not lose an ill renown, being deprived of the command. And then, when
Calchas o'er the victims said that thou must sacrifice thy daughter to
Diana, and that there would [then] be means of sailing for the Greeks,
delighted in heart, you gladly promised to sacrifice your child, and of
your own accord, not by compulsion--do not say so--you send to your wife to
convoy your daughter hither, on a pretext of being wedded to Achilles. And
then changing [your mind] you are caught altering to other writings, to the
effect that you will not now be the slayer of your daughter. Very pretty,
forsooth! This is the same air which heard these very protestations from
thee. But innumerable men experience this in their affairs; they persevere
in labor when in power,[24] and then make a bad result, sometimes through
the foolish mind of the citizens, but sometimes with reason, themselves
becoming incapable of preserving the state, I indeed chiefly groan for
hapless Greece, who, wishing to work some doughty deed against these
good-for-nothing barbarians, will let them, laughing at us, slip through
her hands, on account of thee and thy daughter. I would not make any one
ruler of the land for the sake of necessity,[25] nor chieftain of armed
men. It behooves the general of the state to possess sense, for every man
is a ruler who possesses sense.

CHOR. 'Tis dreadful for words and strife to happen between brothers, when
they fall into dispute.

AG. I wish to address thee in evil terms, but mildly,[26] in brief, not
uplifting mine eyelids too much aloft through insolence, but moderately, as
being my brother. For a good man is wont to show respect [to others.] Tell
me, why dost thou burst forth thus violently, having thy face suffused with
rage? Who wrongs thee? What lackest thou? Wouldst fain gain a good wife! I
can not supply thee, for thou didst ill rule over the one you possessed.
Must I therefore pay the penalty of your mismanagement, who have made no
mistake? Or does my ambition annoy thee? But wouldst thou fain hold in
thine arms a fair woman, forgetting discretion and honor? Evil pleasures
belong to an evil man. But if I, having before resolved ill, have changed
to good counsel, am I mad? Rather art thou [mad,] who, having lost a bad
wife, desirest to recover her, when God has well prospered thy fortune. The
nuptial-craving suitors in their folly swore the oath to Tyndarus, but
hope, I ween, was their God, and wrought this more than thyself