“Idomeneus received me joyfully, and entertained me most royally in his palace; and for nine days we feasted and made all things ready for the hunt.  But, lo! on the evening of the last day, a vision came to me.  Gold-winged Iris, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods, stood before me.  ‘Hasten back to Lacedaemon,’ she cried, for thou art robbed of thy dearest treasure!’ And even while she spoke, one of my own ships, came sailing into the harbor, bringing trusted heralds whom the elders of Lacedaemon had sent to me.

“They told me the fatal news.  ‘No sooner were you well on your way,’ they said, ’than Paris began to put his ship in readiness to depart.  Helen prayed him to tarry until your return, but he would not hearken, “I will stay no longer,” he said.  “My seamen rest upon their oars; the sails of my ship are spread; the breeze will 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.