soothsayer, and Menelaues, and Ulysses, King of Ithaca.  I wrote a letter to my wife the Queen, that she should send her daughter to this place, that she might be married to King Achilles; and I magnified the man to her, saying that he would in no wise sail with us unless I would give him my daughter in marriage.  But now I have changed my purpose, and have written another letter after this fashion, as I will now set forth to thee,—­’daughter of Leda, send not thy child to the land of euboea, for I will give her in marriage at another time.’”

“Aye,” said the old man, “but how wilt thou deal with King Achilles?  Will he not be wroth, hearing that he hath been cheated of his wife?”

“Not so,” answered the King, “for we have indeed used his name, but he knoweth nothing of this marriage.  And now make haste.  Sit not thou down by any fountain in the woods, and suffer not thine eyes to sleep.  And beware lest the chariot bearing the Queen and her daughter pass thee where the roads divide.  And see that thou keep the seal upon this letter unbroken.”

So the old man departed with the letter.  But scarcely had he left the tent when King Menelaues spied him and laid hands on him, taking the letter and breaking the seal.  And the old man cried out—­

“Help, my lord; here is one hath taken thy letter!”

Then King Agamemnon came forth from his tent, saying, “What meaneth this uproar and disputing that I hear?”

And Menelaues answered, “Seest thou this letter that I hold in my hand?”

“I see it:  it is mine.  Give it to me.”

“I give it not till I have read that which is written therein to all the army of the Greeks.”

“Where didst thou find it?”

“I found it while I waited for thy daughter till she should come to the camp.”

“What hast thou to do with that?  May I not rule my own household?”

Then Menelaues reproached his brother because he did not continue in one mind.  “For first,” he said, “before thou wast chosen captain of the host, thou wast all things to all men, greeting every man courteously, and taking him by the hand, and talking with him, and leaving thy doors open to any that would enter; but afterwards, being now chosen, thou wast haughty and hard of access.  And next, when this trouble came upon the army, and thou wast sore afraid lest thou shouldst lose thy office, and so miss renown, didst thou not hearken to Calchas the soothsayer, and promise thy daughter for sacrifice, and send for her to the camp, making pretence of giving her in marriage to Achilles?  And now thou art gone back from thy word.  Surely this is an evil day for Greece, that is troubled because thou wantest wisdom.”