Helen (711-789)

O daughter, how intricate and hard to trace out is the nature of the god! In some way that is good, he twists everything about, now up, now down; one man suffers, and one who has not suffered comes afterwards to a bad end,

having no security in his current fortune. You and your husband have had your share of trouble, you in repute, he in the heat of battle. In his eagerness, while he was eager, he got nothing; but now that he has achieved the greatest good fortune, he has it without cause.

You did not, after all, bring shame upon your old father or on the twin sons of Zeus, nor did you do such things as were spoken of. Now again I renew your wedding rites and remember the blazing torch I bore, running beside the four yoked horses; and you,

in the chariot as a bride, were leaving your happy home with this man here. Whoever pays no reverence to his master’s affairs, rejoicing with him and grieving with his troubles, is worthless. Although I was born a servant, let me still be numbered among honest

slaves; my mind is free, if not my name. For this is better than to suffer double misery as one man: to have a worthless heart and, being a slave, to owe obedience to any other.

Come, old man—often by my shield

you have had your full share of trouble and hard work—now also have a share in my success, and go tell the friends I left behind the state of matters here, as you found them, and how my fortune stands; and bid them wait at the beach and watch eagerly for the

struggle which I expect awaits me; and if we should be able somehow to steal this woman away from the land, tell them to keep good watch so that we may share the luck and escape, if we can, from the barbarians.

It shall be done, lord. Now indeed I see how worthless

the seers’ doings are, and how full of falsehood; there was no health in the blaze of sacrifice after all, or in the cry of winged birds; even to think that birds can help mankind is certainly foolish. For Calchas gave no word or sign to the army,

when he saw his friends dying on behalf of a cloud, nor did Helenos; but the city was taken by storm in vain. You might say: because the god did not want them to? Then why do we consult prophets? We ought to sacrifice to the gods and ask a blessing, but leave divination alone;

for this was invented otherwise, as a bait for a livelihood, and no man grows rich by sacrifices if he is idle. But sound judgment and discernment are the best of seers. Exit Messenger.

My views about seers coincide exactly with this old man’s; whoever has the gods as friends

would have the best prophecy at home.

All right; so far all is well. But how you were saved, my poor husband, from Troy, there is no gain in knowing, yet friends have a desire to learn what their friends have suffered.

Truly you have asked a great deal all at once. Why should I tell you about our losses in the Aegean, and Nauplios’ beacons on Euboia, and my visits to Crete and the cities of Libya, and the mountain-peaks of Perseus? For I would not satisfy you with the tale,

and by telling you these evils I would suffer still, as I did when I experienced them; and so my grief would be doubled.

Your answer is better than my question. Leave out the rest, and tell me only this: how long were you a weary wanderer over the surface of the sea?

Besides those ten years in Troy, I went through seven cycles of years on board ship.

Alas, poor man, you have spoken of a long time; and, saved from there, you have come here to the slaughter.

What do you mean? What will you say? Ah, my wife, you have ruined me.

Escape from this land and flee as quickly as possible. The man who lives in this house will kill you.

What have I done to deserve such a fate?

You have come unexpectedly to hinder my marriage.

What! Does someone plan to marry my wife?

And to act in violence against me, which I have endured.

Does he have private power, or is he the ruler of the country?

He is the lord of this land, the son of Proteus.

This is that riddle I heard from the servant.

Which one of the barbarian’s gates were you standing beside?