Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Death of Ajax
13:593 He who cou'd often, and alone, withstand
13:594 The foe, the fire, and Jove's own partial hand,
13:595 Now cannot his unmaster'd grief sustain,
13:596 But yields to rage, to madness, and disdain;
13:597 Then snatching out his fauchion, Thou, said he,
13:598 Art mine; Ulysses lays no claim to thee.
13:599 O often try'd, and ever-trusty sword,
13:600 Now do thy last kind office to thy lord:
13:601 'Tis Ajax who requests thy aid, to show
13:602 None but himself, himself cou'd overthrow:
13:603 He said, and with so good a will to die,
13:604 Did to his breast the fatal point apply,
13:605 It found his heart, a way 'till then unknown,
13:606 Where never weapon enter'd, but his own.
13:607 No hands cou'd force it thence, so fix'd it stood,
13:608 'Till out it rush'd, expell'd by streams of spouting blood.
13:609 The fruitful blood produc'd a flow'r, which grew
13:610 On a green stem; and of a purple hue:
13:611 Like his, whom unaware Apollo slew:
13:612 Inscrib'd in both, the letters are the same,
13:613 But those express the grief, and these the name.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Death of Ajax
13:593 He who cou'd often, and alone, withstand
13:594 The foe, the fire, and Jove's own partial hand,
13:595 Now cannot his unmaster'd grief sustain,
13:596 But yields to rage, to madness, and disdain;
13:597 Then snatching out his fauchion, Thou, said he,
13:598 Art mine; Ulysses lays no claim to thee.
13:599 O often try'd, and ever-trusty sword,
13:600 Now do thy last kind office to thy lord:
13:601 'Tis Ajax who requests thy aid, to show
13:602 None but himself, himself cou'd overthrow:
13:603 He said, and with so good a will to die,
13:604 Did to his breast the fatal point apply,
13:605 It found his heart, a way 'till then unknown,
13:606 Where never weapon enter'd, but his own.
13:607 No hands cou'd force it thence, so fix'd it stood,
13:608 'Till out it rush'd, expell'd by streams of spouting blood.
13:609 The fruitful blood produc'd a flow'r, which grew
13:610 On a green stem; and of a purple hue:
13:611 Like his, whom unaware Apollo slew:
13:612 Inscrib'd in both, the letters are the same,
13:613 But those express the grief, and these the name.