re for Ajax? Let them be taken to Phthia[26] or to Scyros. Nor is
Teucer[27] any less a cousin of Achilles than he; and yet does he sue
for, does he expect to bear away the arms?

"Since then the contest is simply one of deeds; I, in truth, have done
more than what it is easy for me to comprise in words. Yet I shall
proceed in the order of events. {Thetis}, the Nereid mother, prescient
of coming death, conceals her son by his dress. The disguise of the
assumed dress deceived all, among whom was Ajax. Amid woman's trinkets I
mixed arms such as would affect the mind of a man. And not yet had the
hero thrown aside the dress of a maiden, when, as he was brandishing a
shield and a spear, I said, 'O son of a Goddess, Pergamus reserves
itself to fall through thee. Why, {then}, dost thou delay to overthrow
the mighty Troy?' And {then} I laid my hands on him, and to brave deeds
I sent forth the brave. His deeds then are my own. 'Twas I that subdued
Telephus, as he fought with his lance; 'twas I that recovered him,
vanquished, and begging {for his life}. That Thebes has fallen, is my
doing. Believe me, that I took Lesbos, that I {took} Tenedos, Chrysa[28]
and Cylla, cities of Apollo, and Scyros {too}. Consider too, that the
Lyrnessian[29] walls were levelled with the ground, shaken by my right
hand. And, not to mention other things, 'twas I, in fact, that found one
who might slay the fierce Hector; through me the renowned Hector lies
prostrate. By those arms through which Achilles was found out, I demand
these arms. To him when living I gave them; after his death I ask them
back again.

"After the grief of one[30] had reached all the Greeks, and a thousand
ships had filled the Euboean Aulis, the breezes long expected were either
not existing or adverse to the fleet; and the ruthless oracles commanded
Agamemnon to slay his innocent daughter for the cruel Diana. This the
father refuses, and is enraged against the Gods themselves, and, a king,
he is still a father. By my words I swayed the gentle disposition of the
parent to the public advantage. Now, indeed, I make this confession, and
let the son of Atreus forgive me as I confess it; before a partial judge
I upheld a difficult cause. Yet the good of the people and his brother,
and the supreme power of the sceptre granted to him, influence him to
balance praise against blood. I was sent, too, to the mother, who was
not to be persuaded, but to be deceived with craft; to whom, if the