Menelaus Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Tyndareus’s niece Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband in any quarrel. Then it was decreed that straws were to be drawn for Helen’s hand. The suitor who won was Menelaus (Tyndareus, not to displease the powerful Agamemnon offered him another of his daughters, Clytaemnestra). The rest of the suitors swore their oaths, and Helen and Menelaus were married, Menelaus becoming a ruler of Sparta with Helen after
William Menelaus Aberdare. Unfortunately, she died ten weeks later in November 1852 of cholera. Menelaus did not remarry, but brought up and educated two nephews: William Darling, who became a law lord, and Charles Darling, who became an MP and later a baron. Although paid well from his work at Dowlais and investments in other steel, coal and commercial activities, Menelaus lived a simple lifestyle at his home in Merthyr Tydfil. His only extravagance was his art collection, which included works by many of the modern and noted European artists. Menelaus died on 30 March 1882 at Charlton House, in Tenby. Having