In Book VI of The Iliad, when Hector has come to try to get Paris to fight, Helen chips in with her point of view:
Hector answered nothing, but Helen said warmly:
"Brother dear, I am ashamed; I shudder at myself! I can do nothing but evil! I wish a whirlwind had carried me off to the mountains on the day that I was born, or thrown me into the roaring sea—I wish the waves had swept me away before all this was done! But since the gods ordained it so, I wish I had been mated with a better man, one who could feel the contempt and indignation of the world! But this man is unstable, and ever shall be; some day I think this fault will find him out. But do come in now, brother, come in and sit down; I know your heart is most heavy with this world of trouble about us—all for my shame and his infatuation. Indeed, Zeus has laid a cruel fate upon us, to be a byword for generations to come!"
(translation by W.H.D. Rouse, 1938)
My association with the descriptor "warmly" is friendly and calm. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word like this:
warmly adverb (FRIENDLY)
in a very friendly or approving way:
- He shook my hand warmly.
- She greeted the proposals warmly.
Helen's speech doesn't seem to meet that description; instead, it seems rather despairing and mournful, not warm.
Why was this word used to describe Helen's small speech here?