50
And although the Trojans might have rid themselves of the misfortunes which encompassed them by surrendering Helen, and the Greeks might have lived in peace for all time by being indifferent to her fate, neither so wished; on the contrary, the Trojans allowed their cities to be laid waste and their land to be ravaged, so as to avoid yielding Helen to the Greeks, and the Greeks chose rather, remaining in a foreign land to grow old there and never to see their own again, than, leaving her behind, to return to their fatherland.
51
And they were not acting in this way as eager champions of Alexander or of Menelaus; nay, the Trojans were upholding the cause of Asia, the Greeks of Europe, in the belief that the land in which Helen in person resided would be the more favored of Fortune.
52
So great a passion for the hardships of that expedition and for participation in it took possession not only of the Greeks and the barbarians, but also of the gods, that they did not dissuade even their own children from joining in the struggles around TroyCf. Isoc. 12.81.; Zeus, though foreseeing the fate of SarpedonSarpedon, son of Zeus and Laodameia, prominent in the Iliad, was killed by Patroclus; Memnon and Cycnus were slain by Achilles.,and Eos that of Memnon, and Poseidon that of Cycnus, and Thetis that of Achilles, nevertheless they all urged them on and sent them forth,
53
thinking it more honorable for them to die fighting for the daughter of Zeus than to live without having taken part in the perils undergone on her account. And why should we be astonished that the gods felt thus concerning their children? For they themselves engaged in a far greater and more terrible struggle than when they fought the Giants; for against those enemies they had fought a battle in concert, but for Helen they fought a war against one another.
