AJAX
(SCENE:-Before the tent of AJAX in the Greek camp at Troy. It is dawn. ODYSSEUS is discovered examining the ground before the tent. ATHENA appears from above.)
ATHENA
SON of Laertes, ever do I behold thee
Scheming to snatch some vantage o’er thy foes.
And now among the tents that guard the ships
Of Ajax, camped at the army’s outmost verge,
Long have I watched thee hunting in his trail,
And scanning his fresh prints, to learn if now
He be within or forth. Skilled in the chase
Thou seemest, as a keen-nosed Spartan hound.
For the man but now has passed within, his face
And slaughterous hands streaming with sweat and blood.
No further need for thee to peer about
Inside these doors. But say what eager quest
Is thine, that I who know may give thee light.
ODYSSEUS
Voice of Athena, dearest of Gods to me,
How clearly, though thou be invisible,
Do I hear thy call, and seize it with my soul,
As when a bronze-mouthed Tyrrhene trumpet sounds!
Rightly thou judgest that on a foe’s trail,
Broad-shielded Ajax, I range to and fro.
Him, and no other, I have long been tracking.
This very night against us he has wrought
A deed incredible, if in truth ’tis he.
For we know nothing sure, but drift in doubt.
Gladly I assumed the burden of this task.
For not long since we found that our whole spoil
Had been destroyed, both herds and flocks, slaughtered
By some man’s hand, their guardians dead beside them.
Now ’tis on him that all men lay this guilt:
And a scout who had seen him swiftly bounding
Across the plain alone with reeking sword,
Informed me and bore witness. I forthwith,
Darting in hot chase, now pick out his tracks,
But now, bewildered, know not whose they are.
Timely thou comest. As in past days, so
In days to come I am guided by thy hand.
ATHENA
I know it, Odysseus: so on the path betimes
A sentinel friendly to thy chase I came.
ODYSSEUS
Dear mistress, do I labour to good purpose?
ATHENA
Know ’twas by yonder man these deeds were wrought.
ODYSSEUS
And why did he so brandish a frenzied hand?
ATHENA
In grievous wrath for Achilles’ panoply.
ODYSSEUS
Why then upon the flocks did he make this onslaught?
ATHENA
Your blood he deemed it was that stained his hand.
ODYSSEUS
Was this outrage designed against the Greeks?
ATHENA
He had achieved it too, but for my vigilance.
ODYSSEUS
What bold scheme could inspire such reckless daring?
ATHENA
By night he meant to steal on you alone.
ODYSSEUS
Did he come near us? Did he reach his goal?
ATHENA
He stood already at the two chiefs’ doors.
ODYSSEUS
What then withheld his eager hand from bloodshed?
ATHENA
‘Twas I restrained him, casting on his eyes
O’ermastering notions of that baneful ecstasy,
That turned his rage on flocks and mingled droves
Of booty yet unshared, guarded by herdsmen.
Then plunging amid the thronging horns he slew,
Smiting on all sides; and one while he fancied
The Atreidae were the captives he was slaughtering,
Now ’twas some other chief on whom he fell.
And I, while thus he raved in maniac throes,
Urged him on, drove him into the baleful toils.
Thereafter, when he had wearied of such labours,
He bound with thongs such oxen as yet lived,
With all the sheep, and drove them to his tents,
As though his spoil were men, not horned cattle.
Now lashed together in the hut he tortures them.
But to thee too will I expose this madness,
That seeing thou mayst proclaim it to all the Greeks.
Boldly await him here, nor apprehend
Mischance; for I will turn aside his eyes,
Foiling his vision lest he see thy face.
(She calls to AJAX within the tent.)
Hearken, thou who art pinioning with cords
The wrists of captives; hither, I bid thee, come.
Thou, Ajax, hear me: come to thy tent’s door.
ODYSSEUS
What dost thou, Athena? Do not summon him forth.
ATHENA
Abide in silence. Earn not the name of coward.
ODYSSEUS
Nay, by the Gods, let him remain within.
ATHENA
What dost thou dread? Was he not once a man?
ODYSSEUS
Yes, and to me a foeman, and still is.
ATHENA
To mock foes, is not that the sweetest mockery?
ODYSSEUS
I am content he should remain indoors.
ATHENA
To look upon a madman art thou afeard?
ODYSSEUS
Had he been sane, no fear had made me shrink.
ATHENA
Even now he shall not see thee, near as thou art.
ODYSSEUS
How so, if still with the same eyes he sees?
ATHENA
His orbs will I make dark, though vision is theirs.
ODYSSEUS
Well, all is possible, when ’tis a god contrives.
ATHENA
Stand then silent, abiding as thou art.
ODYSSEUS
Stay I must; yet I fain would be far hence.
ATHENA
Ho, Ajax! Once again I summon thee.
So slight is thy regard for thine ally?
(AJAX appears in the tent door, with a
blood-stained scourge in his hand.)
AJAX
Oh hail, Athena! Hail thou Zeus-born maid!
Nobly hast thou stood by me. Now will I crown thee
With trophies all of gold for this rich conquest.
ATHENA
Thy words are welcome. But now tell me this:
Hast thou dyed well thy sword in the Argive host?
AJAX
Such vaunt is mine. I disclaim not that glory.
ATHENA
Against the Atreidae didst thou arm thy hand?
AJAX
So that Ajax nevermore shall they insult.
ATHENA
The men are dead, if rightly I take thy meaning.
AJAX
Yes, dead. Now let them rob me of my arms.
ATHENA
‘Tis well. And what then of Laertes’ son?
In what plight does he stand? Or has he escaped thee?
AJAX
Wouldst thou know where is that accursed fox?
ATHENA
Even so-Odysseus, thine old adversary.
AJAX
Goddess, a most dear captive in my tent
He sits. I do not mean him to die yet.
ATHENA
Till thou hast done what, gained what further vantage?
AJAX
Till bound fast to a pillar beneath my roof-
ATHENA
What evil wilt thou inflict on the poor wretch?
AJAX
His back the scourge must crimson ere he dies.
ATHENA
Nay, do not torture so the wretched man.
AJAX
Athena, in all else will I do thy will;
But his shall be no other doom than this.
ATHENA
Thou then, since thy delight is to act thus,
Smite, spare not, abate nought of thy intent.
AJAX
To my work I return: and thus I charge thee,
As now, so always fight thou upon my side.
(AJAX goes back into the tent.)
ATHENA
Seest thou, Odysseus, how great the strength of gods?
Whom couldst thou find more prudent than this man,
Or whom in act more valiant, when need called?
ODYSSEUS
I know none nobler; and I pity him
In his misery, albeit he is my foe,
Since he is yoked fast to an evil doom.
My own lot I regard no less than his.
For I see well, nought else are we but mere
Phantoms, all we that live, mere fleeting shadows.
ATHENA
Warned therefore by his fate, never do thou
Thyself utter proud words against the gods;
Nor swell with insolence, if thou shouldst vanquish
Some rival by main strength or by wealth’s power.
For a day can bring all mortal greatness low,
And a day can lift it up. But the gods love
The wise of heart, the froward they abhor.
(ATHENA vanishes and ODYSSEUS departs. The CHORUS OF SALAMINIANS
enters.)
CHORUS (singing)
Son of Telamon, lord of Salamis’ isle,
On its wave-washed throne mid the breaking sea,
I rejoice when fair are thy fortunes:
But whene’er thou art smitten by the stroke of Zeus,
Or the vehement blame of the fierce-tongued Greeks,
Then sore am I grieved, and for fear I quake,
As a fluttering dove with a scared eye.
Even so by rumour murmuring loud
Of the night late-spent our ears are assailed.
‘Tis a tale of shame, how thou on the plains
Where the steeds roam wild, didst ruin the Danaan
Flocks and herds,
Our spear-won booty as yet unshared,
With bright sword smiting and slaughtering.
Such now are the slanders Odysseus forges
And whispers abroad into all men’s ears,
Winning easy belief: so specious the tale
He is spreading against thee; and each new hearer
Rejoices more than he who told,
Exulting in thy degradation.
