When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Menelaos rose and dressed himself. He
bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his
shoulders, and left his room looking like an immortal god. Then,
taking a seat near Telemakhos he said:
"And what, Telemakhos, has led
you to take this long sea voyage to Lacedaemon? Are you on public or
private business? Tell me all about it."
"I have come, sir replied
Telemakhos, "to see if you can tell me anything about my father. I am
being eaten out of house and home; my fair estate is being wasted,
and my house is full of miscreants who in overweening hubris
keep killing great numbers of my sheep and oxen, on the pretense of
wooing my mother. Therefore, I am suppliant at your knees if haply
you may tell me about my father's melancholy end, whether you
saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other traveler; for
he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity
for myself, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my
brave father Odysseus ever did you loyal service either by word or
deed, when you Achaeans were harassed in the dêmos of
the Trojans, bear it in mind now as in my favor and tell me truly
all."
Menelaos on hearing this was very
much shocked. "So," he exclaimed, "these cowards would usurp a brave
man's bed? A hind might as well lay her new born young in the
lair of a lion, and then go off to feed in the forest or in some
grassy dell: the lion when he comes back to his lair will make short
work with the pair of them - and so will Odysseus with these suitors.
By father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, if Odysseus is still the man that
he was when he wrestled with Philomeleides in Lesbos, and threw him
so heavily that all the Achaeans cheered him - if he is still such
and were to come near these suitors, they would have a swift doom and
a sorry wedding. As regards your questions, however, I will not
prevaricate nor deceive you, but will tell you without concealment
all that the old man of the sea told me.
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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