Meanwhile the gods sat in council in the hall of Zeus; and fair Hebe poured out for them the nectar, and they pledged each other in cups of gold, looking down upon the city of Troy. Then spake Zeus, seeking to provoke Hera with taunting words:-- He'-be. "Two helpers hath Menelaus among the goddesses, even Hera and Athene. But now they sit still and take their pleasure, while Aphrodite walketh beside Paris, and delivereth him from instant death. Yet, seeing that Menelaus hath prevailed, let us consider what shall next be done. Shall we stir up war again, or make peace between the hosts? If it please you to make peace, then let Menelaus take Helen to his home again, and let Priam's city continue." So he spake. But Hera and Athene sat wrathful side by side, meditating evil in their hearts against the men of Troy. Athene kept silence, in spite of the fury that raged within her, but Hera could not contain her wrath, and spake:-- "What is this thou sayest? Wouldst thou make void all my toil and trouble, with which I have gathered this people together, that Priam and his sons may be destroyed? Do as thou wilt; but it pleaseth not the other gods." To her Zeus spake in answer wrathfully: "Tell us what evil have Priam and the sons of Priam done in thy sight that thou desirest so pitilessly the downfall of this fair city of Troy? Verily wert thou to pass within the gates, and eat Priam raw, and his sons with him, then might thy hate be satisfied. Do, then, as thou wilt. Let not this matter breed ill-will betwixt me and thee. Yet remember what I say. If I be minded to destroy in time to come some city that thou lovest, say me not nay, nor hinder me, for in this have I yielded to thy will. Verily of all the cities of men that lie beneath the stars, I have loved Troy the best. Never there has my altar failed of feast and banquet and the sweet savour that is the due of gods." Then Hera answered: "Three cities have I that I love, Argos and Sparta and Mycenæ. If they have offended thee, destroy them; I begrudge them not; nor, indeed, could I withstand thy will. Yet my toil also should not be made vain; for I, too, am a daughter of Chronos, and first in place among the immortals, seeing that I am thy wife, who art the King. Come, therefore, let us yield to one another, and the other gods will follow us. Let now Athene go down, and bring it to pass that some one of the Trojans begin the strife and break the truce." My-ce'-næ. Thus she ended, and Zeus said not nay, but spake straightway to Athene: "Make haste, get thee down to the host, and bring it to pass that the men of Troy break the truce." So Athene sped down from the top of Olympus, like to a star which Zeus sends as a sign to sailors on the sea, or to some host that goeth forth to battle; and wonder cometh upon all that behold it.