It seems that you have come to me, friends, well commended by a grief that matches my own.Your story is in harmony with mine, so that I can recognize the work of the Atreids and of Odysseus. For well I know that he would put his tongue to any base tale and to any mischief-making, if thereby he could hope to accomplish something criminal in the end.No, that is not at all a wonder to me, but rather that the elder Ajax, if he was there, could bear to see this.NeoptolemusAh, friend, he was no longer alive—I would never have been plundered like that while he lived.PhiloctetesWhat do you say? Is he, too, dead and gone?NeoptolemusThink of him as of one who sees the sun’s light no more.PhiloctetesOh, no! But the son of Tydeus, and Sisyphus’ offspring that was bought by Laertes—they will not die, since they do not deserve to live!NeoptolemusNo, indeed, be sure of it. On the contrary, they prosper now—yes, and greatly—in the Argive army.PhiloctetesAnd what of my brave old friend, Nestor of Pylos—is he not alive? He often checked the crimes of those two, if not others, by his sage counsels.NeoptolemusHe has his own troubles now, since Antilochus,