A) Sophocles' Ajax
Tecmessa: Mates of the ship of Ajax, offspring of the race that springs from the Erechtheids, the soil's sons, cries of grief are the portion of us who care from afar for the house of Telamon. Ajax, our terrible, mighty lord of untamed power, now lies plagued by a turbid storm of disease.

Chorus: And what is the heavy change from the fortune of yesterday which this night has produced? Daughter of Teleutas the Phrygian, speak, since for you, his spear-won mate, bold Ajax maintains his love, with the result that that with some knowledge you could suggest an explanation.

Tecmessa: Oh, how am I to tell a tale too terrible for words? Grave as death is the suffering [pathos] which you will hear. By madness our glorious Ajax was seized in the night, and he has been subjected to utter disgrace. All this you may see inside his dwelling--butchered victims bathed in blood, sacrifices of no hand but his.

Chorus: What report of the fiery warrior have you revealed to us, unbearable, nor yet escapable-- a report which the great Danaans propound, which their powerful storytelling spreads! Ah, me, I shudder at the future's advancing step. In public view the man will die because the dark sword in his frenzied hand massacred the herds and the horse-guiding herdsmen.

Tecmessa: Ah! Then it was from there, from there that he came to me with his captive flock! Of part, he cut the throats on the floor inside; some, striking their sides, he tore asunder. Then he caught up two white-footed rams and sheared off the head of one and its tongue-tip, and flung them away; the other he bound upright to a pillar, and seizing a heavy strap from a horse's harness he flogged it with a whistling, doubled lash, while he cursed it with awful [kakos] imprecations which a god, and no mortal, had taught him.

Chorus: The time has come for each of us to veil his head and steal away on foot, or to sit and take on the swift yoke of rowing, giving her way to the sea-faring ship. So angry are the threats which the brother-kings, the sons of Atreus, speed against us! I fear to share in bitter death beneath an onslaught of stones, crushed at this man's side, whom an untouchable fate holds in its grasp.

B) Sophocles' Ajax
I shiver with rapture; I soar on the wings of sudden joy! O Pan, O Pan, appear to us, sea-rover, from the stony ridge of snow-beaten Cyllene. King, dancemaker for the gods, come, so that joining with us you may set on the Nysian and the Knosian steps, your self-taught dances. Now I want to dance. And may Apollo, lord of Delos, step over the Icarian sea and join me in his divine form, in eternal benevolence!

Ares has dispelled the cloud of fierce trouble from our eyes. Joy, joy! Now, Zeus, now can the white radiance of prosperous days approach our swift, sea-speeding ships, since Ajax forgets his pain anew, and has instead fully performed all prescribed sacrifices to the gods with worship and strict observance.

The strong years make all things fade. And so I would not say that anything was beyond belief, when beyond our hopes, Ajax has been converted from his fury and mighty struggles against the Atreidae.

C) Sophocles' Ajax 430-482: Aiai! Who would ever have thought that my name would so descriptively suit my troubles [kakos]? For well now may Ajax cry "Aiai"--yes, twice and three times. Such are the harsh troubles [kakos] with which I have met. Look, I am one whose father's [435] prowess won him the fairest prize of all the army, whose father brought home good kleos from this same land of Ida; but I, his son, who came after him to this same ground of Troy with no less might and proved the service of my hand in no meaner deeds, [440] I am ruined and without timê from the Greeks. And yet of this much I feel sure: if Achilles lived, and had been called to award the first place in valor to any claimant of his arms, no one would have grasped them before me. [445] But now the Atreidae have made away with them to a man without scruples and thrust away the triumphs of Ajax. And if these eyes and this warped mind had not swerved from the purpose that was mine, they would have never in this way procured votes in judgment [dikê] against another man. [450] As it was, the daughter of Zeus, the grim-eyed, unconquerable goddess, tripped me up at the instant when I was readying my hand against them, and shot me with a plague of frenzy so that I might bloody my hands in these grazers. And those men exult to have escaped me-- [455] not that I wanted their escape. But if a god sends harm, it is true that even the base [kakos] man can elude the worthier.

And now what shall I do, when I am plainly hated by the gods, abhorred by the Greek forces and detested by all Troy and all these plains? [460] Shall I leave my station at the ships and the Atreidae to their own devices in order to go home across the Aegean? And how shall I face my father Telamon, when I arrive? How will he bear to look on me, when I stand before him stripped, without that supreme prize of valor [465] for which he himself won a great crown of fame? No, I could not bear to do it! But then shall I go against the bulwark of the Trojans, attacking alone in single combats and doing some valuable service, and finally die? But, in so doing I might, I think, gladden the Atreidae. [470] That must not happen. Some enterprise must be sought whereby I may prove to my aged father that in nature, at least, his son is not gutless. It is a stain upon a man to crave the full term of life, when he finds no variation from his ignominious troubles [kakos]. [475] What joy is there in day following day, now advancing us towards, now drawing us back from the verge of death? I would not buy at any price the man who feels the glow of empty hopes. [480] The options for a noble man are only two: either live with honor, or make a quick and honorable death. You have heard all.

D) Sophocles, Ajax 90-126

Athena You there, Ajax, once again I call you! Why do you show so little regard for your ally?

Ajax Welcome, Athena! Welcome, daughter sprung from Zeus! How well have you stood by me! I will crown you with trophies of pure gold in gratitude [kharis] for this quarry!

Athena A fine pledge. But tell me this-- have you dyed your sword well in the Greek army?

Ajax I can make that boast. I do not deny it.

Athena And have you launched your armed hand against the Atreidae?

Ajax Yes, so that never again will they dishonor [verb from timê] Ajax.

Athena The men are dead, as I interpret your words.

Ajax Dead they are. Now let them rob me of my arms!

Athena I see. And the son of Laertes, how does his fortune with respect to you? Has he escaped you?

Ajax That blasted fox! You ask me where he is?

Athena Yes, I do. I mean Odysseus, your adversary.

Ajax My most pleasing prisoner, mistress, he sits inside. I do not wish him to die just yet.

Athena Until you do what? Or win what greater advantage?

Ajax Until he be bound to a pillar beneath my roof--

Athena What evil [kakos], then, will you inflict on the poor man?

Ajax --and have his back crimsoned by the lash, before he dies.

Athena Do not abuse the poor man so cruelly!

Ajax In all else, Athena, I bid you take your pleasure, but he will pay this penalty [dikê] and no other.

Athena Well, then, since it delights you to do so, put your arm to use; spare no portion of your plan.

Ajax I go to my work. And I give you this commission: be always for me the close-standing ally that you have been for me today! Exit Ajax.

Athena Do you see, Odysseus, how great is the strength of the gods? Whom could you have found more prudent than this man, or better able to do what the situation demanded?

Odysseus I know of no one, but in his misery I pity him all the same, even though he hates me, because he is yoked beneath a ruinous [kakos] delusion [atê]--I think of my own lot no less than his. For I see that all we who live are nothing more than phantoms or fleeting shadow.

E) Sophocles, Ajax 748-779

Messenger This much I know and witnessed on the spot. Leaving the royal circle of the chiefs [tyrannos] who sat in council, [750] Calchas separated himself from the Atreidae and put his right hand with all kindness into the hand of Teucer. The prophet then addressed him and strictly commanded him to use every possible resource to keep Ajax inside his tent for the duration of this day that now shines on us, and to prevent him from moving about [755] if he wished ever to look on him alive. For this day alone will the wrath [mênis] of divine Athena lash at him. That was the prophet's [mantis] warning. "Yes," the seer went on to explain, "lives [sôma, plural] that have grown too proud and no longer yield good fall on grave difficulties sent from the gods, [760] especially when someone born to man's estate forgets that fact by thinking thoughts too high for man. And Ajax, even at the time he first set out from home, showed himself foolish, when his father advised him well. For Telamon told him, 'My son, [765] seek victory in arms, but always seek it with the help of god.' Then with a tall boast and foolishly he replied, 'Father, with the help of the gods even a worthless man might achieve victory; but I, even without that help, fully trust to bring that glory [kleos] within my grasp.' [770] So much he boasted. Then once again in answer to divine Athena--at a time when she was urging him forward and telling him to turn a deadly hand against the enemy [ekhthros, plural]--he answered her with words terrible and blasphemous, 'Queen, stand beside the other Greeks; [775] where Ajax stands, battle will never break our line.' It was by such words, you must know, that he won for himself the intolerable anger of the goddess since his thoughts were too high for man. But if he survives this day, perhaps with the god's help we may find means to be his saviors [sôtêr, plural]."

