foreshadows ill for both of us, till you either take the towers of
Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your ships. The princes of the
Achaeans are here present in the midst of you; let him, then, that will
fight me stand forward as your champion against Hector. Thus I say, and
may Jove be witness between us. If your champion slay me, let him strip
me of my armour and take it to your ships, but let him send my body
home that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire when
I am dead. In like manner, if Apollo vouchsafe me glory and I slay your
champion, I will strip him of his armour and take it to the city of
Ilius, where I will hang it in the temple of Apollo, but I will give up
his body, that the Achaeans may bury him at their ships, and the build
him a mound by the wide waters of the Hellespont. Then will one say
hereafter as he sails his ship over the sea, 'This is the monument of
one who died long since a champion who was slain by mighty Hector.'
Thus will one say, and my fame shall not be lost."

Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to decline
the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last Menelaus rose and
rebuked them, for he was angry. "Alas," he cried, "vain braggarts,
women forsooth not men, double-dyed indeed will be the stain upon us if
no man of the Danaans will now face Hector. May you be turned every man
of you into earth and water as you sit spiritless and inglorious in
your places. I will myself go out against this man, but the upshot of
the fight will be from on high in the hands of the immortal gods."

With these words he put on his armour; and then, O Menelaus, your life
would have come to an end at the hands of hands of Hector, for he was
far better the man, had not the princes of the Achaeans sprung upon you
and checked you. King Agamemnon caught him by the right hand and said,
"Menelaus, you are mad; a truce to this folly. Be patient in spite of
passion, do not think of fighting a man so much stronger than yourself
as Hector son of Priam, who is feared by many another as well as you.
Even Achilles, who is far more doughty than you are, shrank from
meeting him in battle. Sit down your own people, and the Achaeans will
send some other champion to fight Hector; fearless and fond of battle
though he be, I ween his knees will bend gladly under him if he comes
out alive from the hurly-burly of this fight."

With these words of reasonable counsel he persuaded