The Hero at the Bar: Ajax as Lawyer in Metamorphoses 13

Margaret W. Musgrove (University of Central Oklahoma)

In Metamorphoses 13.5 – 122, Ovid presents the arguments of Ajax in the contest over the weapons of Achilles. The argument appears at first to be a purely brain-versus-brawn dichotomy, with Ulysses as brains and Ajax as brawn. But in the course of his argument, Ajax employs many rhetorical strategies that undermine his claim to be a simple man of action (nec mihi dicere promptum, nec facere est isti, 13.10f.). Ajax’s speech is packed full of wordplay, praeteritio, and manipulation of the listeners’ emotions. (See Higham 1958 and Anderson 1963.) Even his claim to be “unaccustomed to public speaking” is one of the oldest tricks in the book and recalls Socrates’ disingenuous claim at the opening of the Apology. In this contrast between the character of the speaker and the way he expresses himself, we may observe the omnipresent voice of the poet himself, as suggested by Solodow (1988). But in addition, we may observe Ovid remarking on the inevitability of rhetoric and of subjectivity, even in those who supposedly reject them.

In the contrast between the speeches of Ajax and of Ulysses, Ovid reinterprets several events of the Trojan cycle. Indeed, Ajax and Ulysses seem to know different versions of the stories, as they disagree about factual details. (See Burgess 2001 and King 1987.) Once again, the poet’s hand may be perceived, as the characters break out of their narrative setting and reflect the books that the poet, not they themselves, may have read.

In his autobiographical Tristia 4.10, Ovid recalls his days as a frustrated law student, unable to write mere prose. But in Ajax, Ovid has created a speaker unable to do without lawyerly rhetoric, even when it violates what ought to be the nature of his character.