Who could there be then of the descendants of those men who had died in his cause, who would not think his grief for the death of his father as fair a compensation as could be given by grateful recollection? But still, that he may not appear to look upon them all in the same light, though they had all equally shown their good-will to him, he adds-- But oh! Ulysses,--deeper than the rest, That sad idea wounds my anxious breast; My heart bleeds fresh with agonising pain, The bowl and tasteful viands tempt in vain. And that he may not seem to disregard any one of his family he names them all separately-- Doubtful of his doom, His good old sire with sorrow to the tomb Declines his trembling steps; untimely care Withers the blooming vigour of his heir; And the chaste partner of his bed and throne Wastes all her widow'd hours in tender moan. And while he is weeping at the recollection of his father, Menelaus observes him; and, in the interim, Helen had come in, and she also conjectured who Telemachus was from his likeness to Ulysses, (for women, because of their habit of observing one another's modesty, are wonderfully clever at detecting the likeness of children to their parents,) and after Pisistratus had interfered with some observation, (for it was not fitting for him to stand by like a mute on the stage,) and said something appropriate and elegant about the modesty of Telemachus; again Menelaus made mention of his affection for Ulysses, that of all men in the world he was the one in whose companionship he wished to grow old. 17. And then, as is natural, they all weep; and Helen, as being the daughter of Jupiter, and as having learnt of the philosophers in Egypt many expedients of all kinds, pours into some wine a medicinal panacea, as it was in reality; and begins to relate some of the exploits of Ulysses, while working at her loom in the meantime; not doing this so much for the purpose of amusement, as because she had been bred up in that way at home. And so Venus, coming to her after the single combat in the Iliad, takes a form not her own-- To her beset with Trojan beauties, came In borrow'd form the laughter-loving dame. She seem'd an ancient maid, well skill'd to cull The snowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.[304:1] And her industry is made manifest not in a merely cursory manner, in the following description--