a white ram and
a black ewe, for the Earth and for the Sun; and another for
Loud-thundering Zeus; and summon hither the great King Priam, that he may
take the pledge; for his sons are reckless and faithless; young men's
hearts are too frivolous and fickle, but an old man looketh to the future
and the past."

And Hector sent heralds to the city, to fetch two lambs, and to summon
Priam; while Agamemnon sent Talthybius for a ram. Now Iris, in Troy, came
to Helen, in the semblance of Laodice, Paris's sister, fairest of Priam's
daughters, wife of Helicaon, the son of Antenor. She found Helen weaving a
great purple web, on which she was embroidering the battles of the Argives
and the Trojans. The swift-footed Iris came near her, and said, "Come
hither, dear lady, come with me, to see the wondrous deeds of the
horse-taming Trojans and the mail-clad Argives; for now the battle is
suspended, while Paris, and Menelaus, dear to Mars, will fight alone with
their spears, for _thee_; and thou wilt be the fair wife of the victor."
So Iris spoke, and put into Helen's bosom a longing for her former
husband, and for her darling daughter. Then Helen veiled her face, and
went straightway to the Scaean Gate, letting fall a tear; and her two
handmaidens, AEthre and Clymene, followed her.

On the tower above the Scaean Gate, she found the Trojan elders. These, on
account of their age, had ceased from war, but were still good orators,
with voices like the grasshoppers which sit upon a tree, and send forth
their lily-like voice; so sat the elders of the Trojans on the Tower. When
those ancient sages saw the fair Helen coming to them, they were
astounded, and whispered one to another, "No wonder that the Trojans and
the Achaians have suffered so many things for such a glorious woman! But,
fair as she is, let her sail away, and not stay here to trouble us and our
children after us."

But the aged King Priam addressed her kindly. "Dear Daughter! come hither,
and see thy former husband and kinsmen! I do not blame _thee_, but the
Gods, and especially Venus, by whom this sad war has been brought upon us.
But tell me who is that huge Achaian warrior? Many are taller than he, but
I have never seen a man so stately and royal." And the fair Helen, the
daughter of Zeus, replied, "O venerable Father of my lord! would that
death had been my lot, when I followed thy son to Troy, and left my home
and husband, and my dear young daughter, and all the loved co