Menelaus

“ Menelaus heeded his words and went his way as a lion from a stockyard—the lion is tired of attacking the men and hounds, who keep watch the whole night through and will not let him feast on the fat of their herd. In his lust of meat he makes straight at them but in vain, for darts from strong hands assail him, and burning brands which daunt him for all his hunger, so in the morning he slinks sulkily away—even so did Menelaus sorely against his will leave Patroclus, in great fear lest the Achaeans should be driven back in rout and let him fall into the hands of the foe. ”

“ Certainly, thou didst formerly boast, that thou wast superior to Mars-beloved Menelaus, in might, in hands, and at the spear. But go now, challenge Mars-beloved Menelaus to fight once more against thee! But I advise thee to refrain, nor unadvisedly wage war and fight against fair-haired Menelaus, lest perchance thou mayest be subdued beneath his spear."
But her Paris answering addressed in words: "Woman! assail me not in soul with reproachful taunts; for now indeed has Menelaus conquered by Minerva's aid; but I in turn will vanquish him, for gods are with us also. ”

“ Advancing with long strides in the space between the armies, he challenges the leaders of the Greeks, one and all, to meet him singly in mortal combat. Menelaus hears the boast. "Like a hungry lion springing on his prey," he leaps full-armed from his chariot, exulting in the thought that now at last his personal vengeance shall be gratified. But conscience makes a coward of Paris. ”

“ Analytikos. Such endless variety, and yet—
Menelaus [with the conviction of finality] . There are only two sorts of women! Those who are failures and those who realize it.
Analytikos. Is not Penelope, the model wife of your cousin Ulysses, an exception?
Menelaus. Duty is the refuge of the unbeautiful. She is as commonplace as she is ugly. [And then with deep bitterness.] Why didn't he marry Helen when we all wanted her? He was too wise for that. He is the only man I've ever known who seems able to direct destiny.
Analytikos. You should not blame the Gods for a lack of will. ”

“ Analytikos. Is not the Queen—?
Menelaus. No! No! The whole world is but her mirror. And I'm expected to face that woman every morning at breakfast for the rest of my life, and by Venus that's more than even a King can bear!
Analytikos. Even a King cannot alter destiny. I warn you, whom the Gods have joined together—
Menelaus [in an outburst] . Is for man to break asunder!
Analytikos [deeply shocked] . You talk like an atheist.
Menelaus. I never allow religion to interfere with life. Go call the victim and see that he be left alone with the Queen. ”

“ Then Ajax thus to Menelaus spoke:
“Now, Heav’n-born Menelaus, look around
If haply ’mid the living thou mayst see
Antilochus, the noble Nestor’s son;
And bid him to Achilles bear in haste
The tidings, that his dearest friend lies dead.”
He said, nor did Atrides not comply;
But slow as moves a lion from the fold,
Which dogs and youths with ceaseless toil hath worn,
Who all night long have kept their watch, to guard
From his assault the choicest of the herd ”

“ To him Menelaus made answer: "I will not keep thee long, seeing that thou desirest to return. But stay till I bring my gifts and set them in the chariot. Let me also bid the women prepare the meal in my hall, for it is both honour to me and a profit to you that ye should eat well before ye set forth on a far journey. But if thou wilt go further through the land, then let me go with thee; to many cities will we go, and none will send us empty away."
But Telemachus said: "Not so, Menelaus ”

“ He struck the middle of Menelaus's shield with his spear but could not pierce it, and to save his life drew back under cover of his men, looking round him on every side lest he should be wounded. But Meriones aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at him as he was leaving the field, and hit him on the right buttock; the arrow pierced the bone through and through, and penetrated the bladder, so he sat down where he was and breathed his last in the arms of his comrades, stretched like a worm upon the ground and watering the earth with the blood that flowed from his wound. ”

“ Menelaus, whose wife Paris had carried away, was as glad as a hungry lion when he finds a stag or a goat, and leaped in armour from his chariot, but Paris turned and slunk away, like a man when he meets a great serpent on a narrow path in the hills. Then Hector rebuked Paris for his cowardice, and Paris was ashamed and offered to end the war by fighting Menelaus. If he himself fell, the Trojans must give up Helen and all her jewels; if Menelaus fell, the Greeks were to return without fair Helen. ”

“ All the information Menelaus vouchsafes is that when he surprised Proteus, counting sea-calves on the island of Pharos, he was told he would reach home only after making due sacrifices in Egypt to appease the gods, that his brother had been murdered on arriving at Mycenae, and that Ulysses—sole survivor of his crew—was detained by Calypso in an island, whence he had no means of escape. The sea-god had further promised that Menelaus should never die, stating that, as husband of Helen and son-in-law of Jupiter, he would enjoy everlasting bliss in the Elysian Fields. ”

“ Nor could he guess, since she refused him never what he asked of her, how she weighed him lightly beside Menelaus her husband; nor, while she let herself [xix] be loved, what soft desires were astir in her heart to be cherished as a wife, sharer of a man's hearth, partaker of his counsels, comforter in his troubles, and mother of his sons. But it came to pass that the only joy of her life was in the seeing King Menelaus in the morning, and in the reading in his gaze the assurance of that peace which she longed for. And, again, her pride lay in fitting herself for it when it should come. ”

“ Menelaus [with radiant happiness, kneeling before the bust of Zeus] . Ye Gods, I thank ye. Peace and a happy life at last.
[The shouts in the courtyard grow louder.]
Analytikos. The news has spread through the palace.
Menelaus [in trepidation, springing up] . No one would dare stop the progress of the Queen.
Tsumu [rushes in and prostrates herself before the King] . Woe is me! They have gone by the road to the harbor.
Menelaus [anxiously] . Yes! Yes!
Tsumu. By the King's orders no man has dared gaze upon Her Majesty. They all fell prostrate before her.
Menelaus. Good! Good! ”

“ Then Menelaus said, “All that you have been saying, my dear wife, is true. I have travelled much, and have had much to do with heroes, but I have never seen such another man as Ulysses. What endurance too, and what courage he displayed within the wooden horse, wherein all the bravest of the Argives were lying in wait to bring death and destruction upon the Trojans. ”

“ Everything passes, or almost everything. Only the climate, only the north wind and the sea remain as they were when Menelaus, the first visitor, landed upon Ras el Tin, and exacted from Proteus the promise of life everlasting. He was to escape death, on his wife’s account: he was not to descend into the asphodel with the other shades whom Hermes conducts, himself a shade. Immortal, yet somehow or other unsatisfactory, Menelaus accordingly leads the Alexandrian pageant with solid tread; cotton-brokers conclude it ”

“ Well, fortune goes by turns. This man was fiery
And insolent once: 'tis mine now to exult.
I charge thee, bury him not, lest by that act
Thou thyself shouldst be digging thine own grave.
CHORUS
Menelaus, do not first lay down wise precepts,
Then thyself offer outrage to the dead.
TEUCER
Never, friends, shall I marvel any more,
If one of low birth acts injuriously,
When they who are accounted nobly born
Can utter such injurious calumnies.
[To Menelaus.]
Come, once more speak. You say you brought him hither?
Took him to be a champion of the Greeks? ”

“ Telemachus shook his head as he answered: "No more of that, I pray thee; it can never be." Then, addressing Nestor, he said: "I would fain ask thee more concerning the manner of Agamemnon's death. Where was Menelaus when that foul deed was done? And how did Ægisthus contrive to slay a man mightier far than himself?"
"Thou askest well," replied Nestor. "Menelaus was far away, or we should have another tale to tell. And had the return of Menelaus not been delayed, vengeance would have been forestalled by many years. ”

“ Menelaus, on his return from Crete, discovered his guest’s treachery, and swore never to rest satisfied until he had recovered his truant wife, and punished her seducer. Messengers were sent in haste in every direction, to summon Helen’s former suitors to keep their oath, and join Menelaus at Aulis with men and weapons. All came promptly at his call except Ulysses, King of Ithaca, who, to console himself for Helen’s refusal of his suit, had married her cousin, Penelope, and had now no dearer wish than to linger by her side and admire his infant son, Telemachus. ”

