Æacus huic pater est: qui jura silentibus illic
Reddit, ubi Æoliden saxum grave Sisyphon urget.
Æacon agnoscit summus, prolemque fatetur
Jupiter esse suam. Sic ab Jove tertius Ajax.
Nec tamen hæc series in causa prosit, Achivi;
Si mihi cum magno non est communis Achille.
Frater erat: fraterna peto. Quid sanguine cretus
Sisyphio, furtisque et fraude simillimus illi,
Inserit acidis alienæ nomina gentis?
An quod in arma prior, nulloque sub indice veni,
Arma neganda mihi? potiorque videbitur ille,
Ultima qui cepit; detrectavitque furore
Militiam ficto; donec solertior isto,
Sed sibi inutilior, timidi commenta retexit
Naupliades animi, vitataque traxit in arma?
Optima nunc sumat, qui sumere noluit ulla.
Nos inhonorati, et donis patruelibus orbi,
Obtulimus qui nos ad prima pericula, simus.
Atque utinam aut verus furor ille, aut creditus, esset;
Nec comes hic Phrygias unquam venisset ad arces
Hortator scelerum! non te, Pœantia proles,
Expositum Lemnos nostro cum crimine haberet.
Qui nunc (ut memorant) silvestribus abditus antris
Saxa moves gemitu: Laërtiadæque precaris,
Quæ meruit: quæ Dî, Dî, dent non vana preceris.
Et nunc ille eadem nobis juratus in arma,
(Heu!) pars una ducum, quo successore sagittæ
Herculis utuntur, fractus morboque fameque,
Velaturque aliturque avibus, volucresque petendo
Debita Trojanis exercet spicula fatis.
Were too my merit dubious in the scale,
Sure might the blood of Telamon prevail.
To whom with great Alcides Troy did bow,
Who plough'd the Colchian seas with daring prow.
His sire was Æacus, in whose control
The silent shades, and Sisyphus, bade roll
The stone revertive-Æacus and Jove
His great progenitors can Ajax prove.
Nor would I boast this splendour of my line,
Were not the blood of brave Achilles mine.
His blood, his arms are mine: my right is there,
How shall the race of Sisyphus be heir?
Like him, Ulysses graft, in fraud the same,
On the proud stock of Æacus his name!
Are arms refused to me, who willing bore,
And given to him reluctant on this shore,
Of madness simulate? who would not dare
The common peril, latest in the war;
Till wiser Palamede the fraud display'd,
And dragg'd the trembling coward from his shade.
His then a Hero's arms, the glorious stake,
Achilles' sword, who fear'd a sword to take?
Shall on that worthless breast the cuirass shine,
My claims denied, be foul dishonour mine!
His madness would 'twas true, or true believed,
At home less hurtful had Ulysses lived,
Author of crimes! not Philoctetes then
Were left an exile in yon Lemnian glen.
There, hapless chief, thou groan'st with pain, 'tis
And call'st down curses on Ulysses' head.
Ille tamen vivit, quia non comitavit Ulyssem.
Mallet et infelix Palamedes esse relictus;
Viveret; aut certe letum sine crimine haberet.
Quem, male convicti nimium memor iste furoris
Prodere rem Danaam finxit: fictumque probavit
Crimen. Et ostendit, quod jam præfoderat, aurum.
Ergo aut exilio vires subduxit Achivis,
Aut nece. Sic pugnat; sic est metuendus Ulysses.
Qui licet eloquio fidum quoque Nestora vincat;
Haud tamen efficiet, desertum ut Nestora crimen
Esse rear nullum. Qui, cum imploraret Ulyssen
Vulnere tardus equi, fessusque senilibus annis,
Proditus a socio est. Non hæc mihi crimina fingi
Scit bene Tydides: qui nomine sæpe vocatum
Corripuit: trepidoque fugam exprobravit amico.
Aspiciunt oculis Superi mortalia justis.
En eget auxilio, qui non tulit; utque reliquit,
Sic linquendus erat. Legem sibi dixerat ipse.
Conclamat socios. Adsum, videoque trementem,
Pallentemque metu, et trepidantem morte futura.
Opposui molem clypei; texique jacentem; [ertem.
Servavique animam (minimum est hic laudis) in-
Si perstas certare, locum redeamus in illum:
Redde hostem, vulnusque tuum, solitumque timorem.
Post clypeumque late: et mecum contende sub illo.
At postquam eripui ; cui standi vulnera vires
Non dederant, nullo tardatus vulnere fugit.
Hector adest: secumque Deos in prælia ducit.
Quaque ruit, non tu tantum terreris, Ulysse ;
Sed fortes etiam: tantum trahit ille timoris.
Fierce on that head deserved curses fall,
If gods there be, not vainly may'st thou call!
Brother in arms, must he to uses base
Turn darts divine? the product of the chase,
His food, his vest! and birds alone destroy
Arrows predestined to the fall of Troy.
Yet life is his, though wretched, on that coast,
Here, guiltless, murdered, Palamede is lost!
Thou, had we cast thee on a desert shore,
Might'st live; nor died dishonoured, if no more.
Unmask'd by thee, thence victim of his hate,
Ulysses brands thee traitor to the state.
Το prove the crime, could show by buried gold,
(The gold he buried) you your country sold.
So harms he Greece by exile and by death,
So wars Ulysses, so doth Ilion scathe!
If Nestor's e'en his eloquence excel,
Hardly he may persuade me, it was well
T'abandon Nestor at his utmost need,
Nestor imploring as the recreant fled.
Well knows, I lie not, Diomed; who there
His friend upbraided with reproach severe,
In vain—the gods are just: in danger now
Ulysses calls, and who averts the blow!
Helpless, o'erthrown, him pale and trembling found,
I raised, and spread my ample buckler round.
He saved not others; small the praise to save
The base deserter, him the coward slave.
Art thou my rival yet? on-let us go,
Thou trembling, wounded, front again the foe,
Hunc ego sanguineæ successu cædis ovantem
Cominus ingenti resupinum pondere fudi.
Hunc ego poscentem, cum quo concurreret, unus
Sustinui: sortemque meam vovistis, Achivi:
Et vestræ valuere preces. Si quæritis hujus
Fortunam pugnæ; non sum superatus ab illo.
Ecce ferunt Tröes ferrumque, ignemque, Jovemque
In Danaas classes. Ubi nunc facundus Ulysses?
Nempe ego mille meo protexi pectore puppes,
Spem vestri reditus. Date tot pro navibus arma.
Quod si vera licet mihi dicere; quæritur istis, [est;
Quam mihi, major honos, conjunctaque gloria nostra
Atque Ajax armis, non Ajaci arma petuntur.
Conferat his Ithacus Rhesum, imbellemque Dolona,
Priamidenque Helenum rapta cum Pallade captum.
Luce nihil gestum, nihil est Diomede remoto:
Si semel ista datis meritis tam vilibus arma;
Dividite: et major pars sit Diomedis in illis.
Quo tamen hæc Ithaco? qui clam, qui semper inermis
Rem gerit; et furtis incautum decipit hostem?
Ipse nitor galeæ claro radiantis ab auro
Insidias prodet, manifestabitque latentem.
Sed neque Dulichius sub Achillis casside vertex
Pondera tanta feret. Nec non onerosa gravisque
Pelias esse potest imbellibus hasta lacertis.
Nec clypeus vasti cælatus imagine mundi
Conveniet timidæ, natæque ad furta sinistræ.
Debilitaturum quid te petis, improbe, munus?
Quod tibi si populi donaverit error Achivi;
Cur spolieris, erit; non, cur metuaris ab hoste.
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