by Sophocles
And you did well . . . thinking ahead that way.
TEKMESSA
(stalling)
Now, how else can I help you?
AIAS
I want to speak to him. Face to face.
TEKMESSA
Yes. Servants are watching him. Near here.
AIAS
Then why isn’t he here?
TEKMESSA
Eurysakes! Your father’s calling.
Whoever’s got him, bring him here.
AIAS
Not coming? Can’t hear you?
TEKMESSA
They’re coming! The servant . . . here they are! 670
Servant brings in boy, who holds back.
AIAS
Here! Up, up! Into my arms!
(impatient, waving the servant forward)
Fresh blood won’t scare him, not if
he’s truly my son. Like a colt
he has to be broken in early on
to become as his father—trained
in the savage discipline of a warrior
so that that becomes his nature.
The boy is in his arms.
Dear boy
may you be luckier than I was. If so, if
you’re still like me, you won’t do badly. 680
For now, I envy you your innocence.
You know nothing of evil. Life is sweetest
before we realize the joy of it, and the grief.
Then it will be up to you, to show
your father’s enemies what you’re made of
and whose son you are.
But for now, O, graze
on the fizzy air, be a child, a joy
to your mother here. And don’t worry.
The Greeks won’t dare 690
touch you, or shame you, not
even when I’m gone. I’ll leave
Teukros to watch out for you
and bring you along,
he won’t let you down
. . . except, he’s far away now
hunting down our enemies.
But you, my sea warriors, comrades,
you must care for him too!
Tell Teukros it is my command 700
he take the boy back home
where he may see, and be seen by, Telamon
and my mother, Ereboia,
to ease them in old age as they go down
into the kingdom of darkness.
And tell Teukros my weapons are not
prizes to be handed out by judges
at war games—not for the Greeks,
not for the one who is destroying me!
(to EURYSAKES)
Look, this is for you, Eurysakes, 710
this shield gave you your name.
Take it. There’s seven layers of oxhide,
no spear can pierce it. Here, grab hold
by the braided leather loop. Like so.
The other arms and armor will be
buried with me.
(to TEKMESSA)
Quick. Take the child inside.
Batten everything down. No crying!
Women are always doing that.
Shut the opening, now! 720
A wise doctor doesn’t chant prayers
when the only cure is the knife.
LEADER
Why the mad rush? I don’t like this.
Your words are too edgy.
TEKMESSA
Aias, my lord, what are you thinking to do?
AIAS
Don’t ask. Just, get hold of yourself.
TEKMESSA
I’m petrified! For the gods’ sake,
for your child, don’t leave us!
AIAS
Don’t worry at me! Don’t you know
I no longer owe the gods anything. 730
TEKMESSA
Please! Don’t say that!
AIAS
Save your breath.
TEKMESSA
Won’t you listen?
AIAS
I’ve heard enough.
TEKMESSA
Lord! I’m afraid!
AIAS
(to servant, indicating the tent flaps)
Shut them! Now!
TEKMESSA
For the gods, give a little!
AIAS
Isn’t it foolish to think
you can teach me, now, to change my nature?
The tent flaps are closed over him. TEKMESSA and EURYSAKES retreat into the compound. The gates are pulled shut behind them.
LEADER
Fabulous Salamis, you must be there 740
still
sparkling above the raging battering sea
giving all men joy, for all time—
but I these long years
camped on the grassy slopes of Ida,
I wear down
against the day I will go down
into skincrawling, unknowable Hades.
CHORUS
(severally)
Now I come to grips
with yet more grief: 750
Aias, seized by the gods
with incurable madness.
The man you sent forth in war fever
to do brave things in war
now sits it out, ruminating lonely thoughts
his friends can hardly bear.
All his heroic deeds, his honors won,
the hateful sons of Atreus
let lie like nothings where they’ve fallen.
Think of his mother, her hair 760
white with years!
When she hears how
disease has eaten his heart
she won’t cry to herself
with mournful nightingale notes
o no! o no!
she’ll howl herself
inside out! beating her hands
on her breast,
tearing her gray hair out! 770
LEADER
He’s better off hidden
in Hades . . . this maddened
warrior from the noblest line of warriors
who’s lost touch with himself
and all he was bred for,
staggering among strange thoughts.
CHORUS
Wretched father,
not knowing yet!
