Verse
Iliad
Book 4, Line 141 by Samuel Butler (English)
As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to a piece of ivory that is to be the cheek-piece of a horse, and is to be laid up in a treasure house - many a horseman is fain to bear it, but the king keeps it as an ornament [ kosmos ] of which both horse and driver may be proud - even so, O Menelaos, were your shapely thighs and your legs down to your fair ankles stained with blood.
IliadBook 4, Line 141Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 4
HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-4-141