Résumé: The men of the Achaean embassy eat and drink with Antenor and his sons. Akamas is invited to visit the house where Trojan ally Perseus of Dardanus is lodged with his wife Philobia. Akamas expects a meeting there with Aithra, his grandmother, but instead Priam's daughter Laodike arrives to meet Akamas in secret. They end up in bed. Back in Antenor's house, Menelaus drunkenly recalls his past with Helen.
Philobia wakes Akamas before dawn with the news that the Achaean embassy is in grave danger. Akamas slips away to warn his comrades. But already men from the palace are approaching. Antenor and his sons form a cordon around the Achaeans to escort them from Troy. Antimachus, counselor of Priam, confronts them, but Antenor argues him out of killing Menelaus and his companions. Antenor and his sons see the Achaeans safely--more or less--out of Troy.
That evening on Tenedos Agamemnon holds a council of the Achaean leaders. They debate whether to attack Troy by day or night.