.
τί δῆτα τοῦδʼ ἐπεγγελῷεν ἂν κάτα;

[¶116] He died before the gods, not at all before them—no! And so let Odysseus toss his insults in empty glee. For them Ajax is no more; for me he is gone, abandoning me to anguish and mourning.
Teucer: Approaching.

> Greek: θεοῖς τέθνηκεν οὗτος, οὐ κείνοισιν, οὔ.
πρὸς ταῦτʼ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἐν κενοῖς ὑβριζέτω.
Αἴας γὰρ αὐτοῖς οὐκέτʼ ἐστίν, ἀλλʼ ἐμοὶ
λιπὼν ἀνίας καὶ γόους διοίχεται.

[¶117] Ah! Ah, no!
Chorus:
Quiet—I think I hear the voice of Teucer striking a note that points to this disaster.
Enter Teucer.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἰώ μοί μοι.
Χορός:
σίγησον· αὐδὴν γὰρ δοκῶ Τεύκρου κλύειν
βοῶντος ἄτης τῆσδʼ ἐπίσκοπον μέλος.

[¶118] Teucer:
Beloved Ajax, brother whose face was so dear to me, have you truly fared as the mighty rumor says?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὦ φίλτατʼ Αἴας, ὦ ξύναιμον ὄμμʼ ἐμοί,
ἆρʼ ἠμπόληκας, ὥσπερ ἡ φάτις κρατεῖ;

[¶119] Chorus:
He is dead, Teucer. Take it as fact.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὄλωλεν ἁνήρ, Τεῦκρε, τοῦτʼ ἐπίστασο.

## 3. Lines 980–1420

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-ajax/3/#p-N

[¶0] Teucer:
Then I am destroyed by my heavy fortune!

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὤμοι βαρείας ἆρα τῆς ἐμῆς τύχης.

[¶1] Chorus:
When things stand as they do—

> Greek: Χορός:
ὡς ὧδʼ ἐχόντων

[¶2] Teucer:
Ah, misery, misery!

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὦ τάλας ἐγώ, τάλας.

[¶3] Chorus:
—you have cause to mourn.

> Greek: Χορός:
πάρα στενάζειν.

[¶4] Teucer:
O rash passion!

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὦ περισπερχὲς πάθος.

[¶5] Chorus:
Yes, Teucer, far too rash.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄγαν γε, Τεῦκρε.

[¶6] Teucer:
Ah, misery—what about the man’s child? Where in all of Troy can I find him?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
φεῦ τάλας· τί γὰρ τέκνον
τὸ τοῦδε, ποῦ μοι γῆς κυρεῖ τῆς Τρῳάδος;

[¶7] Chorus:
He is alone near the tent.

> Greek: Χορός:
μόνος παρὰ σκηναῖσιν.

[¶8] Teucer: To Tecmessa.
Then bring him here right away, so that we may prevent some enemy from snatching him away, as a hunter snatches a cub from a lioness and leaves her barren! Go quickly; give me your help! It is the habit of men everywhere to laugh in triumph over the dead when they are mere corpses on the ground.
Exit Tecmessa.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
οὐχ ὅσον τάχος
δῆτʼ αὐτὸν ἄξεις δεῦρο, μή τις ὡς κενῆς
σκύμνον λεαίνης δυσμενῶν ἀναρπάσῃ;
ἴθʼ, ἐγκόνει, σύγκαμνε· τοῖς θανοῦσί τοι
φιλοῦσι πάντες κειμένοις ἐπεγγελᾶν.

[¶9] Chorus:
Yes, while still alive, Teucer, Ajax ordered you to care for the child, just as you are in fact doing.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν ἔτι ζῶν, Τεῦκρε, τοῦδέ σοι μέλειν
ἐφίεθʼ ἁνὴρ κεῖνος, ὥσπερ οὖν μέλει.

[¶10] Teucer:
This sight is truly most painful to me of all that my eyes have seen.
And the journey truly loathsome to my heart above all other journeys is this one that I have just now made while pursuing and scouting out your footsteps, dearest Ajax, once I learned of your fate! For a swift rumor about you, as if sent from some god, passed throughout all the Greek army, telling that you were dead and gone.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὦ τῶν ἁπάντων δὴ θεαμάτων ἐμοὶ
ἄλγιστον ὧν προσεῖδον ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐγώ,
ὁδός θʼ ὁδῶν πασῶν ἀνιάσασα δὴ
μάλιστα τοὐμὸν σπλάγχνον, ἣν δὴ νῦν ἔβην.
ὦ φίλτατʼ Αἴας, τὸν σὸν ὡς ἐπῃσθόμην
μόρον διώκων κἀξιχνοσκοπούμενος.
ὀξεῖα γάρ σου βάξις ὡς θεοῦ τινος
διῆλθʼ Ἀχαιοὺς πάντας ὡς οἴχει θανών.

[¶11] I heard the rumor while still far away from you, and I groaned quietly in sadness. But now that I see its truth, my heart is utterly shattered! Oh, god! Come, uncover him; let me see the worst. The corpse of Ajax is uncovered. O face painful to look upon and full of cruel boldness,
what a full crop of sorrows you have sown for me in your death! Where can I go? What people will receive me, when I have failed to help you in your troubles? No doubt Telamon, your father and mine, will likely greet me with a smile and kind words,
when I return without you. Yes, of course he will—a man who, even when enjoying good fortune, tends not to smile more brightly than before! What will a man like him leave unsaid? What insult will he forego against “the bastard offspring of his spear’s war-prize,” against your “cowardly, unmanly betrayer,” dear Ajax,
or better yet, your “treacherous betrayer” with designs to govern your domain and your house after your death? So will he insult me; he is a man quick to anger, severe in old age, and his rage seeks quarrels without cause. And in the end I shall be thrust out of our land, and cast off,
branded by his taunts as a slave instead of a freeman. These are my prospects at home. At Troy, on the other hand, my enemies are many, while I have few things to help me. All this have I gained from your death! Ah, me, what shall I do? How shall I draw your poor corpse
off the sharp tooth of this gleaming sword, the murderer who, it seems, made you breathe your last? Now do you see how in time Hector, though dead, was to destroy you? By the gods, note the fortune of this mortal pair.
First Hector with the very warrior’s belt given to him by Ajax was lashed to the chariot-rail and shredded without end, until his life fled with his breath. Now Ajax here had this gift from Hector, and by this he has perished in his deadly fall. Was it not the Fury who forged this blade,
was not that belt the product of Hades, the grim artificer? I, for my part, would affirm that these happenings and all happenings ever are designed by the gods for men. But if there is anyone in whose judgment my words are unacceptable, let him cherish his own thoughts, as I do mine.

