ATH. Well, since thou art determined on the deed, Spare nought of thine intent: indulge thy hand! AI. (_waving the bloody scourge_). I go! But thou, I charge thee, let thine aid Be evermore like valiant as to-day. [_Exit_ ATH. The gods are strong, Odysseus. Dost thou see? What man than Aias was more provident, Or who for timeliest action more approved? OD. I know of none. But, though he hates me sore, I pity him, poor mortal, thus chained fast To a wild and cruel fate,--weighing not so much His fortune as mine own. For now I feel All we who live are but an empty show And idle pageant of a shadowy dream. ATH. Then, warned by what thou seest, be thou not rash To vaunt high words toward Heaven, nor swell thy port Too proudly, if in puissance of thy hand Thou passest others, or in mines of wealth. Since Time abases and uplifts again All that is human, and the modest heart Is loved by Heaven, who hates the intemperate will. [_Exeunt_ CHORUS (_entering_). Telamonian child, whose hand Guards our wave-encircled land, Salamis that breasts the sea, Good of thine is joy to me; But if One who reigns above Smite thee, or if murmurs move From fierce Danaaens in their hate Full of threatening to thy state, All my heart for fear doth sigh, Shrinking like a dove's soft eye. Hardly had the darkness waned, [_Half-Chorus I._ When our ears were filled and pained With huge scandal on thy fame. Telling, thine the arm that came To the cattle-browsed mead, Wild with prancing of the steed, And that ravaged there and slew With a sword of fiery hue All the spoils that yet remain, By the sweat of spearmen ta'en. Such report against thy life, [_Half-Chorus II._ Whispered words with falsehood rife, Wise Odysseus bringing near Shrewdly gaineth many an ear: Since invention against thee Findeth hearing speedily, Tallying with the moment's birth; And with loudly waxing mirth Heaping insult on thy grief, Each who hears it glories more Than the tongue that told before. Every slander wins belief Aimed at souls whose worth is chief: Shot at me, or one so small, Such a bolt might harmless fall. Ever toward the great and high Creepeth climbing jealousy Yet the low without the tall Make at need a tottering wall Let the strong the feeble save And the mean support the brave.