was such a one; and I put questions to him, but he avoided me by his craft. But when indeed I washed him and anointed him with oil, and put garments on him, and swore a firm oath, that I would not make Ulysses manifest to the Trojans, before he came to the swift ships and the tents; then at length he declared to me the whole intention of the Grecians. And having slain many of the Trojans with the long-pointed steel, he came to the Argives; and he brought back much intelligence[1] There the other Trojan women wailed shrilly; but my heart rejoiced; for now indeed my mind was inclined to return home again; but I lamented the calamity, which Venus had given, when she led me thither from my dear paternal land, and separated my daughter [from me], and my chamber, and my husband, who was not at all deficient, either as to his understanding or his form."
But auburn-haired Menelaus addressed her in turn: "Of a truth, wife, thou hast spoken all these things rightly. I have now, indeed, learned the counsel and mind of many heroes, and have passed over much land; but I have not yet seen such a one with my eyes, so kind as was the heart of patient Ulysses, and such a thing as that which the brave man did and suffered in the polished horse, wherein we all, chiefs of the Grecians, sat in ambush, bringing slaughter and fate upon the Trojans. Then thou camest thither; but the deity, who wished to give glory to the Trojans, must have exhorted thee, although godlike Deiphobus followed thee as thou wentest. And thrice didst thou go round the hollow ambush,[2] feeling it about, and called the chiefs of the Grecians by name, imitating the voice of the wives of all the Greeks. But I, and the son of Tydeus, and divine Ulysses sitting in the middle, heard how thou calledst aloud. Both of us indeed were anxious, having rushed forth either to go out, or to answer thee immediately from within; but Ulysses hindered us and restrained us, although desirous. [There all the other sons of the Grecians were silent; but Anticlus alone wished to answer thee with words; but Ulysses without ceasing pressed
- ↑ The Scholiast explains this passage thus: καταφρόνησιν αὐτῶν ἤγαγεν· τουτέστιν, ἢ αὐτὸς κατεφρόνησε τότε αὐτῶν, ἢ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐποίησεν αὐτῶν καταφρονῆσαι δι' ὧν ἔπεισε τὴν Ἑλένην· ἢ φρονήσεως ἀπείρον ἑαυτῳ περιέθετο τὸ ὄνομα ταῦτα ποιήσας· οἱ δὲ νεώτεροι, φρόνιν τὴν λείαν ἀπεδέξαντο. But see Loewe.
- ↑ i. e. the wooden horse.
