Ovid - Metamorphoses (Ulysses) lyrics

Ulysses' Speech "If my prayers and yours had been answered, Pelasgian lords, there would be no need For us to be deciding who should now possess The arms of Achilles. You would still have them, Achilles, and we would still have you. But since An unjust fate has denied him to me and to you" (Here he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye), "Who should better follow the great Achilles Than the man whom the great Achilles followed When he came to the Greeks? All I ask is that Ajax Not profit from seeming to be, as indeed he is, Slow of wit, and that I not be disadvantaged Because I have always used my intelligence To your benefit. And my eloquence, such as it is, That now speaks for its owner but has often Been deployed in the past on your behalf, Should not be held against me. Rather, let each man Acknowledge and use the gifts that he has. Now, I do not count a noble lineage As one's own accomplishment, but since Ajax Tells us that he is the great-grandson of Jove, I will say that Jove is my ancestor as well, And at the same remove. For my father Is Laertes and his was Arcesius, And Arcesius was, in fact, Jupiter's son, Nor is there in this bloodline of mine Even one exiled criminal. On my mother's side Our nobility is enhanced by Mercury's blood. I am of divine descent through both my parents. But it is not because my mother is nobly born Nor my father innocent of his brother's blood That I seek the armor that lies before us here. Decide this case on merit alone. It is not 
Ajax's merit that Telamon and Peleus Were brothers, and you should not consider Bloodlines, only valor, in making this award. Or if you wish to consider close relatives, Peleus Is Achilles' father and Pyrrhus his son, So ship the arms off to Phthia or Scyros. And Teucer is as much Achilles' cousin As Ajax is, but does he lay claim to the arms? And if he did, would he get them? So then, It comes down to a simple contest of deeds, And I have done more than I could recount Off the top of my head. But I'll start with the first. Achilles' Nereid mother, Thetis, foreseeing The d**h of her son, had disguised him as a girl And dressed him so deceptively that everyone, Including Ajax, was taken in. But I inserted Among the women's paraphernalia some items That would attract a man's eye. The hero Was still disguised as a girl when his hand Drifted to a spear and a shield, and I said to him, 'Son of Thetis, Troy is waiting to fall to you. What are you waiting for?' And I laid my hand On the warrior and sent him forth to brave deeds. Therefore, all that he did after is due to me. It was I who wounded Telephus and then Healed his wound when he begged for aid. Thebes fell To me; give me credit for Tenedos, Chrsye, and Cilla, All cities of Apollo, and Scyros too. Consider that I broke through Lyrnesus' walls And threw them down. And I brought the man Who k**ed, not to mention others, ferocious Hector. Yes, it is through me that glorious Hector Lies in his grave. I lay claim to these weapons In return for those by which Achilles was found. I gave the living arms, I ask them back after d**h. When one man's grief came to all the Greeks And a thousand ships were a**embled at Aulis, The long awaited winds blew contrary Or not all. Then a cruel oracle ordered Agamemnon To sacrifice his innocent daughter To heartless Diana. Agamemnon refused And raged at the gods themselves, for although He was king, he was still a father. With my words I was the one who turned his father's kind heart To what was best for his people. This was not An easy case, I confess (and may Agamemnon Forgive me as I confess), and before a judge Who was hardly impartial. But the people's good, His brother, and his responsibilities As commander in chief persuaded him To balance approbation with blood. Then I was sent to Clytemnestra, the mother, Who was not to be exhorted but to be conned. If Ajax had gone, we would never have sailed, And the ships would still be there, utterly becalmed. I was also sent as a bold amba**ador To Ilium's citadel and Troy's senate house, When it was still full of heroes. Unafraid, I pleaded for what had been entrusted to me, The Greek common cause, denouncing Paris And demanding both the return of Helen And full restitution. I won over Priam And Antenor with Priam, but Paris, His brothers, and his marauding underlings Could hardly restrain their impious hands (You know this, Menelaus) from violence. That was the first of all the dangerous days I shared with you. It would take a long time To tell all that I did for you both in council And in battle. The war dragged on. The Trojans Stayed