Old woman Who’s at the door? Get away from the house and don’t annoy my master by standing at the court-yard gate! Or else you will die because you are a Hellene, and they have no business here.
Menelaos My good woman, you can say these same words in a different tone, for I shall be persuaded; but let go your angry speech.
Old woman Go away! Stranger, my orders are to let no Hellene come near this house.
Menelaos Ah! Do not push me, or thrust me away by force.
Old woman You are to blame, for not heeding what I say.
Menelaos Announce to your master inside—
Old woman I think someone would be sorry, if I announced your words.
Menelaos I come as a shipwrecked man and a guest; such people are safe from violence.
Old woman Well, go to some other house instead of this one.
Menelaos No; I am going inside. You listen to me.
Old woman Know that you’re only causing trouble; and soon you’ll be thrown out by force.
Menelaos Alas! Where are those glorious armies of mine?
Old woman Perhaps you were grand somewhere, but not here.
Menelaos O my fortune, how we have been unworthily dishonored.
Old woman Why are your eyes wet with tears? To whom are you lamenting?
Menelaos To my fortunes, which were happy before this.
Old woman Well then, why don’t you go away and give these tears to your friends.
Menelaos What is this land? Whose palace is this?
Old woman Proteus lives here, the land is Egypt.
Menelaos Egypt? O wretched, that I have sailed here!
Old woman And why do you blame the bright gleam of the Nile?
Menelaos I do not blame it; I am sighing for my fate.
Old woman Many people are doing badly; you are not the only one.
Menelaos Is the king you name in the house?
Old woman This is his tomb; his son rules the land.
Menelaos And where might he be? Abroad, or in the house?
Old woman He is not inside; he is most bitterly opposed to the Hellenes.
Menelaos What cause does he have? I have felt the consequences of it!
Old woman Helen, the daughter of Zeus, is in this house.
Menelaos What do you mean? What did you say? Tell me again.
Old woman The daughter of Tyndareus, who once lived in Sparta.
Menelaos Where did she come from? What is the meaning of this?
Old woman She came here from the land of Lakedaimon.
Menelaos When? Surely I have not been robbed of my wife from the cave?
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