Then quickly to the prince his lord he sped, the news to take,
Whom, standing at his side, he thus in winged words bespake:
See, Menelaus, noble prince! lo, strangers twain are here,
Who by their semblance of the race of mighty Jove appear.
Say now if we shall from the yoke their flying steeds unbind,
Or speed them onward otherwhere a friendly host to find?"
But angrily his lord replied: "No brainless fool, I ween,
O son of old Boethöus, thou hitherto hast been :
But now thou talkest as a child,—what may this folly mean?
Yet well thou know'st we both full oft have craved the stranger's bread
From other men, who for our needs have bounteous table spread,
In days before we hither came; nor do we surely know
If Jove will henceforth give us rest from trouble and from woe.
So forth with haste, and from the car the strangers' steeds unbind,
And bring the men themselves within, good share of feast to find.”
Then Eteoneus at the word sped promptly from the hall,
And to the other serving-men to follow him did call.
Then from the yoke the sweating steeds they speedily untied,
And to the mangers bound them fast, and provender supplied.
Before them rye they threw, well mixed with grain of barley white,
And leant the car against the walls that glimmered in the light.
Within the godlike mansion then the strangers did they bring,
Who in amazement lost beheld the palace of the king.
For as the sun or moon in heaven with lustre bright doth gleam,
So from the monarch's high-roofed halls a wondrous light did stream.
But when they both with eyes entranced had gazed to their content,
Anon from out the hall to seek the polished baths they went.
To tend their bath and pour the oil became the handmaids care,
And cloaks and doublets of fine wool they threw around the pair.
An honoured seat beside the son of Atreus next they sought;
Then for their hands in golden ewer a maiden water brought,
And with it quick a basin filled, of silver richly wrought;
48. For as the sun or moon, &c.
“Di sopra fiammeggiava il bello arnese
Più chiaro assai, che luna per sereno
Di mezza notte nel suo mezzo mese."-DANTE, Purg., xxix. 52.
55. Then for their hands, &c.
"Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
Expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantilia villis.”—VIRG. Æn., i. 701.
Before them drew a polished board, whereon a house dame grave
Set wheaten bread, and from her store choice cates in plenty gave.
And next the carver many a dish of varied meats supplied,
And golden goblets filled with wine placed ready by their side.
Then to the twain the bright-haired chief with pledge of welcome spake :
"Hail to you both! right welcome guests, of this our feast partake.
When ye have eaten, we in turn will ask what men ye be,
For that your parents' type in you yet lives I plainly see.
For sure ye come of mighty stock of sceptre-bearing kings,-
No son that doth resemble you from base-born father springs."
He spake, and lifting with his hands, he set before the pair
A roasted ox-chine, rich in fat, his own apportioned share.
Then on the feast before them spread their willing hands they laid,
Till both of hunger and of thirst the craving each had stayed.
Telemachus with head bent close then Nestor's son addressed,
So that no word he spake might reach the hearing of the rest:
"Look, son of Nestor, man most dear unto this heart of mine,
How through the loudly echoing halls the flashing brass doth shine,
Whilst amber, iv'ry, silver, gold, their various hues combine!
Surely the house of Jove himself e'en such as this must be!
In wonder rapt I gaze, such store of untold wealth to see."
But Menelaus of his speech the meaning shrewdly guessed,
And thus the bright-haired chief the twain in wingèd words addressed:
"Dear children, with almighty Jove no child of man may vie ;-
Immortal are the halls, the wealth, of him who rules on high.
Of men there may be some to vie in wealth, or may be not,
Who greater treasures own than I within my halls have got.
62. Hail to you both! &c.
"Welcome: fall to; I will not trouble you
As yet to question you about your fortunes."
-SHAKESPEARE, As You Like it, Act ii. sc. 7.
"Nympha, decus fluviorum, animo gratissima nostro." -VIRG. En., xii. 142.
74. How through the loudly echoing halls, &c.
Regia, fulgenti splendent auro atque argento.
Candet ebur soliis: collucent pocula mensis :
Tota domus gaudet regali splendida gazâ."-CATULLUS, lxiv. 43.
By many a peril of the sea, and suffering sore distraught,
And after eight long years of toil, this wealth I homeward brought.
Phoenicia, Cyprus, Egypt too, all these I traversed o'er,—
Reached Ethiop land, and Sidon saw, and far Erembian shore,
And Libya's soil, whose lambs at birth with sprouting horns are seen—
For thrice a-year the teeming ewe her progeny doth yean.
Nor lord nor shepherd in that land the want need ever know
Of cheese or flesh, nor for a draught of sweet milk thirsting go,
For through the whole year doth the stream fresh from their udders flow.
Whilst gath'ring treasure in these realms I roamed from land to land,
My brother dear in his own home died by another's hand,
Through his accursèd spouse's guile slain unawares, by stealth,
Therefore no joyous heart is mine, though lord of all this wealth.
But from your sires, whoe'er they be, ye may have heard before
Of all these things, for great indeed the weight of griefs I bore.
To rack has gone the house well-built and pleasant to behold,
That erst within its walls contained a store of wealth untold.
But one-third only of that wealth would now my heart content,
Were they but living who for me 'neath Troy their life-blood spent,-
Far from our Argos, land of steeds, doomed in my cause to fall;
And oft I sit and mourn their loss within my palace hall—
One moment ease my heart with tears, the next I check their flow,
For soon of lamentation comes a surfeit, and of woe.
