and in his hand a tablet of pine wood, whereon he wrote. But he seemed
not to remain in the same mind about that which he wrote; for now he
would blot out the letters, and then would write them again; and now he
fastened the seal upon the tablet and then brake it. And as he did this
he wept, and was like to a man distracted. But after a while he called
to an old man, his attendant (the man had been given in time past by
Tyndareus to his daughter, Queen Clytæmnestra), and said "Old man, thou
knowest how Calchas the soothsayer bade me offer for a sacrifice to
Artemis, who is goddess of this place, my daughter Iphigenia, saying
that so only should the army have a prosperous voyage from this place to
Troy, and should take the city and destroy it; and how when I heard
these words I bade Talthybius the herald go throughout the army and bid
them depart, every man to his own country, for that I would not do this
thing; and how my brother, King Menelaüs, persuaded me so that I
consented to it. Now, therefore, hearken to this, for what I am about to
tell thee three men only know, namely, Calchas the soothsayer, and
Menelaüs, and Ulysses, King of Ithaca. I wrote a letter to my wife the
Queen, that she should send her daughter to this place, that she might
be married to King Achilles; and I magnified the man to her, saying that
he would in no wise sail with us unless I would give him my daughter in
marriage. But now I have changed my purpose, and have written another
letter after this fashion, as I will now set forth to thee,--'DAUGHTER
OF LEDA, SEND NOT THY CHILD TO THE LAND OF EUBOEA, FOR I WILL GIVE
HER IN MARRIAGE AT ANOTHER TIME.'"

"Aye," said the old man, "but how wilt thou deal with King Achilles?
Will he not be wroth, hearing that he hath been cheated of his wife?"

"Not so," answered the King, "for we have indeed used his name, but he
knoweth nothing of this marriage. And now make haste. Sit not thou down