at Hector checks the advance of his men
and proposes this duel to the Greeks, who accept his terms, provided
Priam will swear in person to the treaty.

Meanwhile Iris, in guise of a princess, has entered the Trojan palace
and bidden Helen hasten to the ramparts to see the two armies--instead
of fighting--offering sacrifices as a preliminary to the duel, of
which she is to be the prize. Donning a veil and summoning her
attendants, Helen seeks the place whence Priam and his ancient
counsellors gaze down upon the plain. On beholding her, even these
aged men admit the two nations are excusable for so savagely disputing
her possession, while Priam, with fatherly tact, ascribes the war to
the gods alone.

These, when the Spartan queen approach'd the tower,
In secret own'd resistless beauty's power:
They cried, "No wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms;
What winning grace! what majestic mien!
She moves a goddess and she looks a queen!"

Then he invites Helen to sit beside him and name the Greeks he points
out, among whom she recognizes, with bitter shame, her brother-in-law
Agamemnon, Ulysses the wily, and Ajax the bulwark of Greece. Then,
while she is vainly seeking the forms of her twin brothers, messengers
summon Priam down-to the plain to swear to the treaty, a task he has
no sooner performed than he drives back to Troy, leaving Hector and
Ulysses to measure out the duelling ground and to settle by lot which
champion shall strike first.

Fate having favored Paris, he advances in brilliant array, and soon
contrives to shatter Menelaus' sword. Thus deprived of a weapon,
Menelaus boldly grasps his adversary by his plumed helmet and drags
him away, until, seeing her protege in danger, Venus breaks the
fastenings of his helmet, which alone remains in Menelaus' hands. Then
she spirits Paris back to the Trojan palace, where she leaves him
resting on a couch, and hurries off, in the guise of an old crone, to
twitch Helen's veil, whispering that Paris awaits her at home.
Recognizing the goddess in spite of her disguise, Helen reproaches
her, declaring she has no desire ever to see Paris again, but Venus,
awing Helen into submission, leads her back to the palace. There
Paris, after artfully ascribing Menelaus' triumph to Minerva's aid,
proceeds to woo Helen anew. Meantime Menelaus vainly ranges to and
fro, seeking his foe and hotly accusing the Trojans of screening him,
while