But though he were so, being what he was,
I would not put so foul a shame on him,
As not to own I looked upon a man
The best and bravest of the Argive host,
Of all that came to Troia, saving one,
Achilles' self. Most wrong 'twould therefore be
That he should suffer outrage at thy hands;
Thou wouldst not trample upon him alone,
But on the laws of God."—(P.)
Agamemnon reluctantly gives way, and leaves the scene. Then Ulysses, turning to Teucer, offers him his hand in friendship, with a generosity which is in strong contrast to the bitter insolence of the son of Atreus; he offers also to assist in paying the last honours to the noble dead. But this Teucer cannot allow, "lest it displease the dead himself;" and so Ulysses departs, having, so far as he could, made his peace with the manes of his ancient enemy.
Ulysses and Ajax met once more—so says the Homeric legend—in the lower world. While all the other heroes, in "the asphodel meadow," press forward to greet their old comrade in arms who has come to visit them in the flesh, the shade of Ajax stands aloof from all the others, brooding over the injuries of his lifetime, and sullenly turns away from the proffered courtesy of his rival.
Teucer returned to Salamis, taking with him Tecmessa and Eurysaces; but, as he had foreseen, Telamon received him with angry reproaches for allowing Ajax to perish. Then Teucer set sail for Cyprus, and there he founded a city which he called Salamis, after his
