messenger, the slayer of Argus, came near them, bringing the souls of the suitors who were overcome by Ulysses. But they, astonished, went straight [to meet them], when they beheld them. And the soul of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, knew the son of Melanthius, illustrious Amphimedon: for he had been his host, inhabiting a house in Ithaca.
And him the soul of the son of Atreus first addressed: "O Amphimedon, to what suffering have ye come beneath the gloomy earth, all picked men, and of equal age? neither in any other way would [any one] choosing through a city select the best men. Whether has Neptune subdued you in ships, having stirred up difficult winds and long billows? or have hostile men by chance destroyed you on the continent whilst cutting off their bulls, and the beautiful fleeces of sheep? or fighting about a city and women? Tell me, inquiring, for I boast myself to be thy guest. Dost thou not remember when I came there to thine house, inciting Ulysses, with godlike Menelaus, to attend us to Troy, in the well-benched ships? But we passed over all the wide sea in a whole[1] month, scarcely persuading city-destroying Ulysses."
But him the soul of Amphimedon addressed in turn: "[O most glorious son of Atreus, Agamemnon, king of men,] I remember all these things, and will relate well and accurately the evil end of our death, what a one befell us. We wooed the wife of long absent Ulysses: and she did not refuse the hated marriage, nor did she bring it to a conclusion, devising death and black Fate for us. But she planned this other stratagem in her mind; having begun a mighty web, she wove it in the palace, slender and round; and she forthwith addressed us: 'Youths, my suitors, since divine Ulysses is dead, cease urging my marriage until I finish the robe, (lest my threads should perish in vain,) a funeral garment for the hero Laertes, for the time when the pernicious fate of long-sleeping death shall seize hold of him: lest any one of the Grecian women amongst the people should be indignant at me, if he lies without a shroud, having possessed many things.' Thus she spoke; and our noble mind was persuaded. Then during the day she wove the large web, but at night she unravelled it, when she placed the torches near her. Thus for
- ↑ In English we should say, "we were a whole month passing over the sea."
