son
of Telamon had gone, until even now would our sails have been without
wind. A bold envoy, too, I was sent to the towers of Ilium, and the
senate-house of lofty Troy was seen and entered by me; and still was it
filled with their heroes. Undaunted, I pleaded the cause which all
Greece had entrusted to me; and I accused Paris, and I demanded back the
plunder, and Helen {as well}; and I moved Priam and Antenor[31], related
to Priam. But Paris and his brothers, and those who, under him, had been
ravishers, scarce withheld their wicked hands; {and} this thou knowest,
Menelaues, and that was the first day of my danger in company with thee.
It were a tedious matter to relate the things which, by my counsel and
my valour, I have successfully executed in the duration of this tedious
warfare.

"After the first encounter, the enemy for a long time kept themselves
within the walls of the city, and there was no opportunity for open
fight. At length, in the tenth year we fought. {And} what wast thou
doing in the mean time, thou, who knowest of nothing but battles? what
was the use of thee? But if thou inquirest into my actions: I lay
ambuscades for the enemy; I surround the trenches[32] with redoubts;
I cheer our allies that they may bear with patient minds the tediousness
of a protracted war; I show, {too}, how we are to be supported, and how
to be armed; I am sent[33] whither necessity requires. Lo! by the advice
of Jove, the king, deceived by a form in his sleep, commands him to
dismiss all care of the war {thus} begun. He is enabled, through the
author of it, to defend his own cause. Ajax should not have allowed
this, and should have demanded that Troy be razed. And he should have
fought, the {only} thing he could do. Why, does he not stop them when
about to depart? Why does he not take up arms, and {why not} suggest
some course for the fickle multitude to pursue? This was not too much
for him, who never says any thing but what is grand. Well, and didst
thou take to flight? I was witness of it, and ashamed I was to see, when
thou wast turning thy back, and wast preparing the sails of disgrace.
Without delay, I exclaimed, 'What are you doing? What madness made you,
O my friends, quit Troy, {well nigh} taken? And what, in this tenth
year, are you carrying home but disgrace?'

"With these and other {words}, for which grief itself had made me
eloquent, I brought back the resisting {Greeks} from the flying fleet.
The son of Atre