When they had finished eating, and the cups were about to be
replenished, Helen rose from her seat, and, whispering a few words to
the cupbearer, left the hall. In a few minutes she returned, carrying
in her hand a small phial, whose contents she poured into the great
mixing-bowl from which the cups were filled. "Now, drink," she said,
"and fear not that black care will pay us a second visit to-night. I
have poured into the wine a drug of wondrous potency and virtue, which
was given me in Egypt by Polydamna, the wife of Thon. Many such drugs
the soil of Egypt bears, some baneful and some good. And the Egyptians
are skilled in such craft beyond all mankind. He who drinks of this
drug will be armed for that day against all the assaults of sorrow,
and will not shed one tear, though his father and mother were to die,
no, not though he saw his brother or his son slain before his eyes. So
mighty is the virtue of this drug." And when they had drunk of the
magic potion Helen began again: "'Tis now the witching hour, when all
hearts are opened, and the burden of life presses lightest on men's
shoulders. Come, let me tell you a story, one among many, of the deeds
and the hardihood of Odysseus. It was in the days of the siege, and
the Trojans were kept close prisoners in their city by the leaguer of
the Greeks. Then he disguised himself as a beggar, clothed himself in
filthy rags, and marred his goodly person with cruel stripes. In such
fashion he entered the foemen's walls, as if he were a slave flying
from a hard master.[1] And I alone in all the city knew who he was. So
I brought him to my house, and began to question him; but he made as
if he understood not. But when I entertained him as an honoured guest,
and swore a solemn oath not to betray him, he trusted me, and declared
all the purpose of the Greeks. At dead of night he stole out into the
town, and, having slain many of the Trojans with the edge of the
sword, he went back to the camp, and brought much information to his