Tecmessa
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Since you partake the sorrows of a friend,
I'll tell vou all. Know then, at dead of ni'^'ht,
What time the evening taper were expired,
Snatching his sword, he seemed as if he meant
To roam abroad. I saw and chid him for it ;
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What wouldst thou do, I cried, my dearest Ajax i
285
Unasked, uncalled for, whither wouldst thou go 1
285
No trunipt't sounds to battle, the whole host
Is wrapped in sleep. Then did he answer me
With brief but sharp rebuke, as he was wont :
'* Woman, thy sex's noblest ornament
jl; Is silence." Thus reproved, I said no more.
• Tlien forth he rushed alone, where, and for what,
I knew not ; but returning, he brought home
In chains tlie captive herd, in pieces some
He tore, whilst others bound like slaves he lashed
Indignant ; then out at the portal ran,
And with some shadow seemed to hold discourse
Against tli' Atrida?, and Ulysses oft
Would he inveigh ; or, laughing loud, rejoice
That he had ta'en revenge for all his wrongs ;
290
Then back he came. At length, by slow degrees,
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His frenzy ceased ; when, soon as he beheld
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The tents o'erwhelmed with slaughter, he cried out,
And beat his brain ; rolled o'er the bloody heaps
Of cattle slain, and tore his clotted hair.
Long fixed in silence : then, with horrid threats
He bade me tell him all that had befallen
And what he had been doing. I obeyed.
Trembling with fear, and told him all I knew.
Instant he poured forth bitt'rest lamentations,
Such as I ne'er had heard from him before.
For grief like that, he oft would say, betrayed
A weak and little mind, and therefore ever
When sorrow came refrained from loud complaint.
And, like the lowing heifer, inly mourned.
But sinking now beneath this sore distress.
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He will not taste of food or nourishment ;
295
Silent he sits, amid the slaughtered cattle,
295
Or, if he speaks, utters such dreadful words
As shows a mind intent on something ill.
Now. then, my friends, for therefore came I hither.
Oh I if ye have the power, assist me now ;
Perhaps ye may ; for oft th' afflicted man
Will listen to the counsels of a friend.
