Met. 13.1Cōnsēdēre ducēs, et vulgī stante corōnā
surgit ad hōs clipeī dominus septemplicis Aiāx,
utque erat impatiēns īrae, Sīgēia torvō
lītora respexit classemque in lītore vultū
5intendēnsque manūs "agimus, prō Iuppiter!"The leaders took their seats, and, with the common soldiers standing round in a ring, Ajax, master of the sevenfold shield, rises before them, and, impatient of anger as he was, he looked back with a grim face at the Sigean shores and at the fleet on the shore, and, stretching out his hands, 'We are pleading, by Jupiter!' Met. 13.5inquit
"ante ratēs causam, et mēcum cōnfertur Ulixēs!he says, 'our case before the ships, and it is Ulysses who is matched with me! Met. 13.7At nōn Hectoreīs dubitāvit cēdere flammīs,
quās ego sustinuī, quās hāc ā classe fugāvī.Yet he did not hesitate to give way before Hector's flames, which I withstood, which I drove from this fleet. Met. 13.9Tūtius est igitur fictīs contendere verbīs,
10quam pugnāre manū!It is safer, then, to contend with made-up words than to fight with the hand!
Met. 13.10Sed nec mihi dīcere promptum,
nec facere est istī: quantumque ego Mārte ferōcī
quantum aciē valeō, tantum valet iste loquendō.But neither does speaking come readily to me, nor acting to him: and as much as I prevail in fierce warfare and in the battle line, so much does he prevail in talking. Met. 13.13Nec memoranda tamen vōbīs mea facta, Pelasgī,
esse reor: vīdistis enim.Nor do I think, Pelasgians, that my deeds need to be recounted to you: for you saw them. Met. 13.14Sua narret Ulixēs,
15quae sine teste gerit, quōrum nox cōnscia sōla est.Let Ulysses tell of his own, which he performs without a witness, of which night alone is aware. Met. 13.16Praemia magna petō, fateor;Great is the prize I seek, I admit; Met. 13.16sed dēmit honōrem
aemulus: Aiācī nōn est tenuisse superbum,
sit licet hoc ingēns, quidquid spērāvit Ulixēs.but my rival takes away its honour: it is no pride for Ajax to have won anything, however huge it may be, that Ulysses has hoped for. Met. 13.19Iste tulit pretium iam nunc temptāminis huius,
20quod, cum victus erit, mēcum certāsse ferētur.He has already now carried off the reward of this contest, since, when he is beaten, it will be said that he competed with me.
Met. 13.21Atque ego, sī virtūs in mē dubitābilis esset,
nōbilitāte potēns essem, Telamōne creātus,
moenia quī fortī Trōiāna sub Hercule cēpit
lītoraque intrāvit Pagasaeā Colcha carīnā.And I, if my valour were open to doubt, would be powerful in my nobility, as the son of Telamon, who captured the walls of Troy under brave Hercules and entered the Colchian shores in the Pagasaean ship. Met. 13.25Aeacus huic pater est, quī iūra silentibus illīc
reddit, ubi Aeolidēn saxum grave Sisyphon urget.His father is Aeacus, who gives judgement to the silent dead there where the heavy rock weighs down Sisyphus, son of Aeolus. Met. 13.27Aeacon agnōscit summus prōlemque fatētur
Iuppiter esse suam: sīc ā Iove tertius Aiāx.Highest Jupiter acknowledges Aeacus and declares that he is his own offspring: so Ajax is third from Jove. Met. 13.29Nec tamen haec seriēs in causam prōsit, Achīvī,
30sī mihi cum magnō nōn est commūnis Achille:
frāter erat, frāterna petō!Yet let this line of descent not help my cause, Achaeans, if it is not shared with great Achilles: he was my cousin; it is a cousin's goods I seek! Met. 13.31Quid sanguine crētus
Sīsyphiō fūrtīsque et fraude simillimus illī
īnseris Aeacidīs aliēnae nōmina gentis?Why do you, sprung from the blood of Sisyphus and most like him in thefts and deceit, thrust the names of an alien family among the Aeacidae?
