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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32326-8.txt b/32326-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b2fde0 --- /dev/null +++ b/32326-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9040 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Tales of Troy and Greece, by Andrew Lang, +Illustrated by H. J. Ford + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Tales of Troy and Greece + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [eBook #32326] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE*** + + +E-text prepared by Peter Vickers, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32326-h.htm or 32326-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32326/32326-h/32326-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32326/32326-h.zip) + + + + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +[Illustration: THE STEALING OF HELEN.] + +[_See_ p. 15.] + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +by + +ANDREW LANG + +Illustrated by H. J. Ford + + + + + + + +Dover Publications, Inc. +Mineola, New York + +Bibliographical Note + +This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged +republication of the 1941 printing of the work originally published by +Longmans, Green and Co., London and New York, in 1907. We have slightly +repositioned a few of the illustrations. + +Manufactured in the United States of America + +Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 + + + + +TO + +H. RIDER HAGGARD + + + + +CONTENTS + + + _ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES_ + PAGE + + I. THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES 1 + + II. HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES 5 + + III. THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS 9 + + IV. THE STEALING OF HELEN 13 + + V. TROJAN VICTORIES 30 + + VI. BATTLE AT THE SHIPS 38 + + VII. THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS 45 + + VIII. THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF + HECTOR 53 + + IX. HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY 56 + + X. THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON--THE + DEATH OF ACHILLES 66 + + XI. ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES--THE + VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS 79 + + XII. THE SLAYING OF PARIS 87 + + XIII. HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE HORSE + OF TREE 92 + + XIV. THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN 96 + + + _THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES_ + + I. THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS + OF ULYSSES 101 + + II. THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, + THE SIRENS 110 + + III. THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE + OF THE SUN 118 + + IV. HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER 122 + + V. HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO 128 + + VI. HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED + PHAEACIA 133 + + VII. HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND + FOR SAFETY DISGUISED HIMSELF AS AN OLD + BEGGAR MAN 145 + + VIII. ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR TO HIS OWN + PALACE 153 + + IX. THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS 163 + + X. THE END 168 + + + _THE FLEECE OF GOLD_ + + I. THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD. 172 + + II. THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE 180 + + III. THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE 191 + + + _THESEUS_ + + I. THE WEDDING OF AETHRA 201 + + II. THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS 205 + + III. ADVENTURES OF THESEUS 211 + + IV. THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER 226 + + V. HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE 233 + + VI. THESEUS IN CRETE 239 + + VII. THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR 247 + + + _PERSEUS_ + + I. THE PRISON OF DANAE 254 + + II. THE VOW OF PERSEUS 261 + + III. PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 279 + + IV. HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE 284 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THE STEALING OF HELEN _Frontispiece_ + + MAP OF GREECE _facing p. 1_ + + ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR + AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH " 4 + + HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE + GREEK HOST TO PRIAM " 28 + + ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER " 70 + + PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE " 90 + + MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE + INTERCESSION OF ULYSSES " 100 + + CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF + ULYSSES) TO THE STYES " 112 + + THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA " 120 + + CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES " 130 + + HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA " 136 + + ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS " 164 + + KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT + SHE CANNOT FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS " 174 + + HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN + FLEECE WAS SLAIN " 198 + + THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE " 208 + + HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR " 248 + + PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES " 272 + + THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA " 282 + + + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +[Illustration: GREECE] + + + + +TALES OF TROY + + + + +ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES + + + + +I + +THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES + + +Long ago, in a little island called Ithaca, on the west coast of Greece, +there lived a king named Laertes. His kingdom was small and mountainous. +People used to say that Ithaca 'lay like a shield upon the sea,' which +sounds as if it were a flat country. But in those times shields were +very large, and rose at the middle into two peaks with a hollow between +them, so that Ithaca, seen far off in the sea, with her two chief +mountain peaks, and a cloven valley between them, looked exactly like a +shield. The country was so rough that men kept no horses, for, at that +time, people drove, standing up in little light chariots with two +horses; they never rode, and there was no cavalry in battle: men fought +from chariots. When Ulysses, the son of Laertes, King of Ithaca grew up, +he never fought from a chariot, for he had none, but always on foot. + +If there were no horses in Ithaca, there was plenty of cattle. The +father of Ulysses had flocks of sheep, and herds of swine, and wild +goats, deer, and hares lived in the hills and in the plains. The sea was +full of fish of many sorts, which men caught with nets, and with rod and +line and hook. + +Thus Ithaca was a good island to live in. The summer was long, and there +was hardly any winter; only a few cold weeks, and then the swallows came +back, and the plains were like a garden, all covered with wild +flowers--violets, lilies, narcissus, and roses. With the blue sky and +the blue sea, the island was beautiful. White temples stood on the +shores; and the Nymphs, a sort of fairies, had their little shrines +built of stone, with wild rose-bushes hanging over them. + +Other islands lay within sight, crowned with mountains, stretching away, +one behind the other, into the sunset. Ulysses in the course of his life +saw many rich countries, and great cities of men, but, wherever he was, +his heart was always in the little isle of Ithaca, where he had learned +how to row, and how to sail a boat, and how to shoot with bow and arrow, +and to hunt boars and stags, and manage his hounds. + +The mother of Ulysses was called Anticleia: she was the daughter of King +Autolycus, who lived near Parnassus, a mountain on the mainland. This +King Autolycus was the most cunning of men. He was a Master Thief, and +could steal a man's pillow from under his head, but he does not seem to +have been thought worse of for this. The Greeks had a God of Thieves, +named Hermes, whom Autolycus worshipped, and people thought more good of +his cunning tricks than harm of his dishonesty. Perhaps these tricks of +his were only practised for amusement; however that may be, Ulysses +became as artful as his grandfather; he was both the bravest and the +most cunning of men, but Ulysses never stole things, except once, as we +shall hear, from the enemy in time of war. He showed his cunning in +stratagems of war, and in many strange escapes from giants and +man-eaters. + +Soon after Ulysses was born, his grandfather came to see his mother and +father in Ithaca. He was sitting at supper when the nurse of Ulysses, +whose name was Eurycleia, brought in the baby, and set him on the knees +of Autolycus, saying, 'Find a name for your grandson, for he is a child +of many prayers.' + +'I am very angry with many men and women in the world,' said Autolycus, +'so let the child's name be _A Man of Wrath_,' which, in Greek, was +Odysseus. So the child was called Odysseus by his own people, but the +name was changed into Ulysses, and we shall call him Ulysses. + +We do not know much about Ulysses when he was a little boy, except that +he used to run about the garden with his father, asking questions, and +begging that he might have fruit trees 'for his very own.' He was a +great pet, for his parents had no other son, so his father gave him +thirteen pear trees, and forty fig trees, and promised him fifty rows of +vines, all covered with grapes, which he could eat when he liked, +without asking leave of the gardener. So he was not tempted to steal +fruit, like his grandfather. + +When Autolycus gave Ulysses his name, he said that he must come to stay +with him, when he was a big boy, and he would get splendid presents. +Ulysses was told about this, so, when he was a tall lad, he crossed the +sea and drove in his chariot to the old man's house on Mount Parnassus. +Everybody welcomed him, and next day his uncles and cousins and he went +out to hunt a fierce wild boar, early in the morning. Probably Ulysses +took his own dog, named Argos, the best of hounds, of which we shall +hear again, long afterwards, for the dog lived to be very old. Soon the +hounds came on the scent of a wild boar, and after them the men went, +with spears in their hands, and Ulysses ran foremost, for he was already +the swiftest runner in Greece. + +He came on a great boar lying in a tangled thicket of boughs and +bracken, a dark place where the sun never shone, nor could the rain +pierce through. Then the noise of the men's shouts and the barking of +the dogs awakened the boar, and up he sprang, bristling all over his +back, and with fire shining from his eyes. In rushed Ulysses first of +all, with his spear raised to strike, but the boar was too quick for +him, and ran in, and drove his sharp tusk sideways, ripping up the thigh +of Ulysses. But the boar's tusk missed the bone, and Ulysses sent his +sharp spear into the beast's right shoulder, and the spear went clean +through, and the boar fell dead, with a loud cry. The uncles of Ulysses +bound up his wound carefully, and sang a magical song over it, as the +French soldiers wanted to do to Joan of Arc when the arrow pierced her +shoulder at the siege of Orleans. Then the blood ceased to flow, and +soon Ulysses was quite healed of his wound. They thought that he would +be a good warrior, and gave him splendid presents, and when he went home +again he told all that had happened to his father and mother, and his +nurse, Eurycleia. But there was always a long white mark or scar above +his left knee, and about that scar we shall hear again, many years +afterwards. + +[Illustration: ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR AND GETS HIS +WOUND IN HIS THIGH.] + + + + +II + +HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES + + +When Ulysses was a young man he wished to marry a princess of his own +rank. Now there were at that time many kings in Greece, and you must be +told how they lived. Each king had his own little kingdom, with his +chief town, walled with huge walls of enormous stone. Many of these +walls are still standing, though the grass has grown over the ruins of +most of them, and in later years, men believed that those walls must +have been built by giants, the stones are so enormous. Each king had +nobles under him, rich men, and all had their palaces, each with its +courtyard, and its long hall, where the fire burned in the midst, and +the King and Queen sat beside it on high thrones, between the four chief +carved pillars that held up the roof. The thrones were made of cedar +wood and ivory, inlaid with gold, and there were many other chairs and +small tables for guests, and the walls and doors were covered with +bronze plates, and gold and silver, and sheets of blue glass. Sometimes +they were painted with pictures of bull hunts, and a few of these +pictures may still be seen. At night torches were lit, and placed in the +hands of golden figures of boys, but all the smoke of fire and torches +escaped by a hole in the roof, and made the ceiling black. On the walls +hung swords and spears and helmets and shields, which needed to be often +cleaned from the stains of the smoke. The minstrel or poet sat beside +the King and Queen, and, after supper he struck his harp, and sang +stories of old wars. At night the King and Queen slept in their own +place, and the women in their own rooms; the princesses had their +chambers upstairs, and the young princes had each his room built +separate in the courtyard. + +There were bath rooms with polished baths, where guests were taken when +they arrived dirty from a journey. The guests lay at night on beds in +the portico, for the climate was warm. There were plenty of servants, +who were usually slaves taken in war, but they were very kindly treated, +and were friendly with their masters. No coined money was used; people +paid for things in cattle, or in weighed pieces of gold. Rich men had +plenty of gold cups, and gold-hilted swords, and bracelets, and +brooches. The kings were the leaders in war and judges in peace, and did +sacrifices to the Gods, killing cattle and swine and sheep, on which +they afterwards dined. + +They dressed in a simple way, in a long smock of linen or silk, which +fell almost to the feet, but was tucked up into a belt round the waist, +and worn longer or shorter, as they happened to choose. Where it needed +fastening at the throat, golden brooches were used, beautifully made, +with safety pins. This garment was much like the plaid that the +Highlanders used to wear, with its belt and brooches. Over it the Greeks +wore great cloaks of woollen cloth when the weather was cold, but these +they did not use in battle. They fastened their breastplates, in war, +over their smocks, and had other armour covering the lower parts of the +body, and leg armour called 'greaves'; while the great shield which +guarded the whole body from throat to ankles was carried by a broad belt +slung round the neck. The sword was worn in another belt, crossing the +shield belt. They had light shoes in peace, and higher and heavier boots +in war, or for walking across country. + +The women wore the smock, with more brooches and jewels than the men; +and had head coverings, with veils, and mantles over all, and necklaces +of gold and amber, earrings, and bracelets of gold or of bronze. The +colours of their dresses were various, chiefly white and purple; and, +when in mourning, they wore very dark blue, not black. All the armour, +and the sword blades and spearheads were made, not of steel or iron, but +of bronze, a mixture of copper and tin. The shields were made of several +thicknesses of leather, with a plating of bronze above; tools, such as +axes and ploughshares, were either of iron or bronze; and so were the +blades of knives and daggers. + +To us the houses and way of living would have seemed very splendid, and +also, in some ways, rather rough. The palace floors, at least in the +house of Ulysses, were littered with bones and feet of the oxen slain +for food, but this happened when Ulysses had been long from home. The +floor of the hall in the house of Ulysses was not boarded with planks, +or paved with stone: it was made of clay; for he was a poor king of +small islands. The cooking was coarse: a pig or sheep was killed, +roasted and eaten immediately. We never hear of boiling meat, and though +people probably ate fish, we do not hear of their doing so, except when +no meat could be procured. Still some people must have liked them; for +in the pictures that were painted or cut in precious stones in these +times we see the half-naked fisherman walking home, carrying large fish. + +The people were wonderful workers of gold and bronze. Hundreds of their +golden jewels have been found in their graves, but probably these were +made and buried two or three centuries before the time of Ulysses. The +dagger blades had pictures of fights with lions, and of flowers, inlaid +on them, in gold of various colours, and in silver; nothing so beautiful +is made now. There are figures of men hunting bulls on some of the gold +cups, and these are wonderfully life-like. The vases and pots of +earthenware were painted in charming patterns: in short, it was a +splendid world to live in. + +The people believed in many Gods, male and female, under the chief God, +Zeus. The Gods were thought to be taller than men, and immortal, and to +live in much the same way as men did, eating, drinking, and sleeping in +glorious palaces. Though they were supposed to reward good men, and to +punish people who broke their oaths and were unkind to strangers, there +were many stories told in which the Gods were fickle, cruel, selfish, +and set very bad examples to men. How far these stories were believed is +not sure; it is certain that 'all men felt a need of the Gods,' and +thought that they were pleased by good actions and displeased by evil. +Yet, when a man felt that his behaviour had been bad, he often threw the +blame on the Gods, and said that they had misled him, which really meant +no more than that 'he could not help it.' + +There was a curious custom by which the princes bought wives from the +fathers of the princesses, giving cattle and gold, and bronze and iron, +but sometimes a prince got a wife as the reward for some very brave +action. A man would not give his daughter to a wooer whom she did not +love, even if he offered the highest price, at least this must have been +the general rule, for husbands and wives were very fond of each other, +and of their children, and husbands always allowed their wives to rule +the house, and give their advice on everything. It was thought a very +wicked thing for a woman to like another man better than her husband, +and there were few such wives, but among them was the most beautiful +woman who ever lived. + + + + +III + +THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS + + +This was the way in which people lived when Ulysses was young, and +wished to be married. The worst thing in the way of life was that the +greatest and most beautiful princesses might be taken prisoners, and +carried off as slaves to the towns of the men who had killed their +fathers and husbands. Now at that time one lady was far the fairest in +the world: namely, Helen, daughter of King Tyndarus. Every young prince +heard of her and desired to marry her; so her father invited them all to +his palace, and entertained them, and found out what they would give. +Among the rest Ulysses went, but his father had a little kingdom, a +rough island, with others near it, and Ulysses had not a good chance. He +was not tall; though very strong and active, he was a short man with +broad shoulders, but his face was handsome, and, like all the princes, +he wore long yellow hair, clustering like a hyacinth flower. His manner +was rather hesitating, and he seemed to speak very slowly at first, +though afterwards his words came freely. He was good at everything a man +can do; he could plough, and build houses, and make ships, and he was +the best archer in Greece, except one, and could bend the great bow of a +dead king, Eurytus, which no other man could string. But he had no +horses, and had no great train of followers; and, in short, neither +Helen nor her father thought of choosing Ulysses for her husband out of +so many tall, handsome young princes, glittering with gold ornaments. +Still, Helen was very kind to Ulysses, and there was great friendship +between them, which was fortunate for her in the end. + +Tyndarus first made all the princes take an oath that they would stand +by the prince whom he chose, and would fight for him in all his +quarrels. Then he named for her husband Menelaus, King of Lacedaemon. He +was a very brave man, but not one of the strongest; he was not such a +fighter as the gigantic Aias, the tallest and strongest of men; or as +Diomede, the friend of Ulysses; or as his own brother, Agamemnon, the +King of the rich city of Mycenae, who was chief over all other princes, +and general of the whole army in war. The great lions carved in stone +that seemed to guard his city are still standing above the gate through +which Agamemnon used to drive his chariot. + +The man who proved to be the best fighter of all, Achilles, was not +among the lovers of Helen, for he was still a boy, and his mother, +Thetis of the silver feet, a goddess of the sea, had sent him to be +brought up as a girl, among the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros, in an +island far away. Thetis did this because Achilles was her only child, +and there was a prophecy that, if he went to the wars, he would win the +greatest glory, but die very young, and never see his mother again. She +thought that if war broke out he would not be found hiding in girl's +dress, among girls, far away. + +So at last, after thinking over the matter for long, Tyndarus gave fair +Helen to Menelaus, the rich King of Lacedaemon; and her twin sister +Clytaemnestra, who was also very beautiful, was given to King Agamemnon, +the chief over all the princes. They all lived very happily together at +first, but not for long. + +In the meantime King Tyndarus spoke to his brother Icarius, who had a +daughter named Penelope. She also was very pretty, but not nearly so +beautiful as her cousin, fair Helen, and we know that Penelope was not +very fond of her cousin. Icarius, admiring the strength and wisdom of +Ulysses, gave him his daughter Penelope to be his wife, and Ulysses +loved her very dearly, no man and wife were ever dearer to each other. +They went away together to rocky Ithaca, and perhaps Penelope was not +sorry that a wide sea lay between her home and that of Helen; for Helen +was not only the fairest woman that ever lived in the world, but she was +so kind and gracious and charming that no man could see her without +loving her. When she was only a child, the famous prince Theseus, whose +story is to be told later, carried her away to his own city of Athens, +meaning to marry her when she grew up, and, even at that time, there was +a war for her sake, for her brothers followed Theseus with an army, and +fought him, and brought her home. + +She had fairy gifts: for instance, she had a great red jewel, called +'the Star,' and when she wore it red drops seemed to fall from it and +vanished before they touched and stained her white breast--so white that +people called her 'the Daughter of the Swan.' She could speak in the +very voice of any man or woman, so folk also named her Echo, and it was +believed that she could neither grow old nor die, but would at last pass +away to the Elysian plain and the world's end, where life is easiest for +men. No snow comes thither, nor great storm, nor any rain; but always +the river of Ocean that rings round the whole earth sends forth the west +wind to blow cool on the people of King Rhadamanthus of the fair hair. +These were some of the stories that men told of fair Helen, but Ulysses +was never sorry that he had not the fortune to marry her, so fond he was +of her cousin, his wife, Penelope, who was very wise and good. + +When Ulysses brought his wife home they lived, as the custom was, in the +palace of his father, King Laertes, but Ulysses, with his own hands, +built a chamber for Penelope and himself. There grew a great olive tree +in the inner court of the palace, and its stem was as large as one of +the tall carved pillars of the hall. Round about this tree Ulysses built +the chamber, and finished it with close-set stones, and roofed it over, +and made close-fastening doors. Then he cut off all the branches of the +olive tree, and smoothed the trunk, and shaped it into the bed-post, and +made the bedstead beautiful with inlaid work of gold and silver and +ivory. There was no such bed in Greece, and no man could move it from +its place, and this bed comes again into the story, at the very end. + +Now time went by, and Ulysses and Penelope had one son called +Telemachus; and Eurycleia, who had been his father's nurse, took care of +him. They were all very happy, and lived in peace in rocky Ithaca, and +Ulysses looked after his lands, and flocks, and herds, and went hunting +with his dog Argos, the swiftest of hounds. + + + + +IV + +THE STEALING OF HELEN + + +This happy time did not last long, and Telemachus was still a baby, when +war arose, so great and mighty and marvellous as had never been known in +the world. Far across the sea that lies on the east of Greece, there +dwelt the rich King Priam. His town was called Troy, or Ilios, and it +stood on a hill near the seashore, where are the straits of Hellespont, +between Europe and Asia; it was a great city surrounded by strong walls, +and its ruins are still standing. The kings could make merchants who +passed through the straits pay toll to them, and they had allies in +Thrace, a part of Europe opposite Troy, and Priam was chief of all +princes on his side of the sea, as Agamemnon was chief king in Greece. +Priam had many beautiful things; he had a vine made of gold, with golden +leaves and clusters, and he had the swiftest horses, and many strong and +brave sons; the strongest and bravest was named Hector, and the youngest +and most beautiful was named Paris. + +There was a prophecy that Priam's wife would give birth to a burning +torch, so, when Paris was born, Priam sent a servant to carry the baby +into a wild wood on Mount Ida, and leave him to die or be eaten by +wolves and wild cats. The servant left the child, but a shepherd found +him, and brought him up as his own son. The boy became as beautiful, for +a boy, as Helen was for a girl, and was the best runner, and hunter, and +archer among the country people. He was loved by the beautiful Oenone, +a nymph--that is, a kind of fairy--who dwelt in a cave among the woods +of Ida. The Greeks and Trojans believed in these days that such fair +nymphs haunted all beautiful woodland places, and the mountains, and +wells, and had crystal palaces, like mermaids, beneath the waves of the +sea. These fairies were not mischievous, but gentle and kind. Sometimes +they married mortal men, and Oenone was the bride of Paris, and hoped +to keep him for her own all the days of his life. + +It was believed that she had the magical power of healing wounded men, +however sorely they were hurt. Paris and Oenone lived most happily +together in the forest; but one day, when the servants of Priam had +driven off a beautiful bull that was in the herd of Paris, he left the +hills to seek it, and came into the town of Troy. His mother, Hecuba, +saw him, and looking at him closely, perceived that he wore a ring which +she had tied round her baby's neck when he was taken away from her soon +after his birth. Then Hecuba, beholding him so beautiful, and knowing +him to be her son, wept for joy, and they all forgot the prophecy that +he would be a burning torch of fire, and Priam gave him a house like +those of his brothers, the Trojan princes. + +The fame of beautiful Helen reached Troy, and Paris quite forgot unhappy +Oenone, and must needs go to see Helen for himself. Perhaps he meant +to try to win her for his wife, before her marriage. But sailing was +little understood in these times, and the water was wide, and men were +often driven for years out of their course, to Egypt, and Africa, and +far away into the unknown seas, where fairies lived in enchanted +islands, and cannibals dwelt in caves of the hills. + +Paris came much too late to have a chance of marrying Helen; however, he +was determined to see her, and he made his way to her palace beneath +the mountain Taygetus, beside the clear swift river Eurotas. The +servants came out of the hall when they heard the sound of wheels and +horses' feet, and some of them took the horses to the stables, and +tilted the chariots against the gateway, while others led Paris into the +hall, which shone like the sun with gold and silver. Then Paris and his +companions were led to the baths, where they were bathed, and clad in +new clothes, mantles of white, and robes of purple, and next they were +brought before King Menelaus, and he welcomed them kindly, and meat was +set before them, and wine in cups of gold. While they were talking, +Helen came forth from her fragrant chamber, like a Goddess, her maidens +following her, and carrying for her an ivory distaff with +violet-coloured wool, which she span as she sat, and heard Paris tell +how far he had travelled to see her who was so famous for her beauty +even in countries far away. + +Then Paris knew that he had never seen, and never could see, a lady so +lovely and gracious as Helen as she sat and span, while the red drops +fell and vanished from the ruby called the Star; and Helen knew that +among all the princes in the world there was none so beautiful as Paris. +Now some say that Paris, by art magic, put on the appearance of +Menelaus, and asked Helen to come sailing with him, and that she, +thinking he was her husband, followed him, and he carried her across the +wide waters of Troy, away from her lord and her one beautiful little +daughter, the child Hermione. And others say that the Gods carried Helen +herself off to Egypt, and that they made in her likeness a beautiful +ghost, out of flowers and sunset clouds, whom Paris bore to Troy, and +this they did to cause war between Greeks and Trojans. Another story is +that Helen and her bower maiden and her jewels were seized by force, +when Menelaus was out hunting. It is only certain that Paris and Helen +did cross the seas together, and that Menelaus and little Hermione were +left alone in the melancholy palace beside the Eurotas. Penelope, we +know for certain, made no excuses for her beautiful cousin, but hated +her as the cause of her own sorrows and of the deaths of thousands of +men in war, for all the Greek princes were bound by their oath to fight +for Menelaus against any one who injured him and stole his wife away. +But Helen was very unhappy in Troy, and blamed herself as bitterly as +all the other women blamed her, and most of all Oenone, who had been +the love of Paris. The men were much more kind to Helen, and were +determined to fight to the death rather than lose the sight of her +beauty among them. + +The news of the dishonour done to Menelaus and to all the princes of +Greece ran through the country like fire through a forest. East and west +and south and north went the news: to kings in their castles on the +hills, and beside the rivers and on cliffs above the sea. The cry came +to ancient Nestor of the white beard at Pylos, Nestor who had reigned +over two generations of men, who had fought against the wild folk of the +hills, and remembered the strong Heracles, and Eurytus of the black bow +that sang before the day of battle. + +The cry came to black-bearded Agamemnon, in his strong town called +'golden Mycenae,' because it was so rich; it came to the people in +Thisbe, where the wild doves haunt; and it came to rocky Pytho, where is +the sacred temple of Apollo and the maid who prophesies. It came to +Aias, the tallest and strongest of men, in his little isle of Salamis; +and to Diomede of the loud war-cry, the bravest of warriors, who held +Argos and Tiryns of the black walls of huge stones, that are still +standing. The summons came to the western islands and to Ulysses in +Ithaca, and even far south to the great island of Crete of the hundred +cities, where Idomeneus ruled in Cnossos; Idomeneus, whose ruined palace +may still be seen with the throne of the king, and pictures painted on +the walls, and the King's own draught-board of gold and silver, and +hundreds of tablets of clay, on which are written the lists of royal +treasures. Far north went the news to Pelasgian Argos, and Hellas, where +the people of Peleus dwelt, the Myrmidons; but Peleus was too old to +fight, and his boy, Achilles, dwelt far away, in the island of Scyros, +dressed as a girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. To many +another town and to a hundred islands went the bitter news of +approaching war, for all princes knew that their honour and their oaths +compelled them to gather their spearmen, and bowmen, and slingers from +the fields and the fishing, and to make ready their ships, and meet King +Agamemnon in the harbour of Aulis, and cross the wide sea to besiege +Troy town. + +Now the story is told that Ulysses was very unwilling to leave his +island and his wife Penelope, and little Telemachus; while Penelope had +no wish that he should pass into danger, and into the sight of Helen of +the fair hands. So it is said that when two of the princes came to +summon Ulysses, he pretended to be mad, and went ploughing the sea sand +with oxen, and sowing the sand with salt. Then the prince Palamedes took +the baby Telemachus from the arms of his nurse, Eurycleia, and laid him +in the line of the furrow, where the ploughshare would strike him and +kill him. But Ulysses turned the plough aside, and they cried that he +was not mad, but sane, and he must keep his oath, and join the fleet at +Aulis, a long voyage for him to sail, round the stormy southern Cape of +Maleia. + +Whether this tale be true or not, Ulysses did go, leading twelve black +ships, with high beaks painted red at prow and stern. The ships had +oars, and the warriors manned the oars, to row when there was no wind. +There was a small raised deck at each end of the ships; on these decks +men stood to fight with sword and spear when there was a battle at sea. +Each ship had but one mast, with a broad lugger sail, and for anchors +they had only heavy stones attached to cables. They generally landed at +night, and slept on the shore of one of the many islands, when they +could, for they greatly feared to sail out of sight of land. + +The fleet consisted of more than a thousand ships, each with fifty +warriors, so the army was of more than fifty thousand men. Agamemnon had +a hundred ships, Diomede had eighty, Nestor had ninety, the Cretans with +Idomeneus, had eighty, Menelaus had sixty; but Aias and Ulysses, who +lived in small islands, had only twelve ships apiece. Yet Aias was so +brave and strong, and Ulysses so brave and wise, that they were ranked +among the greatest chiefs and advisers of Agamemnon, with Menelaus, +Diomede, Idomeneus, Nestor, Menestheus of Athens, and two or three +others. These chiefs were called the Council, and gave advice to +Agamemnon, who was commander-in-chief. He was a brave fighter, but so +anxious and fearful of losing the lives of his soldiers that Ulysses and +Diomede were often obliged to speak to him very severely. Agamemnon was +also very insolent and greedy, though, when anybody stood up to him, he +was ready to apologise, for fear the injured chief should renounce his +service and take away his soldiers. + +Nestor was much respected because he remained brave, though he was too +old to be very useful in battle. He generally tried to make peace when +the princes quarrelled with Agamemnon. He loved to tell long stories +about his great deeds when he was young, and he wished the chiefs to +fight in old-fashioned ways. + +For instance, in his time the Greeks had fought in clan regiments, and +the princely men had never dismounted in battle, but had fought in +squadrons of chariots, but now the owners of chariots fought on foot, +each man for himself, while his squire kept the chariot near him to +escape on if he had to retreat. Nestor wished to go back to the good old +way of chariot charges against the crowds of foot soldiers of the enemy. +In short, he was a fine example of the old-fashioned soldier. + +Aias, though so very tall, strong, and brave, was rather stupid. He +seldom spoke, but he was always ready to fight, and the last to retreat. +Menelaus was weak of body, but as brave as the best, or more brave, for +he had a keen sense of honour, and would attempt what he had not the +strength to do. Diomede and Ulysses were great friends, and always +fought side by side, when they could, and helped each other in the most +dangerous adventures. + +These were the chiefs who led the great Greek armada from the harbour of +Aulis. A long time had passed, after the flight of Helen, before the +large fleet could be collected, and more time went by in the attempt to +cross the sea to Troy. There were tempests that scattered the ships, so +they were driven back to Aulis to refit; and they fought, as they went +out again, with the peoples of unfriendly islands, and besieged their +towns. What they wanted most of all was to have Achilles with them, for +he was the leader of fifty ships and 2,500 men, and he had magical +armour made, men said, for his father, by Hephaestus, the God of +armour-making and smithy work. + +At last the fleet came to the Isle of Scyros, where they suspected that +Achilles was concealed. King Lycomedes received the chiefs kindly, and +they saw all his beautiful daughters dancing and playing at ball, but +Achilles was still so young and slim and so beautiful that they did not +know him among the others. There was a prophecy that they could not take +Troy without him, and yet they could not find him out. Then Ulysses had +a plan. He blackened his eyebrows and beard and put on the dress of a +Phoenician merchant. The Phoenicians were a people who lived near the +Jews, and were of the same race, and spoke much the same language, but, +unlike the Jews, who, at that time were farmers in Palestine, tilling +the ground, and keeping flocks and herds, the Phoenicians were the +greatest of traders and sailors, and stealers of slaves. They carried +cargoes of beautiful cloths, and embroideries, and jewels of gold, and +necklaces of amber, and sold these everywhere about the shores of Greece +and the islands. + +Ulysses then dressed himself like a Phoenician pedlar, with his pack on +his back: he only took a stick in his hand, his long hair was turned up, +and hidden under a red sailor's cap, and in this figure he came, +stooping beneath his pack, into the courtyard of King Lycomedes. The +girls heard that a pedlar had come, and out they all ran, Achilles with +the rest, to watch the pedlar undo his pack. Each chose what she liked +best: one took a wreath of gold; another a necklace of gold and amber; +another earrings; a fourth a set of brooches, another a dress of +embroidered scarlet cloth; another a veil; another a pair of bracelets; +but at the bottom of the pack lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt +studded with golden nails. Achilles seized the sword. 'This is for me!' +he said, and drew the sword from the gilded sheath, and made it whistle +round his head. + +'You are Achilles, Peleus' son!' said Ulysses; 'and you are to be the +chief warrior of the Achaeans,' for the Greeks then called themselves +Achaeans. Achilles was only too glad to hear these words, for he was +quite tired of living among maidens. Ulysses led him into the hall where +the chiefs were sitting at their wine, and Achilles was blushing like +any girl. + +'Here is the Queen of the Amazons,' said Ulysses--for the Amazons were a +race of warlike maidens--'or rather here is Achilles, Peleus' son, with +sword in hand.' Then they all took his hand, and welcomed him, and he +was clothed in man's dress, with the sword by his side, and presently +they sent him back with ten ships to his home. There his mother, Thetis, +of the silver feet, the goddess of the sea, wept over him, saying, 'My +child, thou hast the choice of a long and happy and peaceful life here +with me, or of a brief time of war and undying renown. Never shall I see +thee again in Argos if thy choice is for war.' But Achilles chose to die +young, and to be famous as long as the world stands. So his father gave +him fifty ships, with Patroclus, who was older than he, to be his +friend, and with an old man, Phoenix, to advise him; and his mother gave +him the glorious armour that the God had made for his father, and the +heavy ashen spear that none but he could wield, and he sailed to join +the host of the Achaeans, who all praised and thanked Ulysses that had +found for them such a prince. For Achilles was the fiercest fighter of +them all, and the swiftest-footed man, and the most courteous prince, +and the gentlest with women and children, but he was proud and high of +heart, and when he was angered his anger was terrible. + +The Trojans would have had no chance against the Greeks if only the men +of the city of Troy had fought to keep Helen of the fair hands. But they +had allies, who spoke different languages, and came to fight for them +both from Europe and from Asia. On the Trojan as well as on the Greek +side were people called Pelasgians, who seem to have lived on both +shores of the sea. There were Thracians, too, who dwelt much further +north than Achilles, in Europe and beside the strait of Hellespont, +where the narrow sea runs like a river. There were warriors of Lycia, +led by Sarpedon and Glaucus; there were Carians, who spoke in a strange +tongue; there were Mysians and men from Alybe, which was called 'the +birthplace of silver,' and many other peoples sent their armies, so that +the war was between Eastern Europe, on one side, and Western Asia Minor +on the other. The people of Egypt took no part in the war: the Greeks +and Islesmen used to come down in their ships and attack the Egyptians +as the Danes used to invade England. You may see the warriors from the +islands, with their horned helmets, in old Egyptian pictures. + +The commander-in-chief, as we say now, of the Trojans was Hector, the +son of Priam. He was thought a match for any one of the Greeks, and was +brave and good. His brothers also were leaders, but Paris preferred to +fight from a distance with bow and arrows. He and Pandarus, who dwelt on +the slopes of Mount Ida, were the best archers in the Trojan army. The +princes usually fought with heavy spears, which they threw at each +other, and with swords, leaving archery to the common soldiers who had +no armour of bronze. But Teucer, Meriones, and Ulysses were the best +archers of the Achaeans. People called Dardanians were led by Aeneas, +who was said to be the son of the most beautiful of the goddesses. +These, with Sarpedon and Glaucus, were the most famous of the men who +fought for Troy. + +Troy was a strong town on a hill: Mount Ida lay behind it, and in front +was a plain sloping to the sea shore. Through this plain ran two +beautiful clear rivers, and there were scattered here and there what you +would have taken for steep knolls, but they were really mounds piled up +over the ashes of warriors who had died long ago. On these mounds +sentinels used to stand and look across the water to give warning if the +Greek fleet drew near, for the Trojans had heard that it was on its way. +At last the fleet came in view, and the sea was black with ships, the +oarsmen pulling with all their might for the honour of being the first +to land. The race was won by the ship of the prince Protesilaus, who was +first of all to leap on shore, but as he leaped he was struck to the +heart by an arrow from the bow of Paris. This must have seemed a good +omen to the Trojans, and to the Greeks evil, but we do not hear that the +landing was resisted in great force, any more than that of Norman +William was, when he invaded England. + +The Greeks drew up all their ships on shore, and the men camped in huts +built in front of the ships. There was thus a long row of huts with the +ships behind them, and in these huts the Greeks lived all through the +ten years that the siege of Troy lasted. In these days they do not seem +to have understood how to conduct a siege. You would have expected the +Greeks to build towers and dig trenches all round Troy, and from the +towers watch the roads, so that provisions might not be brought in from +the country. This is called 'investing' a town, but the Greeks never +invested Troy. Perhaps they had not men enough; at all events the place +remained open, and cattle could always be driven in to feed the warriors +and the women and children. + +Moreover, the Greeks for long never seem to have tried to break down one +of the gates, nor to scale the walls, which were very high, with +ladders. On the other hand, the Trojans and allies never ventured to +drive the Greeks into the sea; they commonly remained within the walls +or skirmished just beneath them. The older men insisted on this way of +fighting, in spite of Hector, who always wished to attack and storm the +camp of the Greeks. Neither side had machines for throwing heavy stones, +such as the Romans used later, and the most that the Greeks did was to +follow Achilles and capture small neighbouring cities, and take the +women for slaves, and drive the cattle. They got provisions and wine +from the Phoenicians, who came in ships, and made much profit out of the +war. + +It was not till the tenth year that the war began in real earnest, and +scarcely any of the chief leaders had fallen. Fever came upon the +Greeks, and all day the camp was black with smoke, and all night shone +with fire from the great piles of burning wood, on which the Greeks +burned their dead, whose bones they then buried under hillocks of earth. +Many of these hillocks are still standing on the plain of Troy. When the +plague had raged for ten days, Achilles called an assembly of the whole +army, to try to find out why the Gods were angry. They thought that the +beautiful God Apollo (who took the Trojan side) was shooting invisible +arrows at them from his silver bow, though fevers in armies are usually +caused by dirt and drinking bad water. The great heat of the sun, too, +may have helped to cause the disease; but we must tell the story as the +Greeks told it themselves. So Achilles spoke in the assembly, and +proposed to ask some prophet why Apollo was angry. The chief prophet was +Calchas. He rose and said that he would declare the truth if Achilles +would promise to protect him from the anger of any prince whom the truth +might offend. + +Achilles knew well whom Calchas meant. Ten days before, a priest of +Apollo had come to the camp and offered ransom for his daughter +Chryseis, a beautiful girl, whom Achilles had taken prisoner, with many +others, when he captured a small town. Chryseis had been given as a +slave to Agamemnon, who always got the best of the plunder because he +was chief king, whether he had taken part in the fighting or not. As a +rule he did not. To Achilles had been given another girl, Briseis, of +whom he was very fond. Now when Achilles had promised to protect +Calchas, the prophet spoke out, and boldly said, what all men knew +already, that Apollo caused the plague because Agamemnon would not +return Chryseis, and had insulted her father, the priest of the God. + +On hearing this, Agamemnon was very angry. He said that he would send +Chryseis home, but that he would take Briseis away from Achilles. Then +Achilles was drawing his great sword from the sheath to kill Agamemnon, +but even in his anger he knew that this was wrong, so he merely called +Agamemnon a greedy coward, 'with face of dog and heart of deer,' and he +swore that he and his men would fight no more against the Trojans. Old +Nestor tried to make peace, and swords were not drawn, but Briseis was +taken away from Achilles, and Ulysses put Chryseis on board of his ship +and sailed away with her to her father's town, and gave her up to her +father. Then her father prayed to Apollo that the plague might cease, +and it did cease--when the Greeks had cleansed their camp, and purified +themselves and cast their filth into the sea. + +We know how fierce and brave Achilles was, and we may wonder that he did +not challenge Agamemnon to fight a duel. But the Greeks never fought +duels, and Agamemnon was believed to be chief king by right divine. +Achilles went alone to the sea shore when his dear Briseis was led away, +and he wept, and called to his mother, the silver-footed lady of the +waters. Then she arose from the grey sea, like a mist, and sat down +beside her son, and stroked his hair with her hand, and he told her all +his sorrows. So she said that she would go up to the dwelling of the +Gods, and pray Zeus, the chief of them all, to make the Trojans win a +great battle, so that Agamemnon should feel his need of Achilles, and +make amends for his insolence, and do him honour. + +Thetis kept her promise, and Zeus gave his word that the Trojans should +defeat the Greeks. That night Zeus sent a deceitful dream to Agamemnon. +The dream took the shape of old Nestor, and said that Zeus would give +him victory that day. While he was still asleep, Agamemnon was full of +hope that he would instantly take Troy, but, when he woke, he seems not +to have been nearly so confident, for in place of putting on his armour, +and bidding the Greeks arm themselves, he merely dressed in his robe and +mantle, took his sceptre, and went and told the chiefs about his dream. +They did not feel much encouraged, so he said that he would try the +temper of the army. He would call them together, and propose to return +to Greece; but, if the soldiers took him at his word, the other chiefs +were to stop them. This was a foolish plan, for the soldiers were +wearying for beautiful Greece, and their homes, and wives and children. +Therefore, when Agamemnon did as he had said, the whole army rose, like +the sea under the west wind, and, with a shout, they rushed to the +ships, while the dust blew in clouds from under their feet. Then they +began to launch their ships, and it seems that the princes were carried +away in the rush, and were as eager as the rest to go home. + +But Ulysses only stood in sorrow and anger beside his ship, and never +put hand to it, for he felt how disgraceful it was to run away. At last +he threw down his mantle, which his herald Eurybates of Ithaca, a +round-shouldered, brown, curly-haired man, picked up, and he ran to find +Agamemnon, and took his sceptre, a gold-studded staff, like a marshal's +baton, and he gently told the chiefs whom he met that they were doing a +shameful thing; but he drove the common soldiers back to the place of +meeting with the sceptre. They all returned, puzzled and chattering, but +one lame, bandy-legged, bald, round-shouldered, impudent fellow, named +Thersites, jumped up and made an insolent speech, insulting the princes, +and advising the army to run away. Then Ulysses took him and beat him +till the blood came, and he sat down, wiping away his tears, and looking +so foolish that the whole army laughed at him, and cheered Ulysses when +he and Nestor bade them arm and fight. Agamemnon still believed a good +deal in his dream, and prayed that he might take Troy that very day, and +kill Hector. Thus Ulysses alone saved the army from a cowardly retreat; +but for him the ships would have been launched in an hour. But the +Greeks armed and advanced in full force, all except Achilles and his +friend Patroclus with their two or three thousand men. The Trojans also +took heart, knowing that Achilles would not fight, and the armies +approached each other. Paris himself, with two spears and a bow, and +without armour, walked into the space between the hosts, and challenged +any Greek prince to single combat. Menelaus, whose wife Paris had +carried away, was as glad as a hungry lion when he finds a stag or a +goat, and leaped in armour from his chariot, but Paris turned and slunk +away, like a man when he meets a great serpent on a narrow path in the +hills. Then Hector rebuked Paris for his cowardice, and Paris was +ashamed and offered to end the war by fighting Menelaus. If he himself +fell, the Trojans must give up Helen and all her jewels; if Menelaus +fell, the Greeks were to return without fair Helen. The Greeks accepted +this plan, and both sides disarmed themselves to look on at the fight in +comfort, and they meant to take the most solemn oaths to keep peace till +the combat was lost and won, and the quarrel settled. Hector sent into +Troy for two lambs, which were to be sacrificed when the oaths were +taken. + +In the meantime Helen of the fair hands was at home working at a great +purple tapestry on which she embroidered the battles of the Greeks and +Trojans. It was just like the tapestry at Bayeux on which Norman ladies +embroidered the battles in the Norman Conquest of England. Helen was +very fond of embroidering, like poor Mary, Queen of Scots, when a +prisoner in Loch Leven Castle. Probably the work kept both Helen and +Mary from thinking of their past lives and their sorrows. + +[Illustration: HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE GREEK HOST TO +PRIAM.] + +When Helen heard that her husband was to fight Paris, she wept, and +threw a shining veil over her head, and with her two bower maidens went +to the roof of the gate tower, where king Priam was sitting with the old +Trojan chiefs. They saw her and said that it was small blame to fight +for so beautiful a lady, and Priam called her 'dear child,' and said, 'I +do not blame you, I blame the Gods who brought about this war.' But +Helen said that she wished she had died before she left her little +daughter and her husband, and her home: 'Alas! shameless me!' Then she +told Priam the names of the chief Greek warriors, and of Ulysses, who +was shorter by a head than Agamemnon but broader in chest and shoulders. +She wondered that she could not see her own two brothers, Castor and +Polydeuces, and thought that they kept aloof in shame for her sin; but +the green grass covered their graves, for they had both died in battle, +far away in Lacedaemon, their own country. + +Then the lambs were sacrificed, and the oaths were taken, and Paris put +on his brother's armour: helmet, breastplate, shield, and leg-armour. +Lots were drawn to decide whether Paris or Menelaus should throw his +spear first, and, as Paris won, he threw his spear, but the point was +blunted against the shield of Menelaus. But when Menelaus threw his +spear it went clean through the shield of Paris, and through the side of +his breastplate, but only grazed his robe. Menelaus drew his sword, and +rushed in, and smote at the crest of the helmet of Paris, but his bronze +blade broke into four pieces. Menelaus caught Paris by the horsehair +crest of his helmet, and dragged him towards the Greeks, but the +chin-strap broke, and Menelaus turning round threw the helmet into the +ranks of the Greeks. But when Menelaus looked again for Paris, with a +spear in his hand, he could see him nowhere! The Greeks believed that +the beautiful goddess Aphrodite, whom the Romans called Venus, hid him +in a thick cloud of darkness and carried him to his own house, where +Helen of the fair hands found him and said to him, 'Would that thou +hadst perished, conquered by that great warrior who was my lord! Go +forth again and challenge him to fight thee face to face.' But Paris had +no more desire to fight, and the Goddess threatened Helen, and compelled +her to remain with him in Troy, coward as he had proved himself. Yet on +other days Paris fought well; it seems that he was afraid of Menelaus +because, in his heart, he was ashamed of himself. + +Meanwhile Menelaus was seeking for Paris everywhere, and the Trojans, +who hated him, would have shown his hiding place. But they knew not +where he was, and the Greeks claimed the victory, and thought that, as +Paris had the worst of the fight, Helen would be restored to them, and +they would all sail home. + + + + +V + +TROJAN VICTORIES + + +The war might now have ended, but an evil and foolish thought came to +Pandarus, a prince of Ida, who fought for the Trojans. He chose to shoot +an arrow at Menelaus, contrary to the sworn vows of peace, and the arrow +pierced the breastplate of Menelaus through the place where the clasped +plates meet, and drew his blood. Then Agamemnon, who loved his brother +dearly, began to lament, saying that, if he died, the army would all go +home and Trojans would dance on the grave of Menelaus. 'Do not alarm +all our army,' said Menelaus, 'the arrow has done me little harm;' and +so it proved, for the surgeon easily drew the arrow out of the wound. + +Then Agamemnon hastened here and there, bidding the Greeks arm and +attack the Trojans, who would certainly be defeated, for they had broken +the oaths of peace. But with his usual insolence he chose to accuse +Ulysses and Diomede of cowardice, though Diomede was as brave as any +man, and Ulysses had just prevented the whole army from launching their +ships and going home. Ulysses answered him with spirit, but Diomede said +nothing at the moment; later he spoke his mind. He leaped from his +chariot, and all the chiefs leaped down and advanced in line, the +chariots following them, while the spearmen and bowmen followed the +chariots. The Trojan army advanced, all shouting in their different +languages, but the Greeks came on silently. Then the two front lines +clashed, shield against shield, and the noise was like the roaring of +many flooded torrents among the hills. When a man fell he who had slain +him tried to strip off his armour, and his friends fought over his body +to save the dead from this dishonour. + +Ulysses fought above a wounded friend, and drove his spear through head +and helmet of a Trojan prince, and everywhere men were falling beneath +spears and arrows and heavy stones which the warriors threw. Here +Menelaus speared the man who built the ships with which Paris had sailed +to Greece; and the dust rose like a cloud, and a mist went up from the +fighting men, while Diomede stormed across the plain like a river in +flood, leaving dead bodies behind him as the river leaves boughs of +trees and grass to mark its course. Pandarus wounded Diomede with an +arrow, but Diomede slew him, and the Trojans were being driven in +flight, when Sarpedon and Hector turned and hurled themselves on the +Greeks; and even Diomede shuddered when Hector came on, and charged at +Ulysses, who was slaying Trojans as he went, and the battle swayed this +way and that, and the arrows fell like rain. + +But Hector was sent into the city to bid the women pray to the goddess +Athênê for help, and he went to the house of Paris, whom Helen was +imploring to go and fight like a man, saying: 'Would that the winds had +wafted me away, and the tides drowned me, shameless that I am, before +these things came to pass!' + +Then Hector went to see his dear wife, Andromache, whose father had been +slain by Achilles early in the siege, and he found her and her nurse +carrying her little boy, Hector's son, and like a star upon her bosom +lay his beautiful and shining golden head. Now, while Helen urged Paris +to go into the fight, Andromache prayed Hector to stay with her in the +town, and fight no more lest he should be slain and leave her a widow, +and the boy an orphan, with none to protect him. The army, she said, +should come back within the walls, where they had so long been safe, not +fight in the open plain. But Hector answered that he would never shrink +from battle, 'yet I know this in my heart, the day shall come for holy +Troy to be laid low, and Priam and the people of Priam. But this and my +own death do not trouble me so much as the thought of you, when you +shall be carried as a slave to Greece, to spin at another woman's +bidding, and bear water from a Grecian well. May the heaped up earth of +my tomb cover me ere I hear thy cries and the tale of thy captivity.' + +Then Hector stretched out his hands to his little boy, but the child was +afraid when he saw the great glittering helmet of his father and the +nodding horsehair crest. So Hector laid his helmet on the ground and +dandled the child in his arms, and tried to comfort his wife, and said +good-bye for the last time, for he never came back to Troy alive. He +went on his way back to the battle, and Paris went with him, in glorious +armour, and soon they were slaying the princes of the Greeks. + +The battle raged till nightfall, and in the night the Greeks and Trojans +burned their dead; and the Greeks made a trench and wall round their +camp, which they needed for safety now that the Trojans came from their +town and fought in the open plain. + +Next day the Trojans were so successful that they did not retreat behind +their walls at night, but lit great fires on the plain: a thousand +fires, with fifty men taking supper round each of them, and drinking +their wine to the music of flutes. But the Greeks were much discouraged, +and Agamemnon called the whole army together, and proposed that they +should launch their ships in the night and sail away home. Then Diomede +stood up, and said: 'You called me a coward lately. You are the coward! +Sail away if you are afraid to remain here, but all the rest of us will +fight till we take Troy town.' + +Then all shouted in praise of Diomede, and Nestor advised them to send +five hundred young men, under his own son, Thrasymedes, to watch the +Trojans, and guard the new wall and the ditch, in case the Trojans +attacked them in the darkness. Next Nestor counselled Agamemnon to send +Ulysses and Aias to Achilles, and promise to give back Briseis, and rich +presents of gold, and beg pardon for his insolence. If Achilles would +be friends again with Agamemnon, and fight as he used to fight, the +Trojans would soon be driven back into the town. + +Agamemnon was very ready to beg pardon, for he feared that the whole +army would be defeated, and cut off from their ships, and killed or kept +as slaves. So Ulysses and Aias and the old tutor of Achilles, Phoenix, +went to Achilles and argued with him, praying him to accept the rich +presents, and help the Greeks. But Achilles answered that he did not +believe a word that Agamemnon said; Agamemnon had always hated him, and +always would hate him. No; he would not cease to be angry, he would sail +away next day with all his men, and he advised the rest to come with +him. 'Why be so fierce?' said tall Aias, who seldom spoke. 'Why make so +much trouble about one girl? We offer you seven girls, and plenty of +other gifts.' + +Then Achilles said that he would not sail away next day, but he would +not fight till the Trojans tried to burn his own ships, and there he +thought that Hector would find work enough to do. This was the most that +Achilles would promise, and all the Greeks were silent when Ulysses +delivered his message. But Diomede arose and said that, with or without +Achilles, fight they must; and all men, heavy at heart, went to sleep in +their huts or in the open air at their doors. + +Agamemnon was much too anxious to sleep. He saw the glow of the thousand +fires of the Trojans in the dark, and heard their merry flutes, and he +groaned and pulled out his long hair by handfuls. When he was tired of +crying and groaning and tearing his hair, he thought that he would go +for advice to old Nestor. He threw a lion skin, the coverlet of his bed, +over his shoulder, took his spear, went out and met Menelaus--for he, +too, could not sleep--and Menelaus proposed to send a spy among the +Trojans, if any man were brave enough to go, for the Trojan camp was all +alight with fires, and the adventure was dangerous. Therefore the two +wakened Nestor and the other chiefs, who came just as they were, wrapped +in the fur coverlets of their beds, without any armour. First they +visited the five hundred young men set to watch the wall, and then they +crossed the ditch and sat down outside and considered what might be +done. 'Will nobody go as a spy among the Trojans?' said Nestor; he meant +would none of the young men go. Diomede said that he would take the risk +if any other man would share it with him, and, if he might choose a +companion, he would take Ulysses. + +'Come, then, let us be going,' said Ulysses, 'for the night is late, and +the dawn is near.' As these two chiefs had no armour on, they borrowed +shields and leather caps from the young men of the guard, for leather +would not shine as bronze helmets shine in the firelight. The cap lent +to Ulysses was strengthened outside with rows of boars' tusks. Many of +these tusks, shaped for this purpose, have been found, with swords and +armour, in a tomb in Mycenae, the town of Agamemnon. This cap which was +lent to Ulysses had once been stolen by his grandfather, Autolycus, who +was a Master Thief, and he gave it as a present to a friend, and so, +through several hands, it had come to young Meriones of Crete, one of +the five hundred guards, who now lent it to Ulysses. So the two princes +set forth in the dark, so dark it was that though they heard a heron +cry, they could not see it as it flew away. + +While Ulysses and Diomede stole through the night silently, like two +wolves among the bodies of dead men, the Trojan leaders met and +considered what they ought to do. They did not know whether the Greeks +had set sentinels and outposts, as usual, to give warning if the enemy +were approaching; or whether they were too weary to keep a good watch; +or whether perhaps they were getting ready their ships to sail homewards +in the dawn. So Hector offered a reward to any man who would creep +through the night and spy on the Greeks; he said he would give the spy +the two best horses in the Greek camp. + +Now among the Trojans there was a young man named Dolon, the son of a +rich father, and he was the only boy in a family of five sisters. He was +ugly, but a very swift runner, and he cared for horses more than for +anything else in the world. Dolon arose and said, 'If you will swear to +give me the horses and chariot of Achilles, son of Peleus, I will steal +to the hut of Agamemnon and listen and find out whether the Greeks mean +to fight or flee.' Hector swore to give these horses, which were the +best in the world, to Dolon, so he took his bow and threw a grey wolf's +hide over his shoulders, and ran towards the ships of the Greeks. + +Now Ulysses saw Dolon as he came, and said to Diomede, 'Let us suffer +him to pass us, and then do you keep driving him with your spear towards +the ships, and away from Troy.' So Ulysses and Diomede lay down among +the dead men who had fallen in the battle, and Dolon ran on past them +towards the Greeks. Then they rose and chased him as two greyhounds +course a hare, and, when Dolon was near the sentinels, Diomede cried +'Stand, or I will slay you with my spear!' and he threw his spear just +over Dolon's shoulder. So Dolon stood still, green with fear, and with +his teeth chattering. When the two came up, he cried, and said that his +father was a rich man, who would pay much gold, and bronze, and iron for +his ransom. + +Ulysses said, 'Take heart, and put death out of your mind, and tell us +what you are doing here.' Dolon said that Hector had promised him the +horses of Achilles if he would go and spy on the Greeks. 'You set your +hopes high,' said Ulysses, 'for the horses of Achilles are not earthly +steeds, but divine; a gift of the Gods, and Achilles alone can drive +them. But, tell me, do the Trojans keep good watch, and where is Hector +with his horses?' for Ulysses thought that it would be a great adventure +to drive away the horses of Hector. + +'Hector is with the chiefs, holding council at the tomb of Ilus,' said +Dolon; 'but no regular guard is set. The people of Troy, indeed, are +round their watch fires, for they have to think of the safety of their +wives and children; but the allies from far lands keep no watch, for +their wives and children are safe at home.' Then he told where all the +different peoples who fought for Priam had their stations; but, said he, +'if you want to steal horses, the best are those of Rhesus, King of the +Thracians, who has only joined us to-night. He and his men are asleep at +the furthest end of the line, and his horses are the best and greatest +that ever I saw: tall, white as snow, and swift as the wind, and his +chariot is adorned with gold and silver, and golden is his armour. Now +take me prisoner to the ships, or bind me and leave me here while you go +and try whether I have told you truth or lies.' + +'No,' said Diomede, 'if I spare your life you may come spying again,' +and he drew his sword and smote off the head of Dolon. They hid his cap +and bow and spear where they could find them easily, and marked the +spot, and went through the night to the dark camp of King Rhesus, who +had no watch-fire and no guards. Then Diomede silently stabbed each +sleeping man to the heart, and Ulysses seized the dead by the feet and +threw them aside lest they should frighten the horses, which had never +been in battle, and would shy if they were led over the bodies of dead +men. Last of all Diomede killed King Rhesus, and Ulysses led forth his +horses, beating them with his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip +from the chariot. Then Ulysses and Diomede leaped on the backs of the +horses, as they had not time to bring away the chariot, and they +galloped to the ships, stopping to pick up the spear, and bow, and cap +of Dolon. They rode to the princes, who welcomed them, and all laughed +for glee when they saw the white horses and heard that King Rhesus was +dead, for they guessed that all his army would now go home to Thrace. +This they must have done, for we never hear of them in the battles that +followed, so Ulysses and Diomede deprived the Trojans of thousands of +men. The other princes went to bed in good spirits, but Ulysses and +Diomede took a swim in the sea, and then went into hot baths, and so to +breakfast, for rosy-fingered Dawn was coming up the sky. + + + + +VI + +BATTLE AT THE SHIPS + + +With dawn Agamemnon awoke, and fear had gone out of his heart. He put on +his armour, and arrayed the chiefs on foot in front of their chariots, +and behind them came the spearmen, with the bowmen and slingers on the +wings of the army. Then a great black cloud spread over the sky, and +red was the rain that fell from it. The Trojans gathered on a height in +the plain, and Hector, shining in armour, went here and there, in front +and rear, like a star that now gleams forth and now is hidden in a +cloud. + +The armies rushed on each other and hewed each other down, as reapers +cut their way through a field of tall corn. Neither side gave ground, +though the helmets of the bravest Trojans might be seen deep in the +ranks of the Greeks; and the swords of the bravest Greeks rose and fell +in the ranks of the Trojans, and all the while the arrows showered like +rain. But at noon-day, when the weary woodman rests from cutting trees, +and takes his dinner in the quiet hills, the Greeks of the first line +made a charge, Agamemnon running in front of them, and he speared two +Trojans, and took their breastplates, which he laid in his chariot, and +then he speared one brother of Hector and struck another down with his +sword, and killed two more who vainly asked to be made prisoners of war. +Footmen slew footmen, and chariot men slew chariot men, and they broke +into the Trojan line as fire falls on a forest in a windy day, leaping +and roaring and racing through the trees. Many an empty chariot did the +horses hurry madly through the field, for the charioteers were lying +dead, with the greedy vultures hovering above them, flapping their wide +wings. Still Agamemnon followed and slew the hindmost Trojans, but the +rest fled till they came to the gates, and the oak tree that grew +outside the gates, and there they stopped. + +But Hector held his hands from fighting, for in the meantime he was +making his men face the enemy and form up in line and take breath, and +was encouraging them, for they had retreated from the wall of the +Greeks across the whole plain, past the hill that was the tomb of Ilus, +a king of old, and past the place of the wild fig-tree. Much ado had +Hector to rally the Trojans, but he knew that when men do turn again +they are hard to beat. So it proved, for when the Trojans had rallied +and formed in line, Agamemnon slew a Thracian chief who had come to +fight for Troy before King Rhesus came. But the eldest brother of the +slain man smote Agamemnon through the arm with his spear, and, though +Agamemnon slew him in turn, his wound bled much and he was in great +pain, so he leaped into his chariot and was driven back to the ships. + +Then Hector gave the word to charge, as a huntsman cries on his hounds +against a lion, and he rushed forward at the head of the Trojan line, +slaying as he went. Nine chiefs of the Greeks he slew, and fell upon the +spearmen and scattered them, as the spray of the waves is scattered by +the wandering wind. + +Now the ranks of the Greeks were broken, and they would have been driven +among their ships and killed without mercy, had not Ulysses and Diomede +stood firm in the centre, and slain four Trojan leaders. The Greeks +began to come back and face their enemies in line of battle again, +though Hector, who had been fighting on the Trojan right, rushed against +them. But Diomede took good aim with his spear at the helmet of Hector, +and struck it fairly. The spear-point did not go through the helmet, but +Hector was stunned and fell; and, when he came to himself, he leaped +into his chariot, and his squire drove him against the Pylians and +Cretans, under Nestor and Idomeneus, who were on the left wing of the +Greek army. Then Diomede fought on till Paris, who stood beside the +pillar on the hillock that was the tomb of old King Ilus, sent an arrow +clean through his foot. Ulysses went and stood in front of Diomede, who +sat down, and Ulysses drew the arrow from his foot, and Diomede stepped +into his chariot and was driven back to the ships. + +Ulysses was now the only Greek chief that still fought in the centre. +The Greeks all fled, and he was alone in the crowd of Trojans, who +rushed on him as hounds and hunters press round a wild boar that stands +at bay in a wood. 'They are cowards that flee from the fight,' said +Ulysses to himself; 'but I will stand here, one man against a +multitude.' He covered the front of his body with his great shield, that +hung by a belt round his neck, and he smote four Trojans and wounded a +fifth. But the brother of the wounded man drove a spear through the +shield and breastplate of Ulysses, and tore clean through his side. Then +Ulysses turned on this Trojan, and he fled, and Ulysses sent a spear +through his shoulder and out at his breast, and he died. Ulysses dragged +from his own side the spear that had wounded him, and called thrice with +a great voice to the other Greeks, and Menelaus and Aias rushed to +rescue him, for many Trojans were round him, like jackals round a +wounded stag that a man has struck with an arrow. But Aias ran and +covered the wounded Ulysses with his huge shield till he could climb +into the chariot of Menelaus, who drove him back to the ships. + +Meanwhile, Hector was slaying the Greeks on the left of their battle, +and Paris struck the Greek surgeon, Machaon, with an arrow; and +Idomeneus bade Nestor put Machaon in his chariot and drive him to +Nestor's hut, where his wound might be tended. Meanwhile, Hector sped to +the centre of the line, where Aias was slaying the Trojans; but +Eurypylus, a Greek chief, was wounded by an arrow from the bow of +Paris, and his friends guarded him with their shields and spears. + +Thus the best of the Greeks were wounded and out of the battle, save +Aias, and the spearmen were in flight. Meanwhile Achilles was standing +by the stern of his ship watching the defeat of the Greeks, but when he +saw Machaon being carried past, sorely wounded, in the chariot of +Nestor, he bade his friend Patroclus, whom he loved better than all the +rest, to go and ask how Machaon did. He was sitting drinking wine with +Nestor when Patroclus came, and Nestor told Patroclus how many of the +chiefs were wounded, and though Patroclus was in a hurry Nestor began a +very long story about his own great deeds of war, done when he was a +young man. At last he bade Patroclus tell Achilles that, if he would not +fight himself, he should at least send out his men under Patroclus, who +should wear the splendid armour of Achilles. Then the Trojans would +think that Achilles himself had returned to the battle, and they would +be afraid, for none of them dared to meet Achilles hand to hand. + +So Patroclus ran off to Achilles; but, on his way, he met the wounded +Eurypylus, and he took him to his hut and cut the arrow out of his thigh +with a knife, and washed the wound with warm water, and rubbed over it a +bitter root to take the pain away. Thus he waited for some time with +Eurypylus, but the advice of Nestor was in the end to cause the death of +Patroclus. The battle now raged more fiercely, while Agamemnon and +Diomede and Ulysses could only limp about leaning on their spears; and +again Agamemnon wished to moor the ships near shore, and embark in the +night and run away. But Ulysses was very angry with him, and said: 'You +should lead some other inglorious army, not us, who will fight on till +every soul of us perish, rather than flee like cowards! Be silent, lest +the soldiers hear you speaking of flight, such words as no man should +utter. I wholly scorn your counsel, for the Greeks will lose heart if, +in the midst of battle, you bid them launch the ships.' + +Agamemnon was ashamed, and, by Diomede's advice, the wounded kings went +down to the verge of the war to encourage the others, though they were +themselves unable to fight. They rallied the Greeks, and Aias led them +and struck Hector full in the breast with a great rock, so that his +friends carried him out of the battle to the river side, where they +poured water over him, but he lay fainting on the ground, the black +blood gushing up from his mouth. While Hector lay there, and all men +thought that he would die, Aias and Idomeneus were driving back the +Trojans, and it seemed that, even without Achilles and his men, the +Greeks were able to hold their own against the Trojans. But the battle +was never lost while Hector lived. People in those days believed in +'omens:' they thought that the appearance of birds on the right or left +hand meant good or bad luck. Once during the battle a Trojan showed +Hector an unlucky bird, and wanted him to retreat into the town. But +Hector said, 'One omen is the best: to fight for our own country.' While +Hector lay between death and life the Greeks were winning, for the +Trojans had no other great chief to lead them. But Hector awoke from his +faint, and leaped to his feet and ran here and there, encouraging the +men of Troy. Then the most of the Greeks fled when they saw him; but +Aias and Idomeneus, and the rest of the bravest, formed in a square +between the Trojans and the ships, and down on them came Hector and +Aeneas and Paris, throwing their spears, and slaying on every hand. The +Greeks turned and ran, and the Trojans would have stopped to strip the +armour from the slain men, but Hector cried: 'Haste to the ships and +leave the spoils of war. I will slay any man who lags behind!' + +On this, all the Trojans drove their chariots down into the ditch that +guarded the ships of the Greeks, as when a great wave sweeps at sea over +the side of a vessel; and the Greeks were on the ship decks, thrusting +with very long spears, used in sea fights, and the Trojans were boarding +the ships, and striking with swords and axes. Hector had a lighted torch +and tried to set fire to the ship of Aias; but Aias kept him back with +the long spear, and slew a Trojan, whose lighted torch fell from his +hand. And Aias kept shouting: 'Come on, and drive away Hector; it is not +to a dance that he is calling his men, but to battle.' + +The dead fell in heaps, and the living ran over them to mount the heaps +of slain and climb the ships. Hector rushed forward like a sea wave +against a great steep rock, but like the rock stood the Greeks; still +the Trojans charged past the beaks of the foremost ships, while Aias, +thrusting with a spear more than twenty feet long, leaped from deck to +deck like a man that drives four horses abreast, and leaps from the back +of one to the back of another. Hector seized with his hand the stern of +the ship of Protesilaus, the prince whom Paris shot when he leaped +ashore on the day when the Greeks first landed; and Hector kept calling: +'Bring fire!' and even Aias, in this strange sea fight on land, left the +decks and went below, thrusting with his spear through the portholes. +Twelve men lay dead who had brought fire against the ship which Aias +guarded. + + + + +VII + +THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS + + +At this moment, when torches were blazing round the ships, and all +seemed lost, Patroclus came out of the hut of Eurypylus, whose wound he +had been tending, and he saw that the Greeks were in great danger, and +ran weeping to Achilles. 'Why do you weep,' said Achilles, 'like a +little girl that runs by her mother's side, and plucks at her gown and +looks at her with tears in her eyes, till her mother takes her up in her +arms? Is there bad news from home that your father is dead, or mine; or +are you sorry that the Greeks are getting what they deserve for their +folly?' Then Patroclus told Achilles how Ulysses and many other princes +were wounded and could not fight, and begged to be allowed to put on +Achilles' armour and lead his men, who were all fresh and unwearied, +into the battle, for a charge of two thousand fresh warriors might turn +the fortune of the day. + +Then Achilles was sorry that he had sworn not to fight himself till +Hector brought fire to his own ships. He would lend Patroclus his +armour, and his horses, and his men; but Patroclus must only drive the +Trojans from the ships, and not pursue them. At this moment Aias was +weary, so many spears smote his armour, and he could hardly hold up his +great shield, and Hector cut off his spearhead with the sword; the +bronze head fell ringing on the ground, and Aias brandished only the +pointless shaft. So he shrank back and fire blazed all over his ship; +and Achilles saw it, and smote his thigh, and bade Patroclus make haste. +Patroclus armed himself in the shining armour of Achilles, which all +Trojans feared, and leaped into the chariot where Automedon, the squire, +had harnessed Xanthus and Balius, two horses that were the children, men +said, of the West Wind, and a led horse was harnessed beside them in the +side traces. Meanwhile the two thousand men of Achilles, who were called +Myrmidons, had met in armour, five companies of four hundred apiece, +under five chiefs of noble names. Forth they came, as eager as a pack of +wolves that have eaten a great red deer and run to slake their thirst +with the dark water of a well in the hills. + +So all in close array, helmet touching helmet and shield touching +shield, like a moving wall of shining bronze, the men of Achilles +charged, and Patroclus in the chariot led the way. Down they came at +full speed on the flank of the Trojans, who saw the leader, and knew the +bright armour and the horses of the terrible Achilles, and thought that +he had returned to the war. Then each Trojan looked round to see by what +way he could escape, and when men do that in battle they soon run by the +way they have chosen. Patroclus rushed to the ship of Protesilaus, and +slew the leader of the Trojans there, and drove them out, and quenched +the fire; while they of Troy drew back from the ships, and Aias and the +other unwounded Greek princes leaped among them, smiting with sword and +spear. Well did Hector know that the break in the battle had come again; +but even so he stood, and did what he might, while the Trojans were +driven back in disorder across the ditch, where the poles of many +chariots were broken and the horses fled loose across the plain. + +The horses of Achilles cleared the ditch, and Patroclus drove them +between the Trojans and the wall of their own town, slaying many men, +and, chief of all, Sarpedon, king of the Lycians; and round the body of +Sarpedon the Trojans rallied under Hector, and the fight swayed this way +and that, and there was such a noise of spears and swords smiting +shields and helmets as when many woodcutters fell trees in a glen of the +hills. At last the Trojans gave way, and the Greeks stripped the armour +from the body of brave Sarpedon; but men say that Sleep and Death, like +two winged angels, bore his body away to his own country. Now Patroclus +forgot how Achilles had told him not to pursue the Trojans across the +plain, but to return when he had driven them from the ships. On he +raced, slaying as he went, even till he reached the foot of the wall of +Troy. Thrice he tried to climb it, but thrice he fell back. + +Hector was in his chariot in the gateway, and he bade his squire lash +his horses into the war, and struck at no other man, great or small, but +drove straight against Patroclus, who stood and threw a heavy stone at +Hector; which missed him, but killed his charioteer. Then Patroclus +leaped on the charioteer to strip his armour, but Hector stood over the +body, grasping it by the head, while Patroclus dragged at the feet, and +spears and arrows flew in clouds around the fallen man. At last, towards +sunset, the Greeks drew him out of the war, and Patroclus thrice charged +into the thick of the Trojans. But the helmet of Achilles was loosened +in the fight, and fell from the head of Patroclus, and he was wounded +from behind, and Hector, in front, drove his spear clean through his +body. With his last breath Patroclus prophesied: 'Death stands near +thee, Hector, at the hands of noble Achilles.' But Automedon was driving +back the swift horses, carrying to Achilles the news that his dearest +friend was slain. + +After Ulysses was wounded, early in this great battle, he was not able +to fight for several days, and, as the story is about Ulysses, we must +tell quite shortly how Achilles returned to the war to take vengeance +for Patroclus, and how he slew Hector. When Patroclus fell, Hector +seized the armour which the Gods had given to Peleus, and Peleus to his +son Achilles, while Achilles had lent it to Patroclus that he might +terrify the Trojans. Retiring out of reach of spears, Hector took off +his own armour and put on that of Achilles, and Greeks and Trojans +fought for the dead body of Patroclus. Then Zeus, the chief of the Gods, +looked down and said that Hector should never come home out of the +battle to his wife, Andromache. But Hector returned into the fight +around the dead Patroclus, and here all the best men fought, and even +Automedon, who had been driving the chariot of Patroclus. Now when the +Trojans seemed to have the better of the fight, the Greeks sent +Antilochus, a son of old Nestor, to tell Achilles that his friend was +slain, and Antilochus ran, and Aias and his brother protected the Greeks +who were trying to carry the body of Patroclus back to the ships. + +Swiftly Antilochus came running to Achilles, saying: 'Fallen is +Patroclus, and they are fighting round his naked body, for Hector has +his armour.' Then Achilles said never a word, but fell on the floor of +his hut, and threw black ashes on his yellow hair, till Antilochus +seized his hands, fearing that he would cut his own throat with his +dagger, for very sorrow. His mother, Thetis, arose from the sea to +comfort him, but he said that he desired to die if he could not slay +Hector, who had slain his friend. Then Thetis told him that he could not +fight without armour, and now he had none; but she would go to the God +of armour-making and bring from him such a shield and helmet and +breastplate as had never been seen by men. + +Meanwhile the fight raged round the dead body of Patroclus, which was +defiled with blood and dust, near the ships, and was being dragged this +way and that, and torn and wounded. Achilles could not bear this sight, +yet his mother had warned him not to enter without armour the battle +where stones and arrows and spears were flying like hail; and he was so +tall and broad that he could put on the arms of no other man. So he went +down to the ditch as he was, unarmed, and as he stood high above it, +against the red sunset, fire seemed to flow from his golden hair like +the beacon blaze that soars into the dark sky when an island town is +attacked at night, and men light beacons that their neighbours may see +them and come to their help from other isles. There Achilles stood in a +splendour of fire, and he shouted aloud, as clear as a clarion rings +when men fall on to attack a besieged city wall. Thrice Achilles shouted +mightily, and thrice the horses of the Trojans shuddered for fear and +turned back from the onslaught, and thrice the men of Troy were +confounded and shaken with terror. Then the Greeks drew the body of +Patroclus out of the dust and the arrows, and laid him on a bier, and +Achilles followed, weeping, for he had sent his friend with chariot and +horses to the war; but home again he welcomed him never more. Then the +sun set and it was night. + +Now one of the Trojans wished Hector to retire within the walls of Troy, +for certainly Achilles would to-morrow be foremost in the war. But +Hector said, 'Have ye not had your fill of being shut up behind walls? +Let Achilles fight; I will meet him in the open field.' The Trojans +cheered, and they camped in the plain, while in the hut of Achilles +women washed the dead body of Patroclus, and Achilles swore that he +would slay Hector. + +In the dawn came Thetis, bearing to Achilles the new splendid armour +that the God had made for him. Then Achilles put on that armour, and +roused his men; but Ulysses, who knew all the rules of honour, would not +let him fight till peace had been made, with a sacrifice and other +ceremonies, between him and Agamemnon, and till Agamemnon had given him +all the presents which Achilles had before refused. Achilles did not +want them; he wanted only to fight, but Ulysses made him obey, and do +what was usual. Then the gifts were brought, and Agamemnon stood up, and +said that he was sorry for his insolence, and the men took breakfast, +but Achilles would neither eat nor drink. He mounted his chariot, but +the horse Xanthus bowed his head till his long mane touched the ground, +and, being a fairy horse, the child of the West Wind, he spoke (or so +men said), and these were his words: 'We shall bear thee swiftly and +speedily, but thou shalt be slain in fight, and thy dying day is near at +hand.' 'Well I know it,' said Achilles, 'but I will not cease from +fighting till I have given the Trojans their fill of war.' + +So all that day he chased and slew the Trojans. He drove them into the +river, and, though the river came down in a red flood, he crossed, and +slew them on the plain. The plain caught fire, the bushes and long dry +grass blazed round him, but he fought his way through the fire, and +drove the Trojans to their walls. The gates were thrown open, and the +Trojans rushed through like frightened fawns, and then they climbed to +the battlements, and looked down in safety, while the whole Greek army +advanced in line under their shields. + +But Hector stood still, alone, in front of the gate, and old Priam, who +saw Achilles rushing on, shining like a star in his new armour, called +with tears to Hector, 'Come within the gate! This man has slain many of +my sons, and if he slays thee whom have I to help me in my old age?' His +mother also called to Hector, but he stood firm, waiting for Achilles. +Now the story says that he was afraid, and ran thrice in full armour +round Troy, with Achilles in pursuit. But this cannot be true, for no +mortal men could run thrice, in heavy armour, with great shields that +clanked against their ankles, round the town of Troy: moreover Hector +was the bravest of men, and all the Trojan women were looking down at +him from the walls. + +We cannot believe that he ran away, and the story goes on to tell that +he asked Achilles to make an agreement with him. The conqueror in the +fight should give back the body of the fallen to be buried by his +friends, but should keep his armour. But Achilles said that he could +make no agreement with Hector, and threw his spear, which flew over +Hector's shoulder. Then Hector threw his spear, but it could not pierce +the shield which the God had made for Achilles. Hector had no other +spear, and Achilles had one, so Hector cried, 'Let me not die without +honour!' and drew his sword, and rushed at Achilles, who sprang to meet +him, but before Hector could come within a sword-stroke Achilles had +sent his spear clean through the neck of Hector. He fell in the dust and +Achilles said, 'Dogs and birds shall tear your flesh unburied.' With his +dying breath Hector prayed him to take gold from Priam, and give back +his body to be burned in Troy. But Achilles said, 'Hound! would that I +could bring myself to carve and eat thy raw flesh, but dogs shall devour +it, even if thy father offered me thy weight in gold.' With his last +words Hector prophesied and said, 'Remember me in the day when Paris +shall slay thee in the Scaean gate.' Then his brave soul went to the +land of the Dead, which the Greeks called Hades. To that land Ulysses +sailed while he was still a living man, as the story tells later. + +Then Achilles did a dreadful deed; he slit the feet of dead Hector from +heel to ankle, and thrust thongs through, and bound him by the thongs to +his chariot and trailed the body in the dust. All the women of Troy who +were on the walls raised a shriek, and Hector's wife, Andromache, heard +the sound. She had been in an inner room of her house, weaving a purple +web, and embroidering flowers on it, and she was calling her bower +maidens to make ready a bath for Hector when he should come back tired +from battle. But when she heard the cry from the wall she trembled, and +the shuttle with which she was weaving fell from her hands. 'Surely I +heard the cry of my husband's mother,' she said, and she bade two of her +maidens come with her to see why the people lamented. + +She ran swiftly, and reached the battlements, and thence she saw her +dear husband's body being whirled through the dust towards the ships, +behind the chariot of Achilles. Then night came over her eyes and she +fainted. But when she returned to herself she cried out that now none +would defend her little boy, and other children would push him away from +feasts, saying, 'Out with you; no father of thine is at our table,' and +his father, Hector, would lie naked at the ships, unclad, unburned, +unlamented. To be unburned and unburied was thought the greatest of +misfortunes, because the dead man unburned could not go into the House +of Hades, God of the Dead, but must always wander, alone and +comfortless, in the dark borderland between the dead and the living. + + + + +VIII + +THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR + + +When Achilles was asleep that night the ghost of Patroclus came, saying, +'Why dost thou not burn and bury me? for the other shadows of dead men +suffer me not to come near them, and lonely I wander along the dark +dwelling of Hades.' Then Achilles awoke, and he sent men to cut down +trees, and make a huge pile of fagots and logs. On this they laid +Patroclus, covered with white linen, and then they slew many cattle, and +Achilles cut the throats of twelve Trojan prisoners of war, meaning to +burn them with Patroclus to do him honour. This was a deed of shame, for +Achilles was mad with sorrow and anger for the death of his friend. Then +they drenched with wine the great pile of wood, which was thirty yards +long and broad, and set fire to it, and the fire blazed all through the +night and died down in the morning. They put the white bones of +Patroclus in a golden casket, and laid it in the hut of Achilles, who +said that, when he died, they must burn his body, and mix the ashes with +the ashes of his friend, and build over it a chamber of stone, and cover +the chamber with a great hill of earth, and set a pillar of stone above +it. This is one of the hills on the plain of Troy, but the pillar has +fallen from the tomb, long ago. + +Then, as the custom was, Achilles held games--chariot races, foot races, +boxing, wrestling, and archery--in honour of Patroclus. Ulysses won the +prize for the foot race, and for the wrestling, so now his wound must +have been healed. + +But Achilles still kept trailing Hector's dead body each day round the +hill that had been raised for the tomb of Patroclus, till the Gods in +heaven were angry, and bade Thetis tell her son that he must give back +the dead body to Priam, and take ransom for it, and they sent a +messenger to Priam to bid him redeem the body of his son. It was +terrible for Priam to have to go and humble himself before Achilles, +whose hands had been red with the blood of his sons, but he did not +disobey the Gods. He opened his chests, and took out twenty-four +beautiful embroidered changes of raiment; and he weighed out ten heavy +bars, or talents, of gold, and chose a beautiful golden cup, and he +called nine of his sons, Paris, and Helenus, and Deiphobus, and the +rest, saying, 'Go, ye bad sons, my shame; would that Hector lived and +all of you were dead!' for sorrow made him angry; 'go, and get ready for +me a wain, and lay on it these treasures.' So they harnessed mules to +the wain, and placed in it the treasures, and, after praying, Priam +drove through the night to the hut of Achilles. In he went, when no man +looked for him, and kneeled to Achilles, and kissed his terrible +death-dealing hands. 'Have pity on me, and fear the Gods, and give me +back my dead son,' he said, 'and remember thine own father. Have pity on +me, who have endured to do what no man born has ever done before, to +kiss the hands that slew my sons.' + +Then Achilles remembered his own father, far away, who now was old and +weak: and he wept, and Priam wept with him, and then Achilles raised +Priam from his knees and spoke kindly to him, admiring how beautiful he +still was in his old age, and Priam himself wondered at the beauty of +Achilles. And Achilles thought how Priam had long been rich and happy, +like his own father, Peleus, and now old age and weakness and sorrow +were laid upon both of them, for Achilles knew that his own day of death +was at hand, even at the doors. So Achilles bade the women make ready +the body of Hector for burial, and they clothed him in a white mantle +that Priam had brought, and laid him in the wain; and supper was made +ready, and Priam and Achilles ate and drank together, and the women +spread a bed for Priam, who would not stay long, but stole away back to +Troy while Achilles was asleep. + +All the women came out to meet him, and to lament for Hector. They +carried the body into the house of Andromache and laid it on a bed, and +the women gathered around, and each in turn sang her song over the great +dead warrior. His mother bewailed him, and his wife, and Helen of the +fair hands, clad in dark mourning raiment, lifted up her white arms, and +said: 'Hector, of all my brethren in Troy thou wert the dearest, since +Paris brought me hither. Would that ere that day I had died! For this is +now the twentieth year since I came, and in all these twenty years never +heard I a word from thee that was bitter and unkind; others might +upbraid me, thy sisters or thy mother, for thy father was good to me as +if he had been my own; but then thou wouldst restrain them that spoke +evil by the courtesy of thy heart and thy gentle words. Ah! woe for +thee, and woe for me, whom all men shudder at, for there is now none in +wide Troyland to be my friend like thee, my brother and my friend!' + +So Helen lamented, but now was done all that men might do; a great pile +of wood was raised, and Hector was burned, and his ashes were placed in +a golden urn, in a dark chamber of stone, within a hollow hill. + + + + +IX + +HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY + + +After Hector was buried, the siege went on slowly, as it had done during +the first nine years of the war. The Greeks did not know at that time +how to besiege a city, as we saw, by way of digging trenches and +building towers, and battering the walls with machines that threw heavy +stones. The Trojans had lost courage, and dared not go into the open +plain, and they were waiting for the coming up of new armies of +allies--the Amazons, who were girl warriors from far away, and an +Eastern people called the Khita, whose king was Memnon, the son of the +Bright Dawn. + +Now everyone knew that, in the temple of the Goddess Pallas Athênê, in +Troy, was a sacred image, which fell from heaven, called the Palladium, +and this very ancient image was the Luck of Troy. While it remained safe +in the temple people believed that Troy could never be taken, but as it +was in a guarded temple in the middle of the town, and was watched by +priestesses day and night, it seemed impossible that the Greeks should +ever enter the city secretly and steal the Luck away. + +As Ulysses was the grandson of Autolycus, the Master Thief, he often +wished that the old man was with the Greeks, for if there was a thing to +steal Autolycus could steal it. But by this time Autolycus was dead, and +so Ulysses could only puzzle over the way to steal the Luck of Troy, and +wonder how his grandfather would have set about it. He prayed for help +secretly to Hermes, the God of Thieves, when he sacrificed goats to him, +and at last he had a plan. + +There was a story that Anius, the King of the Isle of Delos, had three +daughters, named Oeno, Spermo, and Elais, and that Oeno could turn +water into wine, while Spermo could turn stones into bread, and Elais +could change mud into olive oil. Those fairy gifts, people said, were +given to the maidens by the Wine God, Dionysus, and by the Goddess of +Corn, Demeter. Now corn, and wine, and oil were sorely needed by the +Greeks, who were tired of paying much gold and bronze to the Phoenician +merchants for their supplies. Ulysses therefore went to Agamemnon one +day, and asked leave to take his ship and voyage to Delos, to bring, if +he could, the three maidens to the camp, if indeed they could do these +miracles. As no fighting was going on, Agamemnon gave Ulysses leave to +depart, so he went on board his ship, with a crew of fifty men of +Ithaca, and away they sailed, promising to return in a month. + +Two or three days after that, a dirty old beggar man began to be seen in +the Greek camp. He had crawled in late one evening, dressed in a dirty +smock and a very dirty old cloak, full of holes, and stained with smoke. +Over everything he wore the skin of a stag, with half the hair worn off, +and he carried a staff, and a filthy tattered wallet, to put food in, +which swung from his neck by a cord. He came crouching and smiling up to +the door of the hut of Diomede, and sat down just within the doorway, +where beggars still sit in the East. Diomede saw him, and sent him a +loaf and two handfuls of flesh, which the beggar laid on his wallet, +between his feet, and he made his supper greedily, gnawing a bone like a +dog. + +After supper Diomede asked him who he was and whence he came, and he +told a long story about how he had been a Cretan pirate, and had been +taken prisoner by the Egyptians when he was robbing there, and how he +had worked for many years in their stone quarries, where the sun had +burned him brown, and had escaped by hiding among the great stones, +carried down the Nile in a raft, for building a temple on the seashore. +The raft arrived at night, and the beggar said that he stole out from it +in the dark and found a Phoenician ship in the harbour, and the +Phoenicians took him on board, meaning to sell him somewhere as a slave. +But a tempest came on and wrecked the ship off the Isle of Tenedos, +which is near Troy, and the beggar alone escaped to the island on a +plank of the ship. From Tenedos he had come to Troy in a fisher's boat, +hoping to make himself useful in the camp, and earn enough to keep body +and soul together till he could find a ship sailing to Crete. + +He made his story rather amusing, describing the strange ways of the +Egyptians; how they worshipped cats and bulls, and did everything in +just the opposite of the Greek way of doing things. So Diomede let him +have a rug and blankets to sleep on in the portico of the hut, and next +day the old wretch went begging about the camp and talking with the +soldiers. Now he was a most impudent and annoying old vagabond, and was +always in quarrels. If there was a disagreeable story about the father +or grandfather of any of the princes, he knew it and told it, so that he +got a blow from the baton of Agamemnon, and Aias gave him a kick, and +Idomeneus drubbed him with the butt of his spear for a tale about his +grandmother, and everybody hated him and called him a nuisance. He was +for ever jeering at Ulysses, who was far away, and telling tales about +Autolycus, and at last he stole a gold cup, a very large cup, with two +handles, and a dove sitting on each handle, from the hut of Nestor. The +old chief was fond of this cup, which he had brought from home, and, +when it was found in the beggar's dirty wallet, everybody cried that he +must be driven out of the camp and well whipped. So Nestor's son, young +Thrasymedes, with other young men, laughing and shouting, pushed and +dragged the beggar close up to the Scaean gate of Troy, where +Thrasymedes called with a loud voice, 'O Trojans, we are sick of this +shameless beggar. First we shall whip him well, and if he comes back we +shall put out his eyes and cut off his hands and feet, and give him to +the dogs to eat. He may go to you, if he likes; if not, he must wander +till he dies of hunger.' + +The young men of Troy heard this and laughed, and a crowd gathered on +the wall to see the beggar punished. So Thrasymedes whipped him with his +bowstring till he was tired, and they did not leave off beating the +beggar till he ceased howling and fell, all bleeding, and lay still. +Then Thrasymedes gave him a parting kick, and went away with his +friends. The beggar lay quiet for some time, then he began to stir, and +sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes, and shouting curses and bad +words after the Greeks, praying that they might be speared in the back, +and eaten by dogs. + +At last he tried to stand up, but fell down again, and began to crawl on +hands and knees towards the Scaean gate. There he sat down, within the +two side walls of the gate, where he cried and lamented. Now Helen of +the fair hands came down from the gate tower, being sorry to see any man +treated so much worse than a beast, and she spoke to the beggar and +asked him why he had been used in this cruel way? + +At first he only moaned, and rubbed his sore sides, but at last he said +that he was an unhappy man, who had been shipwrecked, and was begging +his way home, and that the Greeks suspected him of being a spy sent out +by the Trojans. But he had been in Lacedaemon, her own country, he said, +and could tell her about her father, if she were, as he supposed, the +beautiful Helen, and about her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, and her +little daughter, Hermione. + +'But perhaps,' he said, 'you are no mortal woman, but some goddess who +favours the Trojans, and if indeed you are a goddess then I liken you to +Aphrodite, for beauty, and stature, and shapeliness.' Then Helen wept; +for many a year had passed since she had heard any word of her father, +and daughter, and her brothers, who were dead, though she knew it not. +So she stretched out her white hand, and raised the beggar, who was +kneeling at her feet, and bade him follow her to her own house, within +the palace garden of King Priam. + +Helen walked forward, with a bower maiden at either side, and the beggar +crawling after her. When she had entered her house, Paris was not there, +so she ordered the bath to be filled with warm water, and new clothes to +be brought, and she herself washed the old beggar and anointed him with +oil. This appears very strange to us, for though Saint Elizabeth of +Hungary used to wash and clothe beggars, we are surprised that Helen +should do so, who was not a saint. But long afterwards she herself told +the son of Ulysses, Telemachus, that she had washed his father when he +came into Troy disguised as a beggar who had been sorely beaten. + +You must have guessed that the beggar was Ulysses, who had not gone to +Delos in his ship, but stolen back in a boat, and appeared disguised +among the Greeks. He did all this to make sure that nobody could +recognise him, and he behaved so as to deserve a whipping that he might +not be suspected as a Greek spy by the Trojans, but rather be pitied by +them. Certainly he deserved his name of 'the much-enduring Ulysses.' + +Meanwhile he sat in his bath and Helen washed his feet. But when she had +done, and had anointed his wounds with olive oil, and when she had +clothed him in a white tunic and a purple mantle, then she opened her +lips to cry out with amazement, for she knew Ulysses; but he laid his +finger on her lips, saying 'Hush!' Then she remembered how great danger +he was in, for the Trojans, if they found him, would put him to some +cruel death, and she sat down, trembling and weeping, while he watched +her. + +'Oh thou strange one,' she said, 'how enduring is thy heart and how +cunning beyond measure! How hast thou borne to be thus beaten and +disgraced, and to come within the walls of Troy? Well it is for thee +that Paris, my lord, is far from home, having gone to guide Penthesilea, +the Queen of the warrior maids whom men call Amazons, who is on her way +to help the Trojans.' + +Then Ulysses smiled, and Helen saw that she had said a word which she +ought not to have spoken, and had revealed the secret hope of the +Trojans. Then she wept, and said, 'Oh cruel and cunning! You have made +me betray the people with whom I live, though woe is me that ever I left +my own people, and my husband dear, and my child! And now if you escape +alive out of Troy, you will tell the Greeks, and they will lie in ambush +by night for the Amazons on the way to Troy and will slay them all. If +you and I were not friends long ago, I would tell the Trojans that you +are here, and they would give your body to the dogs to eat, and fix your +head on the palisade above the wall. Woe is me that ever I was born.' + +Ulysses answered, 'Lady, as you have said, we two are friends from of +old, and your friend I will be till the last, when the Greeks break into +Troy, and slay the men, and carry the women captives. If I live till +that hour no man shall harm you, but safely and in honour you shall come +to your palace in Lacedaemon of the rifted hills. Moreover, I swear to +you a great oath, by Zeus above, and by Them that under earth punish the +souls of men who swear falsely, that I shall tell no man the thing which +you have spoken.' + +So when he had sworn and done that oath, Helen was comforted and dried +her tears. Then she told him how unhappy she was, and how she had lost +her last comfort when Hector died. 'Always am I wretched,' she said, +'save when sweet sleep falls on me. Now the wife of Thon, King of Egypt, +gave me this gift when we were in Egypt, on our way to Troy, namely, a +drug that brings sleep even to the most unhappy, and it is pressed from +the poppy heads of the garland of the God of Sleep.' Then she showed him +strange phials of gold, full of this drug: phials wrought by the +Egyptians, and covered with magic spells and shapes of beasts and +flowers. 'One of these I will give you,' she said, 'that even from Troy +town you may not go without a gift in memory of the hands of Helen.' So +Ulysses took the phial of gold, and was glad in his heart, and Helen set +before him meat and wine. When he had eaten and drunk, and his strength +had come back to him, he said: + +'Now I must dress me again in my old rags, and take my wallet, and my +staff, and go forth, and beg through Troy town. For here I must abide +for some days as a beggar man, lest if I now escape from your house in +the night the Trojans may think that you have told me the secrets of +their counsel, which I am carrying to the Greeks, and may be angry with +you.' So he clothed himself again as a beggar, and took his staff, and +hid the phial of gold with the Egyptian drug in his rags, and in his +wallet also he put the new clothes that Helen had given him, and a +sword, and he took farewell, saying, 'Be of good heart, for the end of +your sorrows is at hand. But if you see me among the beggars in the +street, or by the well, take no heed of me, only I will salute you as a +beggar who has been kindly treated by a Queen.' + +So they parted, and Ulysses went out, and when it was day he was with +the beggars in the streets, but by night he commonly slept near the fire +of a smithy forge, as is the way of beggars. So for some days he begged, +saying that he was gathering food to eat while he walked to some town +far away that was at peace, where he might find work to do. He was not +impudent now, and did not go to rich men's houses or tell evil tales, or +laugh, but he was much in the temples, praying to the Gods, and above +all in the temple of Pallas Athênê. The Trojans thought that he was a +pious man for a beggar. + +Now there was a custom in these times that men and women who were sick +or in distress, should sleep at night on the floors of the temples. They +did this hoping that the God would send them a dream to show them how +their diseases might be cured, or how they might find what they had +lost, or might escape from their distresses. + +Ulysses slept in more than one temple, and once in that of Pallas +Athênê, and the priests and priestesses were kind to him, and gave him +food in the morning when the gates of the temple were opened. + +In the temple of Pallas Athênê, where the Luck of Troy lay always on her +altar, the custom was that priestesses kept watch, each for two hours, +all through the night, and soldiers kept guard within call. So one night +Ulysses slept there, on the floor, with other distressed people, seeking +for dreams from the Gods. He lay still all through the night till the +turn of the last priestess came to watch. The priestess used to walk up +and down with bare feet among the dreaming people, having a torch in her +hand, and muttering hymns to the Goddess. Then Ulysses, when her back +was turned, slipped the gold phial out of his rags, and let it lie on +the polished floor beside him. When the priestess came back again, the +light from her torch fell on the glittering phial, and she stooped and +picked it up, and looked at it curiously. There came from it a sweet +fragrance, and she opened it, and tasted the drug. It seemed to her the +sweetest thing that ever she had tasted, and she took more and more, and +then closed the phial and laid it down, and went along murmuring her +hymn. + +But soon a great drowsiness came over her, and she sat down on the step +of the altar, and fell sound asleep, and the torch sunk in her hand, and +went out, and all was dark. Then Ulysses put the phial in his wallet, +and crept very cautiously to the altar, in the dark, and stole the Luck +of Troy. It was only a small black mass of what is now called meteoric +iron, which sometimes comes down with meteorites from the sky, but it +was shaped like a shield, and the people thought it an image of the +warlike shielded Goddess, fallen from Heaven. Such sacred shields, made +of glass and ivory, are found deep in the earth in the ruined cities of +Ulysses' time. Swiftly Ulysses hid the Luck in his rags and left in its +place on the altar a copy of the Luck, which he had made of blackened +clay. Then he stole back to the place where he had lain, and remained +there till dawn appeared, and the sleepers who sought for dreams awoke, +and the temple gates were opened, and Ulysses walked out with the rest +of them. + +He stole down a lane, where as yet no people were stirring, and crept +along, leaning on his staff, till he came to the eastern gate, at the +back of the city, which the Greeks never attacked, for they had never +drawn their army in a circle round the town. There Ulysses explained to +the sentinels that he had gathered food enough to last for a long +journey to some other town, and opened his bag, which seemed full of +bread and broken meat. The soldiers said he was a lucky beggar, and let +him out. He walked slowly along the waggon road by which wood was +brought into Troy from the forests on Mount Ida, and when he found that +nobody was within sight he slipped into the forest, and stole into a +dark thicket, hiding beneath the tangled boughs. Here he lay and slept +till evening, and then took the new clothes which Helen had given him +out of his wallet, and put them on, and threw the belt of the sword over +his shoulder, and hid the Luck of Troy in his bosom. He washed himself +clean in a mountain brook, and now all who saw him must have known that +he was no beggar, but Ulysses of Ithaca, Laertes' son. + +So he walked cautiously down the side of the brook which ran between +high banks deep in trees, and followed it till it reached the river +Xanthus, on the left of the Greek lines. Here he found Greek sentinels +set to guard the camp, who cried aloud in joy and surprise, for his +ship had not yet returned from Delos, and they could not guess how +Ulysses had come back alone across the sea. So two of the sentinels +guarded Ulysses to the hut of Agamemnon, where he and Achilles and all +the chiefs were sitting at a feast. They all leaped up, but when Ulysses +took the Luck of Troy from within his mantle, they cried that this was +the bravest deed that had been done in the war, and they sacrificed ten +oxen to Zeus. + +'So you were the old beggar,' said young Thrasymedes. + +'Yes,' said Ulysses, 'and when next you beat a beggar, Thrasymedes, do +not strike so hard and so long.' + +That night all the Greeks were full of hope, for now they had the Luck +of Troy, but the Trojans were in despair, and guessed that the beggar +was the thief, and that Ulysses had been the beggar. The priestess, +Theano, could tell them nothing; they found her, with the extinguished +torch drooping in her hand, asleep, as she sat on the step of the altar, +and she never woke again. + + + + +X + +THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON--THE DEATH OF ACHILLES + + +Ulysses thought much and often of Helen, without whose kindness he could +not have saved the Greeks by stealing the Luck of Troy. He saw that, +though she remained as beautiful as when the princes all sought her +hand, she was most unhappy, knowing herself to be the cause of so much +misery, and fearing what the future might bring. Ulysses told nobody +about the secret which she had let fall, the coming of the Amazons. + +The Amazons were a race of warlike maids, who lived far away on the +banks of the river Thermodon. They had fought against Troy in former +times, and one of the great hill-graves on the plain of Troy covered the +ashes of an Amazon, swift-footed Myrinê. People believed that they were +the daughters of the God of War, and they were reckoned equal in battle +to the bravest men. Their young Queen, Penthesilea, had two reasons for +coming to fight at Troy: one was her ambition to win renown, and the +other her sleepless sorrow for having accidentally killed her sister, +Hippolytê, when hunting. The spear which she threw at a stag struck +Hippolytê and slew her, and Penthesilea cared no longer for her own +life, and desired to fall gloriously in battle. So Penthesilea and her +bodyguard of twelve Amazons set forth from the wide streams of +Thermodon, and rode into Troy. The story says that they did not drive in +chariots, like all the Greek and Trojan chiefs, but rode horses, which +must have been the manner of their country. + +Penthesilea was the tallest and most beautiful of the Amazons, and shone +among her twelve maidens like the moon among the stars, or the bright +Dawn among the Hours which follow her chariot wheels. The Trojans +rejoiced when they beheld her, for she looked both terrible and +beautiful, with a frown on her brow, and fair shining eyes, and a blush +on her cheeks. To the Trojans she came like Iris, the Rainbow, after a +storm, and they gathered round her cheering, and throwing flowers and +kissing her stirrup, as the people of Orleans welcomed Joan of Arc when +she came to deliver them. Even Priam was glad, as is a man long blind, +when he has been healed, and again looks upon the light of the sun. +Priam held a great feast, and gave to Penthesilea many beautiful gifts: +cups of gold, and embroideries, and a sword with a hilt of silver, and +she vowed that she would slay Achilles. But when Andromache, the wife of +Hector, heard her she said within herself, 'Ah, unhappy girl, what is +this boast of thine! Thou hast not the strength to fight the +unconquerable son of Peleus, for if Hector could not slay him, what +chance hast thou? But the piled-up earth covers Hector!' + +In the morning Penthesilea sprang up from sleep and put on her glorious +armour, with spear in hand, and sword at side, and bow and quiver hung +behind her back, and her great shield covering her side from neck to +stirrup, and mounted her horse, and galloped to the plain. Beside her +charged the twelve maidens of her bodyguard, and all the company of +Hector's brothers and kinsfolk. These headed the Trojan lines, and they +rushed towards the ships of the Greeks. + +Then the Greeks asked each other, 'Who is this that leads the Trojans as +Hector led them, surely some God rides in the van of the charioteers!' +Ulysses could have told them who the new leader of the Trojans was, but +it seems that he had not the heart to fight against women, for his name +is not mentioned in this day's battle. So the two lines clashed, and the +plain of Troy ran red with blood, for Penthesilea slew Molios, and +Persinoos, and Eilissos, and Antiphates, and Lernos high of heart, and +Hippalmos of the loud warcry, and Haemonides, and strong Elasippus, +while her maidens Derinoê and Cloniê slew each a chief of the Greeks. +But Cloniê fell beneath the spear of Podarkes, whose hand Penthesilea +cut off with the sword, while Idomeneus speared the Amazon Bremousa, +and Meriones of Crete slew Evadrê, and Diomede killed Alcibiê and +Derimacheia in close fight with the sword, so the company of the Twelve +were thinned, the bodyguard of Penthesilea. + +The Trojans and Greeks kept slaying each other, but Penthesilea avenged +her maidens, driving the ranks of Greece as a lioness drives the cattle +on the hills, for they could not stand before her. Then she shouted, +'Dogs! to-day shall you pay for the sorrows of Priam! Where is Diomede, +where is Achilles, where is Aias, that, men say, are your bravest? Will +none of them stand before my spear?' Then she charged again, at the head +of the Household of Priam, brothers and kinsmen of Hector, and where +they came the Greeks fell like yellow leaves before the wind of autumn. +The white horse that Penthesilea rode, a gift from the wife of the North +Wind, flashed like lightning through a dark cloud among the companies of +the Greeks, and the chariots that followed the charge of the Amazon +rocked as they swept over the bodies of the slain. Then the old Trojans, +watching from the walls, cried: 'This is no mortal maiden but a Goddess, +and to-day she will burn the ships of the Greeks, and they will all +perish in Troyland, and see Greece never more again.' + +Now it so was that Aias and Achilles had not heard the din and the cry +of war, for both had gone to weep over the great new grave of Patroclus. +Penthesilea and the Trojans had driven back the Greeks within their +ditch, and they were hiding here and there among the ships, and torches +were blazing in men's hands to burn the ships, as in the day of the +valour of Hector: when Aias heard the din of battle, and called to +Achilles to make speed towards the ships. + +So they ran swiftly to their huts, and armed themselves, and Aias fell +smiting and slaying upon the Trojans, but Achilles slew five of the +bodyguard of Penthesilea. She, beholding her maidens fallen, rode +straight against Aias and Achilles, like a dove defying two falcons, and +cast her spear, but it fell back blunted from the glorious shield that +the God had made for the son of Peleus. Then she threw another spear at +Aias, crying, 'I am the daughter of the God of War,' but his armour kept +out the spear, and he and Achilles laughed aloud. Aias paid no more heed +to the Amazon, but rushed against the Trojan men; while Achilles raised +the heavy spear that none but he could throw, and drove it down through +breastplate and breast of Penthesilea, yet still her hand grasped her +sword-hilt. But, ere she could draw her sword, Achilles speared her +horse, and horse and rider fell, and died in their fall. + +There lay fair Penthesilea in the dust, like a tall poplar tree that the +wind has overthrown, and her helmet fell, and the Greeks who gathered +round marvelled to see her lie so beautiful in death, like Artemis, the +Goddess of the Woods, when she sleeps alone, weary with hunting on the +hills. Then the heart of Achilles was pierced with pity and sorrow, +thinking how she might have been his wife in his own country, had he +spared her, but he was never to see pleasant Phthia, his native land, +again. So Achilles stood and wept over Penthesilea dead. + +Now the Greeks, in pity and sorrow, held their hands, and did not pursue +the Trojans who had fled, nor did they strip the armour from Penthesilea +and her twelve maidens, but laid the bodies on biers, and sent them back +in peace to Priam. Then the Trojans burned Penthesilea in the midst of +her dead maidens, on a great pile of dry wood, and placed their ashes +in a golden casket, and buried them all in the great hill-grave of +Laomedon, an ancient King of Troy, while the Greeks with lamentation +buried them whom the Amazon had slain. + +[Illustration: ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER.] + +The old men of Troy and the chiefs now held a council, and Priam said +that they must not yet despair, for, if they had lost many of their +bravest warriors, many of the Greeks had also fallen. Their best plan +was to fight only with arrows from the walls and towers, till King +Memnon came to their rescue with a great army of Aethiopes. Now Memnon +was the son of the bright Dawn, a beautiful Goddess who had loved and +married a mortal man, Tithonus. She had asked Zeus, the chief of the +Gods, to make her lover immortal, and her prayer was granted. Tithonus +could not die, but he began to grow grey, and then white haired, with a +long white beard, and very weak, till nothing of him seemed to be left +but his voice, always feebly chattering like the grasshoppers on a +summer day. + +Memnon was the most beautiful of men, except Paris and Achilles, and his +home was in a country that borders on the land of sunrising. There he +was reared by the lily maidens called Hesperides, till he came to his +full strength, and commanded the whole army of the Aethiopes. For their +arrival Priam wished to wait, but Polydamas advised that the Trojans +should give back Helen to the Greeks, with jewels twice as valuable as +those which she had brought from the house of Menelaus. Then Paris was +very angry, and said that Polydamas was a coward, for it was little to +Paris that Troy should be taken and burned in a month if for a month he +could keep Helen of the fair hands. + +At length Memnon came, leading a great army of men who had nothing white +about them but the teeth, so fiercely the sun burned on them in their +own country. The Trojans had all the more hopes of Memnon because, on +his long journey from the land of sunrising, and the river Oceanus that +girdles the round world, he had been obliged to cross the country of the +Solymi. Now the Solymi were the fiercest of men and rose up against +Memnon, but he and his army fought them for a whole day, and defeated +them, and drove them to the hills. When Memnon came, Priam gave him a +great cup of gold, full of wine to the brim, and Memnon drank the wine +at one draught. But he did not make great boasts of what he could do, +like poor Penthesilea, 'for,' said he, 'whether I am a good man at arms +will be known in battle, where the strength of men is tried. So now let +us turn to sleep, for to wake and drink wine all through the night is an +ill beginning of war.' + +Then Priam praised his wisdom, and all men betook them to bed, but the +bright Dawn rose unwillingly next day, to throw light on the battle +where her son was to risk his life. Then Memnon led out the dark clouds +of his men into the plain, and the Greeks foreboded evil when they saw +so great a new army of fresh and unwearied warriors, but Achilles, +leading them in his shining armour, gave them courage. Memnon fell upon +the left wing of the Greeks, and on the men of Nestor, and first he slew +Ereuthus, and then attacked Nestor's young son, Antilochus, who, now +that Patroclus had fallen, was the dearest friend of Achilles. On him +Memnon leaped, like a lion on a kid, but Antilochus lifted a huge stone +from the plain, a pillar that had been set on the tomb of some great +warrior long ago, and the stone smote full on the helmet of Memnon, who +reeled beneath the stroke. But Memnon seized his heavy spear, and drove +it through shield and corselet of Antilochus, even into his heart, and +he fell and died beneath his father's eyes. Then Nestor in great sorrow +and anger strode across the body of Antilochus and called to his other +son, Thrasymedes, 'Come and drive afar this man that has slain thy +brother, for if fear be in thy heart thou art no son of mine, nor of the +race of Periclymenus, who stood up in battle even against the strong man +Heracles!' + +But Memnon was too strong for Thrasymedes, and drove him off, while old +Nestor himself charged sword in hand, though Memnon bade him begone, for +he was not minded to strike so aged a man, and Nestor drew back, for he +was weak with age. Then Memnon and his army charged the Greeks, slaying +and stripping the dead. But Nestor had mounted his chariot and driven to +Achilles, weeping, and imploring him to come swiftly and save the body +of Antilochus, and he sped to meet Memnon, who lifted a great stone, the +landmark of a field, and drove it against the shield of the son of +Peleus. But Achilles was not shaken by the blow; he ran forward, and +wounded Memnon over the rim of his shield. Yet wounded as he was Memnon +fought on and struck his spear through the arm of Achilles, for the +Greeks fought with no sleeves of bronze to protect their arms. + +Then Achilles drew his great sword, and flew on Memnon, and with +sword-strokes they lashed at each other on shield and helmet, and the +long horsehair crests of the helmets were shorn off, and flew down the +wind, and their shields rang terribly beneath the sword strokes. They +thrust at each others' throats between shield and visor of the helmet, +they smote at knee, and thrust at breast, and the armour rang about +their bodies, and the dust from beneath their feet rose up in a cloud +around them, like mist round the falls of a great river in flood. So +they fought, neither of them yielding a step, till Achilles made so +rapid a thrust that Memnon could not parry it, and the bronze sword +passed clean through his body beneath the breast-bone, and he fell, and +his armour clashed as he fell. + +Then Achilles, wounded as he was and weak from loss of blood, did not +stay to strip the golden armour of Memnon, but shouted his warcry, and +pressed on, for he hoped to enter the gate of Troy with the fleeing +Trojans, and all the Greeks followed after him. So they pursued, slaying +as they went, and the Scaean gate was choked with the crowd of men, +pursuing and pursued. In that hour would the Greeks have entered Troy, +and burned the city, and taken the women captive, but Paris stood on the +tower above the gate, and in his mind was anger for the death of his +brother Hector. He tried the string of his bow, and found it frayed, for +all day he had showered his arrows on the Greeks; so he chose a new +bowstring, and fitted it, and strung the bow, and chose an arrow from +his quiver, and aimed at the ankle of Achilles, where it was bare +beneath the greave, or leg-guard of metal, that the God had fashioned +for him. Through the ankle flew the arrow, and Achilles wheeled round, +weak as he was, and stumbled, and fell, and the armour that the God had +wrought was defiled with dust and blood. + +Then Achilles rose again, and cried: 'What coward has smitten me with a +secret arrow from afar? Let him stand forth and meet me with sword and +spear!' So speaking he seized the shaft with his strong hands and tore +it out of the wound, and much blood gushed, and darkness came over his +eyes. Yet he staggered forward, striking blindly, and smote Orythaon, a +dear friend of Hector, through the helmet, and others he smote, but now +his force failed him, and he leaned on his spear, and cried his warcry, +and said, 'Cowards of Troy, ye shall not all escape my spear, dying as I +am.' But as he spoke he fell, and all his armour rang around him, yet +the Trojans stood apart and watched; and as hunters watch a dying lion +not daring to go nigh him, so the Trojans stood in fear till Achilles +drew his latest breath. Then from the wall the Trojan women raised a +great cry of joy over him who had slain the noble Hector: and thus was +fulfilled the prophecy of Hector, that Achilles should fall in the +Scaean gateway, by the hand of Paris. + +Then the best of the Trojans rushed forth from the gate to seize the +body of Achilles, and his glorious armour, but the Greeks were as eager +to carry the body to the ships that it might have due burial. Round the +dead Achilles men fought long and sore, and both sides were mixed, +Greeks and Trojans, so that men dared not shoot arrows from the walls of +Troy lest they should kill their own friends. Paris, and Aeneas, and +Glaucus, who had been the friend of Sarpedon, led the Trojans, and Aias +and Ulysses led the Greeks, for we are not told that Agamemnon was +fighting in this great battle of the war. Now as angry wild bees flock +round a man who is taking their honeycombs, so the Trojans gathered +round Aias, striving to stab him, but he set his great shield in front, +and smote and slew all that came within reach of his spear. Ulysses, +too, struck down many, and though a spear was thrown and pierced his leg +near the knee he stood firm, protecting the body of Achilles. At last +Ulysses caught the body of Achilles by the hands, and heaved it upon his +back, and so limped towards the ships, but Aias and the men of Aias +followed, turning round if ever the Trojans ventured to come near, and +charging into the midst of them. Thus very slowly they bore the dead +Achilles across the plain, through the bodies of the fallen and the +blood, till they met Nestor in his chariot and placed Achilles therein, +and swiftly Nestor drove to the ships. + +There the women, weeping, washed Achilles' comely body, and laid him on +a bier with a great white mantle over him, and all the women lamented +and sang dirges, and the first was Briseis, who loved Achilles better +than her own country, and her father, and her brothers whom he had slain +in war. The Greek princes, too, stood round the body, weeping and +cutting off their long locks of yellow hair, a token of grief and an +offering to the dead. + +Men say that forth from the sea came Thetis of the silver feet, the +mother of Achilles, with her ladies, the deathless maidens of the +waters. They rose up from their glassy chambers below the sea, moving +on, many and beautiful, like the waves on a summer day, and their sweet +song echoed along the shores, and fear came upon the Greeks. Then they +would have fled, but Nestor cried: 'Hold, flee not, young lords of the +Achaeans! Lo, she that comes from the sea is his mother, with the +deathless maidens of the waters, to look on the face of her dead son.' +Then the sea nymphs stood around the dead Achilles and clothed him in +the garments of the Gods, fragrant raiment, and all the Nine Muses, one +to the other replying with sweet voices, began their lament. + +Next the Greeks made a great pile of dry wood, and laid Achilles on it, +and set fire to it, till the flames had consumed his body except the +white ashes. These they placed in a great golden cup and mingled with +them the ashes of Patroclus, and above all they built a tomb like a +hill, high on a headland above the sea, that men for all time may see it +as they go sailing by, and may remember Achilles. Next they held in his +honour foot races and chariot races, and other games, and Thetis gave +splendid prizes. Last of all, when the games were ended, Thetis placed +before the chiefs the glorious armour that the God had made for her son +on the night after the slaying of Patroclus by Hector. 