In them, they talk of us as gone to death--
How else?--and so say we of them! For thee,
Since Menelaüs thy first care must be,
If by some word of Zeus, who wills not yet
To leave the old house for ever desolate,
Some ray of sunlight on a far-off sea
Lights him, yet green and living ... we may see
His ship some day in the harbour!--'Twas the word
Of truth ye asked me for, and truth ye have heard!

[_Exit_ HERALD. _The_ CHORUS _take position for the Third Stasimon_.

CHORUS.

(_Surely there was mystic meaning in the name_ HELENA, _meaning which was
fulfilled when she fled to Troy._)

Who was He who found for thee
That name, truthful utterly--
Was it One beyond our vision
Moving sure in pre-decision
Of man's doom his mystic lips?--
Calling thee, the Battle-wed,
Thee, the Strife-encompassèd,
HELEN? Yea, in fate's derision,
Hell in cities, Hell in ships,
Hell in hearts of men they knew her,
When the dim and delicate fold
Of her curtains backward rolled,
And to sea, to sea, she threw her