> Greek: ἁγὼ κλύων δύστηνος ἐκποδὼν μὲν ὢν
ὑπεστέναζον, νῦν δʼ ὁρῶν ἀπόλλυμαι.
οἴμοι.
ἴθʼ, ἐκκάλυψον, ὡς ἴδω τὸ πᾶν κακόν.
ὦ δυσθέατον ὄμμα καὶ τόλμης πικρᾶς,
ὅσας ἀνίας μοι κατασπείρας φθίνεις.
ποῖ γὰρ μολεῖν μοι δυνατόν, εἰς ποίους βροτούς,
τοῖς σοῖς ἀρήξαντʼ ἐν πόνοισι μηδαμοῦ;
ἦ πού με Τελαμών, σὸς πατὴρ ἐμός θʼ ἅμα,
δέξαιτʼ ἂν εὐπρόσωπος ἵλεώς τʼ ἴσως
χωροῦντʼ ἄνευ σοῦ. πῶς γὰρ οὔχ; ὅτῳ πάρα
μηδʼ εὐτυχοῦντι μηδὲν ἥδιον γελᾶν.
οὗτος τί κρύψει; ποῖον οὐχ ἐρεῖ κακὸν
τὸν ἐκ δορὸς γεγῶτα πολεμίου νόθον,
τὸν δειλίᾳ προδόντα καὶ κακανδρίᾳ
σέ, φίλτατʼ Αἴας, ἢ δόλοισιν, ὡς τὰ σὰ
κράτη θανόντος καὶ δόμους νέμοιμι σούς.
τοιαῦτʼ ἀνὴρ δύσοργος, ἐν γήρᾳ βαρύς,
ἐρεῖ, πρὸς οὐδὲν εἰς ἔριν θυμούμενος.
τέλος δʼ ἀπωστὸς γῆς ἀπορριφθήσομαι,
δοῦλος λόγοισιν ἀντʼ ἐλευθέρου φανείς.
τοιαῦτα μὲν κατʼ οἶκον· ἐν Τροίᾳ δέ μοι
πολλοὶ μὲν ἐχθροί, παῦρα δʼ ὠφελήσιμα.
καὶ ταῦτα πάντα σοῦ θανόντος ηὑρόμην.
οἴμοι, τί δράσω; πῶς σʼ ἀποσπάσω πικροῦ·
τοῦδʼ αἰόλου κνώδοντος, ὦ τάλας, ὑφʼ οὗ
φονέως ἄρʼ ἐξέπνευσας; εἶδες ὡς χρόνῳ
ἔμελλέ σʼ Ἕκτωρ καὶ θανὼν ἀποφθίσειν;
σκέψασθε, πρὸς θεῶν, τὴν τύχην δυοῖν βροτοῖν.
Ἕκτωρ μέν, ᾧ δὴ τοῦδʼ ἐδωρήθη πάρα,
ζωστῆρι πρισθεὶς ἱππικῶν ἐξ ἀντύγων
ἐκνάπτετʼ αἰέν, ἔστʼ ἀπέψυξεν βίον·
οὗτος δʼ ἐκείνου τήνδε δωρεὰν ἔχων
πρὸς τοῦδʼ ὄλωλε θανασίμῳ πεσήματι.
ἆρʼ οὐκ Ἐρινὺς τοῦτʼ ἐχάλκευσεν ξίφος
κἀκεῖνον Ἅιδης, δημιουργὸς ἄγριος;
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ πάντʼ ἀεὶ
φάσκοιμʼ ἂν ἀνθρώποισι μηχανᾶν θεούς·
ὅτῳ δὲ μὴ τάδʼ ἐστὶν ἐν γνώμῃ φίλα,
κεῖνός τʼ ἐκεῖνα στεργέτω κἀγὼ τάδε.

[¶12] Chorus:
Do not go on at length, but consider how you will bury him and what you will next say. For I see our enemy approaching, and chances are that he comes to mock at our sorrows, like one who would do us harm.

> Greek: Χορός:
μὴ τεῖνε μακράν, ἀλλʼ ὅπως κρύψεις τάφῳ
φράζου τὸν ἄνδρα χὤ τι μυθήσει τάχα.
βλέπω γὰρ ἐχθρὸν φῶτα, καὶ τάχʼ ἂν κακοῖς
γελῶν ἃ δὴ κακοῦργος ἐξίκοιτʼ ἀνήρ.

[¶13] Teucer:
What man of the army do you see?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
τίς δʼ ἐστὶν ὅντινʼ ἄνδρα προσλεύσσεις στρατοῦ;

[¶14] Chorus:
Menelaus, the beneficiary of this expedition.

> Greek: Χορός:
Μενέλαος, ᾧ δὴ τόνδε πλοῦν ἐστείλαμεν.

[¶15] Teucer:
I see him; he is not hard to recognize when near.
Enter Menelaus.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ὁρῶ· μαθεῖν γὰρ ἐγγὺς ὢν οὐ δυσπετής.

[¶16] Menelaus:
You there, I tell you not to lift that corpse for burial, but leave it where it lies.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
οὗτος, σὲ φωνῶ τόνδε τὸν νεκρὸν χεροῖν
μὴ συγκομίζειν, ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν ὅπως ἔχει.

[¶17] Teucer:
Why do you waste your breath on this arrogant command?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
τίνος χάριν τοσόνδʼ ἀνήλωσας λόγον;

[¶18] Menelaus:
It conveys my decree, and the decree of the army’s supreme ruler.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
δοκοῦντʼ ἐμοί, δοκοῦντα δʼ ὃς κραίνει στρατοῦ.

[¶19] Teucer:
Would you mind, then, telling me what reason you pretend?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
οὔκουν ἂν εἴποις ἥντινʼ αἰτίαν προθείς;

[¶20] Menelaus:
This—that when we had hoped we were bringing Ajax from home to be an ally and a friend for the Greeks, we found him on closer examination to be an enemy worse than the Phrygians,
since he plotted the murder of the entire army and marched by night against us in order to take us with his spear. And if some god had not smothered this attempt, we would have been allotted the fate which he now has, and we would be dead and lie prostrate by an ignoble doom,
while he would be living. But now a god has turned his outrage aside, so that it fell on the sheep and cattle. For this reason there is no man so powerful that he will be able to entomb the corpse of Ajax. Instead he shall be cast forth somewhere on the yellow sand
to become forage for the birds of the seashore. So then do not inflame the terrible force of your spirit. If we were unable to master him while he lived, in any case in death, at least, we shall rule him despite your opposition and control him by force of our hands. For while he lived, there never was a time
when he would obey my commands. Now it is, in truth, the mark of a base nature when a commoner does not think it right to obey those who stand over him. Never can the laws maintain a prosperous course in a city where fear has no fixed place,
nor can a camp be ruled any more with moderation, if it lacks the guarding force of fear and reverence. A man, though he grow his body great and mighty, must expect to fall, even from a light blow. Whoever knows fear and shame both,
you can be certain that he has found his salvation; but where there is license to attack others and act at will, do not doubt that such a State, though she has run before a favoring wind, will eventually sink with time into the depths. No, let me see fear, too, established, where fear is fitting;
let us not think that we can act on our desires without paying the price in pain. These things come by turns. He was once the hot attacker, now it is my hour to glory. And so I warn you not to bury him,
so that you can avoid falling into your own grave.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ὁθούνεκʼ αὐτὸν ἐλπίσαντες οἴκοθεν
ἄγειν Ἀχαιοῖς ξύμμαχόν τε καὶ φίλον,
ἐξηύρομεν ζητοῦντες ἐχθίω Φρυγῶν·
ὅστις στρατῷ ξύμπαντι βουλεύσας φόνον
νύκτωρ ἐπεστράτευσεν, ὡς ἕλοι δόρει·
κεἰ μὴ θεῶν τις τήνδε πεῖραν ἔσβεσεν,
ἡμεῖς μὲν ἂν τήνδʼ ἣν ὅδʼ εἴληχεν τύχην
θανόντες ἂν προυκείμεθʼ αἰσχίστῳ μόρῳ,
οὗτος δʼ ἂν ἔζη. νῦν δʼ ἐνήλλαξεν θεὸς
τὴν τοῦδʼ ὕβριν πρὸς μῆλα καὶ ποίμνας πεσεῖν.
ὧν εἵνεκʼ αὐτὸν οὔτις ἔστʼ ἀνὴρ σθένων
τοσοῦτον ὥστε σῶμα τυμβεῦσαι τάφῳ,
ἀλλʼ ἀμφὶ χλωρὰν ψάμαθον ἐκβεβλημένος
ὄρνισι φορβὴ παραλίοις γενήσεται.
πρὸς ταῦτα μηδὲν δεινὸν ἐξάρῃς μένος.
εἰ γὰρ βλέποντος μὴ ʼδυνήθημεν κρατεῖν,
πάντως θανόντος γʼ ἄρξομεν, κἂν μὴ θέλῃς,
χερσὶν παρευθύνοντες· οὐ γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὅπου
λόγων γʼ ἀκοῦσαι ζῶν ποτʼ ἠθέλησʼ ἐμῶν.
καίτοι κακοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ὄντα δημότην
μηδὲν δικαιοῦν τῶν ἐφεστώτων κλύειν.
οὐ γάρ ποτʼ οὔτʼ ἂν ἐν πόλει νόμοι καλῶς
φέροιντʼ ἄν, ἔνθα μὴ καθεστήκῃ δέος,
οὔτʼ ἂν στρατός γε σωφρόνως ἄρχοιτʼ ἔτι,
μηδὲν φόβου πρόβλημα μηδʼ αἰδοῦς ἔχων.
ἀλλʼ ἄνδρα χρή, κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα,
δοκεῖν πεσεῖν ἂν κἂν ἀπὸ σμικροῦ κακοῦ.
δέος γὰρ ᾧ πρόσεστιν αἰσχύνη θʼ ὁμοῦ,
σωτηρίαν ἔχοντα τόνδʼ ἐπίστασο·
ὅπου δʼ ὑβρίζειν δρᾶν θʼ ἃ βούλεται παρῇ,
ταύτην νόμιζε τὴν πόλιν χρόνῳ ποτὲ
ἐξ οὐρίων δραμοῦσαν εἰς βυθὸν πεσεῖν.
ἀλλʼ ἑστάτω μοι καὶ δέος τι καίριον,
καὶ μὴ δοκῶμεν δρῶντες ἃν ἡδώμεθα
οὐκ ἀντιτίσειν αὖθις ἂν λυπώμεθα.
ἕρπει παραλλὰξ ταῦτα. πρόσθεν οὗτος ἦν
αἴθων ὑβριστής, νῦν δʼ ἐγὼ μέγʼ αὖ φρονῶ.
καί σοι προφωνῶ τόνδε μὴ θάπτειν, ὅπως
μὴ τόνδε θάπτων αὐτὸς εἰς ταφὰς πέσῃς.

