lles?
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."

Then answered King Agamemnon: "What is thy quarrel with me? Why
blamest thou me if thou couldst not rule thy wife? And now to win back
this woman, because forsooth she is fair, thou castest aside both
reason and honor. And I, if I had an ill purpose and now have changed
it for that which is wiser, dost thou charge me with folly? Let them
that sware the oath to Tyndareus go with thee on this errand. Why
should I slay my child and work f