'Let these arms +be the prize of the best of the Greeks,' she said, 'and of him that +saved the body of Achilles out of the hands of the Trojans.' + +Then stood up on one side Aias and on the other Ulysses, for these two +had rescued the body, and neither thought himself a worse warrior than +the other. Both were the bravest of the brave, and if Aias was the +taller and stronger, and upheld the fight at the ships on the day of the +valour of Hector; Ulysses had alone withstood the Trojans, and refused +to retreat even when wounded, and his courage and cunning had won for +the Greeks the Luck of Troy. Therefore old Nestor arose and said: 'This +is a luckless day, when the best of the Greeks are rivals for such a +prize. He who is not the winner will be heavy at heart, and will not +stand firm by us in battle, as of old, and hence will come great loss to +the Greeks. Who can be a just judge in this question, for some men will +love Aias better, and some will prefer Ulysses, and thus will arise +disputes among ourselves. Lo! have we not here among us many Trojan +prisoners, waiting till their friends pay their ransom in cattle and +gold and bronze and iron? These hate all the Greeks alike, and will +favour neither Aias nor Ulysses. Let _them_ be the judges, and decide +who is the best of the Greeks, and the man who has done most harm to the +Trojans.' + +Agamemnon said that Nestor had spoken wisely. The Trojans were then made +to sit as judges in the midst of the Assembly, and Aias and Ulysses +spoke, and told the stories of their own great deeds, of which we have +heard already, but Aias spoke roughly and discourteously, calling +Ulysses a coward and a weakling. 'Perhaps the Trojans know,' said +Ulysses quietly, 'whether they think that I deserve what Aias has said +about me, that I am a coward; and perhaps Aias may remember that he did +not find me so weak when we wrestled for a prize at the funeral of +Patroclus.' + +Then the Trojans all with one voice said that Ulysses was the best man +among the Greeks, and the most feared by them, both for his courage and +his skill in stratagems of war. On this, the blood of Aias flew into his +face, and he stood silent and unmoving, and could not speak a word, till +his friends came round him and led him away to his hut, and there he sat +down and would not eat or drink, and the night fell. + +Long he sat, musing in his mind, and then rose and put on all his +armour, and seized a sword that Hector had given him one day when they +two fought in a gentle passage of arms, and took courteous farewell of +each other, and Aias had given Hector a broad sword-belt, wrought with +gold. This sword, Hector's gift, Aias took, and went towards the hut of +Ulysses, meaning to carve him limb from limb, for madness had come upon +him in his great grief. Rushing through the night to slay Ulysses he +fell upon the flock of sheep that the Greeks kept for their meat. And up +and down among them he went, smiting blindly till the dawn came, and, +lo! his senses returned to him, and he saw that he had not smitten +Ulysses, but stood in a pool of blood among the sheep that he had +slain. He could not endure the disgrace of his madness, and he fixed the +sword, Hector's gift, with its hilt firmly in the ground, and went back +a little way, and ran and fell upon the sword, which pierced his heart, +and so died the great Aias, choosing death before a dishonoured life. + + + + +XI + +ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES.--THE VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS + + +When the Greeks found Aias lying dead, slain by his own hand, they made +great lament, and above all the brother of Aias, and his wife Tecmessa +bewailed him, and the shores of the sea rang with their sorrow. But of +all no man was more grieved than Ulysses, and he stood up and said: +'Would that the sons of the Trojans had never awarded to me the arms of +Achilles, for far rather would I have given them to Aias than that this +loss should have befallen the whole army of the Greeks. Let no man blame +me, or be angry with me, for I have not sought for wealth, to enrich +myself, but for honour only, and to win a name that will be remembered +among men in times to come.' Then they made a great fire of wood, and +burned the body of Aias, lamenting him as they had sorrowed for +Achilles. + +Now it seemed that though the Greeks had won the Luck of Troy and had +defeated the Amazons and the army of Memnon, they were no nearer taking +Troy than ever. They had slain Hector, indeed, and many other Trojans, +but they had lost the great Achilles, and Aias, and Patroclus, and +Antilochus, with the princes whom Penthesilea and Memnon slew, and the +bands of the dead chiefs were weary of fighting, and eager to go home. +The chiefs met in council, and Menelaus arose and said that his heart +was wasted with sorrow for the death of so many brave men who had sailed +to Troy for his sake. 'Would that death had come upon me before I +gathered this host,' he said, 'but come, let the rest of us launch our +swift ships, and return each to our own country.' + +He spoke thus to try the Greeks, and see of what courage they were, for +his desire was still to burn Troy town and to slay Paris with his own +hand. Then up rose Diomede, and swore that never would the Greeks turn +cowards. No! he bade them sharpen their swords, and make ready for +battle. The prophet Calchas, too, arose and reminded the Greeks how he +had always foretold that they would take Troy in the tenth year of the +siege, and how the tenth year had come, and victory was almost in their +hands. Next Ulysses stood up and said that, though Achilles was dead, +and there was no prince to lead his men, yet a son had been born to +Achilles, while he was in the isle of Scyros, and that son he would +bring to fill his father's place. + +'Surely he will come, and for a token I will carry to him those unhappy +arms of the great Achilles. Unworthy am I to wear them, and they bring +back to my mind our sorrow for Aias. But his son will wear them, in the +front of the spearmen of Greece and in the thickest ranks of Troy shall +the helmet of Achilles shine, as it was wont to do, for always he fought +among the foremost.' Thus Ulysses spoke, and he and Diomede, with fifty +oarsmen, went on board a swift ship, and sitting all in order on the +benches they smote the grey sea into foam, and Ulysses held the helm and +steered them towards the isle of Scyros. + +Now the Trojans had rest from war for a while, and Priam, with a heavy +heart, bade men take his chief treasure, the great golden vine, with +leaves and clusters of gold, and carry it to the mother of Eurypylus, +the king of the people who dwell where the wide marshlands of the river +Caycus clang with the cries of the cranes and herons and wild swans. For +the mother of Eurypylus had sworn that never would she let her son go to +the war unless Priam sent her the vine of gold, a gift of the gods to an +ancient King of Troy. + +With a heavy heart, then, Priam sent the golden vine, but Eurypylus was +glad when he saw it, and bade all his men arm, and harness the horses to +the chariots, and glad were the Trojans when the long line of the new +army wound along the road and into the town. Then Paris welcomed +Eurypylus who was his nephew, son of his sister Astyochê, a daughter of +Priam; but the grandfather of Eurypylus was the famous Heracles, the +strongest man who ever lived on earth. So Paris brought Eurypylus to his +house, where Helen sat working at her embroideries with her four bower +maidens, and Eurypylus marvelled when he saw her, she was so beautiful. +But the Khita, the people of Eurypylus, feasted in the open air among +the Trojans, by the light of great fires burning, and to the music of +pipes and flutes. The Greeks saw the fires, and heard the merry music, +and they watched all night lest the Trojans should attack the ships +before the dawn. But in the dawn Eurypylus rose from sleep and put on +his armour, and hung from his neck by the belt the great shield on which +were fashioned, in gold of many colours and in silver, the Twelve +Adventures of Heracles, his grandfather; strange deeds that he did, +fighting with monsters and giants and with the Hound of Hades, who +guards the dwellings of the dead. Then Eurypylus led on his whole army, +and with the brothers of Hector he charged against the Greeks, who were +led by Agamemnon. + +In that battle Eurypylus first smote Nireus, who was the most beautiful +of the Greeks now that Achilles had fallen. There lay Nireus, like an +apple tree, all covered with blossoms red and white, that the wind has +overthrown in a rich man's orchard. Then Eurypylus would have stripped +off his armour, but Machaon rushed in, Machaon who had been wounded and +taken to the tent of Nestor, on the day of the Valour of Hector, when he +brought fire against the ships. Machaon drove his spear through the left +shoulder of Eurypylus, but Eurypylus struck at his shoulder with his +sword, and the blood flowed; nevertheless, Machaon stooped, and grasped +a great stone, and sent it against the helmet of Eurypylus. He was +shaken, but he did not fall, he drove his spear through breastplate and +breast of Machaon, who fell and died. With his last breath he said, +'Thou, too, shalt fall,' but Eurypylus made answer, 'So let it be! Men +cannot live for ever, and such is the fortune of war.' + +Thus the battle rang, and shone, and shifted, till few of the Greeks +kept steadfast, except those with Menelaus and Agamemnon, for Diomede +and Ulysses were far away upon the sea, bringing from Scyros the son of +Achilles. But Teucer slew Polydamas, who had warned Hector to come +within the walls of Troy; and Menelaus wounded Deiphobus, the bravest of +the sons of Priam who were still in arms, for many had fallen; and +Agamemnon slew certain spearmen of the Trojans. Round Eurypylus fought +Paris, and Aeneas, who wounded Teucer with a great stone, breaking in +his helmet, but he drove back in his chariot to the ships. Menelaus and +Agamemnon stood alone and fought in the crowd of Trojans, like two wild +boars that a circle of hunters surrounds with spears, so fiercely they +stood at bay. There they would both have fallen, but Idomeneus, and +Meriones of Crete, and Thrasymedes, Nestor's son, ran to their rescue, +and fiercer grew the fighting. Eurypylus desired to slay Agamemnon and +Menelaus, and end the war, but, as the spears of the Scots encompassed +King James at Flodden Field till he ran forward, and fell within a +lance's length of the English general, so the men of Crete and Pylos +guarded the two princes with their spears. + +There Paris was wounded in the thigh with a spear, and he retreated a +little way, and showered his arrows among the Greeks; and Idomeneus +lifted and hurled a great stone at Eurypylus which struck his spear out +of his hand, and he went back to find it, and Menelaus and Agamemnon had +a breathing space in the battle. But soon Eurypylus returned, crying on +his men, and they drove back foot by foot the ring of spears round +Agamemnon, and Aeneas and Paris slew men of Crete and of Mycenae till +the Greeks were pushed to the ditch round the camp; and then great +stones and spears and arrows rained down on the Trojans and the people +of Eurypylus from the battlements and towers of the Grecian wall. Now +night fell, and Eurypylus knew that he could not win the wall in the +dark, so he withdrew his men, and they built great fires, and camped +upon the plain. + +The case of the Greeks was now like that of the Trojans after the death +of Hector. They buried Machaon and the other chiefs who had fallen, and +they remained within their ditch and their wall, for they dared not come +out into the open plain. They knew not whether Ulysses and Diomede had +come safely to Scyros, or whether their ship had been wrecked or driven +into unknown seas. So they sent a herald to Eurypylus, asking for a +truce, that they might gather their dead and burn them, and the Trojans +and Khita also buried their dead. + +Meanwhile the swift ship of Ulysses had swept through the sea to Scyros, +and to the palace of King Lycomedes. There they found Neoptolemus, the +son of Achilles, in the court before the doors. He was as tall as his +father, and very like him in face and shape, and he was practising the +throwing of the spear at a mark. Right glad were Ulysses and Diomede to +behold him, and Ulysses told Neoptolemus who they were, and why they +came, and implored him to take pity on the Greeks and help them. + +'My friend is Diomede, Prince of Argos,' said Ulysses, 'and I am Ulysses +of Ithaca. Come with us, and we Greeks will give you countless gifts, +and I myself will present you with the armour of your father, such as it +is not lawful for any other mortal man to wear, seeing that it is +golden, and wrought by the hands of a God. Moreover, when we have taken +Troy, and gone home, Menelaus will give you his daughter, the beautiful +Hermione, to be your wife, with gold in great plenty.' + +Then Neoptolemus answered: 'It is enough that the Greeks need my sword. +To-morrow we shall sail for Troy.' He led them into the palace to dine, +and there they found his mother, beautiful Deidamia, in mourning +raiment, and she wept when she heard that they had come to take her son +away. But Neoptolemus comforted her, promising to return safely with the +spoils of Troy, 'or, even if I fall,' he said, 'it will be after doing +deeds worthy of my father's name.' So next day they sailed, leaving +Deidamia mournful, like a swallow whose nest a serpent has found, and +has killed her young ones; even so she wailed, and went up and down in +the house. But the ship ran swiftly on her way, cleaving the dark waves +till Ulysses showed Neoptolemus the far off snowy crest of Mount Ida; +and Tenedos, the island near Troy; and they passed the plain where the +tomb of Achilles stands, but Ulysses did not tell the son that it was +his father's tomb. + +Now all this time the Greeks, shut up within their wall and fighting +from their towers, were looking back across the sea, eager to spy the +ship of Ulysses, like men wrecked on a desert island, who keep watch +every day for a sail afar off, hoping that the seamen will touch at +their isle and have pity upon them, and carry them home, so the Greeks +kept watch for the ship bearing Neoptolemus. + +Diomede, too, had been watching the shore, and when they came in sight +of the ships of the Greeks, he saw that they were being besieged by the +Trojans, and that all the Greek army was penned up within the wall, and +was fighting from the towers. Then he cried aloud to Ulysses and +Neoptolemus, 'Make haste, friends, let us arm before we land, for some +great evil has fallen upon the Greeks. The Trojans are attacking our +wall, and soon they will burn our ships, and for us there will be no +return.' + +Then all the men on the ship of Ulysses armed themselves, and +Neoptolemus, in the splendid armour of his father, was the first to leap +ashore. The Greeks could not come from the wall to welcome him, for they +were fighting hard and hand-to-hand with Eurypylus and his men. But they +glanced back over their shoulders and it seemed to them that they saw +Achilles himself, spear and sword in hand, rushing to help them. They +raised a great battle-cry, and, when Neoptolemus reached the +battlements, he and Ulysses, and Diomede leaped down to the plain, the +Greeks following them, and they all charged at once on the men of +Eurypylus, with levelled spears, and drove them from the wall. + +Then the Trojans trembled, for they knew the shields of Diomede and +Ulysses, and they thought that the tall chief in the armour of Achilles +was Achilles himself, come back from the land of the dead to take +vengeance for Antilochus. The Trojans fled, and gathered round +Eurypylus, as in a thunderstorm little children, afraid of the lightning +and the noise, run and cluster round their father, and hide their faces +on his knees. + +But Neoptolemus was spearing the Trojans, as a man who carries at night +a beacon of fire in his boat on the sea spears the fishes that flock +around, drawn by the blaze of the flame. Cruelly he avenged his father's +death on many a Trojan, and the men whom Achilles had led followed +Achilles' son, slaying to right and left, and smiting the Trojans, as +they ran, between the shoulders with the spear. Thus they fought and +followed while daylight lasted, but when night fell, they led +Neoptolemus to his father's hut, where the women washed him in the bath, +and then he was taken to feast with Agamemnon and Menelaus and the +princes. They all welcomed him, and gave him glorious gifts, swords with +silver hilts, and cups of gold and silver, and they were glad, for they +had driven the Trojans from their wall, and hoped that to-morrow they +would slay Eurypylus, and take Troy town. + +But their hope was not to be fulfilled, for though next day Eurypylus +met Neoptolemus in the battle, and was slain by him, when the Greeks +chased the Trojans into their city so great a storm of lightning and +thunder and rain fell upon them that they retreated again to their camp. +They believed that Zeus, the chief of the Gods, was angry with them, and +the days went by, and Troy still stood unconquered. + + + + +XII + +THE SLAYING OF PARIS + + +When the Greeks were disheartened, as they often were, they consulted +Calchas the prophet. He usually found that they must do something, or +send for somebody, and in doing so they diverted their minds from their +many misfortunes. Now, as the Trojans were fighting more bravely than +before, under Deiphobus, a brother of Hector, the Greeks went to Calchas +for advice, and he told them that they must send Ulysses and Diomede to +bring Philoctetes the bowman from the isle of Lemnos. This was an +unhappy deserted island, in which the married women, some years before, +had murdered all their husbands, out of jealousy, in a single night. The +Greeks had landed in Lemnos, on their way to Troy, and there Philoctetes +had shot an arrow at a great water dragon which lived in a well within a +cave in the lonely hills. But when he entered the cave the dragon bit +him, and, though he killed it at last, its poisonous teeth wounded his +foot. The wound never healed, but dripped with venom, and Philoctetes, +in terrible pain, kept all the camp awake at night by his cries. + +The Greeks were sorry for him, but he was not a pleasant companion, +shrieking as he did, and exuding poison wherever he came. So they left +him on the lonely island, and did not know whether he was alive or +dead. Calchas ought to have told the Greeks not to desert Philoctetes at +the time, if he was so important that Troy, as the prophet now said, +could not be taken without him. But now, as he must give some advice, +Calchas said that Philoctetes must be brought back, so Ulysses and +Diomede went to bring him. They sailed to Lemnos, a melancholy place +they found it, with no smoke rising from the ruinous houses along the +shore. As they were landing they learned that Philoctetes was not dead, +for his dismal old cries of pain, _ototototoi, ai, ai; pheu, pheu; +ototototoi_, came echoing from a cave on the beach. To this cave the +princes went, and found a terrible-looking man, with long, dirty, dry +hair and beard; he was worn to a skeleton, with hollow eyes, and lay +moaning in a mass of the feathers of sea birds. His great bow and his +arrows lay ready to his hand: with these he used to shoot the sea birds, +which were all that he had to eat, and their feathers littered all the +floor of his cave, and they were none the better for the poison that +dripped from his wounded foot. + +When this horrible creature saw Ulysses and Diomede coming near, he +seized his bow and fitted a poisonous arrow to the string, for he hated +the Greeks, because they had left him in the desert isle. But the +princes held up their hands in sign of peace, and cried out that they +had come to do him kindness, so he laid down his bow, and they came in +and sat on the rocks, and promised that his wound should be healed, for +the Greeks were very much ashamed of having deserted him. It was +difficult to resist Ulysses when he wished to persuade any one, and at +last Philoctetes consented to sail with them to Troy. The oarsmen +carried him down to the ship on a litter, and there his dreadful wound +was washed with warm water, and oil was poured into it, and it was +bound up with soft linen, so that his pain grew less fierce, and they +gave him a good supper and wine enough, which he had not tasted for many +years. + +Next morning they sailed, and had a fair west wind, so that they soon +landed among the Greeks and carried Philoctetes on shore. Here +Podaleirius, the brother of Machaon, being a physician, did all that +could be done to heal the wound, and the pain left Philoctetes. He was +taken to the hut of Agamemnon, who welcomed him, and said that the +Greeks repented of their cruelty. They gave him seven female slaves to +take care of him, and twenty swift horses, and twelve great vessels of +bronze, and told him that he was always to live with the greatest chiefs +and feed at their table. So he was bathed, and his hair was cut and +combed and anointed with oil, and soon he was eager and ready to fight, +and to use his great bow and poisoned arrows on the Trojans. The use of +poisoned arrow-tips was thought unfair, but Philoctetes had no scruples. + +Now in the next battle Paris was shooting down the Greeks with his +arrows, when Philoctetes saw him, and cried: 'Dog, you are proud of your +archery and of the arrow that slew the great Achilles. But, behold, I am +a better bowman than you, by far, and the bow in my hands was borne by +the strong man Heracles!' So he cried and drew the bowstring to his +breast and the poisoned arrowhead to the bow, and the bowstring rang, +and the arrow flew, and did but graze the hand of Paris. Then the bitter +pain of the poison came upon him, and the Trojans carried him into their +city, where the physicians tended him all night. But he never slept, and +lay tossing in agony till dawn, when he said: 'There is but one hope. +Take me to Oenone, the nymph of Mount Ida!' + +Then his friends laid Paris on a litter, and bore him up the steep path +to Mount Ida. Often had he climbed it swiftly, when he was young, and +went to see the nymph who loved him; but for many a day he had not trod +the path where he was now carried in great pain and fear, for the poison +turned his blood to fire. Little hope he had, for he knew how cruelly he +had deserted Oenone, and he saw that all the birds which were +disturbed in the wood flew away to the left hand, an omen of evil. + +At last the bearers reached the cave where the nymph Oenone lived, and +they smelled the sweet fragrance of the cedar fire that burned on the +floor of the cave, and they heard the nymph singing a melancholy song. +Then Paris called to her in the voice which she had once loved to hear, +and she grew very pale, and rose up, saying to herself, 'The day has +come for which I have prayed. He is sore hurt, and has come to bid me +heal his wound.' So she came and stood in the doorway of the dark cave, +white against the darkness, and the bearers laid Paris on the litter at +the feet of Oenone, and he stretched forth his hands to touch her +knees, as was the manner of suppliants. But she drew back and gathered +her robe about her, that he might not touch it with his hands. + +Then he said: 'Lady, despise me not, and hate me not, for my pain is +more than I can bear. Truly it was by no will of mine that I left you +lonely here, for the Fates that no man may escape led me to Helen. Would +that I had died in your arms before I saw her face! But now I beseech +you in the name of the Gods, and for the memory of our love, that you +will have pity on me and heal my hurt, and not refuse your grace and let +me die here at your feet.' + +[Illustration: PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE.] + +Then Oenone answered scornfully: 'Why have you come here to me? Surely +for years you have not come this way, where the path was once worn with +your feet. But long ago you left me lonely and lamenting, for the love +of Helen of the fair hands. Surely she is much more beautiful than the +love of your youth, and far more able to help you, for men say that she +can never know old age and death. Go home to Helen and let her take away +your pain.' + +Thus Oenone spoke, and went within the cave, where she threw herself +down among the ashes of the hearth and sobbed for anger and sorrow. In a +little while she rose and went to the door of the cave, thinking that +Paris had not been borne away back to Troy, but she found him not; for +his bearers had carried him by another path, till he died beneath the +boughs of the oak trees. Then his bearers carried him swiftly down to +Troy, where his mother bewailed him, and Helen sang over him as she had +sung over Hector, remembering many things, and fearing to think of what +her own end might be. But the Trojans hastily built a great pile of dry +wood, and thereon laid the body of Paris and set fire to it, and the +flame went up through the darkness, for now night had fallen. + +But Oenone was roaming in the dark woods, crying and calling after +Paris, like a lioness whose cubs the hunters have carried away. The moon +rose to give her light, and the flame of the funeral fire shone against +the sky, and then Oenone knew that Paris had died--beautiful +Paris--and that the Trojans were burning his body on the plain at the +foot of Mount Ida. Then she cried that now Paris was all her own, and +that Helen had no more hold on him: 'And though when he was living he +left me, in death we shall not be divided,' she said, and she sped down +the hill, and through the thickets where the wood nymphs were wailing +for Paris, and she reached the plain, and, covering her head with her +veil like a bride, she rushed through the throng of Trojans. She leaped +upon the burning pile of wood, she clasped the body of Paris in her +arms, and the flame of fire consumed the bridegroom and the bride, and +their ashes mingled. No man could divide them any more, and the ashes +were placed in a golden cup, within a chamber of stone, and the earth +was mounded above them. On that grave the wood nymphs planted two rose +trees, and their branches met and plaited together. + +This was the end of Paris and Oenone. + + + + +XIII + +HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE HORSE OF TREE + + +After Paris died, Helen was not given back to Menelaus. We are often +told that only fear of the anger of Paris had prevented the Trojans from +surrendering Helen and making peace. Now Paris could not terrify them, +yet for all that the men of the town would not part with Helen, whether +because she was so beautiful, or because they thought it dishonourable +to yield her to the Greeks, who might put her to a cruel death. So Helen +was taken by Deiphobus, the brother of Paris, to live in his own house, +and Deiphobus was at this time the best warrior and the chief captain of +the men of Troy. + +Meanwhile, the Greeks made an assault against the Trojan walls and +fought long and hardily; but, being safe behind the battlements, and +shooting through loopholes, the Trojans drove them back with loss of +many of their men. It was in vain that Philoctetes shot his poisoned +arrows, they fell back from the stone walls, or stuck in the palisades +of wood above the walls, and the Greeks who tried to climb over were +speared, or crushed with heavy stones. When night fell, they retreated +to the ships and held a council, and, as usual, they asked the advice of +the prophet Calchas. It was the business of Calchas to go about looking +at birds, and taking omens from what he saw them doing, a way of +prophesying which the Romans also used, and some savages do the same to +this day. Calchas said that yesterday he had seen a hawk pursuing a +dove, which hid herself in a hole in a rocky cliff. For a long while the +hawk tried to find the hole, and follow the dove into it, but he could +not reach her. So he flew away for a short distance and hid himself; +then the dove fluttered out into the sunlight, and the hawk swooped on +her and killed her. + +The Greeks, said Calchas, ought to learn a lesson from the hawk, and +take Troy by cunning, as by force they could do nothing. Then Ulysses +stood up and described a trick which it is not easy to understand. The +Greeks, he said, ought to make an enormous hollow horse of wood, and +place the bravest men in the horse. Then all the rest of the Greeks +should embark in their ships and sail to the Isle of Tenedos, and lie +hidden behind the island. The Trojans would then come out of the city, +like the dove out of her hole in the rock, and would wander about the +Greek camp, and wonder why the great horse of tree had been made, and +why it had been left behind. Lest they should set fire to the horse, +when they would soon have found out the warriors hidden in it, a cunning +Greek, whom the Trojans did not know by sight, should be left in the +camp or near it. He would tell the Trojans that the Greeks had given up +all hope and gone home, and he was to say that they feared the Goddess +Pallas was angry with them, because they had stolen her image that fell +from heaven, and was called the Luck of Troy. To soothe Pallas and +prevent her from sending great storms against the ships, the Greeks (so +the man was to say) had built this wooden horse as an offering to the +Goddess. The Trojans, believing this story, would drag the horse into +Troy, and, in the night, the princes would come out, set fire to the +city, and open the gates to the army, which would return from Tenedos as +soon as darkness came on. + +The prophet was much pleased with the plan of Ulysses, and, as two birds +happened to fly away on the right hand, he declared that the stratagem +would certainly be lucky. Neoptolemus, on the other hand, voted for +taking Troy, without any trick, by sheer hard fighting. Ulysses replied +that if Achilles could not do that, it could not be done at all, and +that Epeius, a famous carpenter, had better set about making the horse +at once. + +Next day half the army, with axes in their hands, were sent to cut down +trees on Mount Ida, and thousands of planks were cut from the trees by +Epeius and his workmen, and in three days he had finished the horse. +Ulysses then asked the best of the Greeks to come forward and go inside +the machine; while one, whom the Greeks did not know by sight, should +volunteer to stay behind in the camp and deceive the Trojans. Then a +young man called Sinon stood up and said that he would risk himself and +take the chance that the Trojans might disbelieve him, and burn him +alive. Certainly, none of the Greeks did anything more courageous, yet +Sinon had not been considered brave. Had he fought in the front ranks, +the Trojans would have known him; but there were many brave fighters who +would not have dared to do what Sinon undertook. + +Then old Nestor was the first that volunteered to go into the horse; but +Neoptolemus said that, brave as he was, he was too old, and that he must +depart with the army to Tenedos. Neoptolemus himself would go into the +horse, for he would rather die than turn his back on Troy. So +Neoptolemus armed himself and climbed into the horse, as did Menelaus, +Ulysses, Diomede, Thrasymedes (Nestor's son), Idomeneus, Philoctetes, +Meriones, and all the best men except Agamemnon, while Epeius himself +entered last of all. Agamemnon was not allowed by the other Greeks to +share their adventure, as he was to command the army when they returned +from Tenedos. They meanwhile launched their ships and sailed away. + +But first Menelaus had led Ulysses apart, and told him that if they took +Troy (and now they must either take it or die at the hands of the +Trojans), he would owe to Ulysses the glory. When they came back to +Greece, he wished to give Ulysses one of his own cities, that they might +always be near each other. Ulysses smiled and shook his head; he could +not leave Ithaca, his own rough island kingdom. 'But if we both live +through the night that is coming,' he said, 'I may ask you for one gift, +and giving it will make you none the poorer.' Then Menelaus swore by the +splendour of Zeus that Ulysses could ask him for no gift that he would +not gladly give; so they embraced, and both armed themselves and went up +into the horse. With them were all the chiefs except Nestor, whom they +would not allow to come, and Agamemnon, who, as chief general, had to +command the army. They swathed themselves and their arms in soft silks, +that they might not ring and clash, when the Trojans, if they were so +foolish, dragged the horse up into their town, and there they sat in the +dark waiting. Meanwhile, the army burned their huts and launched their +ships, and with oars and sails made their way to the back of the isle of +Tenedos. + + + + +XIV + +THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN + + +From the walls the Trojans saw the black smoke go up thick into the sky, +and the whole fleet of the Greeks sailing out to sea. Never were men so +glad, and they armed themselves for fear of an ambush, and went +cautiously, sending forth scouts in front of them, down to the seashore. +Here they found the huts burned down and the camp deserted, and some of +the scouts also caught Sinon, who had hid himself in a place where he +was likely to be found. They rushed on him with fierce cries, and bound +his hands with a rope, and kicked and dragged him along to the place +where Priam and the princes were wondering at the great horse of tree. +Sinon looked round upon them, while some were saying that he ought to be +tortured with fire to make him tell all the truth about the horse. The +chiefs in the horse must have trembled for fear lest torture should +wring the truth out of Sinon, for then the Trojans would simply burn the +machine and them within it. + +But Sinon said: 'Miserable man that I am, whom the Greeks hate and the +Trojans are eager to slay!' When the Trojans heard that the Greeks hated +him, they were curious, and asked who he was, and how he came to be +there. 'I will tell you all, oh King!' he answered Priam. 'I was a +friend and squire of an unhappy chief, Palamedes, whom the wicked +Ulysses hated and slew secretly one day, when he found him alone, +fishing in the sea. I was angry, and in my folly I did not hide my +anger, and my words came to the ears of Ulysses. From that hour he +sought occasion to slay me. Then Calchas----' here he stopped, saying: +'But why tell a long tale? If you hate all Greeks alike, then slay me; +this is what Agamemnon and Ulysses desire; Menelaus would thank you for +my head.' + +The Trojans were now more curious than before. They bade him go on, and +he said that the Greeks had consulted an Oracle, which advised them to +sacrifice one of their army to appease the anger of the Gods and gain a +fair wind homewards. 'But who was to be sacrificed? They asked Calchas, +who for fifteen days refused to speak. At last, being bribed by Ulysses, +he pointed to me, Sinon, and said that I must be the victim. I was bound +and kept in prison, while they built their great horse as a present for +Pallas Athênê the Goddess. They made it so large that you Trojans might +never be able to drag it into your city; while, if you destroyed it, the +Goddess might turn her anger against you. And now they have gone home to +bring back the image that fell from heaven, which they had sent to +Greece, and to restore it to the Temple of Pallas Athênê, when they have +taken your town, for the Goddess is angry with them for that theft of +Ulysses.' + +The Trojans were foolish enough to believe the story of Sinon, and they +pitied him and unbound his hands. Then they tied ropes to the wooden +horse, and laid rollers in front of it, like men launching a ship, and +they all took turns to drag the horse up to the Scaean gate. Children +and women put their hands to the ropes and hauled, and with shouts and +dances, and hymns they toiled, till about nightfall the horse stood in +the courtyard of the inmost castle. + +Then all the people of Troy began to dance, and drink, and sing. Such +sentinels as were set at the gates got as drunk as all the rest, who +danced about the city till after midnight, and then they went to their +homes and slept heavily. + +Meanwhile the Greek ships were returning from behind Tenedos as fast as +the oarsmen could row them. + +One Trojan did not drink or sleep; this was Deiphobus, at whose house +Helen was now living. He bade her come with them, for he knew that she +was able to speak in the very voice of all men and women whom she had +ever seen, and he armed a few of his friends and went with them to the +citadel. Then he stood beside the horse, holding Helen's hand, and +whispered to her that she must call each of the chiefs in the voice of +his wife. She was obliged to obey, and she called Menelaus in her own +voice, and Diomede in the voice of his wife, and Ulysses in the very +voice of Penelope. Then Menelaus and Diomede were eager to answer, but +Ulysses grasped their hands and whispered the word 'Echo!' Then they +remembered that this was a name of Helen, because she could speak in all +voices, and they were silent; but Anticlus was still eager to answer, +till Ulysses held his strong hand over his mouth. There was only +silence, and Deiphobus led Helen back to his house. When they had gone +away Epeius opened the side of the horse, and all the chiefs let +themselves down softly to the ground. Some rushed to the gate, to open +it, and they killed the sleeping sentinels and let in the Greeks. Others +sped with torches to burn the houses of the Trojan princes, and +terrible was the slaughter of men, unarmed and half awake, and loud were +the cries of the women. But Ulysses had slipped away at the first, none +knew where. Neoptolemus ran to the palace of Priam, who was sitting at +the altar in his courtyard, praying vainly to the Gods, for Neoptolemus +slew the old man cruelly, and his white hair was dabbled in his blood. +All through the city was fighting and slaying; but Menelaus went to the +house of Deiphobus, knowing that Helen was there. + +In the doorway he found Deiphobus lying dead in all his armour, a spear +standing in his breast. There were footprints marked in blood, leading +through the portico and into the hall. There Menelaus went, and found +Ulysses leaning, wounded, against one of the central pillars of the +great chamber, the firelight shining on his armour. + +'Why hast thou slain Deiphobus and robbed me of my revenge?' said +Menelaus. 'You swore to give me a gift,' said Ulysses, 'and will you +keep your oath?' 'Ask what you will,' said Menelaus; 'it is yours and my +oath cannot be broken.' 'I ask the life of Helen of the fair hands,' +said Ulysses; 'this is my own life-price that I pay back to her, for she +saved my life when I took the Luck of Troy, and I swore that hers should +be saved.' + +Then Helen stole, glimmering in white robes, from a recess in the dark +hall, and fell at the feet of Menelaus; her golden hair lay in the dust +of the hearth, and her hands moved to touch his knees. His drawn sword +fell from the hands of Menelaus, and pity and love came into his heart, +and he raised her from the dust and her white arms were round his neck, +and they both wept. That night Menelaus fought no more, but they tended +the wound of Ulysses, for the sword of Deiphobus had bitten through his +helmet. + +When dawn came Troy lay in ashes, and the women were being driven with +spear shafts to the ships, and the men were left unburied, a prey to +dogs and all manner of birds. Thus the grey city fell, that had lorded +it for many centuries. All the gold and silver and rich embroideries, +and ivory and amber, the horses and chariots, were divided among the +army; all but a treasure of silver and gold, hidden in a chest within a +hollow of the wall, and this treasure was found, not very many years +ago, by men digging deep on the hill where Troy once stood. The women, +too, were given to the princes, and Neoptolemus took Andromache to his +home in Argos, to draw water from the well and to be the slave of a +master, and Agamemnon carried beautiful Cassandra, the daughter of +Priam, to his palace in Mycenae, where they were both slain in one +night. Only Helen was led with honour to the ship of Menelaus. + +[Illustration: MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE INTERCESSION +OF ULYSSES.] + + + + +THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES + + + + +I + +THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS OF ULYSSES + + +The Greeks left Troy a mass of smouldering ashes; the marks of fire are +still to be seen in the ruins on the hill which is now called Hissarlik. +The Greeks had many troubles on their way home, and years passed before +some of the chiefs reached their own cities. As for Agamemnon, while he +was at Troy his wife, Clytaemnestra, the sister of Helen, had fallen in +love with a young man named Aegisthus, who wished to be king, so he +married Clytaemnestra, just as if Agamemnon had been dead. Meanwhile +Agamemnon was sailing home with his share of the wealth of Troy, and +many a storm drove him out of his course. At last he reached the +harbour, about seven miles from his city of Mycenae, and he kissed the +earth when he landed, thinking that all his troubles were over, and that +he would find his son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, grown up, and +his wife happy because of his return. + +But Aegisthus had set, a year before, a watchman on a high tower, to +come with the news as soon as Agamemnon landed, and the watchman ran to +Mycenae with the good news. Aegisthus placed twenty armed men in a +hidden place in the great hall, and then he shouted for his chariots +and horses, and drove down to meet Agamemnon, and welcome him, and carry +him to his own palace. Then he gave a great feast, and when men had +drunk much wine, the armed men, who had been hiding behind curtains, +rushed out, with sword and spear, and fell on Agamemnon and his company. +Though taken by surprise they drew their swords, and fought so well for +their lives that none were left alive, not one, neither of the company +of Agamemnon nor of the company of Aegisthus; they were all slain in the +hall except Aegisthus, who had hidden himself when the fray began. The +bodies lay round the great mixing bowl of wine, and about the tables, +and the floor ran with blood. Before Agamemnon died he saw Clytaemnestra +herself stab Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, whom he had brought from +Troy. + +In the town of Agamemnon, Mycenae, deep down in the earth, have been +found five graves, with bones of men and women, and these bones were all +covered with beautiful ornaments of gold, hundreds of them, and swords +and daggers inlaid with gold, and golden cups, and a sceptre of gold and +crystal, and two gold breastplates. There were also golden masks that +had been made to cover the faces of the dead kings, and who knows but +that one of these masks may show us the features of the famous +Agamemnon? + +Ulysses, of course, knew nothing about these murders at the time, for he +was being borne by the winds into undiscovered seas. But later he heard +all the story from the ghost of a dead prophet, in the Land of the Dead, +and he determined to be very cautious if ever he reached his own island, +for who knew what the young men might do, that had grown up since he +sailed to Troy? + +Of the other Greeks Nestor soon and safely arrived at his town of Pylos, +but Menelaus and Helen were borne by the winds to Egypt and other +strange countries, and the ship of the brother of Aias was wrecked on a +rock, and there he was drowned, and Calchas the prophet died on land, on +his way across Greece. + +When Ulysses left Troy the wind carried him to the coast of Thrace, +where the people were allies of the Trojans. It was a king of the +Thracians that Diomede killed when he and Ulysses stole into the camp of +the Trojans in the night, and drove away the white horses of the king, +as swift as the winds. Ismarus was the name of the Thracian town where +Ulysses landed, and his men took it and plundered it, yet Ulysses +allowed no one to harm the priest of Apollo, Maron, but protected him +and his wife and child, in their house within the holy grove of the God. +Maron was grateful, and gave Ulysses twelve talents, or little wedges, +of gold, and a great bowl of silver, and twelve large clay jars, as big +as barrels, full of the best and strongest wine. It was so strong that +men put into the mixing bowl but one measure of wine to twenty measures +of water. These presents Ulysses stored up in his ship, and lucky for +him it was that he was kind to Maron. + +Meanwhile his men, instead of leaving the town with their plunder, sat +eating and drinking till dawn. By that time the people of the town had +warned their neighbours in the country farms, who all came down in full +armour, and attacked the men of Ulysses. In this fight he lost +seventy-two men, six from each of his twelve ships, and it was only by +hard fighting that the others were able to get on board their ships and +sail away. + +A great storm arose and beat upon the ships, and it seems that Ulysses +and his men were driven into Fairyland, where they remained for ten +years. We have heard that King Arthur and Thomas the Rhymer were carried +into Fairyland, but what adventures they met with there we do not know. +About Ulysses we have the stories which are now to be told. For ten days +his ships ran due south, and, on the tenth, they reached the land of the +Lotus Eaters, who eat food of flowers. They went on shore and drew +water, and three men were sent to try to find the people of that +country, who were a quiet, friendly people, and gave the fruit of the +lotus to the strange sailors. Now whoever tastes of that fruit has no +mind ever to go home, but to sit between the setting sun and the rising +moon, dreaming happy dreams, and forgetting the world. The three men ate +the lotus, and sat down to dream, but Ulysses went after them, and drove +them to the ships, and bound their hands and feet, and threw them on +board, and sailed away. Then he with his ships reached the coast of the +land of the Cyclopes, which means the round-eyed men, men with only one +eye apiece, set in the middle of their foreheads. They lived not in +houses, but in caves among the hills, and they had no king and no laws, +and did not plough or sow, but wheat and vines grew wild, and they kept +great flocks of sheep. + +There was a beautiful wild desert island lying across the opening of a +bay; the isle was full of wild goats, and made a bar against the waves, +so that ships could lie behind it safely, run up on the beach, for there +was no tide in that sea. There Ulysses ran up his ships, and the men +passed the time in hunting wild goats, and feasting on fresh meat and +the wine of Maron, the priest of Apollo. Next day Ulysses left all the +ships and men there, except his own ship, and his own crew, and went to +see what kind of people lived on the mainland, for as yet none had been +seen. He found a large cave close to the sea, with laurels growing on +the rocky roof, and a wall of rough stones built round a court in front. +Ulysses left all his men but twelve with the ship; filled a goat skin +with the strong wine of Maron, put some corn flour in a sack, and went +up to the cave. Nobody was there, but there were all the things that are +usually in a dairy, baskets full of cheese, pails and bowls full of milk +and whey, and kids and lambs were playing in their folds. + +All seemed very quiet and pleasant. The men wanted to take as much +cheese as they could carry back to the ship, but Ulysses wished to see +the owner of the cave. His men, making themselves at home, lit a fire, +and toasted and ate the cheeses, far within the cave. Then a shadow +thrown by the setting sun fell across the opening of the cave, and a +monstrous man entered, and threw down a dry trunk of a tree that he +carried for firewood. Next he drove in the ewes of his flock, leaving +the rams in the yard, and he picked up a huge flat stone, and set it so +as to make a shut door to the cave, for twenty-four yoke of horses could +not have dragged away that stone. Lastly the man milked his ewes, and +put the milk in pails to drink at supper. All this while Ulysses and his +men sat quiet and in great fear, for they were shut up in a cave with a +one-eyed giant, whose cheese they had been eating. + +Then the giant, when he had lit the fire, happened to see the men, and +asked them who they were. Ulysses said that they were Greeks, who had +taken Troy, and were wandering lost on the seas, and he asked the man to +be kind to them in the name of their chief God, Zeus. + +'We Cyclopes,' said the giant, 'do not care for Zeus or the Gods, for we +think that we are better men than they. Where is your ship?' Ulysses +answered that it had been wrecked on the coast, to which the man made no +answer, but snatched up two of the twelve, knocked out their brains on +the floor, tore the bodies limb from limb, roasted them at his fire, ate +them, and, after drinking many pailfuls of milk, lay down and fell +asleep. Now Ulysses had a mind to drive his sword-point into the giant's +liver, and he felt for the place with his hand. But he remembered that, +even if he killed the giant, he could not move the huge stone that was +the door of the cave, so he and his men would die of hunger, when they +had eaten all the cheeses. + +In the morning the giant ate two more men for breakfast, drove out his +ewes, and set the great stone in the doorway again, as lightly as a man +would put a quiverlid on a quiver of arrows. Then away he went, driving +his flock to graze on the green hills. + +Ulysses did not give way to despair. The giant had left his stick in the +cave: it was as large as the mast of a great ship. From this Ulysses cut +a portion six feet long, and his men cut and rubbed as if they were +making a spear shaft: Ulysses then sharpened it to a point, and hardened +the point in the fire. It was a thick rounded bar of wood, and the men +cast lots to choose four, who should twist the bar in the giant's eye +when he fell asleep at night. Back he came at sunset, and drove his +flocks into the cave, rams and all. Then he put up his stone door, +milked his ewes, and killed two men and cooked them. + +Ulysses meanwhile had filled one of the wooden ivy bowls full of the +strong wine of Maron, without putting a drop of water into it. This +bowl he offered to the giant, who had never heard of wine. He drank one +bowl after another, and when he was merry he said that he would make +Ulysses a present. 'What is your name?' he asked. 'My name is _Nobody_,' +said Ulysses. 'Then I shall eat the others first and Nobody last,' said +the giant. 'That shall be your gift.' Then he fell asleep. + +Ulysses took his bar of wood, and made the point red-hot in the fire. +Next his four men rammed it into the giant's one eye, and held it down, +while Ulysses twirled it round, and the eye hissed like red-hot iron +when men dip it into cold water, which is the strength of iron. The +Cyclops roared and leaped to his feet, and shouted for help to the other +giants who lived in the neighbouring caves. 'Who is troubling you, +Polyphemus,' they answered. 'Why do you wake us out of our sleep?' The +giant answered, 'Nobody is killing me by his cunning, not at all in fair +fight.' 'Then if nobody is harming you nobody can help you,' shouted a +giant. 'If you are ill pray to your father, Poseidon, who is the god of +the sea.' So the giants all went back to bed, and Ulysses laughed low to +see how his cunning had deceived them. Then the giant went and took down +his door and sat in the doorway, stretching out his arms, so as to catch +his prisoners as they went out. + +But Ulysses had a plan. He fastened sets of three rams together with +twisted withies, and bound a man to each ram in the middle, so that the +blind giant's hands would only feel the two outside rams. The biggest +and strongest ram Ulysses seized, and held on by his hands and feet to +its fleece, under its belly, and then all the sheep, went out through +the doorway, and the giant felt them, but did not know that they were +carrying out the men. 'Dear ram!' he said to the biggest, which carried +Ulysses, 'you do not come out first, as usual, but last, as if you were +slow with sorrow for your master, whose eye Nobody has blinded!' + +Then all the rams went out into the open country, and Ulysses unfastened +his men, and drove the sheep down to his ship and so on board. His crew +wept when they heard of the death of six of their friends, but Ulysses +made them row out to sea. When he was just so far away from the cave as +to be within hearing distance he shouted at the Cyclops and mocked him. +Then that giant broke off the rocky peak of a great hill and threw it in +the direction of the sound. The rock fell in front of the ship, and +raised a wave that drove it back to shore, but Ulysses punted it off +with a long pole, and his men rowed out again, far out. Ulysses again +shouted to the giant, 'If any one asks who blinded you, say that it was +Ulysses, Laertes' son, of Ithaca, the stormer of cities.' + +Then the giant prayed to the Sea God, his father, that Ulysses might +never come home, or if he did, that he might come late and lonely, with +loss of all his men, and find sorrow in his house. Then the giant heaved +and threw another rock, but it fell at the stern of the ship, and the +wave drove the ship further out to sea, to the shore of the island. +There Ulysses and his men landed, and killed some of the giant's sheep, +and took supper, and drank wine. + +But the Sea God heard the prayer of his son the blind giant. + +Ulysses and his men sailed on, in what direction and for how long we do +not know, till they saw far off an island that shone in the sea. When +they came nearer they found that it had a steep cuff of bronze, with a +palace on the top. Here lived Aeolus, the King of the Winds, with his +six sons and six daughters. He received Ulysses kindly on his island, +and entertained him for a whole month. Then he gave him a leather bag, +in which he had bound the ways of all the noisy winds. This bag was +fastened with a silver cord, and Aeolus left no wind out except the West +Wind, which would blow Ulysses straight home to Ithaca. Where he was we +cannot guess, except that he was to the west of his own island. + +So they sailed for nine days and nights towards the east, and Ulysses +always held the helm and steered, but on the tenth day he fell asleep. +Then his men said to each other, 'What treasure is it that he keeps in +the leather bag, a present from King Aeolus? No doubt the bag is full of +gold and silver, while we have only empty hands.' So they opened the bag +when they were so near Ithaca that they could see people lighting fires +on the shore. Then out rushed all the winds, and carried the ship into +unknown seas, and when Ulysses woke he was so miserable that he had a +mind to drown himself. But he was of an enduring heart, and he lay +still, and the ship came back to the isle of Aeolus, who cried, 'Away +with you! You are the most luckless of living men: you must be hated by +the Gods.' + +Thus Aeolus drove them away, and they sailed for seven days and nights, +till they saw land, and came to a harbour with a narrow entrance, and +with tall steep rocks on either side. The other eleven ships sailed into +the haven, but Ulysses did not venture in; he fastened his ship to a +rock at the outer end of the harbour. The place must have been very far +north, for, as it was summer, the sun had hardly set till dawn began +again, as it does in Norway and Iceland, where there are many such +narrow harbours within walls of rock. These places are called _fiords_. +Ulysses sent three men to spy out the country, and at a well outside the +town they met a damsel drawing water; she was the child of the king of +the people, the Laestrygonians. The damsel led them to her father's +house; he was a giant and seized one of the men of Ulysses, meaning to +kill and eat him. The two other men fled to the ships, but the +Laestrygonians ran along the tops of the cliffs and threw down great +rocks, sinking the vessels and killing the sailors. When Ulysses saw +this he drew his sword and cut the cable that fastened his ship to the +rock outside the harbour, and his crew rowed for dear life and so +escaped, weeping for the death of their friends. Thus the prayer of the +blind Cyclops was being fulfilled, for now out of twelve ships Ulysses +had but one left. + + + + +II + +THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, THE SIRENS + + +On they sailed till they came to an island, and there they landed. What +the place was they did not know, but it was called Aeaea, and here lived +Circe, the enchantress, sister of the wizard king Æêtes, who was the +Lord of the Fleece of Gold, that Jason won from him by help of the +king's daughter, Medea. For two days Ulysses and his men lay on land +beside their ship, which they anchored in a bay of the island. On the +third morning Ulysses took his sword and spear, and climbed to the top +of a high hill, whence he saw the smoke rising out of the wood where +Circe had her palace. He thought of going to the house, but it seemed +better to return to his men and send some of them to spy out the place. +Since the adventure of the Cyclops Ulysses did not care to risk himself +among unknown people, and for all that he knew there might be man-eating +giants on the island. So he went back, and, as he came to the bank of +the river, he found a great red deer drinking under the shadow of the +green boughs. He speared the stag, and, tying his feet together, slung +the body from his neck, and so, leaning on his spear, he came to his +fellows. Glad they were to see fresh venison, which they cooked, and so +dined with plenty of wine. + +Next morning Ulysses divided his men into two companies, Eurylochus led +one company and he himself the other. Then they put two marked pieces of +wood, one for Eurylochus, one for Ulysses, in a helmet, to decide who +should go to the house in the wood. They shook the helmet, and the lot +of Eurylochus leaped out, and, weeping for fear, he led his twenty-two +men away into the forest. Ulysses and the other twenty-two waited, and, +when Eurylochus came back alone, he was weeping, and unable to speak for +sorrow. At last he told his story: they had come to the beautiful house +of Circe, within the wood, and tame wolves and lions were walking about +in front of the house. They wagged their tails, and jumped up, like +friendly dogs, round the men of Ulysses, who stood in the gateway and +heard Circe singing in a sweet voice, as she went up and down before the +loom at which she was weaving. Then one of the men of Ulysses called to +her, and she came out, a beautiful lady in white robes covered with +jewels of gold. She opened the doors and bade them come in, but +Eurylochus hid himself and watched, and saw Circe and her maidens mix +honey and wine for the men, and bid them sit down on chairs at tables, +but, when they had drunk of her cup, she touched them with her wand. +Then they were all changed into swine, and Circe drove them out and shut +them up in the styes. + +When Ulysses heard that he slung his sword-belt round his shoulders, +seized his bow, and bade Eurylochus come back with him to the house of +Circe; but Eurylochus was afraid. Alone went Ulysses through the woods, +and in a dell he met a most beautiful young man, who took his hand and +said, 'Unhappy one! how shalt thou free thy friends from so great an +enchantress?' Then the young man plucked a plant from the ground; the +flower was as white as milk, but the root was black: it is a plant that +men may not dig up, but to the Gods all things are easy, and the young +man was the cunning God Hermes, whom Autolycus, the grandfather of +Ulysses, used to worship. 'Take this herb of grace,' he said, 'and when +Circe has made thee drink of the cup of her enchantments the herb will +so work that they shall have no power over thee. Then draw thy sword, +and rush at her, and make her swear that she will not harm thee with her +magic.' + +Then Hermes departed, and Ulysses went to the house of Circe, and she +asked him to enter, and seated him on a chair, and gave him the +enchanted cup to drink, and then smote him with her wand and bade him go +to the styes of the swine. But Ulysses drew his sword, and Circe, with a +great cry, fell at his feet, saying, 'Who art thou on whom the cup has +no power? Truly thou art Ulysses of Ithaca, for the God Hermes has told +me that he should come to my island on his way from Troy. Come now, fear +not; let us be friends!' + +[Illustration: CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF ULYSSES) TO THE +STYES.] + +Then the maidens of Circe came to them, fairy damsels of the wells and +woods and rivers. They threw covers of purple silk over the chairs, +and on the silver tables they placed golden baskets, and mixed wine in a +silver bowl, and heated water, and bathed Ulysses in a polished bath, +and clothed him in new raiment, and led him to the table and bade him +eat and drink. But he sat silent, neither eating nor drinking, in sorrow +for his company, till Circe called them out from the styes and +disenchanted them. Glad they were to see Ulysses, and they embraced him, +and wept for joy. + +So they went back to their friends at the ship, and told them how Circe +would have them all to live with her; but Eurylochus tried to frighten +them, saying that she would change them into wolves and lions. Ulysses +drew his sword to cut off the head of Eurylochus for his cowardice, but +the others prayed that he might be left alone to guard the ship. So +Ulysses left him; but Eurylochus had not the courage to be alone, and +slunk behind them to the house of Circe. There she welcomed them all, +and gave them a feast, and there they dwelt for a whole year, and then +they wearied for their wives and children, and longed to return to +Ithaca. They did not guess by what a strange path they must sail. + +When Ulysses was alone with Circe at night he told her that his men were +home-sick, and would fain go to Ithaca. Then Circe said, 'There is no +way but this: you must sail to the last shore of the stream of the river +Oceanus, that girdles round the world. There is the Land of the Dead, +and the House of Hades and Persephone, the King and Queen of the ghosts. +There you must call up the ghost of the blind prophet, Tiresias of +Thebes, for he alone has knowledge of your way, and the other spirits +sweep round shadow-like.' + +Then Ulysses thought that his heart would break, for how should he, a +living man, go down to the awful dwellings of the dead? But Circe told +him the strange things that he must do, and she gave him a black ram and +a black ewe, and next day Ulysses called his men together. All followed +him to the ship, except one, Elpenor. He had been sleeping, for the sake +of the cool air, on the flat roof of the house, and, when suddenly +wakened, he missed his foothold on the tall ladder, and fell to the +ground and broke his neck. They left him unburned and unburied, and, +weeping, they followed Ulysses, as follow they must, to see the homes of +the ghosts and the house of Hades. Very sorrowfully they all went on +board, taking with them the black ram and the black ewe, and they set +the sails, and the wind bore them at its will. + +Now in mid-day they sailed out of the sunlight into darkness, for they +had come to the land of the Cimmerian men, which the sun never sees, but +all is dark cloud and mist. There they ran the ship ashore, and took out +the two black sheep, and walked along the dark banks of the river +Oceanus to a place of which Circe had told Ulysses. There the two rivers +of the dead meet, where a rock divides the two dark roaring streams. +There they dug a trench and poured out mead, and wine, and water, and +prayed to the ghosts, and then they cut the throat of the black ewe, and +the grey ghosts gathered to smell the blood. Pale spectres came, spirits +of brides who died long ago, and youths unwed, and old unhappy men; and +many phantoms were there of men who fell in battle, with shadowy spears +in their hands, and battered armour. Then Ulysses sacrificed the black +ram to the ghost of the prophet Tiresias, and sat down with his sword in +his hand, that no spirit before Tiresias might taste the blood in the +trench. + +First the spirit of Elpenor came, and begged Ulysses to burn his body, +for till his body was burned he was not allowed to mingle with the other +souls of dead men. So Ulysses promised to burn and bury him when he went +back to Circe's island. Then came the shadow of the mother of Ulysses, +who had died when he was at Troy, but, for all his grief, he would not +allow the shadow to come near the blood till Tiresias had tasted it. At +length came the spirit of the blind prophet, and he prayed Ulysses to +sheathe his sword and let him drink the blood of the black sheep. + +When he had tasted it he said that the Sea God was angry because of the +blinding of his son, the Cyclops, and would make his voyaging vain. But +if the men of Ulysses were wise, and did not slay and eat the sacred +cattle of the Sun God, in the isle called Thrinacia, they might all win +home. If they were unwise, and if Ulysses did come home, lonely and late +he would arrive, on the ship of strangers, and he would find proud men +wasting his goods and seeking to wed his wife, Penelope. Even if Ulysses +alone could kill these men his troubles would not be ended. He must +wander over the land, as he had wandered over the waters, carrying an +oar on his shoulder, till he came to men who had never heard of the sea +or of boats. When one of these men, not knowing what an oar was, came +and told him that he carried a fan for winnowing corn, then Ulysses must +fix the oar in the ground, and offer a sacrifice to the Sea God, and go +home, where he would at last live in peace. Ulysses said, 'So be it!' +and asked how he could have speech with the ghosts. Tiresias told him +how this might be done, and then his mother told him how she died of +sorrow for him, and Ulysses tried to embrace and kiss her, but his arms +only clasped the empty air. + +Then came up the beautiful spirits of many dead, unhappy ladies of old +times, and then came the souls of Agamemnon, and of Achilles, and of +Aias. Achilles was glad when he heard how bravely his young son had +fought at Troy, but he said it was better to be the servant of a poor +farmer on earth than to rule over all the ghosts of the dead in the +still grey land where the sun never shone, and no flowers grew but the +mournful asphodel. Many other spirits of Greeks slain at Troy came and +asked for news about their friends, but Aias stood apart and silent, +still in anger because the arms of Achilles had been given to Ulysses. +In vain Ulysses told him that the Greeks had mourned as much for him as +for Achilles; he passed silently away into the House of Hades. At last +the legions of the innumerable dead, all that have died since the world +began, flocked, and filled the air with their low wailing cries, and +fear fell on Ulysses, and he went back along that sad last shore of the +world's end to his ship, and sailed again out of the darkness into the +sunlight, and to the isle of Circe. There they burned the body of +Elpenor, and piled a mound over it, and on the mound set the oar of the +dead man, and so went to the palace of Circe. + +Ulysses told Circe all his adventures, and then she warned him of +dangers yet to come, and showed him how he might escape them. He +listened, and remembered all that she spoke, and these two said good-bye +for ever. Circe wandered away alone into the woods, and Ulysses and his +men set sail and crossed the unknown seas. Presently the wind fell, and +the sea was calm, and they saw a beautiful island from which came the +sound of sweet singing. Ulysses knew who the singers were, for Circe +had told him that they were the Sirens, a kind of beautiful Mermaids, +deadly to men. Among the flowers they sit and sing, but the flowers hide +the bones of men who have listened and landed on the island, and died of +that strange music, which carries the soul away. + +Ulysses now took a great cake of bees' wax and cut it up into small +pieces, which he bade his men soften and place in their ears, that they +might not hear that singing. But, as he desired to hear it and yet live, +he bade the sailors bind him tightly to the mast with ropes, and they +must not unbind him, however much he might implore them to set him free. +When all this was done the men sat down on the benches, all orderly, and +smote the grey sea with their oars, and the ship rushed along through +the clear still water, and came opposite the island. + +Then the sweet singing of the Sirens was borne over the sea, + + 'Hither, come hither, renowned Ulysses, + Great glory of the Achaean name. + Here stay thy ship, that thou mayest listen to our song. + Never has any man driven his ship past our island + Till he has heard our voices, sweet as the honeycomb; + Gladly he has heard, and wiser has he gone on his way. + Hither, come hither, for we know all things, + All that the Greeks wrought and endured in Troyland, + All that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.' + +Thus they sang, offering Ulysses all knowledge and wisdom, which they +knew that he loved more than anything in the world. To other men, no +doubt, they would have offered other pleasures. Ulysses desired to +listen, and he nodded to his men to loosen his bonds. But Perimedes +and Eurylochus arose, and laid on him yet stronger bonds, and the ship +was driven past that island, till the song of the Sirens faded away, and +then the men set Ulysses free and took the wax out of their ears. + + + + +III + +THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE OF THE SUN + + +They had not sailed far when they heard the sea roaring, and saw a great +wave, over which hung a thick shining cloud of spray. They had drifted +to a place where the sea narrowed between two high black rocks: under +the rock on the left was a boiling whirlpool in which no ship could +live; the opposite rock showed nothing dangerous, but Ulysses had been +warned by Circe that here too lay great peril. We may ask, Why did +Ulysses pass through the narrows between these two rocks? why did he not +steer on the outer side of one or the other? The reason seems to have +been that, on the outer side of these cliffs, were the tall reefs which +men called the Rocks Wandering. Between them the sea water leaped in +high columns of white foam, and the rocks themselves rushed together, +grinding and clashing, while fire flew out of the crevices and crests as +from a volcano. + +Circe had told Ulysses about the Rocks Wandering, which do not even +allow flocks of doves to pass through them; even one of the doves is +always caught and crushed, and no ship of men escapes that tries to pass +that way, and the bodies of the sailors and the planks of the ships are +confusedly tossed by the waves of the sea and the storms of ruinous +fire. Of all ships that ever sailed the sea only 'Argo,' the ship of +Jason, has escaped the Rocks Wandering, as you may read in the story of +the Fleece of Gold. For these reasons Ulysses was forced to steer +between the rock of the whirlpool and the rock which seemed harmless. In +the narrows between these two cliffs the sea ran like a rushing river, +and the men, in fear, ceased to hold the oars, and down the stream the +oars plashed in confusion. But Ulysses, whom Circe had told of this new +danger, bade them grasp the oars again and row hard. He told the man at +the helm to steer under the great rocky cliff, on the right, and to keep +clear of the whirlpool and the cloud of spray on the left. Well he knew +the danger of the rock on the left, for within it was a deep cave, where +a monster named Scylla lived, yelping with a shrill voice out of her six +hideous heads. Each head hung down from a long, thin, scaly neck, and in +each mouth were three rows of greedy teeth, and twelve long feelers, +with claws at the ends of them, dropped down, ready to catch at men. +There in her cave Scylla sits, fishing with her feelers for dolphins and +other great fish, and for men, if any men sail by that way. Against this +deadly thing none may fight, for she cannot be slain with the spear.[A] + +[A. There is a picture of this monster attacking a man in a boat. The +picture was painted centuries before the time of Ulysses.] + +All this Ulysses knew, for Circe had warned him. But he also knew that +on the other side of the strait, where the sea spray for ever flew high +above the rock, was a whirlpool, called Charybdis, which would swallow +up his ship if it came within the current, while Scylla could only catch +some of his men. For this reason he bade the helmsman to steer close to +the rock of Scylla, and he did not tell the sailors that she lurked +there with her body hidden in her deep cave. He himself put on his +armour, and took two spears, and went and stood in the raised half deck +at the front of the ship, thinking that, at least, he would have a +stroke at Scylla. Then they rowed down the swift sea stream, while the +wave of the whirlpool now rose up, till the spray hid the top of the +rock, and now fell, and bubbled with black sand. They were watching the +whirlpool, when out from the hole in the cliff sprang the six heads of +Scylla, and up into the air went six of Ulysses' men, each calling to +him, as they were swept within her hole in the rock, where she devoured +them. 'This was the most pitiful thing,' Ulysses said, 'that my eyes +have seen, of all my sorrows in searching out the paths of the sea.' + +The ship swept through the roaring narrows between the rock of Scylla +and the whirlpool of Charybdis, into the open sea, and the men, weary +and heavy of heart, bent over their oars, and longed for rest. + +Now a place of rest seemed near at hand, for in front of the ship lay a +beautiful island, and the men could hear the bleating of sheep and the +lowing of cows as they were being herded into their stalls. But Ulysses +remembered that, in the Land of the Dead, the ghost of the blind prophet +had warned him of one thing. If his men killed and ate the cattle of the +Sun, in the sacred island of Thrinacia, they would all perish. So +Ulysses told his crew of this prophecy, and bade them row past the +island. Eurylochus was angry and said that the men were tired, and could +row no further, but must land, and take supper, and sleep comfortably on +shore. On hearing Eurylochus, the whole crew shouted and said that they +would go no further that night, and Ulysses had no power to compel them. +He could only make them swear not to touch the cattle of the Sun God, +which they promised readily enough, and so went ashore, took supper, and +slept. + +[Illustration: THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA.] + +In the night a great storm arose: the clouds and driving mist blinded +the face of the sea and sky, and for a whole month the wild south wind +hurled the waves on the coast, and no ship of these times could venture +out in the tempest. Meanwhile the crew ate up all the stores in the +ship, and finished the wine, so that they were driven to catch sea birds +and fishes, of which they took but few, the sea being so rough upon the +rocks. Ulysses went up into the island alone, to pray to the Gods, and +when he had prayed he found a sheltered place, and there he fell asleep. + +Eurylochus took the occasion, while Ulysses was away, to bid the crew +seize and slay the sacred cattle of the Sun God, which no man might +touch, and this they did, so that, when Ulysses wakened, and came near +the ship, he smelled the roast meat, and knew what had been done. He +rebuked the men, but, as the cattle were dead, they kept eating them for +six days; and then the storm ceased, the wind fell, the sun shone, and +they set the sails, and away they went. But this evil deed was punished, +for when they were out of sight of land, a great thunder cloud +overshadowed them, the wind broke the mast, which crushed the head of +the helmsman, the lightning struck the ship in the centre; she reeled, +the men fell overboard, and the heads of the crew floated a moment, like +cormorants, above the waves. + +But Ulysses had kept hold of a rope, and, when the vessel righted, he +walked the deck till a wave stripped off all the tackling, and loosened +the sides from the keel. Ulysses had only time to lash the broken mast +with a rope to the keel, and sit on this raft with his feet in the +water, while the South Wind rose again furiously, and drove the raft +back till it came under the rock where was the whirlpool of Charybdis. +Here Ulysses would have been drowned, but he caught at the root of a fig +tree that grew on the rock, and there he hung, clinging with his toes to +the crumbling stones till the whirlpool boiled up again, and up came the +timbers. Down on the timbers Ulysses dropped, and so sat rowing with his +hands, and the wind drifted him at last to a shelving beach of an +island. + +Here dwelt a kind of fairy, called Calypso, who found Ulysses nearly +dead on the beach, and was kind to him, and kept him in her cave, where +he lived for seven long years, always desiring to leave the beautiful +fairy and return to Ithaca and his wife Penelope. But no ship of men +ever came near that isle, which is the central place of all the seas, +and he had no ship, and no men to sail and row. Calypso was very kind, +and very beautiful, being the daughter of the wizard Atlas, who holds +the two pillars that keep earth and sea asunder. But Ulysses was longing +to see if it were but the smoke going up from the houses of rocky +Ithaca, and he had a desire to die. + + + + +IV + +HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER + + +When Ulysses had lived nearly seven years in the island of Calypso, his +son Telemachus, whom he had left in Ithaca as a little child, went forth +to seek for his father. In Ithaca he and his mother, Penelope, had long +been very unhappy. As Ulysses did not come home after the war, and as +nothing was heard about him from the day when the Greeks sailed from +Troy, it was supposed that he must be dead. But Telemachus was still but +a boy of twelve years old, and the father of Ulysses, Laertes, was very +old, and had gone to a farm in the country, where he did nothing but +take care of his garden. There was thus no King in Ithaca, and the boys, +who had been about ten years old when Ulysses went to Troy, were now +grown up, and, as their fathers had gone to the war, they did just as +they pleased. Twelve of them wanted to marry Penelope, and they, with +about a hundred others as wild as themselves, from the neighbouring +islands, by way of paying court to Penelope ate and drank all day at her +house. They killed the cattle, sheep, and swine; they drank the wine, +and amused themselves with Penelope's maidens, of whom she had many. +Nobody could stop them; they would never go away, they said, till +Penelope chose one of them to be her husband, and King of the island, +though Telemachus was the rightful prince. + +Penelope at last promised that she would choose one of them when she had +finished a great shroud of linen, to be the death shroud of old Laertes +when he died. All day she wove it, but at night, when her wooers had +gone (for they did not sleep in her house), she unwove it again. But one +of her maidens told this to the wooers, so she had to finish the shroud, +and now they pressed her more than ever to make her choice. But she kept +hoping that Ulysses was still alive, and would return, though, if he +did, how was he to turn so many strong young men out of his house? + +The Goddess of Wisdom, Athênê, had always favoured Ulysses, and now she +spoke up among the Gods, where they sat, as men say, in their holy +heaven. Not by winds is it shaken, nor wet with rain, nor does the snow +come thither, but clear air is spread about it cloudless, and the white +light floats over it. Athênê told how good, wise, and brave Ulysses was, +and how he was kept in the isle of Calypso, while men ruined his wealth +and wooed his wife. She said that she would herself go to Ithaca, and +make Telemachus appeal to all the people of the country, showing how +evilly he was treated, and then sail abroad to seek news of his father. +So Athênê spoke, and flashed down from Olympus to Ithaca, where she took +the shape of a mortal man, Mentes, a chief of the Taphians. In front of +the doors she found the proud wooers playing at draughts and other games +while supper was being made ready. When Telemachus, who was standing +apart, saw the stranger, he went to him, and led him into the house, and +treated him kindly, while the wooers ate and drank, and laughed noisily. + +Then Telemachus told Athênê (or, as he supposed, the stranger), how +evilly he was used, while his father's white bones might be wasting on +an unknown shore or rolling in the billows of the salt sea. Athênê said, +or Mentes said, that he himself was an old friend of Ulysses, and had +touched at Ithaca on his way to Cyprus to buy copper. 'But Ulysses,' he +said, 'is not dead; he will certainly come home, and that speedily. You +are so like him, you must be his son.' Telemachus replied that he was, +and Mentes was full of anger, seeing how the wooers insulted him, and +told him first to complain to an assembly of all the people, and then to +take a ship, and go seeking news of Ulysses. + +Then Athênê departed, and next day Telemachus called an assembly, and +spoke to the people, but though they were sorry for him they could not +help him. One old man, however, a prophet, said that Ulysses would +certainly come home, but the wooers only threatened and insulted him. In +the evening Athênê came again, in the appearance of Mentor, not the +same man as Mentes, but an Ithacan, and a friend of Ulysses. She +encouraged Telemachus to take a ship, with twenty oarsmen, and he told +the wooers that he was going to see Menelaus and Nestor, and ask tidings +of his father. They only mocked him, but he made all things ready for +his voyage without telling his mother. It was old Eurycleia, who had +been his nurse and his father's nurse, that brought him wine and food +for his journey; and at night, when the sea wind wakens in summer, he +and Mentor went on board, and all night they sailed, and at noon next +day they reached Pylos on the sea sands, the city of Nestor the Old. + +Nestor received them gladly, and so did his sons, Pisistratus and +Thrasymedes, who fought at Troy, and next day, when Mentor had gone, +Pisistratus and Telemachus drove together, up hill and down dale, a two +days' journey, to Lacedaemon, lying beneath Mount Taygetus on the bank +of the clear river Eurotas. + +Not one of the Greeks had seen Ulysses since the day when they all +sailed from Troy, yet Menelaus, in a strange way, was able to tell +Telemachus that his father still lived, and was with Calypso on a lonely +island, the centre of all the seas. We shall see how Menelaus knew this. +When Telemachus and Pisistratus came, he was giving a feast, and called +them to his table. It would not have been courteous to ask them who they +were till they had been bathed and clothed in fresh raiment, and had +eaten and drunk. After dinner, Menelaus saw how much Telemachus admired +his house, and the flashing of light from the walls, which were covered +with bronze panels, and from the cups of gold, and the amber and ivory +and silver. Such things Telemachus had never seen in Ithaca. Noticing +his surprise, Menelaus said that he had brought many rich things from +Troy, after eight years wandering to Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, +and even to Libya, on the north coast of Africa. Yet he said that, +though he was rich and fortunate, he was unhappy when he remembered the +brave men who had died for his sake at Troy. But above all he was +miserable for the loss of the best of them all, Ulysses, who was so long +unheard of, and none knew whether, at that hour, he was alive or dead. +At these words Telemachus hid his face in his purple mantle and shed +tears, so that Menelaus guessed who he was, but he said nothing. + +Then came into the hall, from her own fragrant chamber, Helen of the +fair hands, as beautiful as ever she had been, her bower maidens +carrying her golden distaff, with which she span, and a silver basket to +hold her wool, for the white hands of Helen were never idle. + +Helen knew Telemachus by his likeness to his father, Ulysses, and when +she said this to Menelaus, Pisistratus overheard her, and told how +Telemachus had come to them seeking for news of his father. Menelaus was +much moved in his heart, and Helen no less, when they saw the son of +Ulysses, who had been the most trusty of all their friends. They could +not help shedding tears, for Pisistratus remembered his dear brother +Antilochus, whom Memnon slew in battle at Troy, Memnon the son of the +bright Dawn. But Helen wished to comfort them, and she brought a drug of +magical virtue, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, King of Egypt had +given to her. This drug lulls all pain and anger, and brings +forgetfulness of every sorrow, and Helen poured it from a golden vial +into the mixing bowl of gold, and they drank the wine and were +comforted. + +Then Helen told Telemachus what great deeds Ulysses did at Troy, and +how he crept into the town disguised as a beggar, and came to her house, +when he stole the Luck of Troy. Menelaus told how Ulysses kept him and +the other princes quiet in the horse of tree, when Deiphobus made Helen +call to them all in the very voices of their own wives, and to +Telemachus it was great joy to hear of his father's courage and wisdom. + +Next day Telemachus showed to Menelaus how hardly he and his mother were +treated by the proud wooers, and Menelaus prayed that Ulysses might come +back to Ithaca, and slay the wooers every one. 'But as to what you ask +me,' he said, 'I will tell you all that I have heard about your father. +In my wanderings after I sailed from Troy the storm winds kept me for +three weeks in the island called Pharos, a day's voyage from the mouth +of the river "Ægyptus"' (which is the old name of the Nile). 'We were +almost starving, for our food was done, and my crew went round the +shores, fishing with hook and line. Now in that isle lives a goddess, +the daughter of Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea. She advised me that if +I could but catch her father when he came out of the sea to sleep on the +shore he would tell me everything that I needed to know. At noonday he +was used to come out, with all his flock of seals round him, and to +sleep among them on the sands. If I could seize him, she said, he would +turn into all manner of shapes in my hands: beasts, and serpents, and +burning fire; but at last he would appear in his own shape, and answer +all my questions. + +'So the goddess spoke, and she dug hiding places in the sands for me and +three of my men, and covered us with the skins of seals. At noonday the +Old Man came out with his seals, and counted them, beginning with us, +and then he lay down and fell asleep. Then we leaped up and rushed at +him and gripped him fast. He turned into the shapes of a lion, and of a +leopard, of a snake, and a huge boar; then he was running water, and +next he was a tall, blossoming tree. But we held him firmly, and at last +he took his own shape, and told me that I should never have a fair wind +till I had sailed back into the river Ægyptus and sacrificed there to +the gods in heaven. Then I asked him for news about my brother, +Agamemnon, and he told me how my brother was slain in his own hall, and +how Aias was drowned in the sea. Lastly, he told me about Ulysses: how +he was kept on a lonely island by the fairy Calypso, and was unhappy, +and had no ship and no crew to escape and win home.' + +This was all that Menelaus could tell Telemachus, who stayed with +Menelaus for a month. All that time the wooers lay in wait for him, with +a ship, in a narrow strait which they thought he must sail through on +his way back to Ithaca. In that strait they meant to catch him and kill +him. + + + + +V + +HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO + + +Now the day after Menelaus told Telemachus that Ulysses was still a +living man, the Gods sent Hermes to Calypso. So Hermes bound on his feet +his fair golden sandals, that wax not old, and bear him, alike over wet +sea and dry land, as swift as the wind. Along the crests of the waves he +flew, like the cormorant that chases fishes through the sea deeps, with +his plumage wet in the sea brine. He reached the island, and went up to +the cave of Calypso, wherein dwelt the nymph of the braided tresses, +and he found her within. And on the hearth there was a great fire +burning, and from afar, through the isle, was smelt the fragrance of +cleft cedar blazing, and of sandal wood. And the nymph within was +singing with a sweet voice as she fared to and fro before the loom, and +wove with a shuttle of gold. All round about the cave there was a wood +blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet smelling cypress. Therein roosted +birds long of wing--owls and falcons and chattering sea-crows, which +have their business in the waters. And lo! there, about the hollow cave, +trailed a gadding garden vine, all rich with clusters. And fountains, +four set orderly, were running with clear water hard by one another, +turned each to his own course. Around soft meadows bloomed of violets +and parsley; yea, even a deathless God who came thither might wonder at +the sight and be glad at heart. + +There the messenger, the slayer of Argos, stood and wondered. Now when +he had gazed at all with wonder, he went into the wide cave; nor did +Calypso, that fair Goddess, fail to know him when she saw him face to +face; for the Gods use not to be strange one to another, not though one +have his habitation far away. But he found not Ulysses, the +great-hearted, within the cave, who sat weeping on the shore even as +aforetime, straining his soul with tears and groans and griefs, and as +he wept he looked wistfully over the unharvested deep. And Calypso, that +fair Goddess, questioned Hermes, when she had made him sit on a bright +shining star: + +'Wherefore, I pray thee, Hermes of the golden wand, hast thou come +hither, worshipful and welcome, whereas as of old thou wert not wont to +visit me? Tell me all thy thought; my heart is set on fulfilling it, if +fulfil it I may, and if it hath been fulfilled in the counsel of fate. +But now follow me further, that I may set before thee the entertainment +of strangers.' + +Therewith the goddess spread a table with ambrosia and set it by him, +and mixed the ruddy nectar. So the messenger, the slayer of Argos, did +eat and drink. Now after he had supped and comforted his soul with food, +at the last he answered, and spake to her on this wise: + +'Thou makest question of me on my coming, a Goddess of a God, and I will +tell thee this my saying truly, at thy command. 'Twas Zeus that bade me +come hither, by no will of mine; nay, who of his free will would speed +over such a wondrous space of sea whereby is no city of mortals that do +sacrifice to the gods. He saith that thou hast with thee a man most +wretched beyond his fellows, beyond those men that round the city of +Priam for nine years fought, and in the tenth year sacked the city and +departed homeward. Yet on the way they sinned against Athênê, and she +raised upon them an evil blast and long waves of the sea. Then all the +rest of his good company was lost, but it came to pass that the wind +bare and the wave brought him hither. And now Zeus biddeth thee send him +hence with what speed thou mayest, for it is not ordained that he die +away from his friends, but rather it is his fate to look on them even +yet, and to come to his high-roofed home and his own country.' + +[Illustration: CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES.] + +So spake he, and Calypso, that fair Goddess, shuddered and spake unto +him: 'Hard are ye Gods and jealous exceeding, who ever grudge Goddesses +openly to mate with men. Him I saved as he went all alone bestriding the +keel of a bark, for that Zeus had crushed and cleft his swift ship +with a white bolt in the midst of the wine-dark deep. There all the rest +of his good company was lost, but it came to pass that the wind bare and +the wave brought him hither. And him have I loved and cherished, and I +said that I would make him to know not death and age for ever. But I +will give him no despatch, not I, for I have no ships by me with oars, +nor company to bear him on his way over the broad back of the sea. Yet +will I be forward to put this in his mind, and will hide nought, that +all unharmed he may come to his own country.' + +Then the messenger, the slayer of Argos, answered her: 'Yea, speed him +now upon his path and have regard unto the wrath of Zeus, lest haply he +be angered and bear hard on thee hereafter.' + +Therewith the great slayer of Argos departed, but the lady nymph went on +her way to the great-hearted Ulysses, when she had heard the message of +Zeus. And there she found him sitting on the shore, and his eyes were +never dry of tears, and his sweet life was ebbing away as he mourned for +his return. In the daytime he would sit on the rocks and on the beach, +straining his soul with tears, and groans, and griefs, and through his +tears he would look wistfully over the unharvested deep. So, standing +near him, that fair goddess spake to him: + +'Hapless man, sorrow no more I pray thee in this isle, nor let thy good +life waste away, for even now will I send thee hence with all my heart. +Nay, arise and cut long beams, and fashion a wide raft with the axe, and +lay deckings high thereupon, that it may bear thee over the misty deep. +And I will place therein bread and water, and red wine to thy heart's +desire, to keep hunger far away. And I will put raiment upon thee, and +send a fair gale, that so thou mayest come all unharmed to thine own +country, if indeed it be the good pleasure of the gods who hold wide +heaven, who are stronger than I am both to will and to do.' + +Then Ulysses was glad and sad: glad that the Gods took thought for him, +and sad to think of crossing alone the wide unsailed seas. Calypso said +to him: + +'So it is indeed thy wish to get thee home to thine own dear country +even in this hour? Good fortune go with thee even so! Yet didst thou +know in thine heart what thou art ordained to suffer, or ever thou reach +thine own country, here, even here, thou wouldst abide with me and keep +this house, and wouldst never taste of death, though thou longest to see +thy wife, for whom thou hast ever a desire day by day. Not, in sooth, +that I avow me to be less noble than she in form or fashion, for it is +in no wise meet that mortal women should match them with immortals in +shape and comeliness.' + +And Ulysses of many counsels answered, and spake unto her: 'Be not wroth +with me, goddess and queen. Myself I know it well, how wise Penelope is +meaner to look upon than thou in comeliness and stature. But she is +mortal, and thou knowest not age nor death. Yet, even so, I wish and +long day by day to fare homeward and see the day of my returning. Yea, +and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will +endure, with a heart within me patient of affliction. For already have I +suffered full much, and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war; +let this be added to the tale of those.' + +Next day Calypso brought to Ulysses carpenters' tools, and he felled +trees, and made a great raft, and a mast, and sails out of canvas. In +five days he had finished his raft and launched it, and Calypso placed +in it skins full of wine and water, and flour and many pleasant things +to eat, and so they kissed for that last time and took farewell, he +going alone on the wide sea, and she turning lonely to her own home. He +might have lived for ever with the beautiful fairy, but he chose to live +and die, if he could, with his wife Penelope. + + + + +VI + +HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED PHAEACIA + + +As long as the fair wind blew Ulysses sat and steered his raft, never +seeing land or any ship of men. He kept his eye at night on the Great +Bear, holding it always on his left hand, as Calypso taught him. +Seventeen days he sailed, and on the eighteenth day he saw the shadowy +mountain peaks of an island called Phaeacia. But now the Sea god saw +him, and remembered how Ulysses had blinded his son the Cyclops. In +anger he raised a terrible storm: great clouds covered the sky, and all +the winds met. Ulysses wished that he had died when the Trojans gathered +round him as he defended the dead body of Achilles. For, had he died +then, he would have been burned and buried by his friends, but if he +were now drowned his ghost would always wander alone on the fringes of +the Land of the Dead, like the ghost of Elpenor. + +As he thought thus, the winds broke the mast of his raft, and the sail +and yardarm fell into the sea, and the waves dragged him deep down. At +last he rose to the surface and swam after his raft, and climbed on to +it, and sat there, while the winds tossed the raft about like a feather. +The Sea goddess, Ino, saw him and pitied him, and rose from the water +as a seagull rises after it has dived. She spoke to him, and threw her +bright veil to him, saying, 'Wind this round your breast, and throw off +your clothes. Leap from the raft and swim, and, when you reach land, +cast the veil back into the sea, and turn away your head.' + +Ulysses caught the veil, and wound it about his breast, but he +determined not to leave the raft while the timbers held together. Even +as he thought thus, the timbers were driven asunder by the waves, and he +seized a plank, and sat astride it as a man rides a horse. Then the +winds fell, all but the north wind, which drifted Ulysses on for two +days and nights. On the third day all was calm, and the land was very +near, and Ulysses began to swim towards it, through a terrible surf, +which crashed and foamed on sheer rocks, where all his bones would be +broken. Thrice he clasped a rock, and thrice the back wash of the wave +dragged him out to sea. Then he swam outside of the breakers, along the +line of land, looking for a safe place, and at last he came to the mouth +of the river. Here all was smooth, with a shelving beach, and his feet +touched bottom. He staggered out of the water and swooned away as soon +as he was on dry land. When he came to himself he unbound the veil of +Ino, and cast it into the sea, and fell back, quite spent, among the +reeds of the river, naked and starving. He crept between two thick olive +trees that grew close together and made a shelter against the wind, and +he covered himself all over thickly with fallen dry leaves, till he grew +warm again and fell into a deep sleep. + +While Ulysses slept, alone and naked in an unknown land, a dream came to +beautiful Nausicaa, the daughter of the King of that country, which is +called Phaeacia. The dream was in the shape of a girl who was a friend +of Nausicaa, and it said: 'Nausicaa, how has your mother such a careless +daughter? There are many beautiful garments in the house that need to be +washed, against your wedding day, when, as is the custom, you must give +mantles and tunics to the guests. Let us go a washing to the river +to-morrow, taking a car to carry the raiment.' + +When Nausicaa wakened next day she remembered the dream, and went to her +father, and asked him to lend her a car to carry the clothes. She said +nothing about her marriage day, for though many young princes were in +love with her, she was in love with none of them. Still, the clothes +must be washed, and her father lent her a waggon with a high frame, and +mules to drive. The clothes were piled in the car, and food was packed +in a basket, every sort of dainty thing, and Nausicaa took the reins and +drove slowly while many girls followed her, her friends of her own age. +They came to a deep clear pool, that overflowed into shallow paved runs +of water, and there they washed the clothes, and trod them down in the +runlets. Next they laid them out to dry in the sun and wind on the +pebbles, and then they took their meal of cakes and other good things. + +When they had eaten they threw down their veils and began to play at +ball, at a game like rounders. Nausicaa threw the ball at a girl who was +running, but missed her, and the ball fell into the deep swift river. +All the girls screamed and laughed, and the noise they made wakened +Ulysses where he lay in the little wood. 'Where am I?' he said to +himself; 'is this a country of fierce and savage men? A sound of girls +at play rings round me. Can they be fairies of the hill tops and the +rivers, and the water meadows?' As he had no clothes, and the voices +seemed to be voices of women, Ulysses broke a great leafy bough which +hid all his body, but his feet were bare, his face was wild with +weariness, and cold, and hunger, and his hair and beard were matted and +rough with the salt water. + +The girls, when they saw such a face peering over the leaves of the +bough, screamed, and ran this way and that along the beach. But +Nausicaa, as became the daughter of the King, stood erect and unafraid, +and as Ulysses dared not go near and kneel to her, he spoke from a +distance and said: + +'I pray thee, O queen, whether thou art a goddess or a mortal! If indeed +thou art a goddess of them that keep the wide heaven, to Artemis, then, +the daughter of great Zeus, I mainly liken thee for beauty and stature +and shapeliness. But if thou art one of the daughters of men who dwell +on earth, thrice blessed are thy father and thy lady mother, and thrice +blessed thy brethren. Surely their souls ever glow with gladness for thy +sake each time they see thee entering the dance, so fair a flower of +maidens. But he is of heart the most blessed beyond all other who shall +prevail with gifts of wooing, and lead thee to his home. Never have mine +eyes beheld such an one among mortals, neither man nor woman; great awe +comes upon me as I look on thee. Yet in Delos once I saw as goodly a +thing: a young sapling of a palm tree springing by the altar of Apollo. +For thither, too, I went, and much people with me, on that path where my +sore troubles were to be. Yea! and when I looked thereupon, long time I +marvelled in spirit--for never grew there yet so goodly a shoot from +ground--even in such wise as I wonder at thee, lady, and am astonished +and do greatly fear to touch thy knees, though grievous sorrow is upon +me. + +[Illustration: HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA.] + +'Yesterday, on the twentieth day, I escaped from the wine-dark deep, but +all that time continually the wave bare me, and the vehement winds drave +from the isle Ogygia. And now some god has cast me on this shore that +here too, methinks, some evil may betide me; for I think not that +trouble will cease; the gods ere that time will yet bring many a thing +to pass. But, queen, have pity on me, for, after many trials and sore, +to thee first of all am I come, and of the other folk, who hold this +city and land, I know no man. Nay, show me the town; give me an old +garment to cast about me, if thou hadst, when thou camest here, any wrap +for the linen. And may the gods grant thee all thy heart's desire: a +husband and a home, and a mind at one with his may they give--a good +gift, for there is nothing mightier and nobler than when man and wife +are of one heart and mind in a house, a grief to their foes, and to +their friends great joy, but their own hearts know it best.' + +Then Nausicaa of the white arms, answered him, and said: + +'Stranger, as thou seemest no evil man nor foolish--and it is Olympian +Zeus himself that giveth weal to men, to the good and to the evil, to +each one as he will, and this thy lot doubtless is of him, and so thou +must in anywise endure it--now, since thou hast come to our city and our +land, thou shalt not lack raiment nor aught else that is the due of a +hapless suppliant when he has met them who can befriend him. And I will +show thee the town, and name the name of the people. The Phaeacians hold +this city and land, and I am the daughter of Alcinous, great of heart, +on whom all the might and force of the Phaeacians depend.' + +Thus she spake, and called to her maidens of the fair tresses: 'Halt, my +maidens, whither flee ye at the sight of a man? Ye surely do not take +him for an enemy? That mortal breathes not, and never will be born, who +shall come with war to the land of the Phaeacians, for they are very +dear to the gods. Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the +outermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us. Nay, but +this man is some helpless one come hither in his wanderings, whom now we +must kindly entreat, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a +little gift is dear. So, my maidens, give the stranger meat and drink, +and bathe him in the river, where there is a shelter from the winds.' + +So she spake, but they halted and called each to the other, and they +brought Ulysses to the sheltered place, and made him sit down, as +Nausiaca bade them, the daughter of Alcinous, high of heart. Beside him +they laid a mantle and a doublet for raiment, and gave him soft olive +oil in the golden cruse, and bade him wash in the streams of the river. +Then goodly Ulysses spake among the maidens, saying: 'I pray you stand +thus apart while I myself wash the brine from my shoulders, and anoint +me with olive oil, for truly oil is long a stranger to my skin. But in +your sight I will not bathe, for I am ashamed to make me naked in the +company of fair-tressed maidens.' + +Then they went apart and told all to their lady. But with the river +water the goodly Ulysses washed from his skin the salt scurf that +covered his back and broad shoulders, and from his head he wiped the +crusted brine of the barren sea. But when he had washed his whole body, +and anointed him with olive oil, and had clad himself in the raiment +that the unwedded maiden gave him, then Athênê, the daughter of Zeus, +made him greater and more mighty to behold, and from his head caused +deep curling locks to flow, like the hyacinth flower. And, as when some +skilful man overlays gold upon silver--one that Hephaestus and Pallas +Athênê have taught all manner of craft, and full of grace is his +handiwork--even so did Athênê shed grace about his head and shoulders. + +Then to the shore of the sea went Ulysses apart, and sat down, glowing +in beauty and grace, and the princess marvelled at him, and spake among +her fair-tressed maidens, saying: + +'Listen, my white-armed maidens, and I will say somewhat. Not without +the will of all the gods who hold Olympus has this man come among the +godlike Phaeacians. Erewhile he seemed to me uncomely, but now he is +like the gods that keep the wide heaven. Would that such an one might be +called my husband, dwelling here, and that it might please him here to +abide! But come, my maidens, give the stranger meat and drink.' + +Thus she spake, and they gave ready ear and hearkened, and set beside +Ulysses meat and drink, and the steadfast goodly Ulysses did eat and +drink eagerly, for it was long since he had tasted food. + +Now Nausicaa of the white arms had another thought. She folded the +raiment and stored it in the goodly wain, and yoked the mules, strong of +hoof, and herself climbed into the car. Then she called on Ulysses, and +spake and hailed him: 'Up now, stranger, and rouse thee to go to the +city, that I may convey thee to the house of my wise father, where, I +promise thee, thou shalt get knowledge of all the noblest of the +Phaeacians. But do thou even as I tell thee, and thou seemest a discreet +man enough. So long as we are passing along the fields and farms of +men, do thou fare quickly with the maidens behind the mules and the +chariot, and I will lead the way. But when we set foot within the city, +whereby goes a high wall with towers, and there is a fair haven on +either side of the town, and narrow is the entrance, and curved ships +are drawn up on either hand of the mole, thou shalt find a fair grove of +Athênê, a poplar grove, near the road, and a spring wells forth therein, +and a meadow lies all around. + +There is my father's land, and his fruitful close, within the sound of a +man's shout from the city. Sit thee down there and wait until such time +as we may have come into the city, and reached the house of my father. +But when thou deemest that we are got to the palace, then go up to the +city of the Phaeacians, and ask for the house of my father, Alcinous, +high of heart. It is easily known, and a young child could be thy guide, +for nowise like it are builded the houses of the Phaeacians, so goodly +is the palace of the hero Alcinous. But when thou art within the shadow +of the halls and the court, pass quickly through the great chamber till +thou comest to my mother, who sits at the hearth in the light of the +fire, weaving yarn of sea-purple stain, a wonder to behold. Her chair is +leaned against a pillar, and her maidens sit behind her. And there my +father's throne leans close to hers, wherein he sits and drinks his +wine, like an immortal. Pass thou by him, and cast thy hands about my +mother's knees that thou mayest see quickly and with joy the day of thy +returning, even if thou art from a very far country. If but her heart be +kindly disposed towards thee, then is there hope that thou shalt see thy +friends, and come to thy well-builded house, and to thine own country.' + +She spake and smote the mules with the shining whip, and quickly they +left behind them the streams of the river; and well they trotted and +well they paced, and she took heed to drive in such wise that the +maidens and Ulysses might follow on foot, and cunningly she plied the +lash. Then the sun set, and they came to the famous grove, the sacred +place of Athênê; so there the goodly Ulysses sat him down. Then +straightway he prayed to the daughter of mighty Zeus: 'Listen to me, +child of Zeus, lord of the aegis, unwearied maiden; hear me even now, +since before thou heardest not when I was smitten on the sea, when the +renowned earth-shaker smote me. Grant me to come to the Phaeacians as +one dear and worthy of pity.' + +So he spake in prayer, and Pallas Athênê heard him; but she did not yet +appear to him face to face, for she had regard unto her father's +brother, who furiously raged against the god-like Ulysses till he should +come to his own country. + +While Nausicaa and her maidens went home, Ulysses waited near the temple +till they should have arrived, and then he rose and walked to the city, +wondering at the harbour, full of ships, and at the strength of the +walls. The Goddess Athênê met him, disguised as a mortal girl, and told +him again how the name of the king was Alcinous, and his wife's name was +Arete: she was wise and kind, and had great power in the city. The +Goddess caused Ulysses to pass unseen among the people till he reached +the palace, which shone with bronze facings to the walls, while within +the hall were golden hounds and golden statues of young men holding +torches burning to give light to those who sat at supper. The gardens +were very beautiful, full of fruit trees, and watered by streams that +flowed from two fountains. Ulysses stood and wondered at the beauty of +the gardens, and then walked, unseen, through the hall, and knelt at the +feet of Queen Arete, and implored her to send him in a ship to his own +country. + +A table was brought to him, and food and wine were set before him, and +Alcinous, as his guests were going home, spoke out and said that the +stranger was to be entertained, whoever he might be, and sent safely on +his way. The guests departed, and Arete, looking at Ulysses, saw that +the clothes he wore were possessions of her house, and asked him who he +was, and how he got the raiment? Then he told her how he had been +shipwrecked, and how Nausicaa had given him food, and garments out of +those which she had been washing. Then Arete said that Nausicaa should +have brought Ulysses straight to her house; but Ulysses answered: 'Chide +not, I pray you, the blameless damsel,' and explained that he himself +was shy, and afraid that Nausicaa's parents might not like to see her +coming with an unknown stranger. King Alcinous answered that he was not +jealous and suspicious. To a stranger so noble as Ulysses he would very +gladly see his daughter married, and would give him a house and plenty +of everything. But if the stranger desired to go to his own country, +then a ship should be made ready for him. Thus courteous was Alcinous, +for he readily saw that Ulysses, who had not yet told his name, was of +noble birth, strong and wise. Then all went to bed, and Ulysses had a +soft bed and a warm, with blankets of purple. + +Next day Alcinous sent two-and-fifty young men to prepare a ship, and +they moored her in readiness out in the shore water; but the chiefs +dined with Alcinous, and the minstrel sang about the Trojan war, and so +stirred the heart of Ulysses, that he held his mantle before his face +and wept. When Alcinous saw that, he proposed that they should go and +amuse themselves with sports in the open air; races, wrestling, and +boxing. The son of Alcinous asked Ulysses if he would care to take part +in the games, but Ulysses answered that he was too heavy at heart. To +this a young man, Euryalus, said that Ulysses was probably a captain of +a merchant ship, a tradesman, not a sportsman. + +At this Ulysses was ill pleased, and replied that while he was young and +happy, he was well skilled in all sports, but now he was heavy and weak +with war and wandering. Still, he would show what he could do. Then he +seized a heavy weight, much heavier than any that the Phaeacians used in +putting the stone. He whirled it up, and hurled it far--far beyond the +furthest mark that the Phaeacians had reached when putting a lighter +weight. Then he challenged any man to run a race with him or box with +him, or shoot at a mark with him. Only his speed in running did he +doubt, for his limbs were stiffened by the sea. Perhaps Alcinous saw +that it would go ill with any man who matched himself against the +stranger, so he sent for the harper, who sang a merry song, and then he +made the young men dance and play ball, and bade the elder men go and +bring rich presents of gold and garments for the wanderer. Alcinous +himself gave a beautiful coffer and chest, and a great golden cup, and +Arete tied up all the gifts in the coffer, while the damsels took +Ulysses to the bath, and bathed him and anointed him with oil. + +As he left the bath he met Nausicaa, standing at the entrance of the +hall. She bade him good-bye, rather sadly, saying: 'Farewell, and do not +soon forget me in your own country, for to me you owe the ransom of your +life.' 'May God grant to me to see my own country, lady,' he answered, +'for there I will think of you with worship, as I think of the blessed +Gods, all my days, for to you, lady, I owe my very life.' These were the +last words they spoke to each other, for Nausicaa did not sit at meat in +the hall with the great company of men. When they had taken supper, the +blind harper sang again a song about the deeds of Ulysses at Troy, and +again Ulysses wept, so that Alcinous asked him: 'Hast thou lost a dear +friend or a kinsman in the great war?' Then Ulysses spoke out: 'I am +Ulysses, Laertes' son, of whom all men have heard tell.' While they sat +amazed, he began, and told them the whole story of his adventures, from +the day when he left Troy till he arrived at Calypso's island; he had +already told them how he was shipwrecked on his way thence to Phaeacia. + +All that wonderful story he told to their pleasure, and Euryalus made +amends for his rude words at the games, and gave Ulysses a beautiful +sword of bronze, with an ivory hilt set with studs of gold. Many other +gifts were given to him, and were carried and stored on board the ship +which had been made ready, and then Ulysses spoke good-bye to the Queen, +saying: 'Be happy, oh Queen, till old age and death come to you, as they +come to all. Be joyful in your house with your children and your people, +and Alcinous the King.' Then he departed, and lay down on sheets and +cloaks in the raised deck of the ship, and soundly he slept while the +fifty oars divided the waters of the sea, and drove the ship to Ithaca. + + + + +VII + +HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND FOR SAFETY DISGUISED HIMSELF AS +AN OLD BEGGAR MAN + + +When Ulysses awoke, he found himself alone, wrapped in the linen sheet +and the bright coverlet, and he knew not where he was. The Phaeacians +had carried him from the ship as he slept, and put him on shore, and +placed all the rich gifts that had been given him under a tree, and then +had sailed away. There was a morning mist that hid the land, and Ulysses +did not know the haven of his own island, Ithaca, and the rock whence +sprang a fountain of the water fairies that men call Naiads. He thought +that the Phaeacians had set him in a strange country, so he counted all +his goods, and then walked up and down sadly by the seashore. Here he +met a young man, delicately clad, like a king's son, with a double +mantle, such as kings wear, folded round his shoulders, and a spear in +his hand. 'Tell me pray,' said Ulysses, 'what land is this, and what men +dwell here?' + +The young man said: 'Truly, stranger, you know little, or you come from +far away. This isle is Ithaca, and the name of it is known even in +Troyland.' + +Ulysses was glad, indeed, to learn that he was at home at last; but how +the young men who had grown up since he went away would treat him, all +alone as he was, he could not tell. So he did not let out that he was +Ulysses the King, but said that he was a Cretan. The stranger would +wonder why a Cretan had come alone to Ithaca, with great riches, and yet +did not know that he was there. So he pretended that, in Crete, a son of +Idomeneus had tried to rob him of all the spoil he took at Troy, and +that he had killed this prince, and packed his wealth and fled on board +a ship of the Phoenicians, who promised to land him at Pylos. But the +wind had borne them out of their way, and they had all landed and slept +on shore, here; but the Phoenicians had left him asleep and gone off in +the dawn. + +On this the young man laughed, and suddenly appeared as the great +Goddess, Pallas Athênê. 'How clever you are,' she said; 'yet you did not +know me, who helped you in Troyland. But much trouble lies before you, +and you must not let man or woman know who you really are, your enemies +are so many and powerful.' + +'You never helped me in my dangers on the sea,' said Ulysses, 'and now +do you make mock of me, or is this really mine own country?' + +'I had no mind,' said the Goddess, 'to quarrel with my brother the Sea +God, who had a feud against you for the blinding of his son, the +Cyclops. But come, you shall see this is really Ithaca,' and she +scattered the white mist, and Ulysses saw and knew the pleasant cave of +the Naiads, and the forests on the side of the mountain called Neriton. +So he knelt down and kissed the dear earth of his own country, and +prayed to the Naiads of the cave. Then the Goddess helped him to hide +all his gold, and bronze, and other presents in a secret place in the +cavern; and she taught him how, being lonely as he was, he might destroy +the proud wooers of his wife, who would certainly desire to take his +life. + +The Goddess began by disguising Ulysses, so that his skin seemed +wrinkled, and his hair thin, and his eyes dull, and she gave him dirty +old wraps for clothes, and over all a great bald skin of a stag, like +that which he wore when he stole into Troy disguised as a beggar. She +gave him a staff, too, and a wallet to hold scraps of broken food. There +was not a man or a woman that knew Ulysses in this disguise. Next, the +Goddess bade him go across the island to his own swineherd, who remained +faithful to him, and to stay there among the swine till she brought home +Telemachus, who was visiting Helen and Menelaus in Lacedaemon. She fled +away to Lacedaemon, and Ulysses climbed the hills that lay between the +cavern and the farm where the swineherd lived. + +When Ulysses reached the farmhouse, the swineherd, Eumaeus, was sitting +alone in front of his door, making himself a pair of brogues out of the +skin of an ox. He was a very honest man, and, though he was a slave, he +was the son of a prince in his own country. When he was a little child +some Phoenicians came in their ship to his father's house and made +friends with his nurse, who was a Phoenician woman. One of them, who +made love to her, asked her who she was, and she said that her father +was a rich man in Sidon, but that pirates had carried her away and sold +her to her master. The Phoenicians promised to bring her back to Sidon, +and she fled to their ship, carrying with her the child whom she nursed, +little Eumaeus; she also stole three cups of gold. The woman died at +sea, and the pirates sold the boy to Laertes, the father of Ulysses, who +treated him kindly. Eumaeus was fond of the family which he served, and +he hated the proud wooers for their insolence. + +When Ulysses came near his house the four great dogs rushed out and +barked at him; they would have bitten, too, but Eumaeus ran up and threw +stones at them, and no farm dog can face a shower of stones. He took +Ulysses into his house, gave him food and wine, and told him all about +the greed and pride of the wooers. Ulysses said that the master of +Eumaeus would certainly come home, and told a long story about himself. +He was a Cretan, he said, and had fought at Troy, and later had been +shipwrecked, but reached a country called Thesprotia, where he learned +that Ulysses was alive, and was soon to leave Thesprotia and return to +Ithaca. + +Eumaeus did not believe this tale, and supposed that the beggar man only +meant to say what he would like to hear. However, he gave Ulysses a good +dinner of his own pork, and Ulysses amused him and his fellow slaves +with stories about the Siege of Troy, till it was bedtime. + +In the meantime Athênê had gone to Lacedaemon to the house of Menelaus, +where Telemachus was lying awake. She told him that Penelope, his +mother, meant to marry one of the wooers, and advised him to sail home +at once, avoiding the strait between Ithaca and another isle, where his +enemies were lying in wait to kill him. When he reached Ithaca he must +send his oarsmen to the town, but himself walk alone across the island +to see the swineherd. In the morning Telemachus and his friend, +Pisistratus, said good-bye to Menelaus and Helen, who wished to make him +presents, and so went to their treasure house. Now when they came to the +place where the treasures were stored, then Atrides took a double cup, +and bade his son, Megapenthes, to bear a mixing-bowl of silver. And +Helen stood by the coffers, wherein were her robes of curious needlework +which she herself had wrought. So Helen, the fair lady, lifted one and +brought it out--the widest and most beautifully embroidered of all--and +it shone like a star, and lay far beneath the rest. + +Then they went back through the house till they came to Telemachus; and +Menelaus, of the fair hair, spake to him, saying: + +'Telemachus, may Zeus the thunderer, and the lord of Hera, in very truth +bring about thy return according to the desire of thy heart. And of the +gifts, such as are treasures stored in my house, I will give thee the +goodliest and greatest of price. I will give thee a mixing-bowl +beautifully wrought; it is all of silver, and the lips thereof are +finished with gold, the work of Hephaestus; and the hero Phaedimus, the +king of the Sidonians, gave it to me when his house sheltered me, on my +coming thither. This cup I would give to thee.' + +Therewith the hero Atrides set the double cup in his hands. And the +strong Megapenthes bare the shining silver bowl and set it before him. +And Helen came up, beautiful Helen, with the robe in her hands, and +spake and hailed him: + +'Lo! I, too, give thee this gift, dear child, a memorial of the hands of +Helen, against the day of thy desire, even of thy bridal, for thy bride +to wear it. But, meanwhile, let it lie by thy dear mother in her +chamber. And may joy go with thee to thy well-builded house and thine +own country.' + +Just when Telemachus was leaving her palace door, an eagle stooped from +the sky and flew away with a great white goose that was feeding on the +grass, and the farm servants rushed out shouting, but the eagle passed +away to the right hand, across the horses of Pisistratus. + +Then Helen explained the meaning of this omen. 