Agamemnon and Ulysses both rose to meet them. The attendants
brought on the oath-offerings and mixed the wine in the
mixing-bowls; they poured water over the hands of the chieftains,
and the son of Atreus drew the dagger that hung by his sword, and
cut wool from the lambs' heads; this the men-servants gave about
among the Trojan and Achaean princes, and the son of Atreus
lifted up his hands in prayer. "Father Jove," he cried, "that
rulest in Ida, most glorious in power, and thou oh Sun, that
seest and givest ear to all things, Earth and Rivers, and ye who
in the realms below chastise the soul of him that has broken his
oath, witness these rites and guard them, that they be not vain.
If Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and all her
wealth, while we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus kills
Alexandrus, let the Trojans give back Helen and all that she has;
let them moreover pay such fine to the Achaeans as shall be
agreed upon, in testimony among those that shall be born
hereafter. And if Priam and his sons refuse such fine when
Alexandrus has fallen, then will I stay here and fight on till I
have got satisfaction."

As he spoke he drew his knife across the throats of the victims,
and laid them down gasping and dying upon the ground, for the
knife had reft them of their strength. Then they poured wine from
the mixing-bowl into the cups, and prayed to the everlasting
gods, saying, Trojans and Achaeans among one another, "Jove, most
great and glorious, and ye other everlasting gods, grant that the
brains of them who shall first sin against their oaths--of them
and their children--may be shed upon the ground even as this
wine, and let their wives become the slaves of strangers."