For shouldst thou perish and forsake me in death,
That very day assuredly I too
Shall be seized by the Argives, with thy son
To endure henceforth the portion of a slave.
Then one of my new masters with barbed words
Shall wound me scoffing: "See the concubine
Of Aias, who was mightiest of the host,
What servile tasks are hers who lived so daintily!"
Thus will men speak, embittering my hard lot,
But words of shame for thee and for thy race.
Nay, piety forbid thee to forsake
Thy father in his drear old age—thy mother
With her sad weight of years, who many a time
Prays to the gods that thou come home alive.
And pity, king, thy son, who without thee
To foster his youth, must live the orphaned ward
Of loveless guardians. Think how great a sorrow
Dying thou wilt bequeath to him and me.
For I have nothing left to look to more
Save thee. By thy spear was my country ravaged;
And by another stroke did fate lay low
My mother and my sire to dwell with Hades.
Without thee then what fatherland were mine?
What wealth? On thee alone rests all my hope.
O take thought for me too. Do we not owe
Remembrance, where we have met with any joy?
For kindness begets kindness evermore.
But he who from whose mind fades the memory
Of benefits, noble is he no more.
CHORUS
Aias, would that thy soul would feel compassion,
As mine does; so wouldst thou approve her words.
AIAS
Verily my approval shall she win,
If only she find heart to do my bidding.
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