'Hear me, and I will +prophesy as the immortals put it into my heart, and as I deem it will be +accomplished. Even as yonder eagle came down from the hill, the place +of his birth and kin, and snatched away the goose that was fostered in +the house, even so shall Ulysses return home after much trial and long +wanderings and take vengeance; yea! or even now is he at home and sowing +the seeds of evil for all the wooers.' We are told no more about Helen +of the fair hands, except that she and Menelaus never died, but were +carried by the Gods to the beautiful Elysian plain, a happy place where +war and trouble never came, nor old age, nor death. After that she was +worshipped in her own country as if she had been a Goddess, kind, +gentle, and beautiful. + +Telemachus thanked Helen for prophesying good luck, and he drove to the +city of Nestor, on the sea, but was afraid to go near the old king, who +would have kept him and entertained him, while he must sail at once for +Ithaca. He went to his own ship in the harbour, and, while his crew made +ready to sail, there came a man running hard, and in great fear of the +avenger of blood. This was a second-sighted man, called Theoclymenus, +and he implored Telemachus to take him to Ithaca, for he had slain a man +in his own country, who had killed one of his brothers, and now the +brothers and cousins of that man were pursuing him to take his life. +Telemachus made him welcome, and so sailed north to Ithaca, wondering +whether he should be able to slip past the wooers, who were lying in +wait to kill him. Happily the ship of Telemachus passed them unseen in +the night, and arrived at Ithaca. He sent his crew to the town, and was +just starting to walk across the island to the swineherd's house, when +the second-sighted man asked what _he_ should do. Telemachus told +Piraeus, one of his friends, to take the man home and be kind to him, +which he gladly promised to do, and then he set off to seek the +swineherd. + +The swineherd, with Ulysses, had just lit a fire to cook breakfast, when +they saw the farm dogs frolicking round a young man who was walking +towards the house. The dogs welcomed him, for he was no stranger, but +Telemachus. Up leaped the swineherd in delight, and the bowl in which he +was mixing wine and water fell from his hands. He had been unhappy for +fear the wooers who lay in wait for Telemachus should kill him, and he +ran and embraced the young man as gladly as a father welcomes a son who +has long been in a far country. Telemachus, too, was anxious to hear +whether his mother had married one of the wooers, and glad to know that +she still bore her troubles patiently. + +When Telemachus stepped into the swineherd's house Ulysses arose from +his seat, but Telemachus bade the old beggar man sit down again, and a +pile of brushwood with a fleece thrown over it was brought for himself. +They breakfasted on what was ready, cold pork, wheaten bread, and wine +in cups of ivy wood, and Eumaeus told Telemachus that the old beggar +gave himself out as a wanderer from Crete. Telemachus answered that he +could not take strangers into his mother's house, for he was unable to +protect them against the violence of the wooers, but he would give the +wanderer clothes and shoes and a sword, and he might stay at the farm. +He sent the swineherd to tell his mother, Penelope, that he had returned +in safety, and Eumaeus started on his journey to the town. + +At this moment the farm dogs, which had been taking their share of the +breakfast, began to whine, and bristle up, and slunk with their tails +between their legs to the inmost corner of the room. Telemachus could +not think why they were afraid, or of what, but Ulysses saw the Goddess +Athênê, who appeared to him alone, and the dogs knew that something +strange and terrible was coming to the door. Ulysses went out, and +Athênê bade him tell Telemachus who he really was, now that they were +alone, and she touched Ulysses with her golden wand, and made him appear +like himself, and his clothes like a king's raiment. + +Telemachus, who neither saw nor heard Athênê, wondered greatly, and +thought the beggar man must be some God, wandering in disguise. But +Ulysses said, 'No God am I, but thine own father,' and they embraced +each other and wept for joy. + +At last Ulysses told Telemachus how he had come home in a ship of the +Phaeacians, and how his treasure was hidden in the cave of the Naiads, +and asked him how many the wooers were, and how they might drive them +from the house. Telemachus replied that the wooers were one hundred and +eight, and that Medon, a servant of his own, took part with them; there +was also the minstrel of the house, whom they compelled to sing at their +feasts. They were all strong young men, each with his sword at his side, +but they had with them no shields, helmets, and breastplates. Ulysses +said that, with the help of the Goddess, he hoped to get the better of +them, many as they were. Telemachus must go to the house, and Ulysses +would come next day, in the disguise of an old beggar. However ill the +wooers might use him, Telemachus must take no notice, beyond saying that +they ought to behave better. Ulysses, when he saw a good chance, would +give Telemachus a sign to take away the shields, helmets, and weapons +that hung on the walls of the great hall, and to hide them in a secret +place. If the wooers missed them, he must say--first, that the smoke of +the fire was spoiling them; and, again, that they were better out of the +reach of the wooers, in case they quarrelled over their wine. Telemachus +must keep two swords, two spears, and two shields for himself and +Ulysses to use, if they saw a chance, and he must let neither man nor +woman know that the old beggar man was his father. + +While they were talking, one of the crew of Telemachus and the swineherd +went to Penelope and told her how her son had landed. On hearing this +the wooers held a council as to how they should behave to him: Antinous +was for killing him, but Amphinomus and Eurymachus were for waiting, and +seeing what would happen. Before Eumaeus came back from his errand to +Penelope, Athênê changed Ulysses into the dirty old beggar again. + + + + +VIII + +ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR TO HIS OWN PALACE + + +Next morning Telemachus went home, and comforted his mother, and told +her how he had been with Nestor and Menelaus, and seen her cousin, Helen +of the fair hands, but this did not seem to interest Penelope, who +thought that her beautiful cousin was the cause of all her misfortunes. +Then Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man whom Telemachus brought from +Pylos, prophesied to Penelope that Ulysses was now in Ithaca, taking +thought how he might kill the wooers, who were then practising +spear-throwing at a mark, while some of them were killing swine and a +cow for breakfast. + +Meanwhile Ulysses, in disguise, and the swineherd were coming near the +town, and there they met the goatherd, Melanthius, who was a friend of +the wooers, and an insolent and violent slave. He insulted the old +beggar, and advised him not to come near the house of Ulysses, and +kicked him off the road. Then Ulysses was tempted to slay him with his +hands, but he controlled himself lest he should be discovered, and he +and Eumaeus walked slowly to the palace. As they lingered outside the +court, lo! a hound raised up his head and pricked his ears, even where +he lay: Argos, the hound of Ulysses, of the hardy heart, which of old +himself had bred. Now in time past the young men used to lead the hound +against wild goats and deer and hares; but, as then, he lay despised +(his master being afar) in the deep dung of mules and kine, whereof an +ample bed was spread before the doors till the slaves of Ulysses should +carry it away to dung therewith his wide demesne. There lay the dog +Argos, full of vermin. Yet even now, when he was aware of Ulysses +standing by, he wagged his tail and dropped both his ears, but nearer to +his master he had not now the strength to draw. But Ulysses looked aside +and wiped away a tear that he easily hid from Eumaeus, and straightway +he asked him, saying: + +'Eumaeus, verily this is a great marvel: this hound lying here in the +dung. Truly he is goodly of growth, but I know not certainly if he have +speed with this beauty, or if he be comely only, like men's trencher +dogs that their lords keep for the pleasure of the eye.' + +Then answered the swineherd Eumaeus: 'In very truth this is the dog of a +man that has died in a far land. If he were what once he was in limb and +in the feats of the chase, when Ulysses left him to go to Troy, soon +wouldst thou marvel at the sight of his swiftness and his strength. +There was no beast that could flee from him in the deep places of the +wood when he was in pursuit; for even on a track he was the keenest +hound. But now he is holden in an evil case, and his lord hath perished +far from his own country, and the careless women take no charge of him.' + +Therewith he passed within the fair-lying house, and went straight to +the hall, to the company of the proud wooers. But upon Argos came death +even in the hour that he beheld Ulysses again, in the twentieth year. + +Thus the good dog knew Ulysses, though Penelope did not know him when +she saw him, and tears came into Ulysses' eyes as he stood above the +body of the hound that loved him well. Eumaeus went into the house, but +Ulysses sat down where it was the custom for beggars to sit, on the +wooden threshold outside the door of the hall. Telemachus saw him, from +his high seat under the pillars on each side of the fire, in the middle +of the room, and bade Eumaeus carry a loaf and a piece of pork to the +beggar, who laid them in his wallet between his feet, and ate. Then he +thought he would try if there were one courteous man among the wooers, +and he entered the hall and began to beg among them. Some gave him +crusts and bones, but Antinous caught up a footstool and struck him hard +on the shoulder. 'May death come upon Antinous before his wedding day!' +said Ulysses, and even the other wooers rebuked him for striking a +beggar. + +Penelope heard of this, and told Eumaeus to bring the beggar to her; she +thought he might have news of her husband. But Ulysses made Eumaeus say +that he had been struck once in the hall, and would not come to her +till after sunset, when the wooers left the house. Then Eumaeus went to +his own farmhouse, after telling Telemachus that he would come next day, +driving swine for the wooers to eat. + +Ulysses was the new beggar in Ithaca: he soon found that he had a rival, +an old familiar beggar, named Irus. This man came up to the palace, and +was angry when he saw a newcomer sitting in the doorway, 'Get up,' he +said, 'I ought to drag you away by the foot: begone before we quarrel!' +'There is room enough for both of us,' said Ulysses, 'do not anger me.' +Irus challenged him to fight, and the wooers thought this good sport, +and they made a ring, and promised that the winner should be +beggar-in-chief, and have the post to himself. Ulysses asked the wooers +to give him fair play, and not to interfere, and then he stripped his +shoulders, and kilted up his rags, showing strong arms and legs. As for +Irus he began to tremble, but Antinous forced him to fight, and the two +put up their hands. Irus struck at the shoulder of Ulysses, who hit him +with his right fist beneath the ear, and he fell, the blood gushing from +his mouth, and his heels drumming in the ground, and Ulysses dragged him +from the doorway and propped him against the wall of the court, while +the wooers laughed. Then Ulysses spoke gravely to Amphinomus, telling +him that it would be wise in him to go home, for that if Ulysses came +back it might not be so easy to escape his hands. + +After sunset Ulysses spoke so fiercely to the maidens of Penelope, who +insulted him, that they ran to their own rooms, but Eurymachus threw a +footstool at him. He slipped out of the way, and the stool hit the +cupbearer and knocked him down, and all was disorder in the hall. The +wooers themselves were weary of the noise and disorder, and went home to +the houses in the town where they slept. Then Telemachus and Ulysses, +being left alone, hid the shields and helmets and spears that hung on +the walls of the hall in an armoury within the house, and when this was +done Telemachus went to sleep in his own chamber, in the courtyard, and +Ulysses waited till Penelope should come into the hall. + +Ulysses sat in the dusky hall, where the wood in the braziers that gave +light had burned low, and waited to see the face of his wife, for whom +he had left beautiful Calypso. The maidens of Penelope came trooping, +laughing, and cleared away the food and the cups, and put faggots in the +braziers. They were all giddy girls, in love with the handsome wooers, +and one of them, Melantho, bade Ulysses go away, and sleep at the +blacksmith's forge, lest he should be beaten with a torch. Penelope +heard Melantho, whom she had herself brought up, and she rebuked her, +and ordered a chair to be brought for Ulysses. When he was seated, she +asked him who he was, and he praised her beauty, for she was still very +fair, but did not answer her question. She insisted that he should tell +her who he was, and he said that he was a Cretan prince, the younger +brother of Idomeneus, and that he did not go to fight in Troyland. In +Crete he stayed, and met Ulysses, who stopped there on his way to Troy, +and he entertained Ulysses for a fortnight. Penelope wept when she heard +that the stranger had seen her husband, but, as false stories were often +told to her by strangers who came to Ithaca, she asked how Ulysses was +dressed, and what manner of men were with him. + +The beggar said that Ulysses wore a double mantle of purple, clasped +with a gold brooch fastened by two safety pins (for these were used at +that time), and on the face of the brooch was a figure of a hound +holding a struggling fawn in his forepaws. (Many such brooches have been +found in the graves in Greece). Beneath his mantle Ulysses wore a +shining smock, smooth and glittering like the skin of an onion. Probably +it was made of silk: women greatly admired it. With him was a squire +named Eurybates, a brown, round-shouldered man. + +On hearing all this Penelope wept again and said that she herself had +given Ulysses the brooch and the garments. She now knew that the beggar +had really met Ulysses, and he went on to tell her that, in his +wanderings, he had heard how Ulysses was still alive, though he had lost +all his company, and that he had gone to Dodona in the west of Greece to +ask for advice from the oak tree of Zeus, the whispering oak tree, as to +how he should come home, openly or secretly. Certainly, he said, Ulysses +would return that year. + +Penelope was still unable to believe in such good news, but she bade +Eurycleia, the old nurse, wash the feet of the beggar in warm water, so +a foot bath was brought. Ulysses turned his face away from the +firelight, for the nurse said that he was very like her master. As she +washed his legs she noticed the long scar of the wound made by the boar, +when he hunted with his cousins, long ago, before he was married. The +nurse knew him now, and spoke to him in a whisper, calling him by his +name. But he caught her throat with his hand, and asked why she would +cause his death, for the wooers would slay him if they knew who he was. +Eurycleia called him her child, and promised that she would be silent, +and then she went to fetch more hot water, for she had let his foot +fall into the bath and upset it when she found the scar. + +When she had washed him, Penelope told the beggar that she could no +longer refuse to marry one of the wooers. Ulysses had left a great bow +in the house, the old bow of King Eurytus, that few could bend, and he +had left twelve iron axes, made with a round opening in the blade of +each. Axes of this shape have been found at Lacedaemon, where Helen +lived, so we know what the axes of Ulysses were like. When he was at +home he used to set twelve of them in a straight line, and shoot an +arrow through the twelve holes in the blades. Penelope therefore +intended, next day, to bring the bow and the axes to the wooers, and to +marry any one of them who could string the bow, and shoot an arrow +through the twelve axes. + +'I think,' said the beggar, 'that Ulysses will be here before any of the +wooers have bent his bow.' Then Penelope went to her upper chamber, and +Ulysses slept in an outer gallery of the house on piled-up sheep skins. + +There Ulysses lay, thinking how he might destroy all the wooers, and the +Goddess Athênê came and comforted him, and, in the morning, he rose and +made his prayer to Zeus, asking for signs of his favour. There came, +first a peal of thunder, and then the voice of a woman, weak and old, +who was grinding corn to make bread for the wooers. All the other women +of the mill had done their work and were asleep, but she was feeble and +the round upper stone of the quern, that she rolled on the corn above +the under stone, was too heavy for her. + +She prayed, and said, 'Father Zeus, King of Gods and men, loudly hast +thou thundered. Grant to me my prayer, unhappy as I am. May this be the +last day of the feasting of the wooers in the hall of Ulysses: they +have loosened my knees with cruel labour in grinding barley for them: +may they now sup their last!' Hearing this prayer Ulysses was glad, for +he thought it a lucky sign. Soon the servants were at work, and Eumaeus +came with swine, and was as courteous to the beggar as Melanthius, who +brought some goats, was insolent. The cowherd, called Philoetius, also +arrived; he hated the wooers, and spoke friendly to the beggar. Last +appeared the wooers, and went in to their meal, while Telemachus bade +the beggar sit on a seat just within the hall, and told the servants to +give him as good a share of the food as any of them received. One wooer, +Ctesippus, said: 'His fair share this beggar man has had, as is right, +but I will give him a present over and above it!' Then he picked up the +foot of an ox, and threw it with all his might at Ulysses, who merely +moved aside, and the ox foot struck the wall. + +Telemachus rebuked him, and the wooers began to laugh wildly and to +weep, they knew not why, but Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man, knew +that they were all fey men, that is, doomed to die, for such men are gay +without reason. 'Unhappy that you are,' cried Theoclymenus, 'what is +coming upon you? I see shrouds covering you about your knees and about +your faces, and tears are on your cheeks, and the walls and the pillars +of the roof are dripping blood, and in the porch and the court are your +fetches, shadows of yourselves, hurrying hellward, and the sun is +darkened.' + +On this all the wooers laughed, and advised him to go out of doors, +where he would see that the sun was shining. 'My eyes and ears serve me +well,' said the second-sighted man, 'but out I will go, seeking no more +of your company, for death is coming on every man of you.' Then he +arose and went to the house of Piraeus, the friend of Telemachus. The +wooers laughed all the louder, as fey men do, and told Telemachus that +he was unlucky in his guests: one a beggar, the other a madman. But +Telemachus kept watching his father while the wooers were cooking a meal +that they did not live to enjoy. + +Through the crowd of them came Penelope, holding in her hand the great +bow of Eurytus, and a quiver full of arrows, while her maidens followed, +carrying the chest in which lay the twelve iron axes. She stood up, +stately and scornful, among the wooers, and told them that, as marry she +must, she would take the man who could string the bow and shoot the +arrow through the axes. Telemachus said that he would make the first +trial, and that, if he succeeded, he would not allow any man of the +wooers to take his mother away with him from her own house. Then thrice +he tried to string the bow, and the fourth time he would have strung it, +but Ulysses made a sign to him, and he put it down. 'I am too weak,' he +said, 'let a stronger man achieve this adventure.' So they tried each in +turn, beginning with the man who sat next the great mixing-bowl of wine, +and so each rising in his turn. + +First their prophet tried, Leiodes the Seer, who sat next the bowl, but +his white hands were too weak, and he prophesied, saying that the bow +would be the death of all of them. Then Antinous bade the goatherd light +a fire, and bring grease to heat the bow, and make it more supple. They +warmed and greased the bow, and one after another tried to bend it. +Eumaeus and the cowherd went out into the court, and Ulysses followed +them. 'Whose side would you two take,' he asked, 'if Ulysses came home? +Would you fight for him or for the wooers?' 'For Ulysses!' they both +cried, 'and would that he was come indeed!' 'He is come, and I am he!' +said Ulysses. Then he promised to give them lands of their own if he was +victorious, and he showed them the scar on his thigh that the boar dealt +with his white tusk, long ago. The two men kissed him and shed tears of +joy, and Ulysses said that he would go back first into the hall, and +that they were to follow him. He would ask to be allowed to try to bend +the bow, and Eumaeus, whatever the wooers said, must place it in his +hands, and then see that the women were locked up in their own separate +hall. Philoetius was to fasten the door leading from the courtyard into +the road. Ulysses then went back to his seat in the hall, near the door, +and his servants followed. + +Eurymachus was trying in vain to bend the bow, and Antinous proposed to +put off the trial till next day, and then sacrifice to the God Apollo, +and make fresh efforts. They began to drink, but Ulysses asked to be +allowed to try if he could string the bow. They told him that wine had +made him impudent, and threatened to put him in a ship and send him to +King Echetus, an ogre, who would cut him to pieces. But Penelope said +that the beggar must try his strength; not that she would marry him, if +he succeeded. She would only give him new clothes, a sword, and a spear, +and send him wherever he wanted to go. Telemachus cried out that the bow +was his own; he would make a present of it to the beggar if he chose; +and he bade his mother join her maidens, and work at her weaving. She +was amazed to hear her son speak like the master of the house, and she +went upstairs with her maidens to her own room. + +Eumaeus was carrying the bow to Ulysses, when the wooers made such an +uproar that he laid it down, in fear for his life. But Telemachus +threatened to punish him if he did not obey his master, so he placed the +bow in the hands of Ulysses, and then went and told Eurycleia to lock +the women servants up in their own separate hall. Philoetius slipped +into the courtyard, and made the gates fast with a strong rope, and then +came back, and watched Ulysses, who was turning the bow this way and +that, to see if the horns were still sound, for horns were then used in +bow making. The wooers were mocking him, but suddenly he bent and strung +the great bow as easily as a harper fastens a new string to his harp. He +tried the string, and it twanged like the note of a swallow. He took up +an arrow that lay on the table (the others were in the quiver beside +him), he fitted it to the string, and from the chair where he sat he +shot it through all the twelve axe heads. 'Your guest has done you no +dishonour, Telemachus,' he said, 'but surely it is time to eat,' and he +nodded. Telemachus drew his sword, took a spear in his left hand, and +stood up beside Ulysses. + + + + +IX + +THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS + + +Ulysses let all his rags fall down, and with one leap he reached the +high threshold, the door being behind him, and he dropped, the arrows +from the quiver at his feet. 'Now,' he said, 'I will strike another mark +that no man yet has stricken!' He aimed the arrow at Antinous, who was +drinking out of a golden cup. The arrow passed clean through the throat +of Antinous; he fell, the cup rang on the ground, and the wooers leaped +up, looking round the walls for shields and spears, but the walls were +bare. + +'Thou shalt die, and vultures shall devour thee,' they shouted, thinking +the beggar had let the arrow fly by mischance. + +'Dogs!' he answered, 'ye said that never should I come home from Troy; +ye wasted my goods, and insulted my wife, and had no fear of the Gods, +but now the day of death has come upon you! Fight or flee, if you may, +but some shall not escape!' + +'Draw your blades!' cried Eurymachus to the others; 'draw your blades, +and hold up the tables as shields against this man's arrows. Have at +him, and drive him from the doorway.' He drew his own sword, and leaped +on Ulysses with a cry, but the swift arrow pierced his breast, and he +fell and died. Then Amphinomus rushed towards Ulysses, but Telemachus +sent his spear from behind through his shoulders. He could not draw +forth the spear, but he ran to his father, and said, 'Let me bring +shields, spears, and helmets from the inner chamber, for us, and for the +swineherd and cowherd.' 'Go!' said Ulysses, and Telemachus ran through a +narrow doorway, down a gallery to the secret chamber, and brought four +shields, four helmets, and eight spears, and the men armed themselves, +while Ulysses kept shooting down the wooers. When his arrows were spent +he armed himself, protected by the other three. But the goatherd, +Melanthius, knew a way of reaching the armoury, and he climbed up, and +brought twelve helmets, spears, and shields to the wooers. + +[Illustration: ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS.] + +Ulysses thought that one of the women was showering down the weapons +into the hall, but the swineherd and cowherd went to the armoury, +through the doorway, as Telemachus had gone, and there they caught +Melanthius, and bound him like a bundle, with a rope, and, throwing the +rope over a rafter, dragged him up, and fastened him there, and left him +swinging. Then they ran back to Ulysses, four men keeping the doorway +against all the wooers that were not yet slain. But the Goddess Athênê +appeared to Ulysses, in the form of Mentor, and gave him courage. He +needed it, for the wooers, having spears, threw them in volleys, six at +a time, at the four. They missed, but the spears of the four slew each +his man. Again the wooers threw, and dealt two or three slight wounds, +but the spears of the four were winged with death. They charged, +striking with spear and sword, into the crowd, who lost heart, and flew +here and there, crying for mercy and falling at every blow. Ulysses slew +the prophet, Leiodes, but Phemius, the minstrel, he spared, for he had +done no wrong, and Medon, a slave, crept out from beneath an ox hide, +where he had been lying, and asked Telemachus to pity him, and Ulysses +sent him and the minstrel into the courtyard, where they sat trembling. +All the rest of the wooers lay dead in heaps, like heaps of fish on the +sea shore, when they have been netted, and drawn to land. + +Then Ulysses sent Telemachus to bring Eurycleia, who, when she came and +saw the wooers dead, raised a scream of joy, but Ulysses said 'it is an +unholy thing to boast over dead men.' He bade Telemachus and the +servants carry the corpses into the courtyard, and he made the women +wash and clean the hall, and the seats, and tables, and the pillars. +When all was clean, they took Melanthius and slew him, and then they +washed themselves, and the maidens who were faithful to Penelope came +out of their rooms, with torches in their hands, for it was now night, +and they kissed Ulysses with tears of joy. These were not young women, +for Ulysses remembered all of them. + +Meanwhile old Eurycleia ran to tell Penelope all the good news: up the +stairs to her chamber she ran, tripping, and falling, and rising, and +laughing for joy. In she came and awakened Penelope, saying: + +'Come and see what you have long desired: Ulysses in his own house, and +all the wicked wooers slain by the sword.' 'Surely you are mad, dear +nurse,' said Penelope, 'to waken me with such a wild story. Never have I +slept so sound since Ulysses went to that ill Ilios, never to be named. +Angry would I have been with any of the girls that wakened me with such +a silly story; but you are old: go back to the women's working room.' +The good nurse answered: 'Indeed, I tell you no silly tale. Indeed he is +in the hall; he is that poor guest whom all men struck and insulted, but +Telemachus knew his father.' + +Then Penelope leaped up gladly, and kissed the nurse, but yet she was +not sure that her husband had come, she feared that it might be some God +disguised as a man, or some evil man pretending to be Ulysses. 'Surely +Ulysses has met his death far away,' she said, and though Eurycleia +vowed that she herself had seen the scar dealt by the boar, long ago, +she would not be convinced. 'None the less,' she said, 'let us go and +see my son, and the wooers lying dead, and the man who slew them.' So +they went down the stairs and along a gallery on the ground floor that +led into the courtyard, and so entered the door of the hall, and crossed +the high stone threshold on which Ulysses stood when he shot down +Antinous. Penelope went up to the hearth and sat opposite Ulysses, who +was leaning against one of the four tall pillars that supported the +roof; there she sat and gazed at him, still wearing his rags, and still +not cleansed from the blood of battle. She did not know him, and was +silent, though Telemachus called her hard of belief and cold of heart. + +'My child,' she said, 'I am bewildered, and can hardly speak, but if +this man is Ulysses, he knows things unknown to any except him and me.' +Then Ulysses bade Telemachus go to the baths and wash, and put on fresh +garments, and bade the maidens bring the minstrel to play music, while +they danced in the hall. In the town the friends and kinsfolk of the +wooers did not know that they were dead, and when they heard the music +they would not guess that anything strange had happened. It was +necessary that nobody should know, for, if the kinsfolk of the dead men +learned the truth, they would seek to take revenge, and might burn down +the house. Indeed, Ulysses was still in great danger, for the law was +that the brothers and cousins of slain men must slay their slayers, and +the dead were many, and had many clansmen. + +Now Eurynome bathed Ulysses himself, and anointed him with oil, and clad +him in new raiment, so that he looked like himself again, full of +strength and beauty. He sat down on his own high seat beside the fire, +and said: 'Lady, you are the fairest and most cruel Queen alive. No +other woman would harden her heart against her husband, come home +through many dangers after so many years. 'Nurse,' he cried to +Eurycleia, 'strew me a bed to lie alone, for her heart is hard as iron.' + +Now Penelope put him to a trial. 'Eurycleia,' she said, 'strew a bed for +him outside the bridal chamber that he built for himself, and bring the +good bedstead out of that room for him.' + +'How can any man bring out that bedstead?' said Ulysses, 'did I not make +it with my own hands, with a standing tree for the bedpost? No man could +move that bed unless he first cut down the tree trunk.' + +Then at last Penelope ran to Ulysses and threw her arms round his neck, +kissing him, and said: 'Do not be angry, for always I have feared that +some strange man of cunning would come and deceive me, pretending to be +my lord. But now you have told me the secret of the bed, which no mortal +has ever seen or knows but you and I, and my maiden whom I brought from +my own home, and who kept the doors of our chamber.' Then they embraced, +and it seemed as if her white arms would never quite leave their hold on +his neck. + +Ulysses told her many things, all the story of his wanderings, and how +he must wander again, on land, not on the sea, till he came to the +country of men who had never seen salt. 'The Gods will defend you and +bring you home to your rest in the end,' said Penelope, and then they +went to their own chamber, and Eurynome went before them with lighted +torches in her hands, for the Gods had brought them to the haven where +they would be. + + + + +X + +THE END + + +With the coming of the golden dawn Ulysses awoke, for he had still much +to do. He and Telemachus and the cowherd and Eumaeus put on full armour, +and took swords and spears, and walked to the farm where old Laertes, +the father of Ulysses, lived among his servants and worked in his +garden. Ulysses sent the others into the farmhouse to bid the old +housekeeper get breakfast ready, and he went alone to the vines, being +sure that his father was at work among them. + +There the old man was, in his rough gardening clothes, with leather +gloves on, and patched leather leggings, digging hard. His servants had +gone to gather loose stones to make a rough stone dyke, and he was all +alone. He never looked up till Ulysses went to him, and asked him whose +slave he was, and who owned the garden. He said that he was a stranger +in Ithaca, but that he had once met the king of the island, who declared +that one Laertes was his father. + +Laertes was amazed at seeing a warrior all in mail come into his garden, +but said that he was the father of Ulysses, who had long been unheard of +and unseen. 'And who are you?' he asked. 'Where is your own country?' +Ulysses said that he came from Sicily, and that he had met Ulysses five +years ago, and hoped that by this time he had come home. + +Then the old man sat down and wept, and cast dust on his head, for +Ulysses had not arrived from Sicily in five long years; certainly he +must be dead. Ulysses could not bear to see his father weep, and told +him that he was himself, come home at last, and that he had killed all +the wooers. + +But Laertes asked him to prove that he really was Ulysses, so he showed +the scar on his leg, and, looking round the garden, he said: 'Come, I +will show you the very trees that you gave me when I was a little boy +running about after you, and asking you for one thing or another, as +children do. These thirteen pear trees are my very own; you gave them to +me, and mine are these fifty rows of vines, and these forty fig trees.' + +Then Laertes was fainting for joy, but Ulysses caught him in his arms +and comforted him. But, when he came to himself, he sighed, and said: +'How shall we meet the feud of all the kin of the slain men in Ithaca +and the other islands?' 'Be of good courage, father,' said Ulysses. 'And +now let us go to the farmhouse and breakfast with Telemachus.' + +So Laertes first went to the baths, and then put on fresh raiment, and +Ulysses wondered to see him look so straight and strong. 'Would I were +as strong as when I took the castle of Nericus, long ago,' said the old +man, 'and would that I had been in the fight against the wooers!' Then +all the old man's servants came in, overjoyed at the return of Ulysses, +and they breakfasted merrily together. + +By this time all the people in the town knew that the wooers had been +slain, and they crowded to the house of Ulysses in great sorrow, and +gathered their dead and buried them, and then met in the market place. +The father of Antinous, Eupeithes, spoke, and said that they would all +be dishonoured if they did not slay Ulysses before he could escape to +Nestor's house in Pylos. It was in vain that an old prophet told them +that the young men had deserved their death. The most of the men ran +home and put on armour, and Eupeithes led them towards the farm of +Laertes, all in shining mail. But the Gods in heaven had a care for +Ulysses, and sent Athênê to make peace between him and his subjects. + +She did not come too soon, for the avengers were drawing near the +farmhouse, which had a garrison of only twelve men: Ulysses, Laertes, +Telemachus, the swineherd, the cowherd, and servants of Laertes. They +all armed themselves, and not choosing to defend the house, they went +boldly out to meet their enemies. They encouraged each other, and +Laertes prayed to Athênê, and then threw his spear at Eupeithes. The +spear passed clean through helmet and through head, and Eupeithes fell +with a crash, and his armour rattled as he fell. But now Athênê +appeared, and cried: 'Hold your hands, ye men of Ithaca, that no more +blood may be shed, and peace may be made.' The foes of Ulysses, hearing +the terrible voice of the Goddess, turned and fled, and Ulysses uttered +his war-cry, and was rushing among them, when a thunderbolt fell at his +feet, and Athênê bade him stop, lest he should anger Zeus, the Lord of +Thunder. Gladly he obeyed, and peace was made with oaths and with +sacrifice, peace in Ithaca and the islands. + +Here ends the story of Ulysses, Laertes' son, for we do not know +anything about his adventures when he went to seek a land of men who +never heard of the sea, nor eat meat savoured with salt. + + + + +THE FLEECE OF GOLD + + + + +I + +THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD + + +While Troy still stood fast, and before King Priam was born, there was a +king called Athamas, who reigned in a country beside the Grecian sea. +Athamas was a young man, and was unmarried; because none of the +princesses who then lived seemed to him beautiful enough to be his wife. +One day he left his palace and climbed high up into a mountain, +following the course of a little river. He came to a place where a great +black rock stood on one side of the river, jutting into the stream. +Round the rock the water flowed deep and dark. Yet, through the noise of +the river, the king thought he heard laughter and voices like the voices +of girls. So he climbed very quietly up the back of the rock, and, +looking over the edge, there he saw three beautiful maidens bathing in a +pool, and splashing each other with the water. Their long yellow hair +covered them like cloaks and floated behind them on the pool. One of +them was even more beautiful than the others, and as soon as he saw her +the king fell in love with her, and said to himself, 'This is the wife +for me.' + +As he thought this, his arm touched a stone, which slipped from the top +of the rock where he lay, and went leaping, faster and faster as it +fell, till it dropped with a splash into the pool below. Then the three +maidens heard it, and were frightened, thinking some one was near. So +they rushed out of the pool to the grassy bank where their clothes lay, +lovely soft clothes, white and gray, and rosy-coloured, all shining with +pearl drops, and diamonds like dew. + +In a moment they had dressed, and then it was as if they had wings, for +they rose gently from the ground, and floated softly up and up the +windings of the brook. Here and there among the green tops of the +mountain-ash trees the king could just see the white robes shining and +disappearing, and shining again, till they rose far off like a mist, and +so up and up into the sky, and at last he only followed them with his +eyes, as they floated like clouds among the other clouds across the +blue. All day he watched them, and at sunset he saw them sink, golden +and rose-coloured and purple, and go down into the dark with the setting +sun. + +The king went home to his palace, but he was very unhappy, and nothing +gave him any pleasure. All day he roamed about among the hills, and +looked for the beautiful girls, but he never found them, and all night +he dreamed about them, till he grew thin and pale and was like to die. + +Now, the way with sick men then was that they made a pilgrimage to the +temple of a god, and in the temple they offered sacrifices. Then they +hoped that the god would appear to them in a dream, or send them a true +dream at least, and tell them how they might be made well again. So the +king drove in his chariot a long way, to the town where this temple was. +When he reached it, he found it a strange place. The priests were +dressed in dogs' skins, with the heads of the dogs drawn down over +their faces, and there were live dogs running all about the shrines, for +they were the favourite beasts of the god, whose name was Asclepius. +There was an image of him, with a dog crouched at his feet, and in his +hand he held a serpent, and fed it from a bowl. + +The king sacrificed before the god, and when night fell he was taken +into the temple, and there were many beds strewn on the floor and many +people lying on them, both rich and poor, hoping that the god would +appear to them in a dream, and tell them how they might be healed. There +the king lay, like the rest, and for long he could not close his eyes. +At length he slept, and he dreamed a dream. But it was not the god of +the temple that he saw in his dream; he saw a beautiful lady, she seemed +to float above him in a chariot drawn by doves, and all about her was a +crowd of chattering sparrows, and he knew that she was Aphrodite, the +Queen of Love. She was more beautiful than any woman in the world, and +she smiled as she looked at the king, and said, 'Oh, King Athamas, you +are sick for love! Now this you must do: go home and on the first night +of the new moon, climb the hills to that place where you saw the Three +Maidens. In the dawn they will come again to the river, and bathe in the +pool. Then do you creep out of the wood, and steal the clothes of her +you love, and she will not be able to fly away with the rest, and she +will be your wife.' + +Then she smiled again, and her doves bore her away, and the king woke, +and remembered the dream, and thanked the lady in his heart, for he knew +that she was a goddess, the Queen of Love. + +[Illustration: KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT SHE CANNOT +FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS.] + +Then he drove home, and did all that he had been told to do. On the +first night of the new moon, when she shines like a thin gold thread in +the sky, he left his palace, and climbed up through the hills, and hid +in the wood by the edge of the pool. When the dawn began to shine +silvery, he heard voices, and saw the three girls come floating through +the trees, and alight on the river bank, and undress, and run into the +water. There they bathed, and splashed each other with the water, +laughing in their play. Then he stole to the grassy bank, and seized the +clothes of the most beautiful of the three; and they heard him move, and +rushed out to their clothes. Two of them were clad in a moment, and +floated away up the glen, but the third crouched sobbing and weeping +under the thick cloak of her yellow hair. Then she prayed the king to +give her back her soft gray and rose-coloured raiment, but he would not +till she had promised to be his wife. And he told her how long he had +loved her, and how the goddess had sent him to be her husband, and at +last she promised, and took his hand, and in her shining robes went down +the hill with him to the palace. But he felt as if he walked on the air, +and she scarcely seemed to touch the ground with her feet. She told him +that her name was Nephele, which meant 'a cloud,' in their language, and +that she was one of the Cloud Fairies who bring the rain, and live on +the hilltops, and in the high lakes, and water springs, and in the sky. + +So they were married, and lived very happily, and had two children, a +boy called Phrixus, and a daughter named Helle. The two children had a +beautiful pet, a Ram with a fleece all of gold, which was given them by +the young god called Hermes, a beautiful god, with wings on his +shoon,--for these were the very Shoon of Swiftness, that he lent +afterwards to the boy, Perseus, who slew the Gorgon, and took her head. +This Ram the children used to play with, and they would ride on his +back, and roll about with him on the flowery meadows. + +They would all have been happy, but for one thing. When there were +clouds in the sky, and when there was rain, then their mother, Nephele, +was always with them; but when the summer days were hot and cloudless, +then she went away, they did not know where. The long dry days made her +grow pale and thin, and, at last, she would vanish altogether, and never +come again, till the sky grew soft and gray with rain. + +King Athamas grew weary of this, for often his wife would be long away. +Besides there was a very beautiful girl called Ino, a dark girl, who had +come in a ship of Phoenician merchantmen, and had stayed in the city +of the king when her friends sailed from Greece. The king saw her, and +often she would be at the palace, playing with the children when their +mother had disappeared with the Clouds, her sisters. + +This Ino was a witch, and one day she put a drug into the king's wine, +and when he had drunk it, he quite forgot Nephele, his wife, and fell in +love with Ino. At last he married her, and they had two children, a boy +and a girl, and Ino wore the crown, and was queen, and gave orders that +Nephele should never be allowed to enter the palace any more. So Phrixus +and Helle never saw their mother, and they were dressed in ragged old +skins of deer, and were ill fed, and were set to do hard work in the +house, while the children of Ino wore gold crowns in their hair, and +were dressed in fine raiment, and had the best of everything. + +One day when Phrixus and Helle were in the field, herding the sheep (for +now they were treated like peasant children, and had to work for their +bread), they met an old woman, all wrinkled, and poorly clothed, and +they took pity on her, and brought her home with them. Queen Ino saw +her, and as she wanted a nurse for her own children, she took her in to +be the nurse, and the old woman had charge of the children, and lived in +the house, and she was kind to Phrixus and Helle. But neither of them +knew that she was their own mother, Nephele, who had disguised herself +as an old woman and a servant, that she might be with her children. + +Phrixus and Helle grew strong and tall, and more beautiful than Ino's +children, so she hated them, and determined, at last, to kill them. They +all slept at night in one room, but Ino's children had gold crowns in +their hair, and beautiful coverlets on their beds. One night, Phrixus +was half awake, and he heard the old nurse come, in the dark, and put +something on his head, and on his sister's, and change their coverlets. +But he was so drowsy that he half thought it was a dream, and he lay and +fell asleep. In the dead of night, the wicked stepmother, Ino, crept +into the room with a dagger in her hand, and she stole up to the bed of +Phrixus, and felt his hair, and his coverlet. Then she went softly to +the bed of Helle, and felt her coverlet, and her hair with the gold +crown on it. So she supposed these to be her own children, and she +kissed them in the dark, and went to the beds of the other two children. +She felt their heads, and they had no crowns on, so she killed them, +supposing that they were Phrixus and Helle. Then she crept downstairs +and went back to bed. + +In the morning, there lay the stepmother Ino's children cold and dead, +and nobody knew who had killed them. Only the wicked queen knew, and +she, of course, would not tell of herself, but if she hated Phrixus and +Helle before, now she hated them a hundred times worse than ever. But +the old nurse was gone; nobody ever saw her there again, and everybody +but the queen thought that _she_ had killed the two children. Everywhere +the king sought for her, to burn her alive, but he never found her, for +she had gone back to her sisters, the Clouds. + +And the Clouds were gone, too! For six long months, from winter to +harvest time, the rain never fell. The country was burned up, the trees +grew black and dry, there was no water in the streams, the corn turned +yellow and died before it was come into the ear. The people were +starving, the cattle and sheep were perishing, for there was no grass. +And every day the sun rose hot and red, and went blazing through the sky +without a cloud. + +Here the wicked stepmother, Ino, saw her chance. The king sent +messengers to Pytho, to consult the prophetess, and to find out what +should be done to bring back the clouds and the rain. Then Ino took the +messengers, before they set out on their journey, and gave them gold, +and threatened also to kill them, if they did not bring the message she +wished from the prophetess. Now this message was that Phrixus and Helle +must be burned as a sacrifice to the gods. + +So the messengers went, and came back dressed in mourning. And when they +were brought before the king, at first they would tell him nothing. But +he commanded them to speak, and then they told him, not the real message +from the prophetess, but what Ino had bidden them to say: that Phrixus +and Helle must be offered as a sacrifice to appease the gods. + +The king was very sorrowful at this news, but he could not disobey the +gods. So poor Phrixus and Helle were wreathed with flowers, as sheep +used to be when they were led to be sacrificed, and they were taken to +the altar, all the people following and weeping, and the Golden Ram went +between them, as they walked to the temple. Then they came within sight +of the sea, which lay beneath the cliff where the temple stood, all +glittering in the sun, and the happy white sea-birds flying over it. + +Here the Ram stopped, and suddenly he spoke to Phrixus, for the god gave +him utterance, and said: 'Lay hold of my horn, and get on my back, and +let Helle climb up behind you, and I will carry you far away.' + +Then Phrixus took hold of the Ram's horn, and Helle mounted behind him, +and grasped the golden fleece, and suddenly the Ram rose in the air, and +flew above the people's heads, far away over the sea. + +Far away to the eastward he flew, and deep below them they saw the sea, +and the islands, and the white towers and temples, and the fields, and +ships. Eastward always he went, toward the sun-rising, and Helle grew +dizzy and weary. At last a deep sleep came over her, and she let go her +hold of the Fleece, and fell from the Ram's back, down and down, into +the narrow seas, that run between Europe and Asia, and there she was +drowned. And that strait is called Helle's Ford, or Hellespont, to this +day. + +But Phrixus and the Ram flew on up the narrow seas, and over the great +sea which the Greeks called the Euxine and we call the Black Sea, till +they reached a country named Colchis. There the Ram alighted, so tired +and weary that he died, and Phrixus had his beautiful Golden Fleece +stripped off, and hung on an oak tree in a dark wood. And there it was +guarded by a monstrous Dragon, so that nobody dared to go near it. And +Phrixus married the king's daughter, and lived long, till he died also, +and a king called Æêtes, the brother of the enchantress, Circe, ruled +that country. Of all the things he had, the rarest was the Golden +Fleece, and it became a proverb that nobody could take that Fleece away, +nor deceive the Dragon who guarded it. + + + + +II + +THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE + + +Some years after the Golden Ram died in Colchis, far across the sea, a +certain king reigned in Iolcos in Greece, and his name was Pelias. He +was not the rightful king, for he had turned his stepbrother, King Æson, +from the throne, and taken it for himself. Now, Æson had a son, a boy +called Jason, and he sent him far away from Pelias, up into the +mountains. In these hills there was a great cave, and in that cave lived +Chiron the Wise, who, the story says, was half a horse. He had the head +and breast of a man, but a horse's body and legs. He was famed for +knowing more about everything than anyone else in all Greece. He knew +about the stars, and the plants of earth, which were good for medicine +and which were poisonous. He was the best archer with the bow, and the +best player of the harp; he could sing songs and tell stories of old +times, for he was the last of a people, half horse and half man, who had +dwelt in ancient days on the hills. Therefore the kings in Greece sent +their sons to him to be taught shooting, singing, and telling the truth, +and that was all the teaching they had then, except that they learned to +hunt, fish, and fight, and throw spears, and toss the hammer and the +stone. There Jason lived with Chiron and the boys in the cave, and many +of the boys became famous. + +There was Orpheus who played the harp so sweetly that wild beasts +followed his minstrelsy, and even the trees danced after him, and +settled where he stopped playing. There was Mopsus who could understand +what the birds say to each other; and there was Butes, the handsomest of +men; and Tiphys, the best steersman of a ship; and Castor, with his +brother Polydeuces, the boxer. Heracles, too, the strongest man in the +whole world, was there; and Lynceus, whom they called Keen-eye, because +he could see so far, and could see even the dead men in their graves +under the earth. There was Ephemus, so swift and light-footed that he +could run upon the gray sea and never wet his feet; and there were +Calais and Zetes, the two sons of the North Wind, with golden wings upon +their feet. There also was Peleus, who later married Thetis of the +silver feet, goddess of the sea foam, and was the father of Achilles. +Many others were there whose names it would take too long to tell. They +all grew up together in the hills good friends, healthy, and brave, and +strong. And they all went out to their own homes at last; but Jason had +no home to go to, for his uncle, Pelias, had taken it, and his father +was a wanderer. + +So at last he wearied of being alone, and he said good-bye to his +teacher, and went down through the hills toward Iolcos, his father's old +home, where his wicked uncle Pelias was reigning. As he went, he came to +a great, flooded river, running red from bank to bank, rolling the round +boulders along. And there on the bank was an old woman sitting. + +'Cannot you cross, mother?' said Jason; and she said she could not, but +must wait until the flood fell, for there was no bridge. + +'I'll carry you across,' said Jason, 'if you will let me carry you.' + +So she thanked him, and said it was a kind deed, for she was longing to +reach the cottage where her little grandson lay sick. + +Then he knelt down, and she climbed upon his back, and he used his spear +for a staff, and stepped into the river. It was deeper than he thought, +and stronger, but at last he staggered out on the farther bank, far +below where he went in. And then he set the old woman down. + +'Bless you, my lad, for a strong man and a brave!' she said, 'and my +blessing go with you to the world's end.' + +Then he looked and she was gone he did not know where, for she was the +greatest of the goddesses, Hera, the wife of Zeus, who had taken the +shape of an old woman, to try Jason, whether he was kind and strong, or +rude and churlish. From this day her grace went with him, and she helped +him in all dangers. + +Then Jason went down limping to the city, for he had lost one shoe in +the flood. And when he reached the town he went straight up to the +palace, and through the court, and into the open door, and up the hall, +where the king was sitting at his table among his men. There Jason +stood, leaning on his spear. + +When the king saw him he turned white with terror. For he had been told +by the prophetess of Pytho that a man with only one shoe would come some +day and take away his kingdom. And here was the half-shod man of whom +the prophecy had spoken. + +But Pelias still remembered to be courteous, and he bade his men lead +the stranger to the baths, and there the attendants bathed him, pouring +hot water over him. And they anointed his head with oil, and clothed him +in new raiment, and brought him back to the hall, and set him down at a +table beside the king, and gave him meat and drink. + +When he had eaten and was refreshed, the king said: 'Now it is time to +ask the stranger who he is, and who his parents are, and whence he comes +to Iolcos?' + +And Jason answered, 'I am Jason, son of the rightful king, Æson, and I +am come to take back my kingdom.' + +The king grew pale again, but he was cunning, and he leaped up and +embraced the lad, and made much of him, and caused a gold circlet to be +twisted in his hair. Then he said he was old, and weary of judging the +people. 'And weary work it is,' he said, 'and no joy therewith shall any +king have. For there is a curse on the country, that shall not be taken +away till the Fleece of Gold is brought home, from the land of the +world's end. The ghost of Phrixus stands by my bedside every night, +wailing and will not be comforted, till the Fleece is brought home +again.' + +When Jason heard that he cried, 'I shall take the curse away, for by the +splendour of Lady Hera's brow, I shall bring the Fleece of Gold from the +land of the world's end before I sit on the throne of my father.' + +Now this was the very thing that the king wished, for he thought that if +once Jason went after the Fleece, certainly he would never come back +living to Iolcos. So he said that it could never be done, for the land +was far away across the sea, so far that the birds could not come and go +in one year, so great a sea was that and perilous. Also, there was a +dragon that guarded the Fleece of Gold, and no man could face it and +live. + +But the idea of fighting a dragon was itself a temptation to Jason, and +he made a great vow by the water of Styx, an oath the very gods feared +to break, that certainly he would bring home that Fleece to Iolcos. And +he sent out messengers all over Greece, to all his old friends, who were +with him in the Centaur's cave, and bade them come and help him, for +that there was a dragon to kill, and that there would be fighting. And +they all came, driving in their chariots down dales and across hills: +Heracles, the strong man, with the bow that none other could bend; and +Orpheus with his harp, and Castor and Polydeuces, and Zetes and Calais +of the golden wings, and Tiphys, the steersman, and young Hylas, still a +boy, and as fair as a girl, who always went with Heracles the strong. + +These came, and many more, and they set shipbuilders to work, and oaks +were felled for beams, and ashes for oars, and spears were made, and +arrows feathered, and swords sharpened. But in the prow of the ship they +placed a bough of an oak tree from the forest of Zeus in Dodona where +the trees can speak, and that bough spoke, and prophesied things to +come. They called the ship 'Argo,' and they launched her, and put bread, +and meat, and wine on board, and hung their shields outside the +bulwarks. Then they said good-bye to their friends, went aboard, sat +down at the oars, set sail, and so away eastward to Colchis, in the land +of the world's end. + +All day they rowed, and at night they beached the ship, as was then the +custom, for they did not sail at night, and they went on shore, and took +supper, and slept, and next day to the sea again. And old Chiron, the +man-horse, saw the swift ship from his mountain heights, and ran down +to the beach; there he stood with the waves of the gray sea breaking +over his feet, waving with his mighty hands, and wishing his boys a safe +return. And his wife stood beside him, holding in her arms the little +son of one of the ship's company, Achilles, the son of Peleus of the +Spear, and of Thetis the goddess of the Sea Foam. + +So they rowed ever eastward, and ere long they came to a strange isle +where dwelt men with six hands apiece, unruly giants. And these giants +lay in wait for them on cliffs above the river's mouth where the ship +was moored, and before the dawn they rolled down great rocks on the +crew. But Heracles drew his huge bow, the bow for which he slew Eurytus, +king of Oechalia, and wherever a giant showed hand or shoulder above the +cliff, he pinned him through with an arrow, till all were slain. After +that they still held eastward, passing many islands, and towns of men, +till they reached Mysia, and the Asian shore. Here they landed, with bad +luck. For while they were cutting reeds and grass to strew their beds on +the sands, young Hylas, beautiful Hylas, went off with a pitcher in his +hand to draw water. He came to a beautiful spring, a deep, clear, green +pool, and there the water-fairies lived, whom men called Nereids. There +were Eunis, and Nycheia with her April eyes, and when they saw the +beautiful Hylas, they longed to have him always with them, to live in +the crystal caves beneath the water, for they had never seen anyone so +beautiful. As he stooped with his pitcher and dipped it into the stream, +they caught him softly in their arms, and drew him down below, and no +man ever saw him any more, but he dwelt with the water-fairies. + +But Heracles the strong, who loved him like a younger brother, wandered +all over the country crying '_Hylas! Hylas!_' and the boy's voice +answered so faintly from below the stream that Heracles never heard him. +So he roamed alone in the forests, and the rest of the crew thought he +was lost. + +Then the sons of the North Wind were angry, and bade them set sail +without him, and sail they did, leaving the strong man behind. Long +afterward, when the Fleece was won, Heracles met the sons of the North +Wind, and slew them with his arrows. And he buried them, and set a great +stone on each grave, and one of these is ever stirred, and shakes when +the North Wind blows. There they lie, and their golden wings are at +rest. + +Still they sped on, with a west wind blowing, and they came to a country +whose king was strong, and thought himself the best boxer then living, +so he came down to the ship and challenged anyone of that crew; and +Polydeuces, the boxer, took up the challenge. All the rest, and the +people of the country, made a ring, and Polydeuces and huge King Amycus +stepped into the midst, and put up their hands. First they moved round +each other cautiously, watching for a chance, and then, as the sun shone +forth in the Giant's face, Polydeuces leaped in and struck him between +the eyes with his left hand, and, strong as he was, the Giant staggered +and fell. Then his friends picked him up, and sponged his face with +water, and all the crew of 'Argo' shouted with joy. He was soon on his +feet again, and rushed at Polydeuces, hitting out so hard that he would +have killed him if the blow had gone home. But Polydeuces just moved his +head a little on one side, and the blow went by, and, as the Giant +slipped, Polydeuces planted one in his mouth and another beneath his +ear, and was away before the Giant could recover. + +There they stood, breathing heavily, and glaring at each other, till the +Giant made another rush, but Polydeuces avoided him, and struck him +several blows quickly in the eyes, and now the Giant was almost blind. +Then Polydeuces at once ended the combat by a right-hand blow on the +temple. The Giant fell, and lay as if he were dead. When he came to +himself again, he had no heart to go on, for his knees shook, and he +could hardly see. So Polydeuces made him swear never to challenge +strangers again as long as he lived, and then the crew of 'Argo' crowned +Polydeuces with a wreath of poplar leaves, and they took supper, and +Orpheus sang to them, and they slept, and next day they came to the +country of the unhappiest of kings. + +His name was Phineus, and he was a prophet; but, when he came to meet +Jason and his company, he seemed more like the ghost of a beggar than a +crowned king. For he was blind, and very old, and he wandered like a +dream, leaning on a staff, and feeling the wall with his hand. His limbs +all trembled, he was but a thing of skin and bone, and foul and filthy +to see. At last he reached the doorway of the house where Jason was, and +sat down, with his purple cloak fallen round him, and he held up his +skinny hands, and welcomed Jason, for, being a prophet, he knew that now +he should be delivered from his wretchedness. + +He lived, or rather lingered, in all this misery because he had offended +the gods, and had told men what things were to happen in the future +beyond what the gods desired that men should know. So they blinded him, +and they sent against him hideous monsters with wings and crooked claws, +called Harpies, which fell upon him at his meat, and carried it away +before he could put it to his mouth. Sometimes they flew off with all +the meat; sometimes they left a little, that he might not quite starve, +and die, and be at peace, but might live in misery. Yet what they left +was made so foul, and of such evil savour, that even a starving man +could scarcely take it within his lips. Thus this king was the most +miserable of all men living. + +He welcomed the heroes, and, above all, Zetes and Calais, the sons of +the North Wind, for they, he knew, would help him. And they all went +into his wretched, naked hall, and sat down at the tables, and the +servants brought meat and drink and placed it before them, the latest +and last supper of the Harpies. Then down on the meat swooped the +Harpies, like lightning or wind, with clanging brazen wings, and iron +claws, and the smell of a battlefield where men lie dead; down they +swooped, and flew shrieking away with the food. But the two sons of the +North Wind drew their short swords, and rose in the air on their golden +wings, and followed where the Harpies fled, over many a sea and many a +land, till they came to a distant isle, and there they slew the Harpies +with their swords. And that isle was called 'Turn Again,' for there the +sons of the North Wind turned, and it was late in the night when they +came back to the hall of Phineus, and to their companions. + +Here Phineus was telling Jason and his company how they might win their +way to Colchis and the world's end, and the wood of the Fleece of Gold. +'First,' he said, 'you shall come in your ship to the Rocks Wandering, +for these rocks wander like living things in the sea, and no ship has +ever sailed between them. They open, like a great mouth, to let ships +pass, and when she is between their lips they clash again, and crush her +in their iron jaws. By this way even winged things may never pass; nay, +not even the doves that bear ambrosia to Father Zeus, the lord of +Olympus, but the rocks ever catch one even of these. So, when you come +near them, you must let loose a dove from the ship, and let her go +before you to try the way. And if she flies safely between the rocks +from one sea to the other sea, then row with all your might when the +rocks open again. But if the rocks close on the bird, then return, and +do not try the adventure. But, if you win safely through, then hold +right on to the mouth of the River Phasis, and there you shall see the +towers of Æêtes, the king, and the grove of the Fleece of Gold. And then +do as well as you may.' + +So they thanked him, and the next morning they set sail, till they came +to a place where the Rocks Wandering wallowed in the water, and all was +foam; but when the Rocks leaped apart the stream ran swift, and the +waves roared beneath the rocks, and the wet cliffs bellowed. Then +Euphemus took the dove in his hands, and set her free, and she flew +straight at the pass where the rocks met, and sped right through, and +the rocks gnashed like gnashing teeth, but they caught only a feather +from her tail. + +Then slowly the rocks opened again, like a wild beast's mouth that +opens, and Tiphys, the helmsman, shouted, 'Row on, hard all!' and he +held the ship straight for the pass. Then the oars bent like bows in the +hands of men, and the good ship leaped at the stroke. Three strokes they +pulled, and at each the ship leaped, and now they were within the black +jaws of the rocks, the water boiling round them, and so dark it was that +overhead they could see the stars, but the oarsmen could not see the +daylight behind them, and the steersman could not see the daylight in +front. Then the great tide rushed in between the rocks like a rushing +river, and lifted the ship as if it were lifted by a hand, and through +the strait she passed like a bird, and the rocks clashed, and only broke +the carved wood of the ship's stern. And the ship reeled into the +seething sea beyond, and all the men of Jason bowed their heads over +their oars, half dead with the fierce rowing. + +Then they set all sail, and the ship sped merrily on, past the shores of +the inner sea, past bays and towns, and river mouths, and round green +hills, the tombs of men slain long ago. And, behold, on the top of one +mound stood a tall man, clad in rusty armour, and with a broken sword in +his hand, and on his head a helmet with a blood-red crest. Thrice he +waved his hand, and thrice he shouted aloud, and was no more seen, for +this was the ghost of Sthenelus, Actæon's son, whom an arrow had slain +there long since, and he had come forth from his tomb to see men of his +own blood, and to greet Jason and his company. So they anchored there, +and slew sheep in sacrifice, and poured blood and wine on the grave of +Sthenelus. There Orpheus left a harp, placing it in the bough of a tree, +that the wind might sing in the chords, and make music to Sthenelus +below the earth. + +Then they sailed on, and at evening they saw above their heads the snowy +crests of Mount Caucasus, flushed in the sunset; and high in the air +they saw, as it were, a black speck that grew greater and greater, and +fluttered black wings, and then fell sheer down like a stone. Then they +heard a dreadful cry from a valley of the mountain, for there Prometheus +was fastened to the rock, and the eagles fed upon him, because he stole +fire from the gods, and gave it to men. All the heroes shuddered when +they heard his cry; but not long after Heracles came that way, and he +slew the eagle with his bow, and set Prometheus free. + +But at nightfall they came into the wide mouth of the River Phasis, that +flows through the land of the world's end, and they saw the lights +burning in the palace of Æêtes the king. So now they were come to the +last stage of their journey, and there they slept, and dreamed of the +Fleece of Gold. + + + + +III + +THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE + + +Next morning the heroes awoke, and left the ship moored in the river's +mouth, hidden by tall reeds, for they took down the mast, lest it should +be seen. Then they walked toward the city of Colchis, and they passed +through a strange and horrible wood. Dead men, bound together with +cords, were hanging from the branches, for the Colchis people buried +women, but hung dead men from the branches of trees. Then they came to +the palace, where King Æêtes lived, with his young son Absyrtus, and his +daughter Chalciope, who had been the wife of Phrixus, and his younger +daughter, Medea, who was a witch, and the priestess of Brimo, a dreadful +goddess. Now Chalciope came out and welcomed Jason, for she knew the +heroes were of her dear husband's country. And beautiful Medea, the dark +witch-girl, came forth and saw Jason, and as soon as she saw him she +loved him more than her father and her brother and all her father's +house. For his bearing was gallant, and his armour golden, and long +yellow hair fell over his shoulders, and over the leopard skin that he +wore above his armour. Medea turned white and then red, and cast down +her eyes, but Chalciope took the heroes to the baths, and gave them +food, and they were brought to Æêtes, who asked them why they came, and +they told him that they desired the Fleece of Gold, and he was very +angry, and told them that only to a better man than himself would he +give up that Fleece. If any wished to prove himself worthy of it he must +tame two bulls which breathed flame from their nostrils, and must plough +four acres with these bulls, and next he must sow the field with the +teeth of a dragon, and these teeth when sown would immediately grow up +into armed men. Jason said that, as it must be, he would try this +adventure, but he went sadly enough back to the ship and did not notice +how kindly Medea was looking after him as he went. + +Now, in the dead of night, Medea could not sleep, because she was so +sorry for the stranger, and she knew that she could help him by her +magic. But she remembered how her father would burn her for a witch if +she helped Jason, and a great shame, too, came on her that she should +prefer a stranger to her own people. So she arose in the dark, and stole +just as she was to her sister's room, a white figure roaming like a +ghost in the palace. At her sister's door she turned back in shame, +saying, 'No, I will never do it,' and she went back again to her +chamber, and came again, and knew not what to do; but at last she +returned to her own bower, and threw herself on her bed, and wept. Her +sister heard her weeping, and came to her and they cried together, but +softly, that no one might hear them. For Chalciope was as eager to help +the Greeks for love of Phrixus, her dead husband, as Medea was for the +love of Jason. + +At last Medea promised to carry to the temple of the goddess of whom she +was a priestess, a drug that would tame the bulls which dwelt in the +field of that temple. But still she wept and wished that she were dead, +and had a mind to slay herself; yet, all the time, she was longing for +the dawn, that she might go and see Jason, and give him the drug, and +see his face once more, if she was never to see him again. So, at dawn +she bound up her hair, and bathed her face, and took the drug, which was +pressed from a flower. That flower first blossomed when the eagle shed +the blood of Prometheus on the earth. The virtue of the juice of the +flower was this, that if a man anointed himself with it, he could not +that day be wounded by swords, and fire could not burn him. So she +placed it in a vial beneath her girdle, and she went with other girls, +her friends, to the temple of the goddess. Now Jason had been warned by +Chalciope to meet her there, and he was coming with Mopsus who knew the +speech of birds. But Mopsus heard a crow that sat on a poplar tree +speaking to another crow, saying: + +'Here comes a silly prophet, and sillier than a goose. He is walking +with a young man to meet a maid, and does not know that, while he is +there to hear, the maid will not say a word that is in her heart. Go +away, foolish prophet; it is not you she cares for.' + +Then Mopsus smiled, and stopped where he was; but Jason went on, where +Medea was pretending to play with the girls, her companions. When she +saw Jason she felt as if she could neither go forward, nor go back, and +she was very pale. But Jason told her not to be afraid, and asked her to +help him, but for long she could not answer him; however, at the last, +she gave him the drug, and taught him how to use it. 'So shall you carry +the fleece to Iolcos, far away, but what is it to me where you go when +you have gone from here? Still remember the name of me, Medea, as I +shall remember you. And may there come to me some voice, or some bird +bearing the message, whenever you have quite forgotten me.' + +But Jason answered, 'Lady, let the winds blow what voice they will, and +what that bird will, let him bring. But no wind or bird shall ever bear +the news that I have forgotten you, if you will cross the sea with me, +and be my wife.' + +Then she was glad, and yet she was afraid, at the thought of that dark +voyage, with a stranger, from her father's home and her own. So they +parted, Jason to the ship, and Medea to the palace. But in the morning +Jason anointed himself and his armour with the drug, and all the heroes +struck at him with spears and swords, but the swords would not bite on +him nor on his armour. He felt so strong and light that he leaped in the +air with joy, and the sun shone on his glittering shield. Now they all +went up together to the field where the bulls were breathing flame. +There already was Æêtes, with Medea, and all the Colchians had come to +see Jason die. A plough had been brought to which he was to harness the +bulls. Then he walked up to them, and they blew fire at him that flamed +all round him, but the magic drug protected him. He took a horn of one +bull in his right hand, and a horn of the other in his left, and dashed +their heads together so mightily that they fell. + +When they rose, all trembling, he yoked them to the plough, and drove +them with his spear, till all the field was ploughed in straight ridges +and furrows. Then he dipped his helmet in the river, and drank water, +for he was weary; and next he sowed the dragon's teeth on the right and +left. Then you might see spear points, and sword points, and crests of +helmets break up from the soil like shoots of corn, and presently the +earth was shaken like sea waves, as armed men leaped out of the furrows, +all furious for battle, and all rushed to slay Jason. But he, as Medea +had told him to do, caught up a great rock, and threw it among them, and +he who was struck by the rock said to his neighbour, 'You struck me; +take that!' and ran his spear through that man's breast, but before he +could draw it out another man had cleft his helmet with a stroke, and so +it went: an hour of striking and shouting, while the sparks of fire +sprang up from helmet and breastplate and shield. The furrows ran red +with blood, and wounded men crawled on hands and knees to strike or stab +those that were yet standing and fighting. So axes and sword and spear +flashed and fell, till now all the men were down but one, taller and +stronger than the rest. Round him he looked, and saw only Jason standing +there, and he staggered toward him, bleeding, and lifting his great axe +above his head. But Jason only stepped aside from the blow which would +have cloven him to the waist, the last blow of the Men of the Dragon's +Teeth, for he who struck fell, and there he lay and died. + +Then Jason went to the king, where he sat looking darkly on, and said, +'O King, the field is ploughed, the seed is sown, the harvest is reaped. +Give me now the Fleece of Gold, and let me be gone.' But the king said, +'Enough is done. To-morrow is a new day. To-morrow shall you win the +Fleece.' + +Then he looked sidewise at Medea, and she knew that he suspected her, +and she was afraid. + +Æêtes went and sat brooding over his wine with the captains of his +people; and his mood was bitter, both for loss of the Fleece, and +because Jason had won it not by his own prowess, but by the magic aid +of Medea. As for Medea herself, it was the king's purpose to put her to +a cruel death, and this she needed not her witchery to know, and a fire +was in her eyes, and terrible sounds were ringing in her ears, and it +seemed she had but two choices: to drink poison and die, or to flee with +the heroes in the ship 'Argo.' But at last flight seemed better than +death. So she hid all her engines of witchcraft in the folds of her +gown, and she kissed her bed where she would never sleep again, and the +posts of the door, and she caressed the very walls with her hand in that +last farewell. And she cut a long lock of her yellow hair, and left it +in the room, a keepsake to her mother dear, in memory of her maiden +days. 'Good-bye, my mother,' she said, 'this long lock I leave thee in +place of me; good-bye, a long good-bye, to me who am going on a long +journey; good-bye, my sister Chalciope, good-bye! dear house, good-bye!' + +Then she stole from the house, and the bolted doors leaped open at their +own accord at the swift spell Medea murmured. With her bare feet she ran +down the grassy paths, and the daisies looked black against the white +feet of Medea. So she sped to the temple of the goddess, and the moon +overhead looked down on her. Many a time had she darkened the moon's +face with her magic song, and now the Lady Moon gazed white upon her, +and said, 'I am not, then, the only one that wanders in the night for +love, as I love Endymion the sleeper, who sleeps on the crest of the +Latmian hill, and beholds me in his dreams. Many a time hast thou +darkened my face with thy songs, and made night black with thy +sorceries, and now thou too art in love! So go thy way, and bid thy +heart endure, for a sore fate is before thee!' + +But Medea hastened on till she came to the high river bank, and saw the +heroes, merry at their wine in the light of a blazing fire. Thrice she +called aloud, and they heard her, and came to her, and she said, 'Save +me, my friends, for all is known, and my death is sure. And I will give +you the Fleece of Gold for the price of my life.' + +Then Jason swore that she should be his wife, and more dear to him than +all the world. So she went aboard their boat, and swiftly they rowed up +stream to the dark wood where the dragon who never sleeps lay guarding +the Fleece of Gold. There she landed, and Jason, and Orpheus with his +harp, and through the wood they went, but that old serpent saw them +coming, and hissed so loud that women wakened in Colchis town, and +children cried to their mothers. But Orpheus struck softly on his harp, +and he sang a hymn to Sleep, bidding him come and cast a slumber on the +dragon's wakeful eyes. This was the song he sang: + + Sleep! King of Gods and men! + Come to my call again, + Swift over field and fen, + Mountain and deep; + Come, bid the waves be still; + Sleep, streams on height and hill; + Beasts, birds, and snakes, thy will + Conquereth, Sleep! + Come on thy golden wings, + Come ere the swallow sings, + Lulling all living things, + Fly they or creep! + Come with thy leaden wand, + Come with thy kindly hand, + Soothing on sea or land + Mortals that weep. + Come from the cloudy west, + Soft over brain and breast, + Bidding the Dragon rest, + Come to me, Sleep! + +This was Orpheus's song, and he sang so sweetly that the bright, small +eyes of the dragon closed, and all his hard coils softened and uncurled. +Then Jason set his foot on the dragon's neck and hewed off his head, and +lifted down the Golden Fleece from the sacred oak tree, and it shone +like a golden cloud at dawn. He waited not to wonder at it, but he and +Medea and Orpheus hurried through the wet wood-paths to the ship, and +threw it on board, cast a cloak over it, and bade the heroes sit down to +the oars, half of them, but the others to take their shields and stand +each beside the oarsmen, to guard them from the arrows of the Colchians. +Then he cut the stern cables with his sword, and softly they rowed, +under the bank, down the dark river to the sea. But the hissing of the +dragon had already awakened the Colchians, and lights were flitting by +the palace windows, and Æêtes was driving in his chariot with all his +men down to the banks of the river. Then their arrows fell like hail +about the ship, but they rebounded from the shields of the heroes, and +the swift ship sped over the bar, and leaped as she felt the first waves +of the salt sea. + +[Illustration: HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN FLEECE WAS +SLAIN.] + +And now the Fleece was won. But it was weary work bringing it home to +Greece, and Medea and Jason did a deed which angered the gods. They slew +her brother Absyrtus, who followed after them with a fleet, and cut him +limb from limb, and when Æêtes came with his ships, and saw the dead +limbs, he stopped, and went home, for his heart was broken. The gods +would not let the Greeks return by the way they had come, but by strange +ways where never another ship has sailed. Up the Ister (the Danube) +they rowed, through countries of savage men, till the 'Argo' could go no +farther, by reason of the narrowness of the stream. Then they hauled her +overland, where no man knows, but they launched her on the Elbe at last, +and out into a sea where never sail had been seen. Then they were driven +wandering out into Ocean, and to a fairy, far-off isle where Lady Circe +dwelt. Circe was the sister of King Æêtes, both were children of the Sun +God, and Medea hoped that Circe would be kind to her, as she could not +have heard of the slaying of Absyrtus. Medea and Jason went up through +the woods of the isle to the house of Circe, and had no fear of the +lions and wolves and bears that guarded the house. These knew that Medea +was an enchantress, and they fawned on her and Jason and let them pass. +But in the house they found Circe clad in dark mourning raiment, and all +her long black hair fell wet and dripping to her feet, for she had seen +visions of terror and sin, and therefore she had purified herself in +salt water of the sea. The walls of her chamber, in the night, had shone +as with fire, and dripped as with blood, and a voice of wailing had +broken forth, and the spirit of dead Absyrtus had cried in her ears. + +When Medea and Jason entered her hall, Circe bade them sit down, and +called her bower maidens, fairies of woods and waters, to strew a table +with a cloth of gold, and set on it food and wine. But Jason and Medea +ran to the hearth, the sacred place of the house to which men that have +done murder flee, and there they are safe, when they come in their +flight to the house of a stranger. They cast ashes from the hearth on +their heads, and Circe knew that they had slain Absyrtus. Yet she was of +Medea's near kindred, and she respected the law of the hearth. +Therefore she did the rite of purification, as was the custom, cleansing +blood with blood, and she burned in the fire a cake of honey, and meal, +and oil, to appease the Furies who revenge the deaths of kinsmen by the +hands of kinsmen. + +When all was done, Jason and Medea rose from their knees, and sat down +on chairs in the hall, and Medea told Circe all her tale, except the +slaying of Absyrtus. + +'More and worse than you tell me you have done,' said Circe, 'but you +are my brother's daughter.' + +Then she advised them of all the dangers of their way home to Greece, +how they must shun the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis, and she sent a +messenger, Iris, the goddess of the Rainbow, to bid Thetis help them +through the perils of the sea, and bring them safe to Phæacia, where the +Phæacians would send them home. + +'But you shall never be happy, nor know one good year in all your +lives,' said Circe, and she bade them farewell. + +They went by the way that Ulysses went on a later day; they passed +through many perils, and came to Iolcos, where Pelias was old, and made +Jason reign in his stead. + +But Jason and Medea loved each other no longer, and many stories, all +different from each other, are told concerning evil deeds that they +wrought, and certainly they left each other, and Jason took another +wife, and Medea went to Athens. Here she lived in the palace of Ægeus, +an unhappy king who had been untrue to his own true love, and therefore +the gods took from him courage and strength. But about Medea at Athens +the story is told in the next tale, the tale of Theseus, Ægeus's son. + + + + +THESEUS + + + + +I + +THE WEDDING OF ÆTHRA + + +Long before Ulysses was born, there lived in Athens a young king, +strong, brave, and beautiful, named Ægeus. Athens, which later became so +great and famous, was then but a little town, perched on the top of a +cliff which rises out of the plain, two or three miles from the sea. No +doubt the place was chosen so as to be safe against pirates, who then +used to roam all about the seas, plundering merchant ships, robbing +cities, and carrying away men, women, and children, to sell as slaves. +The Athenians had then no fleet with which to put the pirates down, and +possessed not so much land as would make a large estate in England: +other little free towns held the rest of the surrounding country. + +King Ægeus was young, and desired to take a wife, indeed a wife had been +found for him. But he wanted to be certain, if he could, that he was to +have sons to succeed him: so many misfortunes happen to kings who have +no children. But how was he to find out whether he should have children +or not? At that time, and always in Greece before it was converted to +Christianity, there were temples of the gods in various places, at which +it was supposed that men might receive answers to their questions. +These temples were called oracles, or places where oracles were given, +and the most famous of them was the temple of Apollo at Pytho, or +Delphi, far to the north-west of Athens. Here was a deep ravine of a +steep mountain, where the god Apollo was said to have shot a monstrous +dragon with his arrows. He then ordered that a temple should be built +here, and in this temple a maiden, being inspired by the god, gave her +prophecies. The people who came to consult her made the richest presents +to the priests, and the temple was full of cups and bowls of gold and +silver, and held more wealth in its chambers than the treasure houses of +the richest kings. + +Ægeus determined to go to Delphi to ask his question: would he have sons +to come after him? He did not tell his people where he was going; he +left the kingdom to be governed by his brother Pallas, and he set out +secretly at night, taking no servant. He did not wear royal dress, and +he drove his own chariot, carrying for his offering only a small cup of +silver, for he did not wish it to be known that he was a king, and told +the priests that he was a follower of Peleus, King of Phthia. In answer +to his question, the maiden sang two lines of verse, for she always +prophesied in verse. Her reply was difficult to understand, as oracles +often were, for the maiden seldom spoke out clearly, but in a kind of +riddle that might be understood in more ways than one; so that, whatever +happened, she could not be proved to have made a mistake. + +Ægeus was quite puzzled by the answer he got. He did not return to +Athens, but went to consult the prince of Troezene, named Pittheus, who +was thought the wisest man then living. Pittheus did not know who Ægeus +was, but saw that he seemed of noble birth, tall and handsome, so he +received him very kindly, and kept him in his house for some time, +entertaining him with feasts, dances, and hunting parties. Now Pittheus +had a very lovely daughter, named Æthra. She and Ægeus fell in love with +each other, so deeply that they desired to be married. It was the custom +that the bridegroom should pay a price, a number of cattle, to the +father of the bride, and Ægeus, of course, had no cattle to give. But it +was also the custom, if the lover did some very brave and useful action, +to reward him with the hand of his lady, and Ægeus had his opportunity. +A fleet of pirates landed at Troezene and attacked the town, but Ægeus +fought so bravely and led the men of Pittheus so well, that he not only +slew the pirate chief, and defeated his men, but also captured some of +his ships, which were full of plunder, gold, and bronze, and iron, and +slaves. With this wealth Ægeus paid the bride price, as it was called, +for Æthra, and they were married. Pittheus thought himself a lucky man, +for he had no son, and here was a son-in-law who could protect his +little kingdom, and wear the crown when he himself was dead. + +Though Pittheus was believed to be very wise, in this matter he was very +foolish. He never knew who Ægeus really was, that is the king of Athens, +nor did poor Æthra know. In a short time Ægeus wearied of beautiful +Æthra, who continued to love him dearly. He was anxious also to return +to his kingdom, for he heard that his brother Pallas and his many sons +were governing badly; and he feared that Pallas might keep the crown for +himself, so he began to speak mysteriously to Æthra, talking about a +long and dangerous journey which he was obliged to make, for secret +reasons, and from which he might never return alive. Æthra wept +bitterly, and sometimes thought, as people did in these days, that the +beautiful stranger might be no man, but a god, and that he might return +to Olympus, the home of the gods, and forget her; for the gods never +tarried long with the mortal women who loved them. + +At last Ægeus took Æthra to a lonely glen in the woods, where, beside a +little mountain stream, lay a great moss-grown boulder that an +earthquake, long ago, had shaken from the rocky cliff above. 'The time +is coming,' said Ægeus 'when you and I must part, and only the gods can +tell when we shall meet again! It may be that you will bear a child, +and, if he be a boy, when he has come to his strength you must lead him +to this great stone, and let no man or woman be there but you two only. +You must then bid him roll away the stone, and, if he has no strength to +raise it, so must it be. But if he can roll it away, then let him take +such things as he finds there, and let him consider them well, and do +what the gods put into his heart.' + +Thus Ægeus spoke, and on the dawn of the third night after this day, +when Æthra awoke from sleep, she did not find him by her side. She +arose, and ran through the house, calling his name, but there came no +answer, and from that time Ægeus was never seen again in Troezene, and +people marvelled, thinking that he, who came whence no man knew, and was +so brave and beautiful, must be one of the immortal gods. 'Who but a +god,' they said, 'would leave for no cause a bride, the flower of Greece +for beauty, young, and loving; and a kingdom to which he was not born? +Truly he must be Apollo of the silver bow, or Hermes of the golden +wand.' + +So they spoke among each other, and honoured Æthra greatly, but she +pined and drooped with sorrow, like a tall lily flower, that the frost +has touched in a rich man's garden. + + + + +II + +THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS + + +Time went by, and Æthra had a baby, a son. This was her only comfort, +and she thought that she saw in him a likeness to his father, whose true +name she did not know. Certainly he was a very beautiful baby, well +formed and strong, and, as soon as he could walk he was apt to quarrel +with other children of his own age, and fight with them in a harmless +way. He never was an amiable child, though he was always gentle to his +mother. From the first he was afraid of nothing, and when he was about +four or five he used to frighten his mother by wandering from home, with +his little bow and arrows, and staying by himself in the woods. However, +he always found his own way back again, sometimes with a bird or a snake +that he had shot, and once dragging the body of a fawn that was nearly +as heavy as himself. Thus his mother, from his early boyhood, had many +fears for him, that he might be killed by some fierce wild boar in the +woods, for he would certainly shoot at whatever beast he met; or that he +might kill some other boy in a quarrel, when he would be obliged to +leave the country. The other boys, however, soon learned not to quarrel +with Theseus (so Æthra had named her son), for he was quick of temper, +and heavy of hand, and, as for the wild beasts, he was cool as well as +eager, and seemed to have an untaught knowledge of how to deal with +them. + +Æthra was therefore very proud of her son, and began to hope that when +he was older he would be able to roll away the great stone in the glen. +She told him nothing about it when he was little, but, in her walks with +him in the woods or on the sea shore, she would ask him to try his +force in lifting large stones. When he succeeded she kissed and praised +him, and told him stories of the famous strong man, Heracles, whose name +was well known through all Greece. Theseus could not bear to be beaten +at lifting any weight, and, if he failed, he would rise early and try +again in the morning, for many men, as soon as they rise from bed, can +lift weights which are too heavy for them later in the day. + +When Theseus was seven years old, Æthra found for him a tutor, named +Connidas, who taught him the arts of netting beasts and hunting, and how +to manage the dogs, and how to drive a chariot, and wield sword and +shield, and to throw the spear. Other things Connidas taught him which +were known to few men in Greece, for Connidas came from the great rich +island of Crete. He had killed a man there in a quarrel, and fled to +Troezene to escape the revenge of the man's brothers and cousins. In +Crete many people could read and write, which in Greece, perhaps none +could do, and Connidas taught Theseus this learning. + +When he was fifteen years old, Theseus went, as was the custom of young +princes, to the temple of Delphi, not to ask questions, but to cut his +long hair, and sacrifice it to the god, Apollo. He cut the forelock of +his hair, so that no enemy, in battle, might take hold of it, for +Theseus intended to fight at close quarters, hand to hand, in war, not +to shoot arrows and throw spears from a distance. By this time he +thought himself a man, and was always asking where his father was, while +Æthra told him how her husband had left her soon after their marriage, +and that she had never heard of him since, but that some day Theseus +might find out all about him for himself, which no other person would +ever be able to do. + +Æthra did not wish to tell Theseus too soon the secret of the great +stone, which hid she knew not what. She saw that he would leave her and +go to seek his father, if he was able to raise the stone and find out +the secret, and she could not bear to lose him, now that day by day he +grew more like his father, her lost lover. Besides, she wanted him not +to try to raise the stone till he came to his strength. But when he was +in his nineteenth year, he told her that he would now go all over Greece +and the whole world seeking for his father. She saw that he meant what +he said, and one day she led him alone to the glen where the great stone +lay, and sat down with him there, now talking, and now silent as if she +were listening to the pleasant song of the burn that fell from a height +into a clear deep pool. Really she was listening to make sure that no +hunter and no lovers were near them in the wood, but she only heard the +songs of the water and the birds, no voices, or cry of hounds, or fallen +twig cracking under a footstep. + +At last, when she was quite certain that nobody was near, she whispered, +and told Theseus how her husband, before he disappeared, had taken her +to this place, and shown her the great moss-grown boulder, and said +that, when his son could lift that stone away, he would find certain +tokens, and that he must then do what the gods put into his heart. +Theseus listened eagerly, and said, 'If my father lifted that stone, and +placed under it certain tokens, I also can lift it, perhaps not yet, but +some day I shall be as strong a man as my father.' Then he set himself +to move the stone, gradually putting out all his force, but it seemed +rooted in the earth, though he tried it now on one side and now on +another. At last he flung himself at his mother's feet, with his head in +the grass, and lay without speaking. His breath came hard and quick, +and his hands were bleeding. Æthra laid her hand on his long hair, and +was silent. 'I shall not lose my boy this year,' she thought. + +They were long in that lonely place, but at last Theseus rose, and +kissed his mother, and stretched his arms. 'Not to-day!' he said, but +his mother thought in her heart, 'Not for many a day, I hope!' Then they +walked home to the house of Pittheus, saying little, and when they had +taken supper, Theseus said that he would go to bed and dream of better +fortune. So he arose, and went to his own chamber, which was built apart +in the court of the palace, and soon Æthra too went to sleep, not +unhappy, for her boy, she thought, would not leave her for a long time. + +But in the night Theseus arose, and put on his shoes, and his smock, and +a great double mantle. He girt on his sword of bronze, and went into the +housekeeper's chamber, where he took a small skin of wine, and some +food. These he placed in a wallet which he slung round his neck by a +cord, and, lastly he stole out of the court, and walked to the lonely +glen, and to the pool in the burn near which the great stone lay. Here +he folded his purple mantle of fine wool round him, and lay down to +sleep in the grass, with his sword lying near his hand. + +When he awoke the clear blue morning light was round him, and all the +birds were singing their song to the dawn. Theseus arose, threw off his +mantle and smock, and plunged into the cold pool of the burn, and then +he drank a little of the wine, and ate of the bread and cold meat, and +set himself to move the stone. At the first effort, into which he put +all his strength, the stone stirred. With the second he felt it rise a +little way from the ground, and then he lifted with all the might in +his heart and body, and rolled the stone clean over. + +[Illustration: THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE.] + +Beneath it there was nothing but the fresh turned soil, but in a hollow +of the foot of the rock, which now lay upper-most, there was a wrapping +of purple woollen cloth, that covered something. Theseus tore out the +packet, unwrapped the cloth, and found within it a wrapping of white +linen. This wrapping was in many folds, which he undid, and at last he +found a pair of shoon, such as kings wear, adorned with gold, and also +the most beautiful sword that he had ever seen. The handle was of clear +rock crystal, and through the crystal you could see gold, inlaid with +pictures of a lion hunt done in different shades of gold and silver. The +sheath was of leather, with patterns in gold nails, and the blade was of +bronze, a beautiful pattern ran down the centre to the point, the blade +was straight, and double edged, supple, sharp, and strong. Never had +Theseus seen so beautiful a sword, nor one so well balanced in his hand. + +He saw that this was a king's sword; and he thought that it had not been +wrought in Greece, for in Greece was no sword-smith that could do such +work. Examining it very carefully he found characters engraved beneath +the hilt, not letters such as the Greeks used in later times, but such +Cretan signs as Connidas had taught him to read, for many a weary hour, +when he would like to have been following the deer in the forest. + +Theseus pored over these signs till he read: + + Icmalius me made. Of Ægeus of Athens am I. + +Now he knew the secret. His father was Ægeus, the king of Athens. +Theseus had heard of him and knew that he yet lived, a sad life full of +trouble. For Ægeus had no child by his Athenian wife, and the fifty +sons of his brother, Pallas (who were called the Pallantidæ) despised +him, and feasted all day in his hall, recklessly and fiercely, robbing +the people, and Ægeus had no power in his own kingdom. + +'Methinks that my father has need of me!' said Theseus to himself. Then +he wrapped up the sword and shoon in the linen and the cloth of wool, +and walked home in the early morning to the palace of Pittheus. + +When Theseus came to the palace, he went straight to the upper chamber +of his mother, where she was spinning wool with a distaff of ivory. When +he laid before her the sword and the shoon, the distaff fell from her +hand, and she hid her head in a fold of her robe. Theseus kissed her +hands and comforted her, and she dried her eyes, and praised him for his +strength. 'These are the sword and the shoon of your father,' she said, +'but truly the gods have taken away his strength and courage. For all +men say that Ægeus of Athens is not master in his own house; his +brother's sons rule him, and with them Medea, the witch woman, that once +was the wife of Jason.' + +'The more he needs his son!' said Theseus. 'Mother, I must go to help +him, and be the heir of his kingdom, where you shall be with me always, +and rule the people of Cecrops that fasten the locks of their hair with +grasshoppers of gold.' + +'So may it be, my child,' said Æthra, 'if the gods go with you to +protect you. But you will sail to Athens in a ship with fifty oarsmen, +for the ways by land are long, and steep, and dangerous, beset by cruel +giants and monstrous men.' + +'Nay, mother,' said Theseus, 'by land must I go, for I would not be +known in Athens, till I see how matters fall out; and I would destroy +these giants and robbers, and give peace to the people, and win glory +among men. This very night I shall set forth.' + +He had a sore and sad parting from his mother, but under cloud of night +he went on his way, girt with the sword of Ægeus, his father, and +carrying in his wallet the shoon with ornaments of gold. + + + + +III + +ADVENTURES OF THESEUS + + +Theseus walked through the night, and slept for most of the next day at +a shepherd's hut. The shepherd was kind to him, and bade him beware of +one called the Maceman, who guarded a narrow path with a sheer cliff +above, and a sheer precipice below. 'No man born may deal with the +Maceman,' said the shepherd, 'for his great club is of iron, that cannot +be broken, and his strength is as the strength of ten men, though his +legs have no force to bear his body. Men say that he is the son of the +lame god, Hephaestus, who forged his iron mace; there is not the like of +it in the world.' + +'Shall I fear a lame man?' said Theseus, 'and is it not easy, even if he +be so terrible a fighter, for me to pass him in the darkness, for I walk +by night?' + +The shepherd shook his head. 'Few men have passed Periphetes the +Maceman,' said he, 'and wiser are they who trust to swift ships than to +the upland path.' + +'You speak kindly, father,' said Theseus, 'but I am minded to make the +upland paths safe for all men.' + +So they parted, and Theseus walked through the sunset and the dusk, +always on a rising path, and the further he went the harder it was to +see the way, for the path was overgrown with grass, and the shadows were +deepening. Night fell, and Theseus hardly dared to go further, for on +his left hand was a wall of rock, and on his right hand a cliff sinking +sheer and steep to the sea. But now he saw a light in front of him, a +red light flickering, as from a great fire, and he could not be content +till he knew why that fire was lighted. So he went on, slowly and +warily, till he came in full view of the fire which covered the whole of +a little platform of rock; on one side the blaze shone up the wall of +cliff on his left hand, on the other was the steep fall to the sea. In +front of this fire was a great black bulk; Theseus knew not what it +might be. He walked forward till he saw that the black bulk was that of +a monstrous man, who sat with his back to the fire. The man nodded his +heavy head, thick with red unshorn hair, and Theseus went up close to +him. + +'Ho, sir,' he cried, 'this is my road, and on my road I must pass!' + +The seated man opened his eyes sleepily. + +'Not without my leave,' he said, 'for I keep this way, I and my club of +iron.' + +'Get up and begone!' said Theseus. + +'That were hard for me to do,' said the monstrous man, 'for my legs will +not bear the weight of my body, but my arms are strong enough.' + +'That is to be seen!' said Theseus, and he drew his sword, and leaped +within the guard of the iron club that the monster, seated as he was, +swung lightly to this side and that, covering the whole width of the +path. The Maceman swung the club at Theseus, but Theseus sprang aside, +and in a moment, before the monster could recover his stroke, drove +through his throat the sword of Ægeus, and he fell back dead. + +'He shall have his rights of fire, that his shadow may not wander +outside the House of Hades,' said Theseus to himself, and he toppled the +body of the Maceman into his own great fire. Then he went back some way, +and wrapping himself in his mantle, he slept till the sun was high in +heaven, while the fire had sunk into its embers, and Theseus lightly +sprang over them, carrying with him the Maceman's iron club. The path +now led downwards, and a burn that ran through a green forest kept him +company on the way, and brought him to pleasant farms and houses of men. + +They marvelled to see him, a young man, carrying the club of the +Maceman. 'Did you find him asleep?' they asked, and Theseus smiled and +said, 'No, I found him awake. But now he sleeps an iron sleep, from +which he will never waken, and his body had due burning in his own +watchfire.' Then the men and women praised Theseus, and wove for him a +crown of leaves and flowers, and sacrificed sheep to the gods in heaven, +and on the meat they dined, rejoicing that now they could go to Troezene +by the hill path, for they did not love ships and the sea. + +When they had eaten and drunk, and poured out the last cup of wine on +the ground, in honour of Hermes, the God of Luck, the country people +asked Theseus where he was going? He said that he was going to walk to +Athens, and at this the people looked sad. 'No man may walk across the +neck of land where Ephyre is built,' they said, 'because above it Sinis +the Pine-Bender has his castle, and watches the way.' + +'And who is Sinis, and why does he bend pine trees?' asked Theseus. + +'He is the strongest of men, and when he catches a traveller, he binds +him hand and foot, and sets him between two pine trees. Then he bends +them down till they meet, and fastens the traveller to the boughs of +each tree, and lets them spring apart, so that the man is riven +asunder.' + +'Two can play at that game,' said Theseus, smiling, and he bade farewell +to the kind country people, shouldered the iron club of Periphetes, and +went singing on his way. The path led him over moors, and past +farm-houses, and at last rose towards the crest of the hill whence he +would see the place where two seas would have met, had they not been +sundered by the neck of land which is now called the Isthmus of Corinth. +Here the path was very narrow, with thick forests of pine trees on each +hand, and 'here,' thought Theseus to himself, 'I am likely to meet the +Pine-Bender.' + +Soon he knew that he was right, for he saw the ghastly remains of dead +men that the pine trees bore like horrible fruit, and presently the air +was darkened overhead by the waving of vultures and ravens that prey +upon the dead. 'I shall fight the better in the shade,' said Theseus, +and he loosened the blade of the sword in its sheath, and raised the +club of Periphetes aloft in his hand. + +Well it was for him that he raised the iron club, for, just as he lifted +it, there flew out from the thicket something long, and slim, and black, +that fluttered above his head for a moment, and then a loop at the end +of it fell round the head of Theseus, and was drawn tight with a sudden +jerk. But the loop fell also above and round the club, which Theseus +held firm, pushing away the loop, and so pushed it off that it did not +grip his neck. Drawing with his left hand his bronze dagger, he cut +through the leather lasso with one stroke, and bounded into the bushes +from which it had flown. Here he found a huge man, clad in the skin of a +lion, with its head fitting to his own like a mask. The man lifted a +club made of the trunk of a young pine tree, with a sharp-edged stone +fastened into the head of it like an axe-head. But, as the monster +raised his long weapon it struck on a strong branch of a tree above him, +and was entangled in the boughs, so that Theseus had time to thrust the +head of the iron club full in his face, with all his force, and the +savage fell with a crash like a falling oak among the bracken. He was +one of the last of an ancient race of savage men, who dwelt in Greece +before the Greeks, and he fought as they had fought, with weapons of +wood and stone. + +Theseus dropped with his knees on the breast of the Pine-Bender, and +grasped his hairy throat with both his hands, not to strangle him, but +to hold him sure and firm till he came to himself again. When at last +the monster opened his eyes, Theseus gripped his throat the harder, and +spoke, 'Pine-Bender, for thee shall pines be bent. But I am a man and +not a monster, and thou shalt die a clean death before thy body is torn +in twain to be the last feast of thy vultures.' Then, squeezing the +throat of the wretch with his left hand, he drew the sword of Ægeus, and +drove it into the heart of Sinis the Pine-Bender, and he gave a cry like +a bull's, and his soul fled from him. Then Theseus bound the body of the +savage with his own leather cord, and, bending down the tops of two pine +trees, he did to the corpse as Sinis had been wont to do to living men. + +Lastly he cleaned the sword-blade carefully, wiping it with grass and +bracken, and thrusting it to the hilt through the soft fresh ground +under the trees, and so went on his way till he came to a little stream +that ran towards the sea from the crest of the hill above the town of +Ephyre, which is now called Corinth. But as he cleansed himself in the +clear water, he heard a rustle in the boughs of the wood, and running +with sword drawn to the place whence the sound seemed to come, he heard +the whisper of a woman. Then he saw a strange sight. A tall and very +beautiful girl was kneeling in a thicket, in a patch of asparagus thorn, +and was weeping, and praying, in a low voice, and in a childlike +innocent manner, to the thorns, begging them to shelter and defend her. + +Theseus wondered at her, and, sheathing his sword, came softly up to +her, and bade her have no fear. Then she threw her arms about his knees, +and raised her face, all wet with tears, and bade him take pity upon +her, for she had done no harm. + +'Who are you, maiden? You are safe with me,' said Theseus. 'Do you dread +the Pine-Bender?' + +'Alas, sir,' answered the girl, 'I am his daughter, Perigyne, and his +blood is on your hands.' + +'Yet I do not war with women,' said Theseus, 'though that has been done +which was decreed by the gods. If you follow with me, you shall be +kindly used, and marry, if you will, a man of a good house, being so +beautiful as you are.' + +When she heard this, the maiden rose to her feet, and would have put her +hand in his. 'Not yet,' said Theseus, kindly, 'till water has clean +washed away that which is between thee and me. But wherefore, maiden, +being in fear as you were, did you not call to the gods in heaven to +keep you, but to the asparagus thorns that cannot hear or help?' + +'My father, sir,' she said, 'knew no gods, but he came of the race of +the asparagus thorns, and to them I cried in my need.' + +Theseus marvelled at these words, and said, 'From this day you shall +pray to Zeus, the Lord of Thunder, and to the other gods.' Then he went +forth from the wood, with the maiden following, and wholly cleansed +himself in the brook that ran by the way. + +So they passed down to the rich city of Ephyre, where the king received +him gladly, when he heard of the slaying of the Maceman, Periphetes, and +of Sinis the Pine-Bender. The Queen, too, had pity on Perigyne, so +beautiful she was, and kept her in her own palace. Afterwards Perigyne +married a prince, Deiones, son of Eurytus, King of Oechalia, whom the +strong man Heracles slew for the sake of his bow, the very bow with +which Ulysses, many years afterwards, destroyed the Wooers in his halls. +The sons of Perigyne and Deiones later crossed the seas to Asia, and +settled in a land called Caria, and they never burned or harmed the +asparagus thorn to which Perigyne had prayed in the thicket. + +Greece was so lawless in these days that all the road from Troezene +northward to Athens was beset by violent and lawless men. They loved +cruelty even more than robbery, and each of them had carefully thought +out his particular style of being cruel. The cities were small, and at +war with each other, or at war among themselves, one family fighting +against another for the crown. Thus there was no chance of collecting an +army to destroy the monstrous men of the roads, which it would have been +easy enough for a small body of archers to have done. Later Theseus +brought all into great order, but now, being but one man, he went +seeking adventures. + +On the border of a small country called Megara, whose people were much +despised in Greece, he found a chance of advancing himself, and gaining +glory. He was walking in the middle of the day along a narrow path at +the crest of a cliff above the sea, when he saw the flickering of a +great fire in the blue air, and steam going up from a bronze caldron of +water that was set on the fire. On one side of the fire was a foot-bath +of glittering bronze. Hard by was built a bower of green branches, very +cool on that hot day, and from the door of the bower stretched a great +thick hairy pair of naked legs. + +Theseus guessed, from what he had been told, that the owner of the legs +was Sciron the Kicker. He was a fierce outlaw who was called the Kicker +because he made all travellers wash his feet, and, as they were doing +so, kicked them over the cliff. Some say that at the foot of the cliff +dwelt an enormous tortoise, which ate the dead and dying when they fell +near his lair, but as tortoises do not eat flesh, generally, this may be +a mistake. Theseus was determined not to take any insolence from Sciron, +so he shouted-- + +'Slave, take these dirty legs of yours out of the way of a Prince. + +'Prince!' answered Sciron, 'if my legs are dirty, the gods are kind who +have sent you to wash them for me.' + +Then he got up, lazily, laughing and showing his ugly teeth, and stood +in front of his bath with his heavy wooden club in his hand. He whirled +it round his head insultingly, but Theseus was quicker than he, and +again, as when he slew the Pine-Bender, he did not strike, for striking +is slow compared to thrusting, but like a flash he lunged forward and +drove the thick end of his iron club into the breast of Sciron. He +staggered, and, as he reeled, Theseus dealt him a blow across the thigh, +and he fell. Theseus seized the club which dropped from the hand of +Sciron, and threw it over the cliff; it seemed long before the sound +came up from the rocks on which it struck. 'A deep drop into a stony +way, Sciron,' said Theseus, 'now wash my feet! Stand up, and turn your +back to me, and be ready when I tell you.' Sciron rose, slowly and +sulkily, and stood as Theseus bade him do. + +Now Theseus was not wearing light shoes or sandals, like the golden +sandals of Ægeus, which he carried in his wallet. He was wearing thick +boots, with bronze nails in the soles, and the upper leathers were laced +high up his legs, for the Greeks wore such boots when they took long +walks on mountain roads. As soon as Theseus had trained Sciron to stand +in the proper position, he bade him stoop to undo the lacings of his +boots. As Sciron stooped, Theseus gave him one tremendous kick, that +lifted him over the edge of the cliff, and there was an end of Sciron. + +Theseus left the marches of Megara, and walked singing on his way, above +the sea, for his heart was light, and he was finding adventures to his +heart's desire. Being so young and well trained, his foot and hand, in a +combat, moved as swift as lightning, and his enemies were older than he, +and, though very strong, were heavy with full feeding, and slow to move. +Now it is speed that wins in a fight, whether between armies or single +men, if strength and courage go with it. + +At last the road led Theseus down from the heights to a great fertile +plain, called the Thriasian plain, not far from Athens. There, near the +sea, stands the famous old city of Eleusis. When Hades, the God of the +Dead, carried away beautiful Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the +Goddess of corn and all manner of grain, to his dark palace beside the +stream of Ocean, it was to Eleusis that Demeter wandered. She was clad +in mourning robes, and she sat down on a stone by the way, like a weary +old woman. Now the three daughters of the king who then reigned in +Eleusis came by, on the way to the well, to fetch water, and when they +saw the old woman they set down their vessels and came round her, asking +what they could do for her, who was so tired and poor. They said that +they had a baby brother at home, who was the favourite of them all, and +that he needed a nurse. Demeter was pleased with their kindness, and +they left their vessels for water beside her, and ran home to their +mother. Their long golden hair danced on their shoulders as they ran, +and they came, out of breath, to their mother the Queen, and asked her +to take the old woman to be their brother's nurse. The Queen was kind, +too, and the old woman lived in their house, till Zeus, the chief God, +made the God of the Dead send back Persephone, to be with her mother +through spring, and summer, and early autumn, but in winter she must +live with her husband in the dark palace beside the river of Ocean. + +Then Demeter was glad, and she caused the grain to grow abundantly for +the people of Eleusis, and taught them ceremonies, and a kind of play in +which all the story of her sorrows and joy was acted. It was also taught +that the souls of men do not die with the death of their bodies, any +more than the seed of corn dies when it is buried in the dark earth, but +that they live again in a world more happy and beautiful than ours. +These ceremonies were called the Mysteries of Eleusis, and were famous +in all the world. + +Theseus might have expected to find Eleusis a holy city, peaceful and +quiet. But he had heard, as he travelled, that in Eleusis was a strong +bully, named Cercyon; he was one of the rough Highlanders of Arcadia, +who lived in the hills of the centre of Southern Greece, which is called +Peloponnesus. He is said to have taken the kingship, and driven out the +descendants of the king whose daughters were kind to Demeter. The strong +man used to force all strangers to wrestle with him, and, when he threw +them, for he had never been thrown, he broke their backs. + +Knowing this, and being himself fond of wrestling, Theseus walked +straight to the door of the king's house, though the men in the town +warned him, and the women looked at him with sad eyes. He found the gate +of the courtyard open, with the altar of Zeus the high God smoking in +the middle of it, and at the threshold two servants welcomed him, and +took him to the polished bath, and women washed him, and anointed him +with oil, and clothed him in fresh raiment, as was the manner in kings' +houses. Then they led him into the hall, and he walked straight up to +the high seats between the four pillars beside the hearth, in the middle +of the hall. + +There Cercyon sat, eating and drinking, surrounded by a score of his +clan, great, broad, red-haired men, but he himself was the broadest and +the most brawny. He welcomed Theseus, and caused a table to be brought, +with meat, and bread, and wine, and when Theseus had put away his +hunger, began to ask him who he was and whence he came. Theseus told him +that he had walked from Troezene, and was on his way to the court of +King Peleus (the father of Achilles), in the north, for he did not want +the news of his coming to go before him to Athens. + +'You walked from Troezene?' said Cercyon. 'Did you meet or hear of the +man who killed the Maceman and slew the Pine-Bender, and kicked Sciron +into the sea?' + +'I walk fast, but news flies faster,' said Theseus. + +'The news came through my second-sighted man,' said Cercyon, 'there he +is, in the corner,' and Cercyon threw the leg bone of an ox at his +prophet, who just managed to leap out of the way. 'He seems to have +foreseen that the bone was coming at him,' said Cercyon, and all his +friends laughed loud. 'He told us this morning that a stranger was +coming, he who had killed the three watchers of the way. From your legs +and shoulders, and the iron club that you carry, methinks you are that +stranger?' + +Theseus smiled, and nodded upwards, which the Greeks did when they meant +'Yes!' + +'Praise be to all the gods!' said Cercyon. 'It is long since a good man +came my way. Do they practise wrestling at Troezene?' + +'Now and then,' said Theseus. + +'Then you will try a fall with me? There is a smooth space strewn with +sand in the courtyard.' + +Theseus answered that he had come hoping that the king would graciously +honour him by trying a fall. Then all the wild guests shouted, and out +they all went and made a circle round the wrestling-place, while Theseus +and Cercyon threw down their clothes and were anointed with oil over +their bodies. To it they went, each straining forward and feeling for a +grip, till they were locked, and then they swayed this way and that, +their feet stamping the ground; and now one would yield a little, now +the other, while the rough guests shouted, encouraging each of them. At +last they rested and breathed, and now the men began to bet; seven oxen +to three was laid on Cercyon, and taken in several places. Back to the +wrestle they went, and Theseus found this by far the hardest of his +adventures, for Cercyon was heavier than he, and as strong, but not so +active. So Theseus for long did little but resist the awful strain of +the arms of Cercyon, till, at last, for a moment Cercyon weakened. Then +Theseus slipped his hip under the hip of Cercyon, and heaved him across +and up, and threw him on the ground. He lighted in such a way that his +neck broke, and there he lay dead. + +'Was it fairly done?' said Theseus. + +'It was fairly done!' cried the Highlanders of Arcadia; and then they +raised such a wail for the dead that Theseus deemed it wise to put on +his clothes and walk out of the court; and, leaping into a chariot that +stood empty by the gate, for the servant in the chariot feared the club +of iron, he drove away at full speed. + +Though Cercyon was a cruel man and a wild, Theseus was sorry for him in +his heart. + +The groom in the chariot tried to leap out, but Theseus gripped him +tight. 'Do not hurry, my friend,' said Theseus, 'for I have need of you. +I am not stealing the chariot and horses, and you shall drive them back +after we reach Athens.' + +'But, my lord,' said the groom, 'you will never reach Athens.' + +'Why not?' asked Theseus. + +'Because of the man Procrustes, who dwells in a strong castle among the +hills on the way. He is the maimer of all mortals, and has at his +command a company of archers and spearmen, pirates from the islands. He +meets every traveller, and speaks to him courteously, praying him to be +his guest, and if any refuses the archers leap out of ambush and seize +and bind him. With them no one man can contend. He has a bed which he +says is a thing magical, for it is of the same length as the tallest or +the shortest man who sleeps in it, so that all are fitted. Now the +manner of it is this--there is an engine with ropes at the head of the +bed, and a saw is fitted at the bed foot. If a man is too short, the +ropes are fastened to his hands, and are strained till he is drawn to +the full length of the bed. If he is too long the saw shortens him. Such +a monster is Procrustes. + +'Verily, my lord, King Cercyon was to-morrow to lead an army against +him, and the King had a new device, as you may see, by which two great +shields are slung along the side of this chariot, to ward off the arrows +of the men of Procrustes.' + +'Then you and I will wear the shields when we come near the place where +Procrustes meets travellers by the way, and I think that to-night his +own bed will be too long for him,' said Theseus. + +To this the groom made no answer, but his body trembled. + +Theseus drove swiftly on till the road began to climb the lowest spur of +Mount Parnes, and then he drew rein, and put on one of the great shields +that covered all his body and legs, and he bade the groom do the like. +Then he drove slowly, watching the bushes and underwood beside the way. +Soon he saw the smoke going up from the roof of a great castle high in +the woods beside the road; and on the road there was a man waiting. +Theseus, as he drove towards him, saw the glitter of armour in the +underwood, and the setting sun shone red on a spear-point above the +leaves. 'Here is our man,' he said to the groom, and pulled up his +horses beside the stranger. He loosened his sword in the sheath, and +leaped out of the chariot, holding the reins in his left hand, and bowed +courteously to the man, who was tall, weak-looking, and old, with grey +hair and a clean-shaven face, the colour of ivory. He was clad like a +king, in garments of dark silk, with gold bracelets, and gold rings that +clasped the leather gaiters on his legs, and he smiled and smiled, and +rubbed his hands, while he looked to right and left, and not at Theseus. + +'I am fortunate, fair sir,' said he to Theseus, 'for I love to entertain +strangers, with whom goes the favour and protection of Zeus. Surely +strangers are dear to all men, and holy! You, too, are not unlucky, for +the night is falling, and the ways will be dark and dangerous. You will +sup and sleep with me, and to-night I can give you a bed that is well +spoken of, for its nature is such that it fits all men, the short and +the tall, and you are of the tallest.' + +'To-night, fair sir,' quoth Theseus, 'your own bed will be full long for +you.' And, drawing the sword of Ægeus, he cut sheer through the neck of +Procrustes at one blow, and the head of the man flew one way, and his +body fell another way. + +Then with a swing of his hand Theseus turned his shield from his front +to his back, and leaped into the chariot. He lashed the horses forward +with a cry, while the groom also turned his own shield from front to +back; and the arrows of the bowmen of Procrustes rattled on the bronze +shields as the chariot flew along, or struck the sides and the seat of +it. One arrow grazed the flank of a horse, and the pair broke into a +wild gallop, while the yells of the bowmen grew faint in the distance. +At last the horses slackened in their pace as they climbed a hill, and +from the crest of it Theseus saw the lights in the city of Aphidnæ. + +'Now, my friend,' he said to the groom, 'the way is clear to Athens, and +on your homeward road with the horses and the chariot you shall travel +well guarded. By the splendour of Lady Athênê's brow, I will burn that +raven's nest of Procrustes!' + +So they slept that night on safe beds at the house of the sons of +Phytalus, who bore rule in Aphidnæ. Here they were kindly welcomed, and +the sons of Phytalus rejoiced when they heard how Theseus had made safe +the ways, and slain the beasts that guarded them. 'We are your men,' +they said, 'we and all our people, and our spears will encircle you when +you make yourself King of Athens, and of all the cities in the Attic +land.' + + + + +IV + +THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER + + +Next day Theseus said farewell to the sons of Phytalus, and drove slowly +through the pleasant green woods that overhung the clear river Cephisus. +He halted to rest his horses in a glen, and saw a very beautiful young +man walking in a meadow on the other side of the river. In his hand he +bore a white flower, and the root of it was black; in the other hand he +carried a golden wand, and his upper lip was just beginning to darken, +he was of the age when youth is most gracious. He came towards Theseus, +and crossed the stream where it broke deep, and swift, and white, above +a long pool, and it seemed to Theseus that his golden shoon did not +touch the water. + +'Come, speak with me apart,' the young man said; and Theseus threw the +reins to the groom, and went aside with the youth, watching him +narrowly, for he knew not what strange dangers might beset him on the +way. + +'Whither art thou going, unhappy one,' said the youth, 'thou that +knowest not the land? Behold, the sons of Pallas rule in Athens, +fiercely and disorderly. Thy father is of no force, and in the house +with him is a fair witch woman from a far country. Her name is Medea, +the daughter of Æêtes, the brother of Circe the Sorceress. She wedded +the famous Jason, and won for him the Fleece of Gold, and slew her own +brother Absyrtus. Other evils she wrought, and now she dwells with +Ægeus, who fears and loves her greatly. Take thou this herb of grace, +and if Medea offers you a cup of wine, drop this herb in the cup, and so +you shall escape death. Behold, I am Hermes of the golden wand.' + +Then he gave to Theseus the flower, and passed into the wood, and +Theseus saw him no more; so then Theseus knelt down, and prayed, and +thanked the gods. The flower he placed in the breast of his garment, +and, returning to his chariot, he took the reins, and drove to Athens, +and up the steep narrow way to the crest of the rock where the temple of +Athênê stood and the palace of King Ægeus. + +Theseus drove through to the courtyard, and left his chariot at the +gate. In the court young men were throwing spears at a mark, while +others sat at the house door, playing draughts, and shouting and +betting. They were heavy, lumpish, red-faced young men, all rather like +each other. They looked up and stared, but said nothing. Theseus knew +that they were his cousins, the sons of Pallas, but as they said nothing +to him he walked through them, iron club on shoulder, as if he did not +see them, and as one tall fellow stood in his way, the tall fellow spun +round from a thrust of his shoulder. At the hall door Theseus stopped +and shouted, and at his cry two or three servants came to him. + +'Look to my horses and man,' said Theseus; 'I come to see your master.' +And in he went, straight up to the high chairs beside the fire in the +centre. The room was empty, but in a high seat sat, fallen forward and +half-asleep, a man in whose grey hair was a circlet of gold and a golden +grasshopper. Theseus knew that it was his father, grey and still, like +the fallen fire on the hearth. As the king did not look up, Theseus +touched his shoulder, and then knelt down, and put his arms round the +knees of the king. The king aroused himself with a start. 'Who? What +want you?' he said, and rubbed his red, bloodshot eyes. + +'A suppliant from Troezene am I, who come to your knees, oh, king, and +bring you gifts.' + +'From Troezene!' said the king sleepily, as if he were trying to +remember something. + +'From Æthra, your wife, your son brings your sword and your shoon,' said +Theseus; and he laid the sword and the shoon at his father's feet. + +The king rose to his feet with a great cry. 'You have come at last,' he +cried, 'and the gods have forgiven me and heard my prayers. But gird on +the sword, and hide the shoon, and speak not the name of "wife," for +there is one that hears.' + +'One that has heard,' said a sweet silvery voice; and from behind a +pillar came a woman, dark and pale, but very beautiful, clothed in a +rich Eastern robe that shone and shifted from colour to colour. Lightly +she threw her white arms round the neck of Theseus, lightly she kissed +his cheeks, and a strange sweet fragrance hung about her. Then, holding +him apart, with her hands on his shoulders, she laughed, and +half-turning to Ægeus, who had fallen back into his chair, she said: 'My +lord, did you think that you could hide anything from me?' Then she +fixed her great eyes on the eyes of Theseus. 