O my fortune, how we have been unworthily dishonored.Old womanWhy are your eyes wet with tears? To whom are you lamenting?MenelaosTo my fortunes, which were happy before this.Old womanWell then, why don’t you go away and give these tears to your friends.MenelaosWhat is this land? Whose palace is this?Old womanProteus lives here, the land is Egypt.MenelaosEgypt? O wretched, that I have sailed here!Old womanAnd why do you blame the bright gleam of the Nile?MenelaosI do not blame it; I am sighing for my fate.Old womanMany people are doing badly; you are not the only one.MenelaosIs the king you name in the house?Old womanThis is his tomb; his son rules the land.MenelaosAnd where might he be? Abroad, or in the house?Old womanHe is not inside; he is most bitterly opposed to the Hellenes.MenelaosWhat cause does he have? I have felt the consequences of it!Old womanHelen, the daughter of Zeus, is in this house.MenelaosWhat do you mean? What did you say? Tell me again.Old womanThe daughter of Tyndareus, who once lived in Sparta.MenelaosWhere did she come from? What is the meaning of this?Old womanShe came here from the land of Lakedaimon.