_
THE STEALING OF HELEN
This happy time did not last long, and Telemachus was still a baby, when
war arose, so great and mighty and marvellous as had never been known in
the world. Far across the sea that lies on the east of Greece, there
dwelt the rich King Priam. His town was called Troy, or Ilios, and it
stood on a hill near the seashore, where are the straits of Hellespont,
between Europe and Asia; it was a great city surrounded by strong walls,
and its ruins are still standing. The kings could make merchants who
passed through the straits pay toll to them, and they had allies in
Thrace, a part of Europe opposite Troy, and Priam was chief of all
princes on his side of the sea, as Agamemnon was chief king in Greece.
Priam had many beautiful things; he had a vine made of gold, with golden
leaves and clusters, and he had the swiftest horses, and many strong and
brave sons; the strongest and bravest was named Hector, and the youngest
and most beautiful was named Paris.
There was a prophecy that Priam's wife would give birth to a burning
torch, so, when Paris was born, Priam sent a servant to carry the baby
into a wild wood on Mount Ida, and leave him to die or be eaten by wolves
and wild cats. The servant left the child, but a shepherd found him, and
brought him up as his own son. The boy became as beautiful, for a boy,
as Helen was for a girl, and was the best runner, and hunter, and archer
among the country people. He was loved by the beautiful OEnone, a
nymph--that is, a kind of fairy--who dwelt in a cave among the woods of
Ida. The Greeks and Trojans believed in these days that such fair nymphs
haunted all beautiful woodland places, and the mountains, and wells, and
had crystal palaces, like mermaids, beneath the waves of the sea. These
fairies were not mischievous, but gentle and kind. Sometimes they
married mortal men, and OEnone was the bride of Paris, and hoped to keep
him for her own all the days of his life.
It was believed that she had the magical power of healing wounded men,
however sorely they were hurt. Paris and OEnone lived most happily
together in the forest; but one day, when the servants of Priam had
driven off a beautiful bull that was in the herd of Paris, he left the
hills to seek it, and came into the town of Troy. His mother, Hecuba,
saw him, and looking at him closely, perceived that he wore a ring which
she had tied round her baby's neck when he was taken away from her soon
after his birth. Then Hecuba, beholding him so beautiful, and knowing
him to be her son, wept for joy, and they all forgot the prophecy that he
would be a burning torch of fire, and Priam gave him a house like those
of his brothers, the Trojan princes.
The fame of beautiful Helen reached Troy, and Paris quite forgot unhappy
OEnone, and must needs go to see Helen for himself. Perhaps he meant to
try to win her for his wife, before her marriage. But sailing was little
understood in these times, and the water was wide, and men were often
driven for years out of their course, to Egypt, and Africa, and far away
into the unknown seas, where fairies lived in enchanted islands, and
cannibals dwelt in caves of the hills.
Paris came much too late to have a chance of marrying Helen; however, he
was determined to see her, and he made his way to her palace beneath the
mountain Taygetus, beside the clear swift river Eurotas. The servants
came out of the hall when they heard the sound of wheels and horses'
feet, and some of them took the horses to the stables, and tilted the
chariots against the gateway, while others led Paris into the hall, which
shone like the sun with gold and silver. Then Paris and his companions
were led to the baths, where they were bathed, and clad in new clothes,
mantles of white, and robes of purple, and next they were brought before
King Menelaus, and he welcomed them kindly, and meat was set before them,
and wine in cups of gold. While they were talking, Helen came forth from
her fragrant chamber, like a Goddess, her maidens following her, and
carrying for her an ivory distaff with violet-coloured wool, which she
span as she sat, and heard Paris tell how far he had travelled to see her
who was so famous for her beauty even in countries far away.
Then Paris knew that he had never seen, and never could see, a lady so
lovely and gracious as Helen as she sat and span, while the red drops
fell and vanished from the ruby called the Star; and Helen knew that
among all the princes in the world there was none so beautiful as Paris.
