The trip to Sparta

Notes on Book 4
BOOK 4
Telemachus and Pisistratus reach Sparta and enter the Palace of Menelaus; again it was very important at that time to show proper hospitably to strangers. When Eteoneus asks Menelaus if he should put up Telemachus and Pisistratus or send them away, Menelaus gets very upset with his servant. By all means he was to take care of the horses and set a supper before them. Telemachus was in awe of the palace of Menelaus, he compared it to the palace of Olympian Zeus. Eventually Menelaus starts talking about Odysseus, and then Helen comes in they both tell of Odysseus exploits. Helen tells about the time he dressed himself up as a beggar, with wounds and bruises to spy out the city of Troy. He killed many Trojans and gathered much information on that trip. Menelaus then tells about the time when they were inside the horse, Helen comes up calls out the Argive chiefs by name and mimics their wives. Then Anticlus was about to answer
Odysseus held his hands over Anticlus mouth so he could not. The suitors don’t have a chance. Meanwhile at Ithaca the suitors plot Telemachus death.