So I was set up as a prize for all the chivalry of Hellas, to test the might of Phrygia, yet not I, but my name alone; for Hermes caught me up in the embracing air, and veiled me in a cloud; for Zeus was not unmindful of me; and he set me down here in the house of Proteus, judging him to be the most virtuous of all mankind; that so I might preserve my marriage with Menelaus free from taint. Here then I abide, while my hapless lord has gathered an army, and is setting out for the towers of Ilium to track and recover me. And there by Scamander's streams hath many a life breathed out its last, and all for me; and I, that have endured all this, am accursed, and seem to have embroiled all Hellas in a mighty war by proving a traitress to my husband. Why, then, do I prolong my life? Because I heard Hermes declare, that I should yet again make my home on Sparta's glorious soil, with my lord,-for Hermes knew I never went to Ilium,-that so I might never submit to any other's wooing.

Φρυγῶν δ΄ ἐς ἀλκὴν προυτέθην ἐγὼ μὲν οὔ͵ τὸ δ΄ ὄνομα τοὐμόν͵ ἆθλον Ἕλλησιν δορός. λαβὼν δέ μ΄ Ἑρμῆς ἐν πτυχαῖσιν αἰθέρος νεφέληι καλύψαςοὐ γὰρ ἠμέλησέ μου Ζεύςτόνδ΄ ἐς οἶκον Πρωτέως ἱδρύσατο͵ πάντων προκρίνας σωφρονέστατον βροτῶν͵ ἀκέραιον ὡς σώσαιμι Μενέλεωι λέχος. κἀγὼ μὲν ἐνθάδ΄ εἴμ΄͵ ὁ δ΄ ἄθλιος πόσις στράτευμ΄ ἀθροίσας τὰς ἐμὰς ἀναρπαγὰς θηρᾶι πορευθεὶς Ἰλίου πυργώματα. ψυχαὶ δὲ πολλαὶ δι΄ ἔμ΄ ἐπὶ Σκαμανδρίοις ῥοαῖσιν ἔθανον· ἡ δὲ πάντα τλᾶσ΄ ἐγὼ κατάρατός εἰμι καὶ δοκῶ προδοῦσ΄ ἐμὸν πόσιν συνάψαι πόλεμον Ἕλλησιν μέγαν. τί οὖν ἔτι ζῶ; θεοῦ τόδ΄ εἰσήκουσ΄ ἔπος Ἑρμοῦ͵ τὸ κλεινὸν ἔτι κατοικήσειν πέδον Σπάρτης σὺν ἀνδρί͵ γνόντος ὡς ἐς Ἴλιον οὐκ ἦλθον͵ ἢν μὴ λέκτρ΄ ὑποστρώσω τινί.