_Telemachus at the house of Menelaus--The suitors resolve
to lie in wait for him as he returns, and murder him_.
When the two young men reached Lacedæmon they drove
straight to Menelaus's house [and found him celebrating
the double marriage of his daughter Hermione and his son
Megapenthes.][9]
Menelaus (after a little demur on the part of his _major 22
domo_ Eteoneus, for which he was severely reprimanded by
his master) entertained his guests very hospitably, and
overhearing Telemachus call his friend's attention to the
splendour of the house, he explained to them how much
toil and sorrow he had endured, especially through the
murder of his brother Agamemnon, the plundering of his
house by Paris when he carried off Helen, and the death
of so many of his brave comrades at Troy. "There is one
man, however," he added, "of whom I cannot even think
without loathing both food and sleep. I mean Ulysses."
When Telemachus heard his father thus mentioned he could 112
not restrain his tears, and while Menelaus was in doubt
what to say or not say, Helen came down (dinner being now
half through) with her three attendant maidens, Adraste,
Alcippe, and Phylo, who set a seat for her and brought
her her famous work box which ran on wheels, that she
might begin to spin.
"And who pray," said she to her husband, "may these two 138
gentlemen be who are honouring us with their presence?
Shall I guess right or wrong, but I really must say what
I think. I never saw such a likeness--neither in man
nor woman. This young man can only be Telemachus, whom
Ulysses left behind him a baby in arms when he set out
for Troy."
"I too," answered Menelaus, "have observed the likeness. 147
It is unmistakeable."
On this Pisistratus explained that they were quite right, 155
whereon Menelaus told him all he had meant doing for
Ulysses, and this was so affecting that all the four who
were at table burst into tears. After a little while
Pisistratus complimented Menelaus on his great sagacity
(of which indeed his father Nestor had often told him),
and said that he did not like weeping when he was getting
his dinner; he therefore proposed that the remainder of
their lamentation should be deferred until next morning.
Menelaus assented to this, and dinner was allowed to 220
proceed. Helen mixed some Nepenthe with the wine, and
cheerfulness was thus restored.
Helen then told how she had met Ulysses when he entered 235
Troy as a spy, and explained that by that time she
was already anxious to return home, and was lamenting
the cruel calamity which Venus had inflicted on her 261
in separating her from her little girl and from her
husband, who was really not deficient either in person or
understanding.
Menelaus capped her story with an account of the 265
adventures of the Achæans inside the wooden horse. "Do
you not remember," said he, "how you walked all round it
when we were inside, and patted it? You had Deiphobus
with you, and you kept on calling out our names and 279
mimicking our wives, till Minerva came and took you away.
It was Ulysses' presence of mind that then saved us."
When he had told this, Telemachus said it was time to go 290
to rest, so he and Pisistratus were shown to their room
in the vestibule, while Menelaus and Helen retired to the
interior of the house.[10]
When morning came Telemachus told Menelaus about the 306
suitors, and asked for any information he could give him
concerning the death of his father. Menelaus was greatly
shocked, but could only tell him what he had heard from
Proteus. He said that as he was coming from Egypt he had
been detained some weeks through, the displeasure of the
gods, in the island of Pharos, where he and his men would
have been starved but for the assistance given him by a
goddess Idothea, daughter to Proteus, who taught him how
to ensnare her father, and compel him to say why heaven
was detaining him.
"Idothea," said Menelaus, "disguised me and my three 410
chosen comrades as seals; to this end she had brought
four fresh-flayed seal-skins, under which she hid us.
The strong smell of these skins was most distressing to
us--Who would go to bed with a sea monster if he could
help it? but Idothea put some ambrosia under each man's 443
nostrils, and this afforded us great relief. Other seals
(Halsoydne's chickens as they call them) now kept coming
up by hundreds, and lay down to bask upon the beach.
"Towards noon Proteus himself came up. First he counted 450
all his seals to see that he had the right number, and he
counted us in with the others; when he had so done he lay
down in the midst of them, as a shepherd with his sheep,
and as soon as he was asleep we pounced upon him and
gripped him tight; at one moment he became a lion, the
next he was running water, and then again he was a tree;
but we never loosed hold, and in the end he grew weary,
and told us what we would know.
"He told me also of the fate of Ajax, son of Oïleus, and 499
of my brother Agamemnon. Lastly he told me about Ulysses,
who he said was in the island of the nymph Calypso,
unable to get away inasmuch as he had neither ship nor
crew.
"Then he disappeared under the sea, and I, after 570
appeasing heaven's anger as he had instructed me,
returned quickly and safely to my own country."
Having finished his story Menelaus pressed Telemachus 587
to remain with him some ten or twelve days longer, and
promised to give him a chariot and a pair of horses
as a keepsake, but Telemachus said that he could not
stay. "I could listen to you," said he, "for a whole
twelve months, and never once think about my home and
my parents; but my men, whom I have left at Pylos, are
already impatient for me to return. As for any present
you may make me, let it be a piece of plate. I cannot
take horses to Ithaca; it contains no plains nor meadow
lands, and is more fit for breeding goats than horses.
None of our islands are suited for chariot races, and
Ithaca least among them all."
Menelaus smiled, and said he could see that Telemachus 600
came of good family. He had a piece of plate, of very
great value, which was just the thing, and Telemachus
should have it.
[Guests now kept coming to the king's house, bringing 621
both wine and sheep, and their wives had put them up
a provision of bread. Thus, then, did they set about
cooking their dinner in the courts.][11]
Meanwhile, the suitors in Ithaca were playing at quoits, 625
aiming spears at a mark, and behaving with all their
old insolence on the level ground in front of Ulysses'
house. While they were thus engaged Noëmon came up and
asked Antinous if he could say when Telemachus was likely
to be back from Pylos, for he wanted his ship. On this
everything came out, and the suitors, who had no idea
that Telemachus had really gone (for they thought he
was only away on one of his farms in Ithaca), were very
angry. They therefore determined to lie in wait for him
on his return, and made ready to start.
Medon, a servant, overhead their plot, and told all to 675
Penelope, who, like the suitors, learned for the first
time that her son had left home and gone to Pylos. She
bitterly upbraided her women for not having given her
a call out of her bed when Telemachus was leaving, for
she said she was sure they knew all about it. Presently,
however, on being calmed by Euryclea, she went upstairs
and offered sacrifice to Minerva. After a time she fell
into a deep slumber, during which she was comforted by a
vision of her sister Ipthime, which Minerva had sent to
her bedside.
When night fell the suitors set sail, intending to 842
way-lay Telemachus in the Strait between Same and Ithaca.