Met. 13.34An quod in arma prior nūllōque sub indice vēnī,
35arma neganda mihi, potiorque vidēbitur ille,
ultima quī cēpit dētrectāvitque furōre
mīlitiam fictō, dōnec sollertior istō
et sibi inūtilior timidī commenta retēxit
Naupliadēs animī vītātaque trāxit ad arma?Or is it because I came to arms first, and with no informer, that the arms must be denied me, and will he seem the stronger claimant who took up service last and shirked the war with feigned madness, until the son of Nauplius, cleverer than he but less useful to himself, unravelled the inventions of his timid mind and dragged him to the arms he had avoided? Met. 13.40Optima num sūmat, quia sūmere nōluit ūlla:
nōs inhonōrātī et dōnīs patruēlibus orbī,
obtulimus quia nōs ad prīma perīcula, sīmus?Is he to take the best, because he wanted to take none; are we to be unhonoured and bereft of our cousin's gifts, because we offered ourselves to the first dangers? Met. 13.43Atque utinam aut vērus furor ille, aut crēditus esset,
nec comes hic Phrygiās umquam vēnisset ad arcēs
45hortātor scelerum.And would that that madness of his had either been real or been believed, and that this man had never come as our companion to the Phrygian citadels, an inciter to crimes!
Met. 13.45Nōn tē, Poeantia prōlēs,
expositum Lēmnos nostrō cum crīmine habēret!Then, son of Poeas, Lemnos would not hold you, put ashore there to our disgrace! Met. 13.47Quī nunc, ut memorant, silvestribus abditus antrīs
saxa movēs gemitū Lāertiadaeque precāris
quae meruit: quae, sī dī sunt, nōn vāna precāris!You who now, as they say, hidden in woodland caves, move the rocks with your groans and call down on Laertes' son what he has deserved: and if there are gods, you do not call it down in vain! Met. 13.50Et nunc ille eadem nōbīs iūrātus in arma,
heu!And now he who swore with us to the same war, alas! Met. 13.51pars ūna ducum, quō successōre sagittae
Herculis ūtuntur, frāctus morbōque fameque
vēlāturque aliturque avibus, volucrēsque petendō
dēbita Trōiānīs exercet spīcula fātīs.one of the leaders, the man whom the arrows of Hercules have as their successor, broken by sickness and hunger, is clothed and fed by birds, and in hunting the winged creatures he spends the shafts owed to the fates of Troy. Met. 13.55Ille tamen vīvit, quia nōn comitāvit Ulixēn;Yet he lives, because he did not accompany Ulysses; Met. 13.56māllet et īnfēlīx Palamēdēs esse relictus:
vīveret aut certē lētum sine crīmine habēret!unhappy Palamedes too would have preferred to be left behind: he would be alive, or at least would have had a death without a charge!
Met. 13.58Quem male convictī nimium memor iste furōris
prōdere rem Danaam finxit fictumque probāvit
60crīmen et ostendit, quod iam praefōderat, aurum.For this man, remembering too well his madness so damagingly exposed, pretended that Palamedes was betraying the Danaan cause, proved the charge he had invented, and displayed the gold that he had buried beforehand. Met. 13.61Ergō aut exsiliō vīrēs subdūxit Achīvīs,
aut nece: sīc pugnat, sīc est metuendus Ulixēs.So he has taken strength from the Achaeans either by exile or by death: this is how Ulysses fights, this is how he is to be feared. Met. 13.63Quī licet ēloquiō fīdum quoque Nestora vincat,
haud tamen efficiet, dēsertum ut Nestora crīmen
65esse rear nūllum.Though he may surpass even loyal Nestor in eloquence, he will never bring it about that I think the desertion of Nestor no crime. Met. 13.65Quī cum implōrāret Ulixem
vulnere tardus equī fessusque senīlibus annīs,
prōditus ā sociō est.He, when, slowed by his horse's wound and weary with the years of old age, he begged Ulysses for help, was betrayed by his comrade.