How will you bear the shame of it,
to hear 780
your line, never doomed before, has ended
in Aias’s ruin?
AIAS comes out, calm, with Hektor’s sword in hand. TEKMESSA and EURYSAKES also appear.
AIAS
Long rolling waves of time
bring all things to light
and plunge them down again
in utter darkness. There is
nothing that cannot happen.
Solemn oaths, willpower, go under.
Just now my mind was made up,
tempered, like hot iron plunged 790
into cold water. Even so I felt
the sharp edge of this same mind
soften at that woman’s words.
How could I leave her
a widow? my son fatherless
among enemies . . .
I will go down
to the cleansing pool by the great salt marsh
to wash this filth off. Get out from under
the anger Athena heaps on me. I’ll find 800
some place no one passes through.
I’ll dig into the earth, bury
this sword, hateful thing,
some place no one ever sees.
Let night and Hades keep it in the dark.
From the day I was given this
by Hektor, my worst enemy, the Greeks
gave me nothing but a bad time.
It’s true, the old saying: gifts
from enemies bring no good. 810
From now on I’ll know how to
give way to the gods and how
to venerate the sons of Atreus.
They give the orders. We’re bound
to obey. How could it
be otherwise?
Great natural forces know their place
in the greater scheme of things. So
the snowy tracks of winter melt away
before the fruit ripening into summer.
Dark night, making its rounds, makes way 820
for the white horses of day scattering light.
Savage blasts of wind die down, so as
the groaning ocean may sleep. Great
sleep itself, overcoming all, yet lets go.
It’s not sleep binds us forever. How can
we not learn limits from that vast
natural discretion?
I have.
I know, now, to hate my enemy
as one who may later be a friend. 830
My friend I’ll help out just enough—
he may, one day, be my enemy.
Most men never find a secure
mooring in friendship.
But . . . that will all work out.
You, woman, go in and pray the gods
all my heart desires will come to pass.
TEKMESSA leaves.
And you, my friends, do me the honor
she does. When Teukros comes, tell him
to care for us. And do right by you. 840
I will go where I am going,
but soon, perhaps, you should hear
I’ve come through this and found
a kind of peace.
AIAS leaves.
CHORUS
(severally)
Ooo I’ve got goose bumps, I’m so flat out happy
I could fly!
O Pan god Pan
show yourself,
you who get the gods to dance,
sweep across the sea 850
from the snow-swirling cliffs of Kyllene,
teach me, dance me
the wild crazy steps of Mysia
and Crete
you all by yourself taught yourself—
now I want to dance!
And Apollo, lord of Delos, cross over
the waters of Ikaros,
kindly join me
that I may see, face to face, your brilliance! 860
Ares dissolves his blood-dark threat!
Zeus god Zeus
now in broad daylight our swift ships
can put to sea again!
Aias buries his pain
and goes, in good faith,
to make the sacrifice the gods require.
LEADER
Time darkens all things
and time rekindles them.
I believe anything is possible 870
now Aias no longer
feuds with, nor hates,
the sons of Atreus.
MESSENGER arrives.
MESSENGER
Friends! News! Teukros
is just back from Mysia. In camp,
by the generals’ tent. He was
confronted by everybody at once.
The Greeks saw him coming
from way off. When he got near
they surrounded him, shouting insults, 880
things like he’s related to a crazy,
a traitor—no way could he save himself
from being stoned to shreds. Suddenly
swords were out. In hand. But then
when it got to the breaking point
the elders broke it up. Everyone
calmed down. But where’s Aias?
He’s the one who needs to hear this.
LEADER
Just left. He’s pulled himself together
with a whole new sense of purpose. 890
MESSENGER
NO!! . . . I was sent too late
or took too long getting here.
LEADER
You’ve done your duty, haven’t you?
MESSENGER
He wasn’t to be let go out.
Not till Teukros gets here.
LEADER
Well I’m telling you
he’s gone with the best intentions
to do the best he could do:
make his peace with the gods.
MESSENGER
That’s a dumb thing to say—if there’s any 900
truth in what Kalchas predicted.
LEADER
A prophecy? What more do you know?
MESSENGER
I know what I heard. I was there.