For the shaft that is aimed at the noble of soul
Smites home without fail: but whoe’er should accuse me
Of such misdeeds, no faith would he win.
‘Tis the stronger whom creeping jealousy strikes.
Yet small men reft of help from the mighty
Can ill be trusted to guard their walls.
Best prosper the lowly in league with the great;
And the great have need to be served by the less.
But none to the knowledge of such plain truths
May lead minds witless and froward.
Even such are the men who murmur against thee:
And vainly without thine aid, O King,
We strive to repel their accusing hate.
For whene’er they are safe from the scorn of thy glance,
They chatter and screech like bids in a flock:
But smitten with dread of the powerful vulture,
Doubtless at once, should’st thou but appear,
They will cower down dumbly in silence.
strophe
Was it the Tauric Olympian Artemis,
(Oh, the dread rumour of woe,
Parent of my grievous shame!)
Who drove thee forth to slaughter the herds of the people,
In wrath perchance for some unpaid-for victory,
Whether defrauded of glorious spoil, or offerings
Due for a stag that was slain?
Or did the bronze-clad Demon of battle, aggrieved
On him who scorned the might of his succouring spear,
Plot revenge by nightly deception?
antistrophe
Ne’er of itself had thy heart, son of Telamon,
Strayed into folly so far
As to murder flocks and herds.
Escape from heaven-sent madness is none: yet Apollo
And Zeus avert these evil rumours of the Greeks.
But should the story be false, these crafty slanders
Spread by the powerful kings,
And by the child of the infamous Sisyphid line,
No more, my master, thus in the tent by the sea
Hide thy countenance, earning an ill fame.
epode
Nay, but arise from thy seat, where’er so long wrapt in
Brooding pause from the battle thou hast lurked: arise,
Heaven-high kindle the flame of death.
But the insolence of thy foes boldly
Thus wanders abroad in the wind-swept glens.
Meanwhile all men mocking
With venomous tongues taunt thee:
But grief in my heart wanes not.
(TECMESSA enters. The following lines between TECMESSA and the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)
TECMESSA
Liegemen of Ajax, ship-companions,
Ye children of earth-sprung Erechthid race,
Lamentation is now our portion, to whom
Dear is the far-off house of Telamon,
Now that the stern and terrible Ajax
Lies whelmed by a storm
Of turbid wildering fury.
CHORUS
To what evil change from the day’s woe now
Has night given birth?
Thou daughter of Phrygian Teleutas, speak;
For a constant love has valiant Ajax
Borne thee, his spear-won prisoner bride.
Then hide from us nought that thou knowest.
TECMESSA
How to utter a tale of unspeakable things!
For disastrous as death is the hap you will hear.
In the darkness of night madness has seized
Our glorious Ajax: he is ruined and lost.
Hereof in the tent may proof be seen;
Sword-slain victims in their own blood bathed,
By his hand sacrificially slaughtered.
CHORUS
strophe
What tidings of the fiery warrior tellest thou,
Not to be borne, nor yet to be disputed,
Rumoured abroad by the chiefs of the Danaan host,
Mightily still spreading and waxing!
Woe’s me! I dread the horror to come. Yea, to a public death
doomed
Will he die, if in truth his be the hand that wielded
The red sword that in frenzy hath slain the herds and mounted
herdsmen.
TECMESSA
Ah me! Thence was it, thence that he came to me
Leading his captive flock from the pastures!
Thereof in the tent some did he slaughter,
Others hewed he asunder with slashing sword;
Then he caught up amain two white-footed rams,
Sliced off from the one both the head and the tongue,
And flings them away;
But the other upright to a pillar he binds,
Then seizing a heavy horse-harnessing thong
He smites with the whistling doubled lash,
Uttering fierce taunts which an evil fiend
No mere mortal could have taught him.
CHORUS
antistrophe
‘Tis time that now each with shamefully muffled head
Forth from the camp should creep with stealthy footsteps.
Nay, on the ship let us muster, and benched at the oars
Over the waves launch her in swift flight.
