Conference of Telemachus and Menelaus
Arrival of Telemachus and his companion at Sparta—A wedding; the marriage of the daughter of Menelaus—Helen in Sparta—Entertainment of the guests—Helen’s account of her return to her husband—The Trojan horse—Narrative of the visit of Menelaus to Egypt, in order to consult the sea-god, Proteus—Menelaus informed by him that Ulysses is detained by Calypso in her island—Plot of the suitors to lie in wait for Telemachus on his voyage and destroy him—Penelope visited and consoled by Pallas in a dream.
They came to Lacedaemon’s valley, seamed With dells, and to the palace of its king, The glorious Menelaus, whom they found Within, and at a wedding banquet, made Both for his blameless daughter and his son, And many guests. Her he must send away, Bride of the son of that invincible chief, Achilles. He betrothed her while in Troy, And gave his kingly word, and now the gods Fulfilled it by the marriage. He was now Sending her forth, with steeds and cars, to reach The noble city of the Myrmidons, Where ruled her consort. From the Spartan coast He brought Alector’s daughter for his son, The gallant Megapenthes, borne to him By a handmaiden in his later years. For not to Helen had the gods vouchsafed Yet other offspring, after she had brought A lovely daughter forth, Hermione, Like golden Venus both in face and form.
So banqueting the neighbors and the friends Of glorious Menelaus sat beneath The lofty ceiling of those spacious halls, Delighted with the feast. A sacred bard Amidst them touched the harp and sang to them While, as the song began, two dancers sprang Into the midst and trod the measure there