Some chiefs were gathered around
in conference. Kalchas got up and came
over to Teukros—gave him his hand
and steered him away, out of earshot
of the generals. He insisted Aias
be kept indoors the rest of this day,
otherwise Teukros would never see him 910
see the end of it. Kalchas himself said this.
As for Athena, her anger would end
when this day did.
He also said,
“The gods have it in for men too
full of themselves, their bodies gotten
too big and stupid—they’re only human
but think they’re superhuman. Against
them, the gods are pitiless.”
His own father warned him 920
the day he left home. Reckless Aias
rushing to war. “With your spear
go,” he said, “for victory! but always
only with help from the gods.”
Yet Aias was cocky. Like a fool he said:
“O father, with help from the gods
a nothing could rack up victories!
I can do it without them.” He said that.
Another time Athena was after him
to counterattack the Trojans. Bloody them. 930
He uttered, then, words too
awful to speak: “My Lady,
go, back up the other Greeks.
Where Aias stands the battle line
will not be broken through.”
That did it. Brought down on him
what no one wants: the fury of Athena.
Still, if he can get through this day
with Apollo’s help, we might yet
save him. So Kalchas said. 940
Teukros got right up and sent me
here with these orders for you.
But if he’s gone, he’s gone for good,
or Kalchas is no prophet.
LEADER
(at the compound gate)
Tekmessa! whose life is misery!
Come hear what this man says.
It cuts too close for comfort.
TEKMESSA comes out with EURYSAKES.
TEKMESSA
Haven’t I had enough? Why get me out here
again—just as I was finding some relief?
LEADER
Listen. I’m afraid 950
this man has news of Aias.
TEKMESSA
You, man, out with it. Surely not . . . the worst?
MESSENGER
For you I don’t know. I’m afraid
for Aias. Has he gone out?
TEKMESSA
Out, yes. Why? Why scare me like this?
MESSENGER
Orders from Teukros: this one day
keep Aias in his tent. Don’t let him
go out alone.
TEKMESSA
Where’s Teukros? Why does he say this?
MESSENGER
He just got back. He believes 960
if Aias goes out today, he’ll die.
TEKMESSA
No! Where did he hear this?
MESSENGER
From Kalchas. The seer. He fears
today, for Aias, it’s life or death.
TEKMESSA
AI!! Stand, friends, between me and what
follows this foul relentless luck!
You, hurry, go meet Teukros.
The rest split up, east and west, to the far
reaches of the bay. Pick up his tracks.
He deceived me. I see that now. 970
What love he had for me
he’s thrown away. My child,
what am I to do? I can’t just sit here.
I’ll go too, long as I’m strong enough.
Everyone, let’s go! We’ve no time to lose
finding this man who’s in a rush to die.
CHORUS
We’re gone almost before the words
are out of your mouth.
CHORUS goes off in two parties. Servant takes EURYSAKES elsewhere. AIAS on a desolate shore. A sword point sticks up from behind bushes.
AIAS
This killer is set
to do what it does best. 980
If there were time to think
I’d think this the gift
of Hektor, the guest-friend
I hated most the sight of—
sticking up from the enemy earth
of Troy, its edge
fresh off the grinding stone.
I’ve embedded it with care
for a quick, merciful death.
I have done all I can do. 990
Now it’s up to you, Zeus,
as it should be, to help me.
I ask little enough, just
a messenger to break the news
to Teukros—to be the first to pull
me up off the blood-running sword
before my enemies come running
to throw my body to the dogs
and crows. That’s all I ask of you.
From Hermes, 1000
who takes us under, I ask only
a short quick death, a soundless leap
from waking to sleep, as the sword
slips through me.
I call also
on the deathless virgins who see
all human suffering: the dread
ever-overtaking Furies.
Look how the sons of Atreus
have brought my life to a rotten end! 1010
Overcome their vile lives with vile deaths!
O Furies, let your rage drink the blood
of the whole body of the Greek army!
And you there,
Helios, chariot wheels climbing the sky,
as you pass over my homeland
pull up on your gold shimmering reins,
tell my death, my disaster, to my father
so old now, and to the luckless woman
who suckled me. Poor mother! 1020
When she hears this her wailing
will overwhelm the city. But now’s
no time for tears. Time now is only
to do, and quickly.
Death, Death! look at me!
We will have words in the otherworld.
And Helios, bright day, this is the last
I will see of you. Not ever again!
