Menelaus captures Adrestos, who begs for his life. Agamemnon convinces Menelaus not to spare the Trojan’s life, and Nestor tells the Achaeans to continue their attack and ignore the spoils of war for now. The battle is hard-fought, and there is no room for mercy. 

Helenus, a Trojan seer, advises Hector to return to Troy and encourage the Trojan women to make sacrifices to Athena in hopes of gaining her assistance against Diomedes.

After completing this task, Hector returns to the palace to find Paris comfortably at home with Helen, who is attempting to convince him to rejoin the battle. Hector is enraged by Paris’s passivity and angrily reminds him that others are fighting valiantly for him while he lolls about at home. 

Hector adjourns, disgusted, and goes to find his wife, Andromache, who is standing atop the city walls and watching the still-raging battle below. She pleads with her husband, begging him not to fight, but he reminds her of his duty; he is the leader of the Trojan army, and even though he feels that Troy is soon to fall, he must continue. Fate, he says, is ultimately in the hands of the gods. She weeps but cannot change his mind.