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Opera in English, in two acts. Based on the original tragedy by Sophocles, and following the structural scenic form of the ancient Greek Drama.
Song Info
Track Files
MP3
MP3 6.1 MB • 128 kbps • 6:38
Story behind the song
Ajax has made his preparations on a remote spot of the rocky cliffs, near the shore. He thinks of his son. He says his prayers, and then hurls himself on the sword of Hector, which has been buried with the point of the blade exposed upward on the ground.
Lyrics
14. The Third Episode
(A remote and obscure place among the rocky cliffs of the shore)
Ajax, (sharing a reminiscence about his son).
a01Ca026and when the squirrel was safely across, he turned back towards the wolf, who was on the other side of the river bank, and said, a018You only know unhappiness, because your heart is scorched by hatred!a019a01Da026a fable, from a distant time, from a distant place. My son said it was his favorite. a01CIs ita026?a01D I asked him, a01CWhy is that? Why is it your favorite fable?a01D a01CBecause,a01D he laughed, a01Cthe Squirrel is so much smarter than the wolf!a01D I laughed, and told him it was my favorite fable, too.
Pride was an arrow to my bow
But the glory that was my conceit I lay aside
And humbly seek with prayer --
that burned to ash my body will lie inert in dirt.
My spirit will go ona026The scar I give myself a013 a mark of painful death and shame I bear in both worlds. Of love, of hate -- what truth lies here I have lived to know.
All is ready. The sword is firmly driven in the ground cutting edge upwards -- if only there were time enough to judge this matter!
It will deliver death quickly.
Good bye to this life, this day, this night
My passions and hopes and desires
I will long make quiet and lay to rest.
I did not fear Death a013 I slew the fear of Death in others
I was not a man a013 I killed men a013
I stopped counting after one hundred and twentya026..or forty
Perhaps it was hundreds.
I walked and felt like a God invincible
I cannot say I am sorry for what I truly feel, even now -- But there I will be in Deatha026.
Zeus, my prayer answer, and you, guide of souls to the kingdom of the underworld, quickly come Hermes... so that when the sword pierces my side, I may instantly know peace.
I call upon the eternal Virgins, and Erinyes the swift footed, witness of all mortal suffering. As I perish from my own hand, may the Atreidae be brought to ruthless ruin.
O Helius, constrain the golden reins of your steeds, that misfortune and Death may be declared to a father with gray hair, and an unfortunate mother...Great will be the sorrow, ...
O, hastening day! O, light of sun! I embrace you one last timea026
O Death, O Death. Cast upon me your gaze!
O fresh waters of sacred Salaman, familya019s home! The rocks and shores of our ancestors! I am leaving forevera026
Streams and rivers, you the valley and plains of Troy! You were my dearest friends! Farewell!
I am no more a013
(He hurls himself on his sword.)
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