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 TECMESSAAjax, 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!
