Ajax

Sophocles

Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 7: The Ajax. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891.

  1. I see a defense against suffering. Come, slay me on top of these!
Chorus
  1. Hush! Speak words of better omen! Do not cure evil by prescribing evil; do not increase the anguish of your mad disaster.
Ajax
  1. Do you see the bold, the strong of heart,
  2. the dauntless in battles with the enemy—do you see me now, terrible in the force of my hands against beasts unformidable? Oh, the mockery! How I have been violated!
Tecmessa
  1. Ajax, my lord, I beg you, do not talk this way!
Ajax
  1. Away with you! Will you not take yourself outside!
  2. Ah, me! Ah, me!
Chorus
  1. By the gods I plead, give way and acquire good sense!