Bethink them of their country; we shall then Leave Argive Helen to remain the boast Of Priam and the Trojans⁠—while thy bones Shall moulder, mingling with the earth of Troy⁠— Our great design abandoned. Then shall say Some haughty Trojan, leaping on the tomb Of Menelaus: ‘So in time to come May Agamemnon wreak his wrath, as here He wreaked it, whither he had vainly led An army, and now hastens to his home And his own land, with ships that bear no spoil, And the brave Menelaus left behind.’ So shall some Trojan say; but, ere that time, May the earth open to receive my bones!”

The fair-haired Menelaus cheerfully Replied: “Grieve not, nor be the Greeks alarmed For me, since this sharp arrow has not found A vital part, but, ere it reached so far, The embroidered belt, the quilt beneath, and plate Wrought by the armorer’s cunning, broke its force.”