Such angry threats sound in our ears hurled by the brother
princes,
The Atreidae: and I quake, fearing a death by stoning,
The dread portion of all who would share our hapless master’s
ruin.
TECMESSA
Yet hope we: for ceased is the lightning’s flash:
His rage dies down like a fierce south-wind.
But now, grown sane, new misery is his;
For on woes self-wrought he gazes aghast,
Wherein no hand but his own had share;
And with anguish his soul is afflicted.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Nay, if ’tis ceased, there is good cause to hope.
Once ’tis past, of less moment is his frenzy.
TECMESSA
And which, were the choice thine, wouldst thou prefer,
To afflict thy friends and feel delight thyself,
Or to share sorrow, grieving with their grief?
LEADER
The twofold woe, lady, would be the greater.
TECMESSA
Then we, though plagued no more, are undone now.
LEADER
What mean thy words? Their sense is dark to me.
TECMESSA
Yonder man, while his spirit was diseased,
Himself had joy in his own evil plight,
Though to us, who were sane, he brought distress.
But now, since he has respite from his plague,
He with sore grief is utterly cast down,
And we likewise, no less than heretofore.
Are there not here two woes instead of one?
LEADER
Yes truly. And I fear, from some god came
This stroke; how else? if, now his frenzy is ceased,
His mind has no more ease than when it raged.
TECMESSA
‘Tis even as I said, rest well assured.
LEADER
But how did this bane first alight upon him?
To us who share thy grief show what befell.
TECMESSA
Thou shalt hear all, as though thou hadst been present.
In the middle of the night, when the evening braziers
No longer flared, he took a two-edged sword,
And fain would sally upon an empty quest.
But I rebuked him, saying: “What doest thou,
Ajax? Why thus uncalled wouldst thou go forth?
No messenger has summoned thee, no trumpet
Roused thee. Nay, the whole camp is sleeping still.”
But curtly he replied in well-worn phrase:
“Woman, silence is the grace of woman.”
Thus schooled, I yielded; and he rushed out alone.
What passed outside the tent, I cannot tell.
But in he came, driving lashed together
Bulls, and shepherd dogs, and fleecy prey.
Some he beheaded, the wrenched-back throats of some
He slit, or cleft their chines; others he bound
And tortured, as though men they were, not beasts.
Last, darting through the doors, as to some phantom
He tossed words, now against the Atreidae, now
Taunting Odysseus, piling up huge jeers
Of how he had gone and wreaked his scorn upon them.
Soon he rushed back within the tent, where slowly
And hardly to his reason he returned.
And gazing round on the room filled with havoc,
He struck his head and cried out; then amidst
The wrecks of slaughtered sheep a wreck he fell,
And sat clutching his hair with tight-clenched nails.
There first for a long while he crouched speechless;
Then did he threaten me with fearful threats,
If I revealed not all that had befallen him,
Asking what meant the plight wherein he lay.
And I, friends, terror-stricken, told him all
That had been done, so far as I had knowledge.
Forthwith he broke forth into bitter wailing,
Such as I ne’er had heard from him before
For always had he held that such laments
Befitted cowards only, and low-souled men:
But uttering no shrill cries, he would express
His grief in low groans, as of a moaning bull.
But now prostrate beneath so great a woe,
Not tasting food nor drink, he sits among
The sword-slain beasts, motionless where he sank.
And plainly he meditates some baleful deed,
For so portend his words and lamentations.
But, O friends!-’twas for this cause I came forth-
Enter and help, if help at all you can:
For by friends’ words men so bestead are won.
LEADER
Child of Teleutas, fearful are thy tidings,
That our prince has been maddened by his griefs.
AJAX (within)
Alas! Woe, woe!
TECMESSA
Soon, I fear, worse will follow. Heard you not?
‘Twas Ajax. Oh, how dreadful was that cry.
AJAX
Alas! Woe, woe!
LEADER
He seems either still frenzied, or else grieving
For his past frenzies, now he sees their work.
AJAX
Alas! My son, my son!
