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CH.
Deep sorrow wrings thy soul, I know it well.

TEC.
O woe, woe, woe!

CH.
Thou may’st prolong thy moan, and be believed,
Thou that hast lately lost so true a friend.

TEC.
Thou may’st imagine; ’tis for me to know.

CH.
Ay, ay, ’tis true.

TEC.
Alas, my child! what slavish tasks and hard
We are drifting to! What eyes control our will!

CH.
Ay me! Through thy complaint
I hear the wordless blow
Of two high-throned, who rule without restraint
Of Pity. Heaven forfend
What evil they intend!

TEC.
The work of Heaven hath brought our life thus low.

CH.
‘Tis a sore burden to be laid on men.

TEC.
Yet such the mischief Zeus’ resistless maid,
Pallas, hath planned to make Odysseus glad.

CH.
O’er that dark-featured soul
What waves of pride shall roll,
What floods of laughter flow,
Rudely to greet this madness-prompted woe,
Alas! from him who all things dares endure,
And from that lordly pair, who hear, and seat them sure!

TEC.
Ay, let them laugh and revel o’er his fall!
Perchance, albeit in life they missed him not,
Dead, they will cry for him in straits of war.
For dullards know not goodness in their hand,
Nor prize the jewel till ’tis cast away.
To me more bitter than to them ’twas sweet,
His death to him was gladsome, for he found
The lot he longed for, his self-chosen doom.
What cause have they to laugh? Heaven, not their crew,
Hath glory by his death. Then let Odysseus
Insult with empty pride. To him and his
Aias is nothing; but to me, to me,
He leaves distress and sorrow in his room!

TEUCER
(within).

Alas, undone!

LEADER OF CH.
Hush! that was Teucer’s cry. Methought I heard
His voice salute this object of dire woe.

[Enter TEUCER.]

TEU.
Aias, dear brother, comfort of mine eye,
Hast thou then done even as the rumour holds?

CH.
Be sure of that, Teucer. He lives no more.

TEU.
Oh, then how heavy is the lot I bear!

CH.
Yes, thou hast cause–

TEU.
O rash assault of woe!–

CH.
To mourn full loud.

TEU.
Ay me! and where, oh where
On Trojan earth, tell me, is this man’s child?

CH.
Beside the huts, untended.

TEU.
(to TEC).
Oh, with haste
Go bring him hither, lest some enemy’s hand
Snatch him, as from the lion’s widowed mate
The lion-whelp is taken. Spare not speed.
All soon combine in mockery o’er the dead.

[Exit TECMESSA]

CH.
Even such commands he left thee ere he died.
As thou fulfillest by this timely care.

TEU.
O sorest spectacle mine eyes e’er saw!
Woe for my journey hither, of all ways
Most grievous to my heart, since I was ware,
Dear Aias, of thy doom, and sadly tracked
Thy footsteps. For there darted through the host,
As from some God, a swift report of thee
That thou wert lost in death. I, hapless, heard,
And mourned even then for that whose presence kills me.
Ay me! But come,
Unveil. Let me behold my misery.