Paris dwelt at the court of Menelaus for a long time,
treated with a royal courtesy which he ill repaid. For at length while
the king was absent on a journey to Crete, his guest won the heart of
Fair Helen, and persuaded her to forsake her husband and sail away to
Troy.
King Menelaus returned to find the nest empty of the swan. Paris and
the fairest woman in the world were well across the sea.
II. THE ROUSING OF THE HEROES.
When this treachery came to light, all Greece took fire with
indignation. The heroes remembered their pledge, and wrath came upon
them at the wrong done to Menelaus. But they were less angered with
Fair Helen than with Paris, for they felt assured that the queen had
been lured from her country and out of her own senses by some spell of
enchantment. So they took counsel how they might bring back Fair Helen
to her home and husband.
Years had come and gone since that wedding-feast when Eris had flung
the apple of discord, like a firebrand, among the guests. But the spark
of dissension that had smouldered so long burst into flame now, and,
fanned by the enmities of men and the rivalries of the gods, it seemed
like to fire heaven and earth.
A few of the heroes answered the call to arms unwillingly. Time had
reconciled them to the loss of Fair Helen, and they were loath to leave
home and happiness for war, even in her cause.
One of these was Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who had married Penelope,
and was quite content with his kingdom and his little son Telemachus.
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