Now some say that Paris, by art magic, put on the appearance of Menelaus,
and asked Helen to come sailing with him, and that she, thinking he was
her husband, followed him, and he carried her across the wide waters of
Troy, away from her lord and her one beautiful little daughter, the child
Hermione. And others say that the Gods carried Helen herself off to
Egypt, and that they made in her likeness a beautiful ghost, out of
flowers and sunset clouds, whom Paris bore to Troy, and this they did to
cause war between Greeks and Trojans. Another story is that Helen and
her bower maiden and her jewels were seized by force, when Menelaus was
out hunting. It is only certain that Paris and Helen did cross the seas
together, and that Menelaus and little Hermione were left alone in the
melancholy palace beside the Eurotas. Penelope, we know for certain,
made no excuses for her beautiful cousin, but hated her as the cause of
her own sorrows and of the deaths of thousands of men in war, for all the
Greek princes were bound by their oath to fight for Menelaus against any
one who injured him and stole his wife away. But Helen was very unhappy
in Troy, and blamed herself as bitterly as all the other women blamed
her, and most of all OEnone, who had been the love of Paris. The men
were much more kind to Helen, and were determined to fight to the death
rather than lose the sight of her beauty among them.
The news of the dishonour done to Menelaus and to all the princes of
Greece ran through the country like fire through a forest. East and west
and south and north went the news: to kings in their castles on the
hills, and beside the rivers and on cliffs above the sea. The cry came
to ancient Nestor of the white beard at Pylos, Nestor who had reigned
over two generations of men, who had fought against the wild folk of the
hills, and remembered the strong Heracles, and Eurytus of the black bow
that sang before the day of battle.
The cry came to black-bearded Agamemnon, in his strong town called
"golden Mycenae," because it was so rich; it came to the people in
Thisbe, where the wild doves haunt; and it came to rocky Pytho, where is
the sacred temple of Apollo and the maid who prophesies. It came to
Aias, the tallest and strongest of men, in his little isle of Salamis;
and to Diomede of the loud war-cry, the bravest of warriors, who held
Argos and Tiryns of the black walls of huge, stones, that are still
standing. The summons came to the western islands and to Ulysses in
Ithaca, and even far south to the great island of Crete of the hundred
cities, where Idomeneus ruled in Cnossos; Idomeneus, whose ruined palace
may still be seen with the throne of the king, and pictures painted on
the walls, and the King's own draught-board of gold and silver, and
hundreds of tablets of clay, on which are written the lists of royal
treasures. Far north went the news to Pelasgian Argos, and Hellas, where
the people of Peleus dwelt, the Myrmidons; but Peleus was too old to
fight, and his boy, Achilles, dwelt far away, in the island of Scyros,
dressed as a girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. To many
another town and to a hundred islands went the bitter news of approaching
war, for all princes knew that their honour and their oaths compelled
them to gather their spearmen, and bowmen, and slingers from the fields
and the fishing, and to make ready their ships, and meet King Agamemnon
in the harbour of Aulis, and cross the wide sea to besiege Troy town.
Now the story is told that Ulysses was very unwilling to leave his island
and his wife Penelope, and little Telemachus; while Penelope had no wish
that he should pass into danger, and into the sight of Helen of the fair
hands. So it is said that when two of the princes came to summon
Ulysses, he pretended to be mad, and went ploughing the sea sand with
oxen, and sowing the sand with salt. Then the prince Palamedes took the
baby Telemachus from the arms of his nurse, Eurycleia, and laid him in
the line of the furrow, where the ploughshare would strike him and kill
him. But Ulysses turned the plough aside, and they cried that he was not
mad, but sane, and he must keep his oath, and join the fleet at Aulis, a
long voyage for him to sail, round the stormy southern Cape of Maleia.
Whether this tale be true or not, Ulysses did go, leading twelve black
ships, with high beaks painted red at prow and stern. The ships had
oars, and the warriors manned the oars, to row when there was no wind.
There was a small raised deck at each end of the ships; on these decks
men stood to fight with sword and spear when there was a battle at sea.
Each ship had but one mast, with a broad lugger sail, and for anchors
they had only heavy stones attached to cables. They generally landed at
night, and slept on the shore of one of the many islands, when they
could, for they greatly feared to sail out of sight of land.
The fleet consisted of more than a thousand ships, each with fifty
warriors, so the army was of more than fifty thousand men. Agamemnon had
a hundred ships, Diomede had eighty, Nestor had ninety, the Cretans with
Idomeneus, had eighty, Menelaus had sixty; but Aias and Ulysses, who
lived in small islands, had only twelve ships apiece. Yet Aias was so
brave and strong, and Ulysses so brave and wise, that they were ranked
among the greatest chiefs and advisers of Agamemnon, with Menelaus,
Diomede, Idomeneus, Nestor, Menestheus of Athens, and two or three
others. These chiefs were called the Council, and gave advice to
Agamemnon, who was commander-in-chief. He was a brave fighter, but so
anxious and fearful of losing the lives of his soldiers that Ulysses and
Diomede were often obliged to speak to him very severely. Agamemnon was
also very insolent and greedy, though, when anybody stood up to him, he
was ready to apologise, for fear the injured chief should renounce his
service and take away his soldiers.