TECMESSA
Woe’s me! Eurysaces, ’tis for thee he calls.
What can he purpose?-Where art thou?-Ah, woe!
AJAX
Teucer, come!-Where is Teucer? Will he never
Come back from cattle-raiding?-while I perish!
LEADER
He seems in his right mind. But open the doors.
Perhaps even the sight of me may sober him.
(She opens the doors of the tent. AJAX is
revealed sitting among the slain beasts.)
TECMESSA
See, I have opened. You may now behold
What he has done, and in what plight he lies.
AJAX (chanting)
Alas!
My shipmates and friends, you that alone to me
Loyal and true remain, of all friends alone,
Behold how great a billow lately rising from the storm of blood
Surging around engulphs me!
LEADER
Ah me, too true, it seems, was thy report.
This sight reveals the work of no sane mind.
AJAX (chanting)
Alas!
My mates, skilled and tried in brave seamanship,
Ye who embarking drove the wave-cleaving oar,
In you, in you alone I see a help and refuge from despair.
Smite me, and spill my blood too.
LEADER
Keep silence from dread words; nor curing ill
By ill, so swell the misery of this curse.
AJAX (chanting)
Behold now the bold, the man stout of heart,
Who ne’er shrank in fight against foes-behold
How I have spent my rage on beasts that feared no harm!
Ah me, the mockery! To what shame am I brought low
TECMESSA
Ajax, my master, I entreat thee, speak not so.
AJAX (chanting)
Away hence, I command thee! Take thyself elsewhere.
Aiai! Aiai!
LEADER
Oh, by the Gods, we pray thee, yield to wisdom’s voice.
AJAX (chanting)
Oh, wretch that I was to allow
Those cursed foes to slip from my hands, and assaulting
Horned kine and goodly flocks, madly to spill
Their life in streams of dark blood!
LEADER
Why still be afflicted, now the deed is done past cure?
Never can these things be as though they had not been.
AJAX (chanting)
Thou all-spying knave, of all deeds of shame
The prompt, easy tool, Odysseus the wise!
Villain, of all the camp the most foul and vile!
Huge laughter doubtless shakes thee now for sheer delight.
LEADER
As God appoints, so every man laughs or laments.
AJAX (chanting)
Would I might meet him, crushed and broken though I be.
Alas! Woe, woe!
LEADER
Speak no proud words. Seest thou not to what woe thou art sunk?
AJAX (chanting)
O Zeus, of my fathers the sire,
Might I but kill that hateful and crafty dissembler,
Yea, and those two brother kings, partners in pride,
Then last myself too perish!
TECMESSA
If thus thou prayest, pray therewith for me, that
Die with thee. Why, when thou art dead, should I live on?
AJAX (chanting)
Alas!
Shadow that art my light!
Erebus, oh to me verily bright as day!
Receive, receive me your habitant.
Receive me now no more worthy to seek help of the gods,
Nor any more from fellow mortal men to claim kindness:
No, but she the strong
Zeus-born deity
Miserably tortures me.
Whither should I then flee?
Whither seek for rest?
Since my former glory is gone, my friends,
With yonder victims, yonder spoils by frenzy won,
Since all the host with swords uplifted
Sternly would slay me,
TECMESSA
Ah, woe is me! from such a noble warrior
To hear such words as once he ne’er had deigned to speak!
AJAX (chanting)
Alas!
Billowy paths of foam,
Eddying caves, and ye coppices by the shore,
A weary, weary time tarrying here
Beneath the walls of Troy me have you kept, but from this hour
Alive you shall not keep me. Truth I speak: let none doubt it.
O Scamander’s wave,
Stream whose neighbouring flow
Oft have the Argives blest,
Never, nevermore
Me shall you behold,
Me (a proud word will I utter now)
Whose peer in battle Troy has never seen yet come
From Hellas’ land: but now dishonoured
Thus am I prostrate.
LEADER
In truth I know not how to restrain thy speech, nor yet
To suffer it; so grievous is thy couch of woe.
AJAX
Aiai! Who ever would have thought my name
Would harmonise so aptly with my woes?
