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you goddesses have made up your minds to destroy the city."
And Minerva answered, "So be it, Far-­‐Darter; it was in this mind that
I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans. Tell me, then,
how do you propose to end this present fighting?"
Apollo, son of Jove, replied, "Let us incite great Hector to challenge
some one of the Danaans in single combat; on this the Achaeans will
be shamed into finding a man who will fight him."
Minerva assented, and Helenus son of Priam divined the counsel of
the gods; he therefore went up to Hector and said, "Hector son of
Priam, peer of gods in counsel, I am your brother, let me then persuade
you. Bid the other Trojans and Achaeans all of them take their seats,
and challenge the best man among the Achaeans to meet you in single
combat. I have heard the voice of the ever-­‐living gods, and the hour
of your doom is not yet come."
Hector was glad when he heard this saying, and went in among the Trojans,
grasping his spear by the middle to hold them back, and they all sat
down. Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated. But Minerva and
Apollo, in the likeness of vultures, perched on father Jove's high
oak tree, proud of their men; and the ranks sat close ranged together,
bristling with shield and helmet and spear. As when the rising west
wind furs the face of the sea and the waters grow dark beneath it,
so sat the companies of Trojans and Achaeans upon the plain. And Hector
spoke thus:-­‐