Eideolon, Book 3, Section 7

Was Helen stronger than Achilles even "as the arrows fell"? That could not be, but he recognised in her some power other than her legendary beauty. He could name Helena, but the other he could not name; she was a lure, a light, an intimate flame, a secret kept even from his slaves, the elect, the innermost hierarchy; only Helena could be named and she was a public scandal in any case, a cause of shame to Agamemnon and Menelaus; it was not that she was beautiful, true, she stood on the Walls, taut and indifferent as the arrows fell; it was not that she was beautiful, there were others, in spite of the legend, as gracious, as tall; it was not that she was beautiful, but he stared and stared across the charred wood and the smouldering flame, till his eyes cleared and the smoke drifted away.