For now well may I wail that sound out twice,
Yea thrice; such woeful destinies are mine,
Whose father from this land of Ida won
Fame’s noblest guerdon over the whole host,
And crowned with praises only sailed back home;
But I, his son, who to the self-same Troy
Came after him, in might no less than he,
Nor rendering meaner service by my deeds,
Dishonoured by the Argives perish thus.
Yet this methinks I know for truth, were now
Achilles living and called on to adjudge
As the award of valour his own arms,
No man’s hand would have grasped them before mine.
But now the Atreidae to a scheming knave
Have dealt them, thrusting by my valiant deeds.
And if these eyes, these wits had not in frenzy
Swerved from my purpose, never would they thus
Pervert judgment against another man.
But the irresistible fierce-eyed goddess, even
As I was arming my right hand to slay them,
Foiled me, smiting me with a maddening plague,
So that I stained my hand butchering these cattle.
Thus my foes mock me, escaped beyond my reach,
Through no goodwill of mine: but if a god
Thwart vengeance, even the base may escape the nobler.
And what should I now do, who manifestly
To Heaven am hateful; whom the Greeks abhor,
Whom every Trojan hates, and this whole land?
Shall I desert the beached ships, and abandoning
The Atreidae, sail home o’er the Aegean sea?
With what face shall I appear before my father
Telamon? How will he find heart to look
On me, stripped of my championship in war,
That mighty crown of fame that once was his?
No, that I dare not. Shall I then assault
Troy’s fortress, and alone against them all
Achieve some glorious exploit and then die?
No, I might gratify the Atreidae thus.
That must not be. Some scheme let me devise
Which may prove to my aged sire that I,
His son, at least by nature am no coward.
For ’tis base for a man to crave long life
Who endures never-varying misery.
What joy can be in day that follows day,
Bringing us close then snatching us from death?
As of no worth would I esteem that man
Who warms himself with unsubstantial hopes.
Nobly to live, or else nobly to die
Befits proud birth. There is no more to say.
LEADER
The word thou hast uttered, Ajax, none shall call
Bastard, but the true offspring of thy soul.
Yet pause. Let those who love thee overrule
Thy resolution. Put such thoughts aside.
TECMESSA
O my lord Ajax, of all human ills
Greatest is fortune’s wayward tyranny.
Of a free father was I born the child,
One rich and great as any Phrygian else.
Now am I a slave; for so the gods, or rather
Thy warrior’s hand, would have it. Therefore since
I am thy bedfellow, I wish thee well,
And I entreat thee by domestic Zeus,
And by the embraces that have made me thine,
Doom me not to the cruel taunts of those
Who hate thee, left a bond-slave in strange hands.
For shouldst thou perish and forsake me in death,
That very day assuredly I to
Shall be seized by the Argives, with thy son
To endure henceforth the portion of a slave.
Then one of my new masters with barbed words
Shall wound me scoffing: “See the concubine
Of Ajax, who was mightiest of the host,
What servile tasks are hers who lived so daintily!”
Thus will men speak, embittering my hard lot,
But words of shame for thee and for thy race.
Nay, piety forbid thee to forsake
Thy father in his drear old age-thy mother
With her sad weight of years, who many a time
Prays to the gods that thou come home alive.
And pity, O king, thy son, who without thee
To foster his youth, must live the orphaned ward
Of loveless guardians. Think how great a sorrow
Dying thou wilt bequeath to him and me.
For I have nothing left to look to more
Save thee. By thy spear was my country ravaged;
And by another stroke did fate lay low
My mother and my sire to dwell with Hades.
Without thee then what fatherland were mine?
What wealth? On thee alone rests all my hope.
O take thought for me too. Do we not owe
Remembrance, where we have met with any joy?
For kindness begets kindness evermore
But he who from whose mind fades the memory
Of benefits, noble is he no more.
LEADER
Ajax, would that thy soul would feel compassion,
As mine does; so wouldst thou approve her words.
AJAX
Verily my approval shall she win,
If only she find heart to do my bidding.
TECMESSA
Dear Ajax, in all things will I obey.
