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τόν τοι τύραννον εὐσεβεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον. This is the first symptom that Agamemnon's resolve has been shaken: he feels dimly that there is a conflict of duties. As a king, he must uphold the common weal, and punish treason (such as Ajax seemed guilty of). It is “εὐσεβές” to do that. But what if, in doing so, he violates “εὐσέβεια” on another side,—that represented by the “θεῶν νόμοι” of which Odysseus spoke (1343)? A somewhat similar utterance of Agamemnon, when perplexed by the demands upon him, occurs in fr. 481: “οὐ γάρ τις ἂν δύναιτο πρῳράτης στρατοῦ τοῖς πᾶσιν εἶξαι καὶ προσαρκέσαι χάριν”.


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