'We are friends?' she said, +in her silvery voice. + +'Lady, I love you even as you love my father, King Ægeus,' said Theseus. + +'Even so much?' said the lady Medea. 'Then we must both drink to him in +wine.' She glided to the great golden mixing-cup of wine that stood on a +table behind Ægeus, and with her back to Theseus she ladled wine into a +cup of strange coloured glass. 'Pledge me and the king,' she said, +bringing the cup to Theseus. He took it, and from his breast he drew the +flower of black root and white blossom that Hermes had given him, and +laid it in the wine. Then the wine bubbled and hissed, and the cup burst +and broke, and the wine fell on the floor, staining it as with blood. + +Medea laughed lightly. 'Now we are friends indeed, for the gods befriend +you,' she said, 'and I swear by the Water of Styx that your friends are +my friends, and your foes are my foes, always, to the end. The gods are +with you; and by the great oath of the gods I swear, which cannot be +broken; for I come of the kin of the gods who live for ever.' + +Now the father of the father of Medea was the Sun God. + +Theseus took both her hands. 'I also swear,' he said, 'by the splendour +of Zeus, that your friends shall be my friends, and that your foes shall +be my foes, always, to the end.' + +Then Medea sat by the feet of Ægeus, and drew down his head to her +shoulder, while Theseus took hold of his hand, and the king wept for +joy. For the son he loved, and the woman whom he loved and feared, were +friends, and they two were stronger than the sons of Pallas. + +While they sat thus, one of the sons of Pallas--the Pallantidæ they were +called--slouched into the hall to see if dinner was ready. He stared, +and slouched out again, and said to his brothers: 'The old man is +sitting in the embraces of the foreign woman, and of the big stranger +with the iron club!' Then they all came together, and growled out their +threats and fears, kicking at the stones in the courtyard, and +quarrelling as to what it was best for them to do. + +Meanwhile, in the hall, the servants began to spread the tables with +meat and drink, and Theseus was taken to the bath, and clothed in new +raiment. + +While Theseus was at the bath Medea told Ægeus what he ought to do. So +when Theseus came back into the hall, where the sons of Pallas were +eating and drinking noisily, Ægeus stood up, and called to Theseus to +sit down at his right hand. He added, in a loud voice, looking all round +the hall: 'This is my son, Theseus, the slayer of monsters, and his is +the power in the house!' + +The sons of Pallas grew pale with fear and anger, but not one dared to +make an insolent answer. They knew that they were hated by the people +of Athens, except some young men of their own sort, and they did not +dare to do anything against the man who had slain Periphetes and Sinis, +and Cercyon, and Sciron, and, in the midst of his paid soldiers, had +struck off the head of Procrustes. Silent all through dinner sat the +sons of Pallas, and, when they had eaten, they walked out silently, and +went to a lonely place, where they could make their plans without being +overheard. + +Theseus went with Medea into her fragrant chamber, and they spake a few +words together. Then Medea took a silver bowl, filled it with water, +and, drawing her dark silken mantle over her head, she sat gazing into +the bowl. When she had gazed silently for a long time she said: 'Some of +them are going towards Sphettus, where their father dwells, to summon +his men in arms, and some are going to Gargettus on the other side of +the city, to lie in ambush, and cut us off when they of Sphettus assail +us. They will attack the palace just before the dawn. Now I will go +through the town, and secretly call the trusty men to arm and come to +defend the palace, telling them that the son of Ægeus, the man who +cleared the ways, is with us. And do you take your chariot, and drive +speedily to the sons of Phytalus, and bring all their spears, chariot +men and foot men, and place them in ambush around the village of +Gargettus, where one band of the Pallantidæ will lie to-night till dawn. +The rest you know.' + +Theseus nodded and smiled. He drove at full speed to Aphidnæ, where the +sons of Phytalus armed their men, and by midnight they lay hidden in the +woods round the village of Gargettus. When the stars had gone onward, +and the second of the three watches of the night was nearly past, they +set bands of men to guard every way from the little town, and Theseus +with another band rushed in, and slew the men of the sons of Pallas +around their fires, some of them awake, but most of them asleep. Those +who escaped were taken by the bands who watched the ways, and when the +sky was now clear at the earliest dawn, Theseus led his companions to +the palace of Ægeus, where they fell furiously upon the rear of the men +from Sphettus, who were besieging the palace of Ægeus. + +The Sphettus company had broken in the gate of the court, and were +trying to burn the house, while arrows flew thick from the bows of the +trusty men of Athens on the palace roof. The Pallantids had set no +sentinels, for they thought to take Theseus in the palace, and there to +burn him, and win the kingdom for themselves. Then silently and suddenly +the friends of Theseus stole into the courtyard, and, leaving some to +guard the gate, they drew up in line, and charged the confused crowd of +the Pallantids. Their spears flew thick among the enemy, and then they +charged with the sword, while the crowd, in terror, ran this way and +that way, being cut down at the gate, and dragged from the walls, when +they tried to climb them. The daylight found the Pallantidæ and their +men lying dead in the courtyard, all the sort of them. + +Then Theseus with the sons of Phytalus and their company marched through +the town, proclaiming that the rightful prince was come, and that the +robbers and oppressors were fallen, and all honest men rejoiced. They +burned the dead, and buried their ashes and bones, and for the rest of +that day they feasted in the hall of Ægeus. Next day Theseus led his +friends back to Aphidnæ, and on the next day they attacked and stormed +the castle of Procrustes, and slew the pirates, and Theseus divided all +the rich plunder among the sons of Phytalus and their company, but the +evil bed they burned to ashes. + + + + +V + +HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE + + +The days and weeks went by, and Theseus reigned with his father in +peace. The chief men came to Athens from the little towns in the +country, and begged Theseus to be their lord, and they would be his men, +and he would lead their people if any enemy came up against them. They +would even pay tribute to be used for buying better arms, and making +strong walls, and providing ships, for then the people of Athens had no +navy. Theseus received them courteously, and promised all that they +asked, for he did not know that soon he himself would be sent away as +part of the tribute which the Athenians paid every nine years to King +Minos of Crete. + +Though everything seemed to be peaceful and happy through the winter, +yet Theseus felt that all was not well. When he went into the houses of +the town's people, where all had been merry and proud of his visits, he +saw melancholy, silent mothers, and he missed the young people, lads and +maidens. Many of them were said to have gone to visit friends in +far-away parts of Greece. The elder folk, and the young people who were +left, used to stand watching the sea all day, as if they expected +something strange to come upon them from the sea, and Ægeus sat +sorrowful over the fire, speaking little, and he seemed to be in fear. + +Theseus was disturbed in his mind, and he did not choose to put +questions to Ægeus or to the townsfolk. He and Medea were great friends, +and one day when they were alone in her chamber, where a fragrant fire +of cedar wood burned, he told her what he had noticed. Medea sighed, and +said: 'The curse of the sons of Pallas is coming upon the people of +Athens--such a curse and so terrible that not even you, Prince Theseus, +can deal with it. The enemy is not one man or one monster only, but the +greatest and most powerful king in the world.' + +'Tell me all,' said Theseus, 'for though I am but one man, yet the +ever-living gods protect and help me.' + +'The story of the curse is long,' said Medea. 'When your father Ægeus +was young, after he returned to Athens from Troezene, he decreed that +games should be held every five years, contests in running, boxing, +wrestling, foot races, and chariot races. Not only the people of Athens, +but strangers were allowed to take part in the games, and among the +strangers came Androgeos, the eldest son of great Minos, King of +Cnossos, in the isle of Crete of the Hundred Cities, far away in the +southern sea. Minos is the wisest of men, and the most high god, even +Zeus, is his counsellor, and speaks to him face to face. He is the +richest of men, and his ships are without number, so that he rules all +the islands, and makes war, when he will, even against the King of +Egypt. The son of Minos it was who came to the sports with three fair +ships, and he was the strongest and swiftest of men. He won the foot +race, and the prizes for boxing and wrestling, and for shooting with the +bow, and throwing the spear, and hurling the heavy weight, and he easily +overcame the strongest of the sons of Pallas. + +'Then, being unjust men and dishonourable, they slew him at a feast in +the hall of Ægeus, their own guest in the king's house they slew, a +thing hateful to the gods above all other evil deeds. His ships fled in +the night, bearing the news to King Minos, and, a year after that day, +the sea was black with his countless ships. His men landed, and they +were so many, all glittering in armour of bronze, that none dared to +meet them in battle. King Ægeus and all the elder men of the city went +humbly to meet Minos, clad in mourning, and bearing in their hands +boughs of trees, wreathed with wool, to show that they came praying for +mercy. "Mercy ye shall have when ye have given up to me the men who slew +my son," said Minos. But Ægeus could not give up the sons of Pallas, for +long ago they had fled in disguise, and were lurking here and there, in +all the uttermost parts of Greece, in the huts of peasants. Such mercy, +then, the Athenians got as Minos was pleased to give. He did not burn +the city, and slay the men, and carry the women captives. But he made +Ægeus and the chief men swear that every nine years they would choose by +lot seven of the strongest youths, and seven of the fairest maidens, and +give them to his men, to carry away to Crete. Every nine years he sends +a ship with dark sails, to bear away the captives, and this is the ninth +year, and the day of the coming of the ship is at hand. Can you resist +King Minos?' + +'His ship we could burn, and his men we could slay,' said Theseus; and +his hand closed on the hilt of his sword. + +'That may well be,' said Medea, 'but in a year Minos would come with his +fleet and his army, and burn the city; and the other cities of Greece, +fearing him and not loving us, would give us no aid.' + +'Then,' said Theseus, 'we must even pay the tribute for this last time; +but in nine years, if I live, and the gods help me, I shall have a +fleet, and Minos must fight for his tribute. For in nine years Athens +will be queen of all the cities round about, and strong in men and +ships. Yet, tell me, how does Minos treat the captives from Athens, +kindly or unkindly?' + +'None has ever come back to tell the tale,' said Medea, 'but the sailors +of Minos say that he places the captives in a strange prison called the +Labyrinth. It is full of dark winding ways, cut in the solid rock, and +therein the captives are lost and perish of hunger, or live till they +meet a Thing called the Minotaur. This monster has the body of a strong +man, and a man's legs and arms, but his head is the head of a bull, and +his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and no man may deal with him. Those +whom he meets he tosses, and gores, and devours. Whence this evil beast +came I know, but the truth of it may not be spoken. It is not lawful for +King Minos to slay the Horror, which to him is great shame and grief; +neither may he help any man to slay it. Therefore, in his anger against +the Athenians he swore that, once in every nine years, he would give +fourteen of the Athenian men and maidens to the Thing, and that none of +them should bear sword or spear, dagger or axe, or any other weapon. +Yet, if one of the men, or all of them together, could slay the monster, +Minos made oath that Athens should be free of him and his tribute.' + +Theseus laughed and stood up. 'Soon,' he said, 'shall King Minos be free +from the Horror, and Athens shall be free from the tribute, if, indeed, +the gods be with me. For me need no lot be cast; gladly I will go to +Crete of my free will.' + +'I needed not to be a prophetess to know that you would speak thus,' +said Medea. 'But one thing even I can do. Take this phial, and bear it +in your breast, and, when you face the Minotaur, do as I shall tell +you.' Then she whispered some words to Theseus, and he marked them +carefully. + +He went forth from Medea's bower; he walked to the crest of the hill +upon which Athens is built, and there he saw all the people gathered, +weeping, and looking towards the sea. Swiftly a ship with black sails +was being rowed towards the shore, and her sides shone with the bronze +shields of her crew, that were hung on the bulwarks. + +'My friends,' cried Theseus, 'I know that ship, and wherefore she comes, +and with her I shall sail to Crete and slay the Minotaur. Did I not slay +Sinis and Sciron, Cercyon and Procrustes, and Periphetes? Let there be +no drawing of lots. Where are seven men and seven maidens who will come +with me, and meet these Cretans when they land, and sail back with them, +and see this famous Crete, for the love of Theseus?' + +Then there stepped forth seven young men of the best of Athens, tall, +and strong, and fair, the ancestors of them who smote, a thousand years +afterwards, the Persians at Marathon and in the strait of Salamis. 'We +will live or die with you, Prince Theseus,' they said. + +Next, one by one, came out of the throng, blushing, but with heads erect +and firm steps, the seven maidens whom the seven young men loved. They, +too, were tall, and beautiful, and stately, like the stone maidens +called Caryatides who bear up the roofs of temples. + +'We will live and die with you, Prince Theseus, and with our lovers,' +they cried; and all the people gave such a cheer that King Ægeus heard +it, and came from his palace, leaning on his staff, and Medea walked +beside him. + +'Why do you raise a glad cry, my children?' said Ægeus. 'Is not that the +Ship of Death, and must we not cast lots for the tribute to King Minos?' + +'Sir,' said Theseus, 'we rejoice because we go as free folk, of our own +will, these men and maidens and I, to take such fortune as the gods may +give us, and to do as well as we may. Nay, delay us not, for from this +hour shall Athens be free, without master or lord among Cretan men.' + +'But, my son, who shall defend me, who shall guide me, when I have lost +thee, the light of mine eyes, and the strength of my arm?' whimpered +Ægeus. + +'Is the king weeping alone, while the fathers and mothers of my +companions have dry eyes?' said Theseus. 'The gods will be your helpers, +and the lady who is my friend, and who devised the slaying of the sons +of Pallas. Hers was the mind, if the hand was my own, that wrought their +ruin. Let her be your counsellor, for no other is so wise. But that ship +is near the shore, and we must go.' + +Then Theseus embraced Ægeus, and Medea kissed him, and the young men and +maidens kissed their fathers and mothers, and said farewell. With +Theseus at their head they marched down the hill, two by two; but Medea +sent after them chariots laden with changes of raiment, and food, and +skins of wine, and all things of which they had need. They were to sail +in their own hired ship, for such was the custom, and the ship was ready +with her oarsmen. But Theseus and the Seven, by the law of Minos, might +carry no swords or other weapons of war. The ship had a black sail, but +Ægeus gave to the captain a sail dyed scarlet with the juice of the +scarlet oak, and bade him hoist it if he was bringing back Theseus +safe, but, if not, to return under the black sail. + +The captain, and the outlook man, and the crew, and the ship came all +from the isle of Salamis, for as yet the Athenians had no vessels fit +for long voyages--only fishing-boats. As Theseus and his company marched +along they met the herald of King Minos, bearing a sacred staff, for +heralds were holy, and to slay a herald was a deadly sin. He stopped +when he met Theseus, and wondered at his beauty and strength. 'My lord,' +said he, 'wherefore come you with the Fourteen? Know you to what end +they are sailing?' + +'That I know not, nor you, nor any man, but they and I are going to one +end, such as the gods may give us,' answered Theseus. 'Speak with me no +more, I pray you, and go no nearer Athens, for there men's hearts are +high to-day, and they carry swords.' + +The voice and the eyes of Theseus daunted the herald, and he with his +men turned and followed behind, humbly, as if they were captives and +Theseus were conqueror. + + + + +VI + +THESEUS IN CRETE + + +After many days' sailing, now through the straits under the beautiful +peaks of the mountains that crowned the islands, and now across the wide +sea far from sight of land, they beheld the crest of Mount Ida of Crete, +and ran into the harbour, where a hundred ships lay at anchor, and a +great crowd was gathered. Theseus marvelled at the ships, so many and so +strong, and at the harbour with its huge walls, while he and his +company landed. A hundred of the guardsmen of Minos, with large shields, +and breastplates made of ribs of bronze, and helmets of bronze with +horns on them, were drawn up on the pier. They surrounded the little +company of Athenians, and they all marched to the town of Cnossos, and +the palace of the king. + +If Theseus marvelled at the harbour he wondered yet more at the town. It +was so great that it seemed endless, and round it went a high wall, and +at every forty yards was a square tower with small square windows high +up. These towers were exactly like those which you may see among the +hills and beside the burns in the Border country, the south of Scotland +and the north of England; towers built when England and Scotland were at +war. But when they had passed through the gateway in the chief tower, +the town seemed more wonderful than the walls, for in all things it was +quite unlike the cities of Greece. The street, paved with flat paving +stones, wound between houses like our own, with a ground floor (in this +there were no windows) and with two or three stories above, in which +there were windows, with sashes, and with so many panes to each window, +the panes were coloured red. Each window opened on a balcony, and the +balconies were crowded with ladies in gay dresses like those which are +now worn. Under their hats their hair fell in long plaits over their +shoulders: they had very fine white blouses, short jackets, embroidered +in bright coloured silk, and skirts with flounces. Laughing merrily they +looked down at the little troop of prisoners, chatting, and some saying +they were sorry for the Athenian girls. Others, seeing Theseus marching +first, a head taller than the tallest guardsman, threw flowers that +fell at his feet, and cried, 'Go on, brave Prince!' for they could not +believe that he was one of the prisoners. + +The crowd in the street being great, the march was stopped under a house +taller than the rest; in the balcony one lady alone was seated, the +others stood round her as if they were her handmaidens. This lady was +most richly dressed, young, and very beautiful and stately, and was, +indeed, the king's daughter, Ariadne. She looked grave and full of pity, +and, as Theseus happened to glance upwards, their eyes met, and remained +fixed on each other. Theseus, who had never thought much about girls +before, grew pale, for he had never seen so beautiful a maiden: Ariadne +also turned pale, and then blushed and looked away, but her eyes glanced +down again at Theseus, and he saw it, and a strange feeling came into +his heart. + +The guards cleared the crowd, and they all marched on till they came to +the palace walls and gate, which were more beautiful even than the walls +of the town. But the greatest wonder of all was the palace, standing in +a wide park, and itself far greater than such towns as Theseus had seen, +Troezene, or Aphidnae, or Athens. There was a multitude of roofs of +various heights, endless roofs, endless windows, terraces, and gardens: +no king's palace of our times is nearly so great and strong. There were +fountains and flowers and sweet-smelling trees in blossom, and, when the +Athenians were led within the palace, they felt lost among the winding +passages and halls. + +The walls of them were painted with pictures of flying fishes, above a +clear white sea, in which fish of many kinds were swimming, with the +spray and bubbles flying from their tails, as the sea flows apart from +the rudder of a ship. There were pictures of bull fights, men and girls +teasing the bull, and throwing somersaults over him, and one bull had +just tossed a girl high in the air. Ladies were painted in balconies, +looking on, just such ladies as had watched Theseus and his company; and +young men bearing tall cool vases full of wine were painted on other +walls; and others were decorated with figures of bulls and stags, in +hard plaster, fashioned marvellously, and standing out from the walls +'in relief,' as it is called. Other walls, again, were painted with +patterns of leaves and flowers. + +The rooms were full of the richest furniture, chairs inlaid with ivory, +gold, and silver, chests inlaid with painted porcelain in little +squares, each square containing a separate bright coloured picture. +There were glorious carpets, and in some passages stood rows of vases, +each of them large enough to hold a man, like the pots in the story of +Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights. There were tablets +of stone brought from Egypt, with images carved of gods and kings, and +strange Egyptian writing, and there were cups of gold and +silver--indeed, I could not tell you half the beautiful and wonderful +things in the palace of Minos. We know that this is true, for the things +themselves, all of them, or pictures of them, have been brought to +light, dug out from under ground; and, after years of digging, there is +still plenty of this wonderful palace to be explored. + +The Athenians were dazzled, and felt lost and giddy with passing through +so many rooms and passages, before they were led into the great hall +named the Throne Room, where Minos was sitting in his gilded throne that +is still standing. Around him stood his chiefs and princes, gloriously +clothed in silken robes with jewels of gold; they left a lane between +their ranks, and down this lane was led Theseus at the head of his +little company. Minos, a dark-faced man, with touches of white in his +hair and long beard, sat with his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his +hand, and he fixed his eyes on the eyes of Theseus. Theseus bowed and +then stood erect, with his eyes on the eyes of Minos. + +'You are fifteen in number,' said Minos at last, 'my law claims +fourteen.' + +'I came of my own will,' answered Theseus, 'and of their own will came +my company. No lots were cast.' + +'Wherefore?' asked Minos. + +'The people of Athens have a mind to be free, O king.' + +'There is a way,' said Minos. 'Slay the Minotaur and you are free from +my tribute.' + +'I am minded to slay him,' said Theseus, and, as he spoke, there was a +stir in the throng of chiefs, and priests, and princes, and Ariadne +glided through them, and stood a little behind her father's throne, at +one side. Theseus bowed low, and again stood erect, with his eyes on the +face of Ariadne. + +'You speak like a king's son that has not known misfortune,' said Minos. + +'I have known misfortune, and my name is Theseus, Ægeus' son,' said +Theseus. + +'This is a new thing. When I saw King Ægeus he had no son, but he had +many nephews.' + +'No son that he wotted of,' said Theseus, 'but now he has no nephews, +and one son.' + +'Is it so?' asked Minos, 'then you have avenged me on the slayers of my +own son, fair sir, for it was your sword, was it not, that delivered +Ægeus from the sons of Pallas?' + +'My sword and the swords of my friends, of whom seven stand before you.' + +'I will learn if this be true,' said Minos. + +'True!' cried Theseus, and his hand flew to the place where his +sword-hilt should have been, but he had no sword. + +King Minos smiled. 'You are young,' he said, 'I will learn more of these +matters. Lead these men and maidens to their own chambers in the +palace,' he cried to his guard. 'Let each have a separate chamber, and +all things that are fitting for princes. To-morrow I will take counsel.' + +Theseus was gazing at Ariadne. She stood behind her father, and she put +up her right hand as if to straighten her veil, but, as she raised her +hand, she swiftly made the motion of lifting a cup to the lips; and then +she laid on her lips the fingers of her left hand, closing them fast. +Theseus saw the token, and he bowed, as did all his company, to Minos +and to the princess, and they were led upstairs and along galleries, +each to a chamber more rich and beautiful than they had seen before in +their dreams. Then each was taken to a bath, they were washed and +clothed in new garments, and brought back to their chambers, where meat +was put before them, and wine in cups of gold. At the door of each +chamber were stationed two guards, but four guards were set at the door +of Theseus. At nightfall more food was brought, and, for Theseus, much +red wine, in a great vessel adorned with ropes and knobs of gold. + +Theseus ate well, but he drank none, and, when he had finished, he +opened the door of his chamber, and carried out all the wine and the +cup. 'I am one,' he said, 'who drinks water, and loves not the smell of +wine in his chamber.' + +The guards thanked him, and soon he heard them very merry over the +king's best wine, next he did not hear them at all, next--he heard them +snoring! + +Theseus opened the door gently and silently: the guards lay asleep +across and beside the threshold. Something bright caught his eye, he +looked up, a lamp was moving along the dark corridor, a lamp in the hand +of a woman clad in a black robe; the light fell on her white silent +feet, and on the feet of another woman who followed her. + +Theseus softly slipped back into his chamber. The light, though shaded +by the girl's hand, showed in the crevice between the door and the +door-post. Softly entered Ariadne, followed by an old woman that had +been her nurse. 'You guessed the token?' she whispered. 'In the wine was +a sleepy drug.' + +Theseus, who was kneeling to her, nodded. + +'I can show you the way to flee, and I bring you a sword.' + +'I thank you, lady, for the sword, and I pray you to show me the way--to +the Minotaur.' + +Ariadne grew pale, and her hand flew to her heart. + +'I pray you make haste. Flee I will not, nor, if the king have mercy on +us, will I leave Crete till I have met the Minotaur: for he has shed the +blood of my people.' + +Ariadne loved Theseus, and knew well in her heart that he loved her. But +she was brave, and she made no more ado; she beckoned to him, and +stepped across the sleeping guardsmen that lay beside the threshold. +Theseus held up his hand, and she stopped, while he took two swords from +the men of the guard. One was long, with a strong straight narrow blade +tapering to a very sharp point; the other sword was short and straight, +with keen cutting double edges. Theseus slung them round his neck by +their belts, and Ariadne walked down the corridor, Theseus following +her, and the old nurse following him. He had taken the swords from the +sleeping men lest, if Ariadne gave him one, it might be found out that +she had helped him, and she knew this in her heart, for neither of them +spoke a word. + +Swiftly and silently they went, through galleries and corridors that +turned and wound about, till Ariadne came to the door of her own +chamber. Here she held up her hand, and Theseus stopped, till she came +forth again, thrusting something into the bosom of her gown. Again she +led the way, down a broad staircase between great pillars, into a hall, +whence she turned, and passed down a narrower stair, and then through +many passages, till she came into the open air, and they crossed rough +ground to a cave in a hill. In the back of the cave was a door plated +with bronze which she opened with a key. Here she stopped and took out +of the bosom of her gown a coil of fine strong thread. + +'Take this,' she said, 'and enter by that door, and first of all make +fast the end of the coil to a stone, and so walk through the labyrinth, +and, when you would come back, the coil shall be your guide. Take this +key also, to open the door, and lock it from within. If you return place +the key in a cleft in the wall within the outer door of the palace.' + +She stopped and looked at Theseus with melancholy eyes, and he threw his +arms about her, and they kissed and embraced as lovers do who are +parting and know not if they may ever meet again. + +At last she sighed and said, 'The dawn is near--farewell; the gods be +with you. I give you the watchword of the night, that you may pass the +sentinels if you come forth alive,' and she told him the word. Then she +opened the door and gave him the key, and the old nurse gave him the +lamp which she carried, and some food to take with him. + + + + +VII + +THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR + + +Theseus first fastened one end of his coil of string to a pointed rock, +and then began to look about him. The labyrinth was dark, and he slowly +walked, holding the string, down the broadest path, from which others +turned off to right or left. He counted his steps, and he had taken near +three thousand steps when he saw the pale sky showing in a small circle +cut in the rocky roof, above his head, and he saw the fading stars. +Sheer walls of rock went up on either hand of him, a roof of rock was +above him, but in the roof was this one open place, across which were +heavy bars. Soon the daylight would come. + +Theseus set the lamp down on a rock behind a corner, and he waited, +thinking, at a place where a narrow dark path turned at right angles to +the left. Looking carefully round he saw a heap of bones, not human +bones, but skulls of oxen and sheep, hoofs of oxen, and shank bones. +'This,' he thought, 'must be the place where the food of the Minotaur is +let down to him from above. They have not Athenian youths and maidens to +give him every day! Beside his feeding place I will wait.' Saying this +to himself, he rose and went round the corner of the dark narrow path +cut in the rock to the left. He made his own breakfast, from the food +that Ariadne had given him, and it occurred to his mind that probably +the Minotaur might also be thinking of breakfast time. + +He sat still, and from afar away within he heard a faint sound, like the +end of the echo of a roar, and he stood up, drew his long sword, and +listened keenly. The sound came nearer and louder, a strange sound, not +deep like the roar of a bull, but more shrill and thin. Theseus laughed +silently. A monster with the head and tongue of a bull, but with the +chest of a man, could roar no better than that! The sounds came nearer +and louder, but still with the thin sharp tone in them. Theseus now took +from his bosom the phial of gold that Medea had given him in Athens when +she told him about the Minotaur. He removed the stopper, and held his +thumb over the mouth of the phial, and grasped his long sword with his +left hand, after fastening the clue of thread to his belt. + +The roars of the hungry Minotaur came nearer and nearer; now his feet +could be heard padding along the echoing floor of the labyrinth. Theseus +moved to the shadowy corner of the narrow path, where it opened into the +broad light passage, and he crouched there; his heart was beating +quickly. On came the Minotaur, up leaped Theseus, and dashed the +contents of the open phial in the eyes of the monster; a white dust flew +out, and Theseus leaped back into his hiding place. The Minotaur uttered +strange shrieks of pain; he rubbed his eyes with his monstrous hands; he +raised his head up towards the sky, bellowing and confused; he stood +tossing his head up and down; he turned round and round about, feeling +with his hands for the wall. He was quite blind. Theseus drew his short +sword, crept up, on naked feet, behind the monster, and cut through +the back sinews of his legs at the knees. Down fell the Minotaur, with a +crash and a roar, biting at the rocky floor with his lion's teeth, and +waving his hands, and clutching at the empty air. Theseus waited for his +chance, when the clutching hands rested, and then, thrice he drove the +long sharp blade of bronze through the heart of the Minotaur. The body +leaped, and lay still. + +[Illustration: HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR.] + +Theseus kneeled down, and thanked all the gods, and promised rich +sacrifices, and a new temple to Pallas Athênê, the Guardian of Athens. +When he had finished his prayer, he drew the short sword, and hacked off +the head of the Minotaur. He sheathed both his swords, took the head in +his hand, and followed the string back out of the daylit place, to the +rock where he had left his lamp. With the lamp and the guidance of the +string he easily found his way to the door, which he unlocked. He +noticed that the thick bronze plates of the door were dinted and scarred +by the points of the horns of the Minotaur, trying to force his way out. + +He went out into the fresh early morning; all the birds were singing +merrily, and merry was the heart of Theseus. He locked the door, and +crossed to the palace, which he entered, putting the key in the place +which Ariadne had shown him. She was there, with fear and joy in her +eyes. 'Touch me not,' said Theseus, 'for I am foul with the blood of the +Minotaur.' She brought him to the baths on the ground floor, and swiftly +fled up a secret stair. In the bathroom Theseus made himself clean, and +clad himself in fresh raiment which was lying ready for him. When he was +clean and clad he tied a rope of byblus round the horns of the head of +the Minotaur, and went round the back of the palace, trailing the head +behind him, till he came to a sentinel. 'I would see King Minos,' he +said, 'I have the password, _Androgeos_!' + +The sentinel, pale and wondering, let him pass, and so he went through +the guards, and reached the great door of the palace, and there the +servants wrapped the bleeding head in cloth, that it might not stain the +floors. Theseus bade them lead him to King Minos, who was seated on his +throne, judging the four guardsmen, that had been found asleep. + +When Theseus entered, followed by the serving men with their burden, the +king never stirred on his throne, but turned his grey eyes on Theseus. +'My lord,' said Theseus, 'that which was to be done is done.' The +servants laid their burden at the feet of King Minos, and removed the +top fold of the covering. + +The king turned to the captain of his guard. 'A week in the cells for +each of these four men,' said he, and the four guards, who had expected +to die by a cruel death, were led away. 'Let that head and the body also +be burned to ashes and thrown into the sea, far from the shore,' said +Minos, and his servants silently covered the head of the Minotaur, and +bore it from the throne room. + +Then, at last, Minos rose from his throne, and took the hand of Theseus, +and said, 'Sir, I thank you, and I give you back your company safe and +free; and I am no more in hatred with your people. Let there be peace +between me and them. But will you not abide with us awhile, and be our +guests?' + +Theseus was glad enough, and he and his company tarried in the palace, +and were kindly treated. Minos showed Theseus all the splendour and +greatness of his kingdom and his ships, and great armouries, full of all +manner of weapons: the names and numbers of them are yet known, for +they are written on tablets of clay, that were found in the storehouse +of the king. Later, in the twilight, Theseus and Ariadne would walk +together in the fragrant gardens where the nightingales sang, and Minos +knew it, and was glad. He thought that nowhere in the world could he +find such a husband for his daughter, and he deemed it wise to have the +alliance of so great a king as Theseus promised to be. But, loving his +daughter, he kept Theseus with him long, till the prince was ashamed of +his delay, knowing that his father, King Ægeus, and all the people of +his country, were looking for him anxiously. + +Therefore he told what was in his heart to Minos, who sighed, and said, +'I knew what is in your heart, and I cannot say you nay. I give to you +my daughter as gladly as a father may.' Then they spoke of things of +state, and made firm alliance between Cnossos and Athens while they both +lived; and the wedding was done with great splendour, and, at last, +Theseus and Ariadne and all their company went aboard, and sailed from +Crete. One misfortune they had: the captain of their ship died of a +sickness while they were in Crete, but Minos gave them the best of his +captains. Yet by reason of storms and tempests they had a long and +terrible voyage, driven out of their course into strange seas. When at +length they found their bearings, a grievous sickness fell on beautiful +Ariadne. Day by day she was weaker, till Theseus, with a breaking heart, +stayed the ship at an isle but two days' sail from Athens. There Ariadne +was carried ashore, and laid in a bed in the house of the king of that +island, and the physicians and the wise women did for her what they +could. But she died with her hands in the hands of Theseus, and his lips +on her lips. In that isle she was buried, and Theseus went on board his +ship, and drew his cloak over his head, and so lay for two days, never +moving nor speaking, and tasting neither meat nor drink. No man dared to +speak to him, but when the vessel stopped in the harbour of Athens, he +arose, and stared about him. + +The shore was dark with people all dressed in mourning raiment, and the +herald of the city came with the news that Ægeus the King was dead. For +the Cretan captain did not know that he was to hoist the scarlet sail if +Theseus came home in triumph, and Ægeus, as he watched the waters, had +descried the dark sail from afar off, and, in his grief, had thrown +himself down from the cliff, and was drowned. This was the end of the +voyaging of Theseus. + + * * * * * + +Theseus wished to die, and be with Ariadne, in the land of Queen +Persephone. But he was a strong man, and he lived to be the greatest of +the Kings of Athens, for all the other towns came in, and were his +subjects, and he ruled them well. His first care was to build a great +fleet in secret harbours far from towns and the ways of men, for, though +he and Minos were friends while they both lived, when Minos died the new +Cretan king might oppress Athens. + +Minos died, at last, and his son picked a quarrel with Theseus, who +refused to give up a man that had fled to Athens because the new king +desired to slay him, and news came to Theseus that a great navy was +being made ready in Crete to attack him. Then he sent heralds to the +king of a fierce people, called the Dorians, who were moving through the +countries to the north-west of Greece, seizing lands, settling on them, +and marching forward again in a few years. They were wild, strong, and +brave, and they are said to have had swords of iron, which were better +than the bronze weapons of the Greeks. The heralds of Theseus said to +them, 'Come to our king, and he will take you across the sea, and show +you plunder enough. But you shall swear not to harm his kingdom.' + +This pleased the Dorians well, and the ships of Theseus brought them +round to Athens, where Theseus joined them with many of his own men, and +they did the oath. They sailed swiftly to Crete, where, as they arrived +in the dark, the Cretan captains thought that they were part of their +own navy, coming in to join them in the attack on Athens; for that +Theseus had a navy the Cretans knew not; he had built it so secretly. In +the night he marched his men to Cnossos, and took the garrison by +surprise, and burned the palace, and plundered it. Even now we can see +that the palace has been partly burned, and hurriedly robbed by some +sudden enemy. + +The Dorians stayed in Crete, and were there in the time of Ulysses, +holding part of the island, while the true Cretans held the greater part +of it. But Theseus returned to Athens, and married Hippolyte, Queen of +the Amazons. The story of their wedding festival is told in +Shakespeare's play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' And Theseus had many +new adventures, and many troubles, but he left Athens rich and strong, +and in no more danger from the kings of Crete. Though the Dorians, after +the time of Ulysses, swept all over the rest of Greece, and seized +Mycenæ and Lacedæmon, the towns of Agamemnon and Menelaus, they were +true to their oath to Theseus, and left Athens to the Athenians. + + + + +PERSEUS + + + + +I + +THE PRISON OF DANAE + + +Many years before the Siege of Troy there lived in Greece two princes +who were brothers and deadly enemies. Each of them wished to be king +both of Argos (where Diomede ruled in the time of the Trojan war), and +of Tiryns. After long wars one of the brothers, Proetus, took Tiryns, +and built the great walls of huge stones, and the palace; while the +other brother, Acrisius, took Argos, and he married Eurydice, a princess +of the Royal House of Lacedæmon, where Menelaus and Helen were King and +Queen in later times. + +Acrisius had one daughter, Danae, who became the most beautiful woman in +Greece, but he had no son. This made him very unhappy, for he thought +that, when he grew old, the sons of his brother Proetus would attack +him, and take his lands and city, if he had no son to lead his army. His +best plan would have been to find some brave young prince, like Theseus, +and give Danae to him for his wife, and their sons would be leaders of +the men of Argos. But Acrisius preferred to go to the prophetic maiden +of the temple of Apollo at Delphi (or Pytho, as it was then called), and +ask what chance he had of being the father of a son. + +The maiden seldom had good news to give any man; but at least this time +it was easy to understand what she said. She went down into the deep +cavern below the temple floor, where it was said that a strange mist or +steam flowed up out of the earth, and made her fall into a strange +sleep, in which she could walk and speak, but knew not what she was +singing, for she sang her prophecies. At last she came back, very pale, +with her laurel wreath twisted awry, and her eyes open, but seeing +nothing. She sang that Acrisius would never have a son; but that his +daughter would bear a son, who would kill him. + +Acrisius mounted his chariot, sad and sorry, and was driven homewards. +On the way he never spoke a word, but was thinking how he might escape +from the prophecy, and baffle the will of Zeus, the chief of the gods. +He did not know that Zeus himself had looked down upon Danae and fallen +in love with her, nor did Danae know. + +The only sure way to avoid the prophecy was to kill Danae, and Acrisius +thought of doing this; but he loved her too much; and he was afraid that +his people would rise against him, if he slew his daughter, the pride of +their hearts. Still another fear was upon Acrisius, which will be +explained later in the story. He could think of nothing better than to +build a house all of bronze, in the court of his palace, a house sunk +deep in the earth, but with part of the roof open to the sky, as was the +way in all houses then; the light came in from above, and the smoke of +the fire went out in the same way. This chamber Acrisius built, and in +it he shut up poor Danae with the woman that had been her nurse. They +saw nothing, hills or plains or sea, men or trees, they only saw the sun +at midday, and the sky, and the free birds flitting across it. There +Danae lay, and was weary and sad, and she could not guess why her +father thus imprisoned her. He used to visit her often and seemed kind +and sorry for her, but he would never listen when she implored him to +sell her for a slave into a far country, so that, at least, she might +see the world in which she lived. + +Now on a day a mysterious thing happened; the old poet Pindar, who lived +long after, in the time of the war between the Greeks and the King of +Persia, says that a living stream of gold flowed down from the sky and +filled the chamber of Danae. Some time after this Danae bore a baby, a +son, the strongest and most beautiful of children. She and her nurse +kept it secret, and the child was brought up in an inner chamber of the +house of bronze. It was difficult to prevent so lively a child from +making a noise in his play, and one day, when Acrisius was with Danae, +the boy, now three or four years old, escaped from his nurse, and ran +from her room, laughing and shouting. Acrisius rushed out, and saw the +nurse catch the child, and throw her mantle over him. Acrisius seized +the boy, who stood firm on his little legs, with his head high, frowning +at his grandfather, and gazing in anger out of his large blue eyes. +Acrisius saw that this child would be dangerous when he became a man, +and in great anger he bade his guards take the nurse out, and strangle +her with a rope, while Danae knelt weeping at his feet. + +When they were alone he said to Danae: 'Who is the father of this +child?' but she, with her boy on her arm, slipped past Acrisius, and out +of the open door, and up the staircase, into the open air. She ran to +the altar of Zeus, which was built in the court, and threw her arms +round it, thinking that there no man dared to touch her. 'I cry to Zeus +that is throned in the highest, the Lord of Thunder,' she said: 'for he +and no other is the father of my boy, even Perseus.' The sky was bright +and blue without a cloud, and Danae cried in vain. There came no flash +of lightning nor roll of thunder. + +'Is it even so?' said Acrisius, 'then let Zeus guard his own.' He bade +his men drag Danae from the altar; and lock her again in the house of +bronze; while he had a great strong chest made. In that chest he had the +cruelty to place Danae and her boy, and he sent them out to sea in a +ship, the sailors having orders to let the chest down into the waters +when they were far from shore. They dared not disobey, but they put food +and a skin of wine, and two skins of water in the chest, and lowered it +into the sea, which was perfectly calm and still. It was their hope that +some ship would come sailing by, perhaps a ship of Phoenician +merchant-men, who would certainly save Danae and the child, if only that +they might sell them for slaves. + +King Acrisius himself was not ignorant that this might happen, and that +his grandson might live to be the cause of his death. But the Greeks +believed that if any man killed one of his own kinsfolk, he would be +pursued and driven mad by the Furies called the Erinyes, terrible winged +women with cruel claws. These winged women drove Orestes, the son of +Agamemnon, fleeing like a madman through the world, because he slew his +own mother, Clytaemnestra, to avenge his father, whom she and Ægisthus +had slain. Nothing was so much dreaded as these Furies, and therefore +Acrisius did not dare to slay his daughter and his grandson, Perseus, +but only put them in the way of being drowned. He heard no more of them, +and hoped that both of their bodies were rolling in the waves, or that +their bones lay bleaching on some unknown shore. But he could not be +certain--indeed, he soon knew better--and as long as he lived, he lived +in fear that Perseus had escaped, and would come and slay him, as the +prophetess had said in her song. + +The chest floated on the still waters, and the sea birds swooped down to +look at it, and passed by, with one waft of their wings. The sun set, +and Danae watched the stars, the Bear and Orion with his belt, and +wrapped her boy up warm, and he slept sound, for he never knew fear, in +his mother's arms. The Dawn came in her golden throne, and Danae saw +around her the blue sharp crests of the mountains of the islands that +lay scattered like water lilies on the seas of Greece. If only the +current would drift her to an island, she thought, and prayed in her +heart to the Gods of Good Help, Pallas Athênê, and Hermes of the Golden +Wand. Soon she began to hope that the chest was drawing near an island. +She turned her head in the opposite direction for a long while, and then +looked forward again. She was much nearer the island, and could see the +smoke going up from cottages among the trees. But she drifted on and +drifted past the end of the isle, and on with the current, and so all +day. + +A weary day she had, for the boy was full of play, and was like to +capsize the chest. She gave him some wine and water, and presently he +fell asleep, and Danae watched the sea and the distant isles till night +came again. It was dark, with no moon, and the darker because the chest +floated into the shadow of a mountain, and the current drew it near the +shore. But Danae dared not hope again; men would not be abroad, she +thought, in the night. As she lay thus helpless, she saw a light moving +on the sea, and she cried as loud as she could cry. Then the light +stopped, and a man's shout came to her over the water, and the light +moved swiftly towards her. It came from a brazier set on a pole in a +boat, and now Danae could see the bright sparks that shone in the drops +from the oars, for the boat was being rowed towards her, as fast as two +strong men could pull. + +Being weak from the heat of the sun that had beaten on her for two days, +and tired out with hopes and fears, Danae fainted, and knew nothing till +she felt cold water on her face. Then she opened her eyes, and saw kind +eyes looking at her own, and the brown face of a bearded man, in the +light of the blaze that fishermen carry in their boats at night, for the +fish come to wonder at it, and the fishermen spear them. There were many +dead fish in the boat, into which Danae and the child had been lifted, +and a man with a fish spear in his hand was stooping over her. + +Then Danae knew that she and her boy were saved, and she lay, unable to +speak, till the oarsmen had pulled their boat to a little pier of stone. +There the man with the fish spear lifted her up lightly and softly set +her on her feet on land, and a boatman handed to him the boy, who was +awake, and was crying for food. + +'You are safe, lady!' said the man with the spear, 'and I have taken +fairer fish than ever swam the sea. I am called Dictys; my brother, +Polydectes, is king of this island, and my wife is waiting for me at +home, where she will make you welcome, and the boy thrice welcome, for +the gods have taken our only son.' + +He asked no questions of Danae; it was reckoned ill manners to put +questions to strangers and guests, but he lighted two torches at the +fire in the boat, and bade his two men walk in front, to show the way, +while he supported Danae, and carried the child on his shoulder. They +had not far to go, for Dictys, who loved fishing of all things, had his +house near the shore. Soon they saw the light shining up from the +opening in the roof of the hall; and the wife of Dictys came running +out, crying: 'Good sport?' when she heard their voices and footsteps. + +'Rare sport,' shouted Dictys cheerily, and he led in Danae, and gave the +child into the arms of his wife. Then they were taken to the warm baths, +and dressed in fresh raiment. Food was set before them, and presently +Danae and Perseus slept on soft beds, with coverlets of scarlet wool. + +Dictys and his wife never asked Danae any questions about how and why +she came floating on the sea through the night. News was carried quickly +enough from the mainland to the islands by fishers in their boats and +merchant men, and pedlars. Dictys heard how the king of Argos had +launched his daughter and her son on the sea, hoping that both would be +drowned. All the people knew in the island, which was called Seriphos, +and they hated the cruelty of Acrisius, and many believed that Perseus +was the son of Zeus. + +If the news from Argos reached Seriphos, we may guess that the news from +Seriphos reached Argos, and that Acrisius heard how a woman as beautiful +as a goddess, with a boy of the race of the gods, had drifted to the +shore of the little isle. Acrisius knew, and fear grew about his heart, +fear that was sharper as the years went on, while Perseus was coming to +his manhood. Acrisius often thought of ways by which he might have his +grandson slain; but none of them seemed safe. By the time when Perseus +was fifteen, Acrisius dared not go out of doors, except among the +spears of his armed guards, and he was so eaten up by fear that it would +have been happier for him if he had never been born. + + + + +II + +THE VOW OF PERSEUS + + +It was fortunate for Perseus that Dictys treated him and taught him like +his own son, and checked him if he was fierce and quarrelsome, as so +strong a boy was apt to be. He was trained in all the exercises of young +men, the use of spear and sword, shield and bow; and in running, +leaping, hunting, rowing, and the art of sailing a boat. There were no +books in Seriphos, nobody could read or write; but Perseus was told the +stories of old times, and of old warriors who slew monsters by sea and +land. Most of the monsters had been killed, as Perseus was sorry to +hear, for he desired to try his own luck with them when he came to be a +man. But the most terrible of all, the Gorgons, who were hated by men +and gods, lived still, in an island near the Land of the Dead; but the +way to that island was unknown. These Gorgons were two sisters, and a +third woman; the two were hideous to look on, with hair and wings and +claws of bronze, and with teeth like the white tusks of swine. Swinish +they were, ugly and loathsome, feeding fearfully on the bodies of +unburied men. But the third Gorgon was beautiful save for the living +serpents that coiled in her hair. She alone of the three Gorgons was +mortal, and could be slain, but who could slay her? So terrible were her +eyes that men who had gone up against her were changed into pillars of +stone. + +This was one of the stories that Perseus heard when he was a boy; and +there was a proverb that this or that hard task was 'as difficult to do +as to slay the Gorgon.' Perseus, then, ever since he was a little boy, +was wondering how he could slay the Gorgon and become as famous as the +strong man Heracles, or the good knight Bellerophon, who slew the +Chimaera. Perseus was always thinking of such famous men as these, and +especially loved the story of Bellerophon, which is this: + +In the city of Ephyre, now called Corinth, was a king named Glaucus, who +had a son, Bellerophon. He was brought up far from home, in Argos, by +King Proetus (the great-uncle of Perseus), who was his foster-father, +and loved him well. Proetus was an old man, but his wife, Anteia, was +young and beautiful, and Bellerophon also was beautiful and young, and, +by little and little, Anteia fell in love with him, and could not be +happy without him, but no such love was in Bellerophon's heart for her, +who was his foster-mother. At last Anteia, forgetting all shame, told +Bellerophon that she loved him, and hated her husband; and she asked him +to fly with her to the seashore, where she had a ship lying ready, and +they two would sail to some island far away, and be happy together. + +Bellerophon knew not what to say; he could not wrong King Proetus, his +foster-father. He stood speechless, his face was red with shame, but the +face of Anteia grew white with rage. + +'Dastard!' she said, 'thou shalt not live long in Argos to boast of my +love and your own virtue!' She ran from him, straight to King Proetus, +and flung herself at his feet. 'What shall be done, oh king,' she cried, +'to the man who speaks words of love dishonourable to the Queen of +Argos?' + +'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Proetus, 'if he were my own foster-son +he shall die!' + +'Thou hast named him!' said Anteia, and she ran to her own upper +chamber, and locked the door, and flung herself on the bed, weeping for +rage as if her heart would break. Proetus followed her, but she would +not unlock her door, only he heard her bitter weeping, and he went +apart, alone, and took thought how he should be revenged on Bellerophon. +He had no desire to slay him openly, for then the King of Ephyre would +make war against him. He could not bring him to trial before the judges, +for there was no witness against him except Anteia; and he did not +desire to make his subjects talk about the queen, for it was the glory +of a woman, in those days, not to be spoken of in the conversation of +men. + +Therefore Proetus, for a day or two, seemed to favour Bellerophon more +kindly than ever. Next he called him into his chamber, alone, and said +that it was well for young men to see the world, to cross the sea and +visit foreign cities, and win renown. The eyes of Bellerophon brightened +at these words, not only because he desired to travel, but because he +was miserable in Argos, where he saw every day the angry eyes of Anteia. +Then Proetus said that the King of Lycia, in Asia far across the sea, +was his father-in-law, and his great friend. To him he would send +Bellerophon, and Proetus gave him a folded tablet, in which he had +written many deadly signs. Bellerophon took the folded tablet, not +looking, of course, at what was written in it, and away he sailed to +Lycia. The king of that country received him well, and on the tenth day +after his arrival asked him if he brought any token from King Proetus. + +Bellerophon gave him the tablet, which he opened and read. The writing +said that Bellerophon must die. Now at that time Lycia was haunted by a +monster of no human birth; her front was the front of a lion, in the +middle of her body she was a goat, she tapered away to a strong swift +serpent, and she breathed flame from her nostrils. The King of Lycia, +wishing to get rid of Bellerophon, had but to name this curse to his +guest, who vowed that he would meet her if he might find her. So he was +led to the cavern where she dwelt, and there he watched for her all +night till the day dawned. + +He was cunning as well as brave, and men asked him why he took with him +no weapon but his sword, and two spears with heavy heads, not of bronze, +but of soft lead. Bellerophon told his companions that he had his own +way of fighting, and bade them go home, and leave him alone, while his +charioteer stood by the horses and chariot in a hollow way, out of +sight. Bellerophon himself watched, lying on his face, hidden behind a +rock in the mouth of the cavern. The moment that the rising sun touched +with a red ray the dark mouth of the cave, forth came the Chimaera, and, +setting her fore paws on the rock, looked over the valley. The moment +that she opened her mouth, breathing flame, Bellerophon plunged his +leaden spears deep down her throat, and sprang aside. On came the +Chimaera, her serpent tail lashing the stones, but Bellerophon ever kept +on the further side of a great tall rock. The Chimaera ceased to pursue +him, she rolled on the earth, uttering screams of pain, for the lead was +melting in the fire that was within her, and at last the molten lead +burned through her, and she died. Bellerophon hacked off her head, and +several feet of her tail, stowed them in his chariot, and drove back to +the palace of the King of Lycia, while the people followed him with +songs of praise. + +The king set him three other terrible tasks, but he achieved each of the +adventures gloriously, and the king gave him his daughter to be his +bride, and half of all the honours of his kingdom. This is the story of +Bellerophon (there were other ways of telling it), and Perseus was +determined to do as great deeds as he. But Perseus was still a boy, and +he did not know, and no man could tell him, the way to the island of the +Gorgons. + +When Perseus was about sixteen years old, the King of Seriphos, +Polydectes, saw Danae, fell in love with her, and wanted to take her +into his palace, but he did not want Perseus. He was a bad and cruel +man, but Perseus was so much beloved by the people that he dared not +kill him openly. He therefore made friends with the lad, and watched him +carefully to see how he could take advantage of him. The king saw that +he was of a rash, daring and haughty spirit, though Dictys had taught +him to keep himself well in hand, and that he was eager to win glory. +The king fell on this plan: he gave a great feast on his birthday, and +invited all the chief men and the richest on the island; Perseus, too, +he asked to the banquet. As the custom was, all the guests brought +gifts, the best that they had, cattle, women-slaves, golden cups, wedges +of gold, great vessels of bronze, and other splendid things, and the +king met the guests at the door of his hall, and thanked them +graciously. + +Last came Perseus: he had no gift to give, for he had nothing of his +own. The others began to sneer at him, saying, 'Here is a birthday guest +without a birthday gift!' 'How should No Man's son have a present fit +for a king.' 'This lad is lazy, tied to his mother; he should long ago +have taken service with the captain of a merchant ship.' 'He might at +least watch the town's cows on the town's fields,' said another. Thus +they insulted Perseus, and the king, watching him with a cruel smile, +saw his face grow red, and his blue eyes blaze, as he turned from one to +another of the mockers, who pointed their fingers at him and jeered. + +At last Perseus spoke: 'Ye farmers and fishers, ye ship-captains and +slave dealers of a little isle, I shall bring to your master such a +present as none of you dare to seek. Farewell. Ye shall see me once +again and no more. I go to slay the Gorgon, and bring such a gift as no +king possesses--the Head of the Gorgon.' + +They laughed and hooted, but Perseus turned away, his hand on his sword +hilt, and left them to their festival, while the king rejoiced in his +heart. Perseus dared not see his mother again, but he spoke to Dictys, +saying that he knew himself now to be of an age when he must seek his +fortune in other lands; and he bade Dictys guard his mother from wrong, +as well as he might. Dictys promised that he would find a way of +protecting Danae, and he gave Perseus three weighed wedges of gold +(which were called 'talents,' and served as money), and lent him a ship, +to take him to the mainland of Greece, there to seek his fortune. + +In the dawn Perseus secretly sailed away, landed at Malea, and thence +walked and wandered everywhere, seeking to learn the way to the island +of the Gorgons. He was poorly clad, and he slept at night by the fires +of smithies, where beggars and wanderers lay: listening to the stories +they told, and asking old people, when he met them, if they knew any one +who knew the way to the island of the Gorgons. They all shook their +heads. 'Yet I should be near knowing,' said one old man, 'if that isle +be close to the Land of the Dead, for I am on its borders. Yet I know +nothing. Perchance the dead may know; or the maid that prophesies at +Pytho, or the Selloi, the priests with unwashen feet, who sleep on the +ground below the sacred oaks of Zeus in the grove of Dodona far away.' + +Perseus could learn no more than this, and he wandered on and on. He +went to the cave that leads down to the Land of the Dead, where the +ghosts answer questions in their thin voices, like the twittering of +bats. But the ghosts could not tell him what he desired to know. He went +to Pytho, where the maid, in her song, bade him seek the land of men who +eat acorns instead of the yellow grain of Demeter, the goddess of +harvest. Thence he wandered to Epirus, and to the Selloi who dwell in +the oak forest of Zeus, and live on the flour ground from acorns. One of +them lay on the ground in the wood, with his head covered up in his +mantle, and listened to what the wind says, when it whispers to the +forest leaves. The leaves said, 'We bid the young man be of good hope, +for the gods are with him.' + +This answer did not tell Perseus where the isle of the Gorgons lay, but +the words put hope in his heart, weary and footsore as he was. He ate of +the bread made of the acorns, and of the flesh of the swine that the +Selloi gave him, and he went alone, and, far in the forest, he laid his +head down on the broad mossy root of an old oak tree. He did not sleep, +but watched the stars through the boughs, and he heard the cries of the +night-wandering beasts in the woodland. + +'If the gods be with me, I shall yet do well,' he said, and, as he +spoke, he saw a white clear light moving through the darkness. That +clear white light shone from a golden lamp in the hand of a tall and +beautiful woman, clad in armour, and wearing, hung by a belt from her +neck, a great shield of polished bronze. With her there came a young +man, with winged shoon of gold on his feet, and belted with a strange +short curved sword: in his hand was a golden wand, with wings on it, and +with golden serpents twisted round it. + +Perseus knew that these beautiful folk were the Goddess Athênê, and +Hermes, who brings all fortunate things. He fell upon his face before +them, but Athênê spoke in a sweet grave voice, saying, 'Arise, Perseus, +and speak to us face to face, for we are of your kindred, we also are +children of Zeus, the Father of gods and men.' + +Then Perseus arose and looked straight into their eyes. + +'We have watched you long, Perseus, to learn whether you have the heart +of a hero, that can achieve great adventures; or whether you are an idle +dreaming boy. We have seen that your heart is steadfast, and that you +have sought through hunger, and long travel to know the way wherein you +must find death or win glory. That way is not to be found without the +help of the gods. First you must seek the Three Grey Women, who dwell +beyond the land that lies at the back of the North Wind. They will tell +you the road to the three Nymphs of the West, who live in an island of +the sea that never knew a sail; for it is beyond the pillars that +Heracles set up when he wearied in his journey to the Well of the +World's End, and turned again. You must go to these nymphs, where never +foot of man has trod, and they will show you the measure of the way to +the Isle of the Gorgons. If you see the faces of the Gorgons, you will +be turned to stone. Yet you have vowed to bring the head of the youngest +of the three, she who was not born a Gorgon but became one of them by +reason of her own wickedness. If you slay her, you must not see even her +dead head, but wrap it round in this goat-skin which hangs beside my +shield; see not the head yourself, and let none see it but your +enemies.' + +'This is a great adventure,' said Perseus, 'to slay a woman whom I may +not look upon, lest I be changed into stone.' + +'I give you my polished shield,' said Athênê. 'Let it never grow dim, if +you would live and see the sunlight.' She took off her shield from her +neck, with the goat-skin cover of the shield, and hung them round the +neck of Perseus. He knelt and thanked her for her grace, and, looking up +through a clear space between the forest boughs, he said, 'I see the +Bear, the stars of the North that are the guide of sailors. I shall walk +towards them even now, by your will, for my heart burns to find the +Three Grey Women, and learn the way.' + +Hermes smiled, and said, 'An old man and white-bearded would you be, ere +you measured out that way on foot! Here, take my winged sandals, and +bind them about your feet. They know all the paths of the air, and they +will bring you to the Three Grey Women. Belt yourself, too, with my +sword, for this sword needs no second stroke, but will cleave through +that you set it to smite.' + +So Perseus bound on the Shoes of Swiftness, and the Sword of Sharpness, +the name of it was Herpê; and when he rose from binding on the shoon, he +was alone. The gods had departed. He drew the sword, and cut at an oak +tree trunk, and the blade went clean through it, while the tree fell +with a crash like thunder. Then Perseus rose through the clear space in +the wood, and flew under the stars, towards the constellation of the +Bear. North of Greece he flew, above the Thracian mountains, and the +Danube (which was then called the Ister) lay beneath him like a long +thread of silver. The air grew cold as he crossed lands then unknown to +the Greeks, lands where wild men dwelt, clad in the skins of beasts, and +using axe-heads and spear-heads made of sharpened stones. He passed to +the land at the back of the North Wind, a sunny warm land, where the +people sacrifice wild asses to the God Apollo. Beyond this he came to a +burning desert of sand, but far away he saw trees that love the water, +poplars and willows, and thither he flew. + +He came to a lake among the trees, and round and round the lake were +flying three huge grey swans, with the heads of women, and their long +grey hair flowed down below their bodies, and floated on the wind. They +sang to each other as they flew, in a voice like the cry of the swan. +They had but one eye among them, and but one tooth, which they passed to +each other in turn, for they had arms and hands under their wings. +Perseus dropped down in his flight, and watched them. When one was +passing the eye to the other, none of them could see him, so he waited +for his chance and took it, and seized the eye. + +'Where is our eye? Have _you_ got it?' said the Grey Woman from whose +hand Perseus took it. 'I have it not.' + +'I have it not!' cried each of the others, and they all wailed like +swans. + +'I have it,' said Perseus, and hearing his voice they all flew to the +sound of it but he easily kept out of their way. 'The eye will I keep,' +said Perseus, 'till you tell me what none knows but you, the way to the +Isle of the Gorgons.' + +'We know it not,' cried the poor Grey Women. 'None knows it but the +Nymphs of the Isle of the West: give us our eye!' + +'Then tell me the way to the Nymphs of the Isle of the West,' said +Perseus. + +'Turn your back, and hold your course past the isle of Albion, with the +white cliffs, and so keep with the land on your left hand, and the +unsailed sea on your right hand, till you mark the pillars of Heracles +on your left, then take your course west by south, and a curse on you! +Give us our eye!' + +Perseus gave them their eye, and she who took it flew at him, but he +laughed, and rose high above them and flew as he was told. Over many and +many a league of sea and land he went, till he turned to his right from +the Pillars of Heracles (at Gibraltar), and sailed along, west by south, +through warm air, over the lonely endless Atlantic waters. At last he +saw a great blue mountain, with snow feathering its crests, in a far-off +island, and on that island he alighted. It was a country of beautiful +flowers, and pine forests high on the hill, but below the pines all was +like a garden, and in that garden was a tree bearing apples of gold, and +round the tree were dancing three fair maidens, clothed in green, and +white, and red. + +'These must be the Nymphs of the Isle of the West,' said Perseus, and he +floated down into the garden, and drew near them. + +As soon as they saw him they left off dancing, and catching each other +by the hands they ran to Perseus laughing, and crying, 'Hermes, our +playfellow Hermes has come!' The arms of all of them went round Perseus +at once, with much laughing and kissing. 'Why have you brought a great +shield, Hermes?' they cried, 'here there is no unfriendly god or man to +fight against you.' + +Perseus saw that they had mistaken him for the god whose sword and +winged shoon he wore, but he did not dislike the mistake of the merry +maidens. + +'I am not Hermes,' he said, 'but a mortal man, to whom the god has +graciously lent his sword and shoon, and the shield was lent to me by +Pallas Athênê. My name is Perseus.' + +The girls leaped back from him, blushing and looking shy. The eldest +girl answered, 'We are the daughters of Hesperus, the God of the Evening +Star. I am Æglê, this is my sister Erytheia, and this is Hesperia. We +are the keepers of this island, which is the garden of the gods, and +they often visit us; our cousins, Dionysus, the young god of wine and +mirth, and Hermes of the Golden Wand come often; and bright Apollo, and +his sister Artemis the huntress. But a mortal man we have never seen, +and wherefore have the gods sent you hither?' + +'The two gods sent me, maidens, to ask you the way to the Isle of the +Gorgons, that I may slay Medusa of the snaky hair, whom gods and men +detest.' + +'Alas!' answered the nymphs, 'how shall you slay her, even if we knew +the way to that island, which we know not?' + +Perseus sighed: he had gone so far, and endured so much, and had come to +the Nymphs of the Isle of the West, and even they could not tell how to +reach the Gorgons' island. + +[Illustration: PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES.] + +'Do not fear,' said the girl, 'for if we know not the way we know one +that knows it: Atlas is his name--the Giant of the Mountain. He dwells +on the highest peak of the snow-crested hill, and it is he who holds up +the heavens, and keeps heaven and earth asunder. He looks over all the +world, and over the wide western sea: him we must ask to answer your +question. Take off your shield, which is so heavy, and sit down with us +among the flowers, and let us think how you may slay the Gorgon.' + +Perseus gladly unslung his heavy shield, and sat down among the white +and purple wind flowers. Æglê, too, sat down; but young Erytheia held +the shield upright, while beautiful Hesperia admired herself, laughing, +in the polished surface. + +Perseus smiled as he watched them, and a plan came into his mind. In all +his wanderings he had been trying hard to think how, if he found the +Gorgon, he might cut off her head, without seeing the face which turned +men into stone. Now his puzzle was ended. He could hold up the shield +above the Gorgon, and see the reflection of her face, as in a mirror, +just as now he saw the fair reflected face of Hesperia. He turned to +Æglê, who sat silently beside him: 'Maiden,' he said, 'I have found out +the secret that has perplexed me long, how I may strike at the Gorgon +without seeing her face that turns men to stone. I will hang above her +in the air, and see her face reflected in the mirror of the shield, and +so know where to strike.' The two other girls had left the shield on the +grass, and they clapped their hands when Perseus said this, but Æglê +still looked grave. + +'It is much that you should have found this cunning plan; but the +Gorgons will see you, and two of them are deathless and cannot be slain, +even with the sword Herpé. These Gorgons have wings almost as swift as +the winged shoon of Hermes, and they have claws of bronze that cannot +be broken.' + +Hesperia clapped her hands. 'Yet I know a way,' she said, 'so that this +friend of ours may approach the Gorgons, yet not be seen by them. You +must be told,' she said, turning to Perseus, 'that we three sisters were +of the company of the Fairy Queen, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the +Goddess of the Harvest. We were gathering flowers with her, in the plain +of Enna, in a spring morning, when there sprang up a new flower, +fragrant and beautiful, the white narcissus. No sooner had Persephone +plucked that flower than the earth opened beside her, and up came the +chariot and horses of Hades, the King of the Dead, who caught Persephone +into his chariot, and bore her down with him to the House of Hades. We +wept and were in great fear, but Zeus granted to Persephone to return to +earth with the first snowdrop, and remain with her mother, Demeter, till +the last rose had faded. Now I was the favourite of Persephone, and she +carried me with her to see her husband, who is kind to me for her sake, +and can refuse me nothing, and he has what will serve your turn. To him +I will go, for often I go to see my playmate, when it is winter in your +world: it is always summer in our isle. To him I will go, and return +again, when I will so work that you may be seen of none, neither by god, +or man, or monster. Meanwhile my sisters will take care of you, and +to-morrow they will lead you to the mountain top, to speak with the +Giant.' + +'It is well spoken,' said tall, grave Æglê, and she led Perseus to their +house, and gave him food and wine, and at night he slept full of hope, +in a chamber in the courtyard. + +Next morning, early, Perseus and Æglê and Erytheia floated up to the +crest of the mountain, for Hesperia had departed in the night, to visit +Queen Persephone. Perseus took a hand of each of the Nymphs, and they +had no weary climbing; they all soared up together, so great was the +power of the winged shoon of Hermes. They found the good giant Atlas, +kneeling on a black rock above the snow, holding up the vault of heaven +with either hand. When Æglê had spoken to him, he bade his girls go +apart, and said to Perseus, 'Yonder, far away to the west, you see an +island with a mountain that rises to a flat top, like a table. There +dwell the Gorgons.' + +Perseus thanked him eagerly, but Atlas sighed and said, 'Mine is a weary +life. Here have I knelt and done my task, since the Giants fought +against the gods, and were defeated. Then, for my punishment, I was set +here by Zeus to keep sky and earth asunder. But he told me that after +hundreds of years I should have rest, and be changed to a stone. Now I +see that the day of rest appointed is come, for you shall show me the +head of the Gorgon when you have slain her, and my body shall be stone, +but my spirit shall be with the ever living gods.' + +Perseus pitied Atlas; he bowed to the will of Zeus, and to the prayer of +the giant, and gave his promise. Then he floated to Æglê and Erytheia, +and they all three floated down again to the garden of the golden +apples. Here as they walked on the soft grass, and watched the wind toss +the white and red and purple bells of the wind flowers, they heard a low +laughter close to them, the laughter of Hesperia, but her they saw not. +'Where are you, Hesperia, where are you hiding?' cried Æglê, wondering, +for the wide lawn was open, without bush or tree where the girl might be +lurking. + +'Find me if you can,' cried the voice of Hesperia, close beside them, +and handfuls of flowers were lightly tossed to them, yet they saw none +who threw them. 'This place is surely enchanted,' thought Perseus, and +the voice of Hesperia answered: + +'Come follow, follow me. I will run before you to the house, and show +you my secret.' + +Then they all saw the flowers bending, and the grass waving, as if a +light-footed girl were running through it, and they followed to the +house the path in the trodden grass. At the door, Hesperia met them: +'You could not see me,' she said, 'nor will the Gorgons see Perseus. +Look, on that table lies the Helmet of Hades, which mortal men call the +Cap of Darkness. While I wore it you could not see me, nay, a deathless +god cannot see the wearer of that helmet.' She took up a dark cap of +hard leather, that lay on a table in the hall, and raised it to her +head, and when she had put it on, she was invisible. She took it off, +and placed it on the brows of Perseus. 'We cannot see you, Perseus,' +cried all the girls. 'Look at yourself in your shining shield: can you +see yourself?' + +Perseus turned to the shield, which he had hung on a golden nail in the +wall. He saw only the polished bronze, and the faces of the girls who +were looking over his shoulder. He took off the Helmet of Hades and gave +a great sigh. 'Kind are the gods,' he said. 'Methinks that I shall +indeed keep my vow, and bring to Polydectes the Gorgon's head.' + +They were merry that night, and Perseus told them his story, how he was +the son of Zeus, and the girls called him 'cousin Perseus.' 'We love you +very much, and we could make you immortal, without old age and death,' +said Hesperia. 'You might live with us here for ever--it is lonely, +sometimes, for three maidens in the garden of the gods. But you must +keep your vow, and punish your enemies, and cherish your mother, and do +not forget your cousins three, when you have married the lady of your +heart's desire, and are King of Argos.' + +The tears stood in the eyes of Perseus. 'Cousins dear,' he said, 'never +shall I forget you, not even in the House of Hades. You will come +thither now and again, Hesperia? But I love no woman.' + +'I think you will not long be without a lady and a love, Perseus,' said +Erytheia; 'but the night is late, and to-morrow you have much to do.' + +So they parted, and next morning they bade Perseus be of good hope. He +burnished and polished the shield, and covered it with the goat's skin, +he put on the Shoes of Swiftness, and belted himself with the Sword of +Sharpness, and placed on his head the Cap of Darkness. Then he soared +high in the air, till he saw the Gorgons' Isle, and the table-shaped +mountain, a speck in the western sea. + +The way was long, but the shoes were swift, and, far aloft, in the heat +of the noon-day, Perseus looked down on the top of the table-mountain. +There he could dimly see three bulks of strange shapeless shape, with +monstrous limbs that never stirred, and he knew that the Gorgons were +sleeping their midday sleep. Then he held the shield so that the shapes +were reflected in its polished face, and very slowly he floated down, +and down, till he was within striking distance. There they lay, two of +them uglier than sin, breathing loud in their sleep like drunken men. +But the face of her who lay between the others was as quiet as the face +of a sleeping child; and as beautiful as the face of the goddess of +Love, with long dark eyelashes veiling the eyes, and red lips half +open. Nothing stirred but the serpents in the hair of beautiful Medusa; +they were never still, but coiled and twisted, and Perseus loathed them +as he watched them in the mirror. They coiled and uncoiled, and left +bare her ivory neck, and then Perseus drew the sword Herpê, and struck +once. + +In the mirror he saw the fallen head, and he seized it by the hair, and +wrapped it in the goat-skin, and put the goat-skin in his wallet. Then +he towered high in the air, and, looking down, he saw the two sister +Gorgons turning in their sleep; they woke, and saw their sister dead. +They seemed to speak to each other; they looked this way and that, into +the bright empty air, for Perseus in the Cap of Darkness they could not +see. They rose on their mighty wings, hunting low, and high, and with +casts behind their island and in front of it, but Perseus was flying +faster than ever he flew before, stooping and rising to hide his scent. +He dived into the deep sea, and flew under water as long as he could +hold his breath, and then rose and fled swiftly forward. The Gorgons +were puzzled by each double he had made, and, at the place where he +dived they lost the scent, and from far away Perseus heard their loud +yelps, but soon these faded in the distance. He often looked over his +shoulder as he flew straight towards the far-off blue hill of the giant +Atlas, but the sky was empty behind him, and the Gorgons he never saw +again. The mountain turned from blue to clear grey and red and gold, +with pencilled rifts and glens, and soon Perseus stood beside the giant +Atlas. 'You are welcome and blessed,' said the giant. 'Show me the head +that I may be at rest.' + +Then Perseus took the bundle from the wallet, and carefully unbound the +goat-skin, and held up the head, looking away from it, and the Giant +was a great grey stone. Down sailed Perseus, and stood in the garden of +the gods, and laid the Cap of Darkness on the grass. The three Nymphs +who were sitting there, weaving garlands of flowers, leaped up, and came +round him, and kissed him, and crowned him with the flowery chaplets. +That night he rested with them, and in the morning they kissed and said +farewell. + +'Do not forget us,' said Æglê, 'nor be too sorry for our loneliness. +To-day Hermes has been with us, and to-morrow he comes again with +Dionysus, the god of the vine, and all his merry company. Hermes left a +message for you, that you are to fly eastward, and south, to the place +where your wings shall guide you, and there, he said, you shall find +your happiness. When that is won, you shall turn north and west, to your +own country. We say, all three of us, that our love is with you always, +and we shall hear of your gladness, for Hermes will tell us; then we too +shall be glad. Farewell!' + +So the three maidens embraced him with kind faces and smiling eyes, and +Perseus, too, smiled as well as he might, but in his eastward way he +often looked back, and was sad when he could no longer see the kindly +hill above the garden of the gods. + + + + +III + +PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA + + +Perseus flew where the wings bore him, over great mountains, and over a +wilderness of sand. Below his feet the wind woke the sand storms, and +beneath him he saw nothing but a soft floor of yellow grey, and when +that cleared he saw islands of green trees round some well in the +waste, and long trains of camels, and brown men riding swift horses, at +which he wondered; for the Greeks in his time drove in chariots, and did +not ride. The red sun behind him fell, and all the land was purple, but, +in a moment, as it seemed, the stars rushed out, and he sped along in +the starlight till the sky was grey again, and rosy, and full of fiery +colours, green and gold and ruby and amethyst. Then the sun rose, and +Perseus looked down on a green land, through which was flowing north a +great river, and he guessed that it was the river Ægyptus, which we now +call the Nile. Beneath him was a town, with many white houses in groves +of palm trees, and with great temples of the gods, built of red stone. +The shoes of swiftness stopped above the wide market-place, and there +Perseus hung poised, till he saw a multitude of men pour out of the door +of a temple. + +At their head walked the king, who was like a Greek, and he led a maiden +as white as snow wreathed with flowers and circlets of wool, like the +oxen in Greece, when men sacrifice them to the gods. Behind the king and +the maid came a throng of brown men, first priests and magicians and +players on harps, and women shaking metal rattles that made a wild +mournful noise, while the multitude lamented. + +Slowly, while Perseus watched, they passed down to the shore of the +great river, so wide a river as Perseus had never seen. They went to a +steep red rock, like a wall, above the river; at its foot was a flat +shelf of rock--the water just washed over it. Here they stopped, and the +king kissed and embraced the white maiden. They bound her by chains of +bronze to rings of bronze in the rock; they sang a strange hymn; and +then marched back to the town, throwing their mantles over their heads. +There the maiden stood, or rather hung forward supported by the chains. +Perseus floated down, and, the nearer he came, the more beautiful seemed +the white maid, with her soft dark hair falling to her white feet. +Softly he floated down, till his feet were on the ledge of rock. She did +not hear him coming, and when he gently touched her she gave a cry, and +turned on him her large dark eyes, wild and dry, without a tear. 'Is it +a god?' she said, clasping her hands. + +'No god, but a mortal man am I, Perseus the slayer of the Gorgon. What +do you here? What cruel men have bound you?' + +'I am Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, king of a strange people. The +lot fell on me, of all the maidens in the city, to be offered to the +monster fish that walks on feet, who is their god. Once a year they give +to him a maiden.' + +Perseus thereon drew the sword Herpê, and cut the chains of bronze that +bound the girl as if they had been ropes of flax, and she fell at his +feet, covering her eyes with her hands. Then Perseus saw the long reeds +on the further shore of the river waving and stirring and crashing, and +from them came a monstrous fish walking on feet, and slid into the +water. His long sharp black head showed above the stream as he swam, and +the water behind him showed like the water in the wake of a ship. + +'Be still and hide your eyes!' whispered Perseus to the maiden. + +He took the goat-skin from his wallet, and held up the Gorgon's head, +with the back of it turned towards him, and he waited till the long +black head was lifted from the river's edge, and the forefeet of that +fish were on the wet ledge of rock. Then he held the head before the +eyes of the monster, and from the head downward it slowly stiffened. +The head and forefeet and shoulders were of stone before the tail had +ceased to lash the water. Then the tail stiffened into a long jagged +sharp stone, and Perseus, wrapping up the head in the goat-skin, placed +it in his wallet. He turned his back to Andromeda, while he did this +lest by mischance her eyes should open and see the head of the Gorgon. +But her eyes were closed, and Perseus found that she had fainted, from +fear of the monster, and from the great heat of the sun. Perseus put the +palms of his hands together like a cup, and stooping to the stream he +brought water, and threw it over the face and neck of Andromeda, +wondering at her beauty. Her eyes opened at last, and she tried to rise +to her feet, but she dropped on her knees, and clung with her fingers to +the rock. Seeing her so faint and weak Perseus raised her in his arms, +with her beautiful head pillowed on his shoulder, where she fell asleep +like a tired child. Then he rose in the air and floated over the sheer +wall of red stone above the river, and flew slowly towards the town. + +There were no sentinels at the gate; the long street was empty, for all +the people were in their houses, praying and weeping. But a little girl +stole out of a house near the gate. She was too young to understand why +her father and mother and elder brothers were so sad, and would not take +any notice of her. She thought she would go out and play in the street, +and when she looked up from her play, she saw Perseus bearing the king's +daughter in his arms. The child stared, and then ran into her house, +crying aloud, for she could hardly speak, and pulled so hard at her +mother's gown that her mother rose and followed her to the house door. +The mother gave a joyful cry, her husband and her children ran forth, +and they, too, shouted aloud for pleasure. Their cries reached the +ears of people in other houses, and presently all the folk, as glad as +they had been sorrowful, were following Perseus to the palace of the +king. Perseus walked through the empty court, and stood at the door of +the hall, where the servants came to him, both men and women, and with +tears of joy the women bore Andromeda to the chamber of her mother, +Queen Cassiopeia. + +[Illustration: THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA.] + +Who can tell how happy were the king and queen, and how gladly they +welcomed Perseus! They made a feast for him, and they sent oxen and +sheep to all the people, and wine, that all might rejoice and make +merry. Andromeda, too, came, pale but smiling, into the hall, and sat +down beside her mother's high seat, listening while Perseus told the +whole story of his adventures. Now Perseus could scarcely keep his eyes +from Andromeda's face while he spoke, and she stole glances at him. When +their eyes met, the colour came into her face again, which glowed like +ivory that a Carian woman has lightly tinged with rose colour, making an +ornament for some rich king. Perseus remembered the message of Hermes, +which Æglê had given him, that if he flew to the east and south he would +find his happiness. He knew that he had found it, if this maiden would +be his wife, and he ended his tale by repeating the message of Hermes. + +'The gods speak only truth,' he said, 'and to have made you all happy is +the greatest happiness to Perseus of Argos.' Yet he hoped in his heart +to see a yet happier day, when the rites of marriage should be done +between Andromeda and him, and the young men and maidens should sing the +wedding song before their door. + +Andromeda was of one mind with him, and, as Perseus must needs go home, +her parents believed that she could not live without him who had saved +her from such a cruel death. So with heavy hearts they made the marriage +feast, and with many tears Andromeda and her father and mother said +farewell. Perseus and his bride sailed down the great river Ægyptus in +the king's own boat; and at every town they were received with feasts, +and songs, and dances. They saw all the wonderful things of Egypt, +palaces and pyramids and temples and tombs of kings, and at last they +found a ship of the Cretans in the mouth of the Nile. This they hired, +for they carried with them great riches, gold, and myrrh, and ivory, +gifts of the princes of Egypt. + + + + +IV + +HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE + + +With a steady south wind behind them they sailed to Seriphos, and +landed, and brought their wealth ashore, and went to the house of +Dictys. They found him lonely and sorrowful, for his wife had died, and +his brother, King Polydectes, had taken Danae, and set her to grind corn +in his house, among his slave women. When Perseus heard that word, he +asked, 'Where is King Polydectes?' + +'It is his birthday, and he holds his feast among the princes,' said +Dictys. + +'Then bring me,' said Perseus, 'the worst of old clothes that any +servant of your house can borrow from a beggar man, if there be a beggar +man in the town.' Such a man there was--he came limping through the door +of the courtyard, and up to the threshold of the house, where he sat +whining, and asking for alms. They gave him food and wine, and Perseus +cried, 'New clothes for old, father, I will give you, and new shoes for +old.' The beggar could not believe his ears, but he was taken to the +baths, and washed, and new clothes were given to him, while Perseus clad +himself in the beggar's rags, and Dictys took charge of the winged shoon +of Hermes and the sword Herpê, and the burnished shield of Athênê. Then +Perseus cast dust and wood ashes on his hair, till it looked foul and +grey, and placed the goat-skin covering and the Gorgon's head in his +wallet, and with the beggar's staff in his hand he limped to the palace +of Polydectes. On the threshold he sat down, like a beggar, and +Polydectes saw him and cried to his servants, 'Bring in that man; is it +not the day of my feast? Surely all are welcome.' Perseus was led in, +looking humbly at the ground, and was brought before the king. + +'What news, thou beggar man?' said the king. + +'Such news as was to be looked for,' whined Perseus. 'Behold, I am he +who brought no present to the king's feast, seven long years agone, and +now I come back, tired and hungry, to ask his grace.' + +'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Polydectes, 'it is none but the beggar +brat who bragged that he would fetch me such a treasure as lies in no +king's chamber! The beggar brat is a beggar man; how time and travel +have tamed him! Ho, one of you, run and fetch his mother who is grinding +at the mill, that she may welcome her son.' + +A servant ran from the hall, and the chiefs of Seriphos mocked at +Perseus. 'This is he who called us farmers and dealers in slaves. Verily +he would not fetch the price of an old cow in the slave market.' Then +they threw at him crusts of bread, and bones of swine, but he stood +silent. + +Then Danae was led in, clad in vile raiment, but looking like a queen, +and the king cried, 'Go forward, woman: look at that beggar man; dost +thou know thy son?' She walked on, her head high, and Perseus whispered, +'Mother, stand thou beside me, and speak no word!' + +'My mother knows me not, or despises me,' said Perseus, 'yet, poor as I +am, I do not come empty-handed. In my wallet is a gift, brought from +very far away, for my lord the king.' + +He swung his wallet round in front of him; he took off the covering of +goat-skin, and he held the Gorgon's head on high, by the hair, facing +the king and the chiefs. In one moment they were all grey stones, all +along the hall, and the chairs whereon they sat crashed under the weight +of them, and they rolled on the hard clay floor. Perseus wrapped the +head in the goat-skin, and shut it in the wallet carefully, and cried, +'Mother, look round, and see thy son and thine own revenge.' + +Then Danae knew her son, by the sound of his voice, if not by her +eyesight, and she wept for joy. So they two went to the house of Dictys, +and Perseus was cleansed, and clad in rich raiment, and Danae, too, was +apparelled like a free woman, and embraced Andromeda with great joy. + +Perseus made the good Dictys king of Seriphos; and he placed the winged +shoes in the temple of Hermes, with the sword Herpê, and the Gorgon's +head, in its goat-skin cover; but the polished shield he laid on the +altar in the temple of Athênê. Then he bade all who served in the +temples come forth, both young and old, and he locked the doors, and he +and Dictys watched all night, with the armed Cretans, the crew of his +ship, that none might enter. Next day Perseus alone went into the temple +of Athênê. It was as it had been, but the Gorgon's head and the +polished shield were gone, and the winged shoon and the sword Herpê had +vanished from the temple of Hermes. + +With Danae and Andromeda Perseus sailed to Greece, where he learned that +the sons of King Proetus had driven King Acrisius out of Argos, and that +he had fled to Phthia in the north, where the ancestor of the great +Achilles was king. Thither Perseus went, to see his grandfather, and he +found the young men holding games and sports in front of the palace. +Perseus thought that his grandfather might love him better if he showed +his strength in the games, which were open to strangers, so he entered +and won the race, and the prize for leaping, and then came the throwing +of the disc of bronze. Perseus threw a great cast, far beyond the rest, +but the disc swerved, and fell among the crowd. Then Perseus was afraid, +and ran like the wind to the place where the disc fell. There lay an old +man, smitten sorely by the disc, and men said that he had killed King +Acrisius. + +Thus the word of the prophetess and the will of Fate were fulfilled. +Perseus went weeping to the King of Phthia, and told him all the truth, +and the king, who knew, as all Greece knew, how Acrisius had tried to +drown his daughter and her child, believed the tale, and said that +Perseus was guiltless. He and Danae and Andromeda dwelt for a year in +Phthia, with the king, and then Perseus with an army of Pelasgians and +Myrmidons, marched south to Argos, and took the city, and drove out his +cousins, the sons of Proetus. There in Argos Perseus, with his mother +and beautiful Andromeda, dwelt long and happily, and he left the kingdom +to his son when he died. + + + * * * * * + + +_The story of Ulysses is taken mainly from the Iliad, the Odyssey, and +the_ Post Homerica _of Quintus Smyrnæus. As we have no detailed account of +the stealing of the Palladium by Ulysses, use has been made of Helen's +tale about his entry into Troy in the disguise of a beaten beggar. + +The chief source of 'The Fleece of Gold' is tradition, with the +Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; the fight between Polydeuces and the +Giant is best reported by Theocritus. + +No epic or tragedy concerning the early fortunes of Theseus and the +history of Perseus has reached us: summaries in Plutarch and Apollodorus +provide the outlines of the legends. + +The descriptions of costume, arms, and mode of life are derived from +Homer and from the 'Mycenæan' relics discovered in the last thirty years +by Dr. Schliemann, Mr. A. J. Evans, and many other explorers. + +'The Fleece of Gold,' first published in an American magazine, has also +appeared in America in a little volume (Henry Altemus & Co.). It is here +reprinted by permission of Messrs. Altemus, with some changes and +corrections._ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without +note. + +Some Illustrations have been moved to avoid splitting paragraphs and +make smoother reading. + +There are inconsistencies in the use of ligatures in some of the names. +These inconsistencies have been left as in the original text. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE*** + + +******* This file should be named 32326-8.txt or 32326-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/2/32326 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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J. Ford</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Tales of Troy and Greece</p> +<p>Author: Andrew Lang</p> +<p>Release Date: May 10, 2010 [eBook #32326]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Peter Vickers, Suzanne Shell,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>TALES OF TROY<br /> +AND GREECE</h1> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs01.png" width="350" height="489" +alt="THE STEALING OF HELEN." +title="THE STEALING OF HELEN." /> +</div> +<span class="caption">THE STEALING OF HELEN.</span> +</div> + +<p class="center">[<i>See</i> <a href="#Page_15">p. 15.</a>]</p> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<h1>TALES OF TROY<br /> +AND GREECE</h1> + +<h2>Andrew Lang</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by<br /> +H. J. Ford</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h4>DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.<br /> +Mineola, New York</h4> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Bibliographical Note</i></p> + +<p>This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged republication +of the 1941 printing of the work originally published by Longmans, Green +and Co., London and New York, in 1907. We have slightly repositioned a few +of the illustrations.</p> + +<p class="center">Manufactured in the United States of America<br /> +Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>TO</h3> + +<h2>H. RIDER HAGGARD</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="75%" cellspacing="5" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr> +<td colspan="3" class="center"><h2>CONTENTS.</h2></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3" class="center"><h3><i>ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES</i>.</h3></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rn" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">page</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">I.</td> +<td><a href="#I">THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES</a></td> +<td class="rn">1</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">II.</td> +<td><a href="#II">HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES</a></td> +<td class="rn">5</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">III.</td> +<td><a href="#III">THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS</a></td> +<td class="rn">9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IV.</td> +<td><a href="#IV">THE STEALING OF HELEN</a></td> +<td class="rn">13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">V.</td> +<td><a href="#V">TROJAN VICTORIES</a></td> +<td class="rn">30</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VI.</td> +<td><a href="#VI">BATTLE AT THE SHIPS</a></td> +<td class="rn">38</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VII.</td> +<td><a href="#VII">THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS</a></td> +<td class="rn">45</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VIII.</td> +<td><a href="#VIII">THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR</a></td> +<td class="rn">53</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IX.</td> +<td><a href="#IX">HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY</a></td> +<td class="rn">56</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">X.</td> +<td><a href="#X">THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON—THE DEATH OF ACHILLES</a></td> +<td class="rn">66</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">XI.</td> +<td><a href="#XI">ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES—THE VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS</a></td> +<td class="rn">79</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">XII.</td> +<td><a href="#XII">THE SLAYING OF PARIS</a></td> +<td class="rn">87</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">XIII.</td> +<td><a href="#XIII">HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE HORSE OF TREE</a></td> +<td class="rn">92</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">XIV.</td> +<td><a href="#XIV">THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN</a></td> +<td class="rn">96</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="3"><h3><i>THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES</i></h3></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">I.</td> +<td><a href="#Ia"> THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS OF ULYSSES</a></td> +<td class="rn">101</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">II.</td> +<td><a href="#IIa">THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, THE SIRENS</a></td> +<td class="rn">110</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">III.</td> +<td><a href="#IIIa">THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE OF THE SUN</a></td> +<td class="rn">118</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IV.</td> +<td><a href="#IVa">HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER</a></td> +<td class="rn">122</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">V.</td> +<td><a href="#Va">HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO</a></td> +<td class="rn">128</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VI.</td> +<td><a href="#VIa">HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED PHAEACIA</a></td> +<td class="rn">133</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VII.</td> +<td><a href="#VIIa">HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND +FOR SAFETY DISGUISED HIMSELF AS AN OLD +BEGGAR MAN </a></td> +<td class="rn">145</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VIII.</td> +<td><a href="#VIIIa">ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR TO HIS OWN PALACE</a></td> +<td class="rn">153</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IX.</td> +<td><a href="#IXa">THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS</a></td> +<td class="rn">163</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">X.</td> +<td><a href="#Xa">THE END</a></td> +<td class="rn">168</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="3"><h3><i>THE FLEECE OF GOLD</i></h3></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">I.</td> +<td><a href="#Ib">THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD.</a></td> +<td class="rn">172</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">II.</td> +<td><a href="#IIb">THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE</a></td> +<td class="rn">180</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">III.</td> +<td><a href="#IIIb">THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE</a></td> +<td class="rn">191</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="3"><h3><i>THESEUS</i></h3></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">I.</td> +<td><a href="#Ic">THE WEDDING OF AETHRA</a></td> +<td class="rn">201</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">II.</td> +<td><a href="#IIc">THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS</a></td> +<td class="rn">205</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">III.</td> +<td><a href="#IIIc">ADVENTURES OF THESEUS</a></td> +<td class="rn">211</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IV.</td> +<td><a href="#IVc">THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER</a></td> +<td class="rn">226</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">V.</td> +<td><a href="#Vc">HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE</a></td> +<td class="rn">233</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VI.</td> +<td><a href="#VIc">THESEUS IN CRETE</a></td> +<td class="rn">239</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">VII.</td> +<td><a href="#VIIc">THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR</a></td> +<td class="rn">247</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="3"><h3><i>PERSEUS</i></h3></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">I.</td> +<td><a href="#Id">THE PRISON OF DANAE</a></td> +<td class="rn">254</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">II.</td> +<td><a href="#IId">THE VOW OF PERSEUS</a></td> +<td class="rn">261</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">III.</td> +<td><a href="#IIId">PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA</a></td> +<td class="rn">279</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ln">IV.</td> +<td><a href="#IVd">HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE</a></td> +<td class="rn">284</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="75%" cellspacing="5" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="2"><h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#frontis">THE STEALING OF HELEN</a></td> +<td class="rn"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#greece">MAP OF GREECE</a></td> +<td class="rn"><i>facing p. 1</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs02">ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR +AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 4</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs03">HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE +GREEK HOST TO PRIAM</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 28</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs04">ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 70</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs05">PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 90</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs06">MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE +INTERCESSION OF ULYSSES</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 100</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs07">CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF +ULYSSES) TO THE STYES</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 112</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs08">THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 120</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs09">CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 130</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs10">HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 136</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs11">ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 164</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs12">KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT +SHE CANNOT FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 174</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs13">HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN +FLEECE WAS SLAIN</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 198</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs14">THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 208</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs15">HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 248</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs16">PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 272</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#gs17">THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA</a></td> +<td class="rn">" 282</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>TALES OF TROY<br /> +AND GREECE</h2> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="greece" id="greece"></a> +<img src="images/greece.png" width="600" height="441" alt="GREECE" title="GREECE" /> +<span class="caption">GREECE</span> +</div><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TALES_OF_TROY" id="TALES_OF_TROY"></a>TALES OF TROY</h2> + +<h2><a name="ULYSSES_THE_SACKER_OF_CITIES" id="ULYSSES_THE_SACKER_OF_CITIES"></a>ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES</h2> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="center">THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES</p> + +<p>Long ago, in a little island called Ithaca, on the west coast +of Greece, there lived a king named Laertes. His kingdom +was small and mountainous. People used to say that Ithaca +'lay like a shield upon the sea,' which sounds as if it were +a flat country. But in those times shields were very large, +and rose at the middle into two peaks with a hollow between +them, so that Ithaca, seen far off in the sea, with her two +chief mountain peaks, and a cloven valley between them, +looked exactly like a shield. The country was so rough +that men kept no horses, for, at that time, people drove, +standing up in little light chariots with two horses; they +never rode, and there was no cavalry in battle: men +fought from chariots. When Ulysses, the son of Laertes, +King of Ithaca grew up, he never fought from a chariot, +for he had none, but always on foot.</p> + +<p>If there were no horses in Ithaca, there was plenty of +cattle. The father of Ulysses had flocks of sheep, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +herds of swine, and wild goats, deer, and hares lived in +the hills and in the plains. The sea was full of fish of +many sorts, which men caught with nets, and with rod and +line and hook.</p> + +<p>Thus Ithaca was a good island to live in. The summer +was long, and there was hardly any winter; only a few +cold weeks, and then the swallows came back, and the +plains were like a garden, all covered with wild flowers—violets, +lilies, narcissus, and roses. With the blue sky +and the blue sea, the island was beautiful. White temples +stood on the shores; and the Nymphs, a sort of fairies, +had their little shrines built of stone, with wild rose-bushes +hanging over them.</p> + +<p>Other islands lay within sight, crowned with mountains, +stretching away, one behind the other, into the +sunset. Ulysses in the course of his life saw many rich +countries, and great cities of men, but, wherever he was, +his heart was always in the little isle of Ithaca, where he +had learned how to row, and how to sail a boat, and how +to shoot with bow and arrow, and to hunt boars and stags, +and manage his hounds.</p> + +<p>The mother of Ulysses was called Anticleia: she was the +daughter of King Autolycus, who lived near Parnassus, a +mountain on the mainland. This King Autolycus was the +most cunning of men. He was a Master Thief, and could +steal a man's pillow from under his head, but he does not +seem to have been thought worse of for this. The Greeks +had a God of Thieves, named Hermes, whom Autolycus +worshipped, and people thought more good of his cunning +tricks than harm of his dishonesty. Perhaps these tricks +of his were only practised for amusement; however that +may be, Ulysses became as artful as his grandfather; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +was both the bravest and the most cunning of men, but +Ulysses never stole things, except once, as we shall hear, +from the enemy in time of war. He showed his cunning +in stratagems of war, and in many strange escapes from +giants and man-eaters.</p> + +<p>Soon after Ulysses was born, his grandfather came to +see his mother and father in Ithaca. He was sitting at +supper when the nurse of Ulysses, whose name was Eurycleia, +brought in the baby, and set him on the knees of Autolycus, +saying, 'Find a name for your grandson, for he is a child of +many prayers.'</p> + +<p>'I am very angry with many men and women in the +world,' said Autolycus, 'so let the child's name be <i>A Man +of Wrath</i>,' which, in Greek, was Odysseus. So the child +was called Odysseus by his own people, but the name was +changed into Ulysses, and we shall call him Ulysses.</p> + +<p>We do not know much about Ulysses when he was a +little boy, except that he used to run about the garden with +his father, asking questions, and begging that he might +have fruit trees 'for his very own.' He was a great pet, +for his parents had no other son, so his father gave him +thirteen pear trees, and forty fig trees, and promised him +fifty rows of vines, all covered with grapes, which he could +eat when he liked, without asking leave of the gardener. +So he was not tempted to steal fruit, like his grandfather.</p> + +<p>When Autolycus gave Ulysses his name, he said that +he must come to stay with him, when he was a big boy, +and he would get splendid presents. Ulysses was told +about this, so, when he was a tall lad, he crossed the sea +and drove in his chariot to the old man's house on Mount +Parnassus. Everybody welcomed him, and next day his +uncles and cousins and he went out to hunt a fierce wild<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +boar, early in the morning. Probably Ulysses took his +own dog, named Argos, the best of hounds, of which we +shall hear again, long afterwards, for the dog lived to be +very old. Soon the hounds came on the scent of a wild +boar, and after them the men went, with spears in their +hands, and Ulysses ran foremost, for he was already the +swiftest runner in Greece.</p> + +<p>He came on a great boar lying in a tangled thicket +of boughs and bracken, a dark place where the sun +never shone, nor could the rain pierce through. Then +the noise of the men's shouts and the barking of the +dogs awakened the boar, and up he sprang, bristling +all over his back, and with fire shining from his eyes. In +rushed Ulysses first of all, with his spear raised to strike, +but the boar was too quick for him, and ran in, and drove +his sharp tusk sideways, ripping up the thigh of Ulysses. +But the boar's tusk missed the bone, and Ulysses sent his +sharp spear into the beast's right shoulder, and the spear +went clean through, and the boar fell dead, with a loud cry. +The uncles of Ulysses bound up his wound carefully, +and sang a magical song over it, as the French soldiers +wanted to do to Joan of Arc when the arrow pierced her +shoulder at the siege of Orleans. Then the blood ceased +to flow, and soon Ulysses was quite healed of his wound. +They thought that he would be a good warrior, and gave +him splendid presents, and when he went home again he +told all that had happened to his father and mother, and +his nurse, Eurycleia. But there was always a long white +mark or scar above his left knee, and about that scar we +shall hear again, many years afterwards.</p> + +<div class="figcentre"> +<a name="gs02" id="gs02"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/gs02.png" width="350" height="461" +alt="ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH." +title="ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH." /> +<span class="caption">ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES</p> + +<p>When Ulysses was a young man he wished to marry +a princess of his own rank. Now there were at that time +many kings in Greece, and you must be told how they lived. +Each king had his own little kingdom, with his chief town, +walled with huge walls of enormous stone. Many of these +walls are still standing, though the grass has grown over +the ruins of most of them, and in later years, men believed +that those walls must have been built by giants, the stones +are so enormous. Each king had nobles under him, rich +men, and all had their palaces, each with its courtyard, and +its long hall, where the fire burned in the midst, and the +King and Queen sat beside it on high thrones, between +the four chief carved pillars that held up the roof. The +thrones were made of cedar wood and ivory, inlaid with +gold, and there were many other chairs and small tables +for guests, and the walls and doors were covered with bronze +plates, and gold and silver, and sheets of blue glass. Sometimes +they were painted with pictures of bull hunts, and a +few of these pictures may still be seen. At night torches +were lit, and placed in the hands of golden figures of boys, +but all the smoke of fire and torches escaped by a hole in +the roof, and made the ceiling black. On the walls hung +swords and spears and helmets and shields, which needed +to be often cleaned from the stains of the smoke. The +minstrel or poet sat beside the King and Queen, and, after +supper he struck his harp, and sang stories of old wars. +At night the King and Queen slept in their own place, and +the women in their own rooms; the princesses had their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +chambers upstairs, and the young princes had each his room +built separate in the courtyard.</p> + +<p>There were bath rooms with polished baths, where +guests were taken when they arrived dirty from a journey. +The guests lay at night on beds in the portico, for the +climate was warm. There were plenty of servants, who +were usually slaves taken in war, but they were very kindly +treated, and were friendly with their masters. No coined +money was used; people paid for things in cattle, or in +weighed pieces of gold. Rich men had plenty of gold +cups, and gold-hilted swords, and bracelets, and brooches. +The kings were the leaders in war and judges in peace, +and did sacrifices to the Gods, killing cattle and swine +and sheep, on which they afterwards dined.</p> + +<p>They dressed in a simple way, in a long smock of +linen or silk, which fell almost to the feet, but was +tucked up into a belt round the waist, and worn longer +or shorter, as they happened to choose. Where it needed +fastening at the throat, golden brooches were used, beautifully +made, with safety pins. This garment was much +like the plaid that the Highlanders used to wear, with its +belt and brooches. Over it the Greeks wore great cloaks of +woollen cloth when the weather was cold, but these they did +not use in battle. They fastened their breastplates, in war, +over their smocks, and had other armour covering the lower +parts of the body, and leg armour called 'greaves'; while +the great shield which guarded the whole body from throat +to ankles was carried by a broad belt slung round the neck. +The sword was worn in another belt, crossing the shield +belt. They had light shoes in peace, and higher and heavier +boots in war, or for walking across country.</p> + +<p>The women wore the smock, with more brooches and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +jewels than the men; and had head coverings, with veils, +and mantles over all, and necklaces of gold and amber, +earrings, and bracelets of gold or of bronze. The colours +of their dresses were various, chiefly white and purple; +and, when in mourning, they wore very dark blue, not +black. All the armour, and the sword blades and spearheads +were made, not of steel or iron, but of bronze, a +mixture of copper and tin. The shields were made of +several thicknesses of leather, with a plating of bronze +above; tools, such as axes and ploughshares, were either +of iron or bronze; and so were the blades of knives and +daggers.</p> + +<p>To us the houses and way of living would have seemed +very splendid, and also, in some ways, rather rough. The +palace floors, at least in the house of Ulysses, were littered +with bones and feet of the oxen slain for food, but this +happened when Ulysses had been long from home. The +floor of the hall in the house of Ulysses was not boarded +with planks, or paved with stone: it was made of clay; +for he was a poor king of small islands. The cooking was +coarse: a pig or sheep was killed, roasted and eaten +immediately. We never hear of boiling meat, and though +people probably ate fish, we do not hear of their doing +so, except when no meat could be procured. Still some +people must have liked them; for in the pictures that were +painted or cut in precious stones in these times we see +the half-naked fisherman walking home, carrying large +fish.</p> + +<p>The people were wonderful workers of gold and bronze. +Hundreds of their golden jewels have been found in their +graves, but probably these were made and buried two or +three centuries before the time of Ulysses. The dagger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +blades had pictures of fights with lions, and of flowers, +inlaid on them, in gold of various colours, and in silver; +nothing so beautiful is made now. There are figures of +men hunting bulls on some of the gold cups, and these are +wonderfully life-like. The vases and pots of earthenware +were painted in charming patterns: in short, it was a +splendid world to live in.</p> + +<p>The people believed in many Gods, male and female, +under the chief God, Zeus. The Gods were thought to be +taller than men, and immortal, and to live in much the +same way as men did, eating, drinking, and sleeping in +glorious palaces. Though they were supposed to reward +good men, and to punish people who broke their oaths +and were unkind to strangers, there were many stories +told in which the Gods were fickle, cruel, selfish, and set +very bad examples to men. How far these stories were +believed is not sure; it is certain that 'all men felt a need +of the Gods,' and thought that they were pleased by good +actions and displeased by evil. Yet, when a man felt +that his behaviour had been bad, he often threw the +blame on the Gods, and said that they had misled him, +which really meant no more than that 'he could not +help it.'</p> + +<p>There was a curious custom by which the princes bought +wives from the fathers of the princesses, giving cattle and +gold, and bronze and iron, but sometimes a prince got a +wife as the reward for some very brave action. A man +would not give his daughter to a wooer whom she did not +love, even if he offered the highest price, at least this must +have been the general rule, for husbands and wives were +very fond of each other, and of their children, and husbands +always allowed their wives to rule the house, and give their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +advice on everything. It was thought a very wicked +thing for a woman to like another man better than her +husband, and there were few such wives, but among them +was the most beautiful woman who ever lived.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center">THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS</p> + +<p>This was the way in which people lived when Ulysses +was young, and wished to be married. The worst thing in +the way of life was that the greatest and most beautiful +princesses might be taken prisoners, and carried off as +slaves to the towns of the men who had killed their fathers +and husbands. Now at that time one lady was far the +fairest in the world: namely, Helen, daughter of King +Tyndarus. Every young prince heard of her and desired +to marry her; so her father invited them all to his palace, +and entertained them, and found out what they would +give. Among the rest Ulysses went, but his father had a +little kingdom, a rough island, with others near it, and +Ulysses had not a good chance. He was not tall; though +very strong and active, he was a short man with broad +shoulders, but his face was handsome, and, like all the +princes, he wore long yellow hair, clustering like a hyacinth +flower. His manner was rather hesitating, and he seemed +to speak very slowly at first, though afterwards his words +came freely. He was good at everything a man can do; +he could plough, and build houses, and make ships, and +he was the best archer in Greece, except one, and could +bend the great bow of a dead king, Eurytus, which no other +man could string. But he had no horses, and had no great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +train of followers; and, in short, neither Helen nor her +father thought of choosing Ulysses for her husband out of +so many tall, handsome young princes, glittering with +gold ornaments. Still, Helen was very kind to Ulysses, +and there was great friendship between them, which was +fortunate for her in the end.</p> + +<p>Tyndarus first made all the princes take an oath that +they would stand by the prince whom he chose, and +would fight for him in all his quarrels. Then he named +for her husband Menelaus, King of Lacedaemon. He +was a very brave man, but not one of the strongest; he +was not such a fighter as the gigantic Aias, the tallest and +strongest of men; or as Diomede, the friend of Ulysses; or as +his own brother, Agamemnon, the King of the rich city of +Mycenae, who was chief over all other princes, and general +of the whole army in war. The great lions carved in +stone that seemed to guard his city are still standing +above the gate through which Agamemnon used to drive +his chariot.</p> + +<p>The man who proved to be the best fighter of all, +Achilles, was not among the lovers of Helen, for he was still +a boy, and his mother, Thetis of the silver feet, a goddess +of the sea, had sent him to be brought up as a girl, among +the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros, in an island far +away. Thetis did this because Achilles was her only +child, and there was a prophecy that, if he went to the +wars, he would win the greatest glory, but die very young, +and never see his mother again. She thought that if war +broke out he would not be found hiding in girl's dress, +among girls, far away.</p> + +<p>So at last, after thinking over the matter for long, +Tyndarus gave fair Helen to Menelaus, the rich King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +Lacedaemon; and her twin sister Clytaemnestra, who +was also very beautiful, was given to King Agamemnon, +the chief over all the princes. They all lived very happily +together at first, but not for long.</p> + +<p>In the meantime King Tyndarus spoke to his brother +Icarius, who had a daughter named Penelope. She also +was very pretty, but not nearly so beautiful as her cousin, +fair Helen, and we know that Penelope was not very fond of +her cousin. Icarius, admiring the strength and wisdom of +Ulysses, gave him his daughter Penelope to be his wife, +and Ulysses loved her very dearly, no man and wife were +ever dearer to each other. They went away together +to rocky Ithaca, and perhaps Penelope was not sorry that +a wide sea lay between her home and that of Helen; for +Helen was not only the fairest woman that ever lived in +the world, but she was so kind and gracious and charming +that no man could see her without loving her. When she +was only a child, the famous prince Theseus, whose story +is to be told later, carried her away to his own city of +Athens, meaning to marry her when she grew up, and, +even at that time, there was a war for her sake, for her +brothers followed Theseus with an army, and fought him, +and brought her home.