within their walls after the first encounter And there was no chance for open combat. At last, in the tenth year, we fought again. Where were you all that time? Sure, you can fight, But what other service did you perform? If you ask me what I was doing, I'll tell you. I laid traps for the enemy, I surrounded Our fortifications with a trench, I kept up Our allies' morale in a long, tedious war, I advised on supply lines and provisions, And I was sent out on missions as needed. And then Jove sent a lying dream in the night To tell Agamemnon to abandon the war. The king can defend the order he gave On such authority. But what did Ajax do? He could have halted the retreat, demanded Troy be destroyed, started fighting, since that is all He knows how to do. Why didn't he stop the men From leaving, take up arms and give the mob Someone to follow? Was this too much to ask From someone who only speaks when he boasts? But what about this? He himself ran! I saw you, And I was ashamed to see you, turning your back And getting ready to hoist your dishonorable sails. 'What are you doing?' I yelled. 'This is madness, Abandoning Troy, which is already seized. What are you taking home after ten years here Except disgrace?' Grief made me eloquent; My words turned them around and brought them back. Agamemnon a**embled all the troops, Who were still agitated, and even then Ajax Didn't open his mouth. But Thersites did, And heckled the kings but, thanks to me, Did not get offunpunished. I stood up and urged My trembling comrades to take on the enemy, And my words restored their faltering courage. From that time on, whatever act of bravery This man did is due to me, who halted his flight. Finally, which of the Greeks wants to be your friend? Diomedes does everything with me, Approves of me and wants me to be at his side. It is something to be chosen by Diomedes Out of thousands of Greeks. And no one cast lots When we went on a night raid and fell upon Dolon, Who was on the same kind ofdangerous mission, But I didn't k** him before I had forced out of him All of Troy's treacherous plans. Once I learned that I had no more need for espionage And could have returned with honor. Instead, I went to Rhesus' tents, k**ed the captain And all his men, and then, all my prayers answered, Came back victorious in a captured chariot As if celebrating a triumph. Deny to me now The arms of the man whose horses Hector Had promised to Dolon for his work that night, And you will let Ajax, with his specious proposal, Begin to seem more generous than you. Do I have to mention how I cut to ribbons The ranks of Sarpedon? How I slaughtered Coeran*s, the son of Iphitus? Alastor, Chromius, Alcander, Halius, Noemon, And Prytanis? k**ed Thoon and 
 
Cheridamas, Charops and Ennomos, all of them doomed? And others less famous fell by my hand Beneath their city's walls. I have wounds too, My friends, all in the right place. No need to trust Words in the air. Look!" He opened his tunic. "Here is my chest and all it has been through On your behalf. But the son of Telamon here In all these years has lost not an ounce of blood On behalf of his friends, has not even been scratched. What is the point of his declaration That he fought the Trojans and Jove himself? I agree he did fight, since I do not discount Meritorious action, but do not allow him To lay sole claim to an honor that is shared, And do insist that he show you some respect. It was Patroclus, in the protective disguise Of Achilles' armor, who pushed the Trojans Back from the ships, which would have otherwise Gone up in flames with their defender, Ajax. And he thinks that he was the only one who dared To face Hector in a duel, forgetting that the king, The other captains and myself all volunteered. He was the ninth to step forward then And was only selected by the luck of the draw. And what was the outcome, O mightiest hero? Hector withdrew without receiving a wound. And now I am forced to recall with sadness That time when Achilles, Achaea's defense, Fell in battle. Yet neither grief nor fear Prevented me from lifting up his body And carrying it upon these very shoulders Along with all of the armor and weapons That now I wish to carry again. I have the strength To bear these arms, and the mind to appreciate What an honor it is. Do you think that Thetis, The sea goddess who was the hero's mother, Wanted her heavenly gifts, the divine armor That she gave her son, a work of heavenly art, To grace the shoulders of an oaf like this? He knows nothing of what is carved on this shield, The sea, the lands, the stars in the deep sky, The Pleiades, the Hyades, the Great Bear That is aloof