The truce is broken

Book 4

Book 4 opens with the Greek gods meeting on Mount Olympus. After a lengthy exchange between Zeus, Hera and Athene, his decision is that Athene will contrive to get the Trojans to break the truce. Athene does this by taking the form of Laodocus and convincing a man named Pandarus to shoot an arrow at Menelaus. Menelaus falls wounded and has to leave to field and the battle is on, Agamemnon encourages the Greeks to attack the Trojans. The fighting is fierce and at the end of the day many Greeks and Trojans “lay stretched side by side faced downwards upon the earth.” P66