</p> + +<p>She had fairy gifts: for instance, she had a great red +jewel, called 'the Star,' and when she wore it red drops +seemed to fall from it and vanished before they touched +and stained her white breast—so white that people called +her 'the Daughter of the Swan.' She could speak in the +very voice of any man or woman, so folk also named her +Echo, and it was believed that she could neither grow +old nor die, but would at last pass away to the Elysian +plain and the world's end, where life is easiest for men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +No snow comes thither, nor great storm, nor any rain; +but always the river of Ocean that rings round the whole +earth sends forth the west wind to blow cool on the people +of King Rhadamanthus of the fair hair. These were some +of the stories that men told of fair Helen, but Ulysses was +never sorry that he had not the fortune to marry her, so +fond he was of her cousin, his wife, Penelope, who was very +wise and good.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses brought his wife home they lived, as the +custom was, in the palace of his father, King Laertes, but +Ulysses, with his own hands, built a chamber for Penelope +and himself. There grew a great olive tree in the inner +court of the palace, and its stem was as large as one of the +tall carved pillars of the hall. Round about this tree +Ulysses built the chamber, and finished it with close-set +stones, and roofed it over, and made close-fastening doors. +Then he cut off all the branches of the olive tree, and +smoothed the trunk, and shaped it into the bed-post, and +made the bedstead beautiful with inlaid work of gold and +silver and ivory. There was no such bed in Greece, and +no man could move it from its place, and this bed comes +again into the story, at the very end.</p> + +<p>Now time went by, and Ulysses and Penelope had one +son called Telemachus; and Eurycleia, who had been his +father's nurse, took care of him. They were all very +happy, and lived in peace in rocky Ithaca, and Ulysses +looked after his lands, and flocks, and herds, and went +hunting with his dog Argos, the swiftest of hounds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="center">THE STEALING OF HELEN</p> + +<p>This happy time did not last long, and Telemachus was +still a baby, when war arose, so great and mighty and +marvellous as had never been known in the world. Far +across the sea that lies on the east of Greece, there dwelt +the rich King Priam. His town was called Troy, or Ilios, and +it stood on a hill near the seashore, where are the straits of +Hellespont, between Europe and Asia; it was a great city +surrounded by strong walls, and its ruins are still standing. +The kings could make merchants who passed through the +straits pay toll to them, and they had allies in Thrace, a +part of Europe opposite Troy, and Priam was chief of all +princes on his side of the sea, as Agamemnon was chief +king in Greece. Priam had many beautiful things; he +had a vine made of gold, with golden leaves and clusters, +and he had the swiftest horses, and many strong and brave +sons; the strongest and bravest was named Hector, and +the youngest and most beautiful was named Paris.</p> + +<p>There was a prophecy that Priam's wife would give +birth to a burning torch, so, when Paris was born, Priam +sent a servant to carry the baby into a wild wood on Mount +Ida, and leave him to die or be eaten by wolves and wild +cats. The servant left the child, but a shepherd found +him, and brought him up as his own son. The boy became +as beautiful, for a boy, as Helen was for a girl, and was the +best runner, and hunter, and archer among the country +people. He was loved by the beautiful Œnone, a nymph—that +is, a kind of fairy—who dwelt in a cave among the woods +of Ida. The Greeks and Trojans believed in these days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +that such fair nymphs haunted all beautiful woodland +places, and the mountains, and wells, and had crystal +palaces, like mermaids, beneath the waves of the sea. These +fairies were not mischievous, but gentle and kind. Sometimes +they married mortal men, and Œnone was the bride +of Paris, and hoped to keep him for her own all the days of +his life.</p> + +<p>It was believed that she had the magical power of +healing wounded men, however sorely they were hurt. +Paris and Œnone lived most happily together in the +forest; but one day, when the servants of Priam had +driven off a beautiful bull that was in the herd of Paris, +he left the hills to seek it, and came into the town of Troy. +His mother, Hecuba, saw him, and looking at him closely, +perceived that he wore a ring which she had tied round her +baby's neck when he was taken away from her soon after +his birth. Then Hecuba, beholding him so beautiful, and +knowing him to be her son, wept for joy, and they all forgot +the prophecy that he would be a burning torch of fire, and +Priam gave him a house like those of his brothers, the +Trojan princes.</p> + +<p>The fame of beautiful Helen reached Troy, and Paris +quite forgot unhappy Œnone, and must needs go to see +Helen for himself. Perhaps he meant to try to win her for +his wife, before her marriage. But sailing was little understood +in these times, and the water was wide, and men were +often driven for years out of their course, to Egypt, and +Africa, and far away into the unknown seas, where fairies +lived in enchanted islands, and cannibals dwelt in caves of +the hills.</p> + +<p>Paris came much too late to have a chance of marrying +Helen; however, he was determined to see her, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +he made his way to her palace beneath the mountain +Taygetus, beside the clear swift river Eurotas. The servants +came out of the hall when they heard the sound of +wheels and horses' feet, and some of them took the horses +to the stables, and tilted the chariots against the gateway, +while others led Paris into the hall, which shone like +the sun with gold and silver. Then Paris and his companions +were led to the baths, where they were bathed, +and clad in new clothes, mantles of white, and robes of +purple, and next they were brought before King Menelaus, +and he welcomed them kindly, and meat was set before +them, and wine in cups of gold. While they were talking, +Helen came forth from her fragrant chamber, like a Goddess, +her maidens following her, and carrying for her an +ivory distaff with violet-coloured wool, which she span +as she sat, and heard Paris tell how far he had travelled +to see her who was so famous for her beauty even in countries +far away.</p> + +<p>Then Paris knew that he had never seen, and never +could see, a lady so lovely and gracious as Helen as she +sat and span, while the red drops fell and vanished from +the ruby called the Star; and Helen knew that among +all the princes in the world there was none so beautiful +as Paris. Now some say that Paris, by art magic, put on +the appearance of Menelaus, and asked Helen to come +sailing with him, and that she, thinking he was her +husband, followed him, and he carried her across the wide +waters of Troy, away from her lord and her one beautiful +little daughter, the child Hermione. And others say +that the Gods carried Helen herself off to Egypt, and that +they made in her likeness a beautiful ghost, out of flowers +and sunset clouds, whom Paris bore to Troy, and this they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +did to cause war between Greeks and Trojans. Another +story is that Helen and her bower maiden and her jewels +were seized by force, when Menelaus was out hunting. +It is only certain that Paris and Helen did cross the seas +together, and that Menelaus and little Hermione were +left alone in the melancholy palace beside the Eurotas. +Penelope, we know for certain, made no excuses for her +beautiful cousin, but hated her as the cause of her own +sorrows and of the deaths of thousands of men in war, for +all the Greek princes were bound by their oath to fight for +Menelaus against any one who injured him and stole his +wife away. But Helen was very unhappy in Troy, and +blamed herself as bitterly as all the other women blamed +her, and most of all Œnone, who had been the love of Paris. +The men were much more kind to Helen, and were determined +to fight to the death rather than lose the sight of +her beauty among them.</p> + +<p>The news of the dishonour done to Menelaus and to all +the princes of Greece ran through the country like fire +through a forest. East and west and south and north went +the news: to kings in their castles on the hills, and beside +the rivers and on cliffs above the sea. The cry came to +ancient Nestor of the white beard at Pylos, Nestor who +had reigned over two generations of men, who had fought +against the wild folk of the hills, and remembered the +strong Heracles, and Eurytus of the black bow that sang +before the day of battle.</p> + +<p>The cry came to black-bearded Agamemnon, in his +strong town called 'golden Mycenae,' because it was so +rich; it came to the people in Thisbe, where the wild doves +haunt; and it came to rocky Pytho, where is the sacred +temple of Apollo and the maid who prophesies. It came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +to Aias, the tallest and strongest of men, in his little isle of +Salamis; and to Diomede of the loud war-cry, the bravest +of warriors, who held Argos and Tiryns of the black walls +of huge stones, that are still standing. The summons +came to the western islands and to Ulysses in Ithaca, and +even far south to the great island of Crete of the hundred +cities, where Idomeneus ruled in Cnossos; Idomeneus, whose +ruined palace may still be seen with the throne of the king, +and pictures painted on the walls, and the King's own draught-board +of gold and silver, and hundreds of tablets of clay, on +which are written the lists of royal treasures. Far north +went the news to Pelasgian Argos, and Hellas, where the +people of Peleus dwelt, the Myrmidons; but Peleus was too +old to fight, and his boy, Achilles, dwelt far away, in the +island of Scyros, dressed as a girl, among the daughters of +King Lycomedes. To many another town and to a hundred +islands went the bitter news of approaching war, for all +princes knew that their honour and their oaths compelled +them to gather their spearmen, and bowmen, and slingers +from the fields and the fishing, and to make ready their +ships, and meet King Agamemnon in the harbour of Aulis, +and cross the wide sea to besiege Troy town.</p> + +<p>Now the story is told that Ulysses was very unwilling +to leave his island and his wife Penelope, and little Telemachus; +while Penelope had no wish that he should pass +into danger, and into the sight of Helen of the fair hands. +So it is said that when two of the princes came to summon +Ulysses, he pretended to be mad, and went ploughing the +sea sand with oxen, and sowing the sand with salt. Then +the prince Palamedes took the baby Telemachus from the +arms of his nurse, Eurycleia, and laid him in the line of the +furrow, where the ploughshare would strike him and kill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +him. But Ulysses turned the plough aside, and they cried +that he was not mad, but sane, and he must keep his oath, +and join the fleet at Aulis, a long voyage for him to sail, +round the stormy southern Cape of Maleia.</p> + +<p>Whether this tale be true or not, Ulysses did go, leading +twelve black ships, with high beaks painted red at prow +and stern. The ships had oars, and the warriors manned the +oars, to row when there was no wind. There was a small +raised deck at each end of the ships; on these decks men +stood to fight with sword and spear when there was a battle +at sea. Each ship had but one mast, with a broad lugger +sail, and for anchors they had only heavy stones attached +to cables. They generally landed at night, and slept on the +shore of one of the many islands, when they could, for they +greatly feared to sail out of sight of land.</p> + +<p>The fleet consisted of more than a thousand ships, +each with fifty warriors, so the army was of more than +fifty thousand men. Agamemnon had a hundred ships, +Diomede had eighty, Nestor had ninety, the Cretans with +Idomeneus, had eighty, Menelaus had sixty; but Aias and +Ulysses, who lived in small islands, had only twelve ships +apiece. Yet Aias was so brave and strong, and Ulysses so +brave and wise, that they were ranked among the greatest +chiefs and advisers of Agamemnon, with Menelaus, Diomede, +Idomeneus, Nestor, Menestheus of Athens, and two or three +others. These chiefs were called the Council, and gave +advice to Agamemnon, who was commander-in-chief. He +was a brave fighter, but so anxious and fearful of losing the +lives of his soldiers that Ulysses and Diomede were often +obliged to speak to him very severely. Agamemnon was +also very insolent and greedy, though, when anybody stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +up to him, he was ready to apologise, for fear the injured +chief should renounce his service and take away his soldiers.</p> + +<p>Nestor was much respected because he remained brave, +though he was too old to be very useful in battle. He +generally tried to make peace when the princes quarrelled +with Agamemnon. He loved to tell long stories about his +great deeds when he was young, and he wished the chiefs +to fight in old-fashioned ways.</p> + +<p>For instance, in his time the Greeks had fought in clan +regiments, and the princely men had never dismounted in +battle, but had fought in squadrons of chariots, but now +the owners of chariots fought on foot, each man for himself, +while his squire kept the chariot near him to escape on if he +had to retreat. Nestor wished to go back to the good old +way of chariot charges against the crowds of foot soldiers +of the enemy. In short, he was a fine example of the old-fashioned +soldier.</p> + +<p>Aias, though so very tall, strong, and brave, was rather +stupid. He seldom spoke, but he was always ready to +fight, and the last to retreat. Menelaus was weak of body, +but as brave as the best, or more brave, for he had a keen +sense of honour, and would attempt what he had not the +strength to do. Diomede and Ulysses were great friends, +and always fought side by side, when they could, and +helped each other in the most dangerous adventures.</p> + +<p>These were the chiefs who led the great Greek armada +from the harbour of Aulis. A long time had passed, after +the flight of Helen, before the large fleet could be collected, +and more time went by in the attempt to cross the sea to +Troy. There were tempests that scattered the ships, so they +were driven back to Aulis to refit; and they fought, as they +went out again, with the peoples of unfriendly islands, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +besieged their towns. What they wanted most of all was +to have Achilles with them, for he was the leader of fifty +ships and 2,500 men, and he had magical armour made, +men said, for his father, by Hephaestus, the God of armour-making +and smithy work.</p> + +<p>At last the fleet came to the Isle of Scyros, where they +suspected that Achilles was concealed. King Lycomedes +received the chiefs kindly, and they saw all his beautiful +daughters dancing and playing at ball, but Achilles was +still so young and slim and so beautiful that they did not +know him among the others. There was a prophecy that +they could not take Troy without him, and yet they could +not find him out. Then Ulysses had a plan. He blackened +his eyebrows and beard and put on the dress of a Phoenician +merchant. The Phoenicians were a people who lived near +the Jews, and were of the same race, and spoke much the +same language, but, unlike the Jews, who, at that time +were farmers in Palestine, tilling the ground, and keeping +flocks and herds, the Phoenicians were the greatest of +traders and sailors, and stealers of slaves. They carried +cargoes of beautiful cloths, and embroideries, and jewels +of gold, and necklaces of amber, and sold these everywhere +about the shores of Greece and the islands.</p> + +<p>Ulysses then dressed himself like a Phoenician pedlar, with +his pack on his back: he only took a stick in his hand, his +long hair was turned up, and hidden under a red sailor's cap, +and in this figure he came, stooping beneath his pack, into +the courtyard of King Lycomedes. The girls heard that a +pedlar had come, and out they all ran, Achilles with the rest, +to watch the pedlar undo his pack. Each chose what she +liked best: one took a wreath of gold; another a necklace +of gold and amber; another earrings; a fourth a set of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +brooches, another a dress of embroidered scarlet cloth; +another a veil; another a pair of bracelets; but at the +bottom of the pack lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt +studded with golden nails. Achilles seized the sword. +'This is for me!' he said, and drew the sword from the +gilded sheath, and made it whistle round his head.</p> + +<p>'You are Achilles, Peleus' son!' said Ulysses; 'and you +are to be the chief warrior of the Achaeans,' for the Greeks +then called themselves Achaeans. Achilles was only too +glad to hear these words, for he was quite tired of living +among maidens. Ulysses led him into the hall where the +chiefs were sitting at their wine, and Achilles was blushing +like any girl.</p> + +<p>'Here is the Queen of the Amazons,' said Ulysses—for +the Amazons were a race of warlike maidens—'or rather +here is Achilles, Peleus' son, with sword in hand.' Then +they all took his hand, and welcomed him, and he was +clothed in man's dress, with the sword by his side, and +presently they sent him back with ten ships to his home. +There his mother, Thetis, of the silver feet, the goddess of +the sea, wept over him, saying, 'My child, thou hast the +choice of a long and happy and peaceful life here with me, +or of a brief time of war and undying renown. Never +shall I see thee again in Argos if thy choice is for war.' +But Achilles chose to die young, and to be famous as long +as the world stands. So his father gave him fifty ships, +with Patroclus, who was older than he, to be his friend, +and with an old man, Phoenix, to advise him; and his +mother gave him the glorious armour that the God had +made for his father, and the heavy ashen spear that none +but he could wield, and he sailed to join the host of the +Achaeans, who all praised and thanked Ulysses that had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +found for them such a prince. For Achilles was the fiercest +fighter of them all, and the swiftest-footed man, and the +most courteous prince, and the gentlest with women and +children, but he was proud and high of heart, and when he +was angered his anger was terrible.</p> + +<p>The Trojans would have had no chance against the +Greeks if only the men of the city of Troy had fought to +keep Helen of the fair hands. But they had allies, who +spoke different languages, and came to fight for them both +from Europe and from Asia. On the Trojan as well as on +the Greek side were people called Pelasgians, who seem +to have lived on both shores of the sea. There were +Thracians, too, who dwelt much further north than Achilles, +in Europe and beside the strait of Hellespont, where the +narrow sea runs like a river. There were warriors of Lycia, +led by Sarpedon and Glaucus; there were Carians, who +spoke in a strange tongue; there were Mysians and men +from Alybe, which was called 'the birthplace of silver,' +and many other peoples sent their armies, so that the war +was between Eastern Europe, on one side, and Western Asia +Minor on the other. The people of Egypt took no part in +the war: the Greeks and Islesmen used to come down in +their ships and attack the Egyptians as the Danes used to +invade England. You may see the warriors from the islands, +with their horned helmets, in old Egyptian pictures.</p> + +<p>The commander-in-chief, as we say now, of the Trojans +was Hector, the son of Priam. He was thought a match +for any one of the Greeks, and was brave and good. His +brothers also were leaders, but Paris preferred to fight +from a distance with bow and arrows. He and Pandarus, +who dwelt on the slopes of Mount Ida, were the best archers +in the Trojan army. The princes usually fought with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +heavy spears, which they threw at each other, and with +swords, leaving archery to the common soldiers who had +no armour of bronze. But Teucer, Meriones, and Ulysses +were the best archers of the Achaeans. People called +Dardanians were led by Aeneas, who was said to be the +son of the most beautiful of the goddesses. These, with +Sarpedon and Glaucus, were the most famous of the men +who fought for Troy.</p> + +<p>Troy was a strong town on a hill: Mount Ida lay behind +it, and in front was a plain sloping to the sea shore. +Through this plain ran two beautiful clear rivers, and there +were scattered here and there what you would have taken +for steep knolls, but they were really mounds piled up over +the ashes of warriors who had died long ago. On these +mounds sentinels used to stand and look across the water +to give warning if the Greek fleet drew near, for the Trojans +had heard that it was on its way. At last the fleet came +in view, and the sea was black with ships, the oarsmen +pulling with all their might for the honour of being the +first to land. The race was won by the ship of the prince +Protesilaus, who was first of all to leap on shore, but as he +leaped he was struck to the heart by an arrow from the +bow of Paris. This must have seemed a good omen to the +Trojans, and to the Greeks evil, but we do not hear that +the landing was resisted in great force, any more than that +of Norman William was, when he invaded England.</p> + +<p>The Greeks drew up all their ships on shore, and the men +camped in huts built in front of the ships. There was thus +a long row of huts with the ships behind them, and in these +huts the Greeks lived all through the ten years that the +siege of Troy lasted. In these days they do not seem to +have understood how to conduct a siege. You would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +expected the Greeks to build towers and dig trenches all +round Troy, and from the towers watch the roads, so that +provisions might not be brought in from the country. This +is called 'investing' a town, but the Greeks never invested +Troy. Perhaps they had not men enough; at all events +the place remained open, and cattle could always be driven +in to feed the warriors and the women and children.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the Greeks for long never seem to have +tried to break down one of the gates, nor to scale the +walls, which were very high, with ladders. On the other +hand, the Trojans and allies never ventured to drive the +Greeks into the sea; they commonly remained within +the walls or skirmished just beneath them. The older +men insisted on this way of fighting, in spite of Hector, +who always wished to attack and storm the camp of the +Greeks. Neither side had machines for throwing heavy +stones, such as the Romans used later, and the most that the +Greeks did was to follow Achilles and capture small neighbouring +cities, and take the women for slaves, and drive +the cattle. They got provisions and wine from the +Phoenicians, who came in ships, and made much profit +out of the war.</p> + +<p>It was not till the tenth year that the war began in real +earnest, and scarcely any of the chief leaders had fallen. +Fever came upon the Greeks, and all day the camp was black +with smoke, and all night shone with fire from the great +piles of burning wood, on which the Greeks burned their +dead, whose bones they then buried under hillocks of earth. +Many of these hillocks are still standing on the plain of Troy. +When the plague had raged for ten days, Achilles called +an assembly of the whole army, to try to find out why +the Gods were angry. They thought that the beautiful God<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +Apollo (who took the Trojan side) was shooting invisible +arrows at them from his silver bow, though fevers in armies +are usually caused by dirt and drinking bad water. The +great heat of the sun, too, may have helped to cause the +disease; but we must tell the story as the Greeks told it +themselves. So Achilles spoke in the assembly, and proposed +to ask some prophet why Apollo was angry. The +chief prophet was Calchas. He rose and said that he would +declare the truth if Achilles would promise to protect him +from the anger of any prince whom the truth might offend.</p> + +<p>Achilles knew well whom Calchas meant. Ten days +before, a priest of Apollo had come to the camp and offered +ransom for his daughter Chryseis, a beautiful girl, whom +Achilles had taken prisoner, with many others, when he +captured a small town. Chryseis had been given as a slave +to Agamemnon, who always got the best of the plunder +because he was chief king, whether he had taken part in +the fighting or not. As a rule he did not. To Achilles +had been given another girl, Briseis, of whom he was very +fond. Now when Achilles had promised to protect Calchas, +the prophet spoke out, and boldly said, what all men knew +already, that Apollo caused the plague because Agamemnon +would not return Chryseis, and had insulted her father, +the priest of the God.</p> + +<p>On hearing this, Agamemnon was very angry. He +said that he would send Chryseis home, but that he would +take Briseis away from Achilles. Then Achilles was drawing +his great sword from the sheath to kill Agamemnon, +but even in his anger he knew that this was wrong, so he +merely called Agamemnon a greedy coward, 'with face of +dog and heart of deer,' and he swore that he and his men +would fight no more against the Trojans. Old Nestor tried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +to make peace, and swords were not drawn, but Briseis was +taken away from Achilles, and Ulysses put Chryseis on board +of his ship and sailed away with her to her father's town, +and gave her up to her father. Then her father prayed to +Apollo that the plague might cease, and it did cease—when +the Greeks had cleansed their camp, and purified themselves +and cast their filth into the sea.</p> + +<p>We know how fierce and brave Achilles was, and we +may wonder that he did not challenge Agamemnon to fight +a duel. But the Greeks never fought duels, and Agamemnon +was believed to be chief king by right divine. Achilles +went alone to the sea shore when his dear Briseis was led +away, and he wept, and called to his mother, the silver-footed +lady of the waters. Then she arose from the grey sea, +like a mist, and sat down beside her son, and stroked his hair +with her hand, and he told her all his sorrows. So she said +that she would go up to the dwelling of the Gods, and pray +Zeus, the chief of them all, to make the Trojans win a great +battle, so that Agamemnon should feel his need of Achilles, +and make amends for his insolence, and do him honour.</p> + +<p>Thetis kept her promise, and Zeus gave his word that the +Trojans should defeat the Greeks. That night Zeus sent +a deceitful dream to Agamemnon. The dream took the shape +of old Nestor, and said that Zeus would give him victory +that day. While he was still asleep, Agamemnon was full +of hope that he would instantly take Troy, but, when he +woke, he seems not to have been nearly so confident, for +in place of putting on his armour, and bidding the Greeks +arm themselves, he merely dressed in his robe and mantle, +took his sceptre, and went and told the chiefs about his +dream. They did not feel much encouraged, so he said +that he would try the temper of the army. He would call<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +them together, and propose to return to Greece; but, if +the soldiers took him at his word, the other chiefs were to +stop them. This was a foolish plan, for the soldiers were +wearying for beautiful Greece, and their homes, and wives +and children. Therefore, when Agamemnon did as he had +said, the whole army rose, like the sea under the west wind, +and, with a shout, they rushed to the ships, while the dust +blew in clouds from under their feet. Then they began to +launch their ships, and it seems that the princes were +carried away in the rush, and were as eager as the rest to +go home.</p> + +<p>But Ulysses only stood in sorrow and anger beside his +ship, and never put hand to it, for he felt how disgraceful +it was to run away. At last he threw down his mantle, +which his herald Eurybates of Ithaca, a round-shouldered, +brown, curly-haired man, picked up, and he ran to find +Agamemnon, and took his sceptre, a gold-studded staff, like +a marshal's baton, and he gently told the chiefs whom he +met that they were doing a shameful thing; but he drove +the common soldiers back to the place of meeting with the +sceptre. They all returned, puzzled and chattering, but +one lame, bandy-legged, bald, round-shouldered, impudent +fellow, named Thersites, jumped up and made an insolent +speech, insulting the princes, and advising the army to run +away. Then Ulysses took him and beat him till the blood +came, and he sat down, wiping away his tears, and looking +so foolish that the whole army laughed at him, and cheered +Ulysses when he and Nestor bade them arm and fight. +Agamemnon still believed a good deal in his dream, and +prayed that he might take Troy that very day, and kill +Hector. Thus Ulysses alone saved the army from a cowardly +retreat; but for him the ships would have been launched in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +an hour. But the Greeks armed and advanced in full force, +all except Achilles and his friend Patroclus with their two or +three thousand men. The Trojans also took heart, knowing +that Achilles would not fight, and the armies approached +each other. Paris himself, with two spears and a bow, +and without armour, walked into the space between the +hosts, and challenged any Greek prince to single combat. +Menelaus, whose wife Paris had carried away, was as +glad as a hungry lion when he finds a stag or a goat, and +leaped in armour from his chariot, but Paris turned and +slunk away, like a man when he meets a great serpent on +a narrow path in the hills. Then Hector rebuked Paris +for his cowardice, and Paris was ashamed and offered to +end the war by fighting Menelaus. If he himself fell, the +Trojans must give up Helen and all her jewels; if Menelaus +fell, the Greeks were to return without fair Helen. The +Greeks accepted this plan, and both sides disarmed themselves +to look on at the fight in comfort, and they meant +to take the most solemn oaths to keep peace till the combat +was lost and won, and the quarrel settled. Hector sent +into Troy for two lambs, which were to be sacrificed when the +oaths were taken.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Helen of the fair hands was at home +working at a great purple tapestry on which she embroidered +the battles of the Greeks and Trojans. It was just like the +tapestry at Bayeux on which Norman ladies embroidered +the battles in the Norman Conquest of England. Helen +was very fond of embroidering, like poor Mary, Queen of +Scots, when a prisoner in Loch Leven Castle. Probably +the work kept both Helen and Mary from thinking of their +past lives and their sorrows.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs03" id="gs03"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs03.png" width="350" height="472" alt="HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE GREEK HOST +TO PRIAM." title="HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE GREEK HOST +TO PRIAM." /> +<span class="caption">HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE GREEK HOST +TO PRIAM.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When Helen heard that her husband was to fight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +Paris, she wept, and threw a shining veil over her head, +and with her two bower maidens went to the roof of the +gate tower, where king Priam was sitting with the old +Trojan chiefs. They saw her and said that it was small +blame to fight for so beautiful a lady, and Priam called +her 'dear child,' and said, 'I do not blame you, I blame +the Gods who brought about this war.' But Helen said +that she wished she had died before she left her little +daughter and her husband, and her home: 'Alas! shameless +me!' Then she told Priam the names of the chief Greek +warriors, and of Ulysses, who was shorter by a head than +Agamemnon but broader in chest and shoulders. She +wondered that she could not see her own two brothers, +Castor and Polydeuces, and thought that they kept aloof +in shame for her sin; but the green grass covered their +graves, for they had both died in battle, far away in Lacedaemon, +their own country.</p> + +<p>Then the lambs were sacrificed, and the oaths were +taken, and Paris put on his brother's armour: helmet, +breastplate, shield, and leg-armour. Lots were drawn to +decide whether Paris or Menelaus should throw his spear +first, and, as Paris won, he threw his spear, but the point +was blunted against the shield of Menelaus. But when +Menelaus threw his spear it went clean through the shield +of Paris, and through the side of his breastplate, but only +grazed his robe. Menelaus drew his sword, and rushed +in, and smote at the crest of the helmet of Paris, but his +bronze blade broke into four pieces. Menelaus caught +Paris by the horsehair crest of his helmet, and dragged +him towards the Greeks, but the chin-strap broke, and +Menelaus turning round threw the helmet into the ranks +of the Greeks. But when Menelaus looked again for Paris,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +with a spear in his hand, he could see him nowhere! The +Greeks believed that the beautiful goddess Aphrodite, +whom the Romans called Venus, hid him in a thick cloud +of darkness and carried him to his own house, where Helen +of the fair hands found him and said to him, 'Would that +thou hadst perished, conquered by that great warrior who +was my lord! Go forth again and challenge him to fight +thee face to face.' But Paris had no more desire to fight, +and the Goddess threatened Helen, and compelled her to +remain with him in Troy, coward as he had proved himself. +Yet on other days Paris fought well; it seems that he was +afraid of Menelaus because, in his heart, he was ashamed of +himself.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Menelaus was seeking for Paris everywhere, +and the Trojans, who hated him, would have shown his +hiding place. But they knew not where he was, and the +Greeks claimed the victory, and thought that, as Paris had +the worst of the fight, Helen would be restored to them, +and they would all sail home.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<p class="center">TROJAN VICTORIES</p> + +<p>The war might now have ended, but an evil and foolish +thought came to Pandarus, a prince of Ida, who fought +for the Trojans. He chose to shoot an arrow at Menelaus, +contrary to the sworn vows of peace, and the arrow pierced +the breastplate of Menelaus through the place where the +clasped plates meet, and drew his blood. Then Agamemnon, +who loved his brother dearly, began to lament, saying that, +if he died, the army would all go home and Trojans would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +dance on the grave of Menelaus. 'Do not alarm all our +army,' said Menelaus, 'the arrow has done me little harm;' +and so it proved, for the surgeon easily drew the arrow +out of the wound.</p> + +<p>Then Agamemnon hastened here and there, bidding the +Greeks arm and attack the Trojans, who would certainly +be defeated, for they had broken the oaths of peace. But +with his usual insolence he chose to accuse Ulysses and +Diomede of cowardice, though Diomede was as brave as +any man, and Ulysses had just prevented the whole army +from launching their ships and going home. Ulysses +answered him with spirit, but Diomede said nothing at the +moment; later he spoke his mind. He leaped from his +chariot, and all the chiefs leaped down and advanced in +line, the chariots following them, while the spearmen and +bowmen followed the chariots. The Trojan army advanced, +all shouting in their different languages, but the Greeks +came on silently. Then the two front lines clashed, +shield against shield, and the noise was like the roaring of +many flooded torrents among the hills. When a man fell +he who had slain him tried to strip off his armour, and his +friends fought over his body to save the dead from this +dishonour.</p> + +<p>Ulysses fought above a wounded friend, and drove his +spear through head and helmet of a Trojan prince, +and everywhere men were falling beneath spears and +arrows and heavy stones which the warriors threw. Here +Menelaus speared the man who built the ships with which +Paris had sailed to Greece; and the dust rose like a cloud, +and a mist went up from the fighting men, while Diomede +stormed across the plain like a river in flood, leaving dead +bodies behind him as the river leaves boughs of trees and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +grass to mark its course. Pandarus wounded Diomede +with an arrow, but Diomede slew him, and the Trojans +were being driven in flight, when Sarpedon and Hector +turned and hurled themselves on the Greeks; and even +Diomede shuddered when Hector came on, and charged +at Ulysses, who was slaying Trojans as he went, and the +battle swayed this way and that, and the arrows fell like +rain.</p> + +<p>But Hector was sent into the city to bid the women +pray to the goddess Athênê for help, and he went to +the house of Paris, whom Helen was imploring to go and +fight like a man, saying: 'Would that the winds had wafted +me away, and the tides drowned me, shameless that I am, +before these things came to pass!'</p> + +<p>Then Hector went to see his dear wife, Andromache, +whose father had been slain by Achilles early in the siege, +and he found her and her nurse carrying her little boy, +Hector's son, and like a star upon her bosom lay his beautiful +and shining golden head. Now, while Helen urged Paris to +go into the fight, Andromache prayed Hector to stay with +her in the town, and fight no more lest he should be slain +and leave her a widow, and the boy an orphan, with none +to protect him. The army, she said, should come back +within the walls, where they had so long been safe, not +fight in the open plain. But Hector answered that he +would never shrink from battle, 'yet I know this in my +heart, the day shall come for holy Troy to be laid low, and +Priam and the people of Priam. But this and my own +death do not trouble me so much as the thought of you, +when you shall be carried as a slave to Greece, to spin at +another woman's bidding, and bear water from a Grecian +well. May the heaped up earth of my tomb cover me ere +I hear thy cries and the tale of thy captivity.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Hector stretched out his hands to his little boy, +but the child was afraid when he saw the great glittering +helmet of his father and the nodding horsehair crest. So +Hector laid his helmet on the ground and dandled the child +in his arms, and tried to comfort his wife, and said good-bye +for the last time, for he never came back to Troy alive. +He went on his way back to the battle, and Paris went with +him, in glorious armour, and soon they were slaying the +princes of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>The battle raged till nightfall, and in the night the +Greeks and Trojans burned their dead; and the Greeks +made a trench and wall round their camp, which they +needed for safety now that the Trojans came from their +town and fought in the open plain.</p> + +<p>Next day the Trojans were so successful that they did +not retreat behind their walls at night, but lit great fires +on the plain: a thousand fires, with fifty men taking supper +round each of them, and drinking their wine to the music +of flutes. But the Greeks were much discouraged, and +Agamemnon called the whole army together, and proposed +that they should launch their ships in the night and sail +away home. Then Diomede stood up, and said: 'You +called me a coward lately. You are the coward! Sail +away if you are afraid to remain here, but all the rest of us +will fight till we take Troy town.'</p> + +<p>Then all shouted in praise of Diomede, and Nestor +advised them to send five hundred young men, under his +own son, Thrasymedes, to watch the Trojans, and guard +the new wall and the ditch, in case the Trojans attacked +them in the darkness. Next Nestor counselled Agamemnon +to send Ulysses and Aias to Achilles, and promise to give +back Briseis, and rich presents of gold, and beg pardon for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +his insolence. If Achilles would be friends again with +Agamemnon, and fight as he used to fight, the Trojans +would soon be driven back into the town.</p> + +<p>Agamemnon was very ready to beg pardon, for he feared +that the whole army would be defeated, and cut off from +their ships, and killed or kept as slaves. So Ulysses and +Aias and the old tutor of Achilles, Phoenix, went to Achilles +and argued with him, praying him to accept the rich presents, +and help the Greeks. But Achilles answered that he +did not believe a word that Agamemnon said; Agamemnon +had always hated him, and always would hate him. No; +he would not cease to be angry, he would sail away next +day with all his men, and he advised the rest to come +with him. 'Why be so fierce?' said tall Aias, who seldom +spoke. 'Why make so much trouble about one girl? We +offer you seven girls, and plenty of other gifts.'</p> + +<p>Then Achilles said that he would not sail away next +day, but he would not fight till the Trojans tried to burn +his own ships, and there he thought that Hector would find +work enough to do. This was the most that Achilles would +promise, and all the Greeks were silent when Ulysses delivered +his message. But Diomede arose and said that, +with or without Achilles, fight they must; and all men, +heavy at heart, went to sleep in their huts or in the open +air at their doors.</p> + +<p>Agamemnon was much too anxious to sleep. He saw +the glow of the thousand fires of the Trojans in the dark, +and heard their merry flutes, and he groaned and pulled +out his long hair by handfuls. When he was tired of crying +and groaning and tearing his hair, he thought that he +would go for advice to old Nestor. He threw a lion skin, +the coverlet of his bed, over his shoulder, took his spear,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +went out and met Menelaus—for he, too, could not sleep—and +Menelaus proposed to send a spy among the Trojans, +if any man were brave enough to go, for the Trojan camp +was all alight with fires, and the adventure was dangerous. +Therefore the two wakened Nestor and the other chiefs, +who came just as they were, wrapped in the fur coverlets +of their beds, without any armour. First they visited the +five hundred young men set to watch the wall, and then +they crossed the ditch and sat down outside and considered +what might be done. 'Will nobody go as a spy among +the Trojans?' said Nestor; he meant would none of the +young men go. Diomede said that he would take the +risk if any other man would share it with him, and, if he +might choose a companion, he would take Ulysses.</p> + +<p>'Come, then, let us be going,' said Ulysses, 'for the +night is late, and the dawn is near.' As these two chiefs had +no armour on, they borrowed shields and leather caps from +the young men of the guard, for leather would not shine +as bronze helmets shine in the firelight. The cap lent to +Ulysses was strengthened outside with rows of boars' tusks. +Many of these tusks, shaped for this purpose, have been +found, with swords and armour, in a tomb in Mycenae, the +town of Agamemnon. This cap which was lent to Ulysses +had once been stolen by his grandfather, Autolycus, who +was a Master Thief, and he gave it as a present to a friend, +and so, through several hands, it had come to young +Meriones of Crete, one of the five hundred guards, who now +lent it to Ulysses. So the two princes set forth in the dark, +so dark it was that though they heard a heron cry, they +could not see it as it flew away.</p> + +<p>While Ulysses and Diomede stole through the night +silently, like two wolves among the bodies of dead men, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +Trojan leaders met and considered what they ought to do. +They did not know whether the Greeks had set sentinels +and outposts, as usual, to give warning if the enemy were +approaching; or whether they were too weary to keep a +good watch; or whether perhaps they were getting ready +their ships to sail homewards in the dawn. So Hector +offered a reward to any man who would creep through the +night and spy on the Greeks; he said he would give the spy +the two best horses in the Greek camp.</p> + +<p>Now among the Trojans there was a young man named +Dolon, the son of a rich father, and he was the only boy +in a family of five sisters. He was ugly, but a very swift +runner, and he cared for horses more than for anything +else in the world. Dolon arose and said, 'If you will swear +to give me the horses and chariot of Achilles, son of Peleus, +I will steal to the hut of Agamemnon and listen and find out +whether the Greeks mean to fight or flee.' Hector swore +to give these horses, which were the best in the world, to +Dolon, so he took his bow and threw a grey wolf's hide +over his shoulders, and ran towards the ships of the +Greeks.</p> + +<p>Now Ulysses saw Dolon as he came, and said to Diomede, +'Let us suffer him to pass us, and then do you keep driving +him with your spear towards the ships, and away from +Troy.' So Ulysses and Diomede lay down among the +dead men who had fallen in the battle, and Dolon ran on +past them towards the Greeks. Then they rose and chased +him as two greyhounds course a hare, and, when Dolon +was near the sentinels, Diomede cried 'Stand, or I will +slay you with my spear!' and he threw his spear just over +Dolon's shoulder. So Dolon stood still, green with fear, +and with his teeth chattering. When the two came up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +he cried, and said that his father was a rich man, who would +pay much gold, and bronze, and iron for his ransom.</p> + +<p>Ulysses said, 'Take heart, and put death out of your +mind, and tell us what you are doing here.' Dolon said +that Hector had promised him the horses of Achilles if he +would go and spy on the Greeks. 'You set your hopes +high,' said Ulysses, 'for the horses of Achilles are not +earthly steeds, but divine; a gift of the Gods, and Achilles +alone can drive them. But, tell me, do the Trojans keep +good watch, and where is Hector with his horses?' for +Ulysses thought that it would be a great adventure to drive +away the horses of Hector.</p> + +<p>'Hector is with the chiefs, holding council at the tomb +of Ilus,' said Dolon; 'but no regular guard is set. The +people of Troy, indeed, are round their watch fires, for they +have to think of the safety of their wives and children; +but the allies from far lands keep no watch, for their wives +and children are safe at home.' Then he told where all the +different peoples who fought for Priam had their stations; +but, said he, 'if you want to steal horses, the best are those +of Rhesus, King of the Thracians, who has only joined us +to-night. He and his men are asleep at the furthest end of +the line, and his horses are the best and greatest that ever +I saw: tall, white as snow, and swift as the wind, and his +chariot is adorned with gold and silver, and golden is his +armour. Now take me prisoner to the ships, or bind me +and leave me here while you go and try whether I have +told you truth or lies.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Diomede, 'if I spare your life you may come +spying again,' and he drew his sword and smote off the +head of Dolon. They hid his cap and bow and spear +where they could find them easily, and marked the spot,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +and went through the night to the dark camp of King +Rhesus, who had no watch-fire and no guards. Then +Diomede silently stabbed each sleeping man to the heart, +and Ulysses seized the dead by the feet and threw them +aside lest they should frighten the horses, which had +never been in battle, and would shy if they were led over +the bodies of dead men. Last of all Diomede killed King +Rhesus, and Ulysses led forth his horses, beating them with +his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip from the +chariot. Then Ulysses and Diomede leaped on the backs +of the horses, as they had not time to bring away the +chariot, and they galloped to the ships, stopping to pick +up the spear, and bow, and cap of Dolon. They rode to the +princes, who welcomed them, and all laughed for glee when +they saw the white horses and heard that King Rhesus +was dead, for they guessed that all his army would now go +home to Thrace. This they must have done, for we never +hear of them in the battles that followed, so Ulysses and +Diomede deprived the Trojans of thousands of men. The +other princes went to bed in good spirits, but Ulysses and +Diomede took a swim in the sea, and then went into hot +baths, and so to breakfast, for rosy-fingered Dawn was +coming up the sky.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<p class="center">BATTLE AT THE SHIPS</p> + +<p>With dawn Agamemnon awoke, and fear had gone out +of his heart. He put on his armour, and arrayed the +chiefs on foot in front of their chariots, and behind them +came the spearmen, with the bowmen and slingers on the +wings of the army. Then a great black cloud spread over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +the sky, and red was the rain that fell from it. The Trojans +gathered on a height in the plain, and Hector, shining in +armour, went here and there, in front and rear, like a star +that now gleams forth and now is hidden in a cloud.</p> + +<p>The armies rushed on each other and hewed each other +down, as reapers cut their way through a field of tall corn. +Neither side gave ground, though the helmets of the +bravest Trojans might be seen deep in the ranks of the +Greeks; and the swords of the bravest Greeks rose and fell +in the ranks of the Trojans, and all the while the arrows +showered like rain. But at noon-day, when the weary +woodman rests from cutting trees, and takes his dinner in +the quiet hills, the Greeks of the first line made a charge, +Agamemnon running in front of them, and he speared two +Trojans, and took their breastplates, which he laid in his +chariot, and then he speared one brother of Hector and +struck another down with his sword, and killed two more +who vainly asked to be made prisoners of war. Footmen +slew footmen, and chariot men slew chariot men, and they +broke into the Trojan line as fire falls on a forest in a windy +day, leaping and roaring and racing through the trees. +Many an empty chariot did the horses hurry madly through +the field, for the charioteers were lying dead, with the +greedy vultures hovering above them, flapping their wide +wings. Still Agamemnon followed and slew the hindmost +Trojans, but the rest fled till they came to the gates, and +the oak tree that grew outside the gates, and there they +stopped.</p> + +<p>But Hector held his hands from fighting, for in the +meantime he was making his men face the enemy and +form up in line and take breath, and was encouraging +them, for they had retreated from the wall of the Greeks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +across the whole plain, past the hill that was the tomb of +Ilus, a king of old, and past the place of the wild fig-tree. +Much ado had Hector to rally the Trojans, but he knew +that when men do turn again they are hard to beat. So +it proved, for when the Trojans had rallied and formed in +line, Agamemnon slew a Thracian chief who had come to +fight for Troy before King Rhesus came. But the eldest +brother of the slain man smote Agamemnon through the +arm with his spear, and, though Agamemnon slew him in +turn, his wound bled much and he was in great pain, so he +leaped into his chariot and was driven back to the ships.</p> + +<p>Then Hector gave the word to charge, as a huntsman +cries on his hounds against a lion, and he rushed forward at +the head of the Trojan line, slaying as he went. Nine chiefs +of the Greeks he slew, and fell upon the spearmen and +scattered them, as the spray of the waves is scattered by +the wandering wind.</p> + +<p>Now the ranks of the Greeks were broken, and they +would have been driven among their ships and killed +without mercy, had not Ulysses and Diomede stood firm +in the centre, and slain four Trojan leaders. The Greeks +began to come back and face their enemies in line of battle +again, though Hector, who had been fighting on the Trojan +right, rushed against them. But Diomede took good aim +with his spear at the helmet of Hector, and struck it fairly. +The spear-point did not go through the helmet, but Hector +was stunned and fell; and, when he came to himself, he +leaped into his chariot, and his squire drove him against +the Pylians and Cretans, under Nestor and Idomeneus, +who were on the left wing of the Greek army. Then +Diomede fought on till Paris, who stood beside the pillar +on the hillock that was the tomb of old King Ilus, sent an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +arrow clean through his foot. Ulysses went and stood in +front of Diomede, who sat down, and Ulysses drew the arrow +from his foot, and Diomede stepped into his chariot and +was driven back to the ships.</p> + +<p>Ulysses was now the only Greek chief that still fought +in the centre. The Greeks all fled, and he was alone in the +crowd of Trojans, who rushed on him as hounds and hunters +press round a wild boar that stands at bay in a wood. +'They are cowards that flee from the fight,' said Ulysses to +himself; 'but I will stand here, one man against a multitude.' +He covered the front of his body with his great +shield, that hung by a belt round his neck, and he smote +four Trojans and wounded a fifth. But the brother of +the wounded man drove a spear through the shield and +breastplate of Ulysses, and tore clean through his side. +Then Ulysses turned on this Trojan, and he fled, and +Ulysses sent a spear through his shoulder and out at his +breast, and he died. Ulysses dragged from his own side +the spear that had wounded him, and called thrice with a +great voice to the other Greeks, and Menelaus and Aias +rushed to rescue him, for many Trojans were round him, +like jackals round a wounded stag that a man has struck +with an arrow. But Aias ran and covered the wounded +Ulysses with his huge shield till he could climb into the +chariot of Menelaus, who drove him back to the ships.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Hector was slaying the Greeks on the left +of their battle, and Paris struck the Greek surgeon, Machaon, +with an arrow; and Idomeneus bade Nestor put Machaon +in his chariot and drive him to Nestor's hut, where his +wound might be tended. Meanwhile, Hector sped to the +centre of the line, where Aias was slaying the Trojans; but +Eurypylus, a Greek chief, was wounded by an arrow from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +the bow of Paris, and his friends guarded him with their +shields and spears.</p> + +<p>Thus the best of the Greeks were wounded and out of +the battle, save Aias, and the spearmen were in flight. Meanwhile +Achilles was standing by the stern of his ship watching +the defeat of the Greeks, but when he saw Machaon being +carried past, sorely wounded, in the chariot of Nestor, he +bade his friend Patroclus, whom he loved better than all +the rest, to go and ask how Machaon did. He was sitting +drinking wine with Nestor when Patroclus came, and Nestor +told Patroclus how many of the chiefs were wounded, and +though Patroclus was in a hurry Nestor began a very long +story about his own great deeds of war, done when he was +a young man. At last he bade Patroclus tell Achilles +that, if he would not fight himself, he should at least send +out his men under Patroclus, who should wear the splendid +armour of Achilles. Then the Trojans would think that +Achilles himself had returned to the battle, and they would +be afraid, for none of them dared to meet Achilles hand to +hand.</p> + +<p>So Patroclus ran off to Achilles; but, on his way, he +met the wounded Eurypylus, and he took him to his hut +and cut the arrow out of his thigh with a knife, and washed +the wound with warm water, and rubbed over it a bitter +root to take the pain away. Thus he waited for some time +with Eurypylus, but the advice of Nestor was in the end +to cause the death of Patroclus. The battle now raged +more fiercely, while Agamemnon and Diomede and Ulysses +could only limp about leaning on their spears; and again +Agamemnon wished to moor the ships near shore, and +embark in the night and run away. But Ulysses was very +angry with him, and said: 'You should lead some other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +inglorious army, not us, who will fight on till every soul of +us perish, rather than flee like cowards! Be silent, lest +the soldiers hear you speaking of flight, such words as no +man should utter. I wholly scorn your counsel, for the +Greeks will lose heart if, in the midst of battle, you bid +them launch the ships.'</p> + +<p>Agamemnon was ashamed, and, by Diomede's advice, +the wounded kings went down to the verge of the war to +encourage the others, though they were themselves unable +to fight. They rallied the Greeks, and Aias led them +and struck Hector full in the breast with a great rock, so +that his friends carried him out of the battle to the river +side, where they poured water over him, but he lay +fainting on the ground, the black blood gushing up from +his mouth. While Hector lay there, and all men thought +that he would die, Aias and Idomeneus were driving back +the Trojans, and it seemed that, even without Achilles and +his men, the Greeks were able to hold their own against the +Trojans. But the battle was never lost while Hector lived. +People in those days believed in 'omens:' they thought +that the appearance of birds on the right or left hand +meant good or bad luck. Once during the battle a Trojan +showed Hector an unlucky bird, and wanted him to retreat +into the town. But Hector said, 'One omen is the best: +to fight for our own country.' While Hector lay between +death and life the Greeks were winning, for the Trojans +had no other great chief to lead them. But Hector awoke +from his faint, and leaped to his feet and ran here and +there, encouraging the men of Troy. Then the most of the +Greeks fled when they saw him; but Aias and Idomeneus, +and the rest of the bravest, formed in a square between +the Trojans and the ships, and down on them came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +Hector and Aeneas and Paris, throwing their spears, and +slaying on every hand. The Greeks turned and ran, and +the Trojans would have stopped to strip the armour from +the slain men, but Hector cried: 'Haste to the ships and +leave the spoils of war. I will slay any man who lags +behind!'</p> + +<p>On this, all the Trojans drove their chariots down into +the ditch that guarded the ships of the Greeks, as when a +great wave sweeps at sea over the side of a vessel; and the +Greeks were on the ship decks, thrusting with very long +spears, used in sea fights, and the Trojans were boarding +the ships, and striking with swords and axes. Hector had +a lighted torch and tried to set fire to the ship of Aias; +but Aias kept him back with the long spear, and slew a +Trojan, whose lighted torch fell from his hand. And +Aias kept shouting: 'Come on, and drive away Hector; +it is not to a dance that he is calling his men, but to battle.'</p> + +<p>The dead fell in heaps, and the living ran over them +to mount the heaps of slain and climb the ships. Hector +rushed forward like a sea wave against a great steep rock, +but like the rock stood the Greeks; still the Trojans charged +past the beaks of the foremost ships, while Aias, thrusting +with a spear more than twenty feet long, leaped from deck +to deck like a man that drives four horses abreast, and +leaps from the back of one to the back of another. Hector +seized with his hand the stern of the ship of Protesilaus, +the prince whom Paris shot when he leaped ashore on the +day when the Greeks first landed; and Hector kept calling: +'Bring fire!' and even Aias, in this strange sea fight on land, +left the decks and went below, thrusting with his spear +through the portholes. Twelve men lay dead who had +brought fire against the ship which Aias guarded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS</p> + +<p>At this moment, when torches were blazing round the +ships, and all seemed lost, Patroclus came out of the hut of +Eurypylus, whose wound he had been tending, and he saw +that the Greeks were in great danger, and ran weeping to +Achilles. 'Why do you weep,' said Achilles, 'like a little +girl that runs by her mother's side, and plucks at her +gown and looks at her with tears in her eyes, till her mother +takes her up in her arms? Is there bad news from home +that your father is dead, or mine; or are you sorry that +the Greeks are getting what they deserve for their folly?' +Then Patroclus told Achilles how Ulysses and many other +princes were wounded and could not fight, and begged to +be allowed to put on Achilles' armour and lead his men, +who were all fresh and unwearied, into the battle, for a +charge of two thousand fresh warriors might turn the +fortune of the day.</p> + +<p>Then Achilles was sorry that he had sworn not to fight +himself till Hector brought fire to his own ships. He +would lend Patroclus his armour, and his horses, and his +men; but Patroclus must only drive the Trojans from the +ships, and not pursue them. At this moment Aias was +weary, so many spears smote his armour, and he could +hardly hold up his great shield, and Hector cut off his spearhead +with the sword; the bronze head fell ringing on the +ground, and Aias brandished only the pointless shaft. So +he shrank back and fire blazed all over his ship; and Achilles +saw it, and smote his thigh, and bade Patroclus make haste. +Patroclus armed himself in the shining armour of Achilles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +which all Trojans feared, and leaped into the chariot where +Automedon, the squire, had harnessed Xanthus and Balius, +two horses that were the children, men said, of the West +Wind, and a led horse was harnessed beside them in the +side traces. Meanwhile the two thousand men of Achilles, +who were called Myrmidons, had met in armour, five +companies of four hundred apiece, under five chiefs of noble +names. Forth they came, as eager as a pack of wolves +that have eaten a great red deer and run to slake their +thirst with the dark water of a well in the hills.</p> + +<p>So all in close array, helmet touching helmet and shield +touching shield, like a moving wall of shining bronze, the +men of Achilles charged, and Patroclus in the chariot led +the way. Down they came at full speed on the flank of +the Trojans, who saw the leader, and knew the bright +armour and the horses of the terrible Achilles, and thought +that he had returned to the war. Then each Trojan +looked round to see by what way he could escape, and +when men do that in battle they soon run by the way they +have chosen. Patroclus rushed to the ship of Protesilaus, +and slew the leader of the Trojans there, and drove them +out, and quenched the fire; while they of Troy drew back +from the ships, and Aias and the other unwounded Greek +princes leaped among them, smiting with sword and spear. +Well did Hector know that the break in the battle had come +again; but even so he stood, and did what he might, while +the Trojans were driven back in disorder across the ditch, +where the poles of many chariots were broken and the +horses fled loose across the plain.</p> + +<p>The horses of Achilles cleared the ditch, and Patroclus +drove them between the Trojans and the wall of their own +town, slaying many men, and, chief of all, Sarpedon, king<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +of the Lycians; and round the body of Sarpedon the Trojans +rallied under Hector, and the fight swayed this way and +that, and there was such a noise of spears and swords +smiting shields and helmets as when many woodcutters +fell trees in a glen of the hills. At last the Trojans gave +way, and the Greeks stripped the armour from the body +of brave Sarpedon; but men say that Sleep and Death, +like two winged angels, bore his body away to his own +country. Now Patroclus forgot how Achilles had told him +not to pursue the Trojans across the plain, but to return +when he had driven them from the ships. On he raced, +slaying as he went, even till he reached the foot of the wall +of Troy. Thrice he tried to climb it, but thrice he fell +back.</p> + +<p>Hector was in his chariot in the gateway, and he bade +his squire lash his horses into the war, and struck at +no other man, great or small, but drove straight against +Patroclus, who stood and threw a heavy stone at Hector; +which missed him, but killed his charioteer. Then Patroclus +leaped on the charioteer to strip his armour, but Hector +stood over the body, grasping it by the head, while Patroclus +dragged at the feet, and spears and arrows flew in clouds +around the fallen man. At last, towards sunset, the Greeks +drew him out of the war, and Patroclus thrice charged +into the thick of the Trojans. But the helmet of Achilles +was loosened in the fight, and fell from the head of Patroclus, +and he was wounded from behind, and Hector, in +front, drove his spear clean through his body. With his +last breath Patroclus prophesied: 'Death stands near thee, +Hector, at the hands of noble Achilles.' But Automedon +was driving back the swift horses, carrying to Achilles the +news that his dearest friend was slain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>After Ulysses was wounded, early in this great battle, +he was not able to fight for several days, and, as the story +is about Ulysses, we must tell quite shortly how Achilles +returned to the war to take vengeance for Patroclus, and +how he slew Hector. When Patroclus fell, Hector seized +the armour which the Gods had given to Peleus, and Peleus +to his son Achilles, while Achilles had lent it to Patroclus +that he might terrify the Trojans. Retiring out of reach +of spears, Hector took off his own armour and put on that +of Achilles, and Greeks and Trojans fought for the dead +body of Patroclus. Then Zeus, the chief of the Gods, looked +down and said that Hector should never come home out +of the battle to his wife, Andromache. But Hector returned +into the fight around the dead Patroclus, and here all the +best men fought, and even Automedon, who had been driving +the chariot of Patroclus. Now when the Trojans seemed +to have the better of the fight, the Greeks sent Antilochus, +a son of old Nestor, to tell Achilles that his friend was +slain, and Antilochus ran, and Aias and his brother protected +the Greeks who were trying to carry the body of +Patroclus back to the ships.</p> + +<p>Swiftly Antilochus came running to Achilles, saying: +'Fallen is Patroclus, and they are fighting round his naked +body, for Hector has his armour.' Then Achilles said +never a word, but fell on the floor of his hut, and threw +black ashes on his yellow hair, till Antilochus seized his +hands, fearing that he would cut his own throat with his +dagger, for very sorrow. His mother, Thetis, arose from the +sea to comfort him, but he said that he desired to die if he +could not slay Hector, who had slain his friend. Then +Thetis told him that he could not fight without armour, +and now he had none; but she would go to the God of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +armour-making and bring from him such a shield and helmet +and breastplate as had never been seen by men.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the fight raged round the dead body of +Patroclus, which was defiled with blood and dust, near the +ships, and was being dragged this way and that, and torn +and wounded. Achilles could not bear this sight, yet his +mother had warned him not to enter without armour the +battle where stones and arrows and spears were flying +like hail; and he was so tall and broad that he could put on +the arms of no other man. So he went down to the ditch +as he was, unarmed, and as he stood high above it, +against the red sunset, fire seemed to flow from his golden +hair like the beacon blaze that soars into the dark sky +when an island town is attacked at night, and men light +beacons that their neighbours may see them and come +to their help from other isles. There Achilles stood in a +splendour of fire, and he shouted aloud, as clear as a clarion +rings when men fall on to attack a besieged city wall. +Thrice Achilles shouted mightily, and thrice the horses of +the Trojans shuddered for fear and turned back from the +onslaught, and thrice the men of Troy were confounded +and shaken with terror. Then the Greeks drew the body +of Patroclus out of the dust and the arrows, and laid him on a +bier, and Achilles followed, weeping, for he had sent his friend +with chariot and horses to the war; but home again he welcomed +him never more. Then the sun set and it was night.</p> + +<p>Now one of the Trojans wished Hector to retire within +the walls of Troy, for certainly Achilles would to-morrow +be foremost in the war. But Hector said, 'Have ye not +had your fill of being shut up behind walls? Let Achilles +fight; I will meet him in the open field.' The Trojans +cheered, and they camped in the plain, while in the hut of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +Achilles women washed the dead body of Patroclus, and +Achilles swore that he would slay Hector.</p> + +<p>In the dawn came Thetis, bearing to Achilles the new +splendid armour that the God had made for him. Then +Achilles put on that armour, and roused his men; but Ulysses, +who knew all the rules of honour, would not let him fight +till peace had been made, with a sacrifice and other ceremonies, +between him and Agamemnon, and till Agamemnon +had given him all the presents which Achilles had before +refused. Achilles did not want them; he wanted only to +fight, but Ulysses made him obey, and do what was usual. +Then the gifts were brought, and Agamemnon stood up, +and said that he was sorry for his insolence, and the +men took breakfast, but Achilles would neither eat nor +drink. He mounted his chariot, but the horse Xanthus +bowed his head till his long mane touched the ground, +and, being a fairy horse, the child of the West Wind, he +spoke (or so men said), and these were his words: 'We +shall bear thee swiftly and speedily, but thou shalt be +slain in fight, and thy dying day is near at hand.' 'Well +I know it,' said Achilles, 'but I will not cease from fighting +till I have given the Trojans their fill of war.'</p> + +<p>So all that day he chased and slew the Trojans. He +drove them into the river, and, though the river came down +in a red flood, he crossed, and slew them on the plain. +The plain caught fire, the bushes and long dry grass blazed +round him, but he fought his way through the fire, and +drove the Trojans to their walls. The gates were thrown +open, and the Trojans rushed through like frightened fawns, +and then they climbed to the battlements, and looked +down in safety, while the whole Greek army advanced in +line under their shields.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Hector stood still, alone, in front of the gate, and +old Priam, who saw Achilles rushing on, shining like a star +in his new armour, called with tears to Hector, 'Come +within the gate! This man has slain many of my sons, +and if he slays thee whom have I to help me in my old +age?' His mother also called to Hector, but he stood +firm, waiting for Achilles. Now the story says that he was +afraid, and ran thrice in full armour round Troy, with +Achilles in pursuit. But this cannot be true, for no mortal +men could run thrice, in heavy armour, with great shields +that clanked against their ankles, round the town of Troy: +moreover Hector was the bravest of men, and all the +Trojan women were looking down at him from the walls.</p> + +<p>We cannot believe that he ran away, and the story goes +on to tell that he asked Achilles to make an agreement with +him. The conqueror in the fight should give back the +body of the fallen to be buried by his friends, but should +keep his armour. But Achilles said that he could make +no agreement with Hector, and threw his spear, which flew +over Hector's shoulder. Then Hector threw his spear, but +it could not pierce the shield which the God had made for +Achilles. Hector had no other spear, and Achilles had one, +so Hector cried, 'Let me not die without honour!' and +drew his sword, and rushed at Achilles, who sprang to meet +him, but before Hector could come within a sword-stroke +Achilles had sent his spear clean through the neck of Hector. +He fell in the dust and Achilles said, 'Dogs and birds shall +tear your flesh unburied.' With his dying breath Hector +prayed him to take gold from Priam, and give back his body +to be burned in Troy. But Achilles said, 'Hound! would +that I could bring myself to carve and eat thy raw flesh, but +dogs shall devour it, even if thy father offered me thy weight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +in gold.' With his last words Hector prophesied and said, +'Remember me in the day when Paris shall slay thee in the +Scaean gate.' Then his brave soul went to the land of +the Dead, which the Greeks called Hades. To that land +Ulysses sailed while he was still a living man, as the story +tells later.</p> + +<p>Then Achilles did a dreadful deed; he slit the feet of +dead Hector from heel to ankle, and thrust thongs through, +and bound him by the thongs to his chariot and trailed the +body in the dust. All the women of Troy who were on the +walls raised a shriek, and Hector's wife, Andromache, heard +the sound. She had been in an inner room of her house, +weaving a purple web, and embroidering flowers on it, and +she was calling her bower maidens to make ready a bath +for Hector when he should come back tired from battle. +But when she heard the cry from the wall she trembled, +and the shuttle with which she was weaving fell from +her hands. 'Surely I heard the cry of my husband's +mother,' she said, and she bade two of her maidens come +with her to see why the people lamented.</p> + +<p>She ran swiftly, and reached the battlements, and thence +she saw her dear husband's body being whirled through the +dust towards the ships, behind the chariot of Achilles. +Then night came over her eyes and she fainted. But when +she returned to herself she cried out that now none would +defend her little boy, and other children would push him +away from feasts, saying, 'Out with you; no father of thine +is at our table,' and his father, Hector, would lie naked +at the ships, unclad, unburned, unlamented. To be unburned +and unburied was thought the greatest of misfortunes, +because the dead man unburned could not go into +the House of Hades, God of the Dead, but must always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +wander, alone and comfortless, in the dark borderland +between the dead and the living.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<p class="center">THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF +HECTOR</p> + +<p>When Achilles was asleep that night the ghost of +Patroclus came, saying, 'Why dost thou not burn and bury +me? for the other shadows of dead men suffer me not to +come near them, and lonely I wander along the dark dwelling +of Hades.' Then Achilles awoke, and he sent men to cut +down trees, and make a huge pile of fagots and logs. +On this they laid Patroclus, covered with white linen, and +then they slew many cattle, and Achilles cut the throats of +twelve Trojan prisoners of war, meaning to burn them with +Patroclus to do him honour. This was a deed of shame, +for Achilles was mad with sorrow and anger for the death of +his friend. Then they drenched with wine the great pile +of wood, which was thirty yards long and broad, and set +fire to it, and the fire blazed all through the night and +died down in the morning. They put the white bones +of Patroclus in a golden casket, and laid it in the hut of +Achilles, who said that, when he died, they must burn his +body, and mix the ashes with the ashes of his friend, and +build over it a chamber of stone, and cover the chamber +with a great hill of earth, and set a pillar of stone above it. +This is one of the hills on the plain of Troy, but the pillar has +fallen from the tomb, long ago.</p> + +<p>Then, as the custom was, Achilles held games—chariot +races, foot races, boxing, wrestling, and archery—in honour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +of Patroclus. Ulysses won the prize for the foot race, +and for the wrestling, so now his wound must have been +healed.</p> + +<p>But Achilles still kept trailing Hector's dead body each +day round the hill that had been raised for the tomb of +Patroclus, till the Gods in heaven were angry, and bade Thetis +tell her son that he must give back the dead body to Priam, +and take ransom for it, and they sent a messenger to Priam +to bid him redeem the body of his son. It was terrible +for Priam to have to go and humble himself before Achilles, +whose hands had been red with the blood of his sons, but he +did not disobey the Gods. He opened his chests, and took +out twenty-four beautiful embroidered changes of raiment; +and he weighed out ten heavy bars, or talents, of gold, and +chose a beautiful golden cup, and he called nine of his sons, +Paris, and Helenus, and Deiphobus, and the rest, saying, +'Go, ye bad sons, my shame; would that Hector lived and +all of you were dead!' for sorrow made him angry; 'go, and +get ready for me a wain, and lay on it these treasures.' +So they harnessed mules to the wain, and placed in it the +treasures, and, after praying, Priam drove through the +night to the hut of Achilles. In he went, when no man +looked for him, and kneeled to Achilles, and kissed his +terrible death-dealing hands. 'Have pity on me, and fear +the Gods, and give me back my dead son,' he said, 'and remember +thine own father. Have pity on me, who have +endured to do what no man born has ever done before, to +kiss the hands that slew my sons.'</p> + +<p>Then Achilles remembered his own father, far away, who +now was old and weak: and he wept, and Priam wept with +him, and then Achilles raised Priam from his knees and spoke +kindly to him, admiring how beautiful he still was in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +old age, and Priam himself wondered at the beauty of +Achilles. And Achilles thought how Priam had long been +rich and happy, like his own father, Peleus, and now old age +and weakness and sorrow were laid upon both of them, for +Achilles knew that his own day of death was at hand, +even at the doors. So Achilles bade the women make ready +the body of Hector for burial, and they clothed him in a +white mantle that Priam had brought, and laid him in the +wain; and supper was made ready, and Priam and Achilles +ate and drank together, and the women spread a bed for +Priam, who would not stay long, but stole away back to +Troy while Achilles was asleep.</p> + +<p>All the women came out to meet him, and to lament for +Hector. They carried the body into the house of Andromache +and laid it on a bed, and the women gathered +around, and each in turn sang her song over the great dead +warrior. His mother bewailed him, and his wife, and +Helen of the fair hands, clad in dark mourning raiment, +lifted up her white arms, and said: 'Hector, of all my +brethren in Troy thou wert the dearest, since Paris brought +me hither. Would that ere that day I had died! For this +is now the twentieth year since I came, and in all these +twenty years never heard I a word from thee that was +bitter and unkind; others might upbraid me, thy sisters +or thy mother, for thy father was good to me as if he had +been my own; but then thou wouldst restrain them that +spoke evil by the courtesy of thy heart and thy gentle +words. Ah! woe for thee, and woe for me, whom all men +shudder at, for there is now none in wide Troyland to be +my friend like thee, my brother and my friend!'</p> + +<p>So Helen lamented, but now was done all that men might +do; a great pile of wood was raised, and Hector was burned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +and his ashes were placed in a golden urn, in a dark chamber +of stone, within a hollow hill.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY</p> + +<p>After Hector was buried, the siege went on slowly, as +it had done during the first nine years of the war. The +Greeks did not know at that time how to besiege a city, +as we saw, by way of digging trenches and building towers, +and battering the walls with machines that threw heavy +stones. The Trojans had lost courage, and dared not go +into the open plain, and they were waiting for the coming +up of new armies of allies—the Amazons, who were girl +warriors from far away, and an Eastern people called the +Khita, whose king was Memnon, the son of the Bright Dawn.</p> + +<p>Now everyone knew that, in the temple of the Goddess +Pallas Athênê, in Troy, was a sacred image, which fell +from heaven, called the Palladium, and this very ancient +image was the Luck of Troy. While it remained safe in the +temple people believed that Troy could never be taken, +but as it was in a guarded temple in the middle of the town, +and was watched by priestesses day and night, it seemed +impossible that the Greeks should ever enter the city +secretly and steal the Luck away.</p> + +<p>As Ulysses was the grandson of Autolycus, the Master +Thief, he often wished that the old man was with the +Greeks, for if there was a thing to steal Autolycus could +steal it. But by this time Autolycus was dead, and so +Ulysses could only puzzle over the way to steal the Luck of +Troy, and wonder how his grandfather would have set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +about it. He prayed for help secretly to Hermes, the God of +Thieves, when he sacrificed goats to him, and at last he had +a plan.</p> + +<p>There was a story that Anius, the King of the Isle of +Delos, had three daughters, named Œno, Spermo, and +Elais, and that Œno could turn water into wine, while +Spermo could turn stones into bread, and Elais could change +mud into olive oil. Those fairy gifts, people said, were given +to the maidens by the Wine God, Dionysus, and by the +Goddess of Corn, Demeter. Now corn, and wine, and oil +were sorely needed by the Greeks, who were tired of paying +much gold and bronze to the Phoenician merchants for their +supplies. Ulysses therefore went to Agamemnon one day, +and asked leave to take his ship and voyage to Delos, to +bring, if he could, the three maidens to the camp, if indeed +they could do these miracles. As no fighting was going on, +Agamemnon gave Ulysses leave to depart, so he went on +board his ship, with a crew of fifty men of Ithaca, and away +they sailed, promising to return in a month.</p> + +<p>Two or three days after that, a dirty old beggar man +began to be seen in the Greek camp. He had crawled in +late one evening, dressed in a dirty smock and a very dirty +old cloak, full of holes, and stained with smoke. Over +everything he wore the skin of a stag, with half the hair +worn off, and he carried a staff, and a filthy tattered wallet, +to put food in, which swung from his neck by a cord. He came +crouching and smiling up to the door of the hut of Diomede, +and sat down just within the doorway, where beggars still +sit in the East. Diomede saw him, and sent him a loaf and +two handfuls of flesh, which the beggar laid on his wallet, +between his feet, and he made his supper greedily, gnawing +a bone like a dog.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>After supper Diomede asked him who he was and +whence he came, and he told a long story about how he +had been a Cretan pirate, and had been taken prisoner by +the Egyptians when he was robbing there, and how he had +worked for many years in their stone quarries, where the sun +had burned him brown, and had escaped by hiding among +the great stones, carried down the Nile in a raft, for building +a temple on the seashore. The raft arrived at night, and +the beggar said that he stole out from it in the dark and +found a Phoenician ship in the harbour, and the Phoenicians +took him on board, meaning to sell him somewhere as a +slave. But a tempest came on and wrecked the ship off the +Isle of Tenedos, which is near Troy, and the beggar alone +escaped to the island on a plank of the ship. From Tenedos +he had come to Troy in a fisher's boat, hoping to make himself +useful in the camp, and earn enough to keep body and +soul together till he could find a ship sailing to Crete.</p> + +<p>He made his story rather amusing, describing the strange +ways of the Egyptians; how they worshipped cats and bulls, +and did everything in just the opposite of the Greek way of +doing things. So Diomede let him have a rug and blankets +to sleep on in the portico of the hut, and next day the old +wretch went begging about the camp and talking with the +soldiers. Now he was a most impudent and annoying old +vagabond, and was always in quarrels. If there was a +disagreeable story about the father or grandfather of any +of the princes, he knew it and told it, so that he got a blow +from the baton of Agamemnon, and Aias gave him a kick, +and Idomeneus drubbed him with the butt of his spear for +a tale about his grandmother, and everybody hated him +and called him a nuisance. He was for ever jeering at +Ulysses, who was far away, and telling tales about Autolycus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +and at last he stole a gold cup, a very large cup, with two +handles, and a dove sitting on each handle, from the hut of +Nestor. The old chief was fond of this cup, which he had +brought from home, and, when it was found in the beggar's +dirty wallet, everybody cried that he must be driven out +of the camp and well whipped. So Nestor's son, young +Thrasymedes, with other young men, laughing and shouting, +pushed and dragged the beggar close up to the Scaean gate +of Troy, where Thrasymedes called with a loud voice, 'O +Trojans, we are sick of this shameless beggar. First we shall +whip him well, and if he comes back we shall put out his +eyes and cut off his hands and feet, and give him to the +dogs to eat. He may go to you, if he likes; if not, he must +wander till he dies of hunger.'</p> + +<p>The young men of Troy heard this and laughed, and a +crowd gathered on the wall to see the beggar punished. +So Thrasymedes whipped him with his bowstring till he +was tired, and they did not leave off beating the beggar +till he ceased howling and fell, all bleeding, and lay still. +Then Thrasymedes gave him a parting kick, and went away +with his friends. The beggar lay quiet for some time, then +he began to stir, and sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes, +and shouting curses and bad words after the Greeks, praying +that they might be speared in the back, and eaten by dogs.</p> + +<p>At last he tried to stand up, but fell down again, and +began to crawl on hands and knees towards the Scaean gate. +There he sat down, within the two side walls of the gate, where +he cried and lamented. Now Helen of the fair hands came +down from the gate tower, being sorry to see any man +treated so much worse than a beast, and she spoke to the +beggar and asked him why he had been used in this cruel +way?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>At first he only moaned, and rubbed his sore sides, but at +last he said that he was an unhappy man, who had been +shipwrecked, and was begging his way home, and that the +Greeks suspected him of being a spy sent out by the +Trojans. But he had been in Lacedaemon, her own country, +he said, and could tell her about her father, if she were, +as he supposed, the beautiful Helen, and about her brothers, +Castor and Polydeuces, and her little daughter, Hermione.</p> + +<p>'But perhaps,' he said, 'you are no mortal woman, +but some goddess who favours the Trojans, and if indeed +you are a goddess then I liken you to Aphrodite, for beauty, +and stature, and shapeliness.' Then Helen wept; for +many a year had passed since she had heard any word of +her father, and daughter, and her brothers, who were dead, +though she knew it not. So she stretched out her white +hand, and raised the beggar, who was kneeling at her feet, +and bade him follow her to her own house, within the palace +garden of King Priam.</p> + +<p>Helen walked forward, with a bower maiden at either +side, and the beggar crawling after her. When she had +entered her house, Paris was not there, so she ordered +the bath to be filled with warm water, and new clothes to +be brought, and she herself washed the old beggar and +anointed him with oil. This appears very strange to us, +for though Saint Elizabeth of Hungary used to wash and +clothe beggars, we are surprised that Helen should do so, +who was not a saint. But long afterwards she herself +told the son of Ulysses, Telemachus, that she had washed +his father when he came into Troy disguised as a beggar +who had been sorely beaten.</p> + +<p>You must have guessed that the beggar was Ulysses, +who had not gone to Delos in his ship, but stolen back in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +boat, and appeared disguised among the Greeks. He did +all this to make sure that nobody could recognise him, and +he behaved so as to deserve a whipping that he might not +be suspected as a Greek spy by the Trojans, but rather be +pitied by them. Certainly he deserved his name of 'the +much-enduring Ulysses.'</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he sat in his bath and Helen washed his feet. +But when she had done, and had anointed his wounds with +olive oil, and when she had clothed him in a white tunic and +a purple mantle, then she opened her lips to cry out with +amazement, for she knew Ulysses; but he laid his finger on +her lips, saying 'Hush!' Then she remembered how great +danger he was in, for the Trojans, if they found him, would +put him to some cruel death, and she sat down, trembling +and weeping, while he watched her.</p> + +<p>'Oh thou strange one,' she said, 'how enduring is thy +heart and how cunning beyond measure! How hast +thou borne to be thus beaten and disgraced, and to come +within the walls of Troy? Well it is for thee that Paris, +my lord, is far from home, having gone to guide Penthesilea, +the Queen of the warrior maids whom men call +Amazons, who is on her way to help the Trojans.'</p> + +<p>Then Ulysses smiled, and Helen saw that she had said +a word which she ought not to have spoken, and had revealed +the secret hope of the Trojans. Then she wept, +and said, 'Oh cruel and cunning! You have made me +betray the people with whom I live, though woe is me that +ever I left my own people, and my husband dear, and my +child! And now if you escape alive out of Troy, you will +tell the Greeks, and they will lie in ambush by night for the +Amazons on the way to Troy and will slay them all. If you +and I were not friends long ago, I would tell the Trojans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +that you are here, and they would give your body to the +dogs to eat, and fix your head on the palisade above the wall. +Woe is me that ever I was born.'</p> + +<p>Ulysses answered, 'Lady, as you have said, we two are +friends from of old, and your friend I will be till the last, +when the Greeks break into Troy, and slay the men, and +carry the women captives. If I live till that hour no man +shall harm you, but safely and in honour you shall come +to your palace in Lacedaemon of the rifted hills. Moreover, +I swear to you a great oath, by Zeus above, and by Them +that under earth punish the souls of men who swear falsely, +that I shall tell no man the thing which you have spoken.'</p> + +<p>So when he had sworn and done that oath, Helen was +comforted and dried her tears. Then she told him how +unhappy she was, and how she had lost her last comfort +when Hector died. 'Always am I wretched,' she said, +'save when sweet sleep falls on me. Now the wife of Thon, +King of Egypt, gave me this gift when we were in Egypt, +on our way to Troy, namely, a drug that brings sleep even +to the most unhappy, and it is pressed from the poppy +heads of the garland of the God of Sleep.' Then she showed +him strange phials of gold, full of this drug: phials wrought +by the Egyptians, and covered with magic spells and +shapes of beasts and flowers. 'One of these I will give +you,' she said, 'that even from Troy town you may not +go without a gift in memory of the hands of Helen.' So +Ulysses took the phial of gold, and was glad in his heart, +and Helen set before him meat and wine. When he had +eaten and drunk, and his strength had come back to him, +he said:</p> + +<p>'Now I must dress me again in my old rags, and take +my wallet, and my staff, and go forth, and beg through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +Troy town. For here I must abide for some days as a +beggar man, lest if I now escape from your house in the +night the Trojans may think that you have told me the +secrets of their counsel, which I am carrying to the Greeks, +and may be angry with you.' So he clothed himself again +as a beggar, and took his staff, and hid the phial of gold +with the Egyptian drug in his rags, and in his wallet also +he put the new clothes that Helen had given him, and a +sword, and he took farewell, saying, 'Be of good heart, for +the end of your sorrows is at hand. But if you see me +among the beggars in the street, or by the well, take no +heed of me, only I will salute you as a beggar who has +been kindly treated by a Queen.'</p> + +<p>So they parted, and Ulysses went out, and when it was +day he was with the beggars in the streets, but by night +he commonly slept near the fire of a smithy forge, as is +the way of beggars. So for some days he begged, saying +that he was gathering food to eat while he walked to some +town far away that was at peace, where he might find +work to do. He was not impudent now, and did not go +to rich men's houses or tell evil tales, or laugh, but he +was much in the temples, praying to the Gods, and above +all in the temple of Pallas Athênê. The Trojans thought +that he was a pious man for a beggar.</p> + +<p>Now there was a custom in these times that men and +women who were sick or in distress, should sleep at night +on the floors of the temples. They did this hoping that the +God would send them a dream to show them how their +diseases might be cured, or how they might find what they +had lost, or might escape from their distresses.</p> + +<p>Ulysses slept in more than one temple, and once in +that of Pallas Athênê, and the priests and priestesses were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +kind to him, and gave him food in the morning when the +gates of the temple were opened.</p> + +<p>In the temple of Pallas Athênê, where the Luck +of Troy lay always on her altar, the custom was that +priestesses kept watch, each for two hours, all through the +night, and soldiers kept guard within call. So one night +Ulysses slept there, on the floor, with other distressed +people, seeking for dreams from the Gods. He lay still +all through the night till the turn of the last priestess came +to watch. The priestess used to walk up and down with +bare feet among the dreaming people, having a torch in +her hand, and muttering hymns to the Goddess. Then +Ulysses, when her back was turned, slipped the gold phial +out of his rags, and let it lie on the polished floor beside +him. When the priestess came back again, the light from +her torch fell on the glittering phial, and she stooped and +picked it up, and looked at it curiously. There came from +it a sweet fragrance, and she opened it, and tasted the +drug. It seemed to her the sweetest thing that ever she +had tasted, and she took more and more, and then closed +the phial and laid it down, and went along murmuring +her hymn.</p> + +<p>But soon a great drowsiness came over her, and she +sat down on the step of the altar, and fell sound asleep, +and the torch sunk in her hand, and went out, and all +was dark. Then Ulysses put the phial in his wallet, and +crept very cautiously to the altar, in the dark, and stole +the Luck of Troy. It was only a small black mass of what +is now called meteoric iron, which sometimes comes down +with meteorites from the sky, but it was shaped like a +shield, and the people thought it an image of the warlike +shielded Goddess, fallen from Heaven. Such sacred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +shields, made of glass and ivory, are found deep in the earth +in the ruined cities of Ulysses' time. Swiftly Ulysses hid +the Luck in his rags and left in its place on the altar a +copy of the Luck, which he had made of blackened clay. +Then he stole back to the place where he had lain, and +remained there till dawn appeared, and the sleepers who +sought for dreams awoke, and the temple gates were opened, +and Ulysses walked out with the rest of them.</p> + +<p>He stole down a lane, where as yet no people were +stirring, and crept along, leaning on his staff, till he came +to the eastern gate, at the back of the city, which the +Greeks never attacked, for they had never drawn their +army in a circle round the town. There Ulysses explained +to the sentinels that he had gathered food enough to last +for a long journey to some other town, and opened his +bag, which seemed full of bread and broken meat. The +soldiers said he was a lucky beggar, and let him out. He +walked slowly along the waggon road by which wood was +brought into Troy from the forests on Mount Ida, and +when he found that nobody was within sight he slipped +into the forest, and stole into a dark thicket, hiding beneath +the tangled boughs. Here he lay and slept till evening, +and then took the new clothes which Helen had given him +out of his wallet, and put them on, and threw the belt +of the sword over his shoulder, and hid the Luck of Troy +in his bosom. He washed himself clean in a mountain +brook, and now all who saw him must have known that +he was no beggar, but Ulysses of Ithaca, Laertes' son.</p> + +<p>So he walked cautiously down the side of the brook +which ran between high banks deep in trees, and followed +it till it reached the river Xanthus, on the left of the Greek +lines. Here he found Greek sentinels set to guard the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +camp, who cried aloud in joy and surprise, for his ship had +not yet returned from Delos, and they could not guess +how Ulysses had come back alone across the sea. So two +of the sentinels guarded Ulysses to the hut of Agamemnon, +where he and Achilles and all the chiefs were sitting at +a feast. They all leaped up, but when Ulysses took the +Luck of Troy from within his mantle, they cried that this +was the bravest deed that had been done in the war, and +they sacrificed ten oxen to Zeus.</p> + +<p>'So you were the old beggar,' said young Thrasymedes.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Ulysses, 'and when next you beat a beggar, +Thrasymedes, do not strike so hard and so long.'</p> + +<p>That night all the Greeks were full of hope, for now they +had the Luck of Troy, but the Trojans were in despair, and +guessed that the beggar was the thief, and that Ulysses +had been the beggar. The priestess, Theano, could tell them +nothing; they found her, with the extinguished torch +drooping in her hand, asleep, as she sat on the step of the +altar, and she never woke again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<p class="center">THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON—THE +DEATH OF ACHILLES</p> + +<p>Ulysses thought much and often of Helen, without +whose kindness he could not have saved the Greeks by +stealing the Luck of Troy. He saw that, though she remained +as beautiful as when the princes all sought her +hand, she was most unhappy, knowing herself to be the +cause of so much misery, and fearing what the future<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +might bring. Ulysses told nobody about the secret which +she had let fall, the coming of the Amazons.</p> + +<p>The Amazons were a race of warlike maids, who lived +far away on the banks of the river Thermodon. They +had fought against Troy in former times, and one of the +great hill-graves on the plain of Troy covered the ashes +of an Amazon, swift-footed Myrinê. People believed that +they were the daughters of the God of War, and they were +reckoned equal in battle to the bravest men. Their young +Queen, Penthesilea, had two reasons for coming to fight +at Troy: one was her ambition to win renown, and the +other her sleepless sorrow for having accidentally killed her +sister, Hippolytê, when hunting. The spear which she +threw at a stag struck Hippolytê and slew her, and Penthesilea +cared no longer for her own life, and desired to fall +gloriously in battle. So Penthesilea and her bodyguard +of twelve Amazons set forth from the wide streams of +Thermodon, and rode into Troy. The story says that +they did not drive in chariots, like all the Greek and Trojan +chiefs, but rode horses, which must have been the manner +of their country.</p> + +<p>Penthesilea was the tallest and most beautiful of the +Amazons, and shone among her twelve maidens like the +moon among the stars, or the bright Dawn among the +Hours which follow her chariot wheels. The Trojans +rejoiced when they beheld her, for she looked both terrible +and beautiful, with a frown on her brow, and fair shining +eyes, and a blush on her cheeks. To the Trojans she +came like Iris, the Rainbow, after a storm, and they +gathered round her cheering, and throwing flowers and +kissing her stirrup, as the people of Orleans welcomed +Joan of Arc when she came to deliver them. Even Priam<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +was glad, as is a man long blind, when he has been healed, +and again looks upon the light of the sun. Priam held +a great feast, and gave to Penthesilea many beautiful +gifts: cups of gold, and embroideries, and a sword with a +hilt of silver, and she vowed that she would slay Achilles. +But when Andromache, the wife of Hector, heard her she said +within herself, 'Ah, unhappy girl, what is this boast of +thine! Thou hast not the strength to fight the unconquerable +son of Peleus, for if Hector could not slay him, what +chance hast thou? But the piled-up earth covers Hector!'</p> + +<p>In the morning Penthesilea sprang up from sleep and +put on her glorious armour, with spear in hand, and sword +at side, and bow and quiver hung behind her back, and her +great shield covering her side from neck to stirrup, and +mounted her horse, and galloped to the plain. Beside +her charged the twelve maidens of her bodyguard, and all +the company of Hector's brothers and kinsfolk. These +headed the Trojan lines, and they rushed towards the ships +of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>Then the Greeks asked each other, 'Who is this that +leads the Trojans as Hector led them, surely some God +rides in the van of the charioteers!' Ulysses could have +told them who the new leader of the Trojans was, but it +seems that he had not the heart to fight against women, +for his name is not mentioned in this day's battle. So +the two lines clashed, and the plain of Troy ran red with +blood, for Penthesilea slew Molios, and Persinoos, and +Eilissos, and Antiphates, and Lernos high of heart, and +Hippalmos of the loud warcry, and Haemonides, and strong +Elasippus, while her maidens Derinoê and Cloniê slew each a +chief of the Greeks. But Cloniê fell beneath the spear of +Podarkes, whose hand Penthesilea cut off with the sword,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +while Idomeneus speared the Amazon Bremousa, and +Meriones of Crete slew Evadrê, and Diomede killed Alcibiê +and Derimacheia in close fight with the sword, so the +company of the Twelve were thinned, the bodyguard +of Penthesilea.</p> + +<p>The Trojans and Greeks kept slaying each other, but +Penthesilea avenged her maidens, driving the ranks of +Greece as a lioness drives the cattle on the hills, for they +could not stand before her. Then she shouted, 'Dogs! +to-day shall you pay for the sorrows of Priam! Where is +Diomede, where is Achilles, where is Aias, that, men say, +are your bravest? Will none of them stand before my +spear?' Then she charged again, at the head of the Household +of Priam, brothers and kinsmen of Hector, and where +they came the Greeks fell like yellow leaves before the wind +of autumn. The white horse that Penthesilea rode, a +gift from the wife of the North Wind, flashed like lightning +through a dark cloud among the companies of the Greeks, +and the chariots that followed the charge of the Amazon +rocked as they swept over the bodies of the slain. Then the +old Trojans, watching from the walls, cried: 'This is no +mortal maiden but a Goddess, and to-day she will burn the +ships of the Greeks, and they will all perish in Troyland, +and see Greece never more again.'</p> + +<p>Now it so was that Aias and Achilles had not heard the +din and the cry of war, for both had gone to weep over the +great new grave of Patroclus. Penthesilea and the Trojans +had driven back the Greeks within their ditch, and they +were hiding here and there among the ships, and torches +were blazing in men's hands to burn the ships, as in the day +of the valour of Hector: when Aias heard the din of battle, +and called to Achilles to make speed towards the ships.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>So they ran swiftly to their huts, and armed themselves, +and Aias fell smiting and slaying upon the Trojans, but +Achilles slew five of the bodyguard of Penthesilea. She, +beholding her maidens fallen, rode straight against Aias +and Achilles, like a dove defying two falcons, and cast her +spear, but it fell back blunted from the glorious shield that +the God had made for the son of Peleus. Then she threw +another spear at Aias, crying, 'I am the daughter of the +God of War,' but his armour kept out the spear, and he and +Achilles laughed aloud. Aias paid no more heed to the +Amazon, but rushed against the Trojan men; while Achilles +raised the heavy spear that none but he could throw, and +drove it down through breastplate and breast of Penthesilea, +yet still her hand grasped her sword-hilt. But, ere she could +draw her sword, Achilles speared her horse, and horse and +rider fell, and died in their fall.</p> + +<p>There lay fair Penthesilea in the dust, like a tall poplar +tree that the wind has overthrown, and her helmet fell, +and the Greeks who gathered round marvelled to see her +lie so beautiful in death, like Artemis, the Goddess of the +Woods, when she sleeps alone, weary with hunting on the +hills. Then the heart of Achilles was pierced with pity +and sorrow, thinking how she might have been his wife +in his own country, had he spared her, but he was never +to see pleasant Phthia, his native land, again. So Achilles +stood and wept over Penthesilea dead.</p> + +<p>Now the Greeks, in pity and sorrow, held their hands, +and did not pursue the Trojans who had fled, nor did they +strip the armour from Penthesilea and her twelve maidens, +but laid the bodies on biers, and sent them back in peace +to Priam. Then the Trojans burned Penthesilea in the +midst of her dead maidens, on a great pile of dry wood, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +placed their ashes in a golden casket, and buried them all +in the great hill-grave of Laomedon, an ancient King of +Troy, while the Greeks with lamentation buried them whom +the Amazon had slain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs04" id="gs04"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs04.png" width="350" height="444" alt="ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER." title="ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER." /> +<span class="caption">ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The old men of Troy and the chiefs now held a council, +and Priam said that they must not yet despair, for, if they +had lost many of their bravest warriors, many of the Greeks +had also fallen. Their best plan was to fight only with +arrows from the walls and towers, till King Memnon came +to their rescue with a great army of Aethiopes. Now +Memnon was the son of the bright Dawn, a beautiful Goddess +who had loved and married a mortal man, Tithonus. She +had asked Zeus, the chief of the Gods, to make her lover +immortal, and her prayer was granted. Tithonus could not +die, but he began to grow grey, and then white haired, with +a long white beard, and very weak, till nothing of him seemed +to be left but his voice, always feebly chattering like the +grasshoppers on a summer day.</p> + +<p>Memnon was the most beautiful of men, except Paris and +Achilles, and his home was in a country that borders on the +land of sunrising. There he was reared by the lily maidens +called Hesperides, till he came to his full strength, and commanded +the whole army of the Aethiopes. For their arrival +Priam wished to wait, but Polydamas advised that the +Trojans should give back Helen to the Greeks, with jewels +twice as valuable as those which she had brought from the +house of Menelaus. Then Paris was very angry, and said +that Polydamas was a coward, for it was little to Paris that +Troy should be taken and burned in a month if for a month +he could keep Helen of the fair hands.</p> + +<p>At length Memnon came, leading a great army of men +who had nothing white about them but the teeth, so fiercely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +the sun burned on them in their own country. The Trojans +had all the more hopes of Memnon because, on his long +journey from the land of sunrising, and the river Oceanus +that girdles the round world, he had been obliged to cross the +country of the Solymi. Now the Solymi were the fiercest +of men and rose up against Memnon, but he and his army +fought them for a whole day, and defeated them, and +drove them to the hills. When Memnon came, Priam +gave him a great cup of gold, full of wine to the brim, and +Memnon drank the wine at one draught. But he did not +make great boasts of what he could do, like poor Penthesilea, +'for,' said he, 'whether I am a good man at arms will be +known in battle, where the strength of men is tried. So +now let us turn to sleep, for to wake and drink wine all +through the night is an ill beginning of war.'</p> + +<p>Then Priam praised his wisdom, and all men betook +them to bed, but the bright Dawn rose unwillingly next +day, to throw light on the battle where her son was to risk +his life. Then Memnon led out the dark clouds of his +men into the plain, and the Greeks foreboded evil when +they saw so great a new army of fresh and unwearied +warriors, but Achilles, leading them in his shining armour, +gave them courage. Memnon fell upon the left wing of +the Greeks, and on the men of Nestor, and first he slew +Ereuthus, and then attacked Nestor's young son, Antilochus, +who, now that Patroclus had fallen, was the dearest friend of +Achilles. On him Memnon leaped, like a lion on a kid, but +Antilochus lifted a huge stone from the plain, a pillar that +had been set on the tomb of some great warrior long ago, +and the stone smote full on the helmet of Memnon, who +reeled beneath the stroke. But Memnon seized his heavy +spear, and drove it through shield and corselet of Antilochus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +even into his heart, and he fell and died beneath his father's +eyes. Then Nestor in great sorrow and anger strode +across the body of Antilochus and called to his other son, +Thrasymedes, 'Come and drive afar this man that has +slain thy brother, for if fear be in thy heart thou art no son +of mine, nor of the race of Periclymenus, who stood up in +battle even against the strong man Heracles!'</p> + +<p>But Memnon was too strong for Thrasymedes, and drove +him off, while old Nestor himself charged sword in hand, +though Memnon bade him begone, for he was not minded +to strike so aged a man, and Nestor drew back, for he was +weak with age. Then Memnon and his army charged the +Greeks, slaying and stripping the dead. But Nestor had +mounted his chariot and driven to Achilles, weeping, and +imploring him to come swiftly and save the body of Antilochus, +and he sped to meet Memnon, who lifted a great stone, +the landmark of a field, and drove it against the shield +of the son of Peleus. But Achilles was not shaken by the +blow; he ran forward, and wounded Memnon over the rim +of his shield. Yet wounded as he was Memnon fought +on and struck his spear through the arm of Achilles, for +the Greeks fought with no sleeves of bronze to protect +their arms.</p> + +<p>Then Achilles drew his great sword, and flew on Memnon, +and with sword-strokes they lashed at each other on shield +and helmet, and the long horsehair crests of the helmets +were shorn off, and flew down the wind, and their shields +rang terribly beneath the sword strokes. They thrust +at each others' throats between shield and visor of the +helmet, they smote at knee, and thrust at breast, and the +armour rang about their bodies, and the dust from beneath +their feet rose up in a cloud around them, like mist round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +the falls of a great river in flood. So they fought, neither +of them yielding a step, till Achilles made so rapid a thrust +that Memnon could not parry it, and the bronze sword +passed clean through his body beneath the breast-bone, +and he fell, and his armour clashed as he fell.</p> + +<p>Then Achilles, wounded as he was and weak from loss +of blood, did not stay to strip the golden armour of Memnon, +but shouted his warcry, and pressed on, for he hoped to +enter the gate of Troy with the fleeing Trojans, and all +the Greeks followed after him. So they pursued, slaying +as they went, and the Scaean gate was choked with the +crowd of men, pursuing and pursued. In that hour would +the Greeks have entered Troy, and burned the city, and +taken the women captive, but Paris stood on the tower +above the gate, and in his mind was anger for the death of +his brother Hector. He tried the string of his bow, and +found it frayed, for all day he had showered his arrows +on the Greeks; so he chose a new bowstring, and fitted it, +and strung the bow, and chose an arrow from his quiver, +and aimed at the ankle of Achilles, where it was bare +beneath the greave, or leg-guard of metal, that the God +had fashioned for him. Through the ankle flew the arrow, +and Achilles wheeled round, weak as he was, and stumbled, +and fell, and the armour that the God had wrought was +defiled with dust and blood.</p> + +<p>Then Achilles rose again, and cried: 'What coward has +smitten me with a secret arrow from afar? Let him stand +forth and meet me with sword and spear!' So speaking +he seized the shaft with his strong hands and tore it out of +the wound, and much blood gushed, and darkness came +over his eyes. Yet he staggered forward, striking blindly, +and smote Orythaon, a dear friend of Hector, through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +helmet, and others he smote, but now his force failed him, +and he leaned on his spear, and cried his warcry, and said, +'Cowards of Troy, ye shall not all escape my spear, dying +as I am.' But as he spoke he fell, and all his armour +rang around him, yet the Trojans stood apart and watched; +and as hunters watch a dying lion not daring to go nigh +him, so the Trojans stood in fear till Achilles drew his latest +breath. Then from the wall the Trojan women raised a +great cry of joy over him who had slain the noble Hector: +and thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Hector, that Achilles +should fall in the Scaean gateway, by the hand of Paris.</p> + +<p>Then the best of the Trojans rushed forth from the gate +to seize the body of Achilles, and his glorious armour, but +the Greeks were as eager to carry the body to the ships +that it might have due burial. Round the dead Achilles +men fought long and sore, and both sides were mixed, Greeks +and Trojans, so that men dared not shoot arrows from +the walls of Troy lest they should kill their own friends. +Paris, and Aeneas, and Glaucus, who had been the friend of +Sarpedon, led the Trojans, and Aias and Ulysses led the +Greeks, for we are not told that Agamemnon was fighting +in this great battle of the war. Now as angry wild bees +flock round a man who is taking their honeycombs, so the +Trojans gathered round Aias, striving to stab him, but he +set his great shield in front, and smote and slew all that +came within reach of his spear. Ulysses, too, struck down +many, and though a spear was thrown and pierced his leg +near the knee he stood firm, protecting the body of Achilles. +At last Ulysses caught the body of Achilles by the hands, +and heaved it upon his back, and so limped towards the +ships, but Aias and the men of Aias followed, turning +round if ever the Trojans ventured to come near, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +charging into the midst of them. Thus very slowly they +bore the dead Achilles across the plain, through the bodies +of the fallen and the blood, till they met Nestor in his +chariot and placed Achilles therein, and swiftly Nestor +drove to the ships.</p> + +<p>There the women, weeping, washed Achilles' comely body, +and laid him on a bier with a great white mantle over him, +and all the women lamented and sang dirges, and the first +was Briseis, who loved Achilles better than her own country, +and her father, and her brothers whom he had slain in war. +The Greek princes, too, stood round the body, weeping and +cutting off their long locks of yellow hair, a token of grief +and an offering to the dead.</p> + +<p>Men say that forth from the sea came Thetis of the +silver feet, the mother of Achilles, with her ladies, the +deathless maidens of the waters. They rose up from their +glassy chambers below the sea, moving on, many and +beautiful, like the waves on a summer day, and their sweet +song echoed along the shores, and fear came upon the +Greeks. Then they would have fled, but Nestor cried: +'Hold, flee not, young lords of the Achaeans! Lo, she +that comes from the sea is his mother, with the deathless +maidens of the waters, to look on the face of her dead son.' +Then the sea nymphs stood around the dead Achilles and +clothed him in the garments of the Gods, fragrant raiment, +and all the Nine Muses, one to the other replying with sweet +voices, began their lament.</p> + +<p>Next the Greeks made a great pile of dry wood, and +laid Achilles on it, and set fire to it, till the flames had +consumed his body except the white ashes. These they +placed in a great golden cup and mingled with them the +ashes of Patroclus, and above all they built a tomb like a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +hill, high on a headland above the sea, that men for all +time may see it as they go sailing by, and may remember +Achilles. Next they held in his honour foot races and +chariot races, and other games, and Thetis gave splendid +prizes. Last of all, when the games were ended, Thetis +placed before the chiefs the glorious armour that the God had +made for her son on the night after the slaying of Patroclus +by Hector. 'Let these arms be the prize of the best of +the Greeks,' she said, 'and of him that saved the body of +Achilles out of the hands of the Trojans.'</p> + +<p>Then stood up on one side Aias and on the other Ulysses, +for these two had rescued the body, and neither thought +himself a worse warrior than the other. Both were the +bravest of the brave, and if Aias was the taller and stronger, +and upheld the fight at the ships on the day of the valour +of Hector; Ulysses had alone withstood the Trojans, and +refused to retreat even when wounded, and his courage +and cunning had won for the Greeks the Luck of Troy. +Therefore old Nestor arose and said: 'This is a luckless +day, when the best of the Greeks are rivals for such a prize. +He who is not the winner will be heavy at heart, and will +not stand firm by us in battle, as of old, and hence will +come great loss to the Greeks. Who can be a just judge in +this question, for some men will love Aias better, and some +will prefer Ulysses, and thus will arise disputes among ourselves. +Lo! have we not here among us many Trojan +prisoners, waiting till their friends pay their ransom in +cattle and gold and bronze and iron? These hate all the +Greeks alike, and will favour neither Aias nor Ulysses. +Let <i>them</i> be the judges, and decide who is the best of the +Greeks, and the man who has done most harm to the +Trojans.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>Agamemnon said that Nestor had spoken wisely. The +Trojans were then made to sit as judges in the midst of the +Assembly, and Aias and Ulysses spoke, and told the stories +of their own great deeds, of which we have heard already, +but Aias spoke roughly and discourteously, calling Ulysses +a coward and a weakling. 'Perhaps the Trojans know,' +said Ulysses quietly, 'whether they think that I deserve +what Aias has said about me, that I am a coward; and +perhaps Aias may remember that he did not find me +so weak when we wrestled for a prize at the funeral of +Patroclus.'</p> + +<p>Then the Trojans all with one voice said that Ulysses +was the best man among the Greeks, and the most feared +by them, both for his courage and his skill in stratagems +of war. On this, the blood of Aias flew into his face, and +he stood silent and unmoving, and could not speak a word, +till his friends came round him and led him away to his hut, +and there he sat down and would not eat or drink, and the +night fell.</p> + +<p>Long he sat, musing in his mind, and then rose and put +on all his armour, and seized a sword that Hector had given +him one day when they two fought in a gentle passage +of arms, and took courteous farewell of each other, +and Aias had given Hector a broad sword-belt, wrought +with gold. This sword, Hector's gift, Aias took, and went +towards the hut of Ulysses, meaning to carve him limb +from limb, for madness had come upon him in his great +grief. Rushing through the night to slay Ulysses he fell +upon the flock of sheep that the Greeks kept for their meat. +And up and down among them he went, smiting blindly +till the dawn came, and, lo! his senses returned to him, and +he saw that he had not smitten Ulysses, but stood in a pool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +of blood among the sheep that he had slain. He could not +endure the disgrace of his madness, and he fixed the sword, +Hector's gift, with its hilt firmly in the ground, and went +back a little way, and ran and fell upon the sword, which +pierced his heart, and so died the great Aias, choosing +death before a dishonoured life.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<p class="center">ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES.—THE VALOUR +OF EURYPYLUS</p> + +<p>When the Greeks found Aias lying dead, slain by his own +hand, they made great lament, and above all the brother +of Aias, and his wife Tecmessa bewailed him, and the shores +of the sea rang with their sorrow. But of all no man was +more grieved than Ulysses, and he stood up and said: 'Would +that the sons of the Trojans had never awarded to me the +arms of Achilles, for far rather would I have given them +to Aias than that this loss should have befallen the whole +army of the Greeks. Let no man blame me, or be angry +with me, for I have not sought for wealth, to enrich myself, +but for honour only, and to win a name that will be remembered +among men in times to come.' Then they +made a great fire of wood, and burned the body of Aias, +lamenting him as they had sorrowed for Achilles.</p> + +<p>Now it seemed that though the Greeks had won the +Luck of Troy and had defeated the Amazons and the army +of Memnon, they were no nearer taking Troy than ever. +They had slain Hector, indeed, and many other Trojans, +but they had lost the great Achilles, and Aias, and Patroclus, +and Antilochus, with the princes whom Penthesilea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +and Memnon slew, and the bands of the dead chiefs were +weary of fighting, and eager to go home. The chiefs met +in council, and Menelaus arose and said that his heart +was wasted with sorrow for the death of so many brave +men who had sailed to Troy for his sake. 'Would that +death had come upon me before I gathered this host,' he +said, 'but come, let the rest of us launch our swift ships, +and return each to our own country.'</p> + +<p>He spoke thus to try the Greeks, and see of what courage +they were, for his desire was still to burn Troy town and +to slay Paris with his own hand. Then up rose Diomede, +and swore that never would the Greeks turn cowards. +No! he bade them sharpen their swords, and make ready +for battle. The prophet Calchas, too, arose and reminded +the Greeks how he had always foretold that they would +take Troy in the tenth year of the siege, and how the tenth +year had come, and victory was almost in their hands. +Next Ulysses stood up and said that, though Achilles was +dead, and there was no prince to lead his men, yet a son +had been born to Achilles, while he was in the isle of Scyros, +and that son he would bring to fill his father's place.</p> + +<p>'Surely he will come, and for a token I will carry to him +those unhappy arms of the great Achilles. Unworthy am I +to wear them, and they bring back to my mind our sorrow +for Aias. But his son will wear them, in the front of the +spearmen of Greece and in the thickest ranks of Troy shall +the helmet of Achilles shine, as it was wont to do, for +always he fought among the foremost.' Thus Ulysses +spoke, and he and Diomede, with fifty oarsmen, went on +board a swift ship, and sitting all in order on the benches +they smote the grey sea into foam, and Ulysses held the +helm and steered them towards the isle of Scyros.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now the Trojans had rest from war for a while, and +Priam, with a heavy heart, bade men take his chief treasure, +the great golden vine, with leaves and clusters of gold, +and carry it to the mother of Eurypylus, the king of the +people who dwell where the wide marshlands of the river +Caycus clang with the cries of the cranes and herons and +wild swans. For the mother of Eurypylus had sworn that +never would she let her son go to the war unless Priam +sent her the vine of gold, a gift of the gods to an ancient +King of Troy.</p> + +<p>With a heavy heart, then, Priam sent the golden vine, +but Eurypylus was glad when he saw it, and bade all his men +arm, and harness the horses to the chariots, and glad were +the Trojans when the long line of the new army wound +along the road and into the town. Then Paris welcomed +Eurypylus who was his nephew, son of his sister Astyochê, +a daughter of Priam; but the grandfather of Eurypylus +was the famous Heracles, the strongest man who ever lived +on earth. So Paris brought Eurypylus to his house, where +Helen sat working at her embroideries with her four bower +maidens, and Eurypylus marvelled when he saw her, she +was so beautiful. But the Khita, the people of Eurypylus, +feasted in the open air among the Trojans, by the light +of great fires burning, and to the music of pipes and flutes. +The Greeks saw the fires, and heard the merry music, and +they watched all night lest the Trojans should attack the +ships before the dawn. But in the dawn Eurypylus rose +from sleep and put on his armour, and hung from his neck +by the belt the great shield on which were fashioned, in +gold of many colours and in silver, the Twelve Adventures +of Heracles, his grandfather; strange deeds that he did, +fighting with monsters and giants and with the Hound of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +Hades, who guards the dwellings of the dead. Then +Eurypylus led on his whole army, and with the brothers of +Hector he charged against the Greeks, who were led by +Agamemnon.</p> + +<p>In that battle Eurypylus first smote Nireus, who was the +most beautiful of the Greeks now that Achilles had fallen. +There lay Nireus, like an apple tree, all covered with blossoms +red and white, that the wind has overthrown in a rich +man's orchard. Then Eurypylus would have stripped off +his armour, but Machaon rushed in, Machaon who had been +wounded and taken to the tent of Nestor, on the day of the +Valour of Hector, when he brought fire against the ships. +Machaon drove his spear through the left shoulder of Eurypylus, +but Eurypylus struck at his shoulder with his sword, +and the blood flowed; nevertheless, Machaon stooped, +and grasped a great stone, and sent it against the helmet of +Eurypylus. He was shaken, but he did not fall, he drove +his spear through breastplate and breast of Machaon, who +fell and died. With his last breath he said, 'Thou, too, +shalt fall,' but Eurypylus made answer, 'So let it be! Men +cannot live for ever, and such is the fortune of war.'</p> + +<p>Thus the battle rang, and shone, and shifted, till few of +the Greeks kept steadfast, except those with Menelaus and +Agamemnon, for Diomede and Ulysses were far away upon +the sea, bringing from Scyros the son of Achilles. But +Teucer slew Polydamas, who had warned Hector to come +within the walls of Troy; and Menelaus wounded Deiphobus, +the bravest of the sons of Priam who were still in +arms, for many had fallen; and Agamemnon slew certain +spearmen of the Trojans. Round Eurypylus fought Paris, +and Aeneas, who wounded Teucer with a great stone, +breaking in his helmet, but he drove back in his chariot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +to the ships. Menelaus and Agamemnon stood alone and +fought in the crowd of Trojans, like two wild boars that a +circle of hunters surrounds with spears, so fiercely they +stood at bay. There they would both have fallen, but +Idomeneus, and Meriones of Crete, and Thrasymedes, +Nestor's son, ran to their rescue, and fiercer grew the fighting. +Eurypylus desired to slay Agamemnon and Menelaus, and +end the war, but, as the spears of the Scots encompassed +King James at Flodden Field till he ran forward, and fell +within a lance's length of the English general, so the men +of Crete and Pylos guarded the two princes with their +spears.</p> + +<p>There Paris was wounded in the thigh with a spear, +and he retreated a little way, and showered his arrows +among the Greeks; and Idomeneus lifted and hurled a great +stone at Eurypylus which struck his spear out of his hand, +and he went back to find it, and Menelaus and Agamemnon +had a breathing space in the battle. But soon Eurypylus +returned, crying on his men, and they drove back foot +by foot the ring of spears round Agamemnon, and Aeneas +and Paris slew men of Crete and of Mycenae till the Greeks +were pushed to the ditch round the camp; and then great +stones and spears and arrows rained down on the Trojans +and the people of Eurypylus from the battlements and towers +of the Grecian wall. Now night fell, and Eurypylus knew +that he could not win the wall in the dark, so he withdrew +his men, and they built great fires, and camped upon the +plain.</p> + +<p>The case of the Greeks was now like that of the Trojans +after the death of Hector. They buried Machaon and the +other chiefs who had fallen, and they remained within their +ditch and their wall, for they dared not come out into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +open plain. They knew not whether Ulysses and Diomede +had come safely to Scyros, or whether their ship had been +wrecked or driven into unknown seas. So they sent a herald +to Eurypylus, asking for a truce, that they might gather +their dead and burn them, and the Trojans and Khita also +buried their dead.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the swift ship of Ulysses had swept through +the sea to Scyros, and to the palace of King Lycomedes. +There they found Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, in the +court before the doors. He was as tall as his father, and +very like him in face and shape, and he was practising the +throwing of the spear at a mark. Right glad were Ulysses +and Diomede to behold him, and Ulysses told Neoptolemus +who they were, and why they came, and implored him to take +pity on the Greeks and help them.