But grieving much for all the lost, chiefly for one I weep,
Whom to remember makes me loathe alike both food and sleep.
For none of all the Grecian host such labours underwent
As brave Ulysses planned and brought to full accomplishment.
'Twas sure decreed by Fate itself woe should his portion be,
And that a ceaseless grief for him should ever weigh on me;
84. By many a peril of the sea, &c.
There is a remarkable similarity between this speech of Menelaus and that of Sindbad the Sailor to Hindbad the porter in the 'Arabian Nights': "O Porter, know that my story is wonderful, and I will inform thee of all that happened to me and befell me before I attained this prosperity and sat in this place where thou seest me. For I attained not this prosperity and this place save after severe fatigue, and great trouble, and many terrors. How often have I endured fatigue and toil in my early years! I have performed seven voyages, and connected with each voyage is a wonderful tale, that would confound the mind. All that which I endured happened by fate and destiny, and from that which is written there is no escape nor flight."
That he from us is gone so long, passed wholly out of sight,
While we nor know if he be dead, or yet beholds the light.
For him, I ween, his aged sire, Laertes, aye doth mourn,
And his sage spouse Penelope, in widowhood forlorn,
And eke his son Telemachus, whom he left newly born."
He spake, and in the son's true breast grief for his father stirred,
Who to the ground let fall a tear as of his sire he heard.
With both his hands his purple cloak he held before his eyes.
This Menelaus marked, and doubt did in his mind arise,
Whether to leave his guest to make first mention of his sire,
Or ask him first, and draw him on to tell his tale entire.
Whilst thus he doubted, from her bower forth came his consort fair, Like Artemis, the huntress-queen, that golden dart doth bear.
To set for her a well-wrought couch Adraste promptly sped;
Alcippe underneath her feet the fleecy carpet spread;
Phylo a silver basket bore, gift from Alcandra's hand,
Consort of Polybus, who ruled o'er Thebes in Egypt's land,
Where men within their homes vast stores of costly treasures save:
The monarch first to Helen's lord two silver foot-baths gave,
Added ten talents of pure gold, of tripods eke a pair,
Whilst unto Helen his good queen gave lovely gifts and rare,-
Distaff of gold, a basket too of silver wrought that rolled
On wheels, but all the rim thereof was finished off with gold.
This Phylo brought, filled full of yarn, and set her mistress nigh ;—
Upon it lay the distaff, charged with wool of purple dye.
Then sitting on her stately chair, with footstool for her feet,
Thus did the Jove-descended dame her spouse with question greet:
"Jove-nurtured Menelaus, say, do we as yet know aught
What lineage proud these strangers boast, that have our palace sought?
Do I guess wrong or right? my heart bids me unfold my thought.
That man or woman ne'er have I beheld in all my days,
So like another-I am lost in wonder as I gaze—
As to Telemachus this youth is like, that son forlorn,
Whom when from home he sailed for Troy, Ulysses left new-born,
When all th' Achæan host for me, devoid, alas! of shame,
'Neath Ilium's walls, the din of strife arousing, boldly came."
Then bright-haired Menelaus thus to Helen made reply:
"E'en as thou dost the likeness trace, O wife, so now do I.
Just such as his the hands and feet of brave Ulysses were,
Just such the glances of his eyne, his head, and flowing hair.
And but a moment past when I the mem'ry did awake
Of all the grievous toils the chief encountered for my sake,
I marked me well how briny tears he from his eyelids shed,
And veiled his face, his purple robe holding before his head."
"Prince Menelaus," Nestor's son the bright-haired chief addressed :
"In very truth that hero's child thou seest in thy guest.
But he is modest, and his youth discretion's rule doth teach
To shrink, in presence like to thine, from forwardness of speech.
Hither thy guest but newly come, he listens to thy word,
Whose voice, as 'twere a god that spake, we with delight have heard.
And me the old Gerenian knight, Nestor, hath sent from home,
As guide and escort on his way unto thy halls to come.
For earnestly he longed to gain a sight and speech of thee,
Hoping that thou in word or deed his counsellor mightst be.
For many a grief within his halls doth aye the son enfold
Whose sire is gone, and whose good rights none other will uphold."
"By heav'n," the bright-haired chief replied, " within my halls I see
The son of one who ever was a friend most dear to me;
Who many a work of grievous toil for me did undergo;
To whom, above all other Greeks, I thought my love to show.
Had but Olympian Jove vouchsafed to grant unto us twain
A safe return in our swift ships across the briny main,
To him in Argos then would I a city have made o'er,
Built him a house, and there conveyed from Ithaca's far shore
His people all, his only son, and eke his treasure-store,
When I the folk of some fair town had forced elsewhere to fly-
Some one of those that own my sway, and near to Sparta lie.
151. Just such as his, &c.
"Sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat."-VIRG. Æn., iii. 490.
178. éşaλaжážas. This word, in its literal meaning, denotes merely expulsion of inhabitants. But if the overture of Menelaus is to be taken as seriously intended, it is more in accordance with what we know of his character, to presume that he would be humane enough to provide a home for those whom he thus summarily proposed to evict. Mr Merry, however, remarks that offers of this kind have an oriental feature about them-that they are never thought of by the offerer as likely to be accepted-they are merely assurances of high consideration," their very character of exaggeration making it quite safe that their performance will not be claimed.
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