Page:Ajax (Trevelyan 1919).djvu/18

 ATHENA

Till thou hast done what, gained what further vantage?

AIAS

Till bound fast to a pillar beneath my roof—

ATHENA

What evil wilt thou inflict on the poor wretch?

AIAS

His back the scourge must crimson ere he dies.

ATHENA

Nay, do not torture so the wretched man.

AIAS

Athena, in all else will I do thy will;

But his shall be no other doom than this.

ATHENA

Thou then, since thy delight is to act thus,

Smite, spare not, abate nought of thy intent.

AIAS

To my work I return: and thus I charge thee,

As now, so always fight thou upon my side.

[Exit .]

ATHENA

Seest thou, Odysseus, how great the strength of gods?

Whom couldst thou find more prudent than this man,

Or whom in act more valiant, when need called?

ODYSSEUS

I know none nobler; and I pity him

In his misery, albeit he is my foe,

Since he is yoked fast to an evil doom.

My own lot I regard no less than his.

For I see well, nought else are we but mere

Phantoms, all we that live, mere fleeting shadows.