Nestor was much respected because he remained brave, though he was too
old to be very useful in battle. He generally tried to make peace when
the princes quarrelled with Agamemnon. He loved to tell long stories
about his great deeds when he was young, and he wished the chiefs to
fight in old-fashioned ways.
For instance, in his time the Greeks had fought in clan regiments, and
the princely men had never dismounted in battle, but had fought in
squadrons of chariots, but now the owners of chariots fought on foot,
each man for himself, while his squire kept the chariot near him to
escape on if he had to retreat. Nestor wished to go back to the good old
way of chariot charges against the crowds of foot soldiers of the enemy.
In short, he was a fine example of the old-fashioned soldier.
Aias, though so very tall, strong, and brave, was rather stupid. He
seldom spoke, but he was always ready to fight, and the last to retreat.
Menelaus was weak of body, but as brave as the best, or more brave, for
he had a keen sense of honour, and would attempt what he had not the
strength to do. Diomede and Ulysses were great friends, and always
fought side by side, when they could, and helped each other in the most
dangerous adventures.
These were the chiefs who led the great Greek armada from the harbour of
Aulis. A long time had passed, after the flight of Helen, before the
large fleet could be collected, and more time went by in the attempt to
cross the sea to Troy. There were tempests that scattered the ships, so
they were driven back to Aulis to refit; and they fought, as they went
out again, with the peoples of unfriendly islands, and besieged their
towns. What they wanted most of all was to have Achilles with them, for
he was the leader of fifty ships and 2,500 men, and he had magical armour
made, men said, for his father, by Hephaestus, the God of armour-making
and smithy work.
At last the fleet came to the Isle of Scyros, where they suspected that
Achilles was concealed. King Lycomedes received the chiefs kindly, and
they saw all his beautiful daughters dancing and playing at ball, but
Achilles was still so young and slim and so beautiful that they did not
know him among the others. There was a prophecy that they could not take
Troy without him, and yet they could not find him out. Then Ulysses had
a plan. He blackened his eyebrows and beard and put on the dress of a
Phoenician merchant. The Phoenicians were a people who lived near the
Jews, and were of the same race, and spoke much the same language, but,
unlike the Jews, who, at that time were farmers in Palestine, tilling the
ground, and keeping flocks and herds, the Phoenicians were the greatest
of traders and sailors, and stealers of slaves. They carried cargoes of
beautiful cloths, and embroideries, and jewels of gold, and necklaces of
amber, and sold these everywhere about the shores of Greece and the
islands.
Ulysses then dressed himself like a Phoenician pedlar, with his pack on
his back: he only took a stick in his hand, his long hair was turned up,
and hidden under a red sailor's cap, and in this figure he came, stooping
beneath his pack, into the courtyard of King Lycomedes. The girls heard
that a pedlar had come, and out they all ran, Achilles with the rest to
watch the pedlar undo his pack. Each chose what she liked best: one took
a wreath of gold; another a necklace of gold and amber; another earrings;
a fourth a set of brooches, another a dress of embroidered scarlet cloth;
another a veil; another a pair of bracelets; but at the bottom of the
pack lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt studded with golden nails.
Achilles seized the sword. "This is for me!" he said, and drew the sword
from the gilded sheath, and made it whistle round his head.
"You are Achilles, Peleus' son!" said Ulysses; "and you are to be the
chief warrior of the Achaeans," for the Greeks then called themselves
Achaeans. Achilles was only too glad to hear these words, for he was
quite tired of living among maidens. Ulysses led him into the hall where
the chiefs were sitting at their wine, and Achilles was blushing like any
girl.
"Here is the Queen of the Amazons," said Ulysses--for the Amazons were a
race of warlike maidens--"or rather here is Achilles, Peleus' son, with
sword in hand." Then they all took his hand, and welcomed him, and he
was clothed in man's dress, with the sword by his side, and presently
they sent him back with ten ships to his home. There his mother, Thetis,
of the silver feet, the goddess of the sea, wept over him, saying, "My
child, thou hast the choice of a long and happy and peaceful life here
with me, or of a brief time of war and undying renown. Never shall I see
thee again in Argos if thy choice is for war." But Achilles chose to die
young, and to be famous as long as the world stands. So his father gave
him fifty ships, with Patroclus, who was older than he, to be his friend,
and with an old man, Phoenix, to advise him; and his mother gave him the
glorious armour that the God had made for his father, and the heavy ashen
spear that none but he could wield, and he sailed to join the host of the
Achaeans, who all praised and thanked Ulysses that had found for them
such a prince. For Achilles was the fiercest fighter of them all, and
the swiftest-footed man, and the most courteous prince, and the gentlest
with women and children, but he was proud and high of heart, and when he
was angered his anger was terrible.
