The Iliad Chapter 2
Thetis knelt before Zeus, and prayed: “O father, if I have ever helped thee at all, give me what I ask. Agamemnon has shamed my son Achilles, taking away the gift that the Greeks gave him. Make the Trojans prevail for a while in battle so that the Greeks may find that they cannot win without Achilles.”
Zeus answered: “This is a hard thing that you ask. My wife, Hera, says I favor the Trojans too much. Go, as quickly as you can, that she may not know that you have been here, and I will think how I may best do what you ask.”
Zeus went to his palace, thinking how he might do what Thetis had asked. The best thing seemed to be to deceive Agamemnon and make him think that he could take the city of Troy without the help of Achilles. So he called a Dream and said to it: “Go, Dream, to the tent of Agamemnon, and tell him that if he will lead his army to battle, he will take the city of Troy.”
So the Dream went and stood by Agamemnon’s bedside and said: “Arm the Greeks, and lead them out to battle, for you will take the city of Troy.”
And the king believed that this false dream was true.
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Agamemnon called his army to battle. The chiefs were glad to fight, for they thought that at last the long war was coming to an end. Only Achilles and his people stayed behind. The Trojans set their army in order.
Paris, who had been the cause of all the trouble, cried aloud to the Greeks: “Send out the strongest and the bravest man you have to fight with me.” King Menelaus ran out in front, but when Paris saw him he was very much afraid and turned his back and ran behind the line of the Trojans.
The bravest of the Trojans was Hector, one of the sons of King Priam. When he saw Paris run away, he was very angry, and said: “Paris, you were brave enough to go across the sea and steal Helen from her husband, and now when he comes to fight you, you run away.”
Paris answered: “I am, indeed, greatly to be blamed. As for you, you care for nothing but battles, and your heart is made of iron. Set Menelaus and me to fight, man to man, and let him that conquers have Helen and her possessions.”
Hector was very glad to hear his brother Paris speak in this way, and he said: “Hear, Trojans and Greeks, what Paris says, Paris, who is the cause of this quarrel between us. ‘Let Menelaus and me fight together. Everyone else, whether he is Greek or Trojan, shall lay his arms upon the ground and look on while we two fight together. For the fair Helen and her riches we will fight, and the rest will cease from war and be good friends forever.’ “
King Menelaus said: “Let me and Paris fight together, and let him of us two be slain whose fate it is to die.”
So spoke Menelaus; and both the armies were glad, for they were tired of the war.
Then Hector sent a messenger to Troy to fetch King Priam, and to bring sheep for a sacrifice before the battle. Then King Priam, on behalf of the Trojans, and King Agamemnon, on behalf of the Greeks, offered sacrifice, and made an agreement, confirming it with an oath, that Menelaus and Paris should fight together, and that Helen and her treasure should belong to him who should prevail.
The two warriors stood facing each other. Very fierce were their eyes, so that it could be seen how they hated each other. First Paris threw his spear. It hit the shield of Menelaus. Then Menelaus threw his spear; but first he prayed: “Grant, Father Zeus, that I may have vengeance on Paris, who has done me this great wrong!” But Paris shrank away, so that the spear did not wound him. Then Menelaus drew his sword, and struck the helmet of Paris on the top with a great blow, but the sword was broken into four pieces. Then he rushed upon Paris and caught him by the helmet, and the strap of the helmet choked him. But the goddess Aphrodite helped him, for he was her favorite. She loosed the strap, and the helmet came off in the hand of Menelaus.
The king threw it among the Greeks, and, taking another spear in his hand, ran furiously at Paris. But the goddess covered him with a mist, and so snatched him away, and set him down in his own house at Troy. Everywhere did Menelaus look for him, but he could not find him. With Paris gone, Menelaus was victorious.
King Agamemnon announced: “Now must you Trojans keep the covenant you have made. We will take Helen and her treasures and leave in peace.”
If the Trojans had kept their promise, it would have been well with them. But it was not to be. What follows is how it came to pass that the oath was broken and the promise not kept.
n Next: How the oath was broken