[¶21] Chorus:
Menelaus, after laying down wise precepts, do not then violate the dead.

> Greek: Χορός:
Μενέλαε, μὴ γνώμας ὑποστήσας σοφὰς
εἶτʼ αὐτὸς ἐν θανοῦσιν ὑβριστὴς γένῃ.

[¶22] Teucer:
Never again, my fellow Salaminians, will I be amazed if some nobody by birth does wrong,
when those who are reputed to be born of noble blood employ such wrongful sentiments in their arguments. Come, tell me from the first once more—do you really say that you brought Ajax here to the Greeks as an ally personally recruited by you? Did he not sail of his own accord? As his own master?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
οὐκ ἄν ποτʼ, ἄνδρες, ἄνδρα θαυμάσαιμʼ ἔτι,
ὃς μηδὲν ὢν γοναῖσιν εἶθʼ ἁμαρτάνει,
ὅθʼ οἱ δοκοῦντες εὐγενεῖς πεφυκέναι
τοιαῦθʼ ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐν λόγοις ἔπη·
ἄγʼ εἴπʼ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς αὖθις, ἦ σὺ φὴς ἄγειν
τόνδʼ ἄνδρʼ Ἀχαιοῖς δεῦρο σύμμαχον λαβών;
οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐξέπλευσεν ὡς αὑτοῦ κρατῶν;

[¶23] On what grounds are you his commander? On what grounds have you a right to kingship over the men whom he brought from home? It was as Sparta’s king that you came, not as master over us. Nowhere was it established among your lawful powers that you should order him any more than he you.

> Greek: ποῦ σὺ στρατηγεῖς τοῦδε; ποῦ δὲ σοὶ λεῶν
ἔξεστʼ ἀνάσσειν ὧν ὅδʼ ἤγαγʼ οἴκοθεν;
Σπάρτης ἀνάσσων ἦλθες, οὐχ ἡμῶν κρατῶν·
οὐδʼ ἔσθʼ ὅπου σοὶ τόνδε κοσμῆσαι πλέον
ἀρχῆς ἔκειτο θεσμὸς ἢ καὶ τῷδε σέ.

[¶24] You sailed here under the command of others, not as a supreme commander who might at any time exercise authority over Ajax. No, rule the troops you rule, and use your reverend words to punish them! But this man, whether you or the other general forbid it, I will lay
in the grave as justice demands, and I will not fear your tongue. It was not at all for your wife’s sake that Ajax made this expedition, as did those toil-worn drudges. No, it was for the sake of the oath by which he had sworn, and not at all for you, since it was not his habit to value nobodies.

> Greek: ὕπαρχος ἄλλων δεῦρʼ ἔπλευσας, οὐχ ὅλων
στρατηγός, ὥστʼ Αἴαντος ἡγεῖσθαί ποτε.
ἀλλʼ ὧνπερ ἄρχεις ἄρχε καὶ τὰ σέμνʼ ἔπη
κόλαζʼ ἐκείνους· τόνδε δʼ, εἴτε μὴ σὺ φὴς
εἴθʼ ἅτερος στρατηγός, εἰς ταφὰς ἐγὼ
θήσω δικαίως, οὐ τὸ σὸν δείσας στόμα.
οὐ γάρ τι τῆς σῆς εἵνεκʼ ἐστρατεύσατο
γυναικός, ὥσπερ οἱ πόνου πολλοῦ πλέῳ,
ἀλλʼ εἵνεχʼ ὅρκων οἷσιν ἦν ἐνώμοτος,
σοῦ δʼ οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ ἠξίου τοὺς μηδένας.

[¶25] And so when you come here again, bring more heralds, and the leader of the expedition, too. Your bluster could not make me turn to notice you, so long as you are what you are.

> Greek: πρὸς ταῦτα πλείους δεῦρο κήρυκας λαβὼν
καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἧκε, τοῦ δὲ σοῦ ψόφου
οὐκ ἂν στραφείην, ἕως ἂν ᾖς οἷός περ εἶ.

[¶26] Chorus:
Again, I say, in these troubles I cannot approve of such a tone. Harsh words sting, however just they are.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐδʼ αὖ τοιαύτην γλῶσσαν ἐν κακοῖς φιλῶ·
τὰ σκληρὰ γάρ τοι, κἂν ὑπέρδικʼ ᾖ, δάκνει.

[¶27] Menelaus:
The bowman seems to feel no little grandeur.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ὁ τοξότης ἔοικεν οὐ σμικρὸν φρονεῖν.

[¶28] Teucer:
I do, since it is no lowly skill that I possess.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
οὐ γὰρ βάναυσον τὴν τέχνην ἐκτησάμην.

[¶29] Menelaus:
How you would boast, if you had a shield!

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
μέγʼ ἄν τι κομπάσειας, ἀσπίδʼ εἰ λάβοις.

[¶30] Teucer:
Even without a shield I would be a match for you fully armed.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
κἂν ψιλὸς ἀρκέσαιμι σοί γʼ ὡπλισμένῳ.

[¶31] Menelaus:
What a tongue you have! What dreadful anger it feeds!

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἡ γλῶσσά σου τὸν θυμὸν ὡς δεινὸν τρέφει.

[¶32] Teucer:
When right is with him, a man’s thoughts may be grand.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ξὺν τῷ δικαίῳ γὰρ μέγʼ ἔξεστιν φρονεῖν.

[¶33] Menelaus:
What, is it right that the man who murdered me should prosper?

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
δίκαια γὰρ τόνδʼ εὐτυχεῖν κτείναντά με;

[¶34] Teucer:
Murdered you? It is truly a strange happening, if in fact you live after being killed.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
κτείναντα; δεινόν γʼ εἶπας, εἰ καὶ ζῇς θανών.

[¶35] Menelaus:
A god rescued me. So far as that corpse is concerned, I am in Hades.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
θεὸς γὰρ ἐκσῴζει με, τῷδε δʼ οἴχομαι.

[¶36] Teucer:
Then since it was the gods who saved you, do not dishonor the gods.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
μή νυν ἀτίμα θεούς, θεοῖς σεσωσμένος.

[¶37] Menelaus:
What, would I find fault with divine law?

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἐγὼ γὰρ ἂν ψέξαιμι δαιμόνων νόμους;

[¶38] Teucer:
Yes, if by your presence here you prevent burial of the dead.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
εἰ τοὺς θανόντας οὐκ ἐᾷς θάπτειν παρών.

