The Greeks, having in vain applied for redress, determined to right themselves by force of arms.
This war had been first kindled by the perfidy of Paris, who, being sent into Greece by his father Priam upon some embassy, carried off Helen, the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta. This epistle is supposed to be addressed by Penelope to her husband Ulysses, upon occasion of his long absence from her after the reduction of Troy.
