But when they had dismissed the desire of drink and of food, for them
the aged man Nestor first of all began to frame advice, whose counsel
before also had appeared the best, who, wisely counselling, harangued
them, and said:

[Footnote 261: The same honour is paid to AEneas in Virg. AEn.
viii. 181. Cf. Xenoph. Rep. Lac. XV. 4.]

"Son of Atreus, and ye other chiefs of all the Greeks, many of the
long-haired Achaeans have perished, whose black blood fierce Mars has now
shed near fair-flowing Scamander, and their souls have descended to the
shades! Therefore it behoves you to cause the battle of the Greeks to
cease with the dawn, and let us, collected together, carry the bodies
hither on chariots, with oxen and mules, and burn them at a little
distance from the ships, that each may carry home the bones [of the
deceased] to their children, when we return again to our father-land.
And let us, going out, heap up in the plain one common tomb for all,
round the pyre, and beside it let us speedily erect lofty towers, as a
bulwark of our ships and of ourselves; and in it let us make a
well-fitted gate, that through it there may be a passage for the
chariots. But outside let us sink, near at hand, a deep trench, which,
being circular, may serve as a defence to both steeds and men, lest at
any time the war of the haughty Trojans should press sorely."

Thus he spoke, and all the princes approved of his counsel. But of the
Trojans also was a panic-struck and turbulent council held in the lofty
citadel of Ilium, at the gates of Priam; and to them wise Antenor thus
began to harangue:

"Hear me, ye Trojans and Dardanians and allies, that I may tell you what
the soul in my breast commands me. Come then, let us restore Argive
Helen, and her treasures with her to the sons of Atreus to lead away;
for now we are fighting after having violated the faithful leagues.
Wherefore I think that nothing better will be brought to pass by us,
unless we act thus."

He, having thus said, sat down; but to them arose divine Alexander, the
husband of fair-haired Helen, who answering him spoke winged words:

"O Antenor, thou no longer speakest these things grateful to me. Thou
knowest how to devise another counsel better than this; but if, in
truth, thou speakest this seriously, the gods themselves have now
deprived thee of thy senses. But I will declare my opinion amidst the
horse-subduing Trojans; I openly declare I will not give up my wife: