In this suspense bright Helen graced the room; Before her breathed a gale of rich perfume; The seat of majesty Adraste brings, With art illustrious for the pomp of kings; To spread the pall, beneath the regal chair, Of softest woof, is bright Alcippe's care; A silver canister, divinely wrought, In her soft hands the beauteous Philo brought; To Sparta's queen of old the radiant vase Alcandra gave, a pledge of royal grace, Sharer of Polybus's high command, She gave the distaff too to Helen's hand, And that rich vase with living sculpture wrought, Which, heap'd with wool, the beauteous Philo brought; The silken fleece, impurpled for the loom, Rivall'd the hyacinth in vernal bloom.[305:1] And she seems to be aware of her own proficiency in the art: at all events, when she presents Telemachus with a robe, she says-- Accept, dear youth, this monument of love, Long since, in better days, by Helen wove. Safe in thy mother's care the vesture lay, To deck thy bride, and grace thy nuptial day.[305:2] And that fondness for employment proves her temperance and modesty. For she is never represented as luxurious or arrogant, because of her beauty. Accordingly, she is found at her loom weaving and embroidering-- Her in the palace at the loom she found, The golden web her own sad story crown'd; The Trojan wars she weaved, (herself the prize,) And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.[305:3] 18. And Homer teaches us that those who have been invited to a feast, ought to ask leave of their entertainers before they rise up to depart. And so Telemachus does to Menelaus-- But now let sleep the painful waste repair, Of sad reflection and corroding care.[305:4] And Minerva, when pretending to be Mentor, says to Nestor-- Now immolate the tongues and mix the wine, Sacred to Neptune and the pow'rs divine: The lamp of day is quench'd beneath the deep, And soft approach the balmy hours of sleep; Nor fits it to prolong the heav'nly feast, Timeless, indecent; but retire to rest.[305:5] And in the feasts of the gods it does not appear to have been considered proper to remain too long at the table. Accordingly, Minerva says, very sententiously, in Homer-- For now has darkness quench'd the solar light, And it becomes not gods to feast by night. And now there is a law in existence that there are some sacrificial feasts from which men must depart before sunset. And among the Egyptians formerly every kind of banquet was conducted with great moderation; as Apollonius has said, who wrote a treatise on the feasts of the Egyptians; for they ate in a sitting posture, using the very simplest and most wholesome food; and only just as much wine as was calculated to put them in cheerful spirits, which is what Pindar entreats of Jupiter--