There is, perhaps, no extant work of Sophocles in which his power over crude material is better displayed than in the Ajax. N 0 other exhibits higher skill in varying a story of few elements; in untwisting rough strands of thought, and leading them into finer threads 3 in relieving the breadth of epic colour ing with new lights and shadows; and this without breaking the contour, without marring the severity, of shapes long held divine.