SELECTIONS FROM THE ILIAD.

In the heart of Helen woke Dear recollections of her former spouse And of her home and kindred. Instantly She left her chamber, robed and veiled in white, And shedding tender tears; yet not alone, For with her went two maidens,—Aethra, child Of Pitheus, and the large-eyed Clymene. Straight to the Scaean gates they walked, by which Panthoüs, Priam, and Thymoetes sat, Lampus and Clytius, Hicetaon sprung From Mars, Antenor and Ucalegon, Two sages,—elders of the people all. Beside the gates they sat, unapt, through age, For tasks of war, but men of fluent speech, Like the cicadas that within the wood Sit on the trees and utter delicate sounds. Such were the nobles of the Trojan race Who sat upon the tower. But when they marked The approach of Helen, to each other thus With winged words, but in low tones, they said:— "Small blame is theirs, if both the Trojan knights And brazen-mailed Achaians have endured So long so many evils for the sake Of that one woman. She is wholly like In feature to the deathless goddesses. So be it: let her, peerless as she is, Return on board the fleet, nor stay to bring Disaster upon us and all our race." So spake the elders. Priam meantime called To Helen: "Come, dear daughter, sit by me. Thou canst behold thy former husband hence, Thy kindred and thy friends. I blame thee not; The blame is with the immortals who have sent These pestilent Greeks against me. Sit and name For me this mighty man, the Grecian chief, Gallant and tall. True, there are taller men; But of such noble form and dignity I never saw: in truth, a kingly man." And Helen, fairest among women, thus Answered: "Dear second father, whom at once I fear and honor, would that cruel death Had overtaken me before I left, To wander with thy son, my marriage bed, And my dear daughter, and the company Of friends I loved. But that was not to be; And now I pine and weep. Yet will I tell What thou dost ask. The hero whom thou seest Is the wide-ruling Agamemnon, son Of Atreus, and is both a gracious king And a most dreaded warrior. He was once Brother-in-law to me, if I may speak— Lost as I am to shame—of such a tie." She said, the aged man admired, and then He spake again: "O son of Atreus, born Under a happy fate, and fortunate Among the sons of men! A mighty host Of Grecian youths obey thy rule. I went To Phrygia once,—that land of vines,—and there Saw many Phrygians, heroes on fleet steeds, The troops of Otreus, and of Mygdon, shaped Like one of the immortals. They encamped By the Sangarius. I was an ally; My troops were ranked with theirs upon the day When came the unsexed Amazons to war. Yet even there I saw not such a host As this of black-eyed Greeks who muster here." Then Priam saw Ulysses, and inquired:— "Dear daughter, tell me also who is that, Less tall than Agamemnon, yet more broad In chest and shoulders. On the teeming earth His armor lies, but he, from place to place, Walks round among the ranks of soldiery, As when the thick-fleeced father of the flocks Moves through the multitude of his white sheep." And Jove-descended Helen answered thus:— "That is Ulysses, man of many arts, Son of Laertes, reared in Ithaca, That rugged isle, and skilled in every form Of shrewd device and action wisely planned." Then spake the sage Antenor: "Thou hast said The truth, O lady. This Ulysses once Came on an embassy, concerning thee, To Troy with Menelaus, great in war; And I received them as my guests, and they Were lodged within my palace, and I learned The temper and the qualities of both. When both were standing 'mid the men of Troy, I marked that Menelaus's broad chest Made him the more conspicuous, but when both Were seated, greater was the dignity Seen in Ulysses. When they both addressed The council, Menelaus briefly spake In pleasing tones, though with few words,—as one Not given to loose and wandering speech,—although The younger. When the wise Ulysses rose, He stood with eyes cast down, and fixed on earth, And neither swayed his sceptre to the right Nor to the left, but held it motionless, Like one unused to public speech. He seemed An idiot out of humor. But when forth He sent from his full lungs his mighty voice, And words came like a fall of winter snow, No mortal then would dare to strive with him For mastery in speech. We less admired The aspect of Ulysses than his words." Beholding Ajax then, the aged king Asked yet again: "Who is that other chief Of the Achaians, tall, and large of limb,— Taller and broader-chested than the rest?" Helen, the beautiful and richly-robed, Answered: "Thou seest the might Ajax there, The bulwark of the Greeks. On the other side, Among his Cretans, stands Idomeneus, Of godlike aspect, near to whom are grouped The leaders of the Cretans. Oftentimes The warlike Menelaus welcomed him Within our palace, when he came from Crete. I could point out and name the other chiefs Of the dark-eyed Achaians. Two alone, Princes among their people, are not seen,— Castor the fearless horseman, and the skilled In boxing, Pollux,—twins; one mother bore Both them and me. Came they not with the rest From pleasant Lacedaemon to the war? Or, having crossed the deep in their goodships, Shun they to fight among the valiant ones Of Greece, because of my reproach and shame?" She spake; but they already lay in earth In Lacedaemon, their dear native land. Bryants Translation, Book III.