Woe is thee, unhappy Troy! Thou through deeds not done by the art ruined, and hast suffered direst woe; for the gift that Cypris gave to me, hath caused a sea of blood to flow, and many an eye to weep, with grief on grief and tear on tear. All this hath Ilium suffered and mothers have lost their children; and virgin sisters of the slain have cut off their tresses by the swollen tide of Phrygian Scamander. And the land of Hellas hath lifted her voice of woe and broken forth in wailing, smiting on her head, and making tender cheeks to stream with gore beneath the rending nail. Ah blest maid Callisto, who long ago in Arcady didst find favour with Zeus, in the semblance of beast four-footed, how much happier was thy lot than my mother's, for thou hast changed the burden of thy grief and now with savage eye art weeping o'er thy shaggy monster-shape; aye, and hers was a happier lot, whom on a day Artemis drove from her choir, changed to a hind with horns of gold, the fair Titanian maid, daughter of Merops, because of her beauty; but my fair form hath proved the curse of Dardan Troy and doomed Achaea's sons.
(HELEN and the CHORUS go into the palace. After the doors have closed upon them, MENELAUS enters. He is alone and clad in rags.)MENELAUSAh! Pelops, easy victor long ago o'er thy rival Oenomaus in the chariot-race on Pisa's plain, would thou hadst ended thy career amongst the gods that day thou wert beguiled into making a banquet for them, or ever thou hadst begotten my father Atreus, to whom were born by Aerope his wife, Agamemnon and myself Menelaus, an illustrious pair; and herein I make no idle boast, for 'twas a mighty host, Itrow, that I their leader carried o'er the sea to Troy, using no violence to make them follow me, but leading all the chivalry of Hellas by voluntary consent. And some of these must we number 'mid the slain, and some to their joy have 'scaped the sea, bearing to their homes again names long reckoned dead. But I, poor wretch, go wandering o'er grey Ocean's swell a weary space, long as that which saw me sick the towers of Ilium; and for all my longing to reach my country Iam not counted worthy of this boon by heaven, but to Libya's desert cheerless roadsteads have I sailed, to each and all of them; and whensoe'er I draw me near my native land, the storm-wind drives me back again, and never yet have favouring breezes filled my sails, to let me reach my fatherland. And now a wretched, shipwrecked mariner, my friends all lost, am I cast up upon this shore; and my ship is shattered in a thousand pieces against the rocks; and its keel was wrested from its cunning fastenings; thereon did I with difficulty escape, most unexpectedly, and Helen also, for her had I rescued from Troy and had with me. But the name of this country and its people I know not; for I blushed to mingle with the crowd to question them, anxious for very shame to hide my misfortunes which reduce me to these sorry rags. For when a man of high degree meets with adversity, he feels the strangeness of his fallen state more keenly than a sufferer of long standing. Dire want is wasting me; for I have neither food, nor raiment to gird myself withal; behold the facts before you to judge from-I am clad in tatters cast up from the ship; while all the robes I once did wear, glorious attire and ornaments, bath the sea swallowed; and in a cavern's deep recesses have I hidden my wife, the cause of all my trouble, and have come hither, after straitly charging the survivors of my friends to watch her. Alone am I come, seeking for those there left some help, if haply I may find it after careful search. So when I saw this palace girt with towering walls and stately gates of some prosperous lord, I drew nigh; for I have hope to obtain somewhat for my sailors from this wealthy house, whereas from houses which have no store, the inmates for all their goodwill could furnish naught. Ho! there, who keeps the gate and will come forth to bear my tale of woe into the house?
(A PORTRESS comes out of the palace in answer to his call.)PORTRESSWho stands before the door? Begone from the housel stand not at the court-yard gate, annoying my masters! otherwise shalt thou die, for thou art a Hellene born. and with them have we no dealings.
MENELAUS
Mother, herein sayest thou rightly on all points. 'Tis well; Iwill obey; but moderate thy words.
PORTRESS
Away! stranger, my orders are to admit no Hellene to this palace.
MENELAUS
Ha! do not seek to push me hence, or thrust me away by violence.
PORTRESS
Thou dost not heed my words, and therefore hast thyself to blame.
MENELAUS
Carry my message to thy master in the palace.
PORTRESS
Some one would rue it, methinks, were I to take thy message.
MENELAUS
I come as a shipwrecked man and a stranger, whom heaven protects.
PORTRESS
Well, get thee to some other house than this.
MENELAUS
Nay, but I will pass into the house; so listen to me.
PORTRESS
Let me tell thee thou art unwelcome, and soon wilt be forcibly ejected.
MENELAUS
Ah me! where are now those famous troops of mine?
PORTRESS
Elsewhere maybe thou wert a mighty man; thou art not here.
MENELAUS
O fortune! I have not deserved such insult.
PORTRESS
Why are thy eyes with tear-drops wet? Why so sad?
MENELAUS
'Tis the contrast with my fortunes erst so blest.
PORTRESS
Hence! then, and give thy friends those tears.
MENELAUS
What land is this? whose is the palace?
PORTRESS
Proteus lives here. It is the land of Egypt.
MENELAUS
Egypt? Woe is me! to think that hither I have sailed!
PORTRESS
Pray, what fault hast thou to find with the race of Nile?
MENELAUS
'Twas no fault I found; my own disasters I lament.
PORTRESS
There be plenty in evil case; thou art not the only one.
MENELAUS
Is the king, of whom thou speakest, here within?
PORTRESS
There is his tomb; his son rules in his stead.
MENELAUS
And where may he be? abroad, or in the house?
PORTRESS
He is not within. To Hellas is he a bitter foe.
MENELAUS
His reason, pray, for this enmity? the results whereof I have experienced.
PORTRESS
Beneath this roof dwells the daughter of Zeus, Helen.
MENELAUS
