The armies being ready to engage, a single combat is agreed upon
between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) for the
determination of the war. Iris is sent to call Helen to behold the
fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where Priam sat with his
counsellers observing the Grecian leaders on the plain below, to whom
Helen gives an account of the chief of them. The kings on either part
take the solemn oath for the conditions of the combat. The duel ensues;
wherein Paris being overcome, he is snatched away in a cloud by Venus,
and transported to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls,
and brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians,
demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.
The three-and-twentieth day still continues throughout this book. The
scene is sometimes in the fields before Troy, and sometimes in Troy
itself.