The Trojans would have had no chance against the Greeks if only the men
of the city of Troy had fought to keep Helen of the fair hands. But they
had allies, who spoke different languages, and came to fight for them
both from Europe and from Asia. On the Trojan as well as on the Greek
side were people called Pelasgians, who seem to have lived on both shores
of the sea. There were Thracians, too, who dwelt much further north than
Achilles, in Europe and beside the strait of Hellespont, where the narrow
sea runs like a river. There were warriors of Lycia, led by Sarpedon and
Glaucus; there were Carians, who spoke in a strange tongue; there were
Mysians and men from Alybe, which was called "the birthplace of silver,"
and many other peoples sent their armies, so that the war was between
Eastern Europe, on one side, and Western Asia Minor on the other. The
people of Egypt took no part in the war: the Greeks and Islesmen used to
come down in their ships and attack the Egyptians as the Danes used to
invade England. You may see the warriors from the islands, with their
horned helmets, in old Egyptian pictures.
The commander-in-chief, as we say now, of the Trojans was Hector, the son
of Priam. He was thought a match for any one of the Greeks, and was
brave and good. His brothers also were leaders, but Paris preferred to
fight from a distance with bow and arrows. He and Pandarus, who dwelt on
the slopes of Mount Ida, were the best archers in the Trojan army. The
princes usually fought with heavy spears, which they threw at each other,
and with swords, leaving archery to the common soldiers who had no armour
of bronze. But Teucer, Meriones, and Ulysses were the best archers of
the Achaeans. People called Dardanians were led by Aeneas, who was said
to be the son of the most beautiful of the goddesses. These, with
Sarpedon and Glaucus, were the most famous of the men who fought for
Troy.
Troy was a strong town on a hill. Mount Ida lay behind it, and in front
was a plain sloping to the sea shore. Through this plain ran two
beautiful clear rivers, and there were scattered here and there what you
would have taken for steep knolls, but they were really mounds piled up
over the ashes of warriors who had died long ago. On these mounds
sentinels used to stand and look across the water to give warning if the
Greek fleet drew near, for the Trojans had heard that it was on its way.
At last the fleet came in view, and the sea was black with ships, the
oarsmen pulling with all their might for the honour of being the first to
land. The race was won by the ship of the prince Protesilaus, who was
first of all to leap on shore, but as he leaped he was struck to the
heart by an arrow from the bow of Paris. This must have seemed a good
omen to the Trojans, and to the Greeks evil, but we do not hear that the
landing was resisted in great force, any more than that of Norman William
was, when he invaded England.
The Greeks drew up all their ships on shore, and the men camped in huts
built in front of the ships. There was thus a long row of huts with the
ships behind them, and in these huts the Greeks lived all through the ten
years that the siege of Troy lasted. In these days they do not seem to
have understood how to conduct a siege. You would have expected the
Greeks to build towers and dig trenches all round Troy, and from the
towers watch the roads, so that provisions might not be brought in from
the country. This is called "investing" a town, but the Greeks never
invested Troy. Perhaps they had not men enough; at all events the place
remained open, and cattle could always be driven in to feed the warriors
and the women and children.
Moreover, the Greeks for long never seem to have tried to break down one
of the gates, nor to scale the walls, which were very high, with ladders.
On the other hand, the Trojans and allies never ventured to drive the
Greeks into the sea; they commonly remained within the walls or
skirmished just beneath them. The older men insisted on this way of
fighting, in spite of Hector, who always wished to attack and storm the
camp of the Greeks. Neither side had machines for throwing heavy stones,
such as the Romans used later, and the most that the Greeks did was to
follow Achilles and capture small neighbouring cities, and take the women
for slaves, and drive the cattle. They got provisions and wine from the
Phoenicians, who came in ships, and made much profit out of the war.
It was not till the tenth year that the war began in real earnest, and
scarcely any of the chief leaders had fallen. Fever came upon the
Greeks, and all day the camp was black with smoke, and all night shone
with fire from the great piles of burning wood, on which the Greeks
burned their dead, whose bones they then buried under hillocks of earth.