from the sea, and opposite her Orion wheeling with his glittering sword. He's asking for armor he can't understand. He gives me a hard time for trying to shun The trials of war and for coming to it late. Doesn't he grasp that he is also censuring The great Achilles? If pretending is a crime, Well, we both pretended. If delay is wrong, Of the two of us I arrived earlier. A loving wife held me back, a loving mother Detained Achilles. We spent our first time with them, The rest with you. I hardly fear a charge, Even if I cannot defend against it, That I have in common with such a great man. Ulysses Outwitted Achilles, but not Ajax Ulysses. We should not wonder that his ignorant mouth Spews out insults against me, when he even tries To heap shame upon you. If it was dishonorable For me to accuse Palamedes falsely, Was it honorable for you to have condemned him? But Palamedes was not able to clear himself Ofa charge based on evidence so clear, Nor did you just hear the charge; you saw the proof. The patent bribe is what convicted him. Nor should I be blamed because the island of Lemnos Detains Philoctetes. Defend your own decision, For you agreed to the plan. I will not deny That I advised him to absent himself _ From the long journey and the toil of And recuperate from his terrible pain. He took the advice-and he is still alive. Not only was the advice given in good faith, It also worked out well, though it should be enough That it was given in good faith. Now the seers say That Troy will not fall unless he is brought back. Don't give that job to me! The son of Telamon Should be the one to go and calm the hero, Raging mad and ill, with his eloquent speech, Or bring him back to us by a clever trick. The Simois will flow backward, Ida stand leafless, And Greece will send foreign aid to Troy Before Ajax's cunning could help the Greeks, Should you be deprived of my good services. You are a hard man, Philoctetes, and you hate The Greeks, the kings, and me myself. Even so, Although you heap endless curses on my head, And you wish I were handed over to you So you could drink my blood, wish that just as I Had a shot at you, you could have a shot at me - I would still go and try to bring you back, And, with a little luck, I would get your arrows, Just as I captured the Dardanian seer, Just as I discovered the Trojan oracles, Just as I stole the statue of Minerva From her shrine deep in enemy territory. And Ajax wants to be compared to me? The Fates declared that we could not take Troy Without this statue. Where does that leave Ajax, The mighty hero, and all his big talk? What's there to be afraid of at a time like that? Why does Ulysses dare to entrust himself To the darkness of night, go beyond the sentinels Through enemy lines, not only break into The walls of Troy, but steal the goddess from her shrine And bear it away through a hostile force? If I hadn't done this, the son of Telamon Would bear his sevenfold ox-hide shield in vain. That night I secured our victory over Troy, Conquering it by making conquest possible. And you can stop grumbling that Diomedes Is my partner. He has his share of praise. You had partners too when your shield defended The Argive fleet, a crowd of them. I had one. And if Diomedes did not know that a soldier Is worth less than a strategist, and that this prize Should not go to mere strength, or even Indomitable strength, he would seek it himself. So would the lesser Ajax, Eurypylus, Thoas, Idomeneus, and his countryman, Meriones, and Menelaus too. All of them Are brave and strong and my match in battle, But all of them have yielded to my counsels. Your strong arms serve you well; it is your mind That needs my guidance. You have brute strength But no intelligence, whereas my concern Is for what happens next. You fight well, it's true, But I help Agamemnon choose when to fight. Your total worth is all in your bulk, mine in my mind. And as much as the pilot surpa**es the rower, As much as the general exceeds the soldier, So much greater am I than you. In our lives The head counts for more than the hand, And in our intelligence our existence lies. Award, captains, the prize to your sentry, And reward my long years of watchful service With this fitting honor. My work has come to an end. I have removed the fated obstructions And by making it possible to take tall Troy I have taken her. Now, by our common hopes, By the walls of Troy doomed to fall, by the gods That I have just now taken from our enemy, And by any other hazardous mission That remains to be done with wisdom and tact (If you think Troy's fate requires still more) Be mindful of me. Otherwise, give the arms to her!"