Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/435

Rh Odys. Nay, righteous men in all the Hellenes' eyes.

Agam. And dost thou bid me let him bury it?

Odys. I do, for I myself shall come to that.

Agam. All men are like; each labours for himself.

Odys. Whom should I work for more than for myself?

Agam. It shall be called thy work then, and not mine.

Odys. Howe'er that be, in any case thou'rt kind.

Agam. But know this well, that I would grant to thee

Far greater boon than even this thou ask'st;

But as for him, or here, or there, he still

Is hateful to me; But have thou thy will.

Chor. Who says, Odysseus, thou'rt not wise of heart,

Being what thou art, shall prove himself a fool.

Odys. And now I tell to Teucros that I stand

A friend as true as once I was a foe,

And I desire to join in burying him

Who there lies dead, to join in all the toil,

And fail in nought of all that men should pay

Of homage to the noblest men of earth.

Teu. Ο good Odysseus, words of praise are mine

For all thou dost, and thou hast falsified

My thoughts of thee, for thou, most hostile found

To him of all the Argives, stood'st alone

To help him with thy hands, and did'st not dare

To trample living upon him the dead,

When this brain-stricken captain of the host,

He and his brother with him, came and sought

To cast him out deprived of sepulture.

Now, therefore, may the Father whose high sway