[¶39] Menelaus:
Prevent it I do, since he was at war with me and I with him. Burial in such a case would not be right.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
τούς γʼ αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ πολεμίους. οὐ γὰρ καλόν.

[¶40] Teucer:
What do you mean? Did Ajax ever stand forth publicly to war with you?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἦ σοὶ γὰρ Αἴας πολέμιος προύστη ποτέ;

[¶41] Menelaus:
He hated me as I hated him, and you knew it, too.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
μισοῦντʼ ἐμίσει· καὶ σὺ τοῦτʼ ἠπίστασο.

[¶42] Teucer:
Yes, he hated you because you had been caught fixing the votes in order to rob him.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
κλέπτης γὰρ αὐτοῦ ψηφοποιὸς ηὑρέθης.

[¶43] Menelaus:
At the hands of the jurymen, not mine, he suffered that loss.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἐν τοῖς δικασταῖς, κοὐκ ἐμοί, τόδʼ ἐσφάλη.

[¶44] Teucer:
You could make a thousand stealthy crimes look pretty.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
πόλλʼ ἂν κακῶς λάθρᾳ σὺ κλέψειας κακά.

[¶45] Menelaus:
That sentiment leads to pain for someone I know.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
τοῦτʼ εἰς ἀνίαν τοὔπος ἔρχεταί τινι.

[¶46] Teucer:
The pain will be no greater, I think, than that which we will inflict.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
οὐ μᾶλλον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἢ λυπήσομεν.

[¶47] Menelaus:
I will tell you once and for all—there is to be no burial for him.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἕν σοι φράσω· τόνδʼ ἐστὶν οὐχὶ θαπτέον.

[¶48] Teucer:
And hear my reply—he shall be buried immediately.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἀλλʼ ἀντακούσει τοῦτον ὡς τεθάψεται.

[¶49] Menelaus:
Once I saw a bold-tongued man who had urged sailors to set sail during wintertime. Yet in him you could have found no voice
when the worst of the storm was upon him. No, hidden beneath his cloak he allowed the crew to trample on him at will. And so it is with you and your raging speech—perhaps a great storm, even if its blast comes from a small cloud, will extinguish your shouting.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἤδη ποτʼ εἶδον ἄνδρʼ ἐγὼ γλώσσῃ θρασὺν
ναύτας ἐφορμήσαντα χειμῶνος τὸ πλεῖν,
ᾧ φθέγμʼ ἂν οὐκ ἂν ηὗρες, ἡνίκʼ ἐν κακῷ
χειμῶνος εἴχετʼ, ἀλλʼ ὑφʼ εἵματος κρυφεὶς
πατεῖν παρεῖχε τῷ θέλοντι ναυτίλων.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ σὲ καὶ τὸ σὸν λάβρον στόμα
σμικροῦ νέφους τάχʼ ἄν τις ἐκπνεύσας μέγας
χειμὼν κατασβέσειε τὴν πολλὴν βοήν.

[¶50] Teucer:
Yes, and I have seen a man stuffed with foolishness who exulted in his neighbor’s misfortunes. It turned out that a man like me and of similar temperament stared at him and said, “Man, do not wrong the dead; for, if you do, rest assured that you will come to harm.” So he warned the misguided man before him. Take note—I see him now, and I think that he is no one but you. Have I spoken in riddles?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἐγὼ δέ γʼ ἄνδρʼ ὄπωπα μωρίας πλέων,
ὃς ἐν κακοῖς ὕβριζε τοῖσι τῶν πέλας.
κᾆτʼ αὐτὸν εἰσιδών τις ἐμφερὴς ἐμοὶ
ὀργήν θʼ ὅμοιος εἶπε τοιοῦτον λόγον·
ὤνθρωπε, μὴ δρᾶ τοὺς τεθνηκότας κακῶς·
εἰ γὰρ ποήσεις, ἴσθι πημανούμενος.
τοιαῦτʼ ἄνολβον ἄνδρʼ ἐνουθέτει παρών.
ὁρῶ δέ τοί νιν, κἄστιν, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ,
οὐδείς ποτʼ ἄλλος ἢ σύ. μῶν ᾐνιξάμην;

[¶51] Menelaus:
I will go—it would be a disgrace to have it known
that I argue when I have the power to use force.

> Greek: Μενέλαος:
ἄπειμι· καὶ γὰρ αἰσχρόν, εἰ πύθοιτό τις
λόγοις κολάζειν ᾧ βιάζεσθαι πάρα.

[¶52] Teucer:
Leave then! The worst disgrace for me is that I should listen to a fool’s empty chatter.
Exit Menelaus.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἄφερπέ νυν· κἀμοὶ γὰρ αἴσχιστον κλύειν
ἀνδρὸς ματαίου φλαῦρʼ ἔπη μυθουμένου.

[¶53] Chorus:
A trial of this great discord will soon come about. But you, Teucer, with all the speed you can muster,
be quick to seek a hollow grave for Ajax, where he shall establish his dank tomb, a constant memorial for mortals.
Enter Tecmessa and Eurysaces.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἔσται μεγάλης ἔριδός τις ἀγών.
ἀλλʼ ὡς δύνασαι, Τεῦκρε, ταχύνας
σπεῦσον κοίλην κάπετόν τινʼ ἰδεῖν
τῷδʼ, ἔνθα βροτοῖς τὸν ἀείμνηστον
τάφον εὐρώεντα καθέξει.

[¶54] Teucer:
And now just in time his son and his wife approach
to arrange the burial of the pitiable corpse. Come here, nephew. Take your place near him, and grasp in supplication your father, your begetter. Kneel and pray for help, with locks of hair in your hand from me, her, and thirdly you;
they are the suppliant’s only resource. But if any soldier from the army should tear you by violence from this body, then for his wickedness may he be wickedly cast out of his country and get no burial, but be severed at the root with all his race, just as I shear this lock.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
καὶ μὴν ἐς αὐτὸν καιρὸν οἵδε πλησίοι
πάρεισιν ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε παῖς τε καὶ γυνή,
τάφον περιστελοῦντε δυστήνου νεκροῦ.
ὦ παῖ, πρόσελθε δεῦρο καὶ σταθεὶς πέλας
ἱκέτης ἔφαψαι πατρός, ὅς σʼ ἐγείνατο.
θάκει δὲ προστρόπαιος ἐν χεροῖν ἔχων
κόμας ἐμὰς καὶ τῆσδε καὶ σαυτοῦ τρίτου,
ἱκτήριον θησαυρόν. εἰ δέ τις στρατοῦ
βίᾳ σʼ ἀποσπάσειε τοῦδε τοῦ νεκροῦ,
κακὸς κακῶς ἄθαπτος ἐκπέσοι χθονός,
γένους ἅπαντος ῥίζαν ἐξημημένος,
αὔτως ὅπωσπερ τόνδʼ ἐγὼ τέμνω πλόκον.

[¶55] Take it, Nephew, and keep it safe. Let no one move you, but kneel there and cling to the dead. And you there, do not stand idly by like women, not men. Help defend us until I return, when I have seen to a grave for him, though all the world forbids it.
Exit Teucer.

> Greek: ἔχʼ αὐτόν, ὦ παῖ, καὶ φύλασσε, μηδέ σε
κινησάτω τις, ἀλλὰ προσπεσὼν ἔχου.
ὑμεῖς τε μὴ γυναῖκες ἀντʼ ἀνδρῶν πέλας
παρέστατʼ, ἀλλʼ ἀρήγετʼ, ἔστʼ ἐγὼ μολὼν
τάφου μεληθῶ τῷδε, κἂν μηδεὶς ἐᾷ.

[¶56] Chorus:
Which will be the last year? When will the sum of the years of our many wanderings stop bringing upon me the unending doom of toilful spear-battles
throughout broad Troy, the cause of sorrow and of shame for Greece?

