Wise conduct hath command of happiness
Before all else, and piety to Heaven
Must be preserved. High boastings of the proud
Bring sorrow to the height to punish pride:—
A lesson men shall learn when they are old.
[page 41]
AIAS
THE PERSONS
- ATHENA.
- ODYSSEUS.
- AIAS, the son of Telamon.
- CHORUS of Salaminian Mariners.
- TECMESSA.
- A Messenger.
- TEUCER, half brother of Aias.
- MENELAUS.
- AGAMEMNON.
- EURYSAKÈS, the child of Aias and Tecmessa, appears, but does not speak.
SCENE. Before the encampment of Aias on the shore of the Troad. Afterwards a lonely place beyond Rhoeteum.
Time, towards the end of the Trojan War.
[page 42] ‘A wounded spirit who can bear?’
After the death of Achilles, the armour made for him by Hephaestus was to be given to the worthiest of the surviving Greeks. Although Aias was the most valiant, the judges made the award to Odysseus, because he was the wisest.