Odysseus (cont.)
When by award I won Achilles’ arms;
Yet for all that, foe as he was to me,
I would not so requite his wrong with wrong
As not to own that, save Achilles, he
In all the host of Argives had no peer.
Unjustly thou wouldst thus dishonour him;
For not to him, but to the laws of heaven
Wouldst thou do wrong; and wrong it is to insult
A brave man dead, e’en if he be thy foe.
Agamemnon
Wilt thou, Odysseus, take his part against me?
Odysseus
Yea, yet I hated him so long as hate
Was honourable.
Agamemnon
Why not hate him still,
And set thy heel on his dead body too?
Odysseus
Delight not, son of Atreus, in ill gains.
Agamemnon
’Tis hard for monarchs to show piety.
Odysseus
But not respect for friends who counsel well.
Agamemnon
A true man ever heeds authority.
Odysseus
Forbear: thou conquerest, yielding unto friends.