Editing Helen of Troy (section)

=== During the Fall of Troy ===
[[File:Helen Menelaus Louvre G424.jpg|thumb|right|Helen and Menelaus: Menelaus intends to strike Helen; captivated by her beauty, he drops his sword. A flying [[Eros]] and [[Aphrodite]] (on the left) watch the scene. Detail of an Attic [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] [[krater]] c.&nbsp;450–440&nbsp;BC ([[Paris]], [[Louvre]])]]
[[File:Ajax drags Cassandra from Palladium.jpg|thumb|left|Menelaus captures Helen in Troy, [[Ajax the Lesser]] drags [[Cassandra]] from [[Palladium (classical antiquity)|Palladium]] before eyes of [[Priam]], fresco from the [[Casa del Menandro]], [[Pompeii]]]]

During the fall of Troy, Helen's role is ambiguous. In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', Deiphobus gives an account of Helen's treacherous stance: when the [[Trojan Horse]] was admitted into the city, she feigned [[Bacchic mysteries|Bacchic rites]], leading a chorus of Trojan women, and, holding a torch among them, she signaled to the Greeks from the city's central tower. In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', however, Homer narrates a different story: Helen circled the Horse three times, and she imitated the voices of the Greek women left behind at home—she thus tortured the men inside (including Odysseus and Menelaus) with the memory of their loved ones, and brought them to the brink of destruction.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'', IV, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D265 277–289]; Virgil, ''Aeneid'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D494 515–519].<br />* Hughes, ''Helen of Troy'', 220; Suzuki, ''Metamorphoses of Helen'', 99–100.</ref>

After the deaths of Hector and Paris, Helen became the paramour of their younger brother, Deiphobus; but when the sack of Troy began, she hid her new husband's sword, and left him to the mercy of Menelaus and Odysseus. In ''Aeneid'', [[Aeneas]] meets the mutilated Deiphobus in [[Greek underworld|Hades]]; his wounds serve as a testimony to his ignominious end, abetted by Helen's final act of treachery.<ref>Virgil, ''Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D494 494–512]<br />* Suzuki, ''Metamorphoses of Helen'', 101–102.</ref>

However, Helen's portraits in Troy seem to contradict each other. From one side, we read about the treacherous Helen who simulated Bacchic rites and rejoiced over the carnage of Trojans. On the other hand, there is another Helen, lonely and helpless; desperate to find sanctuary, while Troy is on fire. Stesichorus narrates that both Greeks and Trojans gathered to stone her to death.<ref>Stesichorus, fr. 201 PMG.</ref> When Menelaus finally found her, he raised his sword to kill her. He had demanded that only he should slay his unfaithful wife; but, when he was ready to do so, she dropped her robe from her shoulders, and the sight of her beauty caused him to let the sword drop from his hand.<ref group=lower-alpha>According to the ancient writers, it was the sight of Helen's face or breasts that made Menelaus drop his sword. See, ''inter alia'', Aristophanes, ''Lysistrata'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0242%3Acard%3D130 155]; ''Little Iliad'', fr. 13 EGF.<br />* Maguire, ''Helen of Troy'', 52</ref> [[Electra]] wails:<ref>Euripides, ''Orestes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0116%3Acard%3D1286 1286]</ref>
{{blockquote|Alas for my troubles! Can it be that her beauty has blunted their swords?}}