Your loving sister,
Helen.
Clytaemnestra to Helen
Mycenae.
Dearest Helen,
Your last letter has reached me. I must implore you to be very careful about what you do. I hope with all my heart that the siege will be over soon; but if it is I don’t think it would be quite wise for you to come back directly. You see everybody here is extremely unreasonable. Instead of understanding that Agamemnon and Odysseus were entirely responsible for this absurd war, Agamemnon has got his friends to put the blame entirely on you, and they have excited the people against you. It’s so like a man, that, isn’t it? I have been very lonely, because all our friends are away. Aegisthus is staying here just to look after the household and the affairs of the city. But he hardly counts, and he is so busy that I hardly ever see him now. There is a strong pro-Trojan party here, too. They say we had absolutely no right to go to war, and that it was simply an expedition of pirates and freebooters, and I must say it is very difficult to disprove it. If there is any talk of the siege ending, please let me know at once. Electra has grown into a fine girl; but she is not as lovely as poor darling Iphigenia.
Your loving sister,
Clytaemnestra.
Penelope to Odysseus
Ithaca.
My darling Husband,
I wish you would write a little more distinctly; we have the greatest difficulty in reading your letters.