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332 Or thee, or the Achæans; but thou say'st

That Aias sailed himself his only lord.

And are not these big words to hear from slaves?

And what was he for whom thou vauntest thus?

Where went he, or where stood, where I was not?

Had the Achæans then no men but him?

A strife full bitter for Achilles' arms

We set before the Argives then, 'twould seem,

If everywhere a Teucros call us base,

And ye are not content, though worsted quite,

To yield to what the judges have decreed

With all but one consent, but still revile

Our name, and, when defeated, strike at us

In secret guile. With such a mood as this

There can be no establishment of law,

If we shall cast off those whose right prevails,

And lead the hindmost to the foremost rank.

Nay, we must check these things. The safest men

Are not the stout, broad-shouldered, brawny ones,

But still wise thinkers everywhere prevail;

And oxen, broad of back, by smallest scourge

Are, spite of all, driven forward in the way;

And that sure spell, I see, will come ere long

On thee, unless thou somehow wisdom gain,

Who, when thy lord is gone, a powerless shade,

Art bold, with wanton insolence of speech.

Wilt thou not learn self-mastery? Wilt thou not,

Remembering what thou art by birth, when next

Thou comest, bring some free-born man with thee,

Who, in thy stead, shall speak thy words to us?