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"Hear me, Trojans and Achaeans, that I may speak even as I am minded;
Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and covenants to nothing,
and foreshadows ill for both of us, till you either take the towers
of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your ships. The princes of
the Achaeans are here present in the midst of you; let him, then,
that will fight me stand forward as your champion against Hector.
Thus I say, and may Jove be witness between us. If your champion slay
me, let him strip me of my armour and take it to your ships, but let
him send my body home that the Trojans and their wives may give me
my dues of fire when I am dead. In like manner, if Apollo vouchsafe
me glory and I slay your champion, I will strip him of his armour
and take it to the city of Ilius, where I will hang it in the temple
of Apollo, but I will give up his body, that the Achaeans may bury
him at their ships, and the build him a mound by the wide waters of
the Hellespont. Then will one say hereafter as he sails his ship over
the sea, 'This is the monument of one who died long since a champion
who was slain by mighty Hector.' Thus will one say, and my fame shall
not be lost."
Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to decline
the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last Menelaus rose
and rebuked them, for he was angry. "Alas," he cried, "vain braggarts,
women forsooth not men, double-­‐dyed indeed will be the stain upon
us if no man of the Danaans will now face Hector. May you be turned
every man of you into earth and water as you sit spiritless and inglorious
in your places. I will myself go out against this man, but the upshot
of the fight will be from on high in the hands of the immortal gods."