Page:Sophocles (Collins).djvu/132

120 the dead before he will even condescend to notice the taunt of the living.

Then he turns indignantly to the great king—"What, does he not remember? It was Ajax who had saved the ships from destruction, when wrapped in flames. It was Ajax who had confronted Hector himself—and the 'son of the bondmaid' had then stood by his brother's side." Then he retorts the charge of mean descent on Agamemnon—sprung from the "godless Atreus," and from a mother who played her husband false. He will die himself sooner than desert the dead—and it would be more glorious, he adds, to die for his gallant foster-brother than for Helen, the faithless wife.

At this point Ulysses enters, and acts as peacemaker between the angry disputants. His shrewd sense had argued that nothing could be gained by outraging the body of the dead warrior; and he appeals to Agamemnon not to press his hatred beyond the grave—basing his appeal upon common humanity and reason—

"Unto me

This man of all the host was greatest foe,

Since I prevailed to gain Achilles' arms;