ong image of the suppression of feeling in himself
and in others.

But why did Helen do thus? Was it a hostile act on her part? Menelaus
hints that it was at least very dangerous to the Greeks, though he
delicately lays the blame of it on some God, "who must have inspired
thee." She was testing the Greeks whom she supposed to be inside the
horse. Will they answer the call of their wives? Do they still retain
their affection for their families? Above all, does Menelaus love me
still? Such was her test, in which we witness another of her many
gifts. At any rate, she is not yet free, she is still married in Troy,
though the hour of her release be near.

With these two stories, the note changes; the sad turn of the talk is
transformed into a quiet earnest joy, the sorrows of the present vanish
in the glorious memories of the past. The moment Troy is introduced,
the narrative becomes an Heroic Tale, a sort of Iliad, with its feats
of arms. Thus we hear the story of Ulysses while at Troy, giving two
instances of his craft and his daring. Next we are to hear of him after
his Trojan experience, this now theme will give the new poem, the
Odyssey, which, however, is seen to interlink at many points with the
Iliad.

But this is sufficient, night has come on, Telemachus has heard and
beheld enough for one day. Helen disappears from the scene, she has
contributed her share, her own selfhood, to the experience of the young
man. Telemachus has seen Helen, and thus attained one supreme purpose
of Greek education. Never can that face, beautiful still, yet stamped
with all the vicissitudes of human destiny, pass out of his mind; never
can that life of hers with its grand transformation pass out of his
soul. The reader, too, has at this point to bid good-bye to Homer's
Helen, the most lasting creation of a woman that has yet appeared upon
our planet. A power she has, too, of continuous re-embodiment; every
poet seeks to call her up afresh, that is, if he be a poet. It may be
said that each age has some incarnation of Helen; the Greek myth for
two thousand years, Medieval legend, even Teutonic folk-lore have
caught up her spirit and incorporated it in new forms. The last great
singer of the ages has in our own time, evoked her ghost once more in
the shining palace of Menelaus at Sparta. Farewell, Helen, for this
time, but we shall meet thee again; yesterday thou didst show thyself
in a new book under a new garb, to-morrow thou art certa