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a fly from off her child when it is sleeping sweetly; she guided it
to the part where the golden buckles of the belt that passed over
his double cuirass were fastened, so the arrow struck the belt that
went tightly round him. It went right through this and through the
cuirass of cunning workmanship; it also pierced the belt beneath it,
which he wore next his skin to keep out darts or arrows; it was this
that served him in the best stead, nevertheless the arrow went through
it and grazed the top of the skin, so that blood began flowing from
the wound.
As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to a piece
of ivory that is to be the cheek-­‐piece of a horse, and is to be laid
up in a treasure house-­‐ many a knight is fain to bear it, but the
king keeps it as an ornament of which both horse and driver may be
proud-­‐ even so, O Menelaus, were your shapely thighs and your legs
down to your fair ancles stained with blood.
When King Agamemnon saw the blood flowing from the wound he was afraid,
and so was brave Menelaus himself till he saw that the barbs of the
arrow and the thread that bound the arrow-­‐head to the shaft were still
outside the wound. Then he took heart, but Agamemnon heaved a deep
sigh as he held Menelaus's hand in his own, and his comrades made
moan in concert. "Dear brother, "he cried, "I have been the death
of you in pledging this covenant and letting you come forward as our
champion. The Trojans have trampled on their oaths and have wounded
you; nevertheless the oath, the blood of lambs, the drink-­‐offerings
and the right hands of fellowship in which have put our trust shall
not be vain. If he that rules Olympus fulfil it not here and now,