Teucer: (to Tecmessa) Then with all speed
Go, bring him thither, lest some foe should snatch him
Like a whelp from a lioness bereaved.
Away! See it done quickly! All men are wont
To insult over the dead, once they lie low. (Tecmessa departs.)
Leader: Yes, Teucer, while he lived, did he not charge thee
To guard his son from harm, as now thou dost?
Teucer: O sight most grievous to me of all sights
That ever I have looked on with my eyes!
And hatefullest of all paths to my soul
This path that now has led me to thy side,
O dearest Ajax, when I heard thy fate,
While seeking thee I tracked thy footsteps out.
For a swift rumour, as from some god, ran
Through the Greek host that thou wast dead and gone.
While yet far off I heard it, and groaned deep
In anguish; now I see, and my life dies.
Ay me!
Uncover. Let me behold woe's very worst. (The cover is lifted from
the body.) O ghastly sight! victim of ruthless courage!
What miseries hast thou dying sown for me!
Studies