> Greek: Χορός:
τίς ἄρα νέατος ἐς πότε λήξει πολυπλάγκτων ἐτέων ἀριθμός,
τὰν ἄπαυστον αἰὲν ἐμοὶ δορυσσοήτων
μόχθων ἄταν ἐπάγων
ἄν τὰν εὐρώδεα Τρωΐαν,
δύστανον ὄνειδος Ἑλλάνων;

[¶57] Chorus:
If only that man had first passed into the depths of the sky or into Hades, the common home of all,
before he taught the Greeks the shared plague of Ares’ detested arms! Ah, those toils of his invention, which produced so many more toils! Look how that man has ravaged humanity!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὄφελε πρότερον αἰθέρα δῦναι μέγαν ἢ τὸν πολύκοινον Ἅιδαν
κεῖνος ἁνήρ, ὃς στυγερῶν ἔδειξεν ὅπλων
Ἕλλασιν κοινὸν Ἄρη.
ἰὼ πόνοι πρόγονοι πόνων·
κεῖνος γὰρ ἔπερσεν ἀνθρώπους.

[¶58] Chorus:
No delight in garlands
or deep wine-cups did that man provide me, no sweet din of flutes, that miserable man, or pleasing rest in the night.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐκεῖνος οὔτε στεφάνων
οὔτε βαθεῖαν κυλίκων
νεῖμεν ἐμοὶ τέρψιν ὁμιλεῖν,
οὔτε γλυκὺν αὐλῶν ὄτοβον,
δύσμορος, οὔτʼ ἐννυχίαν
τέρψιν ἰαύειν.

[¶59] And from love—god!—from love he has totally barred me. Here I lie uncared for, while heavy dews constantly wet my hair,
damp reminders of joyless Troy.

> Greek: ἐρώτων δʼ ἐρώτων ἀπέπαυσεν, ὤμοι.
κεῖμαι δʼ, ἀμέριμνος οὕτως,
ἀεὶ πυκιναῖς δρόσοις
τεγγόμενος κόμας,
λυγρᾶς μνήματα Τροίας.

[¶60] Chorus:
In the past bold Ajax was always my bulwark against night’s terrors and flying missiles. But now he has become an offering consecrated
to a malignant divinity. What joy, then, what delight awaits me anymore? O to be where the wooded wave-washed cape fences off the deep sea,
to be beneath Sunium’s jutting plateau, so that we might salute sacred Athens!
Enter Teucer.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ πρὶν μὲν αἰὲν νυχίου
δείματος ἦν μοι προβολὰ
καὶ βελέων θούριος Αἴας·
νῦν δʼ οὗτος ἀνεῖται στυγερῷ
δαίμονι· τίς μοι, τίς ἔτʼ οὖν
τέρψις ἐπέσται;
γενοίμαν ἵνʼ ὑλᾶεν ἔπεστι πόντου
πρόβλημʼ ἁλίκλυστον, ἄκραν
ὑπὸ πλάκα Σουνίου,
τὰς ἱερὰς ὅπως
προσείποιμεν Ἀθάνας.

[¶61] Teucer:
Here I am! I hurried back when I saw the supreme commander, Agamemnon, rapidly approaching.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
καὶ μὴν ἰδὼν ἔσπευσα τὸν στρατηλάτην
Ἀγαμέμνονʼ ἡμῖν δεῦρο τόνδʼ ὁρμώμενον·

[¶62] It is plain to me that he will let his clumsy tongue fly.
Enter Agamemnon.

> Greek: δῆλος δέ μοὐστὶ σκαιὸν ἐκλύσων στόμα.

[¶63] Agamemnon:
So it is you, they tell me, who dared open your mouth wide to make fierce threats against us—and are you still unpunished? Yes, I mean you—you, the captive slave’s son. No doubt if you were born from a noble mother,
your talk would reach the sky and you would proudly strut about, when now it is the case that, though you are a nobody and a nothing, you have stood up for this other nothing lying here, and have vowed that we came out with no authority either as admirals or as generals to rule the Greeks or you. No, as an autonomous ruler, you say, Ajax set sail.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
σὲ δὴ τὰ δεινὰ ῥήματʼ ἀγγέλλουσί μοι
τλῆναι καθʼ ἡμῶν ὧδʼ ἀνοιμωκτὶ χανεῖν;
σέ τοι, τὸν ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωτίδος λέγω,
ἦ που τραφεὶς ἂν μητρὸς εὐγενοῦς ἄπο
ὑψήλʼ ἐκόμπεις κἀπʼ ἄκρων ὡδοιπόρεις,
ὅτʼ οὐδὲν ὢν τοῦ μηδὲν ἀντέστης ὕπερ,
κοὔτε στρατηγοὺς οὔτε ναυάρχους μολεῖν
ἡμᾶς Ἀχαιῶν οὐδὲ σοῦ διωμόσω
ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἄρχων, ὡς σὺ φής, Αἴας ἔπλει.

[¶64] Does it not shame me that I hear these proud words from slavish mouths? What was the man whom you shout about with such arrogance? Where did he advance, or where did he stand his ground, where I did not do the same? Have the Greeks, then, no other men but him? To our own harm, it seems, we announced
to the Greeks the contests for the arms of Achilles, if on all sides we are accounted corrupt because of Teucer, and if it will never satisfy you Salaminians, even when you are defeated, to accept the verdict which satisfied the majority of the judges. But instead you will always no doubt aim your slanderous arrows at us,
or treacherously lash at our backs when you fall behind us in the race. Yet in a place where such ways prevail, there could be no settled order for any law, if we are to thrust the rightful winners aside and bring those in the rear up to the front ranks.

> Greek: ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἀκούειν μεγάλα πρὸς δούλων κακά;
ποίου κέκραγας ἀνδρὸς ὧδʼ ὑπέρφρονα;
ποῖ βάντος ἢ ποῦ στάντος οὗπερ οὐκ ἐγώ;
οὐκ ἆρʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄνδρες εἰσὶ πλὴν ὅδε;
πικροὺς ἔοιγμεν τῶν Ἀχιλλείων ὅπλων
ἀγῶνας Ἀργείοισι κηρῦξαι τότε,
εἰ πανταχοῦ φανούμεθʼ ἐκ Τεύκρου κακοί,
κοὐκ ἀρκέσει ποθʼ ὑμὶν οὐδʼ ἡσσημένοις
εἴκειν ἃ τοῖς πολλοῖσιν ἤρεσκεν κριταῖς,
ἀλλʼ αἰὲν ἡμᾶς ἢ κακοῖς βαλεῖτέ που
ἢ σὺν δόλῳ κεντήσεθʼ οἱ λελειμμένοι.
ἐκ τῶνδε μέντοι τῶν τρόπων οὐκ ἄν ποτε
κατάστασις γένοιτʼ ἂν οὐδενὸς νόμου,
εἰ τοὺς δίκῃ νικῶντας ἐξωθήσομεν
καὶ τοὺς ὄπισθεν εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἄξομεν.

[¶65] These tendencies must be checked. It is not the stout, broad-shouldered men that are the steadiest allies. No, it is the wise who prevail in every engagement. A broad-backed ox is kept straight on the road all the same when only a small whip directs him.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ εἰρκτέον τάδʼ ἐστίν· οὐ γὰρ οἱ πλατεῖς
οὐδʼ εὐρύνωτοι φῶτες ἀσφαλέστατοι,
ἀλλʼ οἱ φρονοῦντες εὖ κρατοῦσι πανταχοῦ.
μέγας δὲ πλευρὰ βοῦς ὑπὸ σμικρᾶς ὅμως
μάστιγος ὀρθὸς εἰς ὁδὸν πορεύεται.

[¶66] And a dose of this very medicine, I foresee, will find you before long, unless you gain a little good sense. He no longer exists, but is already a shade, yet still you boldly insult us and give your tongue too much freedom. Restrain yourself, I say. Recall your birth, your nature.
Bring someone else here—a man who is freeborn—who can plead your cause before me in your place. For when you speak, I no longer understand— I do not know your barbarian language.