Many of these hillocks are still standing on the plain of Troy. When the
plague had raged for ten days, Achilles called an assembly of the whole
army, to try to find out why the Gods were angry. They thought that the
beautiful God Apollo (who took the Trojan side) was shooting invisible
arrows at them from his silver bow, though fevers in armies are usually
caused by dirt and drinking bad water. The great heat of the sun, too,
may have helped to cause the disease; but we must tell the story as the
Greeks told it themselves. So Achilles spoke in the assembly, and
proposed to ask some prophet why Apollo was angry. The chief prophet was
Calchas. He rose and said that he would declare the truth if Achilles
would promise to protect him from the anger of any prince whom the truth
might offend.
Achilles knew well whom Calchas meant. Ten days before, a priest of
Apollo had come to the camp and offered ransom for his daughter Chryseis,
a beautiful girl, whom Achilles had taken prisoner, with many others,
when he captured a small town. Chryseis had been given as a slave to
Agamemnon, who always got the best of the plunder because he was chief
king, whether he had taken part in the fighting or not. As a rule he did
not. To Achilles had been given another girl, Briseis, of whom he was
very fond. Now when Achilles had promised to protect Calchas, the
prophet spoke out, and boldly said, what all men knew already, that
Apollo caused the plague because Agamemnon would not return Chryseis, and
had insulted her father, the priest of the God.
On hearing this, Agamemnon was very angry. He said that he would send
Chryseis home, but that he would take Briseis away from Achilles. Then
Achilles was drawing his great sword from the sheath to kill Agamemnon,
but even in his anger he knew that this was wrong, so he merely called
Agamemnon a greedy coward, "with face of dog and heart of deer," and he
swore that he and his men would fight no more against the Trojans. Old
Nestor tried to make peace, and swords were not drawn, but Briseis was
taken away from Achilles, and Ulysses put Chryseis on board of his ship
and sailed away with her to her father's town, and gave her up to her
father. Then her father prayed to Apollo that the plague might cease,
and it did cease--when the Greeks had cleansed their camp, and purified
themselves and cast their filth into the sea.
We know how fierce and brave Achilles was, and we may wonder that he did
not challenge Agamemnon to fight a duel. But the Greeks never fought
duels, and Agamemnon was believed to be chief king by right divine.
Achilles went alone to the sea shore when his dear Briseis was led away,
and he wept, and called to his mother, the silver-footed lady of the
waters. Then she arose from the grey sea, like a mist, and sat down
beside her son, and stroked his hair with her hand, and he told her all
his sorrows. So she said that she would go up to the dwelling of the
Gods, and pray Zeus, the chief of them all, to make the Trojans win a
great battle, so that Agamemnon should feel his need of Achilles, and
make amends for his insolence, and do him honour.
Thetis kept her promise, and Zeus gave his word that the Trojans should
defeat the Greeks. That night Zeus sent a deceitful dream to Agamemnon.
The dream took the shape of old Nestor, and said that Zeus would give him
victory that day. While he was still asleep, Agamemnon was fun of hope
that he would instantly take Troy, but, when he woke, he seems not to
have been nearly so confident, for in place of putting on his armour, and
bidding the Greeks arm themselves, he merely dressed in his robe and
mantle, took his sceptre, and went and told the chiefs about his dream.
They did not feel much encouraged, so he said that he would try the
temper of the army. He would call them together, and propose to return
to Greece; but, if the soldiers took him at his word, the other chiefs
were to stop them. This was a foolish plan, for the soldiers were
wearying for beautiful Greece, and their homes, and wives and children.
Therefore, when Agamemnon did as he had said, the whole army rose, like
the sea under the west wind, and, with a shout, they rushed to the ships,
while the dust blew in clouds from under their feet. Then they began to
launch their ships, and it seems that the princes were carried away in
the rush, and were as eager as the rest to go home.