AJAX
Then bring me here my son, for I would see him.
TECMESSA
Nay, but I sent him from me in my fears.
AJAX
During my late affliction, is that thy meaning?
TECMESSA
Lest by ill chance he should meet thee and so perish.
AJAX
Yes, that would have been worthy of my fate.
TECMESSA
That at least I was watchful to avert.
AJAX
I praise thine act and the foresight thou hast shown.
TECMESSA
Since that is so, what shall I do to serve thee?
AJAX
Let me speak to him and behold his face.
TECMESSA
He is close by in the attendants’ charge.
AJAX
Why is his coming then so long delayed?
TECMESSA (calling)
My son, thy father calls thee.-Bring him thither
Whichever of you is guiding the child’s steps.
AJAX
Is the man coming? Has he heard thy call?
TECMESSA
See, he is here already with the child.
(An attendant enters, leading the child, EURYSACES.)
AJAX
Lift him up, lift him hither. He will not shrink
In terror at sight of yonder new-spilt blood,
If he be rightly mine, his father’s son.
Early must he be broken to his sire’s
Stern rugged code, and grow like-natured with him.
O son, mayst thou prove happier than thy father,
In all else like him, and thou’lt prove not base.
Yet even now might I envy thee herein,
That of these woes thou hast no sense at all.
For the life that is unconscious is most sweet-
Until we learn what joy and sorrow are.
But that once learnt, then midst thy father’s foes
Thou must show what thou art, and of what breed.
Till then be nurtured on soft airs, cherishing
Thy tender life, and be thy mother’s joy.
None of the Greeks, I know, will do thee wrong
With cruel outrage, even though I be gone.
So trusty a guardian will I leave thee, Teucer,
Who will not stint his loving care, though now
He is gone far away, in chase of foes.
But you, my warriors, comrades in seafaring,
On you too I impose this task of love;
And fail not to announce my will to Teucer,
That to my home he take the child and show him
To Telamon and my mother Eriboea,
That henceforth he may comfort their old age.
And charge him that no game-steward make my arms
A prize for the Greeks-nor he who ruined me.
But this take thou, my son Eurysaces;
Hold it and wield it by its firm-stitched thong,
This sevenfold spear-proof shield, whence comes thy name.
But else with me my arms shall be interred.
(Speaking now to TECMESSA)
Come, take the child hence quickly, and bolt the doors:
And let there be no weeping and lamenting
Before the hut. Women love tears too well.
Close quickly. It is not for a skilful leech
To drone charms o’er a wound that craves the knife.
LEADER
I am fearful, listening to this eager mood.
The sharp edge of thy tongue, I like it not.
TECMESSA
O my lord Ajax, what art thou purposing?
AJAX
Question me not. To be discreet is best.
TECMESSA
Ah me, heavy is my heart. Now by thy child,
By the gods, I entreat, forsake us not.
AJAX
Vex me no further. Know’st thou not that I
To the gods owe no duty any more?
TECMESSA
Utter no proud words.
AJAX
Speak to those who listen.
TECMESSA
Wilt thou not heed?
AJAX
Too much thou hast spoken already.
TECMESSA
Yes, through my fears, O king.
AJAX
Close the doors quickly.
TECMESSA
For the gods’ love, relent.
AJAX
‘Tis a foolish hope,
If thou shouldst now propose to school my mood.
(The doors are closed upon AJAX. TECMESSA goes out with EURYSACES.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
O famed Salamis, thou amidst
Breaking surges abidest ever
Blissful, a joy to the eyes of all men.
But I the while long and wearily tarrying
Through countless months still encamped on the fields of Ida
In misery here have made my couch,
By time broken and worn,
In dread waiting the hour
When I shall enter at last the terrible shadow abode of Hades.
antistrophe 1
Now dismays me a new despair,
This incurable frenzy (woe, ah
Woe’s me!) cast by the gods on Ajax,
Whom thou of old sentest forth from thy shores, a strong
And valiant chief; but now, to his friends a sore grief,
Devouring his lonely heart he sits.
