Authors of Greece | Page 4

to the Greeks telling them of Paris' offer, which Menelaus
accepted. The armies sat down to witness the fight, while Hector sent to
Troy to fetch Priam to ratify the treaty.
In Troy the elders were seated on the wall to watch the conflict, Priam
among them. Warned by Iris, Helen came forth to witness the single
combat. As she moved among them the elders bore their testimony to
her beauty; its nature is suggested but not described, for the poet felt he
was unable to paint her as she was.

"Little wonder," they exclaimed, "that the Trojans and Achaeans should
suffer woe for many a year for such a woman. She is marvellous like
the goddesses to behold; yet albeit she is so fair let her depart in the
ships, leaving us and our little ones no trouble to come."
Seeing her, Priam bade her sit by him and tell the names of the Greek
leaders as they passed before his eyes. Agamemnon she knew by his
royal bearing, Odysseus who moved along the ranks like a ram she
marked out as the master of craft and deep counsel. Hearing her words,
Antenor bore his witness to their truth, for once Odysseus had come
with Menelaus to Troy on an embassy.
"When they stood up Menelaus was taller, when they sat down
Odysseus was more stately. But when they spake, Menelaus' words
were fluent, clear but few; Odysseus when he spoke, fixed his eyes on
the ground, turning his sceptre neither backwards nor forward, standing
still like a man devoid of wit; one would have deemed him a churl and
a very fool; yet when he sent forth his mighty voice from his breast in
words as many as the snowflakes, no other man could compare with
him."
Helen pointed out Ajax and Idomeneus and others, yet could not see
her two brothers, Castor and Pollux; either they had not come from her
home in Sparta, or they had refused to fight, fearing the shame and
reproach of her name. "So she spake, yet the life-giving earth covered
them there, even in Sparta, their native land."
When the news came to Priam of the combat arranged between Paris
and Menelaus, the old King shuddered for his son, yet he went out to
confirm the compact. Feeling he could not look upon the fight, he
returned to the city. Meanwhile Hector had cast lots to decide which of
the two should first hurl his spear. Paris failed to wound his enemy, but
Menelaus' dart pierced Paris' armour; he followed it up with a blow of
his sword which shivered to pieces in his hand. He then caught Paris'
helmet and dragged him off towards the Greek army; but Aphrodite
saved her favourite, for she loosed the chin-strap and bore Paris back to
Helen in Troy. Menelaus in vain looked for him among the Trojans
who were fain to see an end of him, "and would not have hidden him if
they had seen him". Agamemnon then declared his brother the victor
and demanded the fulfilment of the treaty.
Such an end to the siege did not content Hera, whose anger against the

Trojans was such that she could have "devoured raw Priam and his
sons". With Zeus' consent she sent down Pallas Athena to confound the
treaty. Descending like some brilliant and baleful star the goddess
assumed the shape of Laodocus and sought out the archer Pandarus.
Him she tempted to shoot privily at Menelaus to gain the favour of
Paris. While his companions held their shields in front of him the
archer launched a shaft at his victim, but Athena turned it aside so that
it merely grazed his body, drawing blood. Seeing his brother wounded
Agamemnon ran to him, to prophesy the certain doom of the treaty
breakers.
"Not in vain did we shed the blood of compact and offer the pledges of
a treaty. Though Zeus hath not fulfilled it now, yet he will at last and
they will pay dear with their lives, they, their wives and children. Well
I know in my heart that the day will come when sacred Troy will perish
and Priam and his folk; Zeus himself throned on high dwelling in the
clear sky will shake against them all his dark aegis in anger for this
deceit."
While the leeches drew out the arrow from the wound, Agamemnon
went round the host with words of encouragement or chiding to stir
them up to the righteous conflict. They rushed on to battle to be met by
the Trojans whose host
"knew not one voice or one speech; their language was mixed, for they
were men called from many lands."
In the fight Diomedes, though at first wounded by Pandarus, speedily
returned refreshed and strengthened