Paris, if he will listen to my voice. Would that the earth might open where he stands, And swallow him! Olympian Jupiter Reared him to be the bane of all who dwell In Troy, to large-souled Priam and his sons. Could I behold him sinking to the shades, My heart would lose its sense of bitter woe.”

He spake. His mother, turning homeward, gave Charge to her handmaids, who through all the town Passed, summoning the matrons, while the queen Descended to her chamber, where the air Was sweet with perfumes, and in which were laid Her rich embroidered robes, the handiwork Of Sidon’s damsels, whom her son had brought⁠— The godlike Alexander⁠—from the coast Of Sidon, when across the mighty deep He sailed and brought the high born Helen thence. One robe, most beautiful of all, she chose, To bring to Pallas, ampler than the rest, And many-hued; it glistened like a star, And lay beneath them all. Then hastily She left the chamber with the matron train.