</p> + +<p>'My friend is Diomede, Prince of Argos,' said Ulysses, +'and I am Ulysses of Ithaca. Come with us, and we +Greeks will give you countless gifts, and I myself will +present you with the armour of your father, such as it is +not lawful for any other mortal man to wear, seeing that +it is golden, and wrought by the hands of a God. Moreover, +when we have taken Troy, and gone home, Menelaus +will give you his daughter, the beautiful Hermione, to be +your wife, with gold in great plenty.'</p> + +<p>Then Neoptolemus answered: 'It is enough that the +Greeks need my sword. To-morrow we shall sail for Troy.' +He led them into the palace to dine, and there they found +his mother, beautiful Deidamia, in mourning raiment, and +she wept when she heard that they had come to take her +son away. But Neoptolemus comforted her, promising to +return safely with the spoils of Troy, 'or, even if I fall,' he +said, 'it will be after doing deeds worthy of my father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +name.' So next day they sailed, leaving Deidamia mournful, +like a swallow whose nest a serpent has found, and has +killed her young ones; even so she wailed, and went up and +down in the house. But the ship ran swiftly on her way, +cleaving the dark waves till Ulysses showed Neoptolemus +the far off snowy crest of Mount Ida; and Tenedos, the +island near Troy; and they passed the plain where the +tomb of Achilles stands, but Ulysses did not tell the son +that it was his father's tomb.</p> + +<p>Now all this time the Greeks, shut up within their wall +and fighting from their towers, were looking back across the +sea, eager to spy the ship of Ulysses, like men wrecked on +a desert island, who keep watch every day for a sail afar +off, hoping that the seamen will touch at their isle and have +pity upon them, and carry them home, so the Greeks kept +watch for the ship bearing Neoptolemus.</p> + +<p>Diomede, too, had been watching the shore, and when +they came in sight of the ships of the Greeks, he saw that +they were being besieged by the Trojans, and that all the +Greek army was penned up within the wall, and was fighting +from the towers. Then he cried aloud to Ulysses and +Neoptolemus, 'Make haste, friends, let us arm before we +land, for some great evil has fallen upon the Greeks. The +Trojans are attacking our wall, and soon they will burn +our ships, and for us there will be no return.'</p> + +<p>Then all the men on the ship of Ulysses armed themselves, +and Neoptolemus, in the splendid armour of his +father, was the first to leap ashore. The Greeks could not +come from the wall to welcome him, for they were fighting +hard and hand-to-hand with Eurypylus and his men. But +they glanced back over their shoulders and it seemed to +them that they saw Achilles himself, spear and sword in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +hand, rushing to help them. They raised a great battle-cry, +and, when Neoptolemus reached the battlements, he +and Ulysses, and Diomede leaped down to the plain, the +Greeks following them, and they all charged at once on the +men of Eurypylus, with levelled spears, and drove them +from the wall.</p> + +<p>Then the Trojans trembled, for they knew the shields of +Diomede and Ulysses, and they thought that the tall chief +in the armour of Achilles was Achilles himself, come back +from the land of the dead to take vengeance for Antilochus. +The Trojans fled, and gathered round Eurypylus, as in a +thunderstorm little children, afraid of the lightning and the +noise, run and cluster round their father, and hide their faces +on his knees.</p> + +<p>But Neoptolemus was spearing the Trojans, as a man +who carries at night a beacon of fire in his boat on the sea +spears the fishes that flock around, drawn by the blaze of the +flame. Cruelly he avenged his father's death on many a +Trojan, and the men whom Achilles had led followed Achilles' +son, slaying to right and left, and smiting the Trojans, as +they ran, between the shoulders with the spear. Thus they +fought and followed while daylight lasted, but when night +fell, they led Neoptolemus to his father's hut, where the +women washed him in the bath, and then he was taken +to feast with Agamemnon and Menelaus and the princes. +They all welcomed him, and gave him glorious gifts, swords +with silver hilts, and cups of gold and silver, and they were +glad, for they had driven the Trojans from their wall, and +hoped that to-morrow they would slay Eurypylus, and take +Troy town.</p> + +<p>But their hope was not to be fulfilled, for though next +day Eurypylus met Neoptolemus in the battle, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +slain by him, when the Greeks chased the Trojans into their +city so great a storm of lightning and thunder and rain fell +upon them that they retreated again to their camp. They +believed that Zeus, the chief of the Gods, was angry with them, +and the days went by, and Troy still stood unconquered.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SLAYING OF PARIS</p> + +<p>When the Greeks were disheartened, as they often were, +they consulted Calchas the prophet. He usually found that +they must do something, or send for somebody, and in +doing so they diverted their minds from their many misfortunes. +Now, as the Trojans were fighting more bravely +than before, under Deiphobus, a brother of Hector, the +Greeks went to Calchas for advice, and he told them that +they must send Ulysses and Diomede to bring Philoctetes +the bowman from the isle of Lemnos. This was an unhappy +deserted island, in which the married women, some years +before, had murdered all their husbands, out of jealousy, +in a single night. The Greeks had landed in Lemnos, +on their way to Troy, and there Philoctetes had shot an +arrow at a great water dragon which lived in a well within +a cave in the lonely hills. But when he entered the cave +the dragon bit him, and, though he killed it at last, its +poisonous teeth wounded his foot. The wound never healed, +but dripped with venom, and Philoctetes, in terrible pain, +kept all the camp awake at night by his cries.</p> + +<p>The Greeks were sorry for him, but he was not a pleasant +companion, shrieking as he did, and exuding poison wherever +he came. So they left him on the lonely island, and did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +not know whether he was alive or dead. Calchas ought to +have told the Greeks not to desert Philoctetes at the time, +if he was so important that Troy, as the prophet now said, +could not be taken without him. But now, as he must give +some advice, Calchas said that Philoctetes must be brought +back, so Ulysses and Diomede went to bring him. They +sailed to Lemnos, a melancholy place they found it, with +no smoke rising from the ruinous houses along the shore. +As they were landing they learned that Philoctetes was not +dead, for his dismal old cries of pain, <i>ototototoi, ai, ai; pheu, +pheu; ototototoi</i>, came echoing from a cave on the beach. +To this cave the princes went, and found a terrible-looking +man, with long, dirty, dry hair and beard; he was worn to a +skeleton, with hollow eyes, and lay moaning in a mass of the +feathers of sea birds. His great bow and his arrows lay +ready to his hand: with these he used to shoot the sea birds, +which were all that he had to eat, and their feathers littered +all the floor of his cave, and they were none the better for +the poison that dripped from his wounded foot.</p> + +<p>When this horrible creature saw Ulysses and Diomede +coming near, he seized his bow and fitted a poisonous arrow +to the string, for he hated the Greeks, because they had +left him in the desert isle. But the princes held up their +hands in sign of peace, and cried out that they had come to +do him kindness, so he laid down his bow, and they came +in and sat on the rocks, and promised that his wound +should be healed, for the Greeks were very much ashamed +of having deserted him. It was difficult to resist Ulysses +when he wished to persuade any one, and at last Philoctetes +consented to sail with them to Troy. The oarsmen carried +him down to the ship on a litter, and there his dreadful +wound was washed with warm water, and oil was poured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +into it, and it was bound up with soft linen, so that his pain +grew less fierce, and they gave him a good supper and wine +enough, which he had not tasted for many years.</p> + +<p>Next morning they sailed, and had a fair west wind, so +that they soon landed among the Greeks and carried Philoctetes +on shore. Here Podaleirius, the brother of Machaon, +being a physician, did all that could be done to heal the +wound, and the pain left Philoctetes. He was taken to the +hut of Agamemnon, who welcomed him, and said that the +Greeks repented of their cruelty. They gave him seven +female slaves to take care of him, and twenty swift horses, +and twelve great vessels of bronze, and told him that he +was always to live with the greatest chiefs and feed at their +table. So he was bathed, and his hair was cut and combed +and anointed with oil, and soon he was eager and ready to +fight, and to use his great bow and poisoned arrows on +the Trojans. The use of poisoned arrow-tips was thought +unfair, but Philoctetes had no scruples.</p> + +<p>Now in the next battle Paris was shooting down the +Greeks with his arrows, when Philoctetes saw him, and +cried: 'Dog, you are proud of your archery and of the arrow +that slew the great Achilles. But, behold, I am a better +bowman than you, by far, and the bow in my hands was +borne by the strong man Heracles!' So he cried and drew +the bowstring to his breast and the poisoned arrowhead to +the bow, and the bowstring rang, and the arrow flew, and +did but graze the hand of Paris. Then the bitter pain of +the poison came upon him, and the Trojans carried him into +their city, where the physicians tended him all night. But +he never slept, and lay tossing in agony till dawn, when he +said: 'There is but one hope. Take me to Œnone, the +nymph of Mount Ida!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then his friends laid Paris on a litter, and bore him up +the steep path to Mount Ida. Often had he climbed it +swiftly, when he was young, and went to see the nymph +who loved him; but for many a day he had not trod the +path where he was now carried in great pain and fear, +for the poison turned his blood to fire. Little hope he had, +for he knew how cruelly he had deserted Œnone, and he +saw that all the birds which were disturbed in the wood +flew away to the left hand, an omen of evil.</p> + +<p>At last the bearers reached the cave where the nymph +Œnone lived, and they smelled the sweet fragrance of the +cedar fire that burned on the floor of the cave, and they +heard the nymph singing a melancholy song. Then Paris +called to her in the voice which she had once loved to hear, +and she grew very pale, and rose up, saying to herself, +'The day has come for which I have prayed. He is sore +hurt, and has come to bid me heal his wound.' So she +came and stood in the doorway of the dark cave, white +against the darkness, and the bearers laid Paris on the +litter at the feet of Œnone, and he stretched forth his hands +to touch her knees, as was the manner of suppliants. But +she drew back and gathered her robe about her, that he +might not touch it with his hands.</p> + +<p>Then he said: 'Lady, despise me not, and hate me not, +for my pain is more than I can bear. Truly it was by no +will of mine that I left you lonely here, for the Fates that +no man may escape led me to Helen. Would that I had +died in your arms before I saw her face! But now I +beseech you in the name of the Gods, and for the memory +of our love, that you will have pity on me and heal my +hurt, and not refuse your grace and let me die here at your +feet.'</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs05" id="gs05"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs05.png" width="350" height="442" alt="PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE." title="PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE." /> +<span class="caption">PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE.</span> +</div> +</div><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Œnone answered scornfully: 'Why have you come +here to me? Surely for years you have not come this way, +where the path was once worn with your feet. But long +ago you left me lonely and lamenting, for the love of Helen +of the fair hands. Surely she is much more beautiful +than the love of your youth, and far more able to help you, +for men say that she can never know old age and death. +Go home to Helen and let her take away your pain.'</p> + +<p>Thus Œnone spoke, and went within the cave, where she +threw herself down among the ashes of the hearth and sobbed +for anger and sorrow. In a little while she rose and went +to the door of the cave, thinking that Paris had not been +borne away back to Troy, but she found him not; for his +bearers had carried him by another path, till he died +beneath the boughs of the oak trees. Then his bearers +carried him swiftly down to Troy, where his mother bewailed +him, and Helen sang over him as she had sung over +Hector, remembering many things, and fearing to think of +what her own end might be. But the Trojans hastily +built a great pile of dry wood, and thereon laid the body of +Paris and set fire to it, and the flame went up through the +darkness, for now night had fallen.</p> + +<p>But Œnone was roaming in the dark woods, crying and +calling after Paris, like a lioness whose cubs the hunters +have carried away. The moon rose to give her light, and +the flame of the funeral fire shone against the sky, and then +Œnone knew that Paris had died—beautiful Paris—and +that the Trojans were burning his body on the plain at the +foot of Mount Ida. Then she cried that now Paris was +all her own, and that Helen had no more hold on him: +'And though when he was living he left me, in death we +shall not be divided,' she said, and she sped down the hill,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +and through the thickets where the wood nymphs were +wailing for Paris, and she reached the plain, and, covering +her head with her veil like a bride, she rushed through the +throng of Trojans. She leaped upon the burning pile of +wood, she clasped the body of Paris in her arms, and the +flame of fire consumed the bridegroom and the bride, and +their ashes mingled. No man could divide them any more, +and the ashes were placed in a golden cup, within a chamber +of stone, and the earth was mounded above them. On +that grave the wood nymphs planted two rose trees, and +their branches met and plaited together.</p> + +<p>This was the end of Paris and Œnone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE +HORSE OF TREE</p> + +<p>After Paris died, Helen was not given back to Menelaus. +We are often told that only fear of the anger of Paris had +prevented the Trojans from surrendering Helen and making +peace. Now Paris could not terrify them, yet for all that +the men of the town would not part with Helen, whether +because she was so beautiful, or because they thought it +dishonourable to yield her to the Greeks, who might put +her to a cruel death. So Helen was taken by Deiphobus, +the brother of Paris, to live in his own house, and Deiphobus +was at this time the best warrior and the chief captain of +the men of Troy.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Greeks made an assault against the +Trojan walls and fought long and hardily; but, being safe +behind the battlements, and shooting through loopholes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +the Trojans drove them back with loss of many of their +men. It was in vain that Philoctetes shot his poisoned +arrows, they fell back from the stone walls, or stuck in the +palisades of wood above the walls, and the Greeks who +tried to climb over were speared, or crushed with heavy +stones. When night fell, they retreated to the ships and +held a council, and, as usual, they asked the advice of the +prophet Calchas. It was the business of Calchas to go about +looking at birds, and taking omens from what he saw them +doing, a way of prophesying which the Romans also used, +and some savages do the same to this day. Calchas said +that yesterday he had seen a hawk pursuing a dove, which +hid herself in a hole in a rocky cliff. For a long while the +hawk tried to find the hole, and follow the dove into it, but +he could not reach her. So he flew away for a short distance +and hid himself; then the dove fluttered out into the sunlight, +and the hawk swooped on her and killed her.</p> + +<p>The Greeks, said Calchas, ought to learn a lesson from +the hawk, and take Troy by cunning, as by force they could +do nothing. Then Ulysses stood up and described a trick +which it is not easy to understand. The Greeks, he said, +ought to make an enormous hollow horse of wood, and place +the bravest men in the horse. Then all the rest of the +Greeks should embark in their ships and sail to the Isle of +Tenedos, and lie hidden behind the island. The Trojans +would then come out of the city, like the dove out of her +hole in the rock, and would wander about the Greek camp, +and wonder why the great horse of tree had been made, and +why it had been left behind. Lest they should set fire to +the horse, when they would soon have found out the warriors +hidden in it, a cunning Greek, whom the Trojans did not +know by sight, should be left in the camp or near it. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +would tell the Trojans that the Greeks had given up all +hope and gone home, and he was to say that they feared +the Goddess Pallas was angry with them, because they had +stolen her image that fell from heaven, and was called the +Luck of Troy. To soothe Pallas and prevent her from +sending great storms against the ships, the Greeks (so the +man was to say) had built this wooden horse as an offering +to the Goddess. The Trojans, believing this story, would +drag the horse into Troy, and, in the night, the princes +would come out, set fire to the city, and open the gates to +the army, which would return from Tenedos as soon as +darkness came on.</p> + +<p>The prophet was much pleased with the plan of Ulysses, +and, as two birds happened to fly away on the right hand, +he declared that the stratagem would certainly be lucky. +Neoptolemus, on the other hand, voted for taking Troy, +without any trick, by sheer hard fighting. Ulysses replied +that if Achilles could not do that, it could not be done +at all, and that Epeius, a famous carpenter, had better set +about making the horse at once.</p> + +<p>Next day half the army, with axes in their hands, were +sent to cut down trees on Mount Ida, and thousands of +planks were cut from the trees by Epeius and his workmen, +and in three days he had finished the horse. Ulysses +then asked the best of the Greeks to come forward and go +inside the machine; while one, whom the Greeks did not +know by sight, should volunteer to stay behind in the camp +and deceive the Trojans. Then a young man called Sinon +stood up and said that he would risk himself and take the +chance that the Trojans might disbelieve him, and burn +him alive. Certainly, none of the Greeks did anything +more courageous, yet Sinon had not been considered brave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +Had he fought in the front ranks, the Trojans would have +known him; but there were many brave fighters who +would not have dared to do what Sinon undertook.</p> + +<p>Then old Nestor was the first that volunteered to go +into the horse; but Neoptolemus said that, brave as he +was, he was too old, and that he must depart with the +army to Tenedos. Neoptolemus himself would go into the +horse, for he would rather die than turn his back on Troy. +So Neoptolemus armed himself and climbed into the horse, +as did Menelaus, Ulysses, Diomede, Thrasymedes (Nestor's +son), Idomeneus, Philoctetes, Meriones, and all the best men +except Agamemnon, while Epeius himself entered last of +all. Agamemnon was not allowed by the other Greeks to +share their adventure, as he was to command the army when +they returned from Tenedos. They meanwhile launched +their ships and sailed away.</p> + +<p>But first Menelaus had led Ulysses apart, and told him +that if they took Troy (and now they must either take it or +die at the hands of the Trojans), he would owe to Ulysses +the glory. When they came back to Greece, he wished to +give Ulysses one of his own cities, that they might always +be near each other. Ulysses smiled and shook his head; +he could not leave Ithaca, his own rough island kingdom. +'But if we both live through the night that is coming,' he +said, 'I may ask you for one gift, and giving it will make +you none the poorer.' Then Menelaus swore by the splendour +of Zeus that Ulysses could ask him for no gift that he +would not gladly give; so they embraced, and both armed +themselves and went up into the horse. With them were +all the chiefs except Nestor, whom they would not allow +to come, and Agamemnon, who, as chief general, had to +command the army. They swathed themselves and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +arms in soft silks, that they might not ring and clash, +when the Trojans, if they were so foolish, dragged the horse +up into their town, and there they sat in the dark waiting. +Meanwhile, the army burned their huts and launched their +ships, and with oars and sails made their way to the back +of the isle of Tenedos.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<p class="center">THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN</p> + +<p>From the walls the Trojans saw the black smoke go up +thick into the sky, and the whole fleet of the Greeks sailing +out to sea. Never were men so glad, and they armed themselves +for fear of an ambush, and went cautiously, sending +forth scouts in front of them, down to the seashore. Here +they found the huts burned down and the camp deserted, +and some of the scouts also caught Sinon, who had hid himself +in a place where he was likely to be found. They rushed +on him with fierce cries, and bound his hands with a rope, +and kicked and dragged him along to the place where Priam +and the princes were wondering at the great horse of tree. +Sinon looked round upon them, while some were saying +that he ought to be tortured with fire to make him tell +all the truth about the horse. The chiefs in the horse +must have trembled for fear lest torture should wring the +truth out of Sinon, for then the Trojans would simply burn +the machine and them within it.</p> + +<p>But Sinon said: 'Miserable man that I am, whom the +Greeks hate and the Trojans are eager to slay!' When +the Trojans heard that the Greeks hated him, they were +curious, and asked who he was, and how he came to be there. +'I will tell you all, oh King!' he answered Priam. 'I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +was a friend and squire of an unhappy chief, Palamedes, +whom the wicked Ulysses hated and slew secretly one day, +when he found him alone, fishing in the sea. I was angry, +and in my folly I did not hide my anger, and my words came +to the ears of Ulysses. From that hour he sought occasion +to slay me. Then Calchas——' here he stopped, saying: +'But why tell a long tale? If you hate all Greeks alike, +then slay me; this is what Agamemnon and Ulysses desire; +Menelaus would thank you for my head.'</p> + +<p>The Trojans were now more curious than before. They +bade him go on, and he said that the Greeks had consulted +an Oracle, which advised them to sacrifice one of their +army to appease the anger of the Gods and gain a fair +wind homewards. 'But who was to be sacrificed? They +asked Calchas, who for fifteen days refused to speak. At +last, being bribed by Ulysses, he pointed to me, Sinon, +and said that I must be the victim. I was bound and kept +in prison, while they built their great horse as a present +for Pallas Athênê the Goddess. They made it so large that +you Trojans might never be able to drag it into your city; +while, if you destroyed it, the Goddess might turn her +anger against you. And now they have gone home to bring +back the image that fell from heaven, which they had sent +to Greece, and to restore it to the Temple of Pallas Athênê, +when they have taken your town, for the Goddess is angry +with them for that theft of Ulysses.'</p> + +<p>The Trojans were foolish enough to believe the story of +Sinon, and they pitied him and unbound his hands. Then +they tied ropes to the wooden horse, and laid rollers in +front of it, like men launching a ship, and they all took +turns to drag the horse up to the Scaean gate. Children +and women put their hands to the ropes and hauled, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +with shouts and dances, and hymns they toiled, till about +nightfall the horse stood in the courtyard of the inmost +castle.</p> + +<p>Then all the people of Troy began to dance, and drink, +and sing. Such sentinels as were set at the gates got as +drunk as all the rest, who danced about the city till after +midnight, and then they went to their homes and slept +heavily.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Greek ships were returning from behind +Tenedos as fast as the oarsmen could row them.</p> + +<p>One Trojan did not drink or sleep; this was Deiphobus, +at whose house Helen was now living. He bade her come +with them, for he knew that she was able to speak in the +very voice of all men and women whom she had ever seen, +and he armed a few of his friends and went with them to +the citadel. Then he stood beside the horse, holding +Helen's hand, and whispered to her that she must call +each of the chiefs in the voice of his wife. She was obliged +to obey, and she called Menelaus in her own voice, and +Diomede in the voice of his wife, and Ulysses in the very +voice of Penelope. Then Menelaus and Diomede were +eager to answer, but Ulysses grasped their hands and +whispered the word 'Echo!' Then they remembered that +this was a name of Helen, because she could speak in all +voices, and they were silent; but Anticlus was still eager to +answer, till Ulysses held his strong hand over his mouth. +There was only silence, and Deiphobus led Helen back to +his house. When they had gone away Epeius opened the +side of the horse, and all the chiefs let themselves down +softly to the ground. Some rushed to the gate, to open it, +and they killed the sleeping sentinels and let in the Greeks. +Others sped with torches to burn the houses of the Trojan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +princes, and terrible was the slaughter of men, unarmed and +half awake, and loud were the cries of the women. But +Ulysses had slipped away at the first, none knew where. +Neoptolemus ran to the palace of Priam, who was sitting at +the altar in his courtyard, praying vainly to the Gods, for +Neoptolemus slew the old man cruelly, and his white hair +was dabbled in his blood. All through the city was fighting +and slaying; but Menelaus went to the house of Deiphobus, +knowing that Helen was there.</p> + +<p>In the doorway he found Deiphobus lying dead in all his +armour, a spear standing in his breast. There were footprints +marked in blood, leading through the portico and +into the hall. There Menelaus went, and found Ulysses +leaning, wounded, against one of the central pillars of the +great chamber, the firelight shining on his armour.</p> + +<p>'Why hast thou slain Deiphobus and robbed me of my +revenge?' said Menelaus. 'You swore to give me a gift,' +said Ulysses, 'and will you keep your oath?' 'Ask what +you will,' said Menelaus; 'it is yours and my oath cannot +be broken.' 'I ask the life of Helen of the fair hands,' +said Ulysses; 'this is my own life-price that I pay back to +her, for she saved my life when I took the Luck of Troy, +and I swore that hers should be saved.'</p> + +<p>Then Helen stole, glimmering in white robes, from a +recess in the dark hall, and fell at the feet of Menelaus; +her golden hair lay in the dust of the hearth, and her hands +moved to touch his knees. His drawn sword fell from the +hands of Menelaus, and pity and love came into his heart, +and he raised her from the dust and her white arms were +round his neck, and they both wept. That night Menelaus +fought no more, but they tended the wound of Ulysses, for +the sword of Deiphobus had bitten through his helmet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>When dawn came Troy lay in ashes, and the women +were being driven with spear shafts to the ships, and the +men were left unburied, a prey to dogs and all manner of +birds. Thus the grey city fell, that had lorded it for many +centuries. All the gold and silver and rich embroideries, +and ivory and amber, the horses and chariots, were divided +among the army; all but a treasure of silver and gold, +hidden in a chest within a hollow of the wall, and this +treasure was found, not very many years ago, by men +digging deep on the hill where Troy once stood. The +women, too, were given to the princes, and Neoptolemus +took Andromache to his home in Argos, to draw water from +the well and to be the slave of a master, and Agamemnon +carried beautiful Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, to his +palace in Mycenae, where they were both slain in one night. +Only Helen was led with honour to the ship of Menelaus.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs06" id="gs06"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs06.png" width="350" height="449" alt="MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE INTERCESSION +OF ULYSSES." title="MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE INTERCESSION +OF ULYSSES." /> +<span class="caption">MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE INTERCESSION +OF ULYSSES.</span> +</div> +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_WANDERINGS_OF_ULYSSES" id="THE_WANDERINGS_OF_ULYSSES"></a>THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES</h2> + +<h2><a name="Ia" id="Ia"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS OF +ULYSSES</p> + +<p>The Greeks left Troy a mass of smouldering ashes; the +marks of fire are still to be seen in the ruins on the hill +which is now called Hissarlik. The Greeks had many +troubles on their way home, and years passed before some +of the chiefs reached their own cities. As for Agamemnon, +while he was at Troy his wife, Clytaemnestra, the sister of +Helen, had fallen in love with a young man named Aegisthus, +who wished to be king, so he married Clytaemnestra, just +as if Agamemnon had been dead. Meanwhile Agamemnon +was sailing home with his share of the wealth of Troy, +and many a storm drove him out of his course. At last +he reached the harbour, about seven miles from his city of +Mycenae, and he kissed the earth when he landed, thinking +that all his troubles were over, and that he would find his +son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, grown up, and his +wife happy because of his return.</p> + +<p>But Aegisthus had set, a year before, a watchman on a +high tower, to come with the news as soon as Agamemnon +landed, and the watchman ran to Mycenae with the good +news. Aegisthus placed twenty armed men in a hidden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +place in the great hall, and then he shouted for his chariots +and horses, and drove down to meet Agamemnon, and +welcome him, and carry him to his own palace. Then he +gave a great feast, and when men had drunk much wine, +the armed men, who had been hiding behind curtains, +rushed out, with sword and spear, and fell on Agamemnon +and his company. Though taken by surprise they drew +their swords, and fought so well for their lives that none +were left alive, not one, neither of the company of +Agamemnon nor of the company of Aegisthus; they were +all slain in the hall except Aegisthus, who had hidden +himself when the fray began. The bodies lay round the +great mixing bowl of wine, and about the tables, and the +floor ran with blood. Before Agamemnon died he saw +Clytaemnestra herself stab Cassandra, the daughter of +Priam, whom he had brought from Troy.</p> + +<p>In the town of Agamemnon, Mycenae, deep down in +the earth, have been found five graves, with bones of men +and women, and these bones were all covered with beautiful +ornaments of gold, hundreds of them, and swords and +daggers inlaid with gold, and golden cups, and a sceptre +of gold and crystal, and two gold breastplates. There were +also golden masks that had been made to cover the faces of +the dead kings, and who knows but that one of these masks +may show us the features of the famous Agamemnon?</p> + +<p>Ulysses, of course, knew nothing about these murders +at the time, for he was being borne by the winds into undiscovered +seas. But later he heard all the story from the +ghost of a dead prophet, in the Land of the Dead, and he +determined to be very cautious if ever he reached his own +island, for who knew what the young men might do, that +had grown up since he sailed to Troy?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of the other Greeks Nestor soon and safely arrived +at his town of Pylos, but Menelaus and Helen were borne +by the winds to Egypt and other strange countries, and +the ship of the brother of Aias was wrecked on a rock, and +there he was drowned, and Calchas the prophet died on +land, on his way across Greece.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses left Troy the wind carried him to the +coast of Thrace, where the people were allies of the Trojans. +It was a king of the Thracians that Diomede killed when +he and Ulysses stole into the camp of the Trojans in the +night, and drove away the white horses of the king, as swift +as the winds. Ismarus was the name of the Thracian town +where Ulysses landed, and his men took it and plundered it, +yet Ulysses allowed no one to harm the priest of Apollo, +Maron, but protected him and his wife and child, in their +house within the holy grove of the God. Maron was +grateful, and gave Ulysses twelve talents, or little wedges, +of gold, and a great bowl of silver, and twelve large clay +jars, as big as barrels, full of the best and strongest wine. +It was so strong that men put into the mixing bowl but +one measure of wine to twenty measures of water. These +presents Ulysses stored up in his ship, and lucky for him it +was that he was kind to Maron.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile his men, instead of leaving the town with +their plunder, sat eating and drinking till dawn. By that +time the people of the town had warned their neighbours +in the country farms, who all came down in full armour, +and attacked the men of Ulysses. In this fight he lost +seventy-two men, six from each of his twelve ships, and it +was only by hard fighting that the others were able to get +on board their ships and sail away.</p> + +<p>A great storm arose and beat upon the ships, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +seems that Ulysses and his men were driven into Fairyland, +where they remained for ten years. We have heard that +King Arthur and Thomas the Rhymer were carried into +Fairyland, but what adventures they met with there we do +not know. About Ulysses we have the stories which are +now to be told. For ten days his ships ran due south, +and, on the tenth, they reached the land of the Lotus +Eaters, who eat food of flowers. They went on shore and +drew water, and three men were sent to try to find the people +of that country, who were a quiet, friendly people, and +gave the fruit of the lotus to the strange sailors. Now +whoever tastes of that fruit has no mind ever to go home, +but to sit between the setting sun and the rising moon, +dreaming happy dreams, and forgetting the world. The +three men ate the lotus, and sat down to dream, but Ulysses +went after them, and drove them to the ships, and bound +their hands and feet, and threw them on board, and sailed +away. Then he with his ships reached the coast of the +land of the Cyclopes, which means the round-eyed men, +men with only one eye apiece, set in the middle of their +foreheads. They lived not in houses, but in caves among +the hills, and they had no king and no laws, and did not +plough or sow, but wheat and vines grew wild, and they +kept great flocks of sheep.</p> + +<p>There was a beautiful wild desert island lying across +the opening of a bay; the isle was full of wild goats, and +made a bar against the waves, so that ships could lie behind +it safely, run up on the beach, for there was no tide in that +sea. There Ulysses ran up his ships, and the men passed +the time in hunting wild goats, and feasting on fresh meat +and the wine of Maron, the priest of Apollo. Next day +Ulysses left all the ships and men there, except his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +ship, and his own crew, and went to see what kind of people +lived on the mainland, for as yet none had been seen. +He found a large cave close to the sea, with laurels growing +on the rocky roof, and a wall of rough stones built round a +court in front. Ulysses left all his men but twelve with +the ship; filled a goat skin with the strong wine of Maron, +put some corn flour in a sack, and went up to the cave. +Nobody was there, but there were all the things that are +usually in a dairy, baskets full of cheese, pails and bowls +full of milk and whey, and kids and lambs were playing +in their folds.</p> + +<p>All seemed very quiet and pleasant. The men wanted +to take as much cheese as they could carry back to the +ship, but Ulysses wished to see the owner of the cave. +His men, making themselves at home, lit a fire, and toasted +and ate the cheeses, far within the cave. Then a shadow +thrown by the setting sun fell across the opening of the +cave, and a monstrous man entered, and threw down a +dry trunk of a tree that he carried for firewood. Next +he drove in the ewes of his flock, leaving the rams in the +yard, and he picked up a huge flat stone, and set it so as +to make a shut door to the cave, for twenty-four yoke +of horses could not have dragged away that stone. Lastly +the man milked his ewes, and put the milk in pails to drink +at supper. All this while Ulysses and his men sat quiet and +in great fear, for they were shut up in a cave with a one-eyed +giant, whose cheese they had been eating.</p> + +<p>Then the giant, when he had lit the fire, happened to +see the men, and asked them who they were. Ulysses said +that they were Greeks, who had taken Troy, and were +wandering lost on the seas, and he asked the man to be +kind to them in the name of their chief God, Zeus.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>'We Cyclopes,' said the giant, 'do not care for Zeus or +the Gods, for we think that we are better men than they. +Where is your ship?' Ulysses answered that it had been +wrecked on the coast, to which the man made no answer, +but snatched up two of the twelve, knocked out their +brains on the floor, tore the bodies limb from limb, +roasted them at his fire, ate them, and, after drinking +many pailfuls of milk, lay down and fell asleep. Now +Ulysses had a mind to drive his sword-point into the giant's +liver, and he felt for the place with his hand. But he +remembered that, even if he killed the giant, he could not +move the huge stone that was the door of the cave, so he +and his men would die of hunger, when they had eaten all +the cheeses.</p> + +<p>In the morning the giant ate two more men for breakfast, +drove out his ewes, and set the great stone in the doorway +again, as lightly as a man would put a quiverlid on +a quiver of arrows. Then away he went, driving his flock +to graze on the green hills.</p> + +<p>Ulysses did not give way to despair. The giant had +left his stick in the cave: it was as large as the mast of a +great ship. From this Ulysses cut a portion six feet long, +and his men cut and rubbed as if they were making a spear +shaft: Ulysses then sharpened it to a point, and hardened +the point in the fire. It was a thick rounded bar of wood, +and the men cast lots to choose four, who should twist the +bar in the giant's eye when he fell asleep at night. Back +he came at sunset, and drove his flocks into the cave, rams +and all. Then he put up his stone door, milked his ewes, +and killed two men and cooked them.</p> + +<p>Ulysses meanwhile had filled one of the wooden ivy +bowls full of the strong wine of Maron, without putting a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +drop of water into it. This bowl he offered to the giant, +who had never heard of wine. He drank one bowl after +another, and when he was merry he said that he would +make Ulysses a present. 'What is your name?' he asked. +'My name is <i>Nobody</i>,' said Ulysses. 'Then I shall eat the +others first and Nobody last,' said the giant. 'That shall +be your gift.' Then he fell asleep.</p> + +<p>Ulysses took his bar of wood, and made the point red-hot +in the fire. Next his four men rammed it into the +giant's one eye, and held it down, while Ulysses twirled it +round, and the eye hissed like red-hot iron when men dip it +into cold water, which is the strength of iron. The Cyclops +roared and leaped to his feet, and shouted for help to the +other giants who lived in the neighbouring caves. 'Who is +troubling you, Polyphemus,' they answered. 'Why do you +wake us out of our sleep?' The giant answered, 'Nobody +is killing me by his cunning, not at all in fair fight.' 'Then +if nobody is harming you nobody can help you,' shouted a +giant. 'If you are ill pray to your father, Poseidon, who +is the god of the sea.' So the giants all went back to bed, +and Ulysses laughed low to see how his cunning had deceived +them. Then the giant went and took down his door and +sat in the doorway, stretching out his arms, so as to catch +his prisoners as they went out.</p> + +<p>But Ulysses had a plan. He fastened sets of three +rams together with twisted withies, and bound a man to +each ram in the middle, so that the blind giant's hands +would only feel the two outside rams. The biggest and +strongest ram Ulysses seized, and held on by his hands and +feet to its fleece, under its belly, and then all the sheep, went +out through the doorway, and the giant felt them, but +did not know that they were carrying out the men. 'Dear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +ram!' he said to the biggest, which carried Ulysses, 'you +do not come out first, as usual, but last, as if you were +slow with sorrow for your master, whose eye Nobody has +blinded!'</p> + +<p>Then all the rams went out into the open country, and +Ulysses unfastened his men, and drove the sheep down +to his ship and so on board. His crew wept when they heard +of the death of six of their friends, but Ulysses made them +row out to sea. When he was just so far away from the +cave as to be within hearing distance he shouted at the +Cyclops and mocked him. Then that giant broke off the +rocky peak of a great hill and threw it in the direction of +the sound. The rock fell in front of the ship, and raised +a wave that drove it back to shore, but Ulysses punted +it off with a long pole, and his men rowed out again, far +out. Ulysses again shouted to the giant, 'If any one asks +who blinded you, say that it was Ulysses, Laertes' son, of +Ithaca, the stormer of cities.'</p> + +<p>Then the giant prayed to the Sea God, his father, that +Ulysses might never come home, or if he did, that he might +come late and lonely, with loss of all his men, and find +sorrow in his house. Then the giant heaved and threw +another rock, but it fell at the stern of the ship, and the +wave drove the ship further out to sea, to the shore of the +island. There Ulysses and his men landed, and killed +some of the giant's sheep, and took supper, and drank +wine.</p> + +<p>But the Sea God heard the prayer of his son the blind +giant.</p> + +<p>Ulysses and his men sailed on, in what direction and +for how long we do not know, till they saw far off an +island that shone in the sea. When they came nearer they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +found that it had a steep cuff of bronze, with a palace on the +top. Here lived Aeolus, the King of the Winds, with his +six sons and six daughters. He received Ulysses kindly +on his island, and entertained him for a whole month. +Then he gave him a leather bag, in which he had bound +the ways of all the noisy winds. This bag was fastened +with a silver cord, and Aeolus left no wind out except the +West Wind, which would blow Ulysses straight home +to Ithaca. Where he was we cannot guess, except that +he was to the west of his own island.</p> + +<p>So they sailed for nine days and nights towards the +east, and Ulysses always held the helm and steered, but on +the tenth day he fell asleep. Then his men said to each +other, 'What treasure is it that he keeps in the leather +bag, a present from King Aeolus? No doubt the bag is full +of gold and silver, while we have only empty hands.' So +they opened the bag when they were so near Ithaca that +they could see people lighting fires on the shore. Then +out rushed all the winds, and carried the ship into unknown +seas, and when Ulysses woke he was so miserable that he +had a mind to drown himself. But he was of an enduring +heart, and he lay still, and the ship came back to the isle +of Aeolus, who cried, 'Away with you! You are the most +luckless of living men: you must be hated by the Gods.'</p> + +<p>Thus Aeolus drove them away, and they sailed for seven +days and nights, till they saw land, and came to a harbour +with a narrow entrance, and with tall steep rocks on either +side. The other eleven ships sailed into the haven, but +Ulysses did not venture in; he fastened his ship to a rock +at the outer end of the harbour. The place must have +been very far north, for, as it was summer, the sun had +hardly set till dawn began again, as it does in Norway and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +Iceland, where there are many such narrow harbours within +walls of rock. These places are called <i>fiords</i>. Ulysses sent +three men to spy out the country, and at a well outside the +town they met a damsel drawing water; she was the child +of the king of the people, the Laestrygonians. The damsel +led them to her father's house; he was a giant and seized +one of the men of Ulysses, meaning to kill and eat him. +The two other men fled to the ships, but the Laestrygonians +ran along the tops of the cliffs and threw down +great rocks, sinking the vessels and killing the sailors. When +Ulysses saw this he drew his sword and cut the cable that +fastened his ship to the rock outside the harbour, and his +crew rowed for dear life and so escaped, weeping for the +death of their friends. Thus the prayer of the blind Cyclops +was being fulfilled, for now out of twelve ships Ulysses +had but one left.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIa" id="IIa"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center">THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, +THE SIRENS</p> + +<p>On they sailed till they came to an island, and there +they landed. What the place was they did not know, but +it was called Aeaea, and here lived Circe, the enchantress, +sister of the wizard king Æêtes, who was the Lord of the +Fleece of Gold, that Jason won from him by help of the +king's daughter, Medea. For two days Ulysses and +his men lay on land beside their ship, which they anchored +in a bay of the island. On the third morning Ulysses took +his sword and spear, and climbed to the top of a high hill, +whence he saw the smoke rising out of the wood where +Circe had her palace. He thought of going to the house, +but it seemed better to return to his men and send some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +them to spy out the place. Since the adventure of the +Cyclops Ulysses did not care to risk himself among unknown +people, and for all that he knew there might be man-eating +giants on the island. So he went back, and, as he came +to the bank of the river, he found a great red deer drinking +under the shadow of the green boughs. He speared the +stag, and, tying his feet together, slung the body from his +neck, and so, leaning on his spear, he came to his fellows. +Glad they were to see fresh venison, which they cooked, +and so dined with plenty of wine.</p> + +<p>Next morning Ulysses divided his men into two companies, +Eurylochus led one company and he himself the +other. Then they put two marked pieces of wood, one for +Eurylochus, one for Ulysses, in a helmet, to decide who +should go to the house in the wood. They shook the +helmet, and the lot of Eurylochus leaped out, and, weeping +for fear, he led his twenty-two men away into the forest. +Ulysses and the other twenty-two waited, and, when Eurylochus +came back alone, he was weeping, and unable to speak +for sorrow. At last he told his story: they had come to +the beautiful house of Circe, within the wood, and tame +wolves and lions were walking about in front of the house. +They wagged their tails, and jumped up, like friendly dogs, +round the men of Ulysses, who stood in the gateway and +heard Circe singing in a sweet voice, as she went up and +down before the loom at which she was weaving. Then +one of the men of Ulysses called to her, and she came out, +a beautiful lady in white robes covered with jewels of gold. +She opened the doors and bade them come in, but Eurylochus +hid himself and watched, and saw Circe and her +maidens mix honey and wine for the men, and bid them +sit down on chairs at tables, but, when they had drunk of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +cup, she touched them with her wand. Then they were +all changed into swine, and Circe drove them out and shut +them up in the styes.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses heard that he slung his sword-belt round +his shoulders, seized his bow, and bade Eurylochus come back +with him to the house of Circe; but Eurylochus was afraid. +Alone went Ulysses through the woods, and in a dell he +met a most beautiful young man, who took his hand and +said, 'Unhappy one! how shalt thou free thy friends +from so great an enchantress?' Then the young man +plucked a plant from the ground; the flower was as white as +milk, but the root was black: it is a plant that men may +not dig up, but to the Gods all things are easy, and the +young man was the cunning God Hermes, whom Autolycus, +the grandfather of Ulysses, used to worship. 'Take this +herb of grace,' he said, 'and when Circe has made thee +drink of the cup of her enchantments the herb will so work +that they shall have no power over thee. Then draw +thy sword, and rush at her, and make her swear that she +will not harm thee with her magic.'</p> + +<p>Then Hermes departed, and Ulysses went to the house of +Circe, and she asked him to enter, and seated him on a chair, +and gave him the enchanted cup to drink, and then smote +him with her wand and bade him go to the styes of the +swine. But Ulysses drew his sword, and Circe, with a great +cry, fell at his feet, saying, 'Who art thou on whom the cup +has no power? Truly thou art Ulysses of Ithaca, for the +God Hermes has told me that he should come to my island +on his way from Troy. Come now, fear not; let us be +friends!'</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs07" id="gs07"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs07.png" width="350" height="459" alt="CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF ULYSSES) +TO THE STYES." title="CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF ULYSSES) +TO THE STYES." /> +<span class="caption">CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF ULYSSES) +TO THE STYES.</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Then the maidens of Circe came to them, fairy damsels +of the wells and woods and rivers. They threw covers of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +purple silk over the chairs, and on the silver tables they +placed golden baskets, and mixed wine in a silver bowl, +and heated water, and bathed Ulysses in a polished bath, +and clothed him in new raiment, and led him to the table +and bade him eat and drink. But he sat silent, neither +eating nor drinking, in sorrow for his company, till Circe +called them out from the styes and disenchanted them. +Glad they were to see Ulysses, and they embraced him, +and wept for joy.</p> + +<p>So they went back to their friends at the ship, and told +them how Circe would have them all to live with her; but +Eurylochus tried to frighten them, saying that she would +change them into wolves and lions. Ulysses drew his sword +to cut off the head of Eurylochus for his cowardice, but the +others prayed that he might be left alone to guard the ship. +So Ulysses left him; but Eurylochus had not the courage +to be alone, and slunk behind them to the house of Circe. +There she welcomed them all, and gave them a feast, and +there they dwelt for a whole year, and then they wearied +for their wives and children, and longed to return to +Ithaca. They did not guess by what a strange path they +must sail.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses was alone with Circe at night he told +her that his men were home-sick, and would fain go to +Ithaca. Then Circe said, 'There is no way but this: you +must sail to the last shore of the stream of the river Oceanus, +that girdles round the world. There is the Land of the +Dead, and the House of Hades and Persephone, the King +and Queen of the ghosts. There you must call up the +ghost of the blind prophet, Tiresias of Thebes, for he alone +has knowledge of your way, and the other spirits sweep +round shadow-like.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Ulysses thought that his heart would break, for +how should he, a living man, go down to the awful dwellings +of the dead? But Circe told him the strange things that +he must do, and she gave him a black ram and a black ewe, +and next day Ulysses called his men together. All followed +him to the ship, except one, Elpenor. He had been sleeping, +for the sake of the cool air, on the flat roof of the house, +and, when suddenly wakened, he missed his foothold on +the tall ladder, and fell to the ground and broke his neck. +They left him unburned and unburied, and, weeping, they +followed Ulysses, as follow they must, to see the homes +of the ghosts and the house of Hades. Very sorrowfully +they all went on board, taking with them the black ram +and the black ewe, and they set the sails, and the wind +bore them at its will.</p> + +<p>Now in mid-day they sailed out of the sunlight into +darkness, for they had come to the land of the Cimmerian +men, which the sun never sees, but all is dark +cloud and mist. There they ran the ship ashore, and +took out the two black sheep, and walked along the dark +banks of the river Oceanus to a place of which Circe had +told Ulysses. There the two rivers of the dead meet, +where a rock divides the two dark roaring streams. There +they dug a trench and poured out mead, and wine, and +water, and prayed to the ghosts, and then they cut the +throat of the black ewe, and the grey ghosts gathered to +smell the blood. Pale spectres came, spirits of brides who +died long ago, and youths unwed, and old unhappy men; +and many phantoms were there of men who fell in battle, +with shadowy spears in their hands, and battered armour. +Then Ulysses sacrificed the black ram to the ghost of the +prophet Tiresias, and sat down with his sword in his hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +that no spirit before Tiresias might taste the blood in the +trench.</p> + +<p>First the spirit of Elpenor came, and begged Ulysses to +burn his body, for till his body was burned he was not +allowed to mingle with the other souls of dead men. So +Ulysses promised to burn and bury him when he went back +to Circe's island. Then came the shadow of the mother +of Ulysses, who had died when he was at Troy, but, for all +his grief, he would not allow the shadow to come near the +blood till Tiresias had tasted it. At length came the spirit +of the blind prophet, and he prayed Ulysses to sheathe his +sword and let him drink the blood of the black sheep.</p> + +<p>When he had tasted it he said that the Sea God was +angry because of the blinding of his son, the Cyclops, and +would make his voyaging vain. But if the men of Ulysses +were wise, and did not slay and eat the sacred cattle of the +Sun God, in the isle called Thrinacia, they might all win +home. If they were unwise, and if Ulysses did come home, +lonely and late he would arrive, on the ship of strangers, and +he would find proud men wasting his goods and seeking to +wed his wife, Penelope. Even if Ulysses alone could kill these +men his troubles would not be ended. He must wander over +the land, as he had wandered over the waters, carrying an +oar on his shoulder, till he came to men who had never +heard of the sea or of boats. When one of these men, +not knowing what an oar was, came and told him that he +carried a fan for winnowing corn, then Ulysses must fix +the oar in the ground, and offer a sacrifice to the Sea God, +and go home, where he would at last live in peace. Ulysses +said, 'So be it!' and asked how he could have speech with +the ghosts. Tiresias told him how this might be done, +and then his mother told him how she died of sorrow for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +him, and Ulysses tried to embrace and kiss her, but his arms +only clasped the empty air.</p> + +<p>Then came up the beautiful spirits of many dead, unhappy +ladies of old times, and then came the souls of Agamemnon, +and of Achilles, and of Aias. Achilles was glad when he +heard how bravely his young son had fought at Troy, but +he said it was better to be the servant of a poor farmer on +earth than to rule over all the ghosts of the dead in the still +grey land where the sun never shone, and no flowers grew +but the mournful asphodel. Many other spirits of Greeks +slain at Troy came and asked for news about their friends, +but Aias stood apart and silent, still in anger because +the arms of Achilles had been given to Ulysses. In vain +Ulysses told him that the Greeks had mourned as much +for him as for Achilles; he passed silently away into the +House of Hades. At last the legions of the innumerable +dead, all that have died since the world began, flocked, and +filled the air with their low wailing cries, and fear fell on +Ulysses, and he went back along that sad last shore of the +world's end to his ship, and sailed again out of the darkness +into the sunlight, and to the isle of Circe. There they +burned the body of Elpenor, and piled a mound over it, and +on the mound set the oar of the dead man, and so went to +the palace of Circe.</p> + +<p>Ulysses told Circe all his adventures, and then she +warned him of dangers yet to come, and showed him how +he might escape them. He listened, and remembered all +that she spoke, and these two said good-bye for ever. Circe +wandered away alone into the woods, and Ulysses and his +men set sail and crossed the unknown seas. Presently +the wind fell, and the sea was calm, and they saw a beautiful +island from which came the sound of sweet singing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +Ulysses knew who the singers were, for Circe had told him +that they were the Sirens, a kind of beautiful Mermaids, +deadly to men. Among the flowers they sit and sing, +but the flowers hide the bones of men who have listened +and landed on the island, and died of that strange music, +which carries the soul away.</p> + +<p>Ulysses now took a great cake of bees' wax and cut it +up into small pieces, which he bade his men soften and +place in their ears, that they might not hear that singing. +But, as he desired to hear it and yet live, he bade the sailors +bind him tightly to the mast with ropes, and they must +not unbind him, however much he might implore them to +set him free. When all this was done the men sat down +on the benches, all orderly, and smote the grey sea with +their oars, and the ship rushed along through the clear +still water, and came opposite the island.</p> + +<p>Then the sweet singing of the Sirens was borne over the +sea,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">'Hither, come hither, renowned Ulysses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Great glory of the Achaean name.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here stay thy ship, that thou mayest listen to our song.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never has any man driven his ship past our island<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till he has heard our voices, sweet as the honeycomb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gladly he has heard, and wiser has he gone on his way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hither, come hither, for we know all things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that the Greeks wrought and endured in Troyland,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.'<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Thus they sang, offering Ulysses all knowledge and +wisdom, which they knew that he loved more than anything +in the world. To other men, no doubt, they would +have offered other pleasures. Ulysses desired to listen, +and he nodded to his men to loosen his bonds. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +Perimedes and Eurylochus arose, and laid on him yet +stronger bonds, and the ship was driven past that island, +till the song of the Sirens faded away, and then the men set +Ulysses free and took the wax out of their ears.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIIa" id="IIIa"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center">THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE +OF THE SUN</p> + +<p>They had not sailed far when they heard the sea roaring, +and saw a great wave, over which hung a thick shining +cloud of spray. They had drifted to a place where the +sea narrowed between two high black rocks: under the +rock on the left was a boiling whirlpool in which no ship +could live; the opposite rock showed nothing dangerous, +but Ulysses had been warned by Circe that here too lay +great peril. We may ask, Why did Ulysses pass through the +narrows between these two rocks? why did he not steer on +the outer side of one or the other? The reason seems to have +been that, on the outer side of these cliffs, were the tall +reefs which men called the Rocks Wandering. Between +them the sea water leaped in high columns of white foam, +and the rocks themselves rushed together, grinding and +clashing, while fire flew out of the crevices and crests as +from a volcano.</p> + +<p>Circe had told Ulysses about the Rocks Wandering, +which do not even allow flocks of doves to pass through +them; even one of the doves is always caught and crushed, +and no ship of men escapes that tries to pass that way, +and the bodies of the sailors and the planks of the ships are +confusedly tossed by the waves of the sea and the storms of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +ruinous fire. Of all ships that ever sailed the sea only +'Argo,' the ship of Jason, has escaped the Rocks Wandering, +as you may read in the story of the Fleece of Gold. For +these reasons Ulysses was forced to steer between the +rock of the whirlpool and the rock which seemed harmless. +In the narrows between these two cliffs the sea ran like a +rushing river, and the men, in fear, ceased to hold the oars, +and down the stream the oars plashed in confusion. But +Ulysses, whom Circe had told of this new danger, bade them +grasp the oars again and row hard. He told the man at +the helm to steer under the great rocky cliff, on the right, +and to keep clear of the whirlpool and the cloud of spray +on the left. Well he knew the danger of the rock on the +left, for within it was a deep cave, where a monster named +Scylla lived, yelping with a shrill voice out of her six hideous +heads. Each head hung down from a long, thin, scaly neck, +and in each mouth were three rows of greedy teeth, and +twelve long feelers, with claws at the ends of them, dropped +down, ready to catch at men. There in her cave Scylla +sits, fishing with her feelers for dolphins and other great +fish, and for men, if any men sail by that way. Against +this deadly thing none may fight, for she cannot be slain +with the spear.[A]</p> + +<p>[A. There is a picture of this monster attacking a man in a boat. The picture +was painted centuries before the time of Ulysses.]</p> + +<p>All this Ulysses knew, for Circe had warned him. But +he also knew that on the other side of the strait, where the +sea spray for ever flew high above the rock, was a whirlpool, +called Charybdis, which would swallow up his ship if +it came within the current, while Scylla could only catch +some of his men. For this reason he bade the helmsman to +steer close to the rock of Scylla, and he did not tell the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +sailors that she lurked there with her body hidden in her +deep cave. He himself put on his armour, and took two +spears, and went and stood in the raised half deck at the +front of the ship, thinking that, at least, he would have +a stroke at Scylla. Then they rowed down the swift sea +stream, while the wave of the whirlpool now rose up, till +the spray hid the top of the rock, and now fell, and bubbled +with black sand. They were watching the whirlpool, when +out from the hole in the cliff sprang the six heads of Scylla, +and up into the air went six of Ulysses' men, each calling to +him, as they were swept within her hole in the rock, where +she devoured them. 'This was the most pitiful thing,' +Ulysses said, 'that my eyes have seen, of all my sorrows in +searching out the paths of the sea.'</p> + +<p>The ship swept through the roaring narrows between +the rock of Scylla and the whirlpool of Charybdis, into +the open sea, and the men, weary and heavy of heart, bent +over their oars, and longed for rest.</p> + +<p>Now a place of rest seemed near at hand, for in front of +the ship lay a beautiful island, and the men could hear the +bleating of sheep and the lowing of cows as they were +being herded into their stalls. But Ulysses remembered +that, in the Land of the Dead, the ghost of the blind prophet +had warned him of one thing. If his men killed and ate the +cattle of the Sun, in the sacred island of Thrinacia, they +would all perish. So Ulysses told his crew of this prophecy, +and bade them row past the island. Eurylochus was angry +and said that the men were tired, and could row no further, +but must land, and take supper, and sleep comfortably +on shore. On hearing Eurylochus, the whole crew shouted +and said that they would go no further that night, and +Ulysses had no power to compel them. He could only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +make them swear not to touch the cattle of the Sun God, +which they promised readily enough, and so went ashore, +took supper, and slept.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs08" id="gs08"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs08.png" width="350" height="442" alt="THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA." title="THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA." /> +<span class="caption">THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the night a great storm arose: the clouds and driving +mist blinded the face of the sea and sky, and for a whole +month the wild south wind hurled the waves on the coast, +and no ship of these times could venture out in the tempest. +Meanwhile the crew ate up all the stores in the ship, and +finished the wine, so that they were driven to catch sea +birds and fishes, of which they took but few, the sea being +so rough upon the rocks. Ulysses went up into the island +alone, to pray to the Gods, and when he had prayed he +found a sheltered place, and there he fell asleep.</p> + +<p>Eurylochus took the occasion, while Ulysses was away, +to bid the crew seize and slay the sacred cattle of the Sun +God, which no man might touch, and this they did, so that, +when Ulysses wakened, and came near the ship, he smelled +the roast meat, and knew what had been done. He rebuked +the men, but, as the cattle were dead, they kept eating +them for six days; and then the storm ceased, the wind +fell, the sun shone, and they set the sails, and away they +went. But this evil deed was punished, for when they +were out of sight of land, a great thunder cloud overshadowed +them, the wind broke the mast, which crushed +the head of the helmsman, the lightning struck the ship in +the centre; she reeled, the men fell overboard, and the heads +of the crew floated a moment, like cormorants, above the +waves.</p> + +<p>But Ulysses had kept hold of a rope, and, when the +vessel righted, he walked the deck till a wave stripped +off all the tackling, and loosened the sides from the keel. +Ulysses had only time to lash the broken mast with a rope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +to the keel, and sit on this raft with his feet in the water, +while the South Wind rose again furiously, and drove +the raft back till it came under the rock where was the +whirlpool of Charybdis. Here Ulysses would have been +drowned, but he caught at the root of a fig tree that grew +on the rock, and there he hung, clinging with his toes to the +crumbling stones till the whirlpool boiled up again, and +up came the timbers. Down on the timbers Ulysses dropped, +and so sat rowing with his hands, and the wind drifted +him at last to a shelving beach of an island.</p> + +<p>Here dwelt a kind of fairy, called Calypso, who found +Ulysses nearly dead on the beach, and was kind to him, and +kept him in her cave, where he lived for seven long years, +always desiring to leave the beautiful fairy and return to +Ithaca and his wife Penelope. But no ship of men ever came +near that isle, which is the central place of all the seas, and +he had no ship, and no men to sail and row. Calypso was +very kind, and very beautiful, being the daughter of the +wizard Atlas, who holds the two pillars that keep earth and +sea asunder. But Ulysses was longing to see if it were but +the smoke going up from the houses of rocky Ithaca, and +he had a desire to die.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IVa" id="IVa"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER</p> + +<p>When Ulysses had lived nearly seven years in the island +of Calypso, his son Telemachus, whom he had left in Ithaca +as a little child, went forth to seek for his father. In Ithaca +he and his mother, Penelope, had long been very unhappy. +As Ulysses did not come home after the war, and as nothing +was heard about him from the day when the Greeks sailed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +from Troy, it was supposed that he must be dead. But +Telemachus was still but a boy of twelve years old, and the +father of Ulysses, Laertes, was very old, and had gone to a +farm in the country, where he did nothing but take care +of his garden. There was thus no King in Ithaca, and the +boys, who had been about ten years old when Ulysses went +to Troy, were now grown up, and, as their fathers had +gone to the war, they did just as they pleased. Twelve of +them wanted to marry Penelope, and they, with about a +hundred others as wild as themselves, from the neighbouring +islands, by way of paying court to Penelope ate and +drank all day at her house. They killed the cattle, sheep, +and swine; they drank the wine, and amused themselves +with Penelope's maidens, of whom she had many. Nobody +could stop them; they would never go away, they said, till +Penelope chose one of them to be her husband, and King of +the island, though Telemachus was the rightful prince.</p> + +<p>Penelope at last promised that she would choose one +of them when she had finished a great shroud of linen, +to be the death shroud of old Laertes when he died. All +day she wove it, but at night, when her wooers had gone +(for they did not sleep in her house), she unwove it again. +But one of her maidens told this to the wooers, so she had +to finish the shroud, and now they pressed her more than +ever to make her choice. But she kept hoping that Ulysses +was still alive, and would return, though, if he did, how was +he to turn so many strong young men out of his house?</p> + +<p>The Goddess of Wisdom, Athênê, had always favoured +Ulysses, and now she spoke up among the Gods, where they +sat, as men say, in their holy heaven. Not by winds is it +shaken, nor wet with rain, nor does the snow come thither, +but clear air is spread about it cloudless, and the white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +light floats over it. Athênê told how good, wise, and +brave Ulysses was, and how he was kept in the isle of Calypso, +while men ruined his wealth and wooed his wife. She said +that she would herself go to Ithaca, and make Telemachus +appeal to all the people of the country, showing how evilly +he was treated, and then sail abroad to seek news of his +father. So Athênê spoke, and flashed down from Olympus +to Ithaca, where she took the shape of a mortal man, +Mentes, a chief of the Taphians. In front of the doors +she found the proud wooers playing at draughts and other +games while supper was being made ready. When Telemachus, +who was standing apart, saw the stranger, he went +to him, and led him into the house, and treated him kindly, +while the wooers ate and drank, and laughed noisily.</p> + +<p>Then Telemachus told Athênê (or, as he supposed, the +stranger), how evilly he was used, while his father's white +bones might be wasting on an unknown shore or rolling +in the billows of the salt sea. Athênê said, or Mentes said, +that he himself was an old friend of Ulysses, and had touched +at Ithaca on his way to Cyprus to buy copper. 'But Ulysses,' +he said, 'is not dead; he will certainly come home, +and that speedily. You are so like him, you must be his +son.' Telemachus replied that he was, and Mentes was full +of anger, seeing how the wooers insulted him, and told him +first to complain to an assembly of all the people, and then +to take a ship, and go seeking news of Ulysses.</p> + +<p>Then Athênê departed, and next day Telemachus called +an assembly, and spoke to the people, but though they were +sorry for him they could not help him. One old man, +however, a prophet, said that Ulysses would certainly come +home, but the wooers only threatened and insulted him. +In the evening Athênê came again, in the appearance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +Mentor, not the same man as Mentes, but an Ithacan, and +a friend of Ulysses. She encouraged Telemachus to take +a ship, with twenty oarsmen, and he told the wooers that he +was going to see Menelaus and Nestor, and ask tidings of his +father. They only mocked him, but he made all things ready +for his voyage without telling his mother. It was old Eurycleia, +who had been his nurse and his father's nurse, that +brought him wine and food for his journey; and at night, +when the sea wind wakens in summer, he and Mentor went +on board, and all night they sailed, and at noon next day +they reached Pylos on the sea sands, the city of Nestor the +Old.</p> + +<p>Nestor received them gladly, and so did his sons, Pisistratus +and Thrasymedes, who fought at Troy, and next day, +when Mentor had gone, Pisistratus and Telemachus drove +together, up hill and down dale, a two days' journey, to +Lacedaemon, lying beneath Mount Taygetus on the bank +of the clear river Eurotas.</p> + +<p>Not one of the Greeks had seen Ulysses since the day +when they all sailed from Troy, yet Menelaus, in a strange +way, was able to tell Telemachus that his father still lived, +and was with Calypso on a lonely island, the centre of +all the seas. We shall see how Menelaus knew this. When +Telemachus and Pisistratus came, he was giving a feast, +and called them to his table. It would not have been +courteous to ask them who they were till they had been +bathed and clothed in fresh raiment, and had eaten and drunk. +After dinner, Menelaus saw how much Telemachus admired +his house, and the flashing of light from the walls, which +were covered with bronze panels, and from the cups of gold, +and the amber and ivory and silver. Such things Telemachus +had never seen in Ithaca. Noticing his surprise, Menelaus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +said that he had brought many rich things from Troy, +after eight years wandering to Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and +Egypt, and even to Libya, on the north coast of Africa. +Yet he said that, though he was rich and fortunate, he was +unhappy when he remembered the brave men who had +died for his sake at Troy. But above all he was miserable for +the loss of the best of them all, Ulysses, who was so long +unheard of, and none knew whether, at that hour, he was +alive or dead. At these words Telemachus hid his face in his +purple mantle and shed tears, so that Menelaus guessed +who he was, but he said nothing.</p> + +<p>Then came into the hall, from her own fragrant chamber, +Helen of the fair hands, as beautiful as ever she had been, +her bower maidens carrying her golden distaff, with which +she span, and a silver basket to hold her wool, for the white +hands of Helen were never idle.</p> + +<p>Helen knew Telemachus by his likeness to his father, +Ulysses, and when she said this to Menelaus, Pisistratus +overheard her, and told how Telemachus had come to them +seeking for news of his father. Menelaus was much moved +in his heart, and Helen no less, when they saw the son of +Ulysses, who had been the most trusty of all their friends. +They could not help shedding tears, for Pisistratus remembered +his dear brother Antilochus, whom Memnon +slew in battle at Troy, Memnon the son of the bright Dawn. +But Helen wished to comfort them, and she brought a drug +of magical virtue, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, King +of Egypt had given to her. This drug lulls all pain and +anger, and brings forgetfulness of every sorrow, and Helen +poured it from a golden vial into the mixing bowl of gold, +and they drank the wine and were comforted.</p> + +<p>Then Helen told Telemachus what great deeds Ulysses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +did at Troy, and how he crept into the town disguised as a +beggar, and came to her house, when he stole the Luck of +Troy. Menelaus told how Ulysses kept him and the other +princes quiet in the horse of tree, when Deiphobus made +Helen call to them all in the very voices of their own wives, +and to Telemachus it was great joy to hear of his father's +courage and wisdom.</p> + +<p>Next day Telemachus showed to Menelaus how hardly +he and his mother were treated by the proud wooers, and +Menelaus prayed that Ulysses might come back to Ithaca, +and slay the wooers every one. 'But as to what you +ask me,' he said, 'I will tell you all that I have heard about +your father. In my wanderings after I sailed from Troy +the storm winds kept me for three weeks in the island +called Pharos, a day's voyage from the mouth of the river +"Ægyptus"' (which is the old name of the Nile). 'We were +almost starving, for our food was done, and my crew went +round the shores, fishing with hook and line. Now in that +isle lives a goddess, the daughter of Proteus, the Old Man of +the Sea. She advised me that if I could but catch her +father when he came out of the sea to sleep on the shore +he would tell me everything that I needed to know. At +noonday he was used to come out, with all his flock of +seals round him, and to sleep among them on the sands. +If I could seize him, she said, he would turn into all manner +of shapes in my hands: beasts, and serpents, and burning +fire; but at last he would appear in his own shape, and +answer all my questions.</p> + +<p>'So the goddess spoke, and she dug hiding places in the +sands for me and three of my men, and covered us with the +skins of seals. At noonday the Old Man came out with +his seals, and counted them, beginning with us, and then he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +lay down and fell asleep. Then we leaped up and rushed +at him and gripped him fast. He turned into the shapes +of a lion, and of a leopard, of a snake, and a huge boar; then +he was running water, and next he was a tall, blossoming +tree. But we held him firmly, and at last he took his +own shape, and told me that I should never have a fair wind +till I had sailed back into the river Ægyptus and sacrificed +there to the gods in heaven. Then I asked him for news +about my brother, Agamemnon, and he told me how my +brother was slain in his own hall, and how Aias was drowned +in the sea. Lastly, he told me about Ulysses: how he +was kept on a lonely island by the fairy Calypso, and was +unhappy, and had no ship and no crew to escape and win +home.'</p> + +<p>This was all that Menelaus could tell Telemachus, who +stayed with Menelaus for a month. All that time the +wooers lay in wait for him, with a ship, in a narrow strait +which they thought he must sail through on his way back +to Ithaca. In that strait they meant to catch him and +kill him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Va" id="Va"></a>V</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO</p> + +<p>Now the day after Menelaus told Telemachus that +Ulysses was still a living man, the Gods sent Hermes to +Calypso. So Hermes bound on his feet his fair golden +sandals, that wax not old, and bear him, alike over wet sea +and dry land, as swift as the wind. Along the crests of +the waves he flew, like the cormorant that chases fishes +through the sea deeps, with his plumage wet in the sea +brine. He reached the island, and went up to the cave of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +Calypso, wherein dwelt the nymph of the braided tresses, and +he found her within. And on the hearth there was a great +fire burning, and from afar, through the isle, was smelt the +fragrance of cleft cedar blazing, and of sandal wood. And +the nymph within was singing with a sweet voice as she +fared to and fro before the loom, and wove with a shuttle +of gold. All round about the cave there was a wood +blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet smelling cypress. +Therein roosted birds long of wing—owls and falcons and +chattering sea-crows, which have their business in the +waters. And lo! there, about the hollow cave, trailed a +gadding garden vine, all rich with clusters. And fountains, +four set orderly, were running with clear water hard by +one another, turned each to his own course. Around +soft meadows bloomed of violets and parsley; yea, even +a deathless God who came thither might wonder at the +sight and be glad at heart.</p> + +<p>There the messenger, the slayer of Argos, stood and +wondered. Now when he had gazed at all with wonder, +he went into the wide cave; nor did Calypso, that fair +Goddess, fail to know him when she saw him face to face; +for the Gods use not to be strange one to another, not +though one have his habitation far away. But he found +not Ulysses, the great-hearted, within the cave, who sat +weeping on the shore even as aforetime, straining his soul +with tears and groans and griefs, and as he wept he looked +wistfully over the unharvested deep. And Calypso, that +fair Goddess, questioned Hermes, when she had made him sit +on a bright shining star:</p> + +<p>'Wherefore, I pray thee, Hermes of the golden wand, +hast thou come hither, worshipful and welcome, whereas +as of old thou wert not wont to visit me? Tell me all thy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +thought; my heart is set on fulfilling it, if fulfil it I may, +and if it hath been fulfilled in the counsel of fate. But now +follow me further, that I may set before thee the entertainment +of strangers.'</p> + +<p>Therewith the goddess spread a table with ambrosia +and set it by him, and mixed the ruddy nectar. So the +messenger, the slayer of Argos, did eat and drink. Now +after he had supped and comforted his soul with food, +at the last he answered, and spake to her on this wise:</p> + +<p>'Thou makest question of me on my coming, a Goddess +of a God, and I will tell thee this my saying truly, at thy +command. 'Twas Zeus that bade me come hither, by no +will of mine; nay, who of his free will would speed over +such a wondrous space of sea whereby is no city of mortals +that do sacrifice to the gods. He saith that thou hast with +thee a man most wretched beyond his fellows, beyond +those men that round the city of Priam for nine years +fought, and in the tenth year sacked the city and departed +homeward. Yet on the way they sinned against Athênê, +and she raised upon them an evil blast and long waves of +the sea. Then all the rest of his good company was lost, +but it came to pass that the wind bare and the wave brought +him hither. And now Zeus biddeth thee send him hence +with what speed thou mayest, for it is not ordained that he +die away from his friends, but rather it is his fate to look +on them even yet, and to come to his high-roofed home and +his own country.'</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs09" id="gs09"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs09.png" width="350" height="479" alt="CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES." title="CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES." /> +<span class="caption">CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>So spake he, and Calypso, that fair Goddess, shuddered +and spake unto him: 'Hard are ye Gods and jealous exceeding, +who ever grudge Goddesses openly to mate with +men. Him I saved as he went all alone bestriding the keel +of a bark, for that Zeus had crushed and cleft his swift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +ship with a white bolt in the midst of the wine-dark deep. +There all the rest of his good company was lost, but it came +to pass that the wind bare and the wave brought him +hither. And him have I loved and cherished, and I said +that I would make him to know not death and age for ever. +But I will give him no despatch, not I, for I have no ships +by me with oars, nor company to bear him on his way over +the broad back of the sea. Yet will I be forward to put +this in his mind, and will hide nought, that all unharmed +he may come to his own country.'</p> + +<p>Then the messenger, the slayer of Argos, answered her: +'Yea, speed him now upon his path and have regard unto +the wrath of Zeus, lest haply he be angered and bear hard +on thee hereafter.'</p> + +<p>Therewith the great slayer of Argos departed, but the +lady nymph went on her way to the great-hearted Ulysses, +when she had heard the message of Zeus. And there she +found him sitting on the shore, and his eyes were never +dry of tears, and his sweet life was ebbing away as he +mourned for his return. In the daytime he would sit on +the rocks and on the beach, straining his soul with tears, +and groans, and griefs, and through his tears he would look +wistfully over the unharvested deep. So, standing near +him, that fair goddess spake to him:</p> + +<p>'Hapless man, sorrow no more I pray thee in this isle, +nor let thy good life waste away, for even now will I send +thee hence with all my heart. Nay, arise and cut long +beams, and fashion a wide raft with the axe, and lay deckings +high thereupon, that it may bear thee over the misty +deep. And I will place therein bread and water, and red +wine to thy heart's desire, to keep hunger far away. And +I will put raiment upon thee, and send a fair gale, that so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +thou mayest come all unharmed to thine own country, if +indeed it be the good pleasure of the gods who hold wide +heaven, who are stronger than I am both to will and +to do.'</p> + +<p>Then Ulysses was glad and sad: glad that the Gods took +thought for him, and sad to think of crossing alone the wide +unsailed seas. Calypso said to him:</p> + +<p>'So it is indeed thy wish to get thee home to thine own +dear country even in this hour? Good fortune go with +thee even so! Yet didst thou know in thine heart what +thou art ordained to suffer, or ever thou reach thine own +country, here, even here, thou wouldst abide with me and +keep this house, and wouldst never taste of death, though +thou longest to see thy wife, for whom thou hast ever a +desire day by day. Not, in sooth, that I avow me to be less +noble than she in form or fashion, for it is in no wise meet +that mortal women should match them with immortals in +shape and comeliness.'</p> + +<p>And Ulysses of many counsels answered, and spake +unto her: 'Be not wroth with me, goddess and queen. +Myself I know it well, how wise Penelope is meaner +to look upon than thou in comeliness and stature. But +she is mortal, and thou knowest not age nor death. Yet, +even so, I wish and long day by day to fare homeward +and see the day of my returning. Yea, and if some god +shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will endure, +with a heart within me patient of affliction. For already +have I suffered full much, and much have I toiled in perils +of waves and war; let this be added to the tale of those.'</p> + +<p>Next day Calypso brought to Ulysses carpenters' tools, +and he felled trees, and made a great raft, and a mast, +and sails out of canvas. In five days he had finished his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +raft and launched it, and Calypso placed in it skins full +of wine and water, and flour and many pleasant things to +eat, and so they kissed for that last time and took farewell, +he going alone on the wide sea, and she turning lonely to +her own home. He might have lived for ever with the +beautiful fairy, but he chose to live and die, if he could, +with his wife Penelope.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIa" id="VIa"></a>VI</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED PHAEACIA</p> + +<p>As long as the fair wind blew Ulysses sat and steered his +raft, never seeing land or any ship of men. He kept his +eye at night on the Great Bear, holding it always on his +left hand, as Calypso taught him. Seventeen days he +sailed, and on the eighteenth day he saw the shadowy +mountain peaks of an island called Phaeacia. But now +the Sea god saw him, and remembered how Ulysses had +blinded his son the Cyclops. In anger he raised a terrible +storm: great clouds covered the sky, and all the winds met. +Ulysses wished that he had died when the Trojans gathered +round him as he defended the dead body of Achilles. For, +had he died then, he would have been burned and buried +by his friends, but if he were now drowned his ghost would +always wander alone on the fringes of the Land of the Dead, +like the ghost of Elpenor.</p> + +<p>As he thought thus, the winds broke the mast of his +raft, and the sail and yardarm fell into the sea, and the +waves dragged him deep down. At last he rose to the +surface and swam after his raft, and climbed on to it, +and sat there, while the winds tossed the raft about like a +feather. The Sea goddess, Ino, saw him and pitied him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +and rose from the water as a seagull rises after it has dived. +She spoke to him, and threw her bright veil to him, saying, +'Wind this round your breast, and throw off your clothes. +Leap from the raft and swim, and, when you reach land, +cast the veil back into the sea, and turn away your head.'</p> + +<p>Ulysses caught the veil, and wound it about his breast, +but he determined not to leave the raft while the timbers +held together. Even as he thought thus, the timbers were +driven asunder by the waves, and he seized a plank, +and sat astride it as a man rides a horse. Then the winds +fell, all but the north wind, which drifted Ulysses on for +two days and nights. On the third day all was calm, +and the land was very near, and Ulysses began to swim +towards it, through a terrible surf, which crashed and +foamed on sheer rocks, where all his bones would be broken. +Thrice he clasped a rock, and thrice the back wash of the +wave dragged him out to sea. Then he swam outside of the +breakers, along the line of land, looking for a safe place, +and at last he came to the mouth of the river. Here all +was smooth, with a shelving beach, and his feet touched +bottom. He staggered out of the water and swooned +away as soon as he was on dry land. When he came to +himself he unbound the veil of Ino, and cast it into the sea, +and fell back, quite spent, among the reeds of the river, +naked and starving. He crept between two thick olive +trees that grew close together and made a shelter against +the wind, and he covered himself all over thickly with fallen +dry leaves, till he grew warm again and fell into a deep +sleep.</p> + +<p>While Ulysses slept, alone and naked in an unknown +land, a dream came to beautiful Nausicaa, the daughter +of the King of that country, which is called Phaeacia. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +dream was in the shape of a girl who was a friend of Nausicaa, +and it said: 'Nausicaa, how has your mother such a careless +daughter? There are many beautiful garments in the house +that need to be washed, against your wedding day, when, +as is the custom, you must give mantles and tunics to the +guests. Let us go a washing to the river to-morrow, taking +a car to carry the raiment.'</p> + +<p>When Nausicaa wakened next day she remembered the +dream, and went to her father, and asked him to lend her +a car to carry the clothes. She said nothing about her +marriage day, for though many young princes were in love +with her, she was in love with none of them. Still, the +clothes must be washed, and her father lent her a waggon +with a high frame, and mules to drive. The clothes were +piled in the car, and food was packed in a basket, every +sort of dainty thing, and Nausicaa took the reins and drove +slowly while many girls followed her, her friends of her own +age. They came to a deep clear pool, that overflowed into +shallow paved runs of water, and there they washed the +clothes, and trod them down in the runlets. Next they +laid them out to dry in the sun and wind on the pebbles, +and then they took their meal of cakes and other good +things.</p> + +<p>When they had eaten they threw down their veils +and began to play at ball, at a game like rounders. Nausicaa +threw the ball at a girl who was running, but missed her, +and the ball fell into the deep swift river. All the girls +screamed and laughed, and the noise they made wakened +Ulysses where he lay in the little wood. 'Where am I?' +he said to himself; 'is this a country of fierce and savage +men? A sound of girls at play rings round me. Can they +be fairies of the hill tops and the rivers, and the water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +meadows?' As he had no clothes, and the voices seemed +to be voices of women, Ulysses broke a great leafy bough +which hid all his body, but his feet were bare, his face was +wild with weariness, and cold, and hunger, and his hair +and beard were matted and rough with the salt water.</p> + +<p>The girls, when they saw such a face peering over the +leaves of the bough, screamed, and ran this way and that +along the beach. But Nausicaa, as became the daughter of +the King, stood erect and unafraid, and as Ulysses dared not +go near and kneel to her, he spoke from a distance and said:</p> + +<p>'I pray thee, O queen, whether thou art a goddess or a +mortal! If indeed thou art a goddess of them that keep +the wide heaven, to Artemis, then, the daughter of great +Zeus, I mainly liken thee for beauty and stature and +shapeliness. But if thou art one of the daughters of men +who dwell on earth, thrice blessed are thy father and thy +lady mother, and thrice blessed thy brethren. Surely +their souls ever glow with gladness for thy sake each time +they see thee entering the dance, so fair a flower of maidens. +But he is of heart the most blessed beyond all other who +shall prevail with gifts of wooing, and lead thee to his home. +Never have mine eyes beheld such an one among mortals, +neither man nor woman; great awe comes upon me as I +look on thee. Yet in Delos once I saw as goodly a thing: +a young sapling of a palm tree springing by the altar of +Apollo. For thither, too, I went, and much people with me, +on that path where my sore troubles were to be. Yea! +and when I looked thereupon, long time I marvelled in +spirit—for never grew there yet so goodly a shoot from +ground—even in such wise as I wonder at thee, lady, and am +astonished and do greatly fear to touch thy knees, though +grievous sorrow is upon me.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs10" id="gs10"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs10.png" width="350" height="450" alt="HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA." title="HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA." /> +<span class="caption">HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA.</span> +</div></div><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Yesterday, on the twentieth day, I escaped from the +wine-dark deep, but all that time continually the wave +bare me, and the vehement winds drave from the isle +Ogygia. And now some god has cast me on this shore +that here too, methinks, some evil may betide me; for +I think not that trouble will cease; the gods ere that +time will yet bring many a thing to pass. But, queen, +have pity on me, for, after many trials and sore, to thee +first of all am I come, and of the other folk, who hold this +city and land, I know no man. Nay, show me the town; +give me an old garment to cast about me, if thou hadst, +when thou camest here, any wrap for the linen. And may the +gods grant thee all thy heart's desire: a husband and a +home, and a mind at one with his may they give—a good +gift, for there is nothing mightier and nobler than when +man and wife are of one heart and mind in a house, a grief +to their foes, and to their friends great joy, but their own +hearts know it best.'</p> + +<p>Then Nausicaa of the white arms, answered him, and +said:</p> + +<p>'Stranger, as thou seemest no evil man nor foolish—and +it is Olympian Zeus himself that giveth weal to +men, to the good and to the evil, to each one as he will, +and this thy lot doubtless is of him, and so thou must +in anywise endure it—now, since thou hast come to +our city and our land, thou shalt not lack raiment nor +aught else that is the due of a hapless suppliant when he +has met them who can befriend him. And I will show thee +the town, and name the name of the people. The Phaeacians +hold this city and land, and I am the daughter of +Alcinous, great of heart, on whom all the might and force +of the Phaeacians depend.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus she spake, and called to her maidens of the fair +tresses: 'Halt, my maidens, whither flee ye at the sight of +a man? Ye surely do not take him for an enemy? That +mortal breathes not, and never will be born, who shall come +with war to the land of the Phaeacians, for they are very +dear to the gods. Far apart we live in the wash of the +waves, the outermost of men, and no other mortals are +conversant with us. Nay, but this man is some helpless +one come hither in his wanderings, whom now we must +kindly entreat, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus, +and a little gift is dear. So, my maidens, give the stranger +meat and drink, and bathe him in the river, where there +is a shelter from the winds.'</p> + +<p>So she spake, but they halted and called each to the +other, and they brought Ulysses to the sheltered place, and +made him sit down, as Nausiaca bade them, the daughter of +Alcinous, high of heart. Beside him they laid a mantle and +a doublet for raiment, and gave him soft olive oil in the +golden cruse, and bade him wash in the streams of the +river. Then goodly Ulysses spake among the maidens, +saying: 'I pray you stand thus apart while I myself wash +the brine from my shoulders, and anoint me with olive oil, +for truly oil is long a stranger to my skin. But in your sight +I will not bathe, for I am ashamed to make me naked in +the company of fair-tressed maidens.'</p> + +<p>Then they went apart and told all to their lady. But +with the river water the goodly Ulysses washed from his +skin the salt scurf that covered his back and broad shoulders, +and from his head he wiped the crusted brine of the barren +sea. But when he had washed his whole body, and +anointed him with olive oil, and had clad himself in the +raiment that the unwedded maiden gave him, then Athênê,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +the daughter of Zeus, made him greater and more mighty +to behold, and from his head caused deep curling locks to +flow, like the hyacinth flower. And, as when some skilful +man overlays gold upon silver—one that Hephaestus and +Pallas Athênê have taught all manner of craft, and full of +grace is his handiwork—even so did Athênê shed grace about +his head and shoulders.</p> + +<p>Then to the shore of the sea went Ulysses apart, and +sat down, glowing in beauty and grace, and the princess +marvelled at him, and spake among her fair-tressed maidens, +saying:</p> + +<p>'Listen, my white-armed maidens, and I will say somewhat. +Not without the will of all the gods who hold +Olympus has this man come among the godlike Phaeacians. +Erewhile he seemed to me uncomely, but now he is like +the gods that keep the wide heaven. Would that such an +one might be called my husband, dwelling here, and that it +might please him here to abide! But come, my maidens, +give the stranger meat and drink.'</p> + +<p>Thus she spake, and they gave ready ear and hearkened, +and set beside Ulysses meat and drink, and the steadfast +goodly Ulysses did eat and drink eagerly, for it was long +since he had tasted food.</p> + +<p>Now Nausicaa of the white arms had another thought. +She folded the raiment and stored it in the goodly wain, +and yoked the mules, strong of hoof, and herself climbed into +the car. Then she called on Ulysses, and spake and hailed +him: 'Up now, stranger, and rouse thee to go to the city, +that I may convey thee to the house of my wise father, +where, I promise thee, thou shalt get knowledge of all the +noblest of the Phaeacians. But do thou even as I tell +thee, and thou seemest a discreet man enough. So long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +as we are passing along the fields and farms of men, do thou +fare quickly with the maidens behind the mules and the +chariot, and I will lead the way. But when we set foot +within the city, whereby goes a high wall with towers, +and there is a fair haven on either side of the town, and +narrow is the entrance, and curved ships are drawn up on +either hand of the mole, thou shalt find a fair grove of +Athênê, a poplar grove, near the road, and a spring wells +forth therein, and a meadow lies all around.</p> + +<p>There is my father's land, and his fruitful close, within +the sound of a man's shout from the city. Sit thee +down there and wait until such time as we may have +come into the city, and reached the house of my father. +But when thou deemest that we are got to the palace, +then go up to the city of the Phaeacians, and ask for +the house of my father, Alcinous, high of heart. It is +easily known, and a young child could be thy guide, for +nowise like it are builded the houses of the Phaeacians, so +goodly is the palace of the hero Alcinous. But when +thou art within the shadow of the halls and the court, +pass quickly through the great chamber till thou comest +to my mother, who sits at the hearth in the light of the +fire, weaving yarn of sea-purple stain, a wonder to behold. +Her chair is leaned against a pillar, and her maidens sit +behind her. And there my father's throne leans close to +hers, wherein he sits and drinks his wine, like an immortal. +Pass thou by him, and cast thy hands about my mother's +knees that thou mayest see quickly and with joy the day of +thy returning, even if thou art from a very far country. +If but her heart be kindly disposed towards thee, then is +there hope that thou shalt see thy friends, and come to thy +well-builded house, and to thine own country.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>She spake and smote the mules with the shining whip, +and quickly they left behind them the streams of the river; +and well they trotted and well they paced, and she took +heed to drive in such wise that the maidens and Ulysses +might follow on foot, and cunningly she plied the lash. +Then the sun set, and they came to the famous grove, the +sacred place of Athênê; so there the goodly Ulysses sat him +down. Then straightway he prayed to the daughter of +mighty Zeus: 'Listen to me, child of Zeus, lord of the +aegis, unwearied maiden; hear me even now, since before +thou heardest not when I was smitten on the sea, when the +renowned earth-shaker smote me. Grant me to come to +the Phaeacians as one dear and worthy of pity.'</p> + +<p>So he spake in prayer, and Pallas Athênê heard him; +but she did not yet appear to him face to face, for she had +regard unto her father's brother, who furiously raged +against the god-like Ulysses till he should come to his own +country.</p> + +<p>While Nausicaa and her maidens went home, Ulysses +waited near the temple till they should have arrived, and +then he rose and walked to the city, wondering at the harbour, +full of ships, and at the strength of the walls. The +Goddess Athênê met him, disguised as a mortal girl, and +told him again how the name of the king was Alcinous, and +his wife's name was Arete: she was wise and kind, and had +great power in the city. The Goddess caused Ulysses to +pass unseen among the people till he reached the palace, +which shone with bronze facings to the walls, while within +the hall were golden hounds and golden statues of young +men holding torches burning to give light to those who +sat at supper. The gardens were very beautiful, full of +fruit trees, and watered by streams that flowed from two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +fountains. Ulysses stood and wondered at the beauty of +the gardens, and then walked, unseen, through the hall, +and knelt at the feet of Queen Arete, and implored her to +send him in a ship to his own country.</p> + +<p>A table was brought to him, and food and wine were +set before him, and Alcinous, as his guests were going +home, spoke out and said that the stranger was to be +entertained, whoever he might be, and sent safely on his +way. The guests departed, and Arete, looking at Ulysses, +saw that the clothes he wore were possessions of her house, +and asked him who he was, and how he got the raiment? +Then he told her how he had been shipwrecked, and how +Nausicaa had given him food, and garments out of those +which she had been washing. Then Arete said that Nausicaa +should have brought Ulysses straight to her house; +but Ulysses answered: 'Chide not, I pray you, the blameless +damsel,' and explained that he himself was shy, and +afraid that Nausicaa's parents might not like to see her +coming with an unknown stranger. King Alcinous answered +that he was not jealous and suspicious. To a stranger so +noble as Ulysses he would very gladly see his daughter +married, and would give him a house and plenty of everything. +But if the stranger desired to go to his own country, +then a ship should be made ready for him. Thus courteous +was Alcinous, for he readily saw that Ulysses, who had not +yet told his name, was of noble birth, strong and wise. +Then all went to bed, and Ulysses had a soft bed and a +warm, with blankets of purple.</p> + +<p>Next day Alcinous sent two-and-fifty young men to +prepare a ship, and they moored her in readiness out in the +shore water; but the chiefs dined with Alcinous, and the +minstrel sang about the Trojan war, and so stirred the heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +of Ulysses, that he held his mantle before his face and wept. +When Alcinous saw that, he proposed that they should go +and amuse themselves with sports in the open air; races, +wrestling, and boxing. The son of Alcinous asked Ulysses +if he would care to take part in the games, but Ulysses +answered that he was too heavy at heart. To this a young +man, Euryalus, said that Ulysses was probably a captain +of a merchant ship, a tradesman, not a sportsman.</p> + +<p>At this Ulysses was ill pleased, and replied that while he +was young and happy, he was well skilled in all sports, +but now he was heavy and weak with war and wandering. +Still, he would show what he could do. Then he seized a +heavy weight, much heavier than any that the Phaeacians +used in putting the stone. He whirled it up, and hurled it +far—far beyond the furthest mark that the Phaeacians had +reached when putting a lighter weight. Then he challenged +any man to run a race with him or box with him, or shoot +at a mark with him. Only his speed in running did he +doubt, for his limbs were stiffened by the sea. Perhaps +Alcinous saw that it would go ill with any man who matched +himself against the stranger, so he sent for the harper, who +sang a merry song, and then he made the young men dance +and play ball, and bade the elder men go and bring rich +presents of gold and garments for the wanderer. Alcinous +himself gave a beautiful coffer and chest, and a great +golden cup, and Arete tied up all the gifts in the coffer, +while the damsels took Ulysses to the bath, and bathed him +and anointed him with oil.</p> + +<p>As he left the bath he met Nausicaa, standing at the +entrance of the hall. She bade him good-bye, rather sadly, +saying: 'Farewell, and do not soon forget me in your own +country, for to me you owe the ransom of your life.' 'May<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +God grant to me to see my own country, lady,' he answered, +'for there I will think of you with worship, as I think of the +blessed Gods, all my days, for to you, lady, I owe my very +life.' These were the last words they spoke to each other, +for Nausicaa did not sit at meat in the hall with the great +company of men. When they had taken supper, the blind +harper sang again a song about the deeds of Ulysses at +Troy, and again Ulysses wept, so that Alcinous asked him: +'Hast thou lost a dear friend or a kinsman in the great +war?' Then Ulysses spoke out: 'I am Ulysses, Laertes' +son, of whom all men have heard tell.' While they sat +amazed, he began, and told them the whole story of his +adventures, from the day when he left Troy till he arrived +at Calypso's island; he had already told them how he was +shipwrecked on his way thence to Phaeacia.</p> + +<p>All that wonderful story he told to their pleasure, and +Euryalus made amends for his rude words at the games, and +gave Ulysses a beautiful sword of bronze, with an ivory +hilt set with studs of gold. Many other gifts were given to +him, and were carried and stored on board the ship which +had been made ready, and then Ulysses spoke good-bye to +the Queen, saying: 'Be happy, oh Queen, till old age and +death come to you, as they come to all. Be joyful in your +house with your children and your people, and Alcinous the +King.' Then he departed, and lay down on sheets and +cloaks in the raised deck of the ship, and soundly he slept +while the fifty oars divided the waters of the sea, and drove +the ship to Ithaca.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIIa" id="VIIa"></a>VII</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND FOR SAFETY +DISGUISED HIMSELF AS AN OLD BEGGAR MAN</p> + +<p>When Ulysses awoke, he found himself alone, wrapped +in the linen sheet and the bright coverlet, and he knew not +where he was. The Phaeacians had carried him from the +ship as he slept, and put him on shore, and placed all the +rich gifts that had been given him under a tree, and then +had sailed away. There was a morning mist that hid the +land, and Ulysses did not know the haven of his own island, +Ithaca, and the rock whence sprang a fountain of the +water fairies that men call Naiads. He thought that the +Phaeacians had set him in a strange country, so he counted +all his goods, and then walked up and down sadly by the +seashore. Here he met a young man, delicately clad, like a +king's son, with a double mantle, such as kings wear, folded +round his shoulders, and a spear in his hand. 'Tell me +pray,' said Ulysses, 'what land is this, and what men +dwell here?'</p> + +<p>The young man said: 'Truly, stranger, you know +little, or you come from far away. This isle is Ithaca, and +the name of it is known even in Troyland.'</p> + +<p>Ulysses was glad, indeed, to learn that he was at home at +last; but how the young men who had grown up since he +went away would treat him, all alone as he was, he could +not tell. So he did not let out that he was Ulysses the +King, but said that he was a Cretan. The stranger would +wonder why a Cretan had come alone to Ithaca, with great +riches, and yet did not know that he was there. So he pretended +that, in Crete, a son of Idomeneus had tried to rob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +him of all the spoil he took at Troy, and that he had killed +this prince, and packed his wealth and fled on board a +ship of the Phoenicians, who promised to land him at +Pylos. But the wind had borne them out of their way, +and they had all landed and slept on shore, here; but the +Phoenicians had left him asleep and gone off in the dawn.</p> + +<p>On this the young man laughed, and suddenly appeared +as the great Goddess, Pallas Athênê. 'How clever you are,' +she said; 'yet you did not know me, who helped you in +Troyland. But much trouble lies before you, and you +must not let man or woman know who you really are, your +enemies are so many and powerful.'</p> + +<p>'You never helped me in my dangers on the sea,' said +Ulysses, 'and now do you make mock of me, or is this +really mine own country?'</p> + +<p>'I had no mind,' said the Goddess, 'to quarrel with my +brother the Sea God, who had a feud against you for the +blinding of his son, the Cyclops. But come, you shall see +this is really Ithaca,' and she scattered the white mist, +and Ulysses saw and knew the pleasant cave of the Naiads, +and the forests on the side of the mountain called Neriton. +So he knelt down and kissed the dear earth of his own +country, and prayed to the Naiads of the cave. Then the +Goddess helped him to hide all his gold, and bronze, and +other presents in a secret place in the cavern; and she +taught him how, being lonely as he was, he might destroy +the proud wooers of his wife, who would certainly desire to +take his life.</p> + +<p>The Goddess began by disguising Ulysses, so that his +skin seemed wrinkled, and his hair thin, and his eyes dull, +and she gave him dirty old wraps for clothes, and over all a +great bald skin of a stag, like that which he wore when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +stole into Troy disguised as a beggar. She gave him a staff, +too, and a wallet to hold scraps of broken food. There was +not a man or a woman that knew Ulysses in this disguise. +Next, the Goddess bade him go across the island to his +own swineherd, who remained faithful to him, and to stay +there among the swine till she brought home Telemachus, +who was visiting Helen and Menelaus in Lacedaemon. +She fled away to Lacedaemon, and Ulysses climbed the hills +that lay between the cavern and the farm where the swineherd +lived.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses reached the farmhouse, the swineherd, +Eumaeus, was sitting alone in front of his door, making +himself a pair of brogues out of the skin of an ox. He was +a very honest man, and, though he was a slave, he was the +son of a prince in his own country. When he was a little +child some Phoenicians came in their ship to his father's +house and made friends with his nurse, who was a Phoenician +woman. One of them, who made love to her, asked +her who she was, and she said that her father was a rich +man in Sidon, but that pirates had carried her away and +sold her to her master. The Phoenicians promised to bring +her back to Sidon, and she fled to their ship, carrying with +her the child whom she nursed, little Eumaeus; she also +stole three cups of gold. The woman died at sea, and the +pirates sold the boy to Laertes, the father of Ulysses, who +treated him kindly. Eumaeus was fond of the family +which he served, and he hated the proud wooers for their +insolence.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses came near his house the four great dogs +rushed out and barked at him; they would have bitten, too, +but Eumaeus ran up and threw stones at them, and no farm +dog can face a shower of stones. He took Ulysses into his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +house, gave him food and wine, and told him all about the +greed and pride of the wooers. Ulysses said that the +master of Eumaeus would certainly come home, and told a +long story about himself. He was a Cretan, he said, and had +fought at Troy, and later had been shipwrecked, but reached +a country called Thesprotia, where he learned that Ulysses +was alive, and was soon to leave Thesprotia and return to +Ithaca.</p> + +<p>Eumaeus did not believe this tale, and supposed that the +beggar man only meant to say what he would like to hear. +However, he gave Ulysses a good dinner of his own pork, +and Ulysses amused him and his fellow slaves with stories +about the Siege of Troy, till it was bedtime.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Athênê had gone to Lacedaemon to +the house of Menelaus, where Telemachus was lying awake. +She told him that Penelope, his mother, meant to marry +one of the wooers, and advised him to sail home at once, +avoiding the strait between Ithaca and another isle, +where his enemies were lying in wait to kill him. When +he reached Ithaca he must send his oarsmen to the town, +but himself walk alone across the island to see the swineherd. +In the morning Telemachus and his friend, Pisistratus, +said good-bye to Menelaus and Helen, who wished +to make him presents, and so went to their treasure house. +Now when they came to the place where the treasures were +stored, then Atrides took a double cup, and bade his son, +Megapenthes, to bear a mixing-bowl of silver. And Helen +stood by the coffers, wherein were her robes of curious +needlework which she herself had wrought. So Helen, +the fair lady, lifted one and brought it out—the widest and +most beautifully embroidered of all—and it shone like a +star, and lay far beneath the rest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then they went back through the house till they came +to Telemachus; and Menelaus, of the fair hair, spake to +him, saying:</p> + +<p>'Telemachus, may Zeus the thunderer, and the lord of +Hera, in very truth bring about thy return according to the +desire of thy heart. And of the gifts, such as are treasures +stored in my house, I will give thee the goodliest and +greatest of price. I will give thee a mixing-bowl beautifully +wrought; it is all of silver, and the lips thereof are +finished with gold, the work of Hephaestus; and the hero +Phaedimus, the king of the Sidonians, gave it to me when +his house sheltered me, on my coming thither. This cup I +would give to thee.'</p> + +<p>Therewith the hero Atrides set the double cup in his +hands. And the strong Megapenthes bare the shining +silver bowl and set it before him. And Helen came up, +beautiful Helen, with the robe in her hands, and spake and +hailed him:</p> + +<p>'Lo! I, too, give thee this gift, dear child, a memorial +of the hands of Helen, against the day of thy desire, even +of thy bridal, for thy bride to wear it. But, meanwhile, +let it lie by thy dear mother in her chamber. And may joy +go with thee to thy well-builded house and thine own +country.'</p> + +<p>Just when Telemachus was leaving her palace door, an +eagle stooped from the sky and flew away with a great white +goose that was feeding on the grass, and the farm servants +rushed out shouting, but the eagle passed away to the right +hand, across the horses of Pisistratus.</p> + +<p>Then Helen explained the meaning of this omen. 'Hear +me, and I will prophesy as the immortals put it into my +heart, and as I deem it will be accomplished. Even as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +yonder eagle came down from the hill, the place of his +birth and kin, and snatched away the goose that was +fostered in the house, even so shall Ulysses return home +after much trial and long wanderings and take vengeance; +yea! or even now is he at home and sowing the seeds of +evil for all the wooers.' We are told no more about Helen +of the fair hands, except that she and Menelaus never died, +but were carried by the Gods to the beautiful Elysian +plain, a happy place where war and trouble never came, +nor old age, nor death. After that she was worshipped +in her own country as if she had been a Goddess, kind, +gentle, and beautiful.</p> + +<p>Telemachus thanked Helen for prophesying good +luck, and he drove to the city of Nestor, on the sea, but +was afraid to go near the old king, who would have kept +him and entertained him, while he must sail at once for +Ithaca. He went to his own ship in the harbour, and, +while his crew made ready to sail, there came a man running +hard, and in great fear of the avenger of blood. This was +a second-sighted man, called Theoclymenus, and he implored +Telemachus to take him to Ithaca, for he had slain a man +in his own country, who had killed one of his brothers, and +now the brothers and cousins of that man were pursuing +him to take his life. Telemachus made him welcome, and +so sailed north to Ithaca, wondering whether he should be +able to slip past the wooers, who were lying in wait to kill +him. Happily the ship of Telemachus passed them unseen +in the night, and arrived at Ithaca. He sent his crew to the +town, and was just starting to walk across the island to the +swineherd's house, when the second-sighted man asked +what <i>he</i> should do. Telemachus told Piraeus, one of his +friends, to take the man home and be kind to him, which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +gladly promised to do, and then he set off to seek the swineherd.</p> + +<p>The swineherd, with Ulysses, had just lit a fire to cook +breakfast, when they saw the farm dogs frolicking round a +young man who was walking towards the house. The dogs +welcomed him, for he was no stranger, but Telemachus. +Up leaped the swineherd in delight, and the bowl in which +he was mixing wine and water fell from his hands. He had +been unhappy for fear the wooers who lay in wait for +Telemachus should kill him, and he ran and embraced the +young man as gladly as a father welcomes a son who has +long been in a far country. Telemachus, too, was anxious +to hear whether his mother had married one of the wooers, +and glad to know that she still bore her troubles patiently.</p> + +<p>When Telemachus stepped into the swineherd's house +Ulysses arose from his seat, but Telemachus bade the old +beggar man sit down again, and a pile of brushwood with +a fleece thrown over it was brought for himself. They +breakfasted on what was ready, cold pork, wheaten bread, +and wine in cups of ivy wood, and Eumaeus told Telemachus +that the old beggar gave himself out as a wanderer from +Crete. Telemachus answered that he could not take +strangers into his mother's house, for he was unable to protect +them against the violence of the wooers, but he would +give the wanderer clothes and shoes and a sword, and he +might stay at the farm. He sent the swineherd to tell his +mother, Penelope, that he had returned in safety, and +Eumaeus started on his journey to the town.</p> + +<p>At this moment the farm dogs, which had been taking their +share of the breakfast, began to whine, and bristle up, and +slunk with their tails between their legs to the inmost corner +of the room. Telemachus could not think why they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +afraid, or of what, but Ulysses saw the Goddess Athênê, who +appeared to him alone, and the dogs knew that something +strange and terrible was coming to the door. Ulysses +went out, and Athênê bade him tell Telemachus who he +really was, now that they were alone, and she touched +Ulysses with her golden wand, and made him appear like +himself, and his clothes like a king's raiment.</p> + +<p>Telemachus, who neither saw nor heard Athênê, wondered +greatly, and thought the beggar man must be some God, +wandering in disguise. But Ulysses said, 'No God am I, +but thine own father,' and they embraced each other and +wept for joy.</p> + +<p>At last Ulysses told Telemachus how he had come home +in a ship of the Phaeacians, and how his treasure was +hidden in the cave of the Naiads, and asked him how many +the wooers were, and how they might drive them from the +house. Telemachus replied that the wooers were one hundred +and eight, and that Medon, a servant of his own, took part +with them; there was also the minstrel of the house, whom +they compelled to sing at their feasts. They were all +strong young men, each with his sword at his side, +but they had with them no shields, helmets, and breastplates. +Ulysses said that, with the help of the Goddess, +he hoped to get the better of them, many as they were. +Telemachus must go to the house, and Ulysses would come +next day, in the disguise of an old beggar. However +ill the wooers might use him, Telemachus must take no +notice, beyond saying that they ought to behave better. +Ulysses, when he saw a good chance, would give Telemachus +a sign to take away the shields, helmets, and weapons +that hung on the walls of the great hall, and to hide +them in a secret place. If the wooers missed them, he must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +say—first, that the smoke of the fire was spoiling them; and, +again, that they were better out of the reach of the wooers, +in case they quarrelled over their wine. Telemachus must +keep two swords, two spears, and two shields for himself +and Ulysses to use, if they saw a chance, and he must +let neither man nor woman know that the old beggar man +was his father.</p> + +<p>While they were talking, one of the crew of Telemachus +and the swineherd went to Penelope and told her how her +son had landed. On hearing this the wooers held a council +as to how they should behave to him: Antinous was for +killing him, but Amphinomus and Eurymachus were for +waiting, and seeing what would happen. Before Eumaeus +came back from his errand to Penelope, Athênê changed +Ulysses into the dirty old beggar again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIIIa" id="VIIIa"></a>VIII</h2> + +<p class="center">ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR +TO HIS OWN PALACE</p> + +<p>Next morning Telemachus went home, and comforted +his mother, and told her how he had been with Nestor +and Menelaus, and seen her cousin, Helen of the fair hands, +but this did not seem to interest Penelope, who thought +that her beautiful cousin was the cause of all her misfortunes. +Then Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man whom Telemachus +brought from Pylos, prophesied to Penelope that +Ulysses was now in Ithaca, taking thought how he might +kill the wooers, who were then practising spear-throwing at +a mark, while some of them were killing swine and a cow +for breakfast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Ulysses, in disguise, and the swineherd were +coming near the town, and there they met the goatherd, +Melanthius, who was a friend of the wooers, and an insolent +and violent slave. He insulted the old beggar, and advised +him not to come near the house of Ulysses, and kicked him +off the road. Then Ulysses was tempted to slay him with +his hands, but he controlled himself lest he should be discovered, +and he and Eumaeus walked slowly to the palace. +As they lingered outside the court, lo! a hound raised +up his head and pricked his ears, even where he lay: Argos, +the hound of Ulysses, of the hardy heart, which of old +himself had bred. Now in time past the young men used +to lead the hound against wild goats and deer and hares; +but, as then, he lay despised (his master being afar) in the +deep dung of mules and kine, whereof an ample bed was +spread before the doors till the slaves of Ulysses should +carry it away to dung therewith his wide demesne. There +lay the dog Argos, full of vermin. Yet even now, when he +was aware of Ulysses standing by, he wagged his tail and +dropped both his ears, but nearer to his master he had +not now the strength to draw. But Ulysses looked aside +and wiped away a tear that he easily hid from Eumaeus, +and straightway he asked him, saying:</p> + +<p>'Eumaeus, verily this is a great marvel: this hound +lying here in the dung. Truly he is goodly of growth, +but I know not certainly if he have speed with this beauty, +or if he be comely only, like men's trencher dogs that their +lords keep for the pleasure of the eye.'</p> + +<p>Then answered the swineherd Eumaeus: 'In very +truth this is the dog of a man that has died in a far +land. If he were what once he was in limb and in the +feats of the chase, when Ulysses left him to go to Troy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +soon wouldst thou marvel at the sight of his swiftness and +his strength. There was no beast that could flee from him +in the deep places of the wood when he was in pursuit; +for even on a track he was the keenest hound. But now he +is holden in an evil case, and his lord hath perished far +from his own country, and the careless women take no +charge of him.'</p> + +<p>Therewith he passed within the fair-lying house, and +went straight to the hall, to the company of the proud +wooers. But upon Argos came death even in the hour that +he beheld Ulysses again, in the twentieth year.</p> + +<p>Thus the good dog knew Ulysses, though Penelope +did not know him when she saw him, and tears came into +Ulysses' eyes as he stood above the body of the hound +that loved him well. Eumaeus went into the house, but +Ulysses sat down where it was the custom for beggars +to sit, on the wooden threshold outside the door of the +hall. Telemachus saw him, from his high seat under the +pillars on each side of the fire, in the middle of the room, +and bade Eumaeus carry a loaf and a piece of pork to the +beggar, who laid them in his wallet between his feet, and ate. +Then he thought he would try if there were one courteous +man among the wooers, and he entered the hall and began +to beg among them. Some gave him crusts and bones, +but Antinous caught up a footstool and struck him hard +on the shoulder. 'May death come upon Antinous before +his wedding day!' said Ulysses, and even the other wooers +rebuked him for striking a beggar.</p> + +<p>Penelope heard of this, and told Eumaeus to bring the +beggar to her; she thought he might have news of her +husband. But Ulysses made Eumaeus say that he had +been struck once in the hall, and would not come to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +till after sunset, when the wooers left the house. Then +Eumaeus went to his own farmhouse, after telling Telemachus +that he would come next day, driving swine for +the wooers to eat.</p> + +<p>Ulysses was the new beggar in Ithaca: he soon found +that he had a rival, an old familiar beggar, named Irus. +This man came up to the palace, and was angry when he +saw a newcomer sitting in the doorway, 'Get up,' he said, +'I ought to drag you away by the foot: begone before +we quarrel!' 'There is room enough for both of us,' +said Ulysses, 'do not anger me.' Irus challenged him to +fight, and the wooers thought this good sport, and they +made a ring, and promised that the winner should be beggar-in-chief, +and have the post to himself. Ulysses asked +the wooers to give him fair play, and not to interfere, and +then he stripped his shoulders, and kilted up his rags, +showing strong arms and legs. As for Irus he began to +tremble, but Antinous forced him to fight, and the two +put up their hands. Irus struck at the shoulder of Ulysses, +who hit him with his right fist beneath the ear, and he fell, +the blood gushing from his mouth, and his heels drumming +in the ground, and Ulysses dragged him from the doorway +and propped him against the wall of the court, while +the wooers laughed. Then Ulysses spoke gravely to +Amphinomus, telling him that it would be wise in him to go +home, for that if Ulysses came back it might not be so easy +to escape his hands.