Then spake the sage Antenor: “Thou hast said The truth, O lady. This Ulysses once Came on an embassy, concerning thee, To Troy with Menelaus, great in war; And I received them as my guests, and they Were lodged within my palace, and I learned The temper and the qualities of both. When both were standing mid the men of Troy, I marked that Menelaus’s broad chest Made him the more conspicuous, but when both Were seated, greater was the dignity Seen in Ulysses. When they both addressed The council, Menelaus briefly spake In pleasing tones, though with few words⁠—as one Not given to loose and wandering speech⁠—although The younger. When the wise Ulysses rose, He stood with eyes cast down, and fixed on earth, And neither swayed his sceptre to the right Nor to the left, but held it motionless, Like one unused to public speech. He seemed An idiot out of humor. But when forth He sent from his full lungs his mighty voice, And words came like a fall of winter snow, No mortal then would dare to strive with him