mpanions of
my girlhood! But that was not to be, and therefore I mourn and weep. The
man of whom thou speakest is Atreides, the wide-ruling monarch Agamemnon,
who is both a stately king and a doughty warrior; he is the brother of
Menelaus my husband--shameless thing that I am!"

Then the aged Priam asked her about the other Achaian chiefs,--Ulysses,
and the gigantic Ajax, the bulwark of the host, and the godlike Idomeneus;
and the lovely Helen told him all, and said, "I see all the other
bright-eyed Achaians, and could tell their names; but two I see not, even
mine own brothers, horse-taming Castor and the boxer Pollux; peradventure
they came not with the Achaians; or if they came, they fight not, for fear
of the revilings which men heap on me--shameless that I am!" She knew not
that the earth already covered them, in Lacedaemon, their dear native land.
Now the aged Priam drove out through the Scaean Gate, with Antenor by his
side; and, when he had come to the Achaians and the Trojans, he descended
from his chariot, and stood on the Earth, the bounteous grain-giver. Then
Agamemnon, the king of men, and Ulysses, the man of many devices, rose up;
and the stately heralds brought the holy oath-offerings to the gods, and
mixed the ruddy wine in the mixing-bowl, from which they gave portions to
the Achaian and the Trojan chiefs. Agamemnon raised his hands to heaven
and prayed, "O Father Zeus, most great and glorious! O Sun, who seest and
hearest all things! O ye Rivers, and thou, Mother Earth! be ye all
witnesses to our oaths! If Paris shall kill Menelaus, then let him keep
Helen and all her possessions; but if the yellow-haired Menelaus slay
Paris, then let the Trojans give back Helen and her treasures!"

Then the lordly Agamemnon slew the lambs, and prayed again to Zeus. But
Priam spake unto the Achaians and the Trojans. "I verily will return to
breezy Ilium; for I cannot bear to see my own son engaged in deadly
conflict with the war-loving Menelaus."

Then the goodly Paris, lord of the fair-haired Helen, put on his beautiful
armor. First he set the splendid greaves upon his legs, fastened round the
ankles with silver clasps; then he donned the corslet, which he had
borrowed from his brother Lycaon; and he threw over his shoulders the
silver-studded sword-belt with his sword, and took up his mighty shield;
and upon his beauteous head he placed the helmet, with a horsehair crest,
and the plume nodded terribly; and he took a