This none Achaian knoweth with me, save
Kalchas, Odysseus, Menelaus. Now
That wrong I here revoke, and write the truth
Within this scroll, which in the gloom of night
Thou saw'st me, ancient, open and reseal. 110
Up, go, this letter unto Argos bear;
And what the tablet hideth in its folds,
All things here written, will I tell to thee,
For loyal to my wife and house art thou.
Old Servant.
Speak, and declare, that the tale heard
Ring true beside the written word.
Agamemnon.
(Reads).
"This add I to my letter writ before: —
Daughter of Leda, do thou send
Thy daughter not unto the waveless shore
Of Aulis, where the bend 120
Of that sea-pinion of Euboæa lies
Gulf-shapen. Ere we celebrate
Our daughter's marriage-tide solemnities,
A season must we wait."
Old Servant.
Yet, if Achilles lose his plighted spouse,
Will not his anger's tempest swell
Against thee and thy wife? Sure, perilous
Is this!—thy meaning tell.
Agamemnon.
His name, no more, Achilles lends,—hath known
Nought of a bride, nor aught we planned, 130
