I
Priam was sitting in council with all his elders before the doors of
his palace, when a messenger rushed breathless up with the tidings that
the Greeks were marching in full force against the city. Instantly the
meeting broke up, and the Trojan leaders, with Hector at their head,
set out with the whole body of native warriors and their allies to bar
the way of the invader.
Halting before a solitary mound, the tomb of the Amazon Myrine, within
sight of the walls of Troy, they drew up their forces in order of
battle. The native Trojans, who fought under Hector, son of Priam,
formed the flower of the army; but in numbers they were far exceeded by
the troops which had assembled, at the call of Priam, from the adjacent
provinces and coastlands of western Asia--from Lydia, Mysia,
Paphlagonia, and far-off Lycia--from Sestos and Abydos and Thrace.
After Hector, the most famous leaders were Æneas, son of Anchises and
Aphrodite; Pandarus, unrivalled for his skill in archery; Paris, whose
crime had brought all these woes on his country, and above all the two
captains of the Lycians--Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, and Glaucus, the
most knightly figure among all the heroes of Greece and Troy.
When the various members of that motley host had taken their appointed
stations, the defenders of Troy advanced with clamour and with tumult,
like flocks of cranes winging their way to the shores of the ocean
stream to make war on the Pygmies. Presently the van of the Greeks
came in sight, moving on in silence, like men with one mind and one
heart.
Foremost among the Trojan champions was seen the gay and beautiful
Paris. He was clad in a panther's skin, over which hung his bow and
arrows, and besides these weapons, in the use of which he excelled, he
was armed with two long spears and a sword. Menelaus marked him as he
came on with long strides, and rejoiced in spirit, like a hungry lion
when he catches sight of his prey; and leaping down from his car he
advanced with uplifted spear to take vengeance on his treacherous foe.
But when Paris saw him coming his guilty heart quailed within him, and
he shrank back among the ranks of his comrades, like one who has
trodden on a snake while walking in a mountain glen.
"Now curse on thy fair, false face!" cried Hector to his cowardly
brother, "thou carpet-knight, thou foul deceiver! Better for thee to
have died childless and unwed than thus to bring shame on thy father
and all thy kinsfolk and people. Thou art a fit foe for women, whom
thou beguilest with witchcraft of thy wit, and wicked gifts; but all
thy gifts--thy curling locks, thy smooth, white brow, thy sweet voice,
and cunning minstrelsy--avail thee naught when thou lookest upon the
face of a man. Verily the Trojans are as dastardly as thyself, or long
ere this thou wouldst have put on a doublet of stone[1] for all the
ills that thou hast wrought."
[1] That is, "Wouldst have been stoned to death."
"I have deserved thy rebuke," answered Paris. "Keen as the blade of an
axe, which bites deep into the heart of an oak, when wielded by a
sinewy arm, so is the keenness of thy spirit, and thou knowest not
fear. Nevertheless, mock me not for the lovely gifts of Aphrodite, for
the gifts of heaven are not to be despised. And if thou desirest me to
take up this quarrel with Menelaus thou hast thy wish. I will fight
against him hand to hand, and he who is victor shall be lord of Helen
and all her possessions. So shall the long strife have an end, and
peace shall dwell again within our borders."
When Hector heard his brother's bold words he was glad, and gave the
word to make the Trojans sit down in their ranks. At first the Greeks
did not understand what was happening, and pressed onward to the attack
with a shower of stones and arrows; but Agamemnon soon perceived that
Hector had something to propose, and gave the signal for a general halt.
Then Hector, standing midway between the two armies, made known the
offer of Paris, and asked for an armistice, that the two champions
might try the issue between them. All eyes were now turned on
Menelaus, who responded boldly to the challenge. "I am well content,"
said he, "that this quarrel should be decided by the hands of us twain;
for it grieves my heart that so many should suffer for the sake of my
private wrong. Let two lambs be brought--a white ram as an offering to
the sun, and a black ram as an offering to the earth; and go some of
you to fetch Priam, that he may preside at the treaty. His sons we may
not trust, for they are hot-blooded and faithless; but an old man's
head is cool, and his eye looks before and after."
Right pleased were both Greeks and Trojans when the order was sent
round to dismount from their cars and pile their arms; for they thought
that the end of their bitter feud was near. Two heralds were
despatched to bring down Priam from the city, and Agamemnon sent
another for a victim to be sacrificed on behalf of the Greeks.