Menelaus tells Telemachus of his own detour in Egypt on his way home from the Trojan War, during which he learned that Odysseus is still alive, a virtual captive of the nymph Calypso.

The agents said they believed the deaf Mexicans had been smuggled into the United States, then held as virtual captives by threats from the two people who ran the houses.

Once in the United States, some immigrants were kept as virtual captives by employers or the smugglers until the debt was paid, the officials said.

The former Pol Pot forces have been allowed to govern their remaining adherents, some of whom are virtual captives, with little outside supervision or interference.

Mr. Hardwicke's suit described him as a virtual sexual captive of the school's choirmaster and recounted abuse by the choirmaster's friends and fellow employees.

But Mr. Naquib is - as far as anyone knows - in his Afghan village tending his garden, a virtual captive of the Taliban.

Hysterical press attention made him the darling of two continents and a virtual captive of his own celebrity.

A significant portion are kept virtual captives, isolated and illiterate, and are used to ferry Chinese arms and ammunition to caches or troops deep inside Cambodia.

Elisabeth made a tearful public appeal in a city square calling for help to her and her brother, neglected and held virtual captive by the Emperor.