ousand wounds from
bearing the darts, a new successor must be obtained. In fine, what need
is there for words? Let us be tried in action. Let the arms of that
brave hero be thrown in the midst of the enemy: order them to be fetched
thence, and adorn him that brings them back, with them so brought off."

The son of Telamon had {now} ended, and a murmur among the multitude
ensued upon his closing words, until the Laertian hero stood up, and
fixing his eyes, for a short time, on the ground, raised them towards
the chiefs, and opened his mouth in the accents that were looked for;
nor was gracefulness wanting to his eloquent words.

"If my prayers had been of any avail together with yours, Pelasgians,
the successor to a prize so great would not {now} be in question, and
thou wouldst now be enjoying thine arms, and we thee, O Achilles. But
since the unjust Fates have denied him to me and to yourselves, (and
here he wiped his eyes with his hands as though shedding tears,) who
could better succeed the great Achilles than he through whom[23] the
great Achilles joined the Greeks? Only let it not avail him that he
seems to be as stupid as he {really} is; and let not my talents, which
ever served you, O Greeks, be a prejudice to me: and let this eloquence
of mine, if there is any, which now pleads for its possessor, and has
often {done so} for yourselves, stand clear of envy, and let each man
not disown his own advantages. For {as to} descent and ancestors, and
the things which we have not made ourselves, I scarce call these our
own. But, indeed, since Ajax boasts that he is the great grandson of
Jove, Jupiter, too, is the founder of my family, and by just as many
degrees am I distant from him. For Laertes is my father, Arcesius his,
Jupiter his; nor was any one of these {ever} condemned[24] and banished.
Through the mother,[25] too, Cyllenian {Mercury}, another noble stock,
is added to myself. On the side of either parent there was a God. But
neither because I am more nobly born on my mother's side, nor because my
father is innocent of his brother's blood, do I claim the arms {now} in
question. By {personal} merit weigh the cause. So that it be no merit in
Ajax that Telamon and Peleus were brothers; and {so that} not
consanguinity, but the honour of merit, be regarded in {the disposal of}
these spoils. Or if nearness of relationship and the next heir is
sought, Peleus is his sire, and Pyrrhus is his son. What room, {then},
is the