F) Sopcocles, Ajax 1403-1417

Teucer Enough. Already the interval has been long drawn out. Come, hurry some of you to dig the hollow grave; others erect the [1405] cauldron wrapped in fire on its high stand for prompt preparation of the ritual cleansing. Let another company bring from the tent the finery [kosmos] which he wore in battle beneath his shield. And you, too, child, with such strength as you have [1410] lay a loving [philos] hand upon your father and help me to lighten his body; for his channels are still warm and spray upwards the dark force of his spirit.

Come, come everyone who claims to be our friend [philos], start forward and move on, [1415] laboring [verb from ponos] in service to this man of perfect excellence. To a nobler man such service has never yet been rendered.

G) From Pindar, Isthmian 4 (a victory song for a winner at the Isthmian games)

Those who attempt nothing face silence and obscurity, and fortune remains hidden even to those who contend, until they reach the final goal. For she dispenses from this side and from that, and the skill of weaker men can overtake and trip up a stronger man. Indeed, you know of the bloodstained might of Aias, which late at night he pierced by falling on his own sword, thus bringing blame on all the sons of the Greeks who went to Troy.

But he is honored throughout the world by Homer, who set the record right concerning all his excellence and told it with the staff of his divine words, for posterity to play. For if one says something well, that saying goes forth speaking with an immortal voice. And the radiance of fine deeds, forever unquenchable, has crossed the fruitful earth and the sea.

May we win the favor of the Muses and kindle that torch of song, a worthy garland from the pancratium for Melissus, too, the scion of the race of Telesias. For in the toil of conflict he resembles the spirit of loud-roaring lions in boldness, while in wisdom he is like the fox, who forestalls the swoop of the eagle by falling on her back. And it is right to do anything to blot out one's enemy.

Appendix: Tragic Lament

H) Sophocles, Ajax 1004-1035: O face painful to look upon and full of cruel boldness, what a full crop of sorrows you have sown for me in your death! Where can I go? What people will receive me, when I have failed to help you in your troubles [ponos, plural]? No doubt Telamon, your father and mine, will likely greet me with a smile and kind words, when I return without you. Yes, of course he will--a man who, even when enjoying good fortune, tends not to smile more brightly than before! What will a man like him leave unsaid? What insult [kakos] will he forego against "the bastard offspring of his spear's war-prize," against your "cowardly, unmanly betrayer," dear [most philos] Ajax, or better yet, your "treacherous betrayer" with designs to govern your domain and your house after your death? So will he insult me; he is a man quick to anger, severe in old age, and his rage seeks quarrels without cause. And in the end I shall be thrust out of our land, and cast off, branded by his taunts as a slave instead of a freeman. These are my prospects at home. At Troy, on the other hand, my enemies are many, while I have few things to help me. All this have I gained from your death! Ah, me, what shall I do? How shall I draw your poor corpse off the sharp tooth of this gleaming sword, the murderer who, it seems, made you breathe your last? Now do you see how in time Hector, though dead, was to destroy you? By the gods, note the fortune of this mortal pair. First Hector with the very warrior's belt given to him by Ajax was lashed to the chariot-rail and shredded without end, until his life fled with his breath. Now Ajax here had this gift from Hector, and by this he has perished in his deadly fall. Was it not the Fury who forged this blade, was not that belt the product of Hades, the grim artificer?

Tecmessa covers the corpse of Ajax.

Some of my notes for this lecture were based on Roger Dunkle's Introduction to Greek Tragedy. This site contains a wealth of information about Greek drama accompanied by images and maps.

For more background on the origins of drama see Professor Dora Pozzi's Greek Drama and its Precursors. You might also find helpful her Terms Related to Greek Myth and Theater. For more on Dionysus and the Great Dionysia see Rituals of Dionysus: Great Dionysia.

For a better understanding of the performance space of Athenian drama see Recreating the Theater of Dionysus in Athens, published by UC Berkely's Didaskalia.

Have you ever wondered how translation can affect our interpretation of these ancient texts? Read Mary Ebbott's review of a new translation of 4 tragedies of Euripides.

 A Tragic Chorus

Ajax plants his sword, a gift from Hektor, in the earth.