> Greek: καὶ σοὶ προσέρπον τοῦτʼ ἐγὼ τὸ φάρμακον
ὁρῶ τάχʼ, εἰ μὴ νοῦν κατακτήσει τινά·
ὃς ἀνδρὸς οὐκέτʼ ὄντος, ἀλλʼ ἤδη σκιᾶς,
θαρσῶν ὑβρίζεις κἀξελευθεροστομεῖς.
οὐ σωφρονήσεις; οὐ μαθὼν ὃς εἶ φύσιν
ἄλλον τινʼ ἄξεις ἄνδρα δεῦρʼ ἐλεύθερον,
ὅστις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀντὶ σοῦ λέξει τὰ σά;
σοῦ γὰρ λέγοντος οὐκέτʼ ἂν μάθοιμʼ ἐγώ·
τὴν βάρβαρον γὰρ γλῶσσαν οὐκ ἐπαΐω.

[¶67] Chorus:
If only you both had the sense to exercise self-restraint!

> Greek: Χορός:
εἴθʼ ὑμὶν ἀμφοῖν νοῦς γένοιτο σωφρονεῖν·

[¶68] There is no better advice that I could give you two.

> Greek: τούτου γὰρ οὐδὲν σφῷν ἔχω λῷον φράσαι.

[¶69] Teucer:
My, how quickly gratitude to the dead seeps away from men and is found to have turned to betrayal, since this man no longer offers even the slightest praise in remembrance of you, Ajax, even though it was for his sake
you toiled so often in battle, offering your own life to the spear! No, your assistance is dead and gone, all flung aside! Full and foolish talker, do you no longer remember anything of the time when you were trapped inside your defenses,
when you were all but destroyed in the turn of the battle and he, he alone came and saved you at the moment when the flames were already blazing around the decks at your ships’ sterns and Hector was leaping high over the trench towards the vessels?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
φεῦ· τοῦ θανόντος ὡς ταχεῖά τις βροτοῖς
χάρις διαρρεῖ καὶ προδοῦσʼ ἁλίσκεται,
εἰ σοῦ γʼ ὅδʼ ἁνὴρ οὐδʼ ἐπὶ σμικρῶν λόγων,
Αἴας, ἔτʼ ἴσχει μνῆστιν, οὗ σὺ πολλάκις
τὴν σὴν προτείνων προύκαμες ψυχὴν δόρει.
ἀλλʼ οἴχεται δὴ πάντα ταῦτʼ ἐρριμμένα.
ὦ πολλὰ λέξας ἄρτι κἀνόητʼ ἔπη,
οὐ μνημονεύεις οὐκέτʼ οὐδέν, ἡνίκα
ἑρκέων ποθʼ ὑμᾶς οὗτος ἐγκεκλῃμένους,
ἤδη τὸ μηδὲν ὄντας, ἐν τροπῇ δορὸς
ἐρρύσατʼ ἐλθὼν μοῦνος, ἀμφὶ μὲν νεῶν
ἄκροισιν ἤδη ναυτικοῖς ἑδωλίοις
πυρὸς φλέγοντος, εἰς δὲ ναυτικὰ σκάφη
πηδῶντος ἄρδην Ἕκτορος τάφρων ὕπερ;

[¶70] Who averted that? Was it not Ajax who did it, the one who, you say, nowhere set foot where you were not? Well, do you grant that he did his duty to you there? And what about when another time, all alone, he confronted Hector in single combat according to the fall of the lots, and not at anyone’s command?
The lot which he cast in was not the kind to flee the challenge; it was no lump of moist earth, but one which would be the first to leap lightly from the crested helmet! It was this man who did those deeds, and I, the slave, the son of the barbarian mother, was at his side.

> Greek: τίς ταῦτʼ ἀπεῖρξεν; οὐχ ὅδʼ ἦν ὁ δρῶν τάδε,
ὃν οὐδαμοῦ φής, οὗ σὺ μή, βῆναι ποδί;
ἆρʼ ὑμὶν οὗτος ταῦτʼ ἔδρασεν ἔνδικα;
χὤτʼ αὖθις αὐτὸς Ἕκτορος μόνος μόνου
λαχών τε κἀκέλευστος ἦλθʼ ἐναντίος,
οὐ δραπέτην τὸν κλῆρον ἐς μέσον καθείς,
ὑγρᾶς ἀρούρας βῶλον, ἀλλʼ ὃς εὐλόφου
κυνῆς ἔμελλε πρῶτος ἅλμα κουφιεῖν;
ὅδʼ ἦν ὁ πράσσων ταῦτα, σὺν δʼ ἐγὼ παρών,
ὁ δοῦλος, οὑκ τῆς βαρβάρου μητρὸς γεγώς.

[¶71] Pitiful creature, how can you be so blind as to argue the way you do? Are you not aware of the fact that your father’s father Pelops long ago was a barbarian, a Phrygian? That Atreus, your own begetter, set before his brother a most unholy feast made from the flesh of his brother’s children?

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
δύστηνε, ποῖ βλέπων ποτʼ αὐτὰ καὶ θροεῖς;
οὐκ οἶσθα σοῦ πατρὸς μὲν ὃς προύφυ πατὴρ
ἀρχαῖον ὄντα Πέλοπα βάρβαρον Φρύγα;
Ἀτρέα δʼ, ὃς αὖ σʼ ἔσπειρε δυσσεβέστατον,
προθέντʼ ἀδελφῷ δεῖπνον οἰκείων τέκνων;

[¶72] And you yourself were born from a Cretan mother, whose father found a stranger straddling her and who was consigned by him to be prey for the mute fish. So being of such a kind, can you reproach a man like me for my lineage? I am the son of Telamon,
who won my mother for his consort as prize for valor supreme in the army. And she was the daughter of Laomedon, of royal blood, and it was as the flower of the spoil that Alcmena’s son gave her to Telamon. Thus nobly born as I am from two noble parents,
could I disgrace my own flesh and blood, whom even as he lies here subdued by such massive troubles, you, making your pronouncements without a blush of shame, would thrust out without burial? Now consider this well: wherever you cast him away, with him you will also cast our three corpses.

> Greek: αὐτὸς δὲ μητρὸς ἐξέφυς Κρήσσης, ἐφʼ ᾗ
λαβὼν ἐπακτὸν ἄνδρʼ ὁ φιτύσας πατὴρ
ἐφῆκεν ἐλλοῖς ἰχθύσιν διαφθοράν.
τοιοῦτος ὢν τοιῷδʼ ὀνειδίζεις σποράν;
ὃς ἐκ πατρὸς μέν εἰμι Τελαμῶνος γεγώς,
ὅστις στρατοῦ τὰ πρῶτʼ ἀριστεύσας ἐμὴν
ἴσχει ξύνευνον μητέρʼ, ἣ φύσει μὲν ἦν
βασίλεια, Λαομέδοντος· ἔκκριτον δέ νιν
δώρημα κείνῳ ʼδωκεν Ἀλκμήνης γόνος.
ἆρʼ ὧδʼ ἄριστος ἐξ ἀριστέοιν δυοῖν
βλαστὼν ἂν αἰσχύνοιμι τοὺς πρὸς αἵματος,
οὓς νῦν σὺ τοιοῖσδʼ ἐν πόνοισι κειμένους
ὠθεῖς ἀθάπτους, οὐδʼ ἐπαισχύνει λέγων;
εὖ νυν τόδʼ ἴσθι, τοῦτον εἰ βαλεῖτέ που,
βαλεῖτε χἠμᾶς τρεῖς ὁμοῦ συγκειμένους.

[¶73] It is right for me to die before all men’s eyes while I am toiling in his cause, rather than for your wife—or should I say your brother’s? With this in mind, then, look not to my safety, but to yours instead, since if you cause me any grief at all, you will soon wish
that you had been more timid than bold when confronting me.
Enter Odysseus.

> Greek: ἐπεὶ καλόν μοι τοῦδʼ ὑπερπονουμένῳ
θανεῖν προδήλως μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς σῆς ὑπὲρ
γυναικός, ἢ τοῦ σοῦ γʼ ὁμαίμονος λέγω;
πρὸς ταῦθʼ ὅρα μὴ τοὐμόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σόν·
ὡς εἴ με πημανεῖς τι, βουλήσει ποτὲ
καὶ δειλὸς εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ ʼν ἐμοὶ θρασύς.