His once glorious deeds
Are now fallen and scorned,
Fallen to death without love from the loveless and pitiless sons
of Atreus.
strophe 2
His mother, ’tis most like, burdened with many days,
And whitened with old age, when she shall hear how frenzy
Has smitten his soul to ruin,
Ailinon! ailinon!
Will break forth her despair, not as the nightingale’s
Plaintive, tender lament, no, but in passion’s wailing
Shrill-toned cries; and with fierce strokes
Wildly smiting her bosom,
In grief’s anguish her hands will rend her grey locks.
antistrophe 2
Yea, better Hell should hide one who is sick in soul,
Though there be none than he sprung from a nobler lineage
Of the war-weary Greeks, yet
Strayed from his inbred mood
Now amidst alien thoughts dwells he a stranger.
Hapless father! alas, bitter the tale that waits thee,
Thy son’s grievous affliction.
No life save his alone
Of Aeacid kings such a curse has ever haunted.
(AJAX enters, carrying a sword. As he speaks, TECMESSA also enters.)
AJAX
All things the long and countless lapse of time
Brings forth. displays, then hides once more in gloom.
Nought is too strange to look for; but the event
May mock the sternest oath, the firmest will.
Thus I, who late so strong, so stubborn seemed
Like iron dipped, yet now grow soft with pity
Before this woman, whom I am loath to leave
Midst foes a widow with this orphaned child.
But I will seek the meadows by the shore:
There will I wash and purge these stains, if so
I may appease Athena’s heavy wrath.
Then will I find some lonely place, where I
May hide this sword, beyond all others cursed,
Buried where none may see it, deep in earth.
May night and Hades keep it there below.
For from that hour my hand accepted it,
The gift of Hector, deadliest of my foes,
Nought from the Greeks towards me hath sped well.
So now I find that ancient proverb true,
Foes’ gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none.
Therefore henceforth I study to obey
The Gods, and reverence the sons of Atreus.
Our rulers are they: we must yield. How else?
For to authority yield all things most dread
And mighty. Thus must Winter’s snowy feet
Give place to Summer with her wealth of fruits;
And from her weary round doth Night withdraw,
That Day’s white steeds may kindle heaven with light.
After fierce tempest calm will ever lull
The moaning sea; and Sleep, that masters all,
Binds life awhile, yet loosens soon the bond.
And who am I that I should not learn wisdom?
Of all men I, whom proof hath taught of late
How so far only should we hate our foes
As though we soon might love them, and so far
Do a friend service, as to one most like
Some day to prove our foe; since oftenest men
In friendship but a faithless haven find.
Thus well am I resolved. (To TECMESSA) Thou, woman, pass
Within, and pray the gods that all things so
May be accomplished as my heart desires.
And you, friends, heed my wishes as she doth;
And when he comes, bid Teucer he must guard
My rights at need, and withal stand your friend.
For now I go whither I needs must pass.
Do as I bid. Soon haply you shall hear,
With me, for all this misery, ’tis most well.
(AJAX departs. TECMESSA goes into the tent.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe
I thrill with rapture, flutter on wings of ecstasy.
Io, Io, Pan, Pan!
O Pan, Pan! from the stony ridge,
Snow-bestrewn of Cyllene’s height
Appear roving across the waters,
O dance-ordering king of gods,
That thou mayst join me in flinging free
Fancy measures of Nysa and of Cnossus.
Yea for the dance I now am eager.
And over the far Icarian billows come, O king Apollo,
From Delos in haste, come thou,
Thy kindly power here in our midst revealing.
antistrophe
Ares hath lifted horror and anguish from our eyes.
Io, Io! Now again,
Now, O Zeus, can the bright and blithe
Glory of happier days return
To our swift-voyaging ships, for now
Hath Ajax wholly forgot his grief,
And all rites due to the gods he now
Fain would meetly perform with loyal worship.
Mighty is time to dwindle all things.
Nought would I call too strange for belief,
when Ajax thus beyond hope
Hath learnt to repent his proud feuds,
And lay aside anger against the Atreidae.
(A MESSENGER enters.)