</p> + +<p>After sunset Ulysses spoke so fiercely to the maidens of +Penelope, who insulted him, that they ran to their own +rooms, but Eurymachus threw a footstool at him. He +slipped out of the way, and the stool hit the cupbearer and +knocked him down, and all was disorder in the hall. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +wooers themselves were weary of the noise and disorder, +and went home to the houses in the town where they slept. +Then Telemachus and Ulysses, being left alone, hid the +shields and helmets and spears that hung on the walls of +the hall in an armoury within the house, and when this +was done Telemachus went to sleep in his own chamber, +in the courtyard, and Ulysses waited till Penelope should +come into the hall.</p> + +<p>Ulysses sat in the dusky hall, where the wood in the +braziers that gave light had burned low, and waited to see +the face of his wife, for whom he had left beautiful Calypso. +The maidens of Penelope came trooping, laughing, and +cleared away the food and the cups, and put faggots in +the braziers. They were all giddy girls, in love with the +handsome wooers, and one of them, Melantho, bade Ulysses +go away, and sleep at the blacksmith's forge, lest he should +be beaten with a torch. Penelope heard Melantho, whom +she had herself brought up, and she rebuked her, and +ordered a chair to be brought for Ulysses. When he was +seated, she asked him who he was, and he praised her +beauty, for she was still very fair, but did not answer her +question. She insisted that he should tell her who he +was, and he said that he was a Cretan prince, the younger +brother of Idomeneus, and that he did not go to fight in +Troyland. In Crete he stayed, and met Ulysses, who +stopped there on his way to Troy, and he entertained +Ulysses for a fortnight. Penelope wept when she heard +that the stranger had seen her husband, but, as false stories +were often told to her by strangers who came to Ithaca, +she asked how Ulysses was dressed, and what manner of +men were with him.</p> + +<p>The beggar said that Ulysses wore a double mantle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +purple, clasped with a gold brooch fastened by two safety +pins (for these were used at that time), and on the face of +the brooch was a figure of a hound holding a struggling +fawn in his forepaws. (Many such brooches have been +found in the graves in Greece). Beneath his mantle Ulysses +wore a shining smock, smooth and glittering like the skin +of an onion. Probably it was made of silk: women greatly +admired it. With him was a squire named Eurybates, a +brown, round-shouldered man.</p> + +<p>On hearing all this Penelope wept again and said that +she herself had given Ulysses the brooch and the garments. +She now knew that the beggar had really met Ulysses, and +he went on to tell her that, in his wanderings, he had heard +how Ulysses was still alive, though he had lost all his company, +and that he had gone to Dodona in the west of +Greece to ask for advice from the oak tree of Zeus, the +whispering oak tree, as to how he should come home, openly +or secretly. Certainly, he said, Ulysses would return that +year.</p> + +<p>Penelope was still unable to believe in such good news, +but she bade Eurycleia, the old nurse, wash the feet of the +beggar in warm water, so a foot bath was brought. Ulysses +turned his face away from the firelight, for the nurse said +that he was very like her master. As she washed his legs +she noticed the long scar of the wound made by the boar, +when he hunted with his cousins, long ago, before he was +married. The nurse knew him now, and spoke to him in +a whisper, calling him by his name. But he caught her +throat with his hand, and asked why she would cause his +death, for the wooers would slay him if they knew who +he was. Eurycleia called him her child, and promised +that she would be silent, and then she went to fetch more hot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +water, for she had let his foot fall into the bath and upset +it when she found the scar.</p> + +<p>When she had washed him, Penelope told the beggar +that she could no longer refuse to marry one of the wooers. +Ulysses had left a great bow in the house, the old bow of +King Eurytus, that few could bend, and he had left twelve +iron axes, made with a round opening in the blade of each. +Axes of this shape have been found at Lacedaemon, where +Helen lived, so we know what the axes of Ulysses were like. +When he was at home he used to set twelve of them in a +straight line, and shoot an arrow through the twelve holes +in the blades. Penelope therefore intended, next day, +to bring the bow and the axes to the wooers, and to marry +any one of them who could string the bow, and shoot an +arrow through the twelve axes.</p> + +<p>'I think,' said the beggar, 'that Ulysses will be here +before any of the wooers have bent his bow.' Then +Penelope went to her upper chamber, and Ulysses slept in +an outer gallery of the house on piled-up sheep skins.</p> + +<p>There Ulysses lay, thinking how he might destroy all +the wooers, and the Goddess Athênê came and comforted +him, and, in the morning, he rose and made his prayer +to Zeus, asking for signs of his favour. There came, first +a peal of thunder, and then the voice of a woman, weak and +old, who was grinding corn to make bread for the wooers. +All the other women of the mill had done their work and +were asleep, but she was feeble and the round upper stone +of the quern, that she rolled on the corn above the under +stone, was too heavy for her.</p> + +<p>She prayed, and said, 'Father Zeus, King of Gods and +men, loudly hast thou thundered. Grant to me my prayer, +unhappy as I am. May this be the last day of the feasting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +of the wooers in the hall of Ulysses: they have loosened +my knees with cruel labour in grinding barley for them: may +they now sup their last!' Hearing this prayer Ulysses +was glad, for he thought it a lucky sign. Soon the servants +were at work, and Eumaeus came with swine, and was as +courteous to the beggar as Melanthius, who brought some +goats, was insolent. The cowherd, called Philoetius, +also arrived; he hated the wooers, and spoke friendly to the +beggar. Last appeared the wooers, and went in to their +meal, while Telemachus bade the beggar sit on a seat just +within the hall, and told the servants to give him as good +a share of the food as any of them received. One wooer, +Ctesippus, said: 'His fair share this beggar man has had, +as is right, but I will give him a present over and above it!' +Then he picked up the foot of an ox, and threw it with all +his might at Ulysses, who merely moved aside, and the ox +foot struck the wall.</p> + +<p>Telemachus rebuked him, and the wooers began to +laugh wildly and to weep, they knew not why, but Theoclymenus, +the second-sighted man, knew that they were all +fey men, that is, doomed to die, for such men are gay without +reason. 'Unhappy that you are,' cried Theoclymenus, +'what is coming upon you? I see shrouds covering you +about your knees and about your faces, and tears are on +your cheeks, and the walls and the pillars of the roof are +dripping blood, and in the porch and the court are your +fetches, shadows of yourselves, hurrying hellward, and the +sun is darkened.'</p> + +<p>On this all the wooers laughed, and advised him to go +out of doors, where he would see that the sun was shining. +'My eyes and ears serve me well,' said the second-sighted +man, 'but out I will go, seeking no more of your company,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +for death is coming on every man of you.' Then he arose +and went to the house of Piraeus, the friend of Telemachus. +The wooers laughed all the louder, as fey men do, and +told Telemachus that he was unlucky in his guests: one +a beggar, the other a madman. But Telemachus kept +watching his father while the wooers were cooking a meal +that they did not live to enjoy.</p> + +<p>Through the crowd of them came Penelope, holding in +her hand the great bow of Eurytus, and a quiver full of +arrows, while her maidens followed, carrying the chest +in which lay the twelve iron axes. She stood up, stately +and scornful, among the wooers, and told them that, as +marry she must, she would take the man who could string +the bow and shoot the arrow through the axes. Telemachus +said that he would make the first trial, and that, if he succeeded, +he would not allow any man of the wooers to take +his mother away with him from her own house. Then +thrice he tried to string the bow, and the fourth time he +would have strung it, but Ulysses made a sign to him, +and he put it down. 'I am too weak,' he said, 'let a +stronger man achieve this adventure.' So they tried each +in turn, beginning with the man who sat next the great +mixing-bowl of wine, and so each rising in his turn.</p> + +<p>First their prophet tried, Leiodes the Seer, who sat +next the bowl, but his white hands were too weak, and he +prophesied, saying that the bow would be the death of all +of them. Then Antinous bade the goatherd light a fire, +and bring grease to heat the bow, and make it more supple. +They warmed and greased the bow, and one after another +tried to bend it. Eumaeus and the cowherd went out +into the court, and Ulysses followed them. 'Whose side +would you two take,' he asked, 'if Ulysses came home?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +Would you fight for him or for the wooers?' 'For +Ulysses!' they both cried, 'and would that he was come +indeed!' 'He is come, and I am he!' said Ulysses. +Then he promised to give them lands of their own if he was +victorious, and he showed them the scar on his thigh that +the boar dealt with his white tusk, long ago. The two men +kissed him and shed tears of joy, and Ulysses said that +he would go back first into the hall, and that they were +to follow him. He would ask to be allowed to try to bend +the bow, and Eumaeus, whatever the wooers said, must +place it in his hands, and then see that the women were +locked up in their own separate hall. Philoetius was to +fasten the door leading from the courtyard into the road. +Ulysses then went back to his seat in the hall, near the +door, and his servants followed.</p> + +<p>Eurymachus was trying in vain to bend the bow, and +Antinous proposed to put off the trial till next day, and then +sacrifice to the God Apollo, and make fresh efforts. They +began to drink, but Ulysses asked to be allowed to try if he +could string the bow. They told him that wine had made +him impudent, and threatened to put him in a ship and send +him to King Echetus, an ogre, who would cut him to pieces. +But Penelope said that the beggar must try his strength; +not that she would marry him, if he succeeded. She would +only give him new clothes, a sword, and a spear, and send him +wherever he wanted to go. Telemachus cried out that the +bow was his own; he would make a present of it to the +beggar if he chose; and he bade his mother join her maidens, +and work at her weaving. She was amazed to hear her son +speak like the master of the house, and she went upstairs +with her maidens to her own room.</p> + +<p>Eumaeus was carrying the bow to Ulysses, when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +wooers made such an uproar that he laid it down, in fear for +his life. But Telemachus threatened to punish him if he did +not obey his master, so he placed the bow in the hands of +Ulysses, and then went and told Eurycleia to lock the women +servants up in their own separate hall. Philoetius slipped +into the courtyard, and made the gates fast with a strong +rope, and then came back, and watched Ulysses, who was +turning the bow this way and that, to see if the horns were +still sound, for horns were then used in bow making. The +wooers were mocking him, but suddenly he bent and strung +the great bow as easily as a harper fastens a new string to +his harp. He tried the string, and it twanged like the note +of a swallow. He took up an arrow that lay on the table +(the others were in the quiver beside him), he fitted it to the +string, and from the chair where he sat he shot it through +all the twelve axe heads. 'Your guest has done you no +dishonour, Telemachus,' he said, 'but surely it is time to +eat,' and he nodded. Telemachus drew his sword, took +a spear in his left hand, and stood up beside Ulysses.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IXa" id="IXa"></a>IX</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS</p> + +<p>Ulysses let all his rags fall down, and with one leap he +reached the high threshold, the door being behind him, +and he dropped, the arrows from the quiver at his feet. +'Now,' he said, 'I will strike another mark that no man +yet has stricken!' He aimed the arrow at Antinous, who +was drinking out of a golden cup. The arrow passed +clean through the throat of Antinous; he fell, the cup +rang on the ground, and the wooers leaped up, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +round the walls for shields and spears, but the walls were +bare.</p> + +<p>'Thou shalt die, and vultures shall devour thee,' they +shouted, thinking the beggar had let the arrow fly by +mischance.</p> + +<p>'Dogs!' he answered, 'ye said that never should I +come home from Troy; ye wasted my goods, and insulted +my wife, and had no fear of the Gods, but now the day +of death has come upon you! Fight or flee, if you may, +but some shall not escape!'</p> + +<p>'Draw your blades!' cried Eurymachus to the others; +'draw your blades, and hold up the tables as shields against +this man's arrows. Have at him, and drive him from +the doorway.' He drew his own sword, and leaped on +Ulysses with a cry, but the swift arrow pierced his breast, +and he fell and died. Then Amphinomus rushed towards +Ulysses, but Telemachus sent his spear from behind through +his shoulders. He could not draw forth the spear, but he +ran to his father, and said, 'Let me bring shields, spears, +and helmets from the inner chamber, for us, and for the +swineherd and cowherd.' 'Go!' said Ulysses, and Telemachus +ran through a narrow doorway, down a gallery to +the secret chamber, and brought four shields, four helmets, +and eight spears, and the men armed themselves, while +Ulysses kept shooting down the wooers. When his arrows +were spent he armed himself, protected by the other three. +But the goatherd, Melanthius, knew a way of reaching the +armoury, and he climbed up, and brought twelve helmets, +spears, and shields to the wooers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs11" id="gs11"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs11.png" width="350" height="464" alt="ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS." title="ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS." /> +<span class="caption">ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Ulysses thought that one of the women was showering +down the weapons into the hall, but the swineherd and +cowherd went to the armoury, through the doorway, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +Telemachus had gone, and there they caught Melanthius, and +bound him like a bundle, with a rope, and, throwing the +rope over a rafter, dragged him up, and fastened him there, +and left him swinging. Then they ran back to Ulysses, +four men keeping the doorway against all the wooers that +were not yet slain. But the Goddess Athênê appeared +to Ulysses, in the form of Mentor, and gave him courage. +He needed it, for the wooers, having spears, threw them in +volleys, six at a time, at the four. They missed, but the +spears of the four slew each his man. Again the wooers +threw, and dealt two or three slight wounds, but the spears +of the four were winged with death. They charged, striking +with spear and sword, into the crowd, who lost heart, +and flew here and there, crying for mercy and falling +at every blow. Ulysses slew the prophet, Leiodes, but +Phemius, the minstrel, he spared, for he had done no wrong, +and Medon, a slave, crept out from beneath an ox hide, where +he had been lying, and asked Telemachus to pity him, +and Ulysses sent him and the minstrel into the courtyard, +where they sat trembling. All the rest of the wooers lay +dead in heaps, like heaps of fish on the sea shore, when +they have been netted, and drawn to land.</p> + +<p>Then Ulysses sent Telemachus to bring Eurycleia, who, +when she came and saw the wooers dead, raised a scream +of joy, but Ulysses said 'it is an unholy thing to boast over +dead men.' He bade Telemachus and the servants carry +the corpses into the courtyard, and he made the women +wash and clean the hall, and the seats, and tables, and the +pillars. When all was clean, they took Melanthius and +slew him, and then they washed themselves, and the maidens +who were faithful to Penelope came out of their rooms, +with torches in their hands, for it was now night, and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +kissed Ulysses with tears of joy. These were not young +women, for Ulysses remembered all of them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile old Eurycleia ran to tell Penelope all the +good news: up the stairs to her chamber she ran, tripping, +and falling, and rising, and laughing for joy. In she came +and awakened Penelope, saying:</p> + +<p>'Come and see what you have long desired: Ulysses in +his own house, and all the wicked wooers slain by the +sword.' 'Surely you are mad, dear nurse,' said Penelope, +'to waken me with such a wild story. Never have I slept +so sound since Ulysses went to that ill Ilios, never to be +named. Angry would I have been with any of the girls +that wakened me with such a silly story; but you are old: +go back to the women's working room.' The good nurse +answered: 'Indeed, I tell you no silly tale. Indeed he is +in the hall; he is that poor guest whom all men struck and +insulted, but Telemachus knew his father.'</p> + +<p>Then Penelope leaped up gladly, and kissed the nurse, +but yet she was not sure that her husband had come, she +feared that it might be some God disguised as a man, or +some evil man pretending to be Ulysses. 'Surely Ulysses +has met his death far away,' she said, and though Eurycleia +vowed that she herself had seen the scar dealt by the boar, +long ago, she would not be convinced. 'None the less,' +she said, 'let us go and see my son, and the wooers lying +dead, and the man who slew them.' So they went down +the stairs and along a gallery on the ground floor that led +into the courtyard, and so entered the door of the hall, and +crossed the high stone threshold on which Ulysses stood +when he shot down Antinous. Penelope went up to the +hearth and sat opposite Ulysses, who was leaning against +one of the four tall pillars that supported the roof; there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +she sat and gazed at him, still wearing his rags, and still +not cleansed from the blood of battle. She did not know +him, and was silent, though Telemachus called her hard +of belief and cold of heart.</p> + +<p>'My child,' she said, 'I am bewildered, and can hardly +speak, but if this man is Ulysses, he knows things unknown +to any except him and me.' Then Ulysses bade Telemachus +go to the baths and wash, and put on fresh garments, +and bade the maidens bring the minstrel to play music, +while they danced in the hall. In the town the friends +and kinsfolk of the wooers did not know that they were +dead, and when they heard the music they would not +guess that anything strange had happened. It was necessary +that nobody should know, for, if the kinsfolk of the +dead men learned the truth, they would seek to take revenge, +and might burn down the house. Indeed, Ulysses was +still in great danger, for the law was that the brothers and +cousins of slain men must slay their slayers, and the dead +were many, and had many clansmen.</p> + +<p>Now Eurynome bathed Ulysses himself, and anointed +him with oil, and clad him in new raiment, so that he looked +like himself again, full of strength and beauty. He sat +down on his own high seat beside the fire, and said: 'Lady, +you are the fairest and most cruel Queen alive. No other +woman would harden her heart against her husband, come +home through many dangers after so many years. 'Nurse,' +he cried to Eurycleia, 'strew me a bed to lie alone, for her +heart is hard as iron.'</p> + +<p>Now Penelope put him to a trial. 'Eurycleia,' she +said, 'strew a bed for him outside the bridal chamber that +he built for himself, and bring the good bedstead out of +that room for him.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<p>'How can any man bring out that bedstead?' said +Ulysses, 'did I not make it with my own hands, with a +standing tree for the bedpost? No man could move that +bed unless he first cut down the tree trunk.'</p> + +<p>Then at last Penelope ran to Ulysses and threw her arms +round his neck, kissing him, and said: 'Do not be angry, +for always I have feared that some strange man of cunning +would come and deceive me, pretending to be my lord. +But now you have told me the secret of the bed, which no +mortal has ever seen or knows but you and I, and my +maiden whom I brought from my own home, and who +kept the doors of our chamber.' Then they embraced, and +it seemed as if her white arms would never quite leave their +hold on his neck.</p> + +<p>Ulysses told her many things, all the story of his wanderings, +and how he must wander again, on land, not on the +sea, till he came to the country of men who had never seen +salt. 'The Gods will defend you and bring you home +to your rest in the end,' said Penelope, and then they went +to their own chamber, and Eurynome went before them +with lighted torches in her hands, for the Gods had brought +them to the haven where they would be.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Xa" id="Xa"></a>X</h2> + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<p>With the coming of the golden dawn Ulysses awoke, for +he had still much to do. He and Telemachus and the +cowherd and Eumaeus put on full armour, and took swords +and spears, and walked to the farm where old Laertes, the +father of Ulysses, lived among his servants and worked in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +his garden. Ulysses sent the others into the farmhouse to +bid the old housekeeper get breakfast ready, and he went +alone to the vines, being sure that his father was at work +among them.</p> + +<p>There the old man was, in his rough gardening clothes, +with leather gloves on, and patched leather leggings, digging +hard. His servants had gone to gather loose stones to make +a rough stone dyke, and he was all alone. He never looked +up till Ulysses went to him, and asked him whose slave he +was, and who owned the garden. He said that he was a +stranger in Ithaca, but that he had once met the king of +the island, who declared that one Laertes was his father.</p> + +<p>Laertes was amazed at seeing a warrior all in mail come +into his garden, but said that he was the father of Ulysses, +who had long been unheard of and unseen. 'And who are +you?' he asked. 'Where is your own country?' Ulysses +said that he came from Sicily, and that he had met Ulysses +five years ago, and hoped that by this time he had come +home.</p> + +<p>Then the old man sat down and wept, and cast dust on +his head, for Ulysses had not arrived from Sicily in five long +years; certainly he must be dead. Ulysses could not bear +to see his father weep, and told him that he was himself, +come home at last, and that he had killed all the wooers.</p> + +<p>But Laertes asked him to prove that he really was +Ulysses, so he showed the scar on his leg, and, looking +round the garden, he said: 'Come, I will show you the very +trees that you gave me when I was a little boy running +about after you, and asking you for one thing or another, +as children do. These thirteen pear trees are my very +own; you gave them to me, and mine are these fifty rows +of vines, and these forty fig trees.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Laertes was fainting for joy, but Ulysses caught +him in his arms and comforted him. But, when he came +to himself, he sighed, and said: 'How shall we meet the +feud of all the kin of the slain men in Ithaca and the other +islands?' 'Be of good courage, father,' said Ulysses. +'And now let us go to the farmhouse and breakfast with +Telemachus.'</p> + +<p>So Laertes first went to the baths, and then put on fresh +raiment, and Ulysses wondered to see him look so straight +and strong. 'Would I were as strong as when I took the +castle of Nericus, long ago,' said the old man, 'and would +that I had been in the fight against the wooers!' Then +all the old man's servants came in, overjoyed at the return +of Ulysses, and they breakfasted merrily together.</p> + +<p>By this time all the people in the town knew that the +wooers had been slain, and they crowded to the house of +Ulysses in great sorrow, and gathered their dead and buried +them, and then met in the market place. The father of +Antinous, Eupeithes, spoke, and said that they would all +be dishonoured if they did not slay Ulysses before he could +escape to Nestor's house in Pylos. It was in vain that +an old prophet told them that the young men had deserved +their death. The most of the men ran home and put on +armour, and Eupeithes led them towards the farm of Laertes, +all in shining mail. But the Gods in heaven had a care for +Ulysses, and sent Athênê to make peace between him and +his subjects.</p> + +<p>She did not come too soon, for the avengers were drawing +near the farmhouse, which had a garrison of only twelve +men: Ulysses, Laertes, Telemachus, the swineherd, the cowherd, +and servants of Laertes. They all armed themselves, +and not choosing to defend the house, they went boldly out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +to meet their enemies. They encouraged each other, and +Laertes prayed to Athênê, and then threw his spear at +Eupeithes. The spear passed clean through helmet and +through head, and Eupeithes fell with a crash, and his +armour rattled as he fell. But now Athênê appeared, and +cried: 'Hold your hands, ye men of Ithaca, that no more +blood may be shed, and peace may be made.' The foes +of Ulysses, hearing the terrible voice of the Goddess, turned +and fled, and Ulysses uttered his war-cry, and was rushing +among them, when a thunderbolt fell at his feet, and +Athênê bade him stop, lest he should anger Zeus, the Lord +of Thunder. Gladly he obeyed, and peace was made with +oaths and with sacrifice, peace in Ithaca and the islands.</p> + +<p>Here ends the story of Ulysses, Laertes' son, for we do +not know anything about his adventures when he went +to seek a land of men who never heard of the sea, nor eat +meat savoured with salt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_FLEECE_OF_GOLD" id="THE_FLEECE_OF_GOLD"></a>THE FLEECE OF GOLD</h2> + +<h2><a name="Ib" id="Ib"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="center">THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD</p> + +<p>While Troy still stood fast, and before King Priam was +born, there was a king called Athamas, who reigned in a +country beside the Grecian sea. Athamas was a young +man, and was unmarried; because none of the princesses +who then lived seemed to him beautiful enough to be his +wife. One day he left his palace and climbed high up into +a mountain, following the course of a little river. He came +to a place where a great black rock stood on one side of the +river, jutting into the stream. Round the rock the water +flowed deep and dark. Yet, through the noise of the +river, the king thought he heard laughter and voices like the +voices of girls. So he climbed very quietly up the back of +the rock, and, looking over the edge, there he saw three +beautiful maidens bathing in a pool, and splashing each +other with the water. Their long yellow hair covered them +like cloaks and floated behind them on the pool. One of +them was even more beautiful than the others, and as +soon as he saw her the king fell in love with her, and said to +himself, 'This is the wife for me.'</p> + +<p>As he thought this, his arm touched a stone, which +slipped from the top of the rock where he lay, and went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +leaping, faster and faster as it fell, till it dropped with a +splash into the pool below. Then the three maidens heard +it, and were frightened, thinking some one was near. So +they rushed out of the pool to the grassy bank where their +clothes lay, lovely soft clothes, white and gray, and rosy-coloured, +all shining with pearl drops, and diamonds like +dew.</p> + +<p>In a moment they had dressed, and then it was as if they +had wings, for they rose gently from the ground, and +floated softly up and up the windings of the brook. Here +and there among the green tops of the mountain-ash trees +the king could just see the white robes shining and disappearing, +and shining again, till they rose far off like a mist, +and so up and up into the sky, and at last he only followed +them with his eyes, as they floated like clouds among the +other clouds across the blue. All day he watched them, +and at sunset he saw them sink, golden and rose-coloured +and purple, and go down into the dark with the setting +sun.</p> + +<p>The king went home to his palace, but he was very +unhappy, and nothing gave him any pleasure. All day he +roamed about among the hills, and looked for the beautiful +girls, but he never found them, and all night he dreamed +about them, till he grew thin and pale and was like to die.</p> + +<p>Now, the way with sick men then was that they made +a pilgrimage to the temple of a god, and in the temple they +offered sacrifices. Then they hoped that the god would +appear to them in a dream, or send them a true dream +at least, and tell them how they might be made well again. +So the king drove in his chariot a long way, to the town +where this temple was. When he reached it, he found it +a strange place. The priests were dressed in dogs' skins,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +with the heads of the dogs drawn down over their faces, and +there were live dogs running all about the shrines, for they +were the favourite beasts of the god, whose name was +Asclepius. There was an image of him, with a dog crouched +at his feet, and in his hand he held a serpent, and fed it from +a bowl.</p> + +<p>The king sacrificed before the god, and when night fell +he was taken into the temple, and there were many beds +strewn on the floor and many people lying on them, both +rich and poor, hoping that the god would appear to them +in a dream, and tell them how they might be healed. There +the king lay, like the rest, and for long he could not close his +eyes. At length he slept, and he dreamed a dream. But it +was not the god of the temple that he saw in his dream; +he saw a beautiful lady, she seemed to float above him in a +chariot drawn by doves, and all about her was a crowd of +chattering sparrows, and he knew that she was Aphrodite, +the Queen of Love. She was more beautiful than any woman +in the world, and she smiled as she looked at the king, and +said, 'Oh, King Athamas, you are sick for love! Now this +you must do: go home and on the first night of the new +moon, climb the hills to that place where you saw the +Three Maidens. In the dawn they will come again to the +river, and bathe in the pool. Then do you creep out of +the wood, and steal the clothes of her you love, and she +will not be able to fly away with the rest, and she will be +your wife.'</p> + +<p>Then she smiled again, and her doves bore her away, +and the king woke, and remembered the dream, and thanked +the lady in his heart, for he knew that she was a goddess, +the Queen of Love.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs12" id="gs12"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs12.png" width="350" height="465" alt="KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT SHE CANNOT +FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS." title="KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT SHE CANNOT +FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS." /> +<span class="caption">KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT SHE CANNOT +FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then he drove home, and did all that he had been told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +to do. On the first night of the new moon, when she shines +like a thin gold thread in the sky, he left his palace, and +climbed up through the hills, and hid in the wood by the +edge of the pool. When the dawn began to shine silvery, he +heard voices, and saw the three girls come floating through +the trees, and alight on the river bank, and undress, and run +into the water. There they bathed, and splashed each other +with the water, laughing in their play. Then he stole to +the grassy bank, and seized the clothes of the most beautiful +of the three; and they heard him move, and rushed out to +their clothes. Two of them were clad in a moment, and +floated away up the glen, but the third crouched sobbing +and weeping under the thick cloak of her yellow hair. Then +she prayed the king to give her back her soft gray and rose-coloured +raiment, but he would not till she had promised to +be his wife. And he told her how long he had loved her, +and how the goddess had sent him to be her husband, and +at last she promised, and took his hand, and in her shining +robes went down the hill with him to the palace. But he +felt as if he walked on the air, and she scarcely seemed to +touch the ground with her feet. She told him that her +name was Nephele, which meant 'a cloud,' in their language, +and that she was one of the Cloud Fairies who bring the +rain, and live on the hilltops, and in the high lakes, and +water springs, and in the sky.</p> + +<p>So they were married, and lived very happily, and had +two children, a boy called Phrixus, and a daughter named +Helle. The two children had a beautiful pet, a Ram with +a fleece all of gold, which was given them by the young god +called Hermes, a beautiful god, with wings on his shoon,—for +these were the very Shoon of Swiftness, that he lent +afterwards to the boy, Perseus, who slew the Gorgon, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +took her head. This Ram the children used to play with, +and they would ride on his back, and roll about with him +on the flowery meadows.</p> + +<p>They would all have been happy, but for one thing. +When there were clouds in the sky, and when there was +rain, then their mother, Nephele, was always with them; +but when the summer days were hot and cloudless, then +she went away, they did not know where. The long dry +days made her grow pale and thin, and, at last, she would +vanish altogether, and never come again, till the sky grew +soft and gray with rain.</p> + +<p>King Athamas grew weary of this, for often his wife would +be long away. Besides there was a very beautiful girl +called Ino, a dark girl, who had come in a ship of Phœnician +merchantmen, and had stayed in the city of the king when +her friends sailed from Greece. The king saw her, and +often she would be at the palace, playing with the children +when their mother had disappeared with the Clouds, her +sisters.</p> + +<p>This Ino was a witch, and one day she put a drug into +the king's wine, and when he had drunk it, he quite forgot +Nephele, his wife, and fell in love with Ino. At last he +married her, and they had two children, a boy and a girl, +and Ino wore the crown, and was queen, and gave orders +that Nephele should never be allowed to enter the palace +any more. So Phrixus and Helle never saw their mother, +and they were dressed in ragged old skins of deer, and were +ill fed, and were set to do hard work in the house, while the +children of Ino wore gold crowns in their hair, and were +dressed in fine raiment, and had the best of everything.</p> + +<p>One day when Phrixus and Helle were in the field, +herding the sheep (for now they were treated like peasant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +children, and had to work for their bread), they met an +old woman, all wrinkled, and poorly clothed, and they took +pity on her, and brought her home with them. Queen Ino +saw her, and as she wanted a nurse for her own children, +she took her in to be the nurse, and the old woman had +charge of the children, and lived in the house, and she was +kind to Phrixus and Helle. But neither of them knew that +she was their own mother, Nephele, who had disguised herself +as an old woman and a servant, that she might be with her +children.</p> + +<p>Phrixus and Helle grew strong and tall, and more +beautiful than Ino's children, so she hated them, and determined, +at last, to kill them. They all slept at night in one +room, but Ino's children had gold crowns in their hair, and +beautiful coverlets on their beds. One night, Phrixus was +half awake, and he heard the old nurse come, in the dark, +and put something on his head, and on his sister's, and +change their coverlets. But he was so drowsy that he +half thought it was a dream, and he lay and fell asleep. +In the dead of night, the wicked stepmother, Ino, crept +into the room with a dagger in her hand, and she stole up +to the bed of Phrixus, and felt his hair, and his coverlet. +Then she went softly to the bed of Helle, and felt her coverlet, +and her hair with the gold crown on it. So she supposed +these to be her own children, and she kissed them in the +dark, and went to the beds of the other two children. She +felt their heads, and they had no crowns on, so she killed +them, supposing that they were Phrixus and Helle. Then +she crept downstairs and went back to bed.</p> + +<p>In the morning, there lay the stepmother Ino's children +cold and dead, and nobody knew who had killed them. +Only the wicked queen knew, and she, of course, would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +tell of herself, but if she hated Phrixus and Helle before, +now she hated them a hundred times worse than ever. +But the old nurse was gone; nobody ever saw her there +again, and everybody but the queen thought that <i>she</i> had +killed the two children. Everywhere the king sought for +her, to burn her alive, but he never found her, for she had +gone back to her sisters, the Clouds.</p> + +<p>And the Clouds were gone, too! For six long months, +from winter to harvest time, the rain never fell. The country +was burned up, the trees grew black and dry, there was +no water in the streams, the corn turned yellow and died +before it was come into the ear. The people were starving, +the cattle and sheep were perishing, for there was no grass. +And every day the sun rose hot and red, and went blazing +through the sky without a cloud.</p> + +<p>Here the wicked stepmother, Ino, saw her chance. The +king sent messengers to Pytho, to consult the prophetess, +and to find out what should be done to bring back the +clouds and the rain. Then Ino took the messengers, +before they set out on their journey, and gave them gold, +and threatened also to kill them, if they did not bring the +message she wished from the prophetess. Now this message +was that Phrixus and Helle must be burned as a sacrifice to +the gods.</p> + +<p>So the messengers went, and came back dressed in +mourning. And when they were brought before the king, +at first they would tell him nothing. But he commanded +them to speak, and then they told him, not the real message +from the prophetess, but what Ino had bidden them to say: +that Phrixus and Helle must be offered as a sacrifice to +appease the gods.</p> + +<p>The king was very sorrowful at this news, but he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +not disobey the gods. So poor Phrixus and Helle were +wreathed with flowers, as sheep used to be when they were +led to be sacrificed, and they were taken to the altar, all the +people following and weeping, and the Golden Ram went +between them, as they walked to the temple. Then they +came within sight of the sea, which lay beneath the cliff +where the temple stood, all glittering in the sun, and the +happy white sea-birds flying over it.</p> + +<p>Here the Ram stopped, and suddenly he spoke to +Phrixus, for the god gave him utterance, and said: 'Lay +hold of my horn, and get on my back, and let Helle climb +up behind you, and I will carry you far away.'</p> + +<p>Then Phrixus took hold of the Ram's horn, and Helle +mounted behind him, and grasped the golden fleece, and +suddenly the Ram rose in the air, and flew above the people's +heads, far away over the sea.</p> + +<p>Far away to the eastward he flew, and deep below +them they saw the sea, and the islands, and the white +towers and temples, and the fields, and ships. Eastward +always he went, toward the sun-rising, and Helle grew +dizzy and weary. At last a deep sleep came over her, and +she let go her hold of the Fleece, and fell from the Ram's +back, down and down, into the narrow seas, that run between +Europe and Asia, and there she was drowned. And that +strait is called Helle's Ford, or Hellespont, to this day.</p> + +<p>But Phrixus and the Ram flew on up the narrow seas, +and over the great sea which the Greeks called the Euxine +and we call the Black Sea, till they reached a country named +Colchis. There the Ram alighted, so tired and weary that +he died, and Phrixus had his beautiful Golden Fleece stripped +off, and hung on an oak tree in a dark wood. And there it was +guarded by a monstrous Dragon, so that nobody dared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +to go near it. And Phrixus married the king's daughter, +and lived long, till he died also, and a king called Æêtes, the +brother of the enchantress, Circe, ruled that country. Of +all the things he had, the rarest was the Golden Fleece, and +it became a proverb that nobody could take that Fleece +away, nor deceive the Dragon who guarded it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIb" id="IIb"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE</p> + +<p>Some years after the Golden Ram died in Colchis, far +across the sea, a certain king reigned in Iolcos in Greece, +and his name was Pelias. He was not the rightful king, +for he had turned his stepbrother, King Æson, from the +throne, and taken it for himself. Now, Æson had a son, +a boy called Jason, and he sent him far away from Pelias, +up into the mountains. In these hills there was a great +cave, and in that cave lived Chiron the Wise, who, the +story says, was half a horse. He had the head and breast +of a man, but a horse's body and legs. He was famed for +knowing more about everything than anyone else in all +Greece. He knew about the stars, and the plants of earth, +which were good for medicine and which were poisonous. +He was the best archer with the bow, and the best player +of the harp; he could sing songs and tell stories of old times, +for he was the last of a people, half horse and half man, +who had dwelt in ancient days on the hills. Therefore the +kings in Greece sent their sons to him to be taught shooting, +singing, and telling the truth, and that was all the teaching +they had then, except that they learned to hunt, fish, and +fight, and throw spears, and toss the hammer and the stone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +There Jason lived with Chiron and the boys in the cave, +and many of the boys became famous.</p> + +<p>There was Orpheus who played the harp so sweetly that +wild beasts followed his minstrelsy, and even the trees danced +after him, and settled where he stopped playing. There was +Mopsus who could understand what the birds say to each +other; and there was Butes, the handsomest of men; and +Tiphys, the best steersman of a ship; and Castor, with his +brother Polydeuces, the boxer. Heracles, too, the strongest +man in the whole world, was there; and Lynceus, whom they +called Keen-eye, because he could see so far, and could see +even the dead men in their graves under the earth. There +was Ephemus, so swift and light-footed that he could run +upon the gray sea and never wet his feet; and there were +Calais and Zetes, the two sons of the North Wind, with +golden wings upon their feet. There also was Peleus, who +later married Thetis of the silver feet, goddess of the sea +foam, and was the father of Achilles. Many others were +there whose names it would take too long to tell. They all +grew up together in the hills good friends, healthy, and +brave, and strong. And they all went out to their own +homes at last; but Jason had no home to go to, for his +uncle, Pelias, had taken it, and his father was a wanderer.</p> + +<p>So at last he wearied of being alone, and he said good-bye +to his teacher, and went down through the hills toward +Iolcos, his father's old home, where his wicked uncle Pelias +was reigning. As he went, he came to a great, flooded +river, running red from bank to bank, rolling the round +boulders along. And there on the bank was an old woman +sitting.</p> + +<p>'Cannot you cross, mother?' said Jason; and she said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +she could not, but must wait until the flood fell, for there +was no bridge.</p> + +<p>'I'll carry you across,' said Jason, 'if you will let me +carry you.'</p> + +<p>So she thanked him, and said it was a kind deed, for she +was longing to reach the cottage where her little grandson +lay sick.</p> + +<p>Then he knelt down, and she climbed upon his back, +and he used his spear for a staff, and stepped into the river. +It was deeper than he thought, and stronger, but at last +he staggered out on the farther bank, far below where he +went in. And then he set the old woman down.</p> + +<p>'Bless you, my lad, for a strong man and a brave!' +she said, 'and my blessing go with you to the world's end.'</p> + +<p>Then he looked and she was gone he did not know where, +for she was the greatest of the goddesses, Hera, the wife of +Zeus, who had taken the shape of an old woman, to try +Jason, whether he was kind and strong, or rude and churlish. +From this day her grace went with him, and she helped +him in all dangers.</p> + +<p>Then Jason went down limping to the city, for he had +lost one shoe in the flood. And when he reached the town +he went straight up to the palace, and through the court, +and into the open door, and up the hall, where the king was +sitting at his table among his men. There Jason stood, +leaning on his spear.</p> + +<p>When the king saw him he turned white with terror. +For he had been told by the prophetess of Pytho that a man +with only one shoe would come some day and take away +his kingdom. And here was the half-shod man of whom +the prophecy had spoken.</p> + +<p>But Pelias still remembered to be courteous, and he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +bade his men lead the stranger to the baths, and there the +attendants bathed him, pouring hot water over him. And +they anointed his head with oil, and clothed him in new +raiment, and brought him back to the hall, and set him +down at a table beside the king, and gave him meat and +drink.</p> + +<p>When he had eaten and was refreshed, the king said: +'Now it is time to ask the stranger who he is, and who his +parents are, and whence he comes to Iolcos?'</p> + +<p>And Jason answered, 'I am Jason, son of the rightful +king, Æson, and I am come to take back my kingdom.'</p> + +<p>The king grew pale again, but he was cunning, and he +leaped up and embraced the lad, and made much of him, +and caused a gold circlet to be twisted in his hair. Then he +said he was old, and weary of judging the people. 'And +weary work it is,' he said, 'and no joy therewith shall any +king have. For there is a curse on the country, that shall +not be taken away till the Fleece of Gold is brought home, +from the land of the world's end. The ghost of Phrixus +stands by my bedside every night, wailing and will not be +comforted, till the Fleece is brought home again.'</p> + +<p>When Jason heard that he cried, 'I shall take the curse +away, for by the splendour of Lady Hera's brow, I shall +bring the Fleece of Gold from the land of the world's end +before I sit on the throne of my father.'</p> + +<p>Now this was the very thing that the king wished, for +he thought that if once Jason went after the Fleece, certainly +he would never come back living to Iolcos. So he said that +it could never be done, for the land was far away across the +sea, so far that the birds could not come and go in one year, +so great a sea was that and perilous. Also, there was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +dragon that guarded the Fleece of Gold, and no man could +face it and live.</p> + +<p>But the idea of fighting a dragon was itself a temptation +to Jason, and he made a great vow by the water of Styx, an +oath the very gods feared to break, that certainly he would +bring home that Fleece to Iolcos. And he sent out messengers +all over Greece, to all his old friends, who were with +him in the Centaur's cave, and bade them come and help +him, for that there was a dragon to kill, and that there +would be fighting. And they all came, driving in their +chariots down dales and across hills: Heracles, the strong +man, with the bow that none other could bend; and +Orpheus with his harp, and Castor and Polydeuces, and +Zetes and Calais of the golden wings, and Tiphys, the +steersman, and young Hylas, still a boy, and as fair as a +girl, who always went with Heracles the strong.</p> + +<p>These came, and many more, and they set shipbuilders +to work, and oaks were felled for beams, and ashes for oars, +and spears were made, and arrows feathered, and swords +sharpened. But in the prow of the ship they placed a +bough of an oak tree from the forest of Zeus in Dodona +where the trees can speak, and that bough spoke, and +prophesied things to come. They called the ship 'Argo,' +and they launched her, and put bread, and meat, and +wine on board, and hung their shields outside the bulwarks. +Then they said good-bye to their friends, went +aboard, sat down at the oars, set sail, and so away eastward +to Colchis, in the land of the world's end.</p> + +<p>All day they rowed, and at night they beached the ship, +as was then the custom, for they did not sail at night, and +they went on shore, and took supper, and slept, and next +day to the sea again. And old Chiron, the man-horse, saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +the swift ship from his mountain heights, and ran down to +the beach; there he stood with the waves of the gray sea +breaking over his feet, waving with his mighty hands, and +wishing his boys a safe return. And his wife stood beside +him, holding in her arms the little son of one of the ship's +company, Achilles, the son of Peleus of the Spear, and of +Thetis the goddess of the Sea Foam.</p> + +<p>So they rowed ever eastward, and ere long they came to +a strange isle where dwelt men with six hands apiece, unruly +giants. And these giants lay in wait for them on cliffs +above the river's mouth where the ship was moored, and +before the dawn they rolled down great rocks on the crew. +But Heracles drew his huge bow, the bow for which he slew +Eurytus, king of Oechalia, and wherever a giant showed +hand or shoulder above the cliff, he pinned him through +with an arrow, till all were slain. After that they still +held eastward, passing many islands, and towns of men, till +they reached Mysia, and the Asian shore. Here they landed, +with bad luck. For while they were cutting reeds and +grass to strew their beds on the sands, young Hylas, beautiful +Hylas, went off with a pitcher in his hand to draw water. +He came to a beautiful spring, a deep, clear, green pool, +and there the water-fairies lived, whom men called Nereids. +There were Eunis, and Nycheia with her April eyes, and +when they saw the beautiful Hylas, they longed to have +him always with them, to live in the crystal caves beneath +the water, for they had never seen anyone so beautiful. +As he stooped with his pitcher and dipped it into the stream, +they caught him softly in their arms, and drew him down +below, and no man ever saw him any more, but he dwelt +with the water-fairies.</p> + +<p>But Heracles the strong, who loved him like a younger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +brother, wandered all over the country crying '<i>Hylas! +Hylas!</i>' and the boy's voice answered so faintly from +below the stream that Heracles never heard him. So he +roamed alone in the forests, and the rest of the crew thought +he was lost.</p> + +<p>Then the sons of the North Wind were angry, and bade +them set sail without him, and sail they did, leaving the +strong man behind. Long afterward, when the Fleece was +won, Heracles met the sons of the North Wind, and slew +them with his arrows. And he buried them, and set a great +stone on each grave, and one of these is ever stirred, and +shakes when the North Wind blows. There they lie, and +their golden wings are at rest.</p> + +<p>Still they sped on, with a west wind blowing, and they +came to a country whose king was strong, and thought +himself the best boxer then living, so he came down to the +ship and challenged anyone of that crew; and Polydeuces, +the boxer, took up the challenge. All the rest, and the +people of the country, made a ring, and Polydeuces and +huge King Amycus stepped into the midst, and put up +their hands. First they moved round each other cautiously, +watching for a chance, and then, as the sun shone forth in +the Giant's face, Polydeuces leaped in and struck him +between the eyes with his left hand, and, strong as he was, +the Giant staggered and fell. Then his friends picked him +up, and sponged his face with water, and all the crew of +'Argo' shouted with joy. He was soon on his feet again, +and rushed at Polydeuces, hitting out so hard that he would +have killed him if the blow had gone home. But Polydeuces +just moved his head a little on one side, and the +blow went by, and, as the Giant slipped, Polydeuces planted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +one in his mouth and another beneath his ear, and was +away before the Giant could recover.</p> + +<p>There they stood, breathing heavily, and glaring at each +other, till the Giant made another rush, but Polydeuces +avoided him, and struck him several blows quickly in the +eyes, and now the Giant was almost blind. Then Polydeuces +at once ended the combat by a right-hand blow +on the temple. The Giant fell, and lay as if he were dead. +When he came to himself again, he had no heart to go on, +for his knees shook, and he could hardly see. So Polydeuces +made him swear never to challenge strangers again +as long as he lived, and then the crew of 'Argo' crowned +Polydeuces with a wreath of poplar leaves, and they took +supper, and Orpheus sang to them, and they slept, and next +day they came to the country of the unhappiest of kings.</p> + +<p>His name was Phineus, and he was a prophet; but, +when he came to meet Jason and his company, he seemed +more like the ghost of a beggar than a crowned king. For +he was blind, and very old, and he wandered like a dream, +leaning on a staff, and feeling the wall with his hand. His +limbs all trembled, he was but a thing of skin and bone, and +foul and filthy to see. At last he reached the doorway of +the house where Jason was, and sat down, with his purple +cloak fallen round him, and he held up his skinny hands, +and welcomed Jason, for, being a prophet, he knew that +now he should be delivered from his wretchedness.</p> + +<p>He lived, or rather lingered, in all this misery because he +had offended the gods, and had told men what things were +to happen in the future beyond what the gods desired that +men should know. So they blinded him, and they sent +against him hideous monsters with wings and crooked +claws, called Harpies, which fell upon him at his meat,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +and carried it away before he could put it to his mouth. +Sometimes they flew off with all the meat; sometimes they +left a little, that he might not quite starve, and die, and be +at peace, but might live in misery. Yet what they left was +made so foul, and of such evil savour, that even a starving +man could scarcely take it within his lips. Thus this king +was the most miserable of all men living.</p> + +<p>He welcomed the heroes, and, above all, Zetes and +Calais, the sons of the North Wind, for they, he knew, would +help him. And they all went into his wretched, naked hall, +and sat down at the tables, and the servants brought meat +and drink and placed it before them, the latest and last +supper of the Harpies. Then down on the meat swooped +the Harpies, like lightning or wind, with clanging brazen +wings, and iron claws, and the smell of a battlefield where +men lie dead; down they swooped, and flew shrieking away +with the food. But the two sons of the North Wind drew +their short swords, and rose in the air on their golden wings, +and followed where the Harpies fled, over many a sea and +many a land, till they came to a distant isle, and there they +slew the Harpies with their swords. And that isle was +called 'Turn Again,' for there the sons of the North Wind +turned, and it was late in the night when they came back +to the hall of Phineus, and to their companions.</p> + +<p>Here Phineus was telling Jason and his company how +they might win their way to Colchis and the world's end, +and the wood of the Fleece of Gold. 'First,' he said, 'you +shall come in your ship to the Rocks Wandering, for these +rocks wander like living things in the sea, and no ship +has ever sailed between them. They open, like a great +mouth, to let ships pass, and when she is between their lips +they clash again, and crush her in their iron jaws. By this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +way even winged things may never pass; nay, not even the +doves that bear ambrosia to Father Zeus, the lord of Olympus, +but the rocks ever catch one even of these. So, when +you come near them, you must let loose a dove from the +ship, and let her go before you to try the way. And if she +flies safely between the rocks from one sea to the other sea, +then row with all your might when the rocks open again. +But if the rocks close on the bird, then return, and do not +try the adventure. But, if you win safely through, then +hold right on to the mouth of the River Phasis, and there +you shall see the towers of Æêtes, the king, and the grove +of the Fleece of Gold. And then do as well as you may.'</p> + +<p>So they thanked him, and the next morning they set +sail, till they came to a place where the Rocks Wandering +wallowed in the water, and all was foam; but when the +Rocks leaped apart the stream ran swift, and the waves +roared beneath the rocks, and the wet cliffs bellowed. Then +Euphemus took the dove in his hands, and set her free, +and she flew straight at the pass where the rocks met, and +sped right through, and the rocks gnashed like gnashing +teeth, but they caught only a feather from her tail.</p> + +<p>Then slowly the rocks opened again, like a wild beast's +mouth that opens, and Tiphys, the helmsman, shouted, +'Row on, hard all!' and he held the ship straight for the +pass. Then the oars bent like bows in the hands of men, +and the good ship leaped at the stroke. Three strokes +they pulled, and at each the ship leaped, and now they were +within the black jaws of the rocks, the water boiling round +them, and so dark it was that overhead they could see the +stars, but the oarsmen could not see the daylight behind +them, and the steersman could not see the daylight in front. +Then the great tide rushed in between the rocks like a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +rushing river, and lifted the ship as if it were lifted by a hand, +and through the strait she passed like a bird, and the rocks +clashed, and only broke the carved wood of the ship's stern. +And the ship reeled into the seething sea beyond, and all the +men of Jason bowed their heads over their oars, half dead +with the fierce rowing.</p> + +<p>Then they set all sail, and the ship sped merrily on, +past the shores of the inner sea, past bays and towns, and +river mouths, and round green hills, the tombs of men slain +long ago. And, behold, on the top of one mound stood a +tall man, clad in rusty armour, and with a broken sword +in his hand, and on his head a helmet with a blood-red crest. +Thrice he waved his hand, and thrice he shouted aloud, +and was no more seen, for this was the ghost of Sthenelus, +Actæon's son, whom an arrow had slain there long since, +and he had come forth from his tomb to see men of his +own blood, and to greet Jason and his company. So they +anchored there, and slew sheep in sacrifice, and poured +blood and wine on the grave of Sthenelus. There +Orpheus left a harp, placing it in the bough of a tree, that +the wind might sing in the chords, and make music to +Sthenelus below the earth.</p> + +<p>Then they sailed on, and at evening they saw above +their heads the snowy crests of Mount Caucasus, flushed in +the sunset; and high in the air they saw, as it were, a black +speck that grew greater and greater, and fluttered black +wings, and then fell sheer down like a stone. Then they +heard a dreadful cry from a valley of the mountain, for there +Prometheus was fastened to the rock, and the eagles fed +upon him, because he stole fire from the gods, and gave it to +men. All the heroes shuddered when they heard his cry;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +but not long after Heracles came that way, and he slew the +eagle with his bow, and set Prometheus free.</p> + +<p>But at nightfall they came into the wide mouth of the +River Phasis, that flows through the land of the world's end, +and they saw the lights burning in the palace of Æêtes +the king. So now they were come to the last stage of their +journey, and there they slept, and dreamed of the Fleece +of Gold.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIIb" id="IIIb"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center">THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE</p> + +<p>Next morning the heroes awoke, and left the ship +moored in the river's mouth, hidden by tall reeds, for they +took down the mast, lest it should be seen. Then they +walked toward the city of Colchis, and they passed through +a strange and horrible wood. Dead men, bound together +with cords, were hanging from the branches, for the Colchis +people buried women, but hung dead men from the branches +of trees. Then they came to the palace, where King +Æêtes lived, with his young son Absyrtus, and his daughter +Chalciope, who had been the wife of Phrixus, and his +younger daughter, Medea, who was a witch, and the priestess +of Brimo, a dreadful goddess. Now Chalciope came out +and welcomed Jason, for she knew the heroes were of her +dear husband's country. And beautiful Medea, the dark +witch-girl, came forth and saw Jason, and as soon as she +saw him she loved him more than her father and her +brother and all her father's house. For his bearing was +gallant, and his armour golden, and long yellow hair fell +over his shoulders, and over the leopard skin that he wore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +above his armour. Medea turned white and then red, +and cast down her eyes, but Chalciope took the heroes to +the baths, and gave them food, and they were brought to +Æêtes, who asked them why they came, and they told him +that they desired the Fleece of Gold, and he was very +angry, and told them that only to a better man than himself +would he give up that Fleece. If any wished to prove +himself worthy of it he must tame two bulls which breathed +flame from their nostrils, and must plough four acres with +these bulls, and next he must sow the field with the teeth +of a dragon, and these teeth when sown would immediately +grow up into armed men. Jason said that, as it must be, +he would try this adventure, but he went sadly enough +back to the ship and did not notice how kindly Medea was +looking after him as he went.</p> + +<p>Now, in the dead of night, Medea could not sleep, because +she was so sorry for the stranger, and she knew that +she could help him by her magic. But she remembered +how her father would burn her for a witch if she helped +Jason, and a great shame, too, came on her that she should +prefer a stranger to her own people. So she arose in the +dark, and stole just as she was to her sister's room, a +white figure roaming like a ghost in the palace. At her +sister's door she turned back in shame, saying, 'No, I will +never do it,' and she went back again to her chamber, and +came again, and knew not what to do; but at last she +returned to her own bower, and threw herself on her bed, +and wept. Her sister heard her weeping, and came to her +and they cried together, but softly, that no one might hear +them. For Chalciope was as eager to help the Greeks for +love of Phrixus, her dead husband, as Medea was for the +love of Jason.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>At last Medea promised to carry to the temple of the +goddess of whom she was a priestess, a drug that would +tame the bulls which dwelt in the field of that temple. +But still she wept and wished that she were dead, and had +a mind to slay herself; yet, all the time, she was longing +for the dawn, that she might go and see Jason, and give him +the drug, and see his face once more, if she was never to see +him again. So, at dawn she bound up her hair, and bathed +her face, and took the drug, which was pressed from a flower. +That flower first blossomed when the eagle shed the blood +of Prometheus on the earth. The virtue of the juice of the +flower was this, that if a man anointed himself with it, he +could not that day be wounded by swords, and fire could +not burn him. So she placed it in a vial beneath her girdle, +and she went with other girls, her friends, to the temple +of the goddess. Now Jason had been warned by Chalciope +to meet her there, and he was coming with Mopsus who +knew the speech of birds. But Mopsus heard a crow that +sat on a poplar tree speaking to another crow, saying:</p> + +<p>'Here comes a silly prophet, and sillier than a goose. +He is walking with a young man to meet a maid, and does +not know that, while he is there to hear, the maid will not +say a word that is in her heart. Go away, foolish prophet; +it is not you she cares for.'</p> + +<p>Then Mopsus smiled, and stopped where he was; but +Jason went on, where Medea was pretending to play with +the girls, her companions. When she saw Jason she felt +as if she could neither go forward, nor go back, and she +was very pale. But Jason told her not to be afraid, and +asked her to help him, but for long she could not answer +him; however, at the last, she gave him the drug, and +taught him how to use it. 'So shall you carry the fleece<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +to Iolcos, far away, but what is it to me where you go +when you have gone from here? Still remember the name +of me, Medea, as I shall remember you. And may there +come to me some voice, or some bird bearing the message, +whenever you have quite forgotten me.'</p> + +<p>But Jason answered, 'Lady, let the winds blow what +voice they will, and what that bird will, let him bring. But +no wind or bird shall ever bear the news that I have forgotten +you, if you will cross the sea with me, and be my wife.'</p> + +<p>Then she was glad, and yet she was afraid, at the thought +of that dark voyage, with a stranger, from her father's +home and her own. So they parted, Jason to the ship, and +Medea to the palace. But in the morning Jason anointed +himself and his armour with the drug, and all the heroes +struck at him with spears and swords, but the swords would +not bite on him nor on his armour. He felt so strong and +light that he leaped in the air with joy, and the sun shone +on his glittering shield. Now they all went up together +to the field where the bulls were breathing flame. There +already was Æêtes, with Medea, and all the Colchians had +come to see Jason die. A plough had been brought to which +he was to harness the bulls. Then he walked up to them, +and they blew fire at him that flamed all round him, but the +magic drug protected him. He took a horn of one bull in +his right hand, and a horn of the other in his left, and dashed +their heads together so mightily that they fell.</p> + +<p>When they rose, all trembling, he yoked them to the +plough, and drove them with his spear, till all the field was +ploughed in straight ridges and furrows. Then he dipped +his helmet in the river, and drank water, for he was weary; +and next he sowed the dragon's teeth on the right and left. +Then you might see spear points, and sword points, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +crests of helmets break up from the soil like shoots of corn, +and presently the earth was shaken like sea waves, as armed +men leaped out of the furrows, all furious for battle, and all +rushed to slay Jason. But he, as Medea had told him to do, +caught up a great rock, and threw it among them, and he +who was struck by the rock said to his neighbour, 'You +struck me; take that!' and ran his spear through that +man's breast, but before he could draw it out another man +had cleft his helmet with a stroke, and so it went: an hour +of striking and shouting, while the sparks of fire sprang +up from helmet and breastplate and shield. The furrows +ran red with blood, and wounded men crawled on hands +and knees to strike or stab those that were yet standing +and fighting. So axes and sword and spear flashed and fell, +till now all the men were down but one, taller and stronger +than the rest. Round him he looked, and saw only Jason +standing there, and he staggered toward him, bleeding, and +lifting his great axe above his head. But Jason only stepped +aside from the blow which would have cloven him to the +waist, the last blow of the Men of the Dragon's Teeth, for he +who struck fell, and there he lay and died.</p> + +<p>Then Jason went to the king, where he sat looking darkly +on, and said, 'O King, the field is ploughed, the seed is +sown, the harvest is reaped. Give me now the Fleece of +Gold, and let me be gone.' But the king said, 'Enough is +done. To-morrow is a new day. To-morrow shall you +win the Fleece.'</p> + +<p>Then he looked sidewise at Medea, and she knew that he +suspected her, and she was afraid.</p> + +<p>Æêtes went and sat brooding over his wine with the +captains of his people; and his mood was bitter, both for +loss of the Fleece, and because Jason had won it not by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +his own prowess, but by the magic aid of Medea. As for +Medea herself, it was the king's purpose to put her to a cruel +death, and this she needed not her witchery to know, and +a fire was in her eyes, and terrible sounds were ringing in her +ears, and it seemed she had but two choices: to drink poison +and die, or to flee with the heroes in the ship 'Argo.' But +at last flight seemed better than death. So she hid all her +engines of witchcraft in the folds of her gown, and she kissed +her bed where she would never sleep again, and the posts +of the door, and she caressed the very walls with her hand +in that last farewell. And she cut a long lock of her yellow +hair, and left it in the room, a keepsake to her mother dear, +in memory of her maiden days. 'Good-bye, my mother,' +she said, 'this long lock I leave thee in place of me; good-bye, +a long good-bye, to me who am going on a long journey; +good-bye, my sister Chalciope, good-bye! dear house, +good-bye!'</p> + +<p>Then she stole from the house, and the bolted doors +leaped open at their own accord at the swift spell Medea +murmured. With her bare feet she ran down the grassy +paths, and the daisies looked black against the white feet +of Medea. So she sped to the temple of the goddess, and +the moon overhead looked down on her. Many a time had +she darkened the moon's face with her magic song, and now +the Lady Moon gazed white upon her, and said, 'I am not, +then, the only one that wanders in the night for love, as I +love Endymion the sleeper, who sleeps on the crest of the +Latmian hill, and beholds me in his dreams. Many a time +hast thou darkened my face with thy songs, and made +night black with thy sorceries, and now thou too art in +love! So go thy way, and bid thy heart endure, for a +sore fate is before thee!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Medea hastened on till she came to the high river +bank, and saw the heroes, merry at their wine in the light +of a blazing fire. Thrice she called aloud, and they heard +her, and came to her, and she said, 'Save me, my friends, +for all is known, and my death is sure. And I will give you +the Fleece of Gold for the price of my life.'</p> + +<p>Then Jason swore that she should be his wife, and more +dear to him than all the world. So she went aboard their +boat, and swiftly they rowed up stream to the dark wood +where the dragon who never sleeps lay guarding the Fleece +of Gold. There she landed, and Jason, and Orpheus with +his harp, and through the wood they went, but that old +serpent saw them coming, and hissed so loud that women +wakened in Colchis town, and children cried to their mothers. +But Orpheus struck softly on his harp, and he sang a hymn +to Sleep, bidding him come and cast a slumber on the +dragon's wakeful eyes. This was the song he sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Sleep! King of Gods and men!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come to my call again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swift over field and fen,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Mountain and deep;</span> +<span class="i0">Come, bid the waves be still;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sleep, streams on height and hill;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beasts, birds, and snakes, thy will<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Conquereth, Sleep!</span> +<span class="i0">Come on thy golden wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come ere the swallow sings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lulling all living things,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fly they or creep!</span> +<span class="i0">Come with thy leaden wand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come with thy kindly hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soothing on sea or land<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Mortals that weep.</span> +<span class="i0">Come from the cloudy west,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft over brain and breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bidding the Dragon rest,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Come to me, Sleep!</span> +</div> + +<p>This was Orpheus's song, and he sang so sweetly that the +bright, small eyes of the dragon closed, and all his hard +coils softened and uncurled. Then Jason set his foot on +the dragon's neck and hewed off his head, and lifted down the +Golden Fleece from the sacred oak tree, and it shone like a +golden cloud at dawn. He waited not to wonder at it, but +he and Medea and Orpheus hurried through the wet wood-paths +to the ship, and threw it on board, cast a cloak over it, +and bade the heroes sit down to the oars, half of them, but +the others to take their shields and stand each beside the +oarsmen, to guard them from the arrows of the Colchians. +Then he cut the stern cables with his sword, and softly +they rowed, under the bank, down the dark river to the +sea. But the hissing of the dragon had already awakened +the Colchians, and lights were flitting by the palace windows, +and Æêtes was driving in his chariot with all his men +down to the banks of the river. Then their arrows fell like +hail about the ship, but they rebounded from the shields +of the heroes, and the swift ship sped over the bar, and +leaped as she felt the first waves of the salt sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs13" id="gs13"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs13.png" width="350" height="469" alt="HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN FLEECE WAS SLAIN." title="HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN FLEECE WAS SLAIN." /> +<span class="caption">HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN FLEECE WAS SLAIN.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>And now the Fleece was won. But it was weary work +bringing it home to Greece, and Medea and Jason did a +deed which angered the gods. They slew her brother +Absyrtus, who followed after them with a fleet, and cut him +limb from limb, and when Æêtes came with his ships, and +saw the dead limbs, he stopped, and went home, for his heart +was broken. The gods would not let the Greeks return by +the way they had come, but by strange ways where never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +another ship has sailed. Up the Ister (the Danube) they +rowed, through countries of savage men, till the 'Argo' +could go no farther, by reason of the narrowness of the +stream. Then they hauled her overland, where no man +knows, but they launched her on the Elbe at last, and out +into a sea where never sail had been seen. Then they were +driven wandering out into Ocean, and to a fairy, far-off isle +where Lady Circe dwelt. Circe was the sister of King Æêtes, +both were children of the Sun God, and Medea hoped that +Circe would be kind to her, as she could not have heard of +the slaying of Absyrtus. Medea and Jason went up through +the woods of the isle to the house of Circe, and had no fear +of the lions and wolves and bears that guarded the house. +These knew that Medea was an enchantress, and they +fawned on her and Jason and let them pass. But in +the house they found Circe clad in dark mourning raiment, +and all her long black hair fell wet and dripping to her feet, +for she had seen visions of terror and sin, and therefore +she had purified herself in salt water of the sea. The walls +of her chamber, in the night, had shone as with fire, and +dripped as with blood, and a voice of wailing had broken +forth, and the spirit of dead Absyrtus had cried in her ears.</p> + +<p>When Medea and Jason entered her hall, Circe bade +them sit down, and called her bower maidens, fairies of +woods and waters, to strew a table with a cloth of gold, and +set on it food and wine. But Jason and Medea ran to the +hearth, the sacred place of the house to which men that +have done murder flee, and there they are safe, when they +come in their flight to the house of a stranger. They cast +ashes from the hearth on their heads, and Circe knew +that they had slain Absyrtus. Yet she was of Medea's +near kindred, and she respected the law of the hearth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +Therefore she did the rite of purification, as was the custom, +cleansing blood with blood, and she burned in the fire a +cake of honey, and meal, and oil, to appease the Furies who +revenge the deaths of kinsmen by the hands of kinsmen.</p> + +<p>When all was done, Jason and Medea rose from their +knees, and sat down on chairs in the hall, and Medea told +Circe all her tale, except the slaying of Absyrtus.</p> + +<p>'More and worse than you tell me you have done,' said +Circe, 'but you are my brother's daughter.'</p> + +<p>Then she advised them of all the dangers of their way +home to Greece, how they must shun the Sirens, and Scylla +and Charybdis, and she sent a messenger, Iris, the goddess +of the Rainbow, to bid Thetis help them through the perils +of the sea, and bring them safe to Phæacia, where the +Phæacians would send them home.</p> + +<p>'But you shall never be happy, nor know one good year +in all your lives,' said Circe, and she bade them farewell.</p> + +<p>They went by the way that Ulysses went on a later +day; they passed through many perils, and came to Iolcos, +where Pelias was old, and made Jason reign in his stead.</p> + +<p>But Jason and Medea loved each other no longer, and +many stories, all different from each other, are told concerning +evil deeds that they wrought, and certainly they +left each other, and Jason took another wife, and Medea +went to Athens. Here she lived in the palace of Ægeus, +an unhappy king who had been untrue to his own true love, +and therefore the gods took from him courage and strength. +But about Medea at Athens the story is told in the next +tale, the tale of Theseus, Ægeus's son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THESEUS" id="THESEUS"></a>THESEUS</h2> + +<h2><a name="Ic" id="Ic"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="center">THE WEDDING OF ÆTHRA</p> + +<p>Long before Ulysses was born, there lived in Athens a young +king, strong, brave, and beautiful, named Ægeus. Athens, +which later became so great and famous, was then but a little +town, perched on the top of a cliff which rises out of the +plain, two or three miles from the sea. No doubt the place +was chosen so as to be safe against pirates, who then used +to roam all about the seas, plundering merchant ships, robbing +cities, and carrying away men, women, and children, +to sell as slaves. The Athenians had then no fleet with +which to put the pirates down, and possessed not so much +land as would make a large estate in England: other little +free towns held the rest of the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>King Ægeus was young, and desired to take a wife, indeed +a wife had been found for him. But he wanted to be +certain, if he could, that he was to have sons to succeed +him: so many misfortunes happen to kings who have no +children. But how was he to find out whether he should +have children or not? At that time, and always in Greece +before it was converted to Christianity, there were temples +of the gods in various places, at which it was supposed +that men might receive answers to their questions. These<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +temples were called oracles, or places where oracles were +given, and the most famous of them was the temple of Apollo +at Pytho, or Delphi, far to the north-west of Athens. Here +was a deep ravine of a steep mountain, where the god +Apollo was said to have shot a monstrous dragon with his +arrows. He then ordered that a temple should be built +here, and in this temple a maiden, being inspired by the god, +gave her prophecies. The people who came to consult her +made the richest presents to the priests, and the temple +was full of cups and bowls of gold and silver, and held more +wealth in its chambers than the treasure houses of the +richest kings.</p> + +<p>Ægeus determined to go to Delphi to ask his question: +would he have sons to come after him? He did not tell +his people where he was going; he left the kingdom to be +governed by his brother Pallas, and he set out secretly at +night, taking no servant. He did not wear royal dress, +and he drove his own chariot, carrying for his offering only +a small cup of silver, for he did not wish it to be known that +he was a king, and told the priests that he was a follower +of Peleus, King of Phthia. In answer to his question, the +maiden sang two lines of verse, for she always prophesied +in verse. Her reply was difficult to understand, as oracles +often were, for the maiden seldom spoke out clearly, but in a +kind of riddle that might be understood in more ways than +one; so that, whatever happened, she could not be proved +to have made a mistake.</p> + +<p>Ægeus was quite puzzled by the answer he got. He did +not return to Athens, but went to consult the prince of +Troezene, named Pittheus, who was thought the wisest man +then living. Pittheus did not know who Ægeus was, but +saw that he seemed of noble birth, tall and handsome, so he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +received him very kindly, and kept him in his house for some +time, entertaining him with feasts, dances, and hunting +parties. Now Pittheus had a very lovely daughter, named +Æthra. She and Ægeus fell in love with each other, so +deeply that they desired to be married. It was the custom +that the bridegroom should pay a price, a number of cattle, +to the father of the bride, and Ægeus, of course, had no +cattle to give. But it was also the custom, if the lover +did some very brave and useful action, to reward him with +the hand of his lady, and Ægeus had his opportunity. +A fleet of pirates landed at Troezene and attacked the town, +but Ægeus fought so bravely and led the men of Pittheus +so well, that he not only slew the pirate chief, and defeated +his men, but also captured some of his ships, which were +full of plunder, gold, and bronze, and iron, and slaves. +With this wealth Ægeus paid the bride price, as it was called, +for Æthra, and they were married. Pittheus thought himself +a lucky man, for he had no son, and here was a son-in-law +who could protect his little kingdom, and wear the +crown when he himself was dead.</p> + +<p>Though Pittheus was believed to be very wise, in this +matter he was very foolish. He never knew who Ægeus +really was, that is the king of Athens, nor did poor Æthra +know. In a short time Ægeus wearied of beautiful Æthra, +who continued to love him dearly. He was anxious also to +return to his kingdom, for he heard that his brother Pallas +and his many sons were governing badly; and he feared +that Pallas might keep the crown for himself, so he began +to speak mysteriously to Æthra, talking about a long and +dangerous journey which he was obliged to make, for secret +reasons, and from which he might never return alive. Æthra +wept bitterly, and sometimes thought, as people did in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +these days, that the beautiful stranger might be no man, +but a god, and that he might return to Olympus, the home +of the gods, and forget her; for the gods never tarried long +with the mortal women who loved them.</p> + +<p>At last Ægeus took Æthra to a lonely glen in the woods, +where, beside a little mountain stream, lay a great moss-grown +boulder that an earthquake, long ago, had shaken +from the rocky cliff above. 'The time is coming,' said Ægeus +'when you and I must part, and only the gods can tell +when we shall meet again! It may be that you will bear +a child, and, if he be a boy, when he has come to his strength +you must lead him to this great stone, and let no man or +woman be there but you two only. You must then bid +him roll away the stone, and, if he has no strength to raise +it, so must it be. But if he can roll it away, then let him take +such things as he finds there, and let him consider them well, +and do what the gods put into his heart.'</p> + +<p>Thus Ægeus spoke, and on the dawn of the third night +after this day, when Æthra awoke from sleep, she did not +find him by her side. She arose, and ran through the +house, calling his name, but there came no answer, and +from that time Ægeus was never seen again in Troezene, +and people marvelled, thinking that he, who came whence +no man knew, and was so brave and beautiful, must be +one of the immortal gods. 'Who but a god,' they said, +'would leave for no cause a bride, the flower of Greece for +beauty, young, and loving; and a kingdom to which he was +not born? Truly he must be Apollo of the silver bow, or +Hermes of the golden wand.'</p> + +<p>So they spoke among each other, and honoured Æthra +greatly, but she pined and drooped with sorrow, like a tall +lily flower, that the frost has touched in a rich man's garden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIc" id="IIc"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center">THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS</p> + +<p>Time went by, and Æthra had a baby, a son. This was +her only comfort, and she thought that she saw in him a +likeness to his father, whose true name she did not know. +Certainly he was a very beautiful baby, well formed and +strong, and, as soon as he could walk he was apt to quarrel +with other children of his own age, and fight with them in a +harmless way. He never was an amiable child, though he +was always gentle to his mother. From the first he was +afraid of nothing, and when he was about four or five he +used to frighten his mother by wandering from home, with +his little bow and arrows, and staying by himself in the +woods. However, he always found his own way back again, +sometimes with a bird or a snake that he had shot, and once +dragging the body of a fawn that was nearly as heavy as +himself. Thus his mother, from his early boyhood, had +many fears for him, that he might be killed by some fierce +wild boar in the woods, for he would certainly shoot at +whatever beast he met; or that he might kill some other +boy in a quarrel, when he would be obliged to leave the +country. The other boys, however, soon learned not to +quarrel with Theseus (so Æthra had named her son), for +he was quick of temper, and heavy of hand, and, as for the +wild beasts, he was cool as well as eager, and seemed to have +an untaught knowledge of how to deal with them.</p> + +<p>Æthra was therefore very proud of her son, and began to +hope that when he was older he would be able to roll away +the great stone in the glen. She told him nothing about it +when he was little, but, in her walks with him in the woods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +or on the sea shore, she would ask him to try his force in lifting +large stones. When he succeeded she kissed and praised +him, and told him stories of the famous strong man, Heracles, +whose name was well known through all Greece. Theseus +could not bear to be beaten at lifting any weight, and, if he +failed, he would rise early and try again in the morning, +for many men, as soon as they rise from bed, can lift weights +which are too heavy for them later in the day.</p> + +<p>When Theseus was seven years old, Æthra found for +him a tutor, named Connidas, who taught him the arts of +netting beasts and hunting, and how to manage the dogs, +and how to drive a chariot, and wield sword and shield, +and to throw the spear. Other things Connidas taught him +which were known to few men in Greece, for Connidas came +from the great rich island of Crete. He had killed a man +there in a quarrel, and fled to Troezene to escape the revenge +of the man's brothers and cousins. In Crete many people +could read and write, which in Greece, perhaps none could do, +and Connidas taught Theseus this learning.</p> + +<p>When he was fifteen years old, Theseus went, as was +the custom of young princes, to the temple of Delphi, not to +ask questions, but to cut his long hair, and sacrifice it to +the god, Apollo. He cut the forelock of his hair, so that +no enemy, in battle, might take hold of it, for Theseus +intended to fight at close quarters, hand to hand, in war, +not to shoot arrows and throw spears from a distance. +By this time he thought himself a man, and was always +asking where his father was, while Æthra told him how her +husband had left her soon after their marriage, and that +she had never heard of him since, but that some day Theseus +might find out all about him for himself, which no other +person would ever be able to do.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>Æthra did not wish to tell Theseus too soon the secret +of the great stone, which hid she knew not what. She saw +that he would leave her and go to seek his father, if he was +able to raise the stone and find out the secret, and she +could not bear to lose him, now that day by day he grew more +like his father, her lost lover. Besides, she wanted him +not to try to raise the stone till he came to his strength. +But when he was in his nineteenth year, he told her that he +would now go all over Greece and the whole world seeking +for his father. She saw that he meant what he said, and +one day she led him alone to the glen where the great stone +lay, and sat down with him there, now talking, and now +silent as if she were listening to the pleasant song of the +burn that fell from a height into a clear deep pool. Really +she was listening to make sure that no hunter and no lovers +were near them in the wood, but she only heard the songs +of the water and the birds, no voices, or cry of hounds, or +fallen twig cracking under a footstep.</p> + +<p>At last, when she was quite certain that nobody was +near, she whispered, and told Theseus how her husband, +before he disappeared, had taken her to this place, and +shown her the great moss-grown boulder, and said that, +when his son could lift that stone away, he would find +certain tokens, and that he must then do what the gods +put into his heart. Theseus listened eagerly, and said, 'If +my father lifted that stone, and placed under it certain +tokens, I also can lift it, perhaps not yet, but some day I +shall be as strong a man as my father.' Then he set himself +to move the stone, gradually putting out all his force, but +it seemed rooted in the earth, though he tried it now on one +side and now on another. At last he flung himself at his +mother's feet, with his head in the grass, and lay without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +speaking. His breath came hard and quick, and his hands +were bleeding. Æthra laid her hand on his long hair, +and was silent. 'I shall not lose my boy this year,' she +thought.</p> + +<p>They were long in that lonely place, but at last Theseus +rose, and kissed his mother, and stretched his arms. 'Not +to-day!' he said, but his mother thought in her heart, 'Not +for many a day, I hope!' Then they walked home to the +house of Pittheus, saying little, and when they had taken +supper, Theseus said that he would go to bed and dream of +better fortune. So he arose, and went to his own chamber, +which was built apart in the court of the palace, and soon +Æthra too went to sleep, not unhappy, for her boy, she +thought, would not leave her for a long time.</p> + +<p>But in the night Theseus arose, and put on his shoes, and +his smock, and a great double mantle. He girt on his sword +of bronze, and went into the housekeeper's chamber, where +he took a small skin of wine, and some food. These he +placed in a wallet which he slung round his neck by a cord, +and, lastly he stole out of the court, and walked to the lonely +glen, and to the pool in the burn near which the great +stone lay. Here he folded his purple mantle of fine wool +round him, and lay down to sleep in the grass, with his sword +lying near his hand.</p> + +<p>When he awoke the clear blue morning light was round +him, and all the birds were singing their song to the dawn. +Theseus arose, threw off his mantle and smock, and plunged +into the cold pool of the burn, and then he drank a little of +the wine, and ate of the bread and cold meat, and set himself +to move the stone. At the first effort, into which he put all +his strength, the stone stirred. With the second he felt it +rise a little way from the ground, and then he lifted with all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +the might in his heart and body, and rolled the stone clean +over.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs14" id="gs14"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs14.png" width="350" height="487" alt="THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE." title="THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE." /> +<span class="caption">THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Beneath it there was nothing but the fresh turned soil, +but in a hollow of the foot of the rock, which now lay upper-most, +there was a wrapping of purple woollen cloth, that +covered something. Theseus tore out the packet, unwrapped +the cloth, and found within it a wrapping of white +linen. This wrapping was in many folds, which he undid, +and at last he found a pair of shoon, such as kings wear, +adorned with gold, and also the most beautiful sword that +he had ever seen. The handle was of clear rock crystal, and +through the crystal you could see gold, inlaid with pictures of +a lion hunt done in different shades of gold and silver. The +sheath was of leather, with patterns in gold nails, and the +blade was of bronze, a beautiful pattern ran down the centre +to the point, the blade was straight, and double edged, supple, +sharp, and strong. Never had Theseus seen so beautiful a +sword, nor one so well balanced in his hand.</p> + +<p>He saw that this was a king's sword; and he thought +that it had not been wrought in Greece, for in Greece was +no sword-smith that could do such work. Examining it +very carefully he found characters engraved beneath the +hilt, not letters such as the Greeks used in later times, +but such Cretan signs as Connidas had taught him to read, +for many a weary hour, when he would like to have been +following the deer in the forest.</p> + +<p>Theseus pored over these signs till he read:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Icmalius me made. Of Ægeus of Athens am I.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Now he knew the secret. His father was Ægeus, the +king of Athens. Theseus had heard of him and knew that +he yet lived, a sad life full of trouble. For Ægeus had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +no child by his Athenian wife, and the fifty sons of his +brother, Pallas (who were called the Pallantidæ) despised +him, and feasted all day in his hall, recklessly and fiercely, +robbing the people, and Ægeus had no power in his own +kingdom.</p> + +<p>'Methinks that my father has need of me!' said Theseus +to himself. Then he wrapped up the sword and shoon in +the linen and the cloth of wool, and walked home in the +early morning to the palace of Pittheus.</p> + +<p>When Theseus came to the palace, he went straight to +the upper chamber of his mother, where she was spinning +wool with a distaff of ivory. When he laid before her the +sword and the shoon, the distaff fell from her hand, and +she hid her head in a fold of her robe. Theseus kissed her +hands and comforted her, and she dried her eyes, and +praised him for his strength. 'These are the sword and the +shoon of your father,' she said, 'but truly the gods have +taken away his strength and courage. For all men say +that Ægeus of Athens is not master in his own house; his +brother's sons rule him, and with them Medea, the witch +woman, that once was the wife of Jason.'</p> + +<p>'The more he needs his son!' said Theseus. 'Mother, +I must go to help him, and be the heir of his kingdom, where +you shall be with me always, and rule the people of Cecrops +that fasten the locks of their hair with grasshoppers of +gold.'</p> + +<p>'So may it be, my child,' said Æthra, 'if the gods go with +you to protect you. But you will sail to Athens in a ship +with fifty oarsmen, for the ways by land are long, and steep, +and dangerous, beset by cruel giants and monstrous men.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, mother,' said Theseus, 'by land must I go, for I +would not be known in Athens, till I see how matters fall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +out; and I would destroy these giants and robbers, and give +peace to the people, and win glory among men. This very +night I shall set forth.'</p> + +<p>He had a sore and sad parting from his mother, but under +cloud of night he went on his way, girt with the sword of +Ægeus, his father, and carrying in his wallet the shoon with +ornaments of gold.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIIc" id="IIIc"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center">ADVENTURES OF THESEUS</p> + +<p>Theseus walked through the night, and slept for most +of the next day at a shepherd's hut. The shepherd was +kind to him, and bade him beware of one called the Maceman, +who guarded a narrow path with a sheer cliff above, +and a sheer precipice below. 'No man born may deal +with the Maceman,' said the shepherd, 'for his great +club is of iron, that cannot be broken, and his strength is +as the strength of ten men, though his legs have no force to +bear his body. Men say that he is the son of the lame god, +Hephaestus, who forged his iron mace; there is not the like +of it in the world.'</p> + +<p>'Shall I fear a lame man?' said Theseus, 'and is it +not easy, even if he be so terrible a fighter, for me to pass +him in the darkness, for I walk by night?'</p> + +<p>The shepherd shook his head. 'Few men have passed +Periphetes the Maceman,' said he, 'and wiser are they +who trust to swift ships than to the upland path.'</p> + +<p>'You speak kindly, father,' said Theseus, 'but I am +minded to make the upland paths safe for all men.'</p> + +<p>So they parted, and Theseus walked through the sunset +and the dusk, always on a rising path, and the further he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +went the harder it was to see the way, for the path was +overgrown with grass, and the shadows were deepening. +Night fell, and Theseus hardly dared to go further, for on +his left hand was a wall of rock, and on his right hand a +cliff sinking sheer and steep to the sea. But now he saw +a light in front of him, a red light flickering, as from a great +fire, and he could not be content till he knew why that fire +was lighted. So he went on, slowly and warily, till he came +in full view of the fire which covered the whole of a little +platform of rock; on one side the blaze shone up the wall +of cliff on his left hand, on the other was the steep fall to +the sea. In front of this fire was a great black bulk; +Theseus knew not what it might be. He walked forward +till he saw that the black bulk was that of a monstrous +man, who sat with his back to the fire. The man nodded +his heavy head, thick with red unshorn hair, and Theseus +went up close to him.</p> + +<p>'Ho, sir,' he cried, 'this is my road, and on my road I +must pass!'</p> + +<p>The seated man opened his eyes sleepily.</p> + +<p>'Not without my leave,' he said, 'for I keep this way, +I and my club of iron.'</p> + +<p>'Get up and begone!' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'That were hard for me to do,' said the monstrous man, +'for my legs will not bear the weight of my body, but my +arms are strong enough.'</p> + +<p>'That is to be seen!' said Theseus, and he drew his +sword, and leaped within the guard of the iron club that the +monster, seated as he was, swung lightly to this side and +that, covering the whole width of the path. The Maceman +swung the club at Theseus, but Theseus sprang aside, and +in a moment, before the monster could recover his stroke,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +drove through his throat the sword of Ægeus, and he fell +back dead.</p> + +<p>'He shall have his rights of fire, that his shadow may not +wander outside the House of Hades,' said Theseus to himself, +and he toppled the body of the Maceman into his own +great fire. Then he went back some way, and wrapping +himself in his mantle, he slept till the sun was high in heaven, +while the fire had sunk into its embers, and Theseus lightly +sprang over them, carrying with him the Maceman's iron +club. The path now led downwards, and a burn that ran +through a green forest kept him company on the way, +and brought him to pleasant farms and houses of men.</p> + +<p>They marvelled to see him, a young man, carrying the +club of the Maceman. 'Did you find him asleep?' they +asked, and Theseus smiled and said, 'No, I found him +awake. But now he sleeps an iron sleep, from which he +will never waken, and his body had due burning in his own +watchfire.' Then the men and women praised Theseus, +and wove for him a crown of leaves and flowers, and sacrificed +sheep to the gods in heaven, and on the meat they +dined, rejoicing that now they could go to Troezene by +the hill path, for they did not love ships and the sea.</p> + +<p>When they had eaten and drunk, and poured out the +last cup of wine on the ground, in honour of Hermes, the +God of Luck, the country people asked Theseus where he +was going? He said that he was going to walk to Athens, +and at this the people looked sad. 'No man may walk +across the neck of land where Ephyre is built,' they said, +'because above it Sinis the Pine-Bender has his castle, and +watches the way.'</p> + +<p>'And who is Sinis, and why does he bend pine trees?' +asked Theseus.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>'He is the strongest of men, and when he catches a +traveller, he binds him hand and foot, and sets him between +two pine trees. Then he bends them down till they meet, +and fastens the traveller to the boughs of each tree, and lets +them spring apart, so that the man is riven asunder.'</p> + +<p>'Two can play at that game,' said Theseus, smiling, +and he bade farewell to the kind country people, shouldered +the iron club of Periphetes, and went singing on his way. +The path led him over moors, and past farm-houses, and at +last rose towards the crest of the hill whence he would see +the place where two seas would have met, had they not +been sundered by the neck of land which is now called +the Isthmus of Corinth. Here the path was very narrow, +with thick forests of pine trees on each hand, and 'here,' +thought Theseus to himself, 'I am likely to meet the Pine-Bender.'</p> + +<p>Soon he knew that he was right, for he saw the ghastly +remains of dead men that the pine trees bore like horrible +fruit, and presently the air was darkened overhead by the +waving of vultures and ravens that prey upon the dead. +'I shall fight the better in the shade,' said Theseus, and he +loosened the blade of the sword in its sheath, and raised +the club of Periphetes aloft in his hand.</p> + +<p>Well it was for him that he raised the iron club, for, +just as he lifted it, there flew out from the thicket something +long, and slim, and black, that fluttered above his head for a +moment, and then a loop at the end of it fell round the +head of Theseus, and was drawn tight with a sudden jerk. +But the loop fell also above and round the club, which +Theseus held firm, pushing away the loop, and so pushed +it off that it did not grip his neck. Drawing with his left +hand his bronze dagger, he cut through the leather lasso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +with one stroke, and bounded into the bushes from which +it had flown. Here he found a huge man, clad in the skin +of a lion, with its head fitting to his own like a mask. The +man lifted a club made of the trunk of a young pine tree, +with a sharp-edged stone fastened into the head of it like +an axe-head. But, as the monster raised his long weapon +it struck on a strong branch of a tree above him, and was +entangled in the boughs, so that Theseus had time to thrust +the head of the iron club full in his face, with all his force, +and the savage fell with a crash like a falling oak among the +bracken. He was one of the last of an ancient race of +savage men, who dwelt in Greece before the Greeks, and +he fought as they had fought, with weapons of wood and +stone.</p> + +<p>Theseus dropped with his knees on the breast of the Pine-Bender, +and grasped his hairy throat with both his hands, +not to strangle him, but to hold him sure and firm till he +came to himself again. When at last the monster opened +his eyes, Theseus gripped his throat the harder, and spoke, +'Pine-Bender, for thee shall pines be bent. But I am a +man and not a monster, and thou shalt die a clean death +before thy body is torn in twain to be the last feast of thy +vultures.' Then, squeezing the throat of the wretch with +his left hand, he drew the sword of Ægeus, and drove it +into the heart of Sinis the Pine-Bender, and he gave a cry +like a bull's, and his soul fled from him. Then Theseus +bound the body of the savage with his own leather cord, +and, bending down the tops of two pine trees, he did to the +corpse as Sinis had been wont to do to living men.</p> + +<p>Lastly he cleaned the sword-blade carefully, wiping it +with grass and bracken, and thrusting it to the hilt through +the soft fresh ground under the trees, and so went on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +way till he came to a little stream that ran towards the sea +from the crest of the hill above the town of Ephyre, which +is now called Corinth. But as he cleansed himself in the +clear water, he heard a rustle in the boughs of the wood, +and running with sword drawn to the place whence the +sound seemed to come, he heard the whisper of a woman. +Then he saw a strange sight. A tall and very beautiful +girl was kneeling in a thicket, in a patch of asparagus thorn, +and was weeping, and praying, in a low voice, and in a +childlike innocent manner, to the thorns, begging them to +shelter and defend her.</p> + +<p>Theseus wondered at her, and, sheathing his sword, came +softly up to her, and bade her have no fear. Then she +threw her arms about his knees, and raised her face, all +wet with tears, and bade him take pity upon her, for she +had done no harm.</p> + +<p>'Who are you, maiden? You are safe with me,' said +Theseus. 'Do you dread the Pine-Bender?'</p> + +<p>'Alas, sir,' answered the girl, 'I am his daughter, +Perigyne, and his blood is on your hands.'</p> + +<p>'Yet I do not war with women,' said Theseus, 'though +that has been done which was decreed by the gods. If +you follow with me, you shall be kindly used, and marry, +if you will, a man of a good house, being so beautiful as +you are.'</p> + +<p>When she heard this, the maiden rose to her feet, and +would have put her hand in his. 'Not yet,' said Theseus, +kindly, 'till water has clean washed away that which is +between thee and me. But wherefore, maiden, being in +fear as you were, did you not call to the gods in heaven +to keep you, but to the asparagus thorns that cannot hear +or help?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>'My father, sir,' she said, 'knew no gods, but he came +of the race of the asparagus thorns, and to them I cried in +my need.'</p> + +<p>Theseus marvelled at these words, and said, 'From this +day you shall pray to Zeus, the Lord of Thunder, and to +the other gods.' Then he went forth from the wood, with +the maiden following, and wholly cleansed himself in the +brook that ran by the way.</p> + +<p>So they passed down to the rich city of Ephyre, where the +king received him gladly, when he heard of the slaying of +the Maceman, Periphetes, and of Sinis the Pine-Bender. +The Queen, too, had pity on Perigyne, so beautiful she was, +and kept her in her own palace. Afterwards Perigyne +married a prince, Deiones, son of Eurytus, King of Œchalia, +whom the strong man Heracles slew for the sake of his +bow, the very bow with which Ulysses, many years afterwards, +destroyed the Wooers in his halls. The sons of +Perigyne and Deiones later crossed the seas to Asia, and +settled in a land called Caria, and they never burned or +harmed the asparagus thorn to which Perigyne had prayed +in the thicket.</p> + +<p>Greece was so lawless in these days that all the road from +Troezene northward to Athens was beset by violent and +lawless men. They loved cruelty even more than robbery, +and each of them had carefully thought out his particular +style of being cruel. The cities were small, and at war with +each other, or at war among themselves, one family fighting +against another for the crown. Thus there was no chance +of collecting an army to destroy the monstrous men of the +roads, which it would have been easy enough for a small +body of archers to have done. Later Theseus brought all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +into great order, but now, being but one man, he went +seeking adventures.</p> + +<p>On the border of a small country called Megara, whose +people were much despised in Greece, he found a chance of +advancing himself, and gaining glory. He was walking in +the middle of the day along a narrow path at the crest of a +cliff above the sea, when he saw the flickering of a great +fire in the blue air, and steam going up from a bronze +caldron of water that was set on the fire. On one side of +the fire was a foot-bath of glittering bronze. Hard by was +built a bower of green branches, very cool on that hot +day, and from the door of the bower stretched a great +thick hairy pair of naked legs.</p> + +<p>Theseus guessed, from what he had been told, that the +owner of the legs was Sciron the Kicker. He was a fierce +outlaw who was called the Kicker because he made all +travellers wash his feet, and, as they were doing so, kicked +them over the cliff. Some say that at the foot of the cliff +dwelt an enormous tortoise, which ate the dead and dying +when they fell near his lair, but as tortoises do not eat flesh, +generally, this may be a mistake. Theseus was determined +not to take any insolence from Sciron, so he shouted—</p> + +<p>'Slave, take these dirty legs of yours out of the way +of a Prince.</p> + +<p>'Prince!' answered Sciron, 'if my legs are dirty, the +gods are kind who have sent you to wash them for me.'</p> + +<p>Then he got up, lazily, laughing and showing his ugly +teeth, and stood in front of his bath with his heavy wooden +club in his hand. He whirled it round his head insultingly, +but Theseus was quicker than he, and again, as when he +slew the Pine-Bender, he did not strike, for striking is slow +compared to thrusting, but like a flash he lunged forward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +and drove the thick end of his iron club into the breast +of Sciron. He staggered, and, as he reeled, Theseus dealt +him a blow across the thigh, and he fell. Theseus seized +the club which dropped from the hand of Sciron, and threw +it over the cliff; it seemed long before the sound came up +from the rocks on which it struck. 'A deep drop into a +stony way, Sciron,' said Theseus, 'now wash my feet! +Stand up, and turn your back to me, and be ready when I +tell you.' Sciron rose, slowly and sulkily, and stood as +Theseus bade him do.</p> + +<p>Now Theseus was not wearing light shoes or sandals, +like the golden sandals of Ægeus, which he carried in his +wallet. He was wearing thick boots, with bronze nails +in the soles, and the upper leathers were laced high up his +legs, for the Greeks wore such boots when they took long +walks on mountain roads. As soon as Theseus had trained +Sciron to stand in the proper position, he bade him stoop to +undo the lacings of his boots. As Sciron stooped, Theseus +gave him one tremendous kick, that lifted him over the +edge of the cliff, and there was an end of Sciron.</p> + +<p>Theseus left the marches of Megara, and walked singing +on his way, above the sea, for his heart was light, and +he was finding adventures to his heart's desire. Being so +young and well trained, his foot and hand, in a combat, +moved as swift as lightning, and his enemies were older +than he, and, though very strong, were heavy with full +feeding, and slow to move. Now it is speed that wins in +a fight, whether between armies or single men, if strength +and courage go with it.</p> + +<p>At last the road led Theseus down from the heights to +a great fertile plain, called the Thriasian plain, not far from +Athens. There, near the sea, stands the famous old city<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +of Eleusis. When Hades, the God of the Dead, carried +away beautiful Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the +Goddess of corn and all manner of grain, to his dark palace +beside the stream of Ocean, it was to Eleusis that Demeter +wandered. She was clad in mourning robes, and she sat +down on a stone by the way, like a weary old woman. Now +the three daughters of the king who then reigned in Eleusis +came by, on the way to the well, to fetch water, and when +they saw the old woman they set down their vessels and +came round her, asking what they could do for her, who +was so tired and poor. They said that they had a baby +brother at home, who was the favourite of them all, and +that he needed a nurse. Demeter was pleased with their +kindness, and they left their vessels for water beside her, +and ran home to their mother. Their long golden hair +danced on their shoulders as they ran, and they came, +out of breath, to their mother the Queen, and asked her to +take the old woman to be their brother's nurse. The +Queen was kind, too, and the old woman lived in their +house, till Zeus, the chief God, made the God of the Dead +send back Persephone, to be with her mother through +spring, and summer, and early autumn, but in winter she +must live with her husband in the dark palace beside the +river of Ocean.</p> + +<p>Then Demeter was glad, and she caused the grain to +grow abundantly for the people of Eleusis, and taught +them ceremonies, and a kind of play in which all the story +of her sorrows and joy was acted. It was also taught that +the souls of men do not die with the death of their bodies, +any more than the seed of corn dies when it is buried in +the dark earth, but that they live again in a world more +happy and beautiful than ours. These ceremonies were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +called the Mysteries of Eleusis, and were famous in all the +world.</p> + +<p>Theseus might have expected to find Eleusis a holy city, +peaceful and quiet. But he had heard, as he travelled, that +in Eleusis was a strong bully, named Cercyon; he was +one of the rough Highlanders of Arcadia, who lived in +the hills of the centre of Southern Greece, which is called +Peloponnesus. He is said to have taken the kingship, and +driven out the descendants of the king whose daughters +were kind to Demeter. The strong man used to force all +strangers to wrestle with him, and, when he threw them, +for he had never been thrown, he broke their backs.</p> + +<p>Knowing this, and being himself fond of wrestling, +Theseus walked straight to the door of the king's house, +though the men in the town warned him, and the women +looked at him with sad eyes. He found the gate of the +courtyard open, with the altar of Zeus the high God smoking +in the middle of it, and at the threshold two servants welcomed +him, and took him to the polished bath, and women +washed him, and anointed him with oil, and clothed him +in fresh raiment, as was the manner in kings' houses. Then +they led him into the hall, and he walked straight up to the +high seats between the four pillars beside the hearth, in the +middle of the hall.</p> + +<p>There Cercyon sat, eating and drinking, surrounded +by a score of his clan, great, broad, red-haired men, but +he himself was the broadest and the most brawny. He +welcomed Theseus, and caused a table to be brought, with +meat, and bread, and wine, and when Theseus had put +away his hunger, began to ask him who he was and whence +he came. Theseus told him that he had walked from +Troezene, and was on his way to the court of King Peleus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +(the father of Achilles), in the north, for he did not want the +news of his coming to go before him to Athens.</p> + +<p>'You walked from Troezene?' said Cercyon. 'Did +you meet or hear of the man who killed the Maceman +and slew the Pine-Bender, and kicked Sciron into the sea?'</p> + +<p>'I walk fast, but news flies faster,' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'The news came through my second-sighted man,' +said Cercyon, 'there he is, in the corner,' and Cercyon threw +the leg bone of an ox at his prophet, who just managed to +leap out of the way. 'He seems to have foreseen that the +bone was coming at him,' said Cercyon, and all his friends +laughed loud. 'He told us this morning that a stranger +was coming, he who had killed the three watchers of the +way. From your legs and shoulders, and the iron club that +you carry, methinks you are that stranger?'</p> + +<p>Theseus smiled, and nodded upwards, which the Greeks +did when they meant 'Yes!'</p> + +<p>'Praise be to all the gods!' said Cercyon. 'It is long +since a good man came my way. Do they practise wrestling +at Troezene?'</p> + +<p>'Now and then,' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'Then you will try a fall with me? There is a smooth +space strewn with sand in the courtyard.'</p> + +<p>Theseus answered that he had come hoping that the +king would graciously honour him by trying a fall. Then +all the wild guests shouted, and out they all went and +made a circle round the wrestling-place, while Theseus and +Cercyon threw down their clothes and were anointed with +oil over their bodies. To it they went, each straining forward +and feeling for a grip, till they were locked, and then +they swayed this way and that, their feet stamping the +ground; and now one would yield a little, now the other,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +while the rough guests shouted, encouraging each of them. +At last they rested and breathed, and now the men began +to bet; seven oxen to three was laid on Cercyon, and taken +in several places. Back to the wrestle they went, and +Theseus found this by far the hardest of his adventures, +for Cercyon was heavier than he, and as strong, but not +so active. So Theseus for long did little but resist the +awful strain of the arms of Cercyon, till, at last, for a +moment Cercyon weakened. Then Theseus slipped his hip +under the hip of Cercyon, and heaved him across and up, +and threw him on the ground. He lighted in such a way +that his neck broke, and there he lay dead.</p> + +<p>'Was it fairly done?' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'It was fairly done!' cried the Highlanders of Arcadia; +and then they raised such a wail for the dead that Theseus +deemed it wise to put on his clothes and walk out of the +court; and, leaping into a chariot that stood empty by the +gate, for the servant in the chariot feared the club of iron, +he drove away at full speed.</p> + +<p>Though Cercyon was a cruel man and a wild, Theseus +was sorry for him in his heart.</p> + +<p>The groom in the chariot tried to leap out, but Theseus +gripped him tight. 'Do not hurry, my friend,' said Theseus, +'for I have need of you. I am not stealing the chariot +and horses, and you shall drive them back after we reach +Athens.'</p> + +<p>'But, my lord,' said the groom, 'you will never reach +Athens.'</p> + +<p>'Why not?' asked Theseus.</p> + +<p>'Because of the man Procrustes, who dwells in a strong +castle among the hills on the way. He is the maimer of +all mortals, and has at his command a company of archers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +and spearmen, pirates from the islands. He meets every +traveller, and speaks to him courteously, praying him to +be his guest, and if any refuses the archers leap out of +ambush and seize and bind him. With them no one man +can contend. He has a bed which he says is a thing magical, +for it is of the same length as the tallest or the shortest +man who sleeps in it, so that all are fitted. Now the +manner of it is this—there is an engine with ropes at the +head of the bed, and a saw is fitted at the bed foot. If a +man is too short, the ropes are fastened to his hands, and +are strained till he is drawn to the full length of the bed. +If he is too long the saw shortens him. Such a monster is +Procrustes.</p> + +<p>'Verily, my lord, King Cercyon was to-morrow to lead +an army against him, and the King had a new device, as +you may see, by which two great shields are slung along +the side of this chariot, to ward off the arrows of the men of +Procrustes.'</p> + +<p>'Then you and I will wear the shields when we come +near the place where Procrustes meets travellers by the +way, and I think that to-night his own bed will be too +long for him,' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>To this the groom made no answer, but his body trembled.</p> + +<p>Theseus drove swiftly on till the road began to climb +the lowest spur of Mount Parnes, and then he drew rein, +and put on one of the great shields that covered all his +body and legs, and he bade the groom do the like. Then +he drove slowly, watching the bushes and underwood beside +the way. Soon he saw the smoke going up from the roof +of a great castle high in the woods beside the road; and +on the road there was a man waiting. Theseus, as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +drove towards him, saw the glitter of armour in the underwood, +and the setting sun shone red on a spear-point above +the leaves. 'Here is our man,' he said to the groom, and +pulled up his horses beside the stranger. He loosened his +sword in the sheath, and leaped out of the chariot, holding +the reins in his left hand, and bowed courteously to the +man, who was tall, weak-looking, and old, with grey hair +and a clean-shaven face, the colour of ivory. He was +clad like a king, in garments of dark silk, with gold bracelets, +and gold rings that clasped the leather gaiters on his legs, +and he smiled and smiled, and rubbed his hands, while +he looked to right and left, and not at Theseus.</p> + +<p>'I am fortunate, fair sir,' said he to Theseus, 'for I +love to entertain strangers, with whom goes the favour +and protection of Zeus. Surely strangers are dear to all +men, and holy! You, too, are not unlucky, for the night +is falling, and the ways will be dark and dangerous. You +will sup and sleep with me, and to-night I can give you a +bed that is well spoken of, for its nature is such that it +fits all men, the short and the tall, and you are of the +tallest.'</p> + +<p>'To-night, fair sir,' quoth Theseus, 'your own bed will +be full long for you.' And, drawing the sword of Ægeus, +he cut sheer through the neck of Procrustes at one blow, +and the head of the man flew one way, and his body fell +another way.</p> + +<p>Then with a swing of his hand Theseus turned his +shield from his front to his back, and leaped into the chariot. +He lashed the horses forward with a cry, while the groom +also turned his own shield from front to back; and the +arrows of the bowmen of Procrustes rattled on the bronze +shields as the chariot flew along, or struck the sides and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +the seat of it. One arrow grazed the flank of a horse, and +the pair broke into a wild gallop, while the yells of the +bowmen grew faint in the distance. At last the horses +slackened in their pace as they climbed a hill, and from +the crest of it Theseus saw the lights in the city of Aphidnæ.</p> + +<p>'Now, my friend,' he said to the groom, 'the way is +clear to Athens, and on your homeward road with the +horses and the chariot you shall travel well guarded. By +the splendour of Lady Athênê's brow, I will burn that +raven's nest of Procrustes!'</p> + +<p>So they slept that night on safe beds at the house of +the sons of Phytalus, who bore rule in Aphidnæ. Here +they were kindly welcomed, and the sons of Phytalus rejoiced +when they heard how Theseus had made safe the +ways, and slain the beasts that guarded them. 'We are +your men,' they said, 'we and all our people, and our +spears will encircle you when you make yourself King of +Athens, and of all the cities in the Attic land.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IVc" id="IVc"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="center">THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER</p> + +<p>Next day Theseus said farewell to the sons of Phytalus, +and drove slowly through the pleasant green woods that +overhung the clear river Cephisus. He halted to rest his +horses in a glen, and saw a very beautiful young man walking +in a meadow on the other side of the river. In his hand +he bore a white flower, and the root of it was black; in +the other hand he carried a golden wand, and his upper +lip was just beginning to darken, he was of the age when +youth is most gracious. He came towards Theseus, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +crossed the stream where it broke deep, and swift, and +white, above a long pool, and it seemed to Theseus that his +golden shoon did not touch the water.</p> + +<p>'Come, speak with me apart,' the young man said; +and Theseus threw the reins to the groom, and went aside +with the youth, watching him narrowly, for he knew not +what strange dangers might beset him on the way.</p> + +<p>'Whither art thou going, unhappy one,' said the youth, +'thou that knowest not the land? Behold, the sons of +Pallas rule in Athens, fiercely and disorderly. Thy father +is of no force, and in the house with him is a fair witch +woman from a far country. Her name is Medea, the +daughter of Æêtes, the brother of Circe the Sorceress. She +wedded the famous Jason, and won for him the Fleece of +Gold, and slew her own brother Absyrtus. Other evils she +wrought, and now she dwells with Ægeus, who fears and +loves her greatly. Take thou this herb of grace, and if +Medea offers you a cup of wine, drop this herb in the cup, +and so you shall escape death. Behold, I am Hermes of +the golden wand.'</p> + +<p>Then he gave to Theseus the flower, and passed into +the wood, and Theseus saw him no more; so then Theseus +knelt down, and prayed, and thanked the gods. The flower +he placed in the breast of his garment, and, returning to +his chariot, he took the reins, and drove to Athens, and +up the steep narrow way to the crest of the rock where +the temple of Athênê stood and the palace of King Ægeus.</p> + +<p>Theseus drove through to the courtyard, and left his +chariot at the gate. In the court young men were throwing +spears at a mark, while others sat at the house door, playing +draughts, and shouting and betting. They were heavy, +lumpish, red-faced young men, all rather like each other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +They looked up and stared, but said nothing. Theseus +knew that they were his cousins, the sons of Pallas, but as +they said nothing to him he walked through them, iron +club on shoulder, as if he did not see them, and as one +tall fellow stood in his way, the tall fellow spun round +from a thrust of his shoulder. At the hall door Theseus +stopped and shouted, and at his cry two or three servants +came to him.</p> + +<p>'Look to my horses and man,' said Theseus; 'I come +to see your master.' And in he went, straight up to the +high chairs beside the fire in the centre. The room was +empty, but in a high seat sat, fallen forward and half-asleep, +a man in whose grey hair was a circlet of gold and +a golden grasshopper. Theseus knew that it was his father, +grey and still, like the fallen fire on the hearth. As the +king did not look up, Theseus touched his shoulder, and +then knelt down, and put his arms round the knees of the +king. The king aroused himself with a start. 'Who? +What want you?' he said, and rubbed his red, bloodshot +eyes.</p> + +<p>'A suppliant from Troezene am I, who come to your +knees, oh, king, and bring you gifts.'</p> + +<p>'From Troezene!' said the king sleepily, as if he were +trying to remember something.</p> + +<p>'From Æthra, your wife, your son brings your sword +and your shoon,' said Theseus; and he laid the sword +and the shoon at his father's feet.</p> + +<p>The king rose to his feet with a great cry. 'You have +come at last,' he cried, 'and the gods have forgiven me +and heard my prayers. But gird on the sword, and hide +the shoon, and speak not the name of "wife," for there is +one that hears.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>'One that has heard,' said a sweet silvery voice; and +from behind a pillar came a woman, dark and pale, but +very beautiful, clothed in a rich Eastern robe that shone +and shifted from colour to colour. Lightly she threw her +white arms round the neck of Theseus, lightly she kissed +his cheeks, and a strange sweet fragrance hung about her. +Then, holding him apart, with her hands on his shoulders, +she laughed, and half-turning to Ægeus, who had fallen +back into his chair, she said: 'My lord, did you think that +you could hide anything from me?' Then she fixed her +great eyes on the eyes of Theseus. 'We are friends?' she +said, in her silvery voice.</p> + +<p>'Lady, I love you even as you love my father, King +Ægeus,' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'Even so much?' said the lady Medea. 