ll soon spring up that will
carry me across the sea. But you, beauteous Helen, shall go with me;
for the deathless gods have spoken it. Aphrodite, long ago, promised
that the most beautiful woman in the world should be my wife. And who
is that most beautiful woman if it be not yourself? Come! fly over the
sea, and be my queen. It is the will of the gods."'

"It was thus that the perfidious Trojan wrought the ruin of all that
was dear to me.

"At first, Helen refused. But Paris is a handsome prince, and day
after day he renewed his suit. Then on the sixth day she yielded. In
the darkness of the night they went on board his waiting vessel,
carrying with them the gold and jewels of my treasure house; and in the
morning, when the sun arose on Lacedaemon, they were far out at sea.

"You know the rest: how in wrath and great sorrow I hurried home; how I
first counselled with my own elders, and then with my brother
Agamemnon. And now, O noble Nestor, we have come to Pylos, seeking thy
advice. On these two things my mind is set: Helen must be mine again,
and Paris must suffer the punishment due to traitors."

When Menelaus had ended, sage Nestor answered with many words of
counsel. "Keep the thought of vengeance ever before you," he said.
"Yet act not rashly. The power of Troy is very great; and, in case of
war, all the tribes of Asia will make common cause with her. But an
insult to Lacedaemon is an insult to all Greece, and every loyal Greek
will hasten to avenge it. More than this, the chiefs of almost every
state have already sworn to aid you. We have but to call upon them,
and remind them of their oaths, and the mightiest warriors of our land
will take up arms against the power of Troy."

IPHIGENIA

After nearly ten years of preparation, the princes and warriors of
Greece gathered their ships and men together at Aulis, ready to make
war upon Troy. A thousand dark-hulled vessels were moored in the
harbor; and a hundred thousand brave men were on board, ready to follow
their leaders whithersoever they should order.

Chief of all that host was mighty Agamemnon, king of men. He was clad
in flashing armor, and his mind was filled with overweening pride when
he thought how high he stood among the warriors, and that his men were
the goodliest and bravest of all that host.

Next to him was Menelaus, silent and discreet, by no means skilled
above his fellows, and yet, by reason of his noble heart, be