“ His expressions of grief and remorse at the thought of going home to Greece without him (which run to considerable length) , though somewhat tinged with selfishness, inasmuch as he feels his own honour at stake, are much more like the feeling of a parent than of an elder brother. Again, the picture of Menelaus “shuddering” at his own wound—so sensitive to the dread of death that he apparently all but faints, until he is reassured by finding that the barb of the arrow has not really penetrated—is utterly inconsistent with our English notions of a hero. ”

“ But auburn-haired Menelaus addressed her in turn: "Of a truth, wife, thou hast spoken all these things rightly. I have now, indeed, learned the counsel and mind of many heroes, and have passed over much land; but I have not yet seen such a one with my eyes, so kind as was the heart of patient Ulysses, and such a thing as that which the brave man did and suffered in the polished horse, wherein we all, chiefs of the Grecians, sat in ambush, bringing slaughter and fate upon the Trojans. ”

“ The name of Menelaus, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the Phœnician words מן (men) , all that which determines, regulates, or defines a thing, properly, the rational faculty, the reason, the measure, in Latin mens, mensura; and אוש (aôsh) , the Being-principle acting, before which is placed the prefix ל (l) , to express the genitive case, in this manner, מנה־ל־אוש (meneh-l-aôsh) , the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general, and man in particular: for אש‏, ‏אוש‏, ‏אש‏, ‏איש (ash, aôsh, ish, aîsh) , signifies equally fire, principle, being, and man. ”

“ The servant obeyed, and Telemachus and Pisistratus were conducted into the hall. They were astonished at the splendor of the palace, for Menelaus had returned with great possessions. Maid servants conducted them to the bath, and when they had anointed themselves, they donned their tunics and cloaks and took their places on raised seats beside the host. Servants appeared at once with small tables and food. One poured water over their hands from a golden ewer into a silver basin, while another brought wine, meat, and bread. “Now eat and drink with us,” cried Menelaus ”

“ Analytikos [not noticing him] . In the midst of connubial and communal peace the thunderbolt has fallen on the King. [Menelaus tugs at Analytikos' robe.] Broken in spirit as he is, he is already pawing the ground like a battle steed. Never will we lay down our arms! We and Jupiter! [Cheers.] Never until the Queen is restored to Menelaus. Never, even if it takes ten years. [Menelaus squirms. A loud cheer.] Even now the King is buckling on his shield. [More cheers. Analytikos steps farther forward and then with bursting eloquence.] One hate we have and one alone! ”

“ Menelaus is invariably a faint-hearted, smooth-spoken, treasonable, uxorious, vain man. Only in the Helena, when fairly driven to bay, does he show the pluck of a soldier. Nothing can be more contemptible than the Agamemnon of Iphigenia in Aulide. He is a feeble, double-minded dastard, who has aspired to the commandership in chief from motives of vulgar ambition, and who finds himself unable to hold his own against cabal and mutiny. ”

“ Menelaus takes heart, he recovers her by force, by force carries her home, by force enjoys her; and she who would never like him for serviceableness, ever after loved him for violence. For what can be more agreeable than upon force to lay the fault of desire, and in one instant to join a dear delight with a just excuse? or rather the true cause is (pardon me, O woman-kind, for revealing to mine own son the truth of this mystery) we think there wants fire, where we find no sparkles, at least of fury. ”

“ He held his round shield and his spear in front of him, resolute to kill any who should dare face him. But the son of Panthous had also noted the body, and came up to Menelaus saying, "Menelaus, son of Atreus, draw back, leave the body, and let the bloodstained spoils be. I was first of the Trojans and their brave allies to drive my spear into Patroclus, let me, therefore, have my full glory among the Trojans, or I will take aim and kill you."
To this Menelaus answered in great anger "By father Jove, boasting is an ill thing. ”

“ He bids the Trojans and the valiant Greeks To fix their arms upon the fruitful ground; Let Menelaus and stout Paris fight For all the goods; and he that beats have all.
Menelaus accepted the challenge, and the conditions were sworn to, Agamemnon dictating thus:—
If Paris valiant Menelaus kills, Let him have Helen, and the goods possess; If youthful Menelaus Paris kills, The woman and the goods shall all be his. (See "Iliad," iii. 68, 88, 255, and 281.)
Now since Menelaus only overcame but did not kill Paris, each party hath somewhat to say for itself, and against the other. ”