dressing him I spoke winged words. 'These indeed I know; but do thou name the third man, who is still detained alive in the wide sea[, or dead; for I wish although grieving to hear].'
"Thus I spoke; hut he answering again addressed me: 'The son of Laertes, who inhabits dwellings in Ithaca: him I saw in an island, shedding the moist tear, in the palace of the nymph Calypso, who detains him by necessity; nor is he able to come to his paternal land: for he has not ships fitted with oars, and companions who may conduct him over the wide back of the sea. But for thee, O noble Menelaus, it is not decreed by the gods to die, and meet with thy fate in horse-pasturing Argos; but the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the boundaries of the earth, (where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus, there of a truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow, nor long winter, nor ever a shower, but ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing breezes of the west wind, to refresh men;) because you possess Helen, and are the son-in-law of Jove.'
"Thus having spoken, he plunged beneath the billowy sea. But I went to my ships together with my godlike companions; and my heart was troubled much as I went. But when we came to our ship and to the sea, and prepared supper, and ambrosial night came on, then we slept on the shore of the sea. But when the mother of dawn, rosy-fingered morning, appeared, first of all we drew our ships into the divine sea, and placed the masts and sails in the equal ships; and they embarking sat on the benches, and sitting in order smote the hoary wave with their oars. And I brought the ships back to the waters of Egypt, to the river filled by Jove, and I offered up perfect hecatombs. But when I had appeased the anger of the gods who exist for ever, I built a tomb for Agamemnon, that his renown[1] might be inextinguishable. Having performed these things, I returned; for the immortals, who sent me quickly to my dear country, gave me a prosperous gale. But come now, remain in my palace until the eleventh or twelfth day; and then I will send thee [away] well, and will give thee splendid presents, three horses and a well-polished chariot; but furthermore I will give thee a beautiful cup, that
- ↑ "That my fame"!! is the version of the old translator, according to his usual taste and judgment.
