CHAPTER VII
THE BURNING OF THE DEAD; AND THE
BATTLE OF THE PLAIN
With feasting did the Greeks do honour to Ajax, and when the feast was ended, Nestor, the oldest and the most wise of the warriors, gave counsel that at daybreak on the morrow they should gather the bodies of their dead and burn them on a great pyre.
But while the Greek chiefs in peace took council together, they of Troy with fierce and angry words disputed at a gate of their city.
Said one:
‘How can we hope to prosper in the fight when our oath is broken? Let us then give back to the Greeks fair Helen and all her wealth.’
But Paris, in wrath, made reply:
‘Mad indeed thou art if thou dost think I will do as thou sayest! The wealth of Helen will I return with a willing heart, and to it add more wealth of mine own. But Helen my wife will I give back never!’
At dawn on the morrow did the Trojan heralds come to the camp of Agamemnon and gave to him the message.
‘Thus saith Priam of Troy and all his nobles, The wealth that Helen brought with her to Troy will Paris return, and more besides of his own, but the beautiful wife of Menelaus he saith he will not give. But grant to us a truce until we have buried our dead, and then again will we fight until the gods grant us victory.’
Then said Diomedes: