t,
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 we have put our trust shall not be
vain. If he that rules Olympus fulfil it not here and now, he will yet
fulfil it hereafter, and they shall pay dearly with their lives and
with their wives and children. The day will surely come when mighty
Ilius shall be laid low, with Priam and Priam's people, when the son of
Saturn from his high throne shall overshadow them with his awful aegis
in punishment of their present treachery. This shall surely be; but
how, Menelaus, shall I mourn you, if it be your lot now to die? I
should return to Argos as a by-word, for the Achaeans will at once go
home. We shall leave Priam and the Trojans the glory of still keeping
Helen, and the earth will rot your bones as you lie here at Troy with
your purpose not fulfilled. Then shall some braggart Trojan leap upon
your tomb and say, 'Ever thus may Agamemnon wreak his vengeance; he
brought his army in vain; he is gone home to his own land with empty
ships, and has left Menelaus behind him.' Thus will one of them say,
and may the earth then swallow me."

But Menelaus reassured him and said, "Take heart, and do not alarm the
people; the arrow has not struck me in a mortal part, for my outer belt
of burn