So he spoke, and Asphalion poured water over their hands, the busy squire of glorious Menelaus.
§4.218οἱ δʼ ἐπʼ ὀνείαθʼ ἑτοῖμα προκείμενα χεῖρας ἴαλλον.
And they laid their hands upon the good things ready before them.
§4.219ἔνθʼ αὖτʼ ἄλλʼ ἐνόησʼ Ἑλένη Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖα·
Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, turned her thoughts to another matter.
§4.220αὐτίκʼ ἄρʼ εἰς οἶνον βάλε φάρμακον, ἔνθεν ἔπινον, §4.221νηπενθές τʼ ἄχολόν τε, κακῶν ἐπίληθον ἁπάντων.
Straightway she cast a drug into the wine from which they drank, a drug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every sorrow.
§4.222ὃς τὸ καταβρόξειεν, ἐπὴν κρητῆρι μιγείη, §4.223οὔ κεν ἐφημέριός γε βάλοι κατὰ δάκρυ παρειῶν, §4.224οὐδʼ εἴ οἱ κατατεθναίη μήτηρ τε πατήρ τε, §4.225οὐδʼ εἴ οἱ προπάροιθεν ἀδελφεὸν ἢ φίλον υἱὸν §4.226χαλκῷ δηιόῳεν, ὁ δʼ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ὁρῷτο.
Whoso should drink it down, when it had been mixed in the bowl, would not for that day let fall a tear down his cheeks, not even if his mother and father should die, nor if men should slay before his face with the bronze his brother or his dear son, and he should behold it with his eyes.
§4.227τοῖα Διὸς θυγάτηρ ἔχε φάρμακα μητιόεντα, §4.228ἐσθλά, τά οἱ Πολύδαμνα πόρεν, Θῶνος παράκοιτις §4.229Αἰγυπτίη, τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουρα §4.230φάρμακα, πολλὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ μεμιγμένα πολλὰ δὲ λυγρά· §4.231ἰητρὸς δὲ ἕκαστος ἐπιστάμενος περὶ πάντων §4.232ἀνθρώπων· ἦ γὰρ Παιήονός εἰσι γενέθλης.
Such cunning drugs had the daughter of Zeus, excellent ones, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, had given her, the Egyptian woman, for there the earth, the giver of grain, bears drugs in greatest abundance, many that are healing when mixed, and many that are baneful; and there every man is a physician skilled beyond all men, for truly they are of the race of Paeon.
§4.233αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥʼ ἐνέηκε κέλευσέ τε οἰνοχοῆσαι, §4.234ἐξαῦτις μύθοισιν ἀμειβομένη προσέειπεν· §4.235Ἀτρεΐδη Μενέλαε διοτρεφὲς ἠδὲ καὶ οἵδε §4.236ἀνδρῶν ἐσθλῶν παῖδες· ἀτὰρ θεὸς ἄλλοτε ἄλλῳ §4.237Ζεὺς ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε διδοῖ· δύναται γὰρ ἅπαντα· §4.238ἦ τοι νῦν δαίνυσθε καθήμενοι ἐν μεγάροισι §4.239καὶ μύθοις τέρπεσθε· ἐοικότα γὰρ καταλέξω.
Now when she had cast in the drug and bidden pour wine, she answered and spoke once more, saying: "Son of Atreus, Menelaus, nurtured by Zeus, and you also that are here, sons of noble men; yet God gives good or ill to one man at one time and to another at another, for he can do all things; so now feast as you sit in the halls, and delight yourselves with stories, for I will tell what is fitting.
§4.240πάντα μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι οὐδʼ ὀνομήνω, §4.241ὅσσοι Ὀδυσσῆος ταλασίφρονός εἰσιν ἄεθλοι· §4.242ἀλλʼ οἷον τόδʼ ἔρεξε καὶ ἔτλη καρτερὸς ἀνὴρ §4.243δήμῳ ἔνι Τρώων, ὅθι πάσχετε πήματʼ Ἀχαιοί.
All of his deeds I cannot tell or name, even all the struggles of stout-hearted Odysseus; but what a deed was this which that mighty man wrought and endured in the land of the Trojans, where you Achaeans suffered woes.
§4.244αὐτόν μιν πληγῇσιν ἀεικελίῃσι δαμάσσας, §4.245σπεῖρα κάκʼ ἀμφʼ ὤμοισι βαλών, οἰκῆι ἐοικώς, §4.246ἀνδρῶν δυσμενέων κατέδυ πόλιν εὐρυάγυιαν·
Disfiguring himself with shameful stripes, and casting sordid rags about his shoulders, like a slave, he entered the wide-wayed city of the foemen.
And to cover his identity he made himself like to another, a beggar, one who was in no wise such a one among the ships of the Achaeans.
§4.249τῷ ἴκελος κατέδυ Τρώων πόλιν, οἱ δʼ ἀβάκησαν §4.250πάντες· ἐγὼ δέ μιν οἴη ἀνέγνων τοῖον ἐόντα, §4.251καί μιν ἀνηρώτων· ὁ δὲ κερδοσύνῃ ἀλέεινεν.
In this likeness he entered the city of the Trojans, and they all were unheeding; but I alone recognized him in this disguise, and questioned him, but he in his craftiness eluded me.
§4.252ἀλλʼ ὅτε δή μιν ἐγὼ λόεον καὶ χρῖον ἐλαίῳ, §4.253ἀμφὶ δὲ εἵματα ἕσσα καὶ ὤμοσα καρτερὸν ὅρκον §4.254μὴ μὲν πρὶν Ὀδυσῆα μετὰ Τρώεσσʼ ἀναφῆναι, §4.255πρίν γε τὸν ἐς νῆάς τε θοὰς κλισίας τʼ ἀφικέσθαι, §4.256καὶ τότε δή μοι πάντα νόον κατέλεξεν Ἀχαιῶν.
But when I was washing him and anointing him with oil, and had clothed him in garments and sworn a mighty oath not to make Odysseus known among the Trojans until he should have reached the swift ships and the huts, then at length he told me all the purpose of the Achaeans.
§4.257πολλοὺς δὲ Τρώων κτείνας ταναήκεϊ χαλκῷ §4.258ἦλθε μετʼ Ἀργείους, κατὰ δὲ φρόνιν ἤγαγε πολλήν.
And when he had slain many of the Trojans with the long-edged bronze, he returned to the Argives, and brought back much tidings of their counsel.
§4.259ἔνθʼ ἄλλαι Τρῳαὶ λίγʼ ἐκώκυον· αὐτὰρ ἐμὸν κῆρ §4.260χαῖρʼ, ἐπεὶ ἤδη μοι κραδίη τέτραπτο νέεσθαι §4.261ἂψ οἶκόνδʼ, ἄτην δὲ μετέστενον, ἣν Ἀφροδίτη §4.262δῶχʼ, ὅτε μʼ ἤγαγε κεῖσε φίλης ἀπὸ πατρίδος αἴης, §4.263παῖδά τʼ ἐμὴν νοσφισσαμένην θάλαμόν τε πόσιν τε §4.264οὔ τευ δευόμενον, οὔτʼ ἂρ φρένας οὔτε τι εἶδος. §4.265τὴν δʼ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη ξανθὸς Μενέλαος· §4.266ναὶ δὴ ταῦτά γε πάντα, γύναι, κατὰ μοῖραν ἔειπες.
Then the other Trojan women wailed aloud, but my heart was glad, for already my heart was turned to return back home, and I groaned for the madness which Aphrodite gave me, when she led me thither from my dear native land, severing me from my daughter and my bridal chamber, and my husband, who lacked nothing, either in mind or in beauty." And fair-haired Menelaus answered her, saying: "Of a truth, wife, all this you have spoken aright.
§4.267ἤδη μὲν πολέων ἐδάην βουλήν τε νόον τε §4.268ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων, πολλὴν δʼ ἐπελήλυθα γαῖαν· §4.269ἀλλʼ οὔ πω τοιοῦτον ἐγὼν ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσιν, §4.270οἷoν Ὀδυσσῆος ταλασίφρονος ἔσκε φίλον κῆρ.
Ere now I have known the counsel and the mind of many hero warriors, and have travelled over much land, but never yet have my eyes beheld such a one as was the heart of stout-hearted Odysseus.
§4.271οἷον καὶ τόδʼ ἔρεξε καὶ ἔτλη καρτερὸς ἀνὴρ §4.272ἵππῳ ἔνι ξεστῷ, ἵνʼ ἐνήμεθα πάντες ἄριστοι §4.273Ἀργείων Τρώεσσι φόνον καὶ κῆρα φέροντες.
What a deed was this, too, which that mighty man wrought and endured in the carved horse, wherein sat all we chiefs of the Argives, bearing death and fate to the Trojans.
§4.274ἦλθες ἔπειτα σὺ κεῖσε· κελευσέμεναι δέ σʼ ἔμελλε §4.275δαίμων, ὃς Τρώεσσιν ἐβούλετο κῦδος ὀρέξαι· §4.276καί τοι Δηΐφοβος θεοείκελος ἕσπετʼ ἰούσῃ.
Then you came thither; and it must be that some god bade you, who willed to grant glory to the Trojans; and godlike Deiphobus followed you as you went.
§4.277τρὶς δὲ περίστειξας κοῖλον λόχον ἀμφαφόωσα, §4.278ἐκ δʼ ὀνομακλήδην Δαναῶν ὀνόμαζες ἀρίστους, §4.279πάντων Ἀργείων φωνὴν ἴσκουσʼ ἀλόχοισιν.
Thrice did you go round the hollow ambush, feeling it, and you named aloud the chiefs of the Danaans, mimicking the voices of the wives of all the Argives.
But I and the son of Tydeus and noble Odysseus, sitting in the midst, heard how you called.
§4.282νῶι μὲν ἀμφοτέρω μενεήναμεν ὁρμηθέντε §4.283ἢ ἐξελθέμεναι, ἢ ἔνδοθεν αἶψʼ ὑπακοῦσαι· §4.284ἀλλʼ Ὀδυσεὺς κατέρυκε καὶ ἔσχεθεν ἱεμένω περ.
Then we two were eager to spring up and come forth, or to answer straightway from within; but Odysseus held us back and restrained us, despite our eagerness.
§4.285ἔνθʼ ἄλλοι μὲν πάντες ἀκὴν ἔσαν υἷες Ἀχαιῶν, §4.286Ἄντικλος δὲ σέ γʼ οἶος ἀμείψασθαι ἐπέεσσιν §4.287ἤθελεν. ἀλλʼ Ὀδυσεὺς ἐπὶ μάστακα χερσὶ πίεζεν §4.288νωλεμέως κρατερῇσι, σάωσε δὲ πάντας Ἀχαιούς·
Then all the other sons of the Achaeans held their peace, and Anticlus alone was eager to answer you; but Odysseus firmly closed his mouth with his strong hands, ruthlessly, and saved all the Achaeans."