AJ. Rivers, that murmuring roll into ocean,caverns, that skirt the main,-and thou, cliff-crowning grove, much time, much and long time have ye detained me around Troy; but no more, no more shall ye [keep] me drawing the breath of life: know this, whoever is possessed of reason. Oh neighbouring streams of Scamander, 'kindly of spirit to the Greeks, think not ye shall any longer look on me, a man (I will speak out the haughty boast) such as Troy hath not seen in all the host who came from the land of Greece. And now, thus dishonoured, am I lying prostrate. CHO. Believe me, I know not how either to prevent thee or suffer thee to speak, all fallen as thou art into miseries such as these. AJ. Ah! ah! Who could have ever thought that my *name, thus accordant, would harmonize with my mis • Lobeck understands this passage as a mark of Ajax' deep resentment and passion, in thinking the very streams of Troy had conspired against him with his present enemies, the Greeks. There does not, however, seem any reason why we should adopt this certainly farfetched idea, unless it be the rise of the Scamander to overwhelm Achilles, as told in the Iliad. Musgrave, on this account, proposes to read δύσφρονες. by " This passage would have been received with greater complacency my father" in Sterne than it generally is. We must allow, however, for the superstition of the ancients with respect to names, which the Romans carried so far as to alter that of Epidamnus to Dyrrachium. To us these lines appear much on a par with those of Holofernes in Love's Labour Lost: "The praiseful princess pierced and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket: Some say a sore, but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting." Or the reflections of Jack Cade in Iden's garden on the word sallet. fortunes! For now twice, nay thrice, have I cause to utter Ah! in such evils am I involved, I, whose Father from this land of Ida, having best deserved of all the army the choicest prize of honour, returned home possessed of perfect renown; while I, his son, having come to this very realm of Troy, with might not inferior [to his], nor having achieved in aid [of Greece] actions less glorious with my hand, perish thus unhonoured by the Greeks. And yet of thus much at least methinks I am assured, that were Achilles, yet alive, purposing to award the prize of excellence to some one in the matter of his own arms, none else but I had grasped them. But now, on the contrary, the Atridæ have worked his will for a crafty villain, having rejected the might of Ajax. And had not this mine eye and distorted mind wildly strayed from my purpose, never again should they by vote have given judgment against man. But now the dauntless Goddess, daughter of Jove, stern of aspect, baffled me, already putting forth my hand upon them, having cast on me a distempered frenzy, that I stained my hands with blood on brutes like these, while they are deriding me, having escaped, not by my will indeed. But if a God foil him, even the coward may elude the braver man. And now what can I do? I that am manifestly abhorred of Gods, and the Greek host detests me; while all Troy, and these her plains, are my foes? Whether shall I, having abandoned our naval station, and the sons of Atreus, to themselves, cross the Ægean sea for home? And what face shall I show my father Telamon, appearing before him? How will he ever bear to look on me forlorn X before him, destitute of the "meed of valour, whereof himself acquired the illustrious crown of glory? The deed is not to be borne,-but shall I then, advancing to the Trojan ramparts, alone with them alone engaging, and achieving some honourable deed, so fall at last? Nay, thus I must at all events pleasure the Atridæ. This may not be: some attempt must be sought of such a nature, as that by it I may prove to my aged father, that, being his son, I am not naturally at least a spiritless coward. For it is base for a man who meets no change to rescue him from misery to y wish a length of life. Since what pleasure hath one day, attaching to another, and procrastinating death? I would not buy, at any price, that man who warms himself with empty hopes. No; or nobly to live, or to die nobly, becomes the generous man. Thou hast heard all I have to say. CHO. None will ever say, Ajax, that thou hast spoken sentiments of supposititious growth, but [the genuine offspring] of thy own spirit. Yet desist, and “Kaλλíoτua propriè est præmium pulchritudinis ut apud Lucianum in Dearum judicio. Hic simpliciter præmium valet, quod docent Lexica. Kanλiorivuv esse fortissime se gerere, ex male intellecto Herodoti loco 7. 180. natum est." Musgrave. That is, by his noble action, since on death he was at all events resolved. y Such is the wish of Parolles in All's Well that Ends Well. "GUARD. What work is here ?-Charmian, is this well done? CHAR. It is well done, and fitting for a princess, Descended of so many royal kings." ANT. V. CLEO. Act 5, sc. 2. give thy friends to prevail o'er thy purpose, dismissing these anxious thoughts. b TEC. Ajax, my lord, there is not a greater evil to mankind, than a slavery's forced lot. But I was begotten of a free father, a man powerful by his wealth among Phrygians, if any were. Yet now I am a slave; for so, I know not why, it seemed fit to the Gods, and above all to thy hand. Wherefore, since that I have shared thy bed, I am a well-wisher to thee and thine, and conjure thee by Ephestian Jove, and thy couch whereby thou wert united to me, do not think me deserving to get offensive language from thine enemies, leaving me a spoil for the hand of any. Since, shouldst thou die, and, being deceased, abandon me, bethink thee that on that very day I too, violently seized on by the Greeks, shall eat the bread of slavery with thy And some one among my tyrants shall say with bitter taunt, harrowing me by his words, "Behold the consort of Ajax, who was of might preeminent amid our host,—what servitude, in exchange for how envied a lot, does she support!" Thus some one will say. And me fortune will drive to this; 'tis to thee and thy family words like these are a disgrace. But respect thy father whom thou abandonest in forlorn old age: respect thy mother, allotted to the heritage of many years, who often implores the Gods that thou mayest son. a Lobeck would exclude the idea of slavery from the Greek expression here, as unsuitable to Tecmessa's purpose. b A most solemn adjuration, and used by Themistocles to Admetus, in his greatest need. Thuc. I. с What return home alive. And, O prince! compassionate thy son, in that, bereft of childhood's nurture, abandoned by thee, he will spend his life under no friendly guardians: how much of ill this is, that thou at thy death wilt bequeath to him and me. For to me there remains no longer any one to whom I can look, save thee, for thou hast annihilated my country with thy spear, and my mother: but my father death hurled down to the deceased inhabitants of Hades. then could be to me a country in thy stead? what prosperity could I have? in thee is centred all my hope of safety. Nay, preserve the remembrance of me too. Believe me, it is fitting that memory should abide by a man, if any where he have received aught d pleasurable; for it is kindness that aye engenders kindness, but from whomsoever the recollection of a benefit received melts away, that man e could never be of generous birth. • These sentiments find a parallel in those of the Sabine women in Livy; and the lamentation of Andromache throughout is very similar: "An only child, once comfort of my pains, POPE'S IL. B. XXII. 1. 620. "Si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quicquam EN. IV. v. 317. • Brunck has paid no attention to Porson's remarks on the metre in |