Hector rushed out through the gates, and Alexandros went with him, both eager for battle. They appeared to the Trojans like a fair wind to sailors exhausted from rowing. Hector killed Eioneus; Paris killed Menesthius; Glaucus killed Iphinous as he leapt onto his horses.
Athena saw the Argives being destroyed and came down from Olympus. Apollo saw her from Pergamus and met her by the oak. He proposed that they stop the fighting for that day, since the war would continue until Ilios found its end. Athena agreed and asked how he meant to stop it.
Apollo proposed to stir Hector to challenge one Achaean champion in single combat; on that the Achaeans would be shamed into finding a man who would fight him. Athena agreed. Helenus understood the gods’ plan and went up to Hector: bid the Trojans and Achaeans sit, and challenge the best of the Danaans to fight you face to face in dread combat. It is not yet your fate to die and meet your doom; for I have heard the voice of the gods who are forever.
Hector rejoiced, restrained the Trojans with his spear, and Agamemnon seated the Achaeans. Athena and Apollo sat like vultures on Zeus’s high oak, delighting in men, while the ranks sat thick with shields, helmets, and spears bristling like the sea blackened by West Wind.