Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) - 2.3.8. lyrics

“Agamemnon, son of Atreus, though we wish To bury Ajax, you say no: why? ‘I am the king.' As commoner, I'll say no more. ‘My prohibition Is also just: and if anyone thinks otherwise I permit him to say freely what he thinks.' Greatest Of kings, may the gods let you take Troy and sail home. Am I allowed then to trade in question and answer? ‘Ask away.' Why does great Ajax lie rotting, a hero Who often rescued the Greeks, glorious, second To Achilles alone? Is it right Priam and his people Exult, since burial's denied one who denied it their sons? ‘Insane, he slaughtered a thousand sheep, shouting that he Was k**ing myself, Ulysses, and Menelaus.' And when at Aulis you, shamelessly, set your daughter Before the altar, instead of a calf, sprinkling her head With salted meal, were you sane? What harm did he do Slaughtering the flock with his sword? He spared his wife And child: he'd plenty of abuse for the Atridae, Yet he showed no violence to Teucer or Ulysses. ‘But to free my ships stuck fast on a lee shore, I placated the gods, in my wisdom, with blood.' Yes, your own, you madman. ‘Mine, but not in madness.' A man who holds wrong views, confused by the turmoil Of evil's considered disturbed, and whether he Errs from anger or foolishness makes no difference. When Ajax k**ed innocent lambs he was judged insane: When you in your wisdom do wrong for empty glory, Is your mind sound, or your swollen heart free of fault? If a man liked to carry a sweet lamb round in a litter, Providing it clothes, maids, gold, like a daughter, Calling it Baby or Goldilocks, planning to marry it To a fine husband, the praetor would issue an order Taking control, pa**ing his care to his saner relations. What, then? If a man offers his daughter mute as a lamb, Is his mind sound? You'd say not. So where there's perverse Stupidity, there's the height of madness: criminals Are madmen too: he whom glittering fame entrances Hears the thunder of blood-loving Bellona round his head.”