[¶74] Chorus:
Lord Odysseus, you arrive at the right time, if mediation, not division, is your purpose in coming.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄναξ, Ὀδυσσεῦ, καιρὸν ἴσθʼ ἐληλυθώς,
εἰ μὴ ξυνάψων, ἀλλὰ συλλύσων πάρει.

[¶75] Odysseus:
What is the trouble, friends? From far off I heard shouting from the Atreidae over this brave man’s corpse.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
τί δʼ ἔστιν, ἄνδρες; τηλόθεν γὰρ ᾐσθόμην
βοὴν Ἀτρειδῶν τῷδʼ ἐπʼ ἀλκίμῳ νεκρῷ.

[¶76] Agamemnon:
Is it not because we, Lord Odysseus, have long had to hear the worst, most shameful language from this man?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
οὐ γὰρ κλύοντές ἐσμεν αἰσχίστους λόγους,
ἄναξ Ὀδυσσεῦ, τοῦδʼ ὑπʼ ἀνδρὸς ἀρτίως;

[¶77] Odysseus:
How so? I can pardon a man a retaliatory barrage of abuse if another has insulted him.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ποίους; ἐγὼ γὰρ ἀνδρὶ συγγνώμην ἔχω
κλύοντι φλαῦρα συμβαλεῖν ἔπη κακά.

[¶78] Agamemnon:
I insulted him, since his conduct toward me was of the same stripe.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
ἤκουσεν αἰσχρά· δρῶν γὰρ ἦν τοιαῦτά με.

[¶79] Odysseus:
And what did he do that harmed you?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
τί γάρ σʼ ἔδρασεν, ὥστε καὶ βλάβην ἔχειν;

[¶80] Agamemnon:
He declares that he will not leave this corpse without due burial, but will entomb it in spite of me.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
οὔ φησʼ ἐάσειν τόνδε τὸν νεκρὸν ταφῆς
ἄμοιρον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς βίαν θάψειν ἐμοῦ.

[¶81] Odysseus:
Then may a friend speak the truth, and still remain your helpmate no less than before?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἔξεστιν οὖν εἰπόντι τἀληθῆ φίλῳ
σοὶ μηδὲν ἧσσον ἢ πάρος ξυνηρετεῖν;

[¶82] Agamemnon:
Speak. Otherwise I would be less than sane, since I count you my greatest friend among all the Greeks.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
εἴπʼ· ἦ γὰρ εἴην οὐκ ἂν εὖ φρονῶν, ἐπεὶ
φίλον σʼ ἐγὼ μέγιστον Ἀργείων νέμω.

[¶83] Odysseus:
Listen, then. In the name of the gods, do not let yourself so ruthlessly cast this man out unburied. Do not in any way let the violence of your hatred overcome you
so much that you trample justice under foot. To me, too, this man was once the most hostile enemy in the army from the day on which I beat him for possession of Achilles’ arms. Yet for all that he was hostile towards me, I would not dishonor him in return or refuse to admit
that in all our Greek force at Troy he was, in my view, the best and bravest, excepting Achilles. It would not be just, then, that he should be dishonored by you. It is not he, but the laws given by the gods that you would damage. When a good man is dead, there is no justice
in doing him harm, not even if you hate him.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἄκουέ νυν. τὸν ἄνδρα τόνδε πρὸς θεῶν
μὴ τλῇς ἄθαπτον ὧδʼ ἀναλγήτως βαλεῖν·
μηδʼ ἡ βία σε μηδαμῶς νικησάτω
τοσόνδε μισεῖν ὥστε τὴν δίκην πατεῖν.
κἀμοὶ γὰρ ἦν ποθʼ οὗτος ἔχθιστος στρατοῦ,
ἐξ οὗ ʼκράτησα τῶν Ἀχιλλείων ὅπλων,
ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν ἔμπας ὄντʼ ἐγὼ τοιόνδʼ ἐμοὶ
οὐκ ἀντατιμάσαιμʼ ἄν, ὥστε μὴ λέγειν
ἕνʼ ἄνδρʼ ἰδεῖν ἄριστον Ἀργείων, ὅσοι
Τροίαν ἀφικόμεσθα, πλὴν Ἀχιλλέως.
ὥστʼ οὐκ ἂν ἐνδίκως γʼ ἀτιμάζοιτό σοι·
οὐ γάρ τι τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς θεῶν νόμους
φθείροις ἄν. ἄνδρα δʼ οὐ δίκαιον, εἰ θάνοι,
βλάπτειν τὸν ἐσθλόν, οὐδʼ ἐὰν μισῶν κυρῇς.

[¶84] Agamemnon:
You, Odysseus—do you champion him against me in this battle?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
σὺ ταῦτʼ, Ὀδυσσεῦ, τοῦδʼ ὑπερμαχεῖς ἐμοί;

[¶85] Odysseus:
I do, though I did hate him, when it was honorable for me to hate.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἔγωγʼ· ἐμίσουν δʼ, ἡνίκʼ ἦν μισεῖν καλόν.

[¶86] Agamemnon:
But should you not also trample him now that he is dead?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
οὐ γὰρ θανόντι καὶ προσεμβῆναί σε χρή;

[¶87] Odysseus:
Do not take delight, son of Atreus, in that superiority which brings no honor.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
μὴ χαῖρʼ, Ἀτρείδη, κέρδεσιν τοῖς μὴ καλοῖς.

[¶88] Agamemnon:
Reverence, I tell you, is not easily practiced by the autocrat.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
τόν τοι τύραννον εὐσεβεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον.

[¶89] Odysseus:
But it is easy to grant dispensations to friends when they advise well.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἀλλʼ εὖ λέγουσι τοῖς φίλοις τιμὰς νέμειν.

[¶90] Agamemnon:
A good man should listen to those in charge.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
κλύειν τὸν ἐσθλὸν ἄνδρα χρὴ τῶν ἐν τέλει.

[¶91] Odysseus:
Stop! Your power is victorious when you surrender to your friends.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
παῦσαι· κρατεῖς τοι τῶν φίλων νικώμενος.

[¶92] Agamemnon:
Remember to what sort of man you show this kindness!

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
μέμνησʼ ὁποίῳ φωτὶ τὴν χάριν δίδως.

[¶93] Odysseus:
The man was once my enemy, yes, but he was also noble.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ὅδʼ ἐχθρὸς ἁνήρ, ἀλλὰ γενναῖός ποτʼ ἦν.

[¶94] Agamemnon:
Why do you do this? Why do you so respect an enemy’s corpse?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
τί ποτε ποήσεις; ἐχθρὸν ὧδʼ αἰδεῖ νέκυν;

[¶95] Odysseus:
I yield to his excellence much more than his hostility.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
νικᾷ γὰρ ἁρετή με τῆς ἔχθρας πολύ.

[¶96] Agamemnon:
Men who act as you do are the unstable sort in humankind.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
τοιοίδε μέντοι φῶτες ἔμπληκτοι βροτῶν.

[¶97] Odysseus:
Quite the majority of men, I assure you, are friendly at one time, and bitter at another.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἦ κάρτα πολλοὶ νῦν φίλοι καὖθις πικροί.

[¶98] Agamemnon:
So then, are these the type of friends that you recommend we make?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
τοιούσδʼ ἐπαινεῖς δῆτα σὺ κτᾶσθαι φίλους;

[¶99] Odysseus:
It is not my habit to recommend an inflexible spirit.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
σκληρὰν ἐπαινεῖν οὐ φιλῶ ψυχὴν ἐγώ.

[¶100] Agamemnon:
You will make us appear to be cowards today.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
ἡμᾶς σὺ δειλοὺς τῇδε θἠμέρᾳ φανεῖς.

[¶101] Odysseus:
On the contrary, we will be men of justice in the eyes of all the Greeks.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἄνδρας μὲν οὖν Ἕλλησι πᾶσιν ἐνδίκους.

