o
remain, and they had gone away, one band after another, with loud
shouts of exultation and defiance, to seek new combats in other
quarters of the city. AEneas listened to the sounds of their voices, as
they gradually died away upon his ear. Thus, in one way and another,
all had gone, and AEneas found himself alone.

AEneas contrived to find his way back safely to the street, and then
stealthily choosing his way, and vigilantly watching against the
dangers that surrounded him, he advanced cautiously among the ruins of
the palace, in the direction toward his own home. He had not
proceeded far before he saw a female figure lurking in the shadow of
an altar near which he had to pass. It proved to be the princess
Helen.

[Illustration: HELEN.]

Helen was a Grecian princess, formerly the wife of Menelaus, king of
Sparta, but she had eloped from Greece some years before, with Paris,
the son of Priam, king of Troy, and this elopement had been the whole
cause of the Trojan war. In the first instance, Menelaus, accompanied
by another Grecian chieftain, went to Troy and demanded that Helen
should be given up again to her proper husband. Paris refused to
surrender her. Menelaus then returned to Greece and organized a grand
expedition to proceed to Troy and recapture the queen. This was the
origin of the war. The people, therefore, looked upon Helen as the
cause, whether innocent or guilty, of all their calamities.

When AEneas, therefore, who was, as may well be supposed, in no very
amiable or gentle temper, as he hurried along away from the smoking
ruins of the palace toward his home, saw Helen endeavoring to screen
herself from the destruction which she had been the means of bringing
upon all that he held dear, he was aroused to a phrensy of anger
against her, and determined to avenge the wrongs of his country by her
destruction. "I will kill her," said he to himself, as he rushed
forward toward the spot where she was concealed. "There is no great
glory it is true in wreaking vengeance on a woman, or in bringing her
to the punishment which her crimes deserve. Still I will kill her, and
I shall be commended for the deed. She shall not, after bringing ruin
upon us, escape herself, and go back to Greece in safety and be a
queen there again."

As AEneas said these words, rushing forward at the same time, sword in
hand, he was suddenly intercepted and brought to a stand by the
apparition of his mother, the goddess Aphrodite,