Met. 13.67Nōn haec mihi crīmina fingī
scit bene Tȳdīdēs, quī nōmine saepe vocātum
corripuit trepidōque fugam exprobrāvit amīcō.That these charges are not invented by me the son of Tydeus well knows, who, calling him often by name, rebuked him and reproached his frightened friend with his flight. Met. 13.70Adspiciunt oculīs superī mortālia iūstīs!The gods above look on mortal affairs with just eyes! Met. 13.71Ēn eget auxiliō, quī nōn tulit, utque relīquit,
sīc linquendus erat: lēgem sibi dīxerat ipse.See, he who gave no help is in need of help, and as he abandoned another, so he deserved to be abandoned: he had laid down the law for himself. Met. 13.73Conclāmat sociōs: adsum videōque trementem
pallentemque metū et metuentem morte futūrā;He shouts for his comrades: I am there, and I see him trembling and pale with fear and dreading the death to come; Met. 13.75opposuī mōlem clipeī tēxīque iacentem
servāvīque animam (minimum est hīc laudis) inertem.I set the mass of my shield before him and covered him as he lay, and saved his spiritless life (that is the least of my glory here).
Met. 13.77Sī perstās certāre, locum redeāmus in illum:
redde hostem vulnusque tuum solitumque timōrem
post clipeumque lātē et mēcum contende sub illō!If you persist in contending, let us go back to that place: give back the enemy and your wound and your usual fear, hide behind my shield and contend with me under it! Met. 13.80At postquam ēripuī, cui standī vulnera vīrēs
nōn dederant, nūllō tardātus vulnere fūgit.But after I rescued him, he for whom his wounds had given no strength to stand fled, slowed by no wound. Met. 13.82Hector adest sēcumque deōs in proelia dūcit,
quāquē ruit, nōn tū tantum terrēris, Ulixe,
sed fortēs etiam: tantum trahit ille timōris.Hector is there and brings the gods with him into battle, and wherever he rushes, not only are you terrified, Ulysses, but the brave too: so much fear does he bring with him. Met. 13.85Hunc ego sanguineae successū caedis ovantem
ēminus ingentī resupīnum pondere fūdī,
hunc ego poscentem, cum quō concurreret, ūnus
sustinuī, sortemque meam vōvistis, Achīvī,
et vestrae valuēre precēs!Him, exulting in the success of bloody slaughter, I laid flat on his back from afar with a huge weight; him, when he demanded someone to meet him, I alone withstood, and you prayed for my lot, Achaeans, and your prayers prevailed!
Met. 13.89Sī quaeritis huius
90fortūnam pugnae, nōn sum superātus ab illō.If you ask the outcome of this fight, I was not overcome by him. Met. 13.91Ecce ferunt Trōēs ferrumque ignēsque Iovemque
in Danaās classēs: ubi nunc fācundus Ulixēs?See, the Trojans bring sword and fire and Jupiter against the Danaan fleet: where now is eloquent Ulysses? Met. 13.93Nempe ego mīlle meō prōtēxī pectore puppēs,
spem vestrī reditūs: date prō tot nāvibus arma!It was I, of course, who protected a thousand ships with my breast, the hope of your return: give me the arms in exchange for so many ships! Met. 13.95Quod sī vēra licet mihi dīcere, quaeritur istīs,
quam mihi, maior honōs, coniūnctaque glōria nostra est,
atque Aiāx armīs, nōn Aiācī arma petuntur.But if I may speak the truth, a greater honour is sought for them than for me, and our glory is bound together, and it is Ajax who is sought for the arms, not the arms for Ajax.