"Then he, at length his show of fear laid by, 'Great King, all truly will I own, whate'er The issue, nor my Argive race deny.
This first; if fortune, spiteful and unfair, Hath made poor Sinon wretched, fortune ne'er Shall make me false or faithless;--if the name Of Palamedes thou hast chanced to hear, Old Belus' progeny, if ever came To thee or thine in talk the rumour of his fame, XII.

"'Whom, pure of guilt, on charges false and feigned, Wroth that his sentence should the war prevent, By perjured witnesses the Greeks arraigned, And doomed to die, but now his death lament, His kinsman, by a needy father sent, With him in boyhood to the war I came, And while in plenitude of power he went, And high in princely counsels waxed his fame, I too could boast of credit and a noble name.
XIII.

"'But when, through sly Ulysses' envious hate, He left the light,--alas! the tale ye know,-- Stricken, I mused indignant on his fate, And dragged my days in solitude and woe, Nor in my madness kept my purpose low, But vowed, if e'er should happier chance invite, And bring me home a conqueror, even so My comrade's death with vengeance to requite.
My words aroused his wrath; thence evil's earliest blight; XIV.

"'Thenceforth Ulysses sought with slanderous tongue To daunt me, scattering in the people's ear Dark hints, and looked for partners of his wrong: Nor rested, till with Calchas' aid, the seer-- But why the thankless story should ye hear?
Why stay your hand?
If Grecians in your sight Are all alike, ye know enough; take here Your vengeance.

Dearly will my death delight Ulysses, well the deed will Atreus' sons requite.' XV.