A hushed silence fills the room is silent and the eight greatest Kings of Greece take their seats. Agamemnon, Menelaus, Diomedes, Nestor, Ajax, Odysseus, Achilles and you... all of you are here for one reason: Helen, the most beautiful lady the world has ever known. Every single one of you has looked upon that face as beautiful as crystal, heard that voice as soft as running water and felt a burning desire that might drive lesser men crazy. The stars shone brighter in the heavens and life seemed more wonderous because she was in it but now there is only darkness. Helen is gone, stolen across the sea by a foreign Prince! King Menelaus of Sparta, the one who won her affection and hand in marriage is the most crushed of all, a strong and honest man he slumps rather than sits in his chair, his eyes fixed on the floor before him as though still unable to comprehend what has happened. It falls to his brother Agamemnon of Argos to open this council. He is a big man, like his brother, and his deep voice fills the small room.
"You all know why you are here. Last month King Priam of Troy sent his sons Hector and Paris as Peace Envoys to my brother's palace. They ate his bread and drank his wine and then while the Palace Guards lay sleeping they fled like thieves in the night and took the greatest treasure in all Greece with them! This is a betrayal that no true man can bear! We have always been great friends and allies, I ask now who will sail with me across the Aegean Sea and though all the hordes of Asia stand in our way find Helen and bring her back?"
Silver-haired King Nestor of Pylos who sailed with Jason on the Argo and killed the legendary Wild Boar of Calydonia speaks next. "Troy has endured many sieges: it's walls are impregnable and it's army the greatest in all the world. But if any mortal men alive can capture that city and bring back Helen then we who are here today are the ones to do it!"
King Odysseus of Ithaca stirs uncomfortably. He is a slim, cunning man and rumour is he feigned madness to try to avoid coming to this council. Now finding himself exactly where he does not want to be his is the lone voice of dissent. "Paris may be a thief disguised as a Prince but his brother Hector is known to us all as a brave and honorable warrior. He will fight us to his dying breath."
A youthful laugh greets his words coming from a young man with long blond hair and eye-catching good looks lounging in his chair. He is King Achilles of the Myrmidons and on the battlefield he as deadly and invincible as Hades himself. "Perhaps there are some here who are his match?" he suggests dismisively. He alone seems to find this heinous crime a source of amusement.
At his side sits his friend King Diomedes of Argos, the youngest of all present but with a reputation second only to Achilles for courage and honor. At the moment he looks worried. "If we go I say we should go as soon as possible. As soon as Priam learns what his son has done he will summon his allies to him: his nephew Prince Aeneas, Pandarus the Archer, Queen Penthesillia of the Amazonian Warrior-Women and King Memnon of Africa. Hector is just one of many deadly enemies."
"If we are going to go it is better that we get to our work" growls King Ajax of Salamis, Achilles's cousin who at seven feet tall is a giant of a man and whose scarred faces bears testimony to his many battles.
"What is the decision of the council?" you ask. As King of Thebes you have brought 1,000 warriors to Aulus to join the great army assembling here. You know that you will not be taking all of those brave men home to their wives and children and if your decisions are not sound the tears of your wife and children will join the inevitable chorus of grief.
"Let the ships be provisioned, sacrifices offered to the Gods and we shall sail on the morning tide" Agamemnon declares. "Let each man here swear to return to Greece with Helen or not return at all!"
Vows are sworn and the next day the greatest fleet Greece has ever known sets sail from Aulus bound for Troy. As you watch the east coast of Greece recede into the distance you wonder if you will ever see those fair lands again.