The dispute is whether Herodotus
ever got to Egypt to search into
the labyrinth whose ghost is only
now apparent in the sands.
Did he speak with the priests
who told him that Helen and Paris
were long-term settlers despite
the tale of their Homeric escapade.
He seems to have noticed how
the Nile enlarges the boundaries
of greensward on both sides of
Falucas bound to Thebes or Memphis.
He imagined a care-free agriculture
with rice and corn without husbandry
and a life free to admire the greatness
of the past. The priests smiled.
But his eyes enlarged at the sight
of the pyramids. He says he discussed
the mysteries of the dark tombs
and the geometry of death within.
Despite whatever inspired him to sojourn
so far from home, and spend so many
scrolls of papyrus in an effort to express
his awe, he seems to have believed his eyes.
