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AJAX.
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str. 3.  Aj. Alas, thou darkness, my sole light! O thou nether gloom, fairer for me than any sunshine! take me to dwell with you,—yea, take me; for I am no longer worthy to look for help to the race of the gods, or for any good from men, the children of a day.400

No, the daughter of Zeus, the strong goddess, torments me to the death. Whither then shall a man flee? Whither shall I go to find rest? If my past fame is destroyed, my friends, along with such victims as these near me—if I have set myself to win a madman's triumphs, and all the host, with sword uplifted in both hands, would strike me dead!

Te. Ah me unhappy, that a good man and true410 should utter such words,—words that, till now, he ne'er would have deigned to speak!

ant. 3.  Aj. Alas, ye paths of the sounding wave, ye sea-caves and wooded pastures by the shore, long time, long time and very weary have ye known me tarrying at Troy; but no more shall ye know me,—no more with the breath of life: of so much let sane men be sure.

Ah, streams of Scamander near us,420 kindly to the Greeks, never shall ye look on Ajax more; whose peer in the host—for I will utter a proud word—never hath Troy seen come from the land of Hellas: but now, behold, he hath been humbled to the dust!

Ch. In sooth I know not how to restrain thee, or how suffer thee to speak, whom woes so grievous have befallen.

Aj. Ay me! Who could e'er have thought that430 my name would chime so meetly with my doom? For well may I now mourn,—yea, twice and three times