[¶102] Agamemnon:
Then do you truly urge me to allow the burying of the dead?

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
ἄνωγας οὖν με τὸν νεκρὸν θάπτειν ἐᾶν;

[¶103] Odysseus:
Yes, for I too shall come to that necessity.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἔγωγε· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐνθάδʼ ἵξομαι.

[¶104] Agamemnon:
How true it is that in all things alike each man works for himself!

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
ἦ πάνθʼ ὅμοια πᾶς ἀνὴρ αὑτῷ πονεῖ.

[¶105] Odysseus:
And for whom should I work more than for myself?

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
τῷ γάρ με μᾶλλον εἰκὸς ἢ ʼμαυτῷ πονεῖν;

[¶106] Agamemnon:
It must be called your doing then, not mine.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
σὸν ἆρα τοὔργον, οὐκ ἐμὸν κεκλήσεται.

[¶107] Odysseus:
However you do it, in all respects you will at least prove beneficent.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ὡς ἂν ποήσῃς, πανταχῇ χρηστός γʼ ἔσει.

[¶108] Agamemnon:
In any case, be quite certain that to you I would grant a larger favor than this. To that man, however, as on earth, so below I give my hatred. But you can do what you will.
Exit Agamemnon.

> Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων:
ἀλλʼ εὖ γε μέντοι τοῦτʼ ἐπίστασʼ ὡς ἐγὼ
σοὶ μὲν νέμοιμʼ ἂν τῆσδε καὶ μείζω χάριν,
οὗτος δὲ κἀκεῖ κἀνθάδʼ ὢν ἔμοιγʼ ὁμῶς
ἔχθιστος ἔσται· σοὶ δὲ δρᾶν ἔξεσθʼ ἃ χρῇς.

[¶109] Chorus:
Whoever denies, Odysseus, that you were born wise in judgment
is a total fool since you have shown it just now.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὅστις σʼ, Ὀδυσσεῦ, μὴ λέγει γνώμῃ σοφὸν
φῦναι, τοιοῦτον ὄντα, μῶρός ἐστʼ ἀνήρ.

[¶110] Odysseus:
And now I announce that from this point on I am ready to be Teucer’s friend as much as I was once his enemy. And I would like to join in the burying of your dead and share your labors, omitting no service
which mortals should render to their best and bravest warriors.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
καὶ νῦν γε Τεύκρῳ τἀπὸ τοῦδʼ ἀγγέλλομαι,
ὅσον τότʼ ἐχθρὸς ἦ, τοσόνδʼ εἶναι φίλος.
καὶ τὸν θανόντα τόνδε συνθάπτειν θέλω
καὶ ξυμπονεῖν καὶ μηδὲν ἐλλείπειν ὅσων
χρὴ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἀνδράσιν πονεῖν βροτούς.

[¶111] Teucer:
Good Odysseus, I have only praise for your words. You have greatly belied my fears. Of all the Greeks you were his deadliest enemy, and yet you alone have stood by him with helping hand and did not come here and allow yourself in life
to violate the dead Ajax ruthlessly, as did the crazed general who came, since he and his brother wanted to cast out the outraged corpse without burial. Therefore may the Father supreme on Olympus above us,
and the unforgetting Fury and Justice the Fulfiller destroy them for their wickedness with wicked deaths, just as they sought to cast this man out with unmerited, outrageous mistreatment. But you, progeny of aged Laertes, I hesitate to permit you to touch the corpse in burial,
lest I so offend the dead. In all other tasks do indeed be our partner. And if you wish to bring any soldier of the army with you, he shall be welcome. For the rest, I will make all things ready. But you, Odysseus, know that to us you have been a good and noble friend.

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἄριστʼ Ὀδυσσεῦ, πάντʼ ἔχω σʼ ἐπαινέσαι
λόγοισι, καί μʼ ἔψευσας ἐλπίδος πολύ.
τούτῳ γὰρ ὢν ἔχθιστος Ἀργείων ἀνὴρ
μόνος παρέστης χερσίν, οὐδʼ ἔτλης παρὼν
θανόντι τῷδε ζῶν ἐφυβρίσαι μέγα,
ὡς ὁ στρατηγὸς οὑπιβρόντητος μολὼν
αὐτός τε χὠ ξύναιμος ἠθελησάτην
λωβητὸν αὐτὸν ἐκβαλεῖν ταφῆς ἄτερ.
τοιγάρ σφʼ Ὀλύμπου τοῦδʼ ὁ πρεσβεύων πατὴρ
μνήμων τʼ Ἐρινὺς καὶ τελεσφόρος Δίκη
κακοὺς κακῶς φθείρειαν, ὥσπερ ἤθελον
τὸν ἄνδρα λώβαις ἐκβαλεῖν ἀναξίως.
σὲ δʼ, ὦ γεραιοῦ σπέρμα Λαέρτου πατρός,
τάφου μὲν ὀκνῶ τοῦδʼ ἐπιψαύειν ἐᾶν,
μὴ τῷ θανόντι τοῦτο δυσχερὲς ποιῶ·
τὰ δʼ ἄλλα καὶ ξύμπρασσε, κεἴ τινα στρατοῦ
θέλεις κομίζειν, οὐδὲν ἄλγος ἕξομεν.
ἐγὼ δὲ τἄλλα πάντα πορσυνῶ· σὺ δὲ
ἀνὴρ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐσθλὸς ὢν ἐπίστασο.

[¶112] Odysseus:
It was my wish to help, but if it is not pleasing to you that I should assist here, I accept your decision and depart.
Exit Odysseus.

> Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς:
ἀλλʼ ἤθελον μέν· εἰ δὲ μή ʼστί σοι φίλον
πράσσειν τάδʼ ἡμᾶς, εἶμʼ ἐπαινέσας τὸ σόν.

[¶113] Teucer:
Enough. Already the interval has been long drawn out. Come, hurry some of you to dig the hollow grave; others erect the
cauldron wrapped in fire on its high stand for prompt preparation of the ritual cleansing. Let another company bring from the tent the finery which he wore in battle beneath his shield. And you, too, child, with such strength as you have
lay a loving hand upon your father and help me to lighten his body; for his channels are still warm and spray upwards the dark force of his spirit. Come, come everyone who claims to be our friend, start forward and move on,
laboring in service to this man of perfect excellence. To a nobler man such service has never yet been rendered [—nobler than Ajax when he lived, I mean].

> Greek: Τεῦκρος:
ἅλις· ἤδη γὰρ πολὺς ἐκτέταται
χρόνος. ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν κοίλην κάπετον
χερσὶ ταχύνατε, τοὶ δʼ ὑψίβατον
τρίποδʼ ἀμφίπυρον λουτρῶν ὁσίων
θέσθʼ ἐπίκαιρον·
μία δʼ ἐκ κλισίας ἀνδρῶν ἴλη
τὸν ὑπασπίδιον κόσμον φερέτω.
παῖ, σὺ δὲ πατρός γʼ, ὅσον ἰσχύεις,
φιλότητι θιγὼν πλευρὰς σὺν ἐμοὶ
τάσδʼ ἐπικούφιζʼ· ἔτι γὰρ θερμαὶ
σύριγγες ἄνω φυσῶσι μέλαν
μένος. ἀλλʼ ἄγε πᾶς, φίλος ὅστις ἀνὴρ
φησὶ παρεῖναι, σούσθω, βάτω,
τῷδʼ ἀνδρὶ πονῶν τῷ πάντʼ ἀγαθῷ
κοὐδενί πω λῴονι θνητῶν
[Αἴαντος, ὅτʼ ἦν, τότε φωνῶ.]

[¶114] Chorus:
Many things, I tell you, can be known through mortal eyes; but before he sees it happening, no one can foretell
the future, or what his fate will be.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἦ πολλὰ βροτοῖς ἔστιν ἰδοῦσιν
γνῶναι· πρὶν ἰδεῖν δʼ οὐδεὶς μάντις
τῶν μελλόντων, ὅ τι πράξει.