III
Some other men, that night when Troy was sacked, having less cause for violence than Menelaos, showed less restraint. Ajax found Cassandra in Athena’s temple, where she served as priestess—a girl lovely enough for Apollo to desire, but of no such beauty as protected Helen. There, as it were in the very presence of the goddess, he took his will of her, and went on to other business in the riot. Afterward when Athena’s anger was clear enough, he admitted he had injured the woman, but asserted that he had not desecrated the temple, for Odysseus had already stolen away the sacred image, and the room, therefore, if a shrine at all, was an abandoned one. But the distinction was not likely to commend itself to the deity, and Agamemnon announced at once that the fleet would delay its homeward sailing until prolonged and thorough sacrifices had been offered, due rituals of introspection and repentance, lest the goddess should wash their sins away in cold water. Agamemnon was tender in the matter from the moment the prizes were distributed. Cassandra fell to him.
All day he stood by the priest while the flames were fed on the altars, in the midst of the respectful army, and Menelaos stood beside him—the two kings without a rival, now that Achilles was gone. At dusk they let the offerings burn down and smolder, the soldiers kindled15
