At these words they all wept--the fair Helen and Telemachus and
Menelaus; nor could Peisistratus refrain himself, for he thought
of his dear brother who was slain at Troy.

Then said Menelaus: "Now we will cease from weeping; and to-morrow
there is much that Telemachus and I must say one to the other."

Then the fair Helen put a mighty medicine in the wine whereof they
drank--nepenthe [Footnote: ne-pen'-the], men call it. So mighty is
it that whoever drinks of it, weeps not that day, though father
and mother die, and though men slay brother or son before his
eyes.

And after this she said: "It would take long to tell all the wise
and valiant deeds of Ulysses. One thing, however, ye shall hear,
and it is this: while the Greeks were before Troy he came into the
city, having disguised himself as a beggar-man, yea, and he had
laid many blows upon himself, so that he seemed to have been
shamefully treated. I alone knew who he was, and questioned him,
but he answered craftily. And I swore that I would not betray him.
So he slew many Trojans with the sword, and learnt many things.
And while other women in Troy lamented, I was glad, for my heart
was turned again to my home."

Then Menelaus said: "Thou speakest truly, lady. Many men have I
seen, and travelled over many lands, but never have I seen one who
might be matched with Ulysses. Well do I remember how, when I and
other chiefs of the Greeks sat in the horse of wood, thou didst
come. Some god who loved the sons of Troy put the thing into thy
heart. Thrice didst thou walk round our hiding-place and call by