Do not thyself then outrage so the dead.
Teu. I cannot wonder, friends, that one who lives,
Brought up in low estate, should faults commit,
When they who deem they come of noblest stock
Such faulty words will utter in their speech.
Come, let us start afresh: and dost thou say
That thou did'st bring this man as stanch ally
To these Achæans? Did he not sail forth,
Himself his only master? Or what right
Had'st thou to rule the people that he led1100
Here from his home? As Sparta's king thou cam'st,
And not as ours. No greater right had'st thou
To rule o'er him than he to reign o'er thee.
Thou cam'st an under-captain, not the lord
Of all the host, that thou should'st Aias lead.
Rule those thou rulest, vent thy solemn words
On them; but I, though thou should'st say me nay,
Or e'en that other leader, I will place
This body in the tomb with all due rites,
Not fearing thy big speeches. He warred not1110
For that thy wife, as these who take their fill
Of many labours, but to keep the oath
By which he bound himself.[1] 'Twas not for thee,
For never did he value men of nought.
Come, therefore, bring more heralds with thee here;
Yea, bring the general's self. I would not care
For all thy stir while thou art . . . what thou art.
Chor. I do not like such speech in midst of ills;
Sharp words will bite, however just they be.
Mene. This archer seems to have a lofty soul.[2]1120
- ↑ In the post-Homeric legends, Tyndareus, the father of Helena, bound all her suitors by an oath that they would, in case of calamity, come to his daughter's help.
- ↑ In Homer, both Gods and heroes use the bow without any thought of its inferiority to other weapons. Later changes in warfare had, however,
