To this very palace, however, came Ulysses in the guise of a merchant, and he spread his wares before the royal household,—­jewels and ivory, fine fabrics, and curiously wrought weapons.  The king’s daughters chose girdles and veils and such things as women delight in; but Achilles, heedless of the like, sought out the weapons, and handled them with such manly pleasure that his nature stood revealed.  So he, too, yielded to his destiny and set out to join the heroes.

Everywhere men were banded together, building the ships and gathering supplies.  The allied forces of Greece (the Achaians, as they called themselves) chose Agamemnon for their commander-in-chief.  He was a mighty man, king of Mycenae and Argos, and the brother of the wronged Menelaus.  Second to Achilles in strength was the giant Ajax; after him Diomedes, then wise Ulysses, and Nestor, held in great reverence because of his experienced age and fame.  These were the chief heroes.  After two years of busy preparation, they reached the port of Aulis, whence they were to sail for Troy.

But here delay held them.  Agamemnon had chanced to kill a stag which was sacred to Diana, and the army was visited by pestilence, while a great calm kept the ships imprisoned.  At length the oracle made known the reason of this misfortune and demanded for atonement the maiden Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s own daughter.  In helpless grief the king consented to offer her up as a victim, and the maiden was brought, ready for sacrifice.  But at the last moment Diana caught her away in a cloud, leaving a white hind in her place, and carried her to Tauris in Scythia, there to serve as a priestess in the temple.  In the mean time, her kinsfolk, who were at a loss to understand how she had disappeared, mourned her as dead.  But Diana had accepted their child as an offering, and healing came to the army, and the winds blew again.  So the ships set sail.

Meanwhile, in Troy across the sea, the aged Priam and Hecuba gave shelter to their son Paris and his stolen bride.  They were not without misgivings as to these guests, but they made ready to defend their kindred and the citadel.

There were many heroes among the Trojans and their allies, brave and upright men, who little deserved that such reproach should be brought upon them by the guilt of Prince Paris.  There were AEneas and Deiphobus, Glaucus and Sarpedon, and Priam’s most noble son Hector, chief of all the forces, and the very bulwark of Troy.  These and many more were bitterly to regret the day that had brought Paris back to his home.  But he had taken refuge with his own people, and the Trojans had to take up his cause against the hostile fleet that was coming across the sea.

Even the Gods took sides.  Juno and Athene, who had never forgiven the judgment of Paris, condemned all Troy with him and favored the Greeks, as did also Neptune, god of the sea.  But Venus, true to her favorite, furthered the interests of the Trojans with all her power, and persuaded the warlike Mars to do likewise.  Zeus and Apollo strove to be impartial, but they were yet to aid now one side, now another, according to the fortunes of the heroes whom they loved.