But Ulysses only stood in sorrow and anger beside his ship, and never put
hand to it, for he felt how disgraceful it was to run away. At last he
threw down his mantle, which his herald Eurybates of Ithaca, a
round-shouldered, brown, curly-haired man, picked up, and he ran to find
Agamemnon, and took his sceptre, a gold-studded staff, like a marshal's
baton, and he gently told the chiefs whom he met that they were doing a
shameful thing; but he drove the common soldiers back to the place of
meeting with the sceptre. They all returned, puzzled and chattering, but
one lame, bandy-legged, bald, round-shouldered, impudent fellow, named
Thersites, jumped up and made an insolent speech, insulting the princes,
and advising the army to run away. Then Ulysses took him and beat him
till the blood came, and he sat down, wiping away his tears, and looking
so foolish that the whole army laughed at him, and cheered Ulysses when
he and Nestor bade them arm and fight. Agamemnon still believed a good
deal in his dream, and prayed that he might take Troy that very day, and
kill Hector. Thus Ulysses alone saved the army from a cowardly retreat;
but for him the ships would have been launched in an hour. But the
Greeks armed and advanced in full force, all except Achilles and his
friend Patroclus with their two or three thousand men. The Trojans also
took heart, knowing that Achilles would not fight, and the armies
approached each other. Paris himself, with two spears and a bow, and
without armour, walked into the space between the hosts, and challenged
any Greek prince to single combat. Menelaus, whose wife Paris had
carried away, was as glad as a hungry lion when he finds a stag or a
goat, and leaped in armour from his chariot, but Paris turned and slunk
away, like a man when he meets a great serpent on a narrow path in the
hills. Then Hector rebuked Paris for his cowardice, and Paris was
ashamed and offered to end the war by fighting Menelaus. If he himself
fell, the Trojans must give up Helen and all her jewels; if Menelaus
fell, the Greeks were to return without fair Helen. The Greeks accepted
this plan, and both sides disarmed themselves to look on at the fight in
comfort, and they meant to take the most solemn oaths to keep peace till
the combat was lost and won, and the quarrel settled. Hector sent into
Troy for two lambs, which were to be sacrificed when the oaths were
taken.
In the meantime Helen of the fair hands was at home working at a great
purple tapestry on which she embroidered the battles of the Greeks and
Trojans. It was just like the tapestry at Bayeux on which Norman ladies
embroidered the battles in the Norman Conquest of England. Helen was
very fond of embroidering, like poor Mary, Queen of Scots, when a
prisoner in Loch Leven Castle. Probably the work kept both Helen and
Mary from thinking of their past lives and their sorrows.
When Helen heard that her husband was to fight Paris, she wept, and threw
a shining veil over her head, and with her two bower maidens went to the
roof of the gate tower, where king Priam was sitting with the old Trojan
chiefs. They saw her and said that it was small blame to fight for so
beautiful a lady, and Priam called her "dear child," and said, "I do not
blame you, I blame the Gods who brought about this war." But Helen said
that she wished she had died before she left her little daughter and her
husband, and her home: "Alas! shameless me!" Then she told Priam the
names of the chief Greek warriors, and of Ulysses, who was shorter by a
head than Agamemnon, but broader in chest and shoulders. She wondered
that she could not see her own two brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, and
thought that they kept aloof in shame for her sin; but the green grass
covered their graves, for they had both died in battle, far away in
Lacedaemon, their own country.
Then the lambs were sacrificed, and the oaths were taken, and Paris put
on his brother's armour, helmet, breastplate, shield, and leg-armour.
Lots were drawn to decide whether Paris or Menelaus should throw his
spear first, and, as Paris won, he threw his spear, but the point was
blunted against the shield of Menelaus. But when Menelaus threw his
spear it went clean through the shield of Paris, and through the side of
his breastplate, but only grazed his robe. Menelaus drew his sword, and
rushed in, and smote at the crest of the helmet of Paris, but his bronze
blade broke into four pieces. Menelaus caught Paris by the horsehair
crest of his helmet, and dragged him towards the Greeks, but the chin-
strap broke, and Menelaus turning round threw the helmet into the ranks
of the Greeks. But when Menelaus looked again for Paris, with a spear in
his hand, he could see him nowhere! The Greeks believed that the
beautiful goddess Aphrodite, whom the Romans called Venus, hid him in a
thick cloud of darkness and carried him to his own house, where Helen of
the fair hands found him and said to him, "Would that thou hadst
perished, conquered by that great warrior who was my lord! Go forth
again and challenge him to fight thee face to face." But Paris had no
more desire to fight, and the Goddess threatened Helen, and compelled her
to remain with him in Troy, coward as he had proved himself. Yet on
other days Paris fought well; it seems that he was afraid of Menelaus
because, in his heart, he was ashamed of himself.
Meanwhile Menelaus was seeking for Paris everywhere, and the Trojans, who
hated him, would have shown his hiding place. But they knew not where he
was, and the Greeks claimed the victory, and thought that, as Paris had
the worst of the fight, Helen would be restored to them, and they would
all sail home. _