And great Odysseus, sail, by oath fast bound
That they will either bring him back, with words
Persuading him, or else with force and arms;
And all the Achæans heard Odysseus speak
This clearly out. More confident was he
That he should do it than the other was.
Neop. And for what cause, so long a time elapsed,
Did those Atreidæ turn to seek this man
Whom for so long they had in exile left?600
Whence came this yearning? Can it be the power
And vengeance of the Gods who wrong requite?
Attend. All this, for thou perchance hast heard it not,
I now will tell. A certain noble seer,
A son of Priam, Helenos his name,
There was, whom this man, going forth alone
By night (I mean Odysseus, full of craft,
On whom all words of shame and baseness fall)
As prisoner took, and where the Achæans meet
As goodly spoil displayed him. And he then,
Both all the rest to them did prophesy,610
And that they should not take the Towers that hang
O'er Troïa, till, with words persuading him,
They fetched the man who in this island dwells.
And when Laertes' offspring heard the seer
Say this, he straightway promised he would bring
This man, and to the Achæans show him there,
And that he thought to do it with his will,
But, will or nill, to bring him; and he gave
Full leave to any man to take his head
If he should fail. And now, boy, thou hast heard
All that I know, and I must counsel speed620
For thee and him, and any man thou lov'st.
Phil. Ah, woe is me! Did he, that utter mischief,
Swear to persuade me, and to bring me back
