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Odyssey Still, of my sire, stout-hearted Odysseus, as yet, he asserted,

X FII Whether as dead or alive, no mortal had given him tidings.
Hi - 153 Natheless unto the spearman renowned, Menelaus Atrides,

Onward he sent me, and steeds and a strong-built car he provided.
Here too Helen of Argos I saw, whose beauty so many

Sufferings brought, by the will of the gods, on the Trojans and Argives.
Forthwith questioned me then Menelaus good at the war-cry

What was the wish that had led me to visit divine Lacedaemon ;

Straight I replied and the whole of the truth to the prince I related.
Then once more did he speak and thus he addressed me in answer :

' Nay, by the gods ! in the bed of a man right valiant-hearted

These have chosen a couch for themselves — poor cowardly creatures !

E'en as it haps when a hind in the lair of a powerful lion

Maketh a bed for her fawns, new-litter'd and delicate sucklings.
Fares then forth to the slopes and the grassy ravines of the mountains

Seeking for pasture — and lo, to his covert returning the lion

Suddenly maketh of both of the yeanlings a terrible ending ;

Thus shall a terrible ending be made of the men by Odysseus.
Would that, by Father Zeus and Athena and Phoebus Apollo,

Such as he proved when of yore in the flourishing island of Lesbos

Fearless he met with the huge Philomeleides in a contest, y

Wrestled and heavily threw him, and all the Achaeans exulted ;

Would that he came — e'en such an Odysseus — to visit the suitors.
