Perceiving that the Trojans were unable to withstand the fury of Diomed,
assisted as he was by Pallas and Juno, Hector hastened homeward to order a
sacrifice to Pallas that she might look with more favor upon their cause.
Having instructed his mother to lay her richest robe on Pallas's shrine,
Hector sought his wife, the white-armed Andromache, and their babe,
Astyanax. Andromache entreated Hector to go forth no more to battle, to
lose his life and leave their babe fatherless; but Hector, upon whom the
cares of war sat heavily, bade her a tender farewell, and kissing the
babe, returned with Paris to the field.
Incited by Pallas and Apollo, Helenus suggested to his brother Hector that
he should challenge the bravest of the Greeks to single combat. The lot
fell to Ajax the Greater, and the two mighty heroes contested with spears
and stones until twilight fell, and they were parted by a herald.
That night the Greeks feasted, and when, the next morning, a Trojan
messenger offered them the treasures of Helen if they would withdraw from
Troy, and proposed a truce, they indignantly rejected the offer, declaring
that they would not even accept Helen herself, but agreed upon a truce in
which to bury the dead.
When the battle was renewed, Jupiter forbade the gods to take part.
Opposed by no celestial foes, the Trojans were this day successful, and
having pursued the Greeks to the ships, sat all night, full of hope,
around their thousand watch fires, waiting for the morn.
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