FEMALE SER. Who at the threshold stands?
Wilt thou not hence depart, lest thy appearance
Before these doors give umbrage to our lords?
Else shalt thou surely die, because thou cam’st
From Greece, whose sons shall never hence return.
MEN. Well hast thou spoken, O thou aged dame.
Wilt thou permit me? For to thy behests
Must I submit: but suffer me to speak.
FEMALE SER. Depart: for ’tis my duty to permit
No Greek to enter this imperial dome.
MEN. Lift not thy hand against me, nor attempt
To drive me hence by force.
FEMALE SER. Thou wilt not yield
To my advice, thou therefore art to blame.
MEN. Carry my message to thy lords within.
FEMALE SER. I fear lest somewhat dreadful might ensue,
Should I repeat your words.
MEN. I hither come
A shipwrecked man, a stranger, one of those
Whom all hold sacred.
FEMALE SER. To some other house,
Instead of this, repair.
MEN. I am determined
To enter: but comply with my request.
FEMALE SER. Be well assured thou art unwelcome here,
And shalt ere long by force be driven away.
MEN. Alas! alas! where are my valiant troops?
FEMALE SER. Elsewhere, perhaps, thou wert a mighty man;
But here art thou no longer such.
MEN. O Fortune!
How am I galled with undeserved reproach!
FEMALE SER. Why are those eyelids moist with tears, why griev’st thou?
MEN. Because I once was happy.
FEMALE SER. Then depart,
And mingle social tears with those thou lov’st.
MEN. But what domain is this, to whom belong
These royal mansions?
FEMALE SER. Proteus here resides;
This land is Egypt.
MEN. Egypt? wretched me!
Ah, whither have I sailed!
FEMALE SER. But for what cause
Scorn’st thou the race of Nile?
MEN. I scorn them not:
My own disastrous fortunes I bewail.
FEMALE SER. Many are wretched, thou in this respect
Art nothing singular.
MEN. Is he, the king
Thou speak’st of, here within?
FEMALE SER. To him belongs
This tomb; his son is ruler of this land.
MEN. But where is he: abroad, or in the palace?
FEMALE SER. He’s not within; but to the Greeks he bears
The greatest enmity.
MEN. Whence rose this hate,
Productive of such bitter fruits to me?
FEMALE SER. Beneath these roofs Jove’s daughter Helen dwells.
MEN. What mean’st thou? Ha! what words with wonder fraught
Are these which thou hast uttered? O repeat them.
FEMALE SER. The child of Tyndarus, she who in the realm
Of Sparta erst abode.
MEN. Whence came she hither?
How can this be?
FEMALE SER. From Lacedæmon’s realm.
MEN. When? Hath my wife been torn from yonder cave?
FEMALE SER. Before the Greeks, O stranger, went to Troy
Retreat then from these mansions, for within
Hath happened a calamitous event,
By which the palace is disturbed. Thou com’st
Unseasonably, and if the king surprise thee,
Instead of hospitable treatment, death
Must be thy portion. To befriend the Greeks
Though well inclined, yet thee have I received
With these harsh words, because I fear the monarch.
[_Exit_ FEMALE SERVANT.
MEN. What shall I say? For I, alas! am told
Of present sorrows added to the past.
Come I not hither, after having borne
From vanquished Troy my consort, whom I left
Within yon cave well guarded? Yet here dwells
Another Helen, whom that woman called
Jove’s daughter. Lives there on the banks of Nile
A man who bears the sacred name of Jove?
For in the heavens there’s only one. What country,
But that where glides Eurotas’ stream beset
With waving reeds, is Sparta? Tyndarus’ name
Suits him alone. But is there any land
Synonymous with Lacedæmon’s realm,
And that of Troy? I know not how to solve
This doubt; for there are many, it appears,
In various regions of the world, who bear
Like appellations; city corresponds
With city; woman borrows that of woman;
Nor must we therefore wonder. Yet again
Here will I stay, though danger be announced
By yonder aged servant at the door:
For there is no man so devoid of pity
As not to give me food, when he the name
Of Menelaus hears. That dreadful fire
By which the Phrygian bulwarks were consumed
Is memorable, and I who kindled it
Am known in every land. I’ll therefore wait
Until the master of this house return.
But I have two expedients, and will practise
That which my safety shall require; of soul
Obdurate, if he prove, in my wrecked bark
Can I conceal myself, but if the semblance
Which he puts on, be mild, I for relief
From these my present miseries, will apply.
But this of all the woes that I endure
Is the most grievous, that from other kings
I, though a king myself, should be reduced
To beg my food: but thus hath Fate ordained.
Nor is it my assertion, but a maxim
Among the wise established, that there’s nought
More powerful than the dread behests of Fate.