The time is just before daybreak, and it is very gradually getting light; stars can still be seen in a stormy western sky, and by the end of the prologue, the dawn will have fully broken on an overcast day. The scene is a deserted and sandy stretch of beach with the tents and ships of Aias' contingent at Troy occupying the background. Aias'tent is prominently set forward and is translucent. A lantern sways and flickers inside. There is a stiff breezecoming off the sea, which is just visible to stage left; the wind sings in ships' rigging; sand and refuse are blowing; the surf is loud. There is an occasional play of lightening which intensifies during Aias' first appearance and disappears after his first exit. (1) As the play opens, Aias' shadowy figure, and perhaps the figures of animals as well, can be seen moving within his tent; muffled and indeterminate sounds may be heard. A kind of phantasma of Athena, (2) "illusion manifest," an all but disembodied voice, "appears" elevated, vague, above the tent, and speaks to Odysseus who is just making his way onto the stage, searching intently in the sand for footprints with his walking stick. Odysseus is bundled against the wind and the cold. Nothing the audience sees, save Odysseus, is truly distinct. The stage is colorless and stark, the mood forbidding.

ATHENA'S VOICE:

A-ei men, O pai Lar-ti-ou, de-dor-ka se.
Always the hunter, Laertes' son, Odysseus, friend,
Keen on the traces of beast and foe alike,
I have always known you as "stalker of prey."
And now I see you here on this deserted beach
Beside the ships and tent of mighty Aias
Sniffing at his new-made trail
Like some Spartan she-hound trained for the purpose,
Picking up the scent still-fresh,
And taking it to its conclusion.
You want to know "is he in there?" or "is he not?"
Oh, yes, he's there inside, just now returned,
His head and hands all sweaty-damp with murder's work.
No more need, Odysseus, for you to keep your gaze
Fixed upon that entryway. He's in the tent and won't escape.
Could you but say to me the cause
Of your great zeal to find him,
Then might I teach you what you want to know,
I who know the unravelling of this story.

ODYSSEUS:

O phthegm' Athanas, phil-ta-tes e-moi the-on, (14)
Athena's voice! You dearest god of all to me,
You slippery paradox, illusion manifest,
I hear your voice and fix it in my breast
As if it were some brazen trumpet blaring from the east.
Full well you know my purpose here,
My circling track is aimed directly at my enemy,
At Aias, bearer of the shield.
He's the one I track, no other,
For this has been a night of deepest dark
With a dread force aimed against us,
And I suspect the man within of mischief.
We know nothing certain, but we have traced
And traced again this action, searching for a clue.
So I have undertaken the work of finding out--
I volunteered and come here now of my own free will.
Just hours ago did we find havoc in our pens
Where many a head of captured flocks we kept--
l slaughtered and destroyed--some hand's work--
Dead--the cows, the sheep, the cowherd and the shepherd, too.
And every Greek in camp lays the blame right here.
There's one of us who actually saw him--all alone
And striding in exultant step across the strand,
Moonlight glinting off his knife, bathed with his victim's gore--
That man declared to me the way it was, he made it clear.
Without delay I found the trail and started out,
And the footprints bring me here. That much I know.
But look! Here! I cannot think all these marks are his.
I'm glad you're here, divinity. It's timely.
You've always been my helmsman in the past.
It's by your hand I shall be guided now--in everything.
For as it was with us, so let it be. Now and forever. (35)

COPYRIGHT 1987 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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