Priam ordered supper and watchfulness through the city. At dawn Idaeus was to take Paris’s word to the Achaeans and ask for a truce to burn the dead, after which they would fight again until a god decided victory.
Idaeus went at dawn and found the Danaans, servants of Ares, in council at the stern of Agamemnon’s ship. Standing in their midst he spoke in a clear voice: sons of Atreus and you other chiefs of all the Achaeans, Priam and the rest of the proud Trojans bid me tell you — if it is pleasing and acceptable — the word of Alexandros, because of whom this quarrel has arisen. The possessions that Alexandros brought in his hollow ships to Troy — would that he had died first — he is willing to give them all back, and to add more from his own goods. But he says he will not give back the wedded wife of Menelaus of the great war-cry; though the Trojans urge it. They also bid me ask if you are willing to stop the evil din of war until we have burned our dead; afterward we will fight again, till fate divide us and give victory to one side or the other. They all kept silence. Then Diomedes of the great war-cry spoke: let there be no taking, neither treasure nor yet Helen; even a child can see that the cords of destruction are already fastened on the Trojans. The Achaeans shouted approval.
Agamemnon told Idaeus he had heard the Achaeans’ answer. They would not accept the offer, but they would not begrudge burning the dead; dead bodies should not lie long once life has gone. Zeus would witness the truce. Idaeus returned to Troy with the message.
Both sides gathered bodies and wood. When the sun rose, they met on the plain, washed blood from the dead, lifted them onto wagons, and wept. Priam forbade loud wailing. Trojans and Achaeans burned their dead separately and returned, grieving, to city and ships.