h she be so goodly,
let her go upon their ships and not stay to vex us and our children
after us."

Priam, however, addresses his beautiful daughter-in-law with gentle
words, laying the blame, not on her, but on the gods, for the dolorous
war of the Achaeans. Helen utters expressions of self-reproach, and then,
at Priam's request, points out the famous warriors of the invading host.

Paris is vanquished in the single combat, and Menelaus would have slain
his foe, and in that moment have regained Helen, had not the goddess
Aphrodite snatched up Paris in a cloud and transported him to his
chamber. Aphrodite then appears to Helen, in the form of an aged dame,
and bids her return to her lord. Helen recognizes the goddess, and her
scornful, bitter reply shows how the high-spirited lady rebelled at the
chains with which Aphrodite bound her. The wrath and menace of
Aphrodite, however, overcome her noble resolution, and she reluctantly
returns. When she sees her husband, she chides him scornfully for his
cowardice, and regrets that he had not perished at the hands of
Menelaus. But Paris is unaffected by her reproaches. His thoughts, as
ever, are not of war, but of love, and Helen, owing to the subtle power
of Aphrodite, cannot long resist his caresses. Meanwhile, the injured
husband rages through the host like a wild beast, if anywhere he might
set his eyes on and slay the wanton Paris.

We are now approaching a series of domestic scenes, in which figure the
three principal female characters of the Iliad. Owing to the abortive
issue of the single combat, the truce between Greeks and Trojans is
declared at an end, and the forces once more array themselves in
conflict. The Trojans are being hard pressed. Hector returns to the city
to command Hecuba, his mother, to assemble the aged dames of Troy, who
should go to Athena's temple and supplicate the goddess to have
compassion on them. At the gates the Trojans' wives and daughters gather
about him, inquiring of their loved ones. As he enters the royal palace,
his beautiful mother meets him and clasps him by the hand, and bids him,
weary of battle, pause to take refreshments. But Hector resists her
solicitous entreaties, urges her to gather the aged wives together, and,
with the most beautiful robe in the palace as an offering, to go to the
temple and supplicate Athena to have mercy. Hecuba does as he commands,
and the solemn procession mounts the citadel and implores the goddess t