... When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions, the ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up to me, surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon as he had tasted the blood, he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor substance any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. 'How did you come by your death,' said I, 'King Agamemnon? Did Neptune raise his winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you on the main land when you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defence of their wives and city?'

'Ulysses,' he answered, 'noble son of Laertes, I was not lost at sea in any storm of Neptune's raising, nor did my foes despatch me upon the mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing bowl and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with our blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after--even on the good ones.'

... Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ ψυχὰς μὲν ἀπεσκέδασ΄ ἄλλυδις ἄλλῃ ἁγνὴ Περσεφόνεια γυναικῶν θηλυτεράων͵ ἦλθε δ΄ ἐπὶ ψυχὴ Ἀγαμέμνονος Ἀτρεΐδαο ἀχνυμένη· περὶ δ΄ ἄλλαι ἀγηγέραθ΄͵ ὅσσοι ἅμ΄ αὐτῷ οἴκῳ ἐν Αἰγίσθοιο θάνον καὶ πότμον ἐπέσπον. ἔγνω δ΄ αἶψ΄ ἐμὲ κεῖνος͵ ἐπεὶ ἴδεν ὀφθαλμοῖσι· κλαῖε δ΄ ὅ γε λιγέως͵ θαλερὸν κατὰ δάκρυον εἴβων͵ πιτνὰς εἰς ἐμὲ χεῖρας ὀρέξασθαι μενεαίνων· ἀλλ΄ οὐ γάρ οἱ ἔτ΄ ἦν ἲς ἔμπεδος οὐδ΄ ἔτι κῖκυς͵ οἵη περ πάρος ἔσκεν ἐνὶ γναμπτοῖσι μέλεσσι. τὸν μὲν ἐγὼ δάκρυσα ἰδὼν ἐλέησά τε θυμῷ καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδων· Ἀτρεΐδη κύδιστε͵ ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγάμεμνον͵ τίς νύ σε κὴρ ἐδάμασσε τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο; ἠέ σέ γ΄ ἐν νήεσσι Ποσειδάων ἐδάμασσεν ὄρσας ἀργαλέων ἀνέμων ἀμέγαρτον ἀϋτμήν; ἦέ σ΄ ἀνάρσιοι ἄνδρες ἐδηλήσαντ΄ ἐπὶ χέρσου βοῦς περιταμνόμενον ἠδ΄ οἰῶν πώεα καλὰ ἠὲ περὶ πτόλιος μαχεούμενον ἠδὲ γυναικῶν; 

ὣς ἐφάμην͵ ὁ δέ μ΄ αὐτίκ΄ ἀμειβόμενος προσέειπε· διογενὲς Λαερτιάδη͵ πολυμήχαν΄ Ὀδυσσεῦ͵ οὔτ΄ ἐμέ γ΄ ἐν νήεσσι Ποσειδάων ἐδάμασσεν [ὄρσας ἀργαλέων ἀνέμων ἀμέγαρτον ἀϋτμήν͵] οὔτε μ΄ ἀνάρσιοι ἄνδρες ἐδηλήσαντ΄ ἐπὶ χέρσου͵ ἀλλά μοι Αἴγισθος τεύξας θάνατόν τε μόρον τε ἔκτα σὺν οὐλομένῃ ἀλόχῳ οἶκόνδε καλέσσας͵ δειπνίσσας͵ ὥς τίς τε κατέκτανε βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ. ὣς θάνον οἰκτίστῳ θανάτῳ· περὶ δ΄ ἄλλοι ἑταῖροι νωλεμέως κτείνοντο σύες ὣς ἀργιόδοντες͵ οἵ ῥά τ΄ ἐν ἀφνειοῦ ἀνδρὸς μέγα δυναμένοιο ἢ γάμῳ ἢ ἐράνῳ ἢ εἰλαπίνῃ τεθαλυίῃ. ἤδη μὲν πολέων φόνῳ ἀνδρῶν ἀντεβόλησας͵ μουνὰξ κτεινομένων καὶ ἐνὶ κρατερῇ ὑσμίνῃ· ἀλλά κε κεῖνα μάλιστα ἰδὼν ὀλοφύραο θυμῷ͵ ὡς ἀμφὶ κρητῆρα τραπέζας τε πληθούσας κείμεθ΄ ἐνὶ μεγάρῳ͵ δάπεδον δ΄ ἅπαν αἵματι θῦεν. οἰκτροτάτην δ΄ ἤκουσα ὄπα Πριάμοιο θυγατρὸς Κασσάνδρης͵ τὴν κτεῖνε Κλυταιμνήστρη δολόμητις ἀμφ΄ ἐμοί· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ ποτὶ γαίῃ χεῖρας ἀείρων βάλλον ἀποθνῄσκων περὶ φασγάνῳ· ἡ δὲ κυνῶπις νοσφίσατ΄ οὐδέ μοι ἔτλη͵ ἰόντι περ εἰς Ἀΐδαο͵ χερσὶ κατ΄ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἑλέειν σύν τε στόμ΄ ἐρεῖσαι. ὣς οὐκ αἰνότερον καὶ κύντερον ἄλλο γυναικός͵ [ἥ τις δὴ τοιαῦτα μετὰ φρεσὶν ἔργα βάληται·] οἷον δὴ καὶ κείνη ἐμήσατο ἔργον ἀεικές͵ κουριδίῳ τεύξασα πόσει φόνον. ἦ τοι ἔφην γε ἀσπάσιος παίδεσσιν ἰδὲ δμώεσσιν ἐμοῖσιν οἴκαδ΄ ἐλεύσεσθαι· ἡ δ΄ ἔξοχα λυγρὰ ἰδυῖα οἷ τε κατ΄ αἶσχος ἔχευε καὶ ἐσσομένῃσιν ὀπίσσω θηλυτέρῃσι γυναιξί͵ καὶ ἥ κ΄ εὐεργὸς ἔῃσιν.