thou first let it go from thy hands.

MEN. Not, at least, before I show to the Greeks what is written therein.

AG. What, knowest thou what 'tis unseasonable thou shouldst know, having
broken the seal?

MEN. Ay, so as to pain thee, having unfolded the ills thou hast wrought
privily.

AG. But where didst thou obtain it? O Gods, for thy shameless heart!

MEN. Expecting thy daughter from Argos, whether she will come to the army.

AG. What behooves thee to keep watch upon my affairs? Is not this the act
of a shameless man?

MEN. Because the will [to do so] teased me, and I am not born thy slave.

AG. Is it not dreadful? Shall I not be suffered to be master of my own
family?

MEN. For thou thinkest inconsistently, now one thing, before another,
another thing presently.

AG. Well hast thou talked evil. Hateful is a too clever tongue.[20]

MEN. But an unstable mind is an unjust thing to possess, and not clear[21]
for friends. I wish to expostulate with thee, but do not thou in wrath turn
away from the truth, nor will I speak overlong. Thou knowest when thou wast
making interest to be leader of the Greeks against Troy--in seeming indeed
not wishing it, but wishing it in will--how humble thou wast, taking hold
of every right hand, and keeping open doors to any of the people that
wished, and giving audience to all in turn even if one wished it not,
seeking by manners to purchase popularity among the multitude. But when you
obtained the power, changing to different manners, you were no longer the
same friend as before to your old friends, difficult of access,[22] and
rarely within doors. But it behooves not a man who has met with great
fortune to change his manners, but then chiefly to be firm toward his
friends, when he is best able to benefit them, being prosperous. I have
first gone over these charges against thee, in which I first found thee
base. But when thou afterward camest into Aulis and to the army of all the
Greeks, thou wast naught, but wast in stupefaction at the fortune which
then befell us from the Gods, lacking a favorable breeze for the journey.
But the Greeks demanded that you should dismiss the ships, and not toil
vainly at Aulis. But how cheerless and distressed a countenance you wore,
because you were not able to land your army at Priam's land, having a
thousand ships under command.[23] And thou besoughtest me, "What shall I
do?" "But what resource shall I find from whence?" so that thou mightest