450 BC

AJAX

by Sophocles

translated by R. C. Trevelyan

Characters in the Play -

Athena

Odysseus

Ajax

Chorus Of Salaminians

Tecmessa, concubine of Ajax

Messenger

Teucer, half-brother of Ajax

Menelaus

Agamemnon

Mute Persons:

Eurysaces, child of Ajax and Tecmessa

Attendants, Heralds, etc.

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,