'Then we +must both drink to him in wine.' She glided to the great +golden mixing-cup of wine that stood on a table behind +Ægeus, and with her back to Theseus she ladled wine into +a cup of strange coloured glass. 'Pledge me and the +king,' she said, bringing the cup to Theseus. He took it, +and from his breast he drew the flower of black root and +white blossom that Hermes had given him, and laid it in +the wine. Then the wine bubbled and hissed, and the cup +burst and broke, and the wine fell on the floor, staining it +as with blood.</p> + +<p>Medea laughed lightly. 'Now we are friends indeed, +for the gods befriend you,' she said, 'and I swear by the +Water of Styx that your friends are my friends, and your +foes are my foes, always, to the end. The gods are with +you; and by the great oath of the gods I swear, which +cannot be broken; for I come of the kin of the gods who +live for ever.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now the father of the father of Medea was the Sun +God.</p> + +<p>Theseus took both her hands. 'I also swear,' he said, +'by the splendour of Zeus, that your friends shall be my +friends, and that your foes shall be my foes, always, to the +end.'</p> + +<p>Then Medea sat by the feet of Ægeus, and drew down +his head to her shoulder, while Theseus took hold of his +hand, and the king wept for joy. For the son he loved, +and the woman whom he loved and feared, were friends, +and they two were stronger than the sons of Pallas.</p> + +<p>While they sat thus, one of the sons of Pallas—the +Pallantidæ they were called—slouched into the hall to see +if dinner was ready. He stared, and slouched out again, +and said to his brothers: 'The old man is sitting in the +embraces of the foreign woman, and of the big stranger +with the iron club!' Then they all came together, and +growled out their threats and fears, kicking at the stones +in the courtyard, and quarrelling as to what it was best +for them to do.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in the hall, the servants began to spread +the tables with meat and drink, and Theseus was taken +to the bath, and clothed in new raiment.</p> + +<p>While Theseus was at the bath Medea told Ægeus what +he ought to do. So when Theseus came back into the +hall, where the sons of Pallas were eating and drinking +noisily, Ægeus stood up, and called to Theseus to sit down +at his right hand. He added, in a loud voice, looking all +round the hall: 'This is my son, Theseus, the slayer of +monsters, and his is the power in the house!'</p> + +<p>The sons of Pallas grew pale with fear and anger, but +not one dared to make an insolent answer. They knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +that they were hated by the people of Athens, except some +young men of their own sort, and they did not dare to do +anything against the man who had slain Periphetes and +Sinis, and Cercyon, and Sciron, and, in the midst of his +paid soldiers, had struck off the head of Procrustes. Silent +all through dinner sat the sons of Pallas, and, when they +had eaten, they walked out silently, and went to a lonely +place, where they could make their plans without being +overheard.</p> + +<p>Theseus went with Medea into her fragrant chamber, +and they spake a few words together. Then Medea took +a silver bowl, filled it with water, and, drawing her dark +silken mantle over her head, she sat gazing into the bowl. +When she had gazed silently for a long time she said: 'Some +of them are going towards Sphettus, where their father +dwells, to summon his men in arms, and some are going to +Gargettus on the other side of the city, to lie in ambush, +and cut us off when they of Sphettus assail us. They will +attack the palace just before the dawn. Now I will go +through the town, and secretly call the trusty men to arm +and come to defend the palace, telling them that the son +of Ægeus, the man who cleared the ways, is with us. And +do you take your chariot, and drive speedily to the sons of +Phytalus, and bring all their spears, chariot men and foot +men, and place them in ambush around the village of +Gargettus, where one band of the Pallantidæ will lie to-night +till dawn. The rest you know.'</p> + +<p>Theseus nodded and smiled. He drove at full speed +to Aphidnæ, where the sons of Phytalus armed their men, +and by midnight they lay hidden in the woods round the +village of Gargettus. When the stars had gone onward, +and the second of the three watches of the night was nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +past, they set bands of men to guard every way from the +little town, and Theseus with another band rushed in, +and slew the men of the sons of Pallas around their fires, +some of them awake, but most of them asleep. Those who +escaped were taken by the bands who watched the ways, +and when the sky was now clear at the earliest dawn, +Theseus led his companions to the palace of Ægeus, where +they fell furiously upon the rear of the men from Sphettus, +who were besieging the palace of Ægeus.</p> + +<p>The Sphettus company had broken in the gate of the +court, and were trying to burn the house, while arrows +flew thick from the bows of the trusty men of Athens on +the palace roof. The Pallantids had set no sentinels, for +they thought to take Theseus in the palace, and there to +burn him, and win the kingdom for themselves. Then +silently and suddenly the friends of Theseus stole into the +courtyard, and, leaving some to guard the gate, they drew +up in line, and charged the confused crowd of the Pallantids. +Their spears flew thick among the enemy, and +then they charged with the sword, while the crowd, in +terror, ran this way and that way, being cut down at the +gate, and dragged from the walls, when they tried to climb +them. The daylight found the Pallantidæ and their men +lying dead in the courtyard, all the sort of them.</p> + +<p>Then Theseus with the sons of Phytalus and their company +marched through the town, proclaiming that the +rightful prince was come, and that the robbers and oppressors +were fallen, and all honest men rejoiced. They +burned the dead, and buried their ashes and bones, and +for the rest of that day they feasted in the hall of Ægeus. +Next day Theseus led his friends back to Aphidnæ, and +on the next day they attacked and stormed the castle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +Procrustes, and slew the pirates, and Theseus divided all +the rich plunder among the sons of Phytalus and their +company, but the evil bed they burned to ashes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Vc" id="Vc"></a>V</h2> + +<p class="center">HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE</p> + +<p>The days and weeks went by, and Theseus reigned with +his father in peace. The chief men came to Athens from +the little towns in the country, and begged Theseus to be +their lord, and they would be his men, and he would lead +their people if any enemy came up against them. They +would even pay tribute to be used for buying better arms, +and making strong walls, and providing ships, for then the +people of Athens had no navy. Theseus received them +courteously, and promised all that they asked, for he did +not know that soon he himself would be sent away as part +of the tribute which the Athenians paid every nine years +to King Minos of Crete.</p> + +<p>Though everything seemed to be peaceful and happy +through the winter, yet Theseus felt that all was not well. +When he went into the houses of the town's people, where +all had been merry and proud of his visits, he saw melancholy, +silent mothers, and he missed the young people, +lads and maidens. Many of them were said to have gone +to visit friends in far-away parts of Greece. The elder +folk, and the young people who were left, used to stand +watching the sea all day, as if they expected something +strange to come upon them from the sea, and Ægeus sat +sorrowful over the fire, speaking little, and he seemed to +be in fear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + +<p>Theseus was disturbed in his mind, and he did not choose +to put questions to Ægeus or to the townsfolk. He and +Medea were great friends, and one day when they were +alone in her chamber, where a fragrant fire of cedar wood +burned, he told her what he had noticed. Medea sighed, +and said: 'The curse of the sons of Pallas is coming upon +the people of Athens—such a curse and so terrible that +not even you, Prince Theseus, can deal with it. The +enemy is not one man or one monster only, but the greatest +and most powerful king in the world.'</p> + +<p>'Tell me all,' said Theseus, 'for though I am but one +man, yet the ever-living gods protect and help me.'</p> + +<p>'The story of the curse is long,' said Medea. 'When +your father Ægeus was young, after he returned to Athens +from Troezene, he decreed that games should be held every +five years, contests in running, boxing, wrestling, foot +races, and chariot races. Not only the people of Athens, +but strangers were allowed to take part in the games, and +among the strangers came Androgeos, the eldest son of +great Minos, King of Cnossos, in the isle of Crete of the +Hundred Cities, far away in the southern sea. Minos is +the wisest of men, and the most high god, even Zeus, is +his counsellor, and speaks to him face to face. He is the +richest of men, and his ships are without number, so that +he rules all the islands, and makes war, when he will, even +against the King of Egypt. The son of Minos it was who +came to the sports with three fair ships, and he was the +strongest and swiftest of men. He won the foot race, +and the prizes for boxing and wrestling, and for shooting +with the bow, and throwing the spear, and hurling the +heavy weight, and he easily overcame the strongest of the +sons of Pallas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Then, being unjust men and dishonourable, they slew +him at a feast in the hall of Ægeus, their own guest in the +king's house they slew, a thing hateful to the gods above +all other evil deeds. His ships fled in the night, bearing +the news to King Minos, and, a year after that day, the +sea was black with his countless ships. His men landed, +and they were so many, all glittering in armour of bronze, +that none dared to meet them in battle. King Ægeus and +all the elder men of the city went humbly to meet Minos, +clad in mourning, and bearing in their hands boughs of +trees, wreathed with wool, to show that they came praying +for mercy. "Mercy ye shall have when ye have given up +to me the men who slew my son," said Minos. But Ægeus +could not give up the sons of Pallas, for long ago they had +fled in disguise, and were lurking here and there, in all +the uttermost parts of Greece, in the huts of peasants. +Such mercy, then, the Athenians got as Minos was pleased +to give. He did not burn the city, and slay the men, and +carry the women captives. But he made Ægeus and the +chief men swear that every nine years they would choose +by lot seven of the strongest youths, and seven of the +fairest maidens, and give them to his men, to carry away +to Crete. Every nine years he sends a ship with dark +sails, to bear away the captives, and this is the ninth year, +and the day of the coming of the ship is at hand. Can you +resist King Minos?'</p> + +<p>'His ship we could burn, and his men we could slay,' +said Theseus; and his hand closed on the hilt of his sword.</p> + +<p>'That may well be,' said Medea, 'but in a year Minos +would come with his fleet and his army, and burn the city; +and the other cities of Greece, fearing him and not loving +us, would give us no aid.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Then,' said Theseus, 'we must even pay the tribute +for this last time; but in nine years, if I live, and the gods +help me, I shall have a fleet, and Minos must fight for his +tribute. For in nine years Athens will be queen of all +the cities round about, and strong in men and ships. Yet, +tell me, how does Minos treat the captives from Athens, +kindly or unkindly?'</p> + +<p>'None has ever come back to tell the tale,' said Medea, +'but the sailors of Minos say that he places the captives +in a strange prison called the Labyrinth. It is full of dark +winding ways, cut in the solid rock, and therein the captives +are lost and perish of hunger, or live till they meet a +Thing called the Minotaur. This monster has the body of +a strong man, and a man's legs and arms, but his head +is the head of a bull, and his teeth are the teeth of a lion, +and no man may deal with him. Those whom he meets +he tosses, and gores, and devours. Whence this evil beast +came I know, but the truth of it may not be spoken. It +is not lawful for King Minos to slay the Horror, which +to him is great shame and grief; neither may he help +any man to slay it. Therefore, in his anger against the +Athenians he swore that, once in every nine years, he +would give fourteen of the Athenian men and maidens to +the Thing, and that none of them should bear sword or +spear, dagger or axe, or any other weapon. Yet, if one +of the men, or all of them together, could slay the monster, +Minos made oath that Athens should be free of him and +his tribute.'</p> + +<p>Theseus laughed and stood up. 'Soon,' he said, 'shall +King Minos be free from the Horror, and Athens shall be free +from the tribute, if, indeed, the gods be with me. For me need +no lot be cast; gladly I will go to Crete of my free will.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I needed not to be a prophetess to know that you +would speak thus,' said Medea. 'But one thing even I +can do. Take this phial, and bear it in your breast, and, +when you face the Minotaur, do as I shall tell you.' Then +she whispered some words to Theseus, and he marked +them carefully.</p> + +<p>He went forth from Medea's bower; he walked to the +crest of the hill upon which Athens is built, and there he +saw all the people gathered, weeping, and looking towards +the sea. Swiftly a ship with black sails was being rowed +towards the shore, and her sides shone with the bronze +shields of her crew, that were hung on the bulwarks.</p> + +<p>'My friends,' cried Theseus, 'I know that ship, and +wherefore she comes, and with her I shall sail to Crete and +slay the Minotaur. Did I not slay Sinis and Sciron, Cercyon +and Procrustes, and Periphetes? Let there be no drawing +of lots. Where are seven men and seven maidens who +will come with me, and meet these Cretans when they +land, and sail back with them, and see this famous Crete, +for the love of Theseus?'</p> + +<p>Then there stepped forth seven young men of the best +of Athens, tall, and strong, and fair, the ancestors of them +who smote, a thousand years afterwards, the Persians at +Marathon and in the strait of Salamis. 'We will live or +die with you, Prince Theseus,' they said.</p> + +<p>Next, one by one, came out of the throng, blushing, +but with heads erect and firm steps, the seven maidens +whom the seven young men loved. They, too, were tall, +and beautiful, and stately, like the stone maidens called +Caryatides who bear up the roofs of temples.</p> + +<p>'We will live and die with you, Prince Theseus, and +with our lovers,' they cried; and all the people gave such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +a cheer that King Ægeus heard it, and came from his +palace, leaning on his staff, and Medea walked beside him.</p> + +<p>'Why do you raise a glad cry, my children?' said +Ægeus. 'Is not that the Ship of Death, and must we not +cast lots for the tribute to King Minos?'</p> + +<p>'Sir,' said Theseus, 'we rejoice because we go as free +folk, of our own will, these men and maidens and I, to take +such fortune as the gods may give us, and to do as well +as we may. Nay, delay us not, for from this hour shall +Athens be free, without master or lord among Cretan men.'</p> + +<p>'But, my son, who shall defend me, who shall guide +me, when I have lost thee, the light of mine eyes, and the +strength of my arm?' whimpered Ægeus.</p> + +<p>'Is the king weeping alone, while the fathers and +mothers of my companions have dry eyes?' said Theseus. +'The gods will be your helpers, and the lady who is my +friend, and who devised the slaying of the sons of Pallas. +Hers was the mind, if the hand was my own, that wrought +their ruin. Let her be your counsellor, for no other is so +wise. But that ship is near the shore, and we must go.'</p> + +<p>Then Theseus embraced Ægeus, and Medea kissed him, +and the young men and maidens kissed their fathers and +mothers, and said farewell. With Theseus at their head +they marched down the hill, two by two; but Medea sent +after them chariots laden with changes of raiment, and +food, and skins of wine, and all things of which they had +need. They were to sail in their own hired ship, for such +was the custom, and the ship was ready with her oarsmen. +But Theseus and the Seven, by the law of Minos, might +carry no swords or other weapons of war. The ship had +a black sail, but Ægeus gave to the captain a sail dyed +scarlet with the juice of the scarlet oak, and bade him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +hoist it if he was bringing back Theseus safe, but, if not, +to return under the black sail.</p> + +<p>The captain, and the outlook man, and the crew, and +the ship came all from the isle of Salamis, for as yet the +Athenians had no vessels fit for long voyages—only fishing-boats. +As Theseus and his company marched along they +met the herald of King Minos, bearing a sacred staff, for +heralds were holy, and to slay a herald was a deadly sin. +He stopped when he met Theseus, and wondered at his +beauty and strength. 'My lord,' said he, 'wherefore come +you with the Fourteen? Know you to what end they are +sailing?'</p> + +<p>'That I know not, nor you, nor any man, but they and +I are going to one end, such as the gods may give us,' +answered Theseus. 'Speak with me no more, I pray you, +and go no nearer Athens, for there men's hearts are high +to-day, and they carry swords.'</p> + +<p>The voice and the eyes of Theseus daunted the herald, +and he with his men turned and followed behind, humbly, as +if they were captives and Theseus were conqueror.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIc" id="VIc"></a>VI</h2> + +<p class="center">THESEUS IN CRETE</p> + +<p>After many days' sailing, now through the straits under +the beautiful peaks of the mountains that crowned the +islands, and now across the wide sea far from sight of +land, they beheld the crest of Mount Ida of Crete, and ran +into the harbour, where a hundred ships lay at anchor, +and a great crowd was gathered. Theseus marvelled at +the ships, so many and so strong, and at the harbour with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +its huge walls, while he and his company landed. A hundred +of the guardsmen of Minos, with large shields, and breastplates +made of ribs of bronze, and helmets of bronze with +horns on them, were drawn up on the pier. They surrounded +the little company of Athenians, and they all +marched to the town of Cnossos, and the palace of the +king.</p> + +<p>If Theseus marvelled at the harbour he wondered yet +more at the town. It was so great that it seemed endless, +and round it went a high wall, and at every forty yards +was a square tower with small square windows high up. +These towers were exactly like those which you may see +among the hills and beside the burns in the Border country, +the south of Scotland and the north of England; towers +built when England and Scotland were at war. But +when they had passed through the gateway in the chief +tower, the town seemed more wonderful than the walls, +for in all things it was quite unlike the cities of Greece. +The street, paved with flat paving stones, wound between +houses like our own, with a ground floor (in this there were +no windows) and with two or three stories above, in which +there were windows, with sashes, and with so many panes to +each window, the panes were coloured red. Each window +opened on a balcony, and the balconies were crowded +with ladies in gay dresses like those which are now worn. +Under their hats their hair fell in long plaits over their +shoulders: they had very fine white blouses, short jackets, +embroidered in bright coloured silk, and skirts with flounces. +Laughing merrily they looked down at the little troop +of prisoners, chatting, and some saying they were sorry +for the Athenian girls. Others, seeing Theseus marching +first, a head taller than the tallest guardsman, threw flowers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +that fell at his feet, and cried, 'Go on, brave Prince!' for +they could not believe that he was one of the prisoners.</p> + +<p>The crowd in the street being great, the march was +stopped under a house taller than the rest; in the balcony +one lady alone was seated, the others stood round her +as if they were her handmaidens. This lady was most +richly dressed, young, and very beautiful and stately, +and was, indeed, the king's daughter, Ariadne. She +looked grave and full of pity, and, as Theseus happened +to glance upwards, their eyes met, and remained fixed on +each other. Theseus, who had never thought much about +girls before, grew pale, for he had never seen so beautiful +a maiden: Ariadne also turned pale, and then blushed +and looked away, but her eyes glanced down again at Theseus, +and he saw it, and a strange feeling came into his heart.</p> + +<p>The guards cleared the crowd, and they all marched +on till they came to the palace walls and gate, which were +more beautiful even than the walls of the town. But the +greatest wonder of all was the palace, standing in a wide +park, and itself far greater than such towns as Theseus had +seen, Troezene, or Aphidnae, or Athens. There was a +multitude of roofs of various heights, endless roofs, endless +windows, terraces, and gardens: no king's palace of our +times is nearly so great and strong. There were fountains +and flowers and sweet-smelling trees in blossom, and, +when the Athenians were led within the palace, they felt +lost among the winding passages and halls.</p> + +<p>The walls of them were painted with pictures of flying +fishes, above a clear white sea, in which fish of many kinds +were swimming, with the spray and bubbles flying from +their tails, as the sea flows apart from the rudder of a ship. +There were pictures of bull fights, men and girls teasing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +bull, and throwing somersaults over him, and one bull had +just tossed a girl high in the air. Ladies were painted in +balconies, looking on, just such ladies as had watched Theseus +and his company; and young men bearing tall cool vases +full of wine were painted on other walls; and others were +decorated with figures of bulls and stags, in hard plaster, +fashioned marvellously, and standing out from the walls +'in relief,' as it is called. Other walls, again, were painted +with patterns of leaves and flowers.</p> + +<p>The rooms were full of the richest furniture, chairs +inlaid with ivory, gold, and silver, chests inlaid with painted +porcelain in little squares, each square containing a separate +bright coloured picture. There were glorious carpets, +and in some passages stood rows of vases, each of them +large enough to hold a man, like the pots in the story of +Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights. +There were tablets of stone brought from Egypt, with +images carved of gods and kings, and strange Egyptian +writing, and there were cups of gold and silver—indeed, I +could not tell you half the beautiful and wonderful things +in the palace of Minos. We know that this is true, for +the things themselves, all of them, or pictures of them, +have been brought to light, dug out from under ground; +and, after years of digging, there is still plenty of this +wonderful palace to be explored.</p> + +<p>The Athenians were dazzled, and felt lost and giddy +with passing through so many rooms and passages, before +they were led into the great hall named the Throne Room, +where Minos was sitting in his gilded throne that is still +standing. Around him stood his chiefs and princes, +gloriously clothed in silken robes with jewels of gold; they +left a lane between their ranks, and down this lane was led<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +Theseus at the head of his little company. Minos, a dark-faced +man, with touches of white in his hair and long beard, +sat with his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his hand, +and he fixed his eyes on the eyes of Theseus. Theseus +bowed and then stood erect, with his eyes on the eyes of +Minos.</p> + +<p>'You are fifteen in number,' said Minos at last, 'my +law claims fourteen.'</p> + +<p>'I came of my own will,' answered Theseus, 'and of +their own will came my company. No lots were cast.'</p> + +<p>'Wherefore?' asked Minos.</p> + +<p>'The people of Athens have a mind to be free, O king.'</p> + +<p>'There is a way,' said Minos. 'Slay the Minotaur and +you are free from my tribute.'</p> + +<p>'I am minded to slay him,' said Theseus, and, as he +spoke, there was a stir in the throng of chiefs, and priests, +and princes, and Ariadne glided through them, and stood +a little behind her father's throne, at one side. Theseus +bowed low, and again stood erect, with his eyes on the face +of Ariadne.</p> + +<p>'You speak like a king's son that has not known misfortune,' +said Minos.</p> + +<p>'I have known misfortune, and my name is Theseus, +Ægeus' son,' said Theseus.</p> + +<p>'This is a new thing. When I saw King Ægeus he +had no son, but he had many nephews.'</p> + +<p>'No son that he wotted of,' said Theseus, 'but now he +has no nephews, and one son.'</p> + +<p>'Is it so?' asked Minos, 'then you have avenged me +on the slayers of my own son, fair sir, for it was your +sword, was it not, that delivered Ægeus from the sons +of Pallas?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<p>'My sword and the swords of my friends, of whom +seven stand before you.'</p> + +<p>'I will learn if this be true,' said Minos.</p> + +<p>'True!' cried Theseus, and his hand flew to the place +where his sword-hilt should have been, but he had no +sword.</p> + +<p>King Minos smiled. 'You are young,' he said, 'I will +learn more of these matters. Lead these men and maidens +to their own chambers in the palace,' he cried to his guard. +'Let each have a separate chamber, and all things that are +fitting for princes. To-morrow I will take counsel.'</p> + +<p>Theseus was gazing at Ariadne. She stood behind her +father, and she put up her right hand as if to straighten +her veil, but, as she raised her hand, she swiftly made the +motion of lifting a cup to the lips; and then she laid on her +lips the fingers of her left hand, closing them fast. Theseus +saw the token, and he bowed, as did all his company, to +Minos and to the princess, and they were led upstairs and +along galleries, each to a chamber more rich and beautiful +than they had seen before in their dreams. Then each +was taken to a bath, they were washed and clothed in +new garments, and brought back to their chambers, where +meat was put before them, and wine in cups of gold. At +the door of each chamber were stationed two guards, but +four guards were set at the door of Theseus. At nightfall +more food was brought, and, for Theseus, much red wine, +in a great vessel adorned with ropes and knobs of gold.</p> + +<p>Theseus ate well, but he drank none, and, when he had +finished, he opened the door of his chamber, and carried out +all the wine and the cup. 'I am one,' he said, 'who drinks +water, and loves not the smell of wine in his chamber.'</p> + +<p>The guards thanked him, and soon he heard them very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +merry over the king's best wine, next he did not hear them +at all, next—he heard them snoring!</p> + +<p>Theseus opened the door gently and silently: the +guards lay asleep across and beside the threshold. Something +bright caught his eye, he looked up, a lamp was +moving along the dark corridor, a lamp in the hand of a +woman clad in a black robe; the light fell on her white +silent feet, and on the feet of another woman who followed +her.</p> + +<p>Theseus softly slipped back into his chamber. The +light, though shaded by the girl's hand, showed in the +crevice between the door and the door-post. Softly entered +Ariadne, followed by an old woman that had been her +nurse. 'You guessed the token?' she whispered. 'In +the wine was a sleepy drug.'</p> + +<p>Theseus, who was kneeling to her, nodded.</p> + +<p>'I can show you the way to flee, and I bring you a +sword.'</p> + +<p>'I thank you, lady, for the sword, and I pray you to +show me the way—to the Minotaur.'</p> + +<p>Ariadne grew pale, and her hand flew to her heart.</p> + +<p>'I pray you make haste. Flee I will not, nor, if the king +have mercy on us, will I leave Crete till I have met the +Minotaur: for he has shed the blood of my people.'</p> + +<p>Ariadne loved Theseus, and knew well in her heart that +he loved her. But she was brave, and she made no more +ado; she beckoned to him, and stepped across the sleeping +guardsmen that lay beside the threshold. Theseus held +up his hand, and she stopped, while he took two swords +from the men of the guard. One was long, with a strong +straight narrow blade tapering to a very sharp point; the +other sword was short and straight, with keen cutting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +double edges. Theseus slung them round his neck by +their belts, and Ariadne walked down the corridor, Theseus +following her, and the old nurse following him. He had +taken the swords from the sleeping men lest, if Ariadne +gave him one, it might be found out that she had helped +him, and she knew this in her heart, for neither of them +spoke a word.</p> + +<p>Swiftly and silently they went, through galleries and +corridors that turned and wound about, till Ariadne came +to the door of her own chamber. Here she held up her +hand, and Theseus stopped, till she came forth again, +thrusting something into the bosom of her gown. Again +she led the way, down a broad staircase between great +pillars, into a hall, whence she turned, and passed down +a narrower stair, and then through many passages, till +she came into the open air, and they crossed rough ground +to a cave in a hill. In the back of the cave was a door +plated with bronze which she opened with a key. Here she +stopped and took out of the bosom of her gown a coil of +fine strong thread.</p> + +<p>'Take this,' she said, 'and enter by that door, and first +of all make fast the end of the coil to a stone, and so walk +through the labyrinth, and, when you would come back, +the coil shall be your guide. Take this key also, to open +the door, and lock it from within. If you return place the +key in a cleft in the wall within the outer door of the +palace.'</p> + +<p>She stopped and looked at Theseus with melancholy +eyes, and he threw his arms about her, and they kissed +and embraced as lovers do who are parting and know not if +they may ever meet again.</p> + +<p>At last she sighed and said, 'The dawn is near—farewell;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +the gods be with you. I give you the watchword of +the night, that you may pass the sentinels if you come forth +alive,' and she told him the word. Then she opened the +door and gave him the key, and the old nurse gave him +the lamp which she carried, and some food to take with +him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIIc" id="VIIc"></a>VII</h2> + +<p class="center">THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR</p> + +<p>Theseus first fastened one end of his coil of string to a +pointed rock, and then began to look about him. The +labyrinth was dark, and he slowly walked, holding the +string, down the broadest path, from which others turned +off to right or left. He counted his steps, and he had taken +near three thousand steps when he saw the pale sky showing +in a small circle cut in the rocky roof, above his head, and +he saw the fading stars. Sheer walls of rock went up +on either hand of him, a roof of rock was above him, but +in the roof was this one open place, across which were heavy +bars. Soon the daylight would come.</p> + +<p>Theseus set the lamp down on a rock behind a corner, +and he waited, thinking, at a place where a narrow dark +path turned at right angles to the left. Looking carefully +round he saw a heap of bones, not human bones, but skulls +of oxen and sheep, hoofs of oxen, and shank bones. 'This,' +he thought, 'must be the place where the food of the +Minotaur is let down to him from above. They have +not Athenian youths and maidens to give him every day! +Beside his feeding place I will wait.' Saying this to himself, +he rose and went round the corner of the dark narrow path +cut in the rock to the left. He made his own breakfast,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +from the food that Ariadne had given him, and it occurred +to his mind that probably the Minotaur might also be +thinking of breakfast time.</p> + +<p>He sat still, and from afar away within he heard a +faint sound, like the end of the echo of a roar, and he stood +up, drew his long sword, and listened keenly. The sound +came nearer and louder, a strange sound, not deep like the +roar of a bull, but more shrill and thin. Theseus laughed +silently. A monster with the head and tongue of a bull, +but with the chest of a man, could roar no better than that! +The sounds came nearer and louder, but still with the thin +sharp tone in them. Theseus now took from his bosom +the phial of gold that Medea had given him in Athens when +she told him about the Minotaur. He removed the stopper, +and held his thumb over the mouth of the phial, and grasped +his long sword with his left hand, after fastening the clue +of thread to his belt.</p> + +<p>The roars of the hungry Minotaur came nearer and +nearer; now his feet could be heard padding along the +echoing floor of the labyrinth. Theseus moved to the +shadowy corner of the narrow path, where it opened into +the broad light passage, and he crouched there; his heart was +beating quickly. On came the Minotaur, up leaped +Theseus, and dashed the contents of the open phial in the +eyes of the monster; a white dust flew out, and Theseus +leaped back into his hiding place. The Minotaur uttered +strange shrieks of pain; he rubbed his eyes with his monstrous +hands; he raised his head up towards the sky, bellowing +and confused; he stood tossing his head up and down; +he turned round and round about, feeling with his hands +for the wall. He was quite blind. Theseus drew his +short sword, crept up, on naked feet, behind the monster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +and cut through the back sinews of his legs at the knees. +Down fell the Minotaur, with a crash and a roar, biting at +the rocky floor with his lion's teeth, and waving his hands, +and clutching at the empty air. Theseus waited for his +chance, when the clutching hands rested, and then, thrice +he drove the long sharp blade of bronze through the heart +of the Minotaur. The body leaped, and lay still.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs15" id="gs15"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs15.png" width="350" height="488" alt="HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR." title="HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR." /> +<span class="caption">HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Theseus kneeled down, and thanked all the gods, and +promised rich sacrifices, and a new temple to Pallas Athênê, +the Guardian of Athens. When he had finished his +prayer, he drew the short sword, and hacked off the head +of the Minotaur. He sheathed both his swords, took the +head in his hand, and followed the string back out of the +daylit place, to the rock where he had left his lamp. With +the lamp and the guidance of the string he easily found his +way to the door, which he unlocked. He noticed that +the thick bronze plates of the door were dinted and scarred +by the points of the horns of the Minotaur, trying to force +his way out.</p> + +<p>He went out into the fresh early morning; all the birds +were singing merrily, and merry was the heart of Theseus. +He locked the door, and crossed to the palace, which he +entered, putting the key in the place which Ariadne had +shown him. She was there, with fear and joy in her eyes. +'Touch me not,' said Theseus, 'for I am foul with the blood +of the Minotaur.' She brought him to the baths on the +ground floor, and swiftly fled up a secret stair. In the +bathroom Theseus made himself clean, and clad himself in +fresh raiment which was lying ready for him. When he +was clean and clad he tied a rope of byblus round the +horns of the head of the Minotaur, and went round the +back of the palace, trailing the head behind him, till he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +came to a sentinel. 'I would see King Minos,' he said, 'I +have the password, <i>Androgeos</i>!'</p> + +<p>The sentinel, pale and wondering, let him pass, and so he +went through the guards, and reached the great door of the +palace, and there the servants wrapped the bleeding head +in cloth, that it might not stain the floors. Theseus bade +them lead him to King Minos, who was seated on his throne, +judging the four guardsmen, that had been found asleep.</p> + +<p>When Theseus entered, followed by the serving men +with their burden, the king never stirred on his throne, +but turned his grey eyes on Theseus. 'My lord,' said +Theseus, 'that which was to be done is done.' The servants +laid their burden at the feet of King Minos, and removed +the top fold of the covering.</p> + +<p>The king turned to the captain of his guard. 'A week +in the cells for each of these four men,' said he, and the four +guards, who had expected to die by a cruel death, were led +away. 'Let that head and the body also be burned to ashes +and thrown into the sea, far from the shore,' said Minos, and +his servants silently covered the head of the Minotaur, and +bore it from the throne room.</p> + +<p>Then, at last, Minos rose from his throne, and took the +hand of Theseus, and said, 'Sir, I thank you, and I give you +back your company safe and free; and I am no more in +hatred with your people. Let there be peace between me +and them. But will you not abide with us awhile, and be +our guests?'</p> + +<p>Theseus was glad enough, and he and his company tarried +in the palace, and were kindly treated. Minos showed +Theseus all the splendour and greatness of his kingdom +and his ships, and great armouries, full of all manner of +weapons: the names and numbers of them are yet known,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +for they are written on tablets of clay, that were found +in the storehouse of the king. Later, in the twilight, Theseus +and Ariadne would walk together in the fragrant gardens +where the nightingales sang, and Minos knew it, and was +glad. He thought that nowhere in the world could he find +such a husband for his daughter, and he deemed it wise to +have the alliance of so great a king as Theseus promised to +be. But, loving his daughter, he kept Theseus with him +long, till the prince was ashamed of his delay, knowing that +his father, King Ægeus, and all the people of his country, +were looking for him anxiously.</p> + +<p>Therefore he told what was in his heart to Minos, who +sighed, and said, 'I knew what is in your heart, and I +cannot say you nay. I give to you my daughter as gladly +as a father may.' Then they spoke of things of state, and +made firm alliance between Cnossos and Athens while +they both lived; and the wedding was done with great +splendour, and, at last, Theseus and Ariadne and all their +company went aboard, and sailed from Crete. One misfortune +they had: the captain of their ship died of a sickness +while they were in Crete, but Minos gave them the best of +his captains. Yet by reason of storms and tempests they +had a long and terrible voyage, driven out of their course +into strange seas. When at length they found their bearings, +a grievous sickness fell on beautiful Ariadne. Day by +day she was weaker, till Theseus, with a breaking heart, +stayed the ship at an isle but two days' sail from Athens. +There Ariadne was carried ashore, and laid in a bed in the +house of the king of that island, and the physicians and the +wise women did for her what they could. But she died +with her hands in the hands of Theseus, and his lips on her +lips. In that isle she was buried, and Theseus went on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +board his ship, and drew his cloak over his head, and so +lay for two days, never moving nor speaking, and tasting +neither meat nor drink. No man dared to speak to him, +but when the vessel stopped in the harbour of Athens, he +arose, and stared about him.</p> + +<p>The shore was dark with people all dressed in mourning +raiment, and the herald of the city came with the news +that Ægeus the King was dead. For the Cretan captain +did not know that he was to hoist the scarlet sail if Theseus +came home in triumph, and Ægeus, as he watched the +waters, had descried the dark sail from afar off, and, in +his grief, had thrown himself down from the cliff, and was +drowned. This was the end of the voyaging of Theseus.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Theseus wished to die, and be with Ariadne, in the land +of Queen Persephone. But he was a strong man, and he +lived to be the greatest of the Kings of Athens, for all the +other towns came in, and were his subjects, and he ruled +them well. His first care was to build a great fleet in secret +harbours far from towns and the ways of men, for, though +he and Minos were friends while they both lived, when Minos +died the new Cretan king might oppress Athens.</p> + +<p>Minos died, at last, and his son picked a quarrel with +Theseus, who refused to give up a man that had fled to +Athens because the new king desired to slay him, and news +came to Theseus that a great navy was being made ready in +Crete to attack him. Then he sent heralds to the king of a +fierce people, called the Dorians, who were moving through +the countries to the north-west of Greece, seizing lands, +settling on them, and marching forward again in a few +years. They were wild, strong, and brave, and they are +said to have had swords of iron, which were better than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +bronze weapons of the Greeks. The heralds of Theseus +said to them, 'Come to our king, and he will take you across +the sea, and show you plunder enough. But you shall +swear not to harm his kingdom.'</p> + +<p>This pleased the Dorians well, and the ships of Theseus +brought them round to Athens, where Theseus joined them +with many of his own men, and they did the oath. They +sailed swiftly to Crete, where, as they arrived in the dark, the +Cretan captains thought that they were part of their own +navy, coming in to join them in the attack on Athens; for +that Theseus had a navy the Cretans knew not; he had built +it so secretly. In the night he marched his men to Cnossos, +and took the garrison by surprise, and burned the palace, +and plundered it. Even now we can see that the palace +has been partly burned, and hurriedly robbed by some +sudden enemy.</p> + +<p>The Dorians stayed in Crete, and were there in the time +of Ulysses, holding part of the island, while the true Cretans +held the greater part of it. But Theseus returned to +Athens, and married Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons. +The story of their wedding festival is told in Shakespeare's +play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' And Theseus had +many new adventures, and many troubles, but he left +Athens rich and strong, and in no more danger from the +kings of Crete. Though the Dorians, after the time of +Ulysses, swept all over the rest of Greece, and seized +Mycenæ and Lacedæmon, the towns of Agamemnon and +Menelaus, they were true to their oath to Theseus, and left +Athens to the Athenians.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PERSEUS" id="PERSEUS"></a>PERSEUS</h2> + +<h2><a name="Id" id="Id"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="center">THE PRISON OF DANAE</p> + +<p>Many years before the Siege of Troy there lived in Greece +two princes who were brothers and deadly enemies. Each +of them wished to be king both of Argos (where Diomede +ruled in the time of the Trojan war), and of Tiryns. After +long wars one of the brothers, Proetus, took Tiryns, and +built the great walls of huge stones, and the palace; while +the other brother, Acrisius, took Argos, and he married +Eurydice, a princess of the Royal House of Lacedæmon, +where Menelaus and Helen were King and Queen in later +times.</p> + +<p>Acrisius had one daughter, Danae, who became the most +beautiful woman in Greece, but he had no son. This made +him very unhappy, for he thought that, when he grew old, +the sons of his brother Proetus would attack him, and take +his lands and city, if he had no son to lead his army. His +best plan would have been to find some brave young prince, +like Theseus, and give Danae to him for his wife, and their +sons would be leaders of the men of Argos. But Acrisius +preferred to go to the prophetic maiden of the temple of +Apollo at Delphi (or Pytho, as it was then called), and ask +what chance he had of being the father of a son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>The maiden seldom had good news to give any man; +but at least this time it was easy to understand what she +said. She went down into the deep cavern below the +temple floor, where it was said that a strange mist or steam +flowed up out of the earth, and made her fall into a strange +sleep, in which she could walk and speak, but knew not +what she was singing, for she sang her prophecies. At last +she came back, very pale, with her laurel wreath twisted +awry, and her eyes open, but seeing nothing. She sang +that Acrisius would never have a son; but that his daughter +would bear a son, who would kill him.</p> + +<p>Acrisius mounted his chariot, sad and sorry, and was +driven homewards. On the way he never spoke a word, +but was thinking how he might escape from the prophecy, +and baffle the will of Zeus, the chief of the gods. He did +not know that Zeus himself had looked down upon Danae +and fallen in love with her, nor did Danae know.</p> + +<p>The only sure way to avoid the prophecy was to kill +Danae, and Acrisius thought of doing this; but he loved her +too much; and he was afraid that his people would rise +against him, if he slew his daughter, the pride of their +hearts. Still another fear was upon Acrisius, which will +be explained later in the story. He could think of nothing +better than to build a house all of bronze, in the court of +his palace, a house sunk deep in the earth, but with part of +the roof open to the sky, as was the way in all houses then; +the light came in from above, and the smoke of the fire +went out in the same way. This chamber Acrisius built, +and in it he shut up poor Danae with the woman that had +been her nurse. They saw nothing, hills or plains or sea, +men or trees, they only saw the sun at midday, and the +sky, and the free birds flitting across it. There Danae lay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +and was weary and sad, and she could not guess why her +father thus imprisoned her. He used to visit her often +and seemed kind and sorry for her, but he would never +listen when she implored him to sell her for a slave into a +far country, so that, at least, she might see the world in +which she lived.</p> + +<p>Now on a day a mysterious thing happened; the old +poet Pindar, who lived long after, in the time of the war +between the Greeks and the King of Persia, says that a +living stream of gold flowed down from the sky and filled +the chamber of Danae. Some time after this Danae bore +a baby, a son, the strongest and most beautiful of children. +She and her nurse kept it secret, and the child was brought +up in an inner chamber of the house of bronze. It was +difficult to prevent so lively a child from making a noise +in his play, and one day, when Acrisius was with Danae, +the boy, now three or four years old, escaped from his +nurse, and ran from her room, laughing and shouting. +Acrisius rushed out, and saw the nurse catch the child, and +throw her mantle over him. Acrisius seized the boy, who +stood firm on his little legs, with his head high, frowning at +his grandfather, and gazing in anger out of his large blue +eyes. Acrisius saw that this child would be dangerous +when he became a man, and in great anger he bade his +guards take the nurse out, and strangle her with a rope, +while Danae knelt weeping at his feet.</p> + +<p>When they were alone he said to Danae: 'Who is the +father of this child?' but she, with her boy on her arm, +slipped past Acrisius, and out of the open door, and up the +staircase, into the open air. She ran to the altar of Zeus, +which was built in the court, and threw her arms round it, +thinking that there no man dared to touch her. 'I cry to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +Zeus that is throned in the highest, the Lord of Thunder,' +she said: 'for he and no other is the father of my boy, even +Perseus.' The sky was bright and blue without a cloud, +and Danae cried in vain. There came no flash of lightning +nor roll of thunder.</p> + +<p>'Is it even so?' said Acrisius, 'then let Zeus guard his +own.' He bade his men drag Danae from the altar; and +lock her again in the house of bronze; while he had a great +strong chest made. In that chest he had the cruelty to +place Danae and her boy, and he sent them out to sea in a +ship, the sailors having orders to let the chest down into the +waters when they were far from shore. They dared not +disobey, but they put food and a skin of wine, and two +skins of water in the chest, and lowered it into the sea, +which was perfectly calm and still. It was their hope that +some ship would come sailing by, perhaps a ship of Phœnician +merchant-men, who would certainly save Danae and +the child, if only that they might sell them for slaves.</p> + +<p>King Acrisius himself was not ignorant that this might +happen, and that his grandson might live to be the cause of +his death. But the Greeks believed that if any man killed +one of his own kinsfolk, he would be pursued and driven +mad by the Furies called the Erinyes, terrible winged +women with cruel claws. These winged women drove +Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, fleeing like a madman +through the world, because he slew his own mother, Clytaemnestra, +to avenge his father, whom she and Ægisthus had +slain. Nothing was so much dreaded as these Furies, and +therefore Acrisius did not dare to slay his daughter and his +grandson, Perseus, but only put them in the way of being +drowned. He heard no more of them, and hoped that +both of their bodies were rolling in the waves, or that their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +bones lay bleaching on some unknown shore. But he could +not be certain—indeed, he soon knew better—and as long as +he lived, he lived in fear that Perseus had escaped, and would +come and slay him, as the prophetess had said in her song.</p> + +<p>The chest floated on the still waters, and the sea birds +swooped down to look at it, and passed by, with one waft +of their wings. The sun set, and Danae watched the stars, +the Bear and Orion with his belt, and wrapped her boy up +warm, and he slept sound, for he never knew fear, in his +mother's arms. The Dawn came in her golden throne, and +Danae saw around her the blue sharp crests of the mountains +of the islands that lay scattered like water lilies on the seas +of Greece. If only the current would drift her to an island, +she thought, and prayed in her heart to the Gods of Good +Help, Pallas Athênê, and Hermes of the Golden Wand. +Soon she began to hope that the chest was drawing near an +island. She turned her head in the opposite direction for +a long while, and then looked forward again. She was +much nearer the island, and could see the smoke going up +from cottages among the trees. But she drifted on and +drifted past the end of the isle, and on with the current, +and so all day.</p> + +<p>A weary day she had, for the boy was full of play, and +was like to capsize the chest. She gave him some wine and +water, and presently he fell asleep, and Danae watched +the sea and the distant isles till night came again. It was +dark, with no moon, and the darker because the chest +floated into the shadow of a mountain, and the current +drew it near the shore. But Danae dared not hope again; +men would not be abroad, she thought, in the night. As +she lay thus helpless, she saw a light moving on the sea, +and she cried as loud as she could cry. Then the light<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +stopped, and a man's shout came to her over the water, +and the light moved swiftly towards her. It came from a +brazier set on a pole in a boat, and now Danae could see +the bright sparks that shone in the drops from the oars, +for the boat was being rowed towards her, as fast as two +strong men could pull.</p> + +<p>Being weak from the heat of the sun that had beaten on +her for two days, and tired out with hopes and fears, Danae +fainted, and knew nothing till she felt cold water on her +face. Then she opened her eyes, and saw kind eyes looking +at her own, and the brown face of a bearded man, in the +light of the blaze that fishermen carry in their boats at night, +for the fish come to wonder at it, and the fishermen spear +them. There were many dead fish in the boat, into which +Danae and the child had been lifted, and a man with a +fish spear in his hand was stooping over her.</p> + +<p>Then Danae knew that she and her boy were saved, and +she lay, unable to speak, till the oarsmen had pulled their +boat to a little pier of stone. There the man with the +fish spear lifted her up lightly and softly set her on her feet +on land, and a boatman handed to him the boy, who was +awake, and was crying for food.</p> + +<p>'You are safe, lady!' said the man with the spear, +'and I have taken fairer fish than ever swam the sea. I am +called Dictys; my brother, Polydectes, is king of this island, +and my wife is waiting for me at home, where she will make +you welcome, and the boy thrice welcome, for the gods have +taken our only son.'</p> + +<p>He asked no questions of Danae; it was reckoned ill +manners to put questions to strangers and guests, but he +lighted two torches at the fire in the boat, and bade his two +men walk in front, to show the way, while he supported<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +Danae, and carried the child on his shoulder. They had +not far to go, for Dictys, who loved fishing of all things, +had his house near the shore. Soon they saw the light +shining up from the opening in the roof of the hall; and +the wife of Dictys came running out, crying: 'Good sport?' +when she heard their voices and footsteps.</p> + +<p>'Rare sport,' shouted Dictys cheerily, and he led in +Danae, and gave the child into the arms of his wife. Then +they were taken to the warm baths, and dressed in fresh +raiment. Food was set before them, and presently Danae +and Perseus slept on soft beds, with coverlets of scarlet +wool.</p> + +<p>Dictys and his wife never asked Danae any questions +about how and why she came floating on the sea through +the night. News was carried quickly enough from the +mainland to the islands by fishers in their boats and merchant +men, and pedlars. Dictys heard how the king of Argos +had launched his daughter and her son on the sea, hoping +that both would be drowned. All the people knew in the +island, which was called Seriphos, and they hated the +cruelty of Acrisius, and many believed that Perseus was the +son of Zeus.</p> + +<p>If the news from Argos reached Seriphos, we may guess +that the news from Seriphos reached Argos, and that +Acrisius heard how a woman as beautiful as a goddess, +with a boy of the race of the gods, had drifted to the shore of +the little isle. Acrisius knew, and fear grew about his +heart, fear that was sharper as the years went on, while +Perseus was coming to his manhood. Acrisius often +thought of ways by which he might have his grandson +slain; but none of them seemed safe. By the time when +Perseus was fifteen, Acrisius dared not go out of doors,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +except among the spears of his armed guards, and he was +so eaten up by fear that it would have been happier for him +if he had never been born.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IId" id="IId"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="center">THE VOW OF PERSEUS</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for Perseus that Dictys treated him and +taught him like his own son, and checked him if he was +fierce and quarrelsome, as so strong a boy was apt to be. He +was trained in all the exercises of young men, the use of +spear and sword, shield and bow; and in running, leaping, +hunting, rowing, and the art of sailing a boat. There were +no books in Seriphos, nobody could read or write; but +Perseus was told the stories of old times, and of old warriors +who slew monsters by sea and land. Most of the monsters +had been killed, as Perseus was sorry to hear, for he desired +to try his own luck with them when he came to be a man. +But the most terrible of all, the Gorgons, who were hated +by men and gods, lived still, in an island near the Land of +the Dead; but the way to that island was unknown. These +Gorgons were two sisters, and a third woman; the two +were hideous to look on, with hair and wings and claws of +bronze, and with teeth like the white tusks of swine. Swinish +they were, ugly and loathsome, feeding fearfully on the +bodies of unburied men. But the third Gorgon was beautiful +save for the living serpents that coiled in her hair. She +alone of the three Gorgons was mortal, and could be slain, +but who could slay her? So terrible were her eyes that +men who had gone up against her were changed into pillars +of stone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was one of the stories that Perseus heard when he +was a boy; and there was a proverb that this or that hard +task was 'as difficult to do as to slay the Gorgon.' Perseus, +then, ever since he was a little boy, was wondering how he +could slay the Gorgon and become as famous as the strong +man Heracles, or the good knight Bellerophon, who slew +the Chimaera. Perseus was always thinking of such famous +men as these, and especially loved the story of Bellerophon, +which is this:</p> + +<p>In the city of Ephyre, now called Corinth, was a king +named Glaucus, who had a son, Bellerophon. He was brought +up far from home, in Argos, by King Proetus (the great-uncle +of Perseus), who was his foster-father, and loved him well. +Proetus was an old man, but his wife, Anteia, was young +and beautiful, and Bellerophon also was beautiful and young, +and, by little and little, Anteia fell in love with him, and +could not be happy without him, but no such love was in +Bellerophon's heart for her, who was his foster-mother. +At last Anteia, forgetting all shame, told Bellerophon that +she loved him, and hated her husband; and she asked him +to fly with her to the seashore, where she had a ship lying +ready, and they two would sail to some island far away, and +be happy together.</p> + +<p>Bellerophon knew not what to say; he could not wrong +King Proetus, his foster-father. He stood speechless, his +face was red with shame, but the face of Anteia grew white +with rage.</p> + +<p>'Dastard!' she said, 'thou shalt not live long in Argos +to boast of my love and your own virtue!' She ran from +him, straight to King Proetus, and flung herself at his feet. +'What shall be done, oh king,' she cried, 'to the man who +speaks words of love dishonourable to the Queen of Argos?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<p>'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Proetus, 'if he were my +own foster-son he shall die!'</p> + +<p>'Thou hast named him!' said Anteia, and she ran to +her own upper chamber, and locked the door, and flung +herself on the bed, weeping for rage as if her heart would +break. Proetus followed her, but she would not unlock her +door, only he heard her bitter weeping, and he went apart, +alone, and took thought how he should be revenged on +Bellerophon. He had no desire to slay him openly, for then +the King of Ephyre would make war against him. He could +not bring him to trial before the judges, for there was no +witness against him except Anteia; and he did not desire +to make his subjects talk about the queen, for it was the +glory of a woman, in those days, not to be spoken of in the +conversation of men.</p> + +<p>Therefore Proetus, for a day or two, seemed to favour +Bellerophon more kindly than ever. Next he called him +into his chamber, alone, and said that it was well for young +men to see the world, to cross the sea and visit foreign cities, +and win renown. The eyes of Bellerophon brightened at +these words, not only because he desired to travel, but +because he was miserable in Argos, where he saw every day +the angry eyes of Anteia. Then Proetus said that the King +of Lycia, in Asia far across the sea, was his father-in-law, +and his great friend. To him he would send Bellerophon, +and Proetus gave him a folded tablet, in which he had +written many deadly signs. Bellerophon took the folded +tablet, not looking, of course, at what was written in it, +and away he sailed to Lycia. The king of that country +received him well, and on the tenth day after his arrival +asked him if he brought any token from King Proetus.</p> + +<p>Bellerophon gave him the tablet, which he opened and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +read. The writing said that Bellerophon must die. Now +at that time Lycia was haunted by a monster of no human +birth; her front was the front of a lion, in the middle of +her body she was a goat, she tapered away to a strong swift +serpent, and she breathed flame from her nostrils. The +King of Lycia, wishing to get rid of Bellerophon, had but +to name this curse to his guest, who vowed that he would +meet her if he might find her. So he was led to the cavern +where she dwelt, and there he watched for her all night +till the day dawned.</p> + +<p>He was cunning as well as brave, and men asked him +why he took with him no weapon but his sword, and two +spears with heavy heads, not of bronze, but of soft lead. +Bellerophon told his companions that he had his own way +of fighting, and bade them go home, and leave him alone, +while his charioteer stood by the horses and chariot in a +hollow way, out of sight. Bellerophon himself watched, +lying on his face, hidden behind a rock in the mouth of the +cavern. The moment that the rising sun touched with a +red ray the dark mouth of the cave, forth came the Chimaera, +and, setting her fore paws on the rock, looked over the +valley. The moment that she opened her mouth, breathing +flame, Bellerophon plunged his leaden spears deep down her +throat, and sprang aside. On came the Chimaera, her +serpent tail lashing the stones, but Bellerophon ever kept +on the further side of a great tall rock. The Chimaera +ceased to pursue him, she rolled on the earth, uttering +screams of pain, for the lead was melting in the fire that +was within her, and at last the molten lead burned through +her, and she died. Bellerophon hacked off her head, and +several feet of her tail, stowed them in his chariot, and drove<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +back to the palace of the King of Lycia, while the people +followed him with songs of praise.</p> + +<p>The king set him three other terrible tasks, but he +achieved each of the adventures gloriously, and the king +gave him his daughter to be his bride, and half of all the +honours of his kingdom. This is the story of Bellerophon +(there were other ways of telling it), and Perseus was +determined to do as great deeds as he. But Perseus was +still a boy, and he did not know, and no man could tell +him, the way to the island of the Gorgons.</p> + +<p>When Perseus was about sixteen years old, the King of +Seriphos, Polydectes, saw Danae, fell in love with her, and +wanted to take her into his palace, but he did not want +Perseus. He was a bad and cruel man, but Perseus was so +much beloved by the people that he dared not kill him +openly. He therefore made friends with the lad, and +watched him carefully to see how he could take advantage +of him. The king saw that he was of a rash, daring and +haughty spirit, though Dictys had taught him to keep +himself well in hand, and that he was eager to win glory. +The king fell on this plan: he gave a great feast on his +birthday, and invited all the chief men and the richest on +the island; Perseus, too, he asked to the banquet. As the +custom was, all the guests brought gifts, the best that they +had, cattle, women-slaves, golden cups, wedges of gold, +great vessels of bronze, and other splendid things, and the +king met the guests at the door of his hall, and thanked +them graciously.</p> + +<p>Last came Perseus: he had no gift to give, for he had +nothing of his own. The others began to sneer at him, +saying, 'Here is a birthday guest without a birthday gift!' +'How should No Man's son have a present fit for a king.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +'This lad is lazy, tied to his mother; he should long ago +have taken service with the captain of a merchant ship.' +'He might at least watch the town's cows on the town's +fields,' said another. Thus they insulted Perseus, and the +king, watching him with a cruel smile, saw his face grow +red, and his blue eyes blaze, as he turned from one to another +of the mockers, who pointed their fingers at him and +jeered.</p> + +<p>At last Perseus spoke: 'Ye farmers and fishers, ye ship-captains +and slave dealers of a little isle, I shall bring to +your master such a present as none of you dare to seek. +Farewell. Ye shall see me once again and no more. I go +to slay the Gorgon, and bring such a gift as no king possesses—the +Head of the Gorgon.'</p> + +<p>They laughed and hooted, but Perseus turned away, his +hand on his sword hilt, and left them to their festival, while +the king rejoiced in his heart. Perseus dared not see his +mother again, but he spoke to Dictys, saying that he knew +himself now to be of an age when he must seek his fortune +in other lands; and he bade Dictys guard his mother from +wrong, as well as he might. Dictys promised that he +would find a way of protecting Danae, and he gave Perseus +three weighed wedges of gold (which were called 'talents,' +and served as money), and lent him a ship, to take him +to the mainland of Greece, there to seek his fortune.</p> + +<p>In the dawn Perseus secretly sailed away, landed at +Malea, and thence walked and wandered everywhere, +seeking to learn the way to the island of the Gorgons. He +was poorly clad, and he slept at night by the fires of smithies, +where beggars and wanderers lay: listening to the stories +they told, and asking old people, when he met them, if they +knew any one who knew the way to the island of the Gorgons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +They all shook their heads. 'Yet I should be near knowing,' +said one old man, 'if that isle be close to the Land of the +Dead, for I am on its borders. Yet I know nothing. +Perchance the dead may know; or the maid that prophesies +at Pytho, or the Selloi, the priests with unwashen feet, +who sleep on the ground below the sacred oaks of Zeus in +the grove of Dodona far away.'</p> + +<p>Perseus could learn no more than this, and he wandered +on and on. He went to the cave that leads down to the +Land of the Dead, where the ghosts answer questions in +their thin voices, like the twittering of bats. But the +ghosts could not tell him what he desired to know. He went +to Pytho, where the maid, in her song, bade him seek the +land of men who eat acorns instead of the yellow grain of +Demeter, the goddess of harvest. Thence he wandered +to Epirus, and to the Selloi who dwell in the oak forest +of Zeus, and live on the flour ground from acorns. One of +them lay on the ground in the wood, with his head covered +up in his mantle, and listened to what the wind says, when it +whispers to the forest leaves. The leaves said, 'We bid +the young man be of good hope, for the gods are with +him.'</p> + +<p>This answer did not tell Perseus where the isle of the +Gorgons lay, but the words put hope in his heart, weary and +footsore as he was. He ate of the bread made of the acorns, +and of the flesh of the swine that the Selloi gave him, and he +went alone, and, far in the forest, he laid his head down +on the broad mossy root of an old oak tree. He did not +sleep, but watched the stars through the boughs, and he +heard the cries of the night-wandering beasts in the woodland.</p> + +<p>'If the gods be with me, I shall yet do well,' he said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +and, as he spoke, he saw a white clear light moving through +the darkness. That clear white light shone from a golden +lamp in the hand of a tall and beautiful woman, clad in +armour, and wearing, hung by a belt from her neck, a great +shield of polished bronze. With her there came a young +man, with winged shoon of gold on his feet, and belted with +a strange short curved sword: in his hand was a golden +wand, with wings on it, and with golden serpents twisted +round it.</p> + +<p>Perseus knew that these beautiful folk were the Goddess +Athênê, and Hermes, who brings all fortunate things. He +fell upon his face before them, but Athênê spoke in a sweet +grave voice, saying, 'Arise, Perseus, and speak to us face +to face, for we are of your kindred, we also are children of +Zeus, the Father of gods and men.'</p> + +<p>Then Perseus arose and looked straight into their eyes.</p> + +<p>'We have watched you long, Perseus, to learn whether +you have the heart of a hero, that can achieve great adventures; +or whether you are an idle dreaming boy. We have +seen that your heart is steadfast, and that you have sought +through hunger, and long travel to know the way wherein +you must find death or win glory. That way is not to be +found without the help of the gods. First you must seek +the Three Grey Women, who dwell beyond the land that +lies at the back of the North Wind. They will tell you +the road to the three Nymphs of the West, who live in an +island of the sea that never knew a sail; for it is beyond the +pillars that Heracles set up when he wearied in his journey +to the Well of the World's End, and turned again. You +must go to these nymphs, where never foot of man has trod, +and they will show you the measure of the way to the Isle of +the Gorgons. If you see the faces of the Gorgons, you will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +be turned to stone. Yet you have vowed to bring the head +of the youngest of the three, she who was not born a Gorgon +but became one of them by reason of her own wickedness. +If you slay her, you must not see even her dead head, but +wrap it round in this goat-skin which hangs beside my +shield; see not the head yourself, and let none see it but +your enemies.'</p> + +<p>'This is a great adventure,' said Perseus, 'to slay a +woman whom I may not look upon, lest I be changed into +stone.'</p> + +<p>'I give you my polished shield,' said Athênê. 'Let it +never grow dim, if you would live and see the sunlight.' +She took off her shield from her neck, with the goat-skin +cover of the shield, and hung them round the neck of +Perseus. He knelt and thanked her for her grace, and, +looking up through a clear space between the forest boughs, +he said, 'I see the Bear, the stars of the North that are the +guide of sailors. I shall walk towards them even now, by +your will, for my heart burns to find the Three Grey Women, +and learn the way.'</p> + +<p>Hermes smiled, and said, 'An old man and white-bearded +would you be, ere you measured out that way on foot! Here, +take my winged sandals, and bind them about your feet. +They know all the paths of the air, and they will bring you +to the Three Grey Women. Belt yourself, too, with my +sword, for this sword needs no second stroke, but will cleave +through that you set it to smite.'</p> + +<p>So Perseus bound on the Shoes of Swiftness, and the +Sword of Sharpness, the name of it was Herpê; and when he +rose from binding on the shoon, he was alone. The gods +had departed. He drew the sword, and cut at an oak tree +trunk, and the blade went clean through it, while the tree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +fell with a crash like thunder. Then Perseus rose through +the clear space in the wood, and flew under the stars, +towards the constellation of the Bear. North of Greece +he flew, above the Thracian mountains, and the Danube +(which was then called the Ister) lay beneath him like a long +thread of silver. The air grew cold as he crossed lands then +unknown to the Greeks, lands where wild men dwelt, clad +in the skins of beasts, and using axe-heads and spear-heads +made of sharpened stones. He passed to the land at the +back of the North Wind, a sunny warm land, where the +people sacrifice wild asses to the God Apollo. Beyond +this he came to a burning desert of sand, but far away he +saw trees that love the water, poplars and willows, and +thither he flew.</p> + +<p>He came to a lake among the trees, and round and +round the lake were flying three huge grey swans, with the +heads of women, and their long grey hair flowed down +below their bodies, and floated on the wind. They sang +to each other as they flew, in a voice like the cry of the swan. +They had but one eye among them, and but one tooth, +which they passed to each other in turn, for they had +arms and hands under their wings. Perseus dropped down +in his flight, and watched them. When one was passing +the eye to the other, none of them could see him, so he +waited for his chance and took it, and seized the eye.</p> + +<p>'Where is our eye? Have <i>you</i> got it?' said the Grey +Woman from whose hand Perseus took it. 'I have it +not.'</p> + +<p>'I have it not!' cried each of the others, and they all +wailed like swans.</p> + +<p>'I have it,' said Perseus, and hearing his voice they all +flew to the sound of it but he easily kept out of their way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +'The eye will I keep,' said Perseus, 'till you tell me what +none knows but you, the way to the Isle of the Gorgons.'</p> + +<p>'We know it not,' cried the poor Grey Women. 'None +knows it but the Nymphs of the Isle of the West: give us +our eye!'</p> + +<p>'Then tell me the way to the Nymphs of the Isle of the +West,' said Perseus.</p> + +<p>'Turn your back, and hold your course past the isle of +Albion, with the white cliffs, and so keep with the land on +your left hand, and the unsailed sea on your right hand, +till you mark the pillars of Heracles on your left, then take +your course west by south, and a curse on you! Give us +our eye!'</p> + +<p>Perseus gave them their eye, and she who took it flew +at him, but he laughed, and rose high above them and +flew as he was told. Over many and many a league of sea +and land he went, till he turned to his right from the Pillars +of Heracles (at Gibraltar), and sailed along, west by south, +through warm air, over the lonely endless Atlantic waters. +At last he saw a great blue mountain, with snow feathering +its crests, in a far-off island, and on that island he alighted. +It was a country of beautiful flowers, and pine forests high +on the hill, but below the pines all was like a garden, and +in that garden was a tree bearing apples of gold, and round +the tree were dancing three fair maidens, clothed in green, +and white, and red.</p> + +<p>'These must be the Nymphs of the Isle of the West,' +said Perseus, and he floated down into the garden, and +drew near them.</p> + +<p>As soon as they saw him they left off dancing, and +catching each other by the hands they ran to Perseus laughing, +and crying, 'Hermes, our playfellow Hermes has come!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +The arms of all of them went round Perseus at once, with +much laughing and kissing. 'Why have you brought a +great shield, Hermes?' they cried, 'here there is no unfriendly +god or man to fight against you.'</p> + +<p>Perseus saw that they had mistaken him for the god +whose sword and winged shoon he wore, but he did not +dislike the mistake of the merry maidens.</p> + +<p>'I am not Hermes,' he said, 'but a mortal man, to +whom the god has graciously lent his sword and shoon, +and the shield was lent to me by Pallas Athênê. My name +is Perseus.'</p> + +<p>The girls leaped back from him, blushing and looking +shy. The eldest girl answered, 'We are the daughters of +Hesperus, the God of the Evening Star. I am Æglê, this +is my sister Erytheia, and this is Hesperia. We are the +keepers of this island, which is the garden of the gods, +and they often visit us; our cousins, Dionysus, the young +god of wine and mirth, and Hermes of the Golden Wand +come often; and bright Apollo, and his sister Artemis the +huntress. But a mortal man we have never seen, and +wherefore have the gods sent you hither?'</p> + +<p>'The two gods sent me, maidens, to ask you the way +to the Isle of the Gorgons, that I may slay Medusa of the +snaky hair, whom gods and men detest.'</p> + +<p>'Alas!' answered the nymphs, 'how shall you slay +her, even if we knew the way to that island, which we know +not?'</p> + +<p>Perseus sighed: he had gone so far, and endured so +much, and had come to the Nymphs of the Isle of the West, +and even they could not tell how to reach the Gorgons' +island.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs16" id="gs16"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs16.png" width="350" height="469" alt="PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES." title="PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES." /> +<span class="caption">PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>'Do not fear,' said the girl, 'for if we know not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +way we know one that knows it: Atlas is his name—the +Giant of the Mountain. He dwells on the highest peak of +the snow-crested hill, and it is he who holds up the heavens, +and keeps heaven and earth asunder. He looks over all +the world, and over the wide western sea: him we must ask +to answer your question. Take off your shield, which is so +heavy, and sit down with us among the flowers, and let us +think how you may slay the Gorgon.'</p> + +<p>Perseus gladly unslung his heavy shield, and sat down +among the white and purple wind flowers. Æglê, too, sat +down; but young Erytheia held the shield upright, while +beautiful Hesperia admired herself, laughing, in the polished +surface.</p> + +<p>Perseus smiled as he watched them, and a plan came +into his mind. In all his wanderings he had been trying +hard to think how, if he found the Gorgon, he might cut +off her head, without seeing the face which turned men into +stone. Now his puzzle was ended. He could hold up the +shield above the Gorgon, and see the reflection of her face, +as in a mirror, just as now he saw the fair reflected face of +Hesperia. He turned to Æglê, who sat silently beside him: +'Maiden,' he said, 'I have found out the secret that has +perplexed me long, how I may strike at the Gorgon without +seeing her face that turns men to stone. I will hang above +her in the air, and see her face reflected in the mirror of the +shield, and so know where to strike.' The two other girls +had left the shield on the grass, and they clapped their +hands when Perseus said this, but Æglê still looked grave.</p> + +<p>'It is much that you should have found this cunning +plan; but the Gorgons will see you, and two of them are +deathless and cannot be slain, even with the sword Herpé. +These Gorgons have wings almost as swift as the winged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +shoon of Hermes, and they have claws of bronze that cannot +be broken.'</p> + +<p>Hesperia clapped her hands. 'Yet I know a way,' +she said, 'so that this friend of ours may approach the +Gorgons, yet not be seen by them. You must be told,' +she said, turning to Perseus, 'that we three sisters were +of the company of the Fairy Queen, Persephone, daughter of +Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest. We were gathering +flowers with her, in the plain of Enna, in a spring morning, +when there sprang up a new flower, fragrant and beautiful, +the white narcissus. No sooner had Persephone plucked +that flower than the earth opened beside her, and up came +the chariot and horses of Hades, the King of the Dead, who +caught Persephone into his chariot, and bore her down +with him to the House of Hades. We wept and were in +great fear, but Zeus granted to Persephone to return to +earth with the first snowdrop, and remain with her mother, +Demeter, till the last rose had faded. Now I was the +favourite of Persephone, and she carried me with her to +see her husband, who is kind to me for her sake, and can +refuse me nothing, and he has what will serve your turn. To +him I will go, for often I go to see my playmate, when it is +winter in your world: it is always summer in our isle. To +him I will go, and return again, when I will so work that you +may be seen of none, neither by god, or man, or monster. +Meanwhile my sisters will take care of you, and to-morrow +they will lead you to the mountain top, to speak with the +Giant.'</p> + +<p>'It is well spoken,' said tall, grave Æglê, and she led +Perseus to their house, and gave him food and wine, and at +night he slept full of hope, in a chamber in the courtyard.</p> + +<p>Next morning, early, Perseus and Æglê and Erytheia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +floated up to the crest of the mountain, for Hesperia had +departed in the night, to visit Queen Persephone. Perseus +took a hand of each of the Nymphs, and they had no weary +climbing; they all soared up together, so great was the +power of the winged shoon of Hermes. They found the +good giant Atlas, kneeling on a black rock above the snow, +holding up the vault of heaven with either hand. When +Æglê had spoken to him, he bade his girls go apart, and +said to Perseus, 'Yonder, far away to the west, you see +an island with a mountain that rises to a flat top, like a +table. There dwell the Gorgons.'</p> + +<p>Perseus thanked him eagerly, but Atlas sighed and said, +'Mine is a weary life. Here have I knelt and done my +task, since the Giants fought against the gods, and were +defeated. Then, for my punishment, I was set here by +Zeus to keep sky and earth asunder. But he told me that +after hundreds of years I should have rest, and be changed +to a stone. Now I see that the day of rest appointed is +come, for you shall show me the head of the Gorgon when +you have slain her, and my body shall be stone, but my +spirit shall be with the ever living gods.'</p> + +<p>Perseus pitied Atlas; he bowed to the will of Zeus, and to +the prayer of the giant, and gave his promise. Then he +floated to Æglê and Erytheia, and they all three floated +down again to the garden of the golden apples. Here as +they walked on the soft grass, and watched the wind toss +the white and red and purple bells of the wind flowers, they +heard a low laughter close to them, the laughter of Hesperia, +but her they saw not. 'Where are you, Hesperia, where +are you hiding?' cried Æglê, wondering, for the wide lawn +was open, without bush or tree where the girl might be +lurking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Find me if you can,' cried the voice of Hesperia, close +beside them, and handfuls of flowers were lightly tossed to +them, yet they saw none who threw them. 'This place is +surely enchanted,' thought Perseus, and the voice of +Hesperia answered:</p> + +<p>'Come follow, follow me. I will run before you to the +house, and show you my secret.'</p> + +<p>Then they all saw the flowers bending, and the grass +waving, as if a light-footed girl were running through it, and +they followed to the house the path in the trodden grass. +At the door, Hesperia met them: 'You could not see me,' +she said, 'nor will the Gorgons see Perseus. Look, on that +table lies the Helmet of Hades, which mortal men call +the Cap of Darkness. While I wore it you could not see me, +nay, a deathless god cannot see the wearer of that helmet.' +She took up a dark cap of hard leather, that lay on a table +in the hall, and raised it to her head, and when she had +put it on, she was invisible. She took it off, and placed it +on the brows of Perseus. 'We cannot see you, Perseus,' +cried all the girls. 'Look at yourself in your shining shield: +can you see yourself?'</p> + +<p>Perseus turned to the shield, which he had hung on a +golden nail in the wall. He saw only the polished bronze, +and the faces of the girls who were looking over his shoulder. +He took off the Helmet of Hades and gave a great sigh. +'Kind are the gods,' he said. 'Methinks that I shall indeed +keep my vow, and bring to Polydectes the Gorgon's head.'</p> + +<p>They were merry that night, and Perseus told them his +story, how he was the son of Zeus, and the girls called him +'cousin Perseus.' 'We love you very much, and we could +make you immortal, without old age and death,' said +Hesperia. 'You might live with us here for ever—it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +lonely, sometimes, for three maidens in the garden of the +gods. But you must keep your vow, and punish your +enemies, and cherish your mother, and do not forget your +cousins three, when you have married the lady of your +heart's desire, and are King of Argos.'</p> + +<p>The tears stood in the eyes of Perseus. 'Cousins dear,' +he said, 'never shall I forget you, not even in the House of +Hades. You will come thither now and again, Hesperia? +But I love no woman.'</p> + +<p>'I think you will not long be without a lady and a love, +Perseus,' said Erytheia; 'but the night is late, and to-morrow +you have much to do.'</p> + +<p>So they parted, and next morning they bade Perseus +be of good hope. He burnished and polished the shield, +and covered it with the goat's skin, he put on the Shoes of +Swiftness, and belted himself with the Sword of Sharpness, +and placed on his head the Cap of Darkness. Then he +soared high in the air, till he saw the Gorgons' Isle, and the +table-shaped mountain, a speck in the western sea.</p> + +<p>The way was long, but the shoes were swift, and, far +aloft, in the heat of the noon-day, Perseus looked down +on the top of the table-mountain. There he could dimly +see three bulks of strange shapeless shape, with monstrous +limbs that never stirred, and he knew that the Gorgons +were sleeping their midday sleep. Then he held the shield +so that the shapes were reflected in its polished face, and very +slowly he floated down, and down, till he was within striking +distance. There they lay, two of them uglier than sin, +breathing loud in their sleep like drunken men. But the +face of her who lay between the others was as quiet as the +face of a sleeping child; and as beautiful as the face of the +goddess of Love, with long dark eyelashes veiling the eyes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +and red lips half open. Nothing stirred but the serpents +in the hair of beautiful Medusa; they were never still, but +coiled and twisted, and Perseus loathed them as he watched +them in the mirror. They coiled and uncoiled, and left +bare her ivory neck, and then Perseus drew the sword +Herpê, and struck once.</p> + +<p>In the mirror he saw the fallen head, and he seized it by +the hair, and wrapped it in the goat-skin, and put the goat-skin +in his wallet. Then he towered high in the air, and, +looking down, he saw the two sister Gorgons turning in +their sleep; they woke, and saw their sister dead. They +seemed to speak to each other; they looked this way and +that, into the bright empty air, for Perseus in the Cap of +Darkness they could not see. They rose on their mighty +wings, hunting low, and high, and with casts behind their +island and in front of it, but Perseus was flying faster than +ever he flew before, stooping and rising to hide his scent. +He dived into the deep sea, and flew under water as long +as he could hold his breath, and then rose and fled swiftly +forward. The Gorgons were puzzled by each double he had +made, and, at the place where he dived they lost the scent, +and from far away Perseus heard their loud yelps, but soon +these faded in the distance. He often looked over his +shoulder as he flew straight towards the far-off blue hill of +the giant Atlas, but the sky was empty behind him, and +the Gorgons he never saw again. The mountain turned +from blue to clear grey and red and gold, with pencilled +rifts and glens, and soon Perseus stood beside the giant +Atlas. 'You are welcome and blessed,' said the giant. +'Show me the head that I may be at rest.'</p> + +<p>Then Perseus took the bundle from the wallet, and +carefully unbound the goat-skin, and held up the head,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +looking away from it, and the Giant was a great grey stone. +Down sailed Perseus, and stood in the garden of the gods, +and laid the Cap of Darkness on the grass. The three +Nymphs who were sitting there, weaving garlands of flowers, +leaped up, and came round him, and kissed him, and crowned +him with the flowery chaplets. That night he rested with +them, and in the morning they kissed and said farewell.</p> + +<p>'Do not forget us,' said Æglê, 'nor be too sorry for our +loneliness. To-day Hermes has been with us, and to-morrow +he comes again with Dionysus, the god of the vine, +and all his merry company. Hermes left a message for you, +that you are to fly eastward, and south, to the place +where your wings shall guide you, and there, he said, you +shall find your happiness. When that is won, you shall +turn north and west, to your own country. We say, all +three of us, that our love is with you always, and we shall +hear of your gladness, for Hermes will tell us; then we too +shall be glad. Farewell!'</p> + +<p>So the three maidens embraced him with kind faces and +smiling eyes, and Perseus, too, smiled as well as he might, +but in his eastward way he often looked back, and was sad +when he could no longer see the kindly hill above the garden +of the gods.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IIId" id="IIId"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="center">PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA</p> + +<p>Perseus flew where the wings bore him, over great mountains, +and over a wilderness of sand. Below his feet the +wind woke the sand storms, and beneath him he saw nothing +but a soft floor of yellow grey, and when that cleared he +saw islands of green trees round some well in the waste,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +and long trains of camels, and brown men riding swift +horses, at which he wondered; for the Greeks in his time +drove in chariots, and did not ride. The red sun behind him +fell, and all the land was purple, but, in a moment, as it +seemed, the stars rushed out, and he sped along in the +starlight till the sky was grey again, and rosy, and full of +fiery colours, green and gold and ruby and amethyst. Then +the sun rose, and Perseus looked down on a green land, +through which was flowing north a great river, and he +guessed that it was the river Ægyptus, which we now call +the Nile. Beneath him was a town, with many white +houses in groves of palm trees, and with great temples +of the gods, built of red stone. The shoes of swiftness +stopped above the wide market-place, and there Perseus +hung poised, till he saw a multitude of men pour out of the +door of a temple.</p> + +<p>At their head walked the king, who was like a Greek, +and he led a maiden as white as snow wreathed with flowers +and circlets of wool, like the oxen in Greece, when men +sacrifice them to the gods. Behind the king and the maid +came a throng of brown men, first priests and magicians +and players on harps, and women shaking metal rattles +that made a wild mournful noise, while the multitude +lamented.</p> + +<p>Slowly, while Perseus watched, they passed down to +the shore of the great river, so wide a river as Perseus had +never seen. They went to a steep red rock, like a wall, +above the river; at its foot was a flat shelf of rock—the +water just washed over it. Here they stopped, and the king +kissed and embraced the white maiden. They bound her +by chains of bronze to rings of bronze in the rock; they +sang a strange hymn; and then marched back to the town,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +throwing their mantles over their heads. There the maiden +stood, or rather hung forward supported by the chains. +Perseus floated down, and, the nearer he came, the more +beautiful seemed the white maid, with her soft dark hair +falling to her white feet. Softly he floated down, till his +feet were on the ledge of rock. She did not hear him coming, +and when he gently touched her she gave a cry, and turned +on him her large dark eyes, wild and dry, without a tear. +'Is it a god?' she said, clasping her hands.</p> + +<p>'No god, but a mortal man am I, Perseus the slayer of +the Gorgon. What do you here? What cruel men have +bound you?'</p> + +<p>'I am Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, king of a +strange people. The lot fell on me, of all the maidens in the +city, to be offered to the monster fish that walks on feet, +who is their god. Once a year they give to him a maiden.'</p> + +<p>Perseus thereon drew the sword Herpê, and cut the +chains of bronze that bound the girl as if they had been +ropes of flax, and she fell at his feet, covering her eyes with +her hands. Then Perseus saw the long reeds on the further +shore of the river waving and stirring and crashing, and +from them came a monstrous fish walking on feet, and slid +into the water. His long sharp black head showed above +the stream as he swam, and the water behind him showed +like the water in the wake of a ship.</p> + +<p>'Be still and hide your eyes!' whispered Perseus to the +maiden.</p> + +<p>He took the goat-skin from his wallet, and held up the +Gorgon's head, with the back of it turned towards him, and +he waited till the long black head was lifted from the river's +edge, and the forefeet of that fish were on the wet ledge of +rock. Then he held the head before the eyes of the monster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +and from the head downward it slowly stiffened. The head +and forefeet and shoulders were of stone before the tail had +ceased to lash the water. Then the tail stiffened into a long +jagged sharp stone, and Perseus, wrapping up the head in +the goat-skin, placed it in his wallet. He turned his back +to Andromeda, while he did this lest by mischance her eyes +should open and see the head of the Gorgon. But her eyes +were closed, and Perseus found that she had fainted, from +fear of the monster, and from the great heat of the sun. +Perseus put the palms of his hands together like a cup, and +stooping to the stream he brought water, and threw it over +the face and neck of Andromeda, wondering at her beauty. +Her eyes opened at last, and she tried to rise to her feet, +but she dropped on her knees, and clung with her fingers to +the rock. Seeing her so faint and weak Perseus raised her +in his arms, with her beautiful head pillowed on his shoulder, +where she fell asleep like a tired child. Then he rose in the +air and floated over the sheer wall of red stone above the +river, and flew slowly towards the town.</p> + +<p>There were no sentinels at the gate; the long street was +empty, for all the people were in their houses, praying and +weeping. But a little girl stole out of a house near the gate. +She was too young to understand why her father and mother +and elder brothers were so sad, and would not take any +notice of her. She thought she would go out and play in +the street, and when she looked up from her play, she saw +Perseus bearing the king's daughter in his arms. The child +stared, and then ran into her house, crying aloud, for she +could hardly speak, and pulled so hard at her mother's +gown that her mother rose and followed her to the house +door. The mother gave a joyful cry, her husband and her +children ran forth, and they, too, shouted aloud for pleasure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +Their cries reached the ears of people in other houses, and +presently all the folk, as glad as they had been sorrowful, +were following Perseus to the palace of the king. Perseus +walked through the empty court, and stood at the door of +the hall, where the servants came to him, both men and +women, and with tears of joy the women bore Andromeda +to the chamber of her mother, Queen Cassiopeia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="gs17" id="gs17"></a> +<div class="figboxed" style="width: 350px;"> +<img class="bbox" src="images/gs17.png" width="350" height="481" alt="THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA." title="THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA." /> +<span class="caption">THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Who can tell how happy were the king and queen, and +how gladly they welcomed Perseus! They made a feast +for him, and they sent oxen and sheep to all the people, +and wine, that all might rejoice and make merry. Andromeda, +too, came, pale but smiling, into the hall, and sat +down beside her mother's high seat, listening while Perseus +told the whole story of his adventures. Now Perseus could +scarcely keep his eyes from Andromeda's face while he +spoke, and she stole glances at him. When their eyes met, +the colour came into her face again, which glowed like +ivory that a Carian woman has lightly tinged with rose +colour, making an ornament for some rich king. Perseus +remembered the message of Hermes, which Æglê had given +him, that if he flew to the east and south he would find his +happiness. He knew that he had found it, if this maiden +would be his wife, and he ended his tale by repeating the +message of Hermes.</p> + +<p>'The gods speak only truth,' he said, 'and to have +made you all happy is the greatest happiness to Perseus of +Argos.' Yet he hoped in his heart to see a yet happier day, +when the rites of marriage should be done between Andromeda +and him, and the young men and maidens should +sing the wedding song before their door.</p> + +<p>Andromeda was of one mind with him, and, as Perseus +must needs go home, her parents believed that she could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +not live without him who had saved her from such a cruel +death. So with heavy hearts they made the marriage +feast, and with many tears Andromeda and her father and +mother said farewell. Perseus and his bride sailed down +the great river Ægyptus in the king's own boat; and at +every town they were received with feasts, and songs, and +dances. They saw all the wonderful things of Egypt, +palaces and pyramids and temples and tombs of kings, and +at last they found a ship of the Cretans in the mouth of +the Nile. This they hired, for they carried with them great +riches, gold, and myrrh, and ivory, gifts of the princes of +Egypt.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IVd" id="IVd"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="center">HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE</p> + +<p>With a steady south wind behind them they sailed to +Seriphos, and landed, and brought their wealth ashore, +and went to the house of Dictys. They found him lonely +and sorrowful, for his wife had died, and his brother, King +Polydectes, had taken Danae, and set her to grind corn in +his house, among his slave women. When Perseus heard +that word, he asked, 'Where is King Polydectes?'</p> + +<p>'It is his birthday, and he holds his feast among the +princes,' said Dictys.</p> + +<p>'Then bring me,' said Perseus, 'the worst of old clothes +that any servant of your house can borrow from a beggar +man, if there be a beggar man in the town.' Such a man +there was—he came limping through the door of the courtyard, +and up to the threshold of the house, where he sat +whining, and asking for alms. They gave him food and +wine, and Perseus cried, 'New clothes for old, father, I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +give you, and new shoes for old.' The beggar could not +believe his ears, but he was taken to the baths, and washed, +and new clothes were given to him, while Perseus clad +himself in the beggar's rags, and Dictys took charge of the +winged shoon of Hermes and the sword Herpê, and the +burnished shield of Athênê. Then Perseus cast dust and +wood ashes on his hair, till it looked foul and grey, and +placed the goat-skin covering and the Gorgon's head in his +wallet, and with the beggar's staff in his hand he limped +to the palace of Polydectes. On the threshold he sat down, +like a beggar, and Polydectes saw him and cried to his +servants, 'Bring in that man; is it not the day of my feast? +Surely all are welcome.' Perseus was led in, looking humbly +at the ground, and was brought before the king.</p> + +<p>'What news, thou beggar man?' said the king.</p> + +<p>'Such news as was to be looked for,' whined Perseus. +'Behold, I am he who brought no present to the king's +feast, seven long years agone, and now I come back, tired +and hungry, to ask his grace.'</p> + +<p>'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Polydectes, 'it is +none but the beggar brat who bragged that he would fetch +me such a treasure as lies in no king's chamber! The +beggar brat is a beggar man; how time and travel have +tamed him! Ho, one of you, run and fetch his mother +who is grinding at the mill, that she may welcome her son.'</p> + +<p>A servant ran from the hall, and the chiefs of Seriphos +mocked at Perseus. 'This is he who called us farmers +and dealers in slaves. Verily he would not fetch the price +of an old cow in the slave market.' Then they threw at +him crusts of bread, and bones of swine, but he stood silent.</p> + +<p>Then Danae was led in, clad in vile raiment, but looking +like a queen, and the king cried, 'Go forward, woman:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +look at that beggar man; dost thou know thy son?' She +walked on, her head high, and Perseus whispered, 'Mother, +stand thou beside me, and speak no word!'</p> + +<p>'My mother knows me not, or despises me,' said Perseus, +'yet, poor as I am, I do not come empty-handed. In my +wallet is a gift, brought from very far away, for my lord +the king.'</p> + +<p>He swung his wallet round in front of him; he took off +the covering of goat-skin, and he held the Gorgon's head +on high, by the hair, facing the king and the chiefs. In +one moment they were all grey stones, all along the hall, +and the chairs whereon they sat crashed under the weight +of them, and they rolled on the hard clay floor. Perseus +wrapped the head in the goat-skin, and shut it in the wallet +carefully, and cried, 'Mother, look round, and see thy son +and thine own revenge.'</p> + +<p>Then Danae knew her son, by the sound of his voice, +if not by her eyesight, and she wept for joy. So they two +went to the house of Dictys, and Perseus was cleansed, +and clad in rich raiment, and Danae, too, was apparelled +like a free woman, and embraced Andromeda with great +joy.</p> + +<p>Perseus made the good Dictys king of Seriphos; and he +placed the winged shoes in the temple of Hermes, with the +sword Herpê, and the Gorgon's head, in its goat-skin +cover; but the polished shield he laid on the altar in the +temple of Athênê. Then he bade all who served in the +temples come forth, both young and old, and he locked the +doors, and he and Dictys watched all night, with the armed +Cretans, the crew of his ship, that none might enter. Next +day Perseus alone went into the temple of Athênê. It was +as it had been, but the Gorgon's head and the polished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +shield were gone, and the winged shoon and the sword Herpê +had vanished from the temple of Hermes.</p> + +<p>With Danae and Andromeda Perseus sailed to Greece, +where he learned that the sons of King Proetus had driven +King Acrisius out of Argos, and that he had fled to Phthia +in the north, where the ancestor of the great Achilles was +king. Thither Perseus went, to see his grandfather, and he +found the young men holding games and sports in front of +the palace. Perseus thought that his grandfather might +love him better if he showed his strength in the games, +which were open to strangers, so he entered and won the +race, and the prize for leaping, and then came the throwing +of the disc of bronze. Perseus threw a great cast, far beyond +the rest, but the disc swerved, and fell among the +crowd. Then Perseus was afraid, and ran like the wind +to the place where the disc fell. There lay an old man, +smitten sorely by the disc, and men said that he had killed +King Acrisius.</p> + +<p>Thus the word of the prophetess and the will of Fate +were fulfilled. Perseus went weeping to the King of Phthia, +and told him all the truth, and the king, who knew, as all +Greece knew, how Acrisius had tried to drown his daughter +and her child, believed the tale, and said that Perseus was +guiltless. He and Danae and Andromeda dwelt for a year +in Phthia, with the king, and then Perseus with an army of +Pelasgians and Myrmidons, marched south to Argos, and +took the city, and drove out his cousins, the sons of Proetus. +There in Argos Perseus, with his mother and beautiful +Andromeda, dwelt long and happily, and he left the kingdom +to his son when he died.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><i>The story of Ulysses is taken mainly from the Iliad, the Odyssey, +and the</i> Post Homerica <i>of Quintus Smyrnæus. As we have no +detailed account of the stealing of the Palladium by Ulysses, use has +been made of Helen's tale about his entry into Troy in the disguise of a +beaten beggar.</i></p> + +<p><i>The chief source of 'The Fleece of Gold' is tradition, with the +Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; the fight between Polydeuces and +the Giant is best reported by Theocritus.</i></p> + +<p><i>No epic or tragedy concerning the early fortunes of Theseus and the +history of Perseus has reached us: summaries in Plutarch and Apollodorus +provide the outlines of the legends.</i></p> + +<p><i>The descriptions of costume, arms, and mode of life are derived from +Homer and from the 'Mycenæan' relics discovered in the last thirty +years by Dr. Schliemann, Mr. A. J. Evans, and many other explorers.</i></p> + +<p><i>'The Fleece of Gold,' first published in an American magazine, has +also appeared in America in a little volume (Henry Altemus & Co.). +It is here reprinted by permission of Messrs. Altemus, with some +changes and corrections.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p> </p> +<div class="tranotes"> +<span class="smcap">Transcriber's Note:</span><br /><br /> +Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without +note.<br /> +<br /> +There are inconsistencies in the use of ligatures in some of the names. +These inconsistencies have been left as in the original text.<br /><br /> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 32326-h.txt or 32326-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/2/32326">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32326</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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J. Ford + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Tales of Troy and Greece + + +Author: Andrew Lang + + + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [eBook #32326] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE*** + + +E-text prepared by Peter Vickers, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32326-h.htm or 32326-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32326/32326-h/32326-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32326/32326-h.zip) + + + + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +[Illustration: THE STEALING OF HELEN.] + +[_See_ p. 15.] + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +by + +ANDREW LANG + +Illustrated by H. J. Ford + + + + + + + +Dover Publications, Inc. +Mineola, New York + +Bibliographical Note + +This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged +republication of the 1941 printing of the work originally published by +Longmans, Green and Co., London and New York, in 1907. We have slightly +repositioned a few of the illustrations. + +Manufactured in the United States of America + +Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 + + + + +TO + +H. RIDER HAGGARD + + + + +CONTENTS + + + _ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES_ + PAGE + + I. THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES 1 + + II. HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES 5 + + III. THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS 9 + + IV. THE STEALING OF HELEN 13 + + V. TROJAN VICTORIES 30 + + VI. BATTLE AT THE SHIPS 38 + + VII. THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS 45 + + VIII. THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF + HECTOR 53 + + IX. HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY 56 + + X. THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON--THE + DEATH OF ACHILLES 66 + + XI. ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES--THE + VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS 79 + + XII. THE SLAYING OF PARIS 87 + + XIII. HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE HORSE + OF TREE 92 + + XIV. THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN 96 + + + _THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES_ + + I. THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS + OF ULYSSES 101 + + II. THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, + THE SIRENS 110 + + III. THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE + OF THE SUN 118 + + IV. HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER 122 + + V. HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO 128 + + VI. HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED + PHAEACIA 133 + + VII. HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND + FOR SAFETY DISGUISED HIMSELF AS AN OLD + BEGGAR MAN 145 + + VIII. ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR TO HIS OWN + PALACE 153 + + IX. THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS 163 + + X. THE END 168 + + + _THE FLEECE OF GOLD_ + + I. THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD. 172 + + II. THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE 180 + + III. THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE 191 + + + _THESEUS_ + + I. THE WEDDING OF AETHRA 201 + + II. THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS 205 + + III. ADVENTURES OF THESEUS 211 + + IV. THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER 226 + + V. HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE 233 + + VI. THESEUS IN CRETE 239 + + VII. THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR 247 + + + _PERSEUS_ + + I. THE PRISON OF DANAE 254 + + II. THE VOW OF PERSEUS 261 + + III. PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 279 + + IV. HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE 284 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THE STEALING OF HELEN _Frontispiece_ + + MAP OF GREECE _facing p. 1_ + + ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR + AND GETS HIS WOUND IN HIS THIGH " 4 + + HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE + GREEK HOST TO PRIAM " 28 + + ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER " 70 + + PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE " 90 + + MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE + INTERCESSION OF ULYSSES " 100 + + CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF + ULYSSES) TO THE STYES " 112 + + THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA " 120 + + CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES " 130 + + HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA " 136 + + ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS " 164 + + KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT + SHE CANNOT FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS " 174 + + HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN + FLEECE WAS SLAIN " 198 + + THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE " 208 + + HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR " 248 + + PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES " 272 + + THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA " 282 + + + + +TALES OF TROY AND GREECE + +[Illustration: GREECE] + + + + +TALES OF TROY + + + + +ULYSSES THE SACKER OF CITIES + + + + +I + +THE BOYHOOD AND PARENTS OF ULYSSES + + +Long ago, in a little island called Ithaca, on the west coast of Greece, +there lived a king named Laertes. His kingdom was small and mountainous. +People used to say that Ithaca 'lay like a shield upon the sea,' which +sounds as if it were a flat country. But in those times shields were +very large, and rose at the middle into two peaks with a hollow between +them, so that Ithaca, seen far off in the sea, with her two chief +mountain peaks, and a cloven valley between them, looked exactly like a +shield. The country was so rough that men kept no horses, for, at that +time, people drove, standing up in little light chariots with two +horses; they never rode, and there was no cavalry in battle: men fought +from chariots. When Ulysses, the son of Laertes, King of Ithaca grew up, +he never fought from a chariot, for he had none, but always on foot. + +If there were no horses in Ithaca, there was plenty of cattle. The +father of Ulysses had flocks of sheep, and herds of swine, and wild +goats, deer, and hares lived in the hills and in the plains. The sea was +full of fish of many sorts, which men caught with nets, and with rod and +line and hook. + +Thus Ithaca was a good island to live in. The summer was long, and there +was hardly any winter; only a few cold weeks, and then the swallows came +back, and the plains were like a garden, all covered with wild +flowers--violets, lilies, narcissus, and roses. With the blue sky and +the blue sea, the island was beautiful. White temples stood on the +shores; and the Nymphs, a sort of fairies, had their little shrines +built of stone, with wild rose-bushes hanging over them. + +Other islands lay within sight, crowned with mountains, stretching away, +one behind the other, into the sunset. Ulysses in the course of his life +saw many rich countries, and great cities of men, but, wherever he was, +his heart was always in the little isle of Ithaca, where he had learned +how to row, and how to sail a boat, and how to shoot with bow and arrow, +and to hunt boars and stags, and manage his hounds. + +The mother of Ulysses was called Anticleia: she was the daughter of King +Autolycus, who lived near Parnassus, a mountain on the mainland. This +King Autolycus was the most cunning of men. He was a Master Thief, and +could steal a man's pillow from under his head, but he does not seem to +have been thought worse of for this. The Greeks had a God of Thieves, +named Hermes, whom Autolycus worshipped, and people thought more good of +his cunning tricks than harm of his dishonesty. Perhaps these tricks of +his were only practised for amusement; however that may be, Ulysses +became as artful as his grandfather; he was both the bravest and the +most cunning of men, but Ulysses never stole things, except once, as we +shall hear, from the enemy in time of war. He showed his cunning in +stratagems of war, and in many strange escapes from giants and +man-eaters. + +Soon after Ulysses was born, his grandfather came to see his mother and +father in Ithaca. He was sitting at supper when the nurse of Ulysses, +whose name was Eurycleia, brought in the baby, and set him on the knees +of Autolycus, saying, 'Find a name for your grandson, for he is a child +of many prayers.' + +'I am very angry with many men and women in the world,' said Autolycus, +'so let the child's name be _A Man of Wrath_,' which, in Greek, was +Odysseus. So the child was called Odysseus by his own people, but the +name was changed into Ulysses, and we shall call him Ulysses. + +We do not know much about Ulysses when he was a little boy, except that +he used to run about the garden with his father, asking questions, and +begging that he might have fruit trees 'for his very own.' He was a +great pet, for his parents had no other son, so his father gave him +thirteen pear trees, and forty fig trees, and promised him fifty rows of +vines, all covered with grapes, which he could eat when he liked, +without asking leave of the gardener. So he was not tempted to steal +fruit, like his grandfather. + +When Autolycus gave Ulysses his name, he said that he must come to stay +with him, when he was a big boy, and he would get splendid presents. +Ulysses was told about this, so, when he was a tall lad, he crossed the +sea and drove in his chariot to the old man's house on Mount Parnassus. +Everybody welcomed him, and next day his uncles and cousins and he went +out to hunt a fierce wild boar, early in the morning. Probably Ulysses +took his own dog, named Argos, the best of hounds, of which we shall +hear again, long afterwards, for the dog lived to be very old. Soon the +hounds came on the scent of a wild boar, and after them the men went, +with spears in their hands, and Ulysses ran foremost, for he was already +the swiftest runner in Greece. + +He came on a great boar lying in a tangled thicket of boughs and +bracken, a dark place where the sun never shone, nor could the rain +pierce through. Then the noise of the men's shouts and the barking of +the dogs awakened the boar, and up he sprang, bristling all over his +back, and with fire shining from his eyes. In rushed Ulysses first of +all, with his spear raised to strike, but the boar was too quick for +him, and ran in, and drove his sharp tusk sideways, ripping up the thigh +of Ulysses. But the boar's tusk missed the bone, and Ulysses sent his +sharp spear into the beast's right shoulder, and the spear went clean +through, and the boar fell dead, with a loud cry. The uncles of Ulysses +bound up his wound carefully, and sang a magical song over it, as the +French soldiers wanted to do to Joan of Arc when the arrow pierced her +shoulder at the siege of Orleans. Then the blood ceased to flow, and +soon Ulysses was quite healed of his wound. They thought that he would +be a good warrior, and gave him splendid presents, and when he went home +again he told all that had happened to his father and mother, and his +nurse, Eurycleia. But there was always a long white mark or scar above +his left knee, and about that scar we shall hear again, many years +afterwards. + +[Illustration: ULYSSES, WHEN A YOUTH, FIGHTS THE WILD BOAR AND GETS HIS +WOUND IN HIS THIGH.] + + + + +II + +HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THE TIME OF ULYSSES + + +When Ulysses was a young man he wished to marry a princess of his own +rank. Now there were at that time many kings in Greece, and you must be +told how they lived. Each king had his own little kingdom, with his +chief town, walled with huge walls of enormous stone. Many of these +walls are still standing, though the grass has grown over the ruins of +most of them, and in later years, men believed that those walls must +have been built by giants, the stones are so enormous. Each king had +nobles under him, rich men, and all had their palaces, each with its +courtyard, and its long hall, where the fire burned in the midst, and +the King and Queen sat beside it on high thrones, between the four chief +carved pillars that held up the roof. The thrones were made of cedar +wood and ivory, inlaid with gold, and there were many other chairs and +small tables for guests, and the walls and doors were covered with +bronze plates, and gold and silver, and sheets of blue glass. Sometimes +they were painted with pictures of bull hunts, and a few of these +pictures may still be seen. At night torches were lit, and placed in the +hands of golden figures of boys, but all the smoke of fire and torches +escaped by a hole in the roof, and made the ceiling black. On the walls +hung swords and spears and helmets and shields, which needed to be often +cleaned from the stains of the smoke. The minstrel or poet sat beside +the King and Queen, and, after supper he struck his harp, and sang +stories of old wars. At night the King and Queen slept in their own +place, and the women in their own rooms; the princesses had their +chambers upstairs, and the young princes had each his room built +separate in the courtyard. + +There were bath rooms with polished baths, where guests were taken when +they arrived dirty from a journey. The guests lay at night on beds in +the portico, for the climate was warm. There were plenty of servants, +who were usually slaves taken in war, but they were very kindly treated, +and were friendly with their masters. No coined money was used; people +paid for things in cattle, or in weighed pieces of gold. Rich men had +plenty of gold cups, and gold-hilted swords, and bracelets, and +brooches. The kings were the leaders in war and judges in peace, and did +sacrifices to the Gods, killing cattle and swine and sheep, on which +they afterwards dined. + +They dressed in a simple way, in a long smock of linen or silk, which +fell almost to the feet, but was tucked up into a belt round the waist, +and worn longer or shorter, as they happened to choose. Where it needed +fastening at the throat, golden brooches were used, beautifully made, +with safety pins. This garment was much like the plaid that the +Highlanders used to wear, with its belt and brooches. Over it the Greeks +wore great cloaks of woollen cloth when the weather was cold, but these +they did not use in battle. They fastened their breastplates, in war, +over their smocks, and had other armour covering the lower parts of the +body, and leg armour called 'greaves'; while the great shield which +guarded the whole body from throat to ankles was carried by a broad belt +slung round the neck. The sword was worn in another belt, crossing the +shield belt. They had light shoes in peace, and higher and heavier boots +in war, or for walking across country. + +The women wore the smock, with more brooches and jewels than the men; +and had head coverings, with veils, and mantles over all, and necklaces +of gold and amber, earrings, and bracelets of gold or of bronze. The +colours of their dresses were various, chiefly white and purple; and, +when in mourning, they wore very dark blue, not black. All the armour, +and the sword blades and spearheads were made, not of steel or iron, but +of bronze, a mixture of copper and tin. The shields were made of several +thicknesses of leather, with a plating of bronze above; tools, such as +axes and ploughshares, were either of iron or bronze; and so were the +blades of knives and daggers. + +To us the houses and way of living would have seemed very splendid, and +also, in some ways, rather rough. The palace floors, at least in the +house of Ulysses, were littered with bones and feet of the oxen slain +for food, but this happened when Ulysses had been long from home. The +floor of the hall in the house of Ulysses was not boarded with planks, +or paved with stone: it was made of clay; for he was a poor king of +small islands. The cooking was coarse: a pig or sheep was killed, +roasted and eaten immediately. We never hear of boiling meat, and though +people probably ate fish, we do not hear of their doing so, except when +no meat could be procured. Still some people must have liked them; for +in the pictures that were painted or cut in precious stones in these +times we see the half-naked fisherman walking home, carrying large fish. + +The people were wonderful workers of gold and bronze. Hundreds of their +golden jewels have been found in their graves, but probably these were +made and buried two or three centuries before the time of Ulysses. The +dagger blades had pictures of fights with lions, and of flowers, inlaid +on them, in gold of various colours, and in silver; nothing so beautiful +is made now. There are figures of men hunting bulls on some of the gold +cups, and these are wonderfully life-like. The vases and pots of +earthenware were painted in charming patterns: in short, it was a +splendid world to live in. + +The people believed in many Gods, male and female, under the chief God, +Zeus. The Gods were thought to be taller than men, and immortal, and to +live in much the same way as men did, eating, drinking, and sleeping in +glorious palaces. Though they were supposed to reward good men, and to +punish people who broke their oaths and were unkind to strangers, there +were many stories told in which the Gods were fickle, cruel, selfish, +and set very bad examples to men. How far these stories were believed is +not sure; it is certain that 'all men felt a need of the Gods,' and +thought that they were pleased by good actions and displeased by evil. +Yet, when a man felt that his behaviour had been bad, he often threw the +blame on the Gods, and said that they had misled him, which really meant +no more than that 'he could not help it.' + +There was a curious custom by which the princes bought wives from the +fathers of the princesses, giving cattle and gold, and bronze and iron, +but sometimes a prince got a wife as the reward for some very brave +action. A man would not give his daughter to a wooer whom she did not +love, even if he offered the highest price, at least this must have been +the general rule, for husbands and wives were very fond of each other, +and of their children, and husbands always allowed their wives to rule +the house, and give their advice on everything. It was thought a very +wicked thing for a woman to like another man better than her husband, +and there were few such wives, but among them was the most beautiful +woman who ever lived. + + + + +III + +THE WOOING OF HELEN OF THE FAIR HANDS + + +This was the way in which people lived when Ulysses was young, and +wished to be married. The worst thing in the way of life was that the +greatest and most beautiful princesses might be taken prisoners, and +carried off as slaves to the towns of the men who had killed their +fathers and husbands. Now at that time one lady was far the fairest in +the world: namely, Helen, daughter of King Tyndarus. Every young prince +heard of her and desired to marry her; so her father invited them all to +his palace, and entertained them, and found out what they would give. +Among the rest Ulysses went, but his father had a little kingdom, a +rough island, with others near it, and Ulysses had not a good chance. He +was not tall; though very strong and active, he was a short man with +broad shoulders, but his face was handsome, and, like all the princes, +he wore long yellow hair, clustering like a hyacinth flower. His manner +was rather hesitating, and he seemed to speak very slowly at first, +though afterwards his words came freely. He was good at everything a man +can do; he could plough, and build houses, and make ships, and he was +the best archer in Greece, except one, and could bend the great bow of a +dead king, Eurytus, which no other man could string. But he had no +horses, and had no great train of followers; and, in short, neither +Helen nor her father thought of choosing Ulysses for her husband out of +so many tall, handsome young princes, glittering with gold ornaments. +Still, Helen was very kind to Ulysses, and there was great friendship +between them, which was fortunate for her in the end. + +Tyndarus first made all the princes take an oath that they would stand +by the prince whom he chose, and would fight for him in all his +quarrels. Then he named for her husband Menelaus, King of Lacedaemon. He +was a very brave man, but not one of the strongest; he was not such a +fighter as the gigantic Aias, the tallest and strongest of men; or as +Diomede, the friend of Ulysses; or as his own brother, Agamemnon, the +King of the rich city of Mycenae, who was chief over all other princes, +and general of the whole army in war. The great lions carved in stone +that seemed to guard his city are still standing above the gate through +which Agamemnon used to drive his chariot. + +The man who proved to be the best fighter of all, Achilles, was not +among the lovers of Helen, for he was still a boy, and his mother, +Thetis of the silver feet, a goddess of the sea, had sent him to be +brought up as a girl, among the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros, in an +island far away. Thetis did this because Achilles was her only child, +and there was a prophecy that, if he went to the wars, he would win the +greatest glory, but die very young, and never see his mother again. She +thought that if war broke out he would not be found hiding in girl's +dress, among girls, far away. + +So at last, after thinking over the matter for long, Tyndarus gave fair +Helen to Menelaus, the rich King of Lacedaemon; and her twin sister +Clytaemnestra, who was also very beautiful, was given to King Agamemnon, +the chief over all the princes. They all lived very happily together at +first, but not for long. + +In the meantime King Tyndarus spoke to his brother Icarius, who had a +daughter named Penelope. She also was very pretty, but not nearly so +beautiful as her cousin, fair Helen, and we know that Penelope was not +very fond of her cousin. Icarius, admiring the strength and wisdom of +Ulysses, gave him his daughter Penelope to be his wife, and Ulysses +loved her very dearly, no man and wife were ever dearer to each other. +They went away together to rocky Ithaca, and perhaps Penelope was not +sorry that a wide sea lay between her home and that of Helen; for Helen +was not only the fairest woman that ever lived in the world, but she was +so kind and gracious and charming that no man could see her without +loving her. When she was only a child, the famous prince Theseus, whose +story is to be told later, carried her away to his own city of Athens, +meaning to marry her when she grew up, and, even at that time, there was +a war for her sake, for her brothers followed Theseus with an army, and +fought him, and brought her home. + +She had fairy gifts: for instance, she had a great red jewel, called +'the Star,' and when she wore it red drops seemed to fall from it and +vanished before they touched and stained her white breast--so white that +people called her 'the Daughter of the Swan.' She could speak in the +very voice of any man or woman, so folk also named her Echo, and it was +believed that she could neither grow old nor die, but would at last pass +away to the Elysian plain and the world's end, where life is easiest for +men. No snow comes thither, nor great storm, nor any rain; but always +the river of Ocean that rings round the whole earth sends forth the west +wind to blow cool on the people of King Rhadamanthus of the fair hair. +These were some of the stories that men told of fair Helen, but Ulysses +was never sorry that he had not the fortune to marry her, so fond he was +of her cousin, his wife, Penelope, who was very wise and good. + +When Ulysses brought his wife home they lived, as the custom was, in the +palace of his father, King Laertes, but Ulysses, with his own hands, +built a chamber for Penelope and himself. There grew a great olive tree +in the inner court of the palace, and its stem was as large as one of +the tall carved pillars of the hall. Round about this tree Ulysses built +the chamber, and finished it with close-set stones, and roofed it over, +and made close-fastening doors. Then he cut off all the branches of the +olive tree, and smoothed the trunk, and shaped it into the bed-post, and +made the bedstead beautiful with inlaid work of gold and silver and +ivory. There was no such bed in Greece, and no man could move it from +its place, and this bed comes again into the story, at the very end. + +Now time went by, and Ulysses and Penelope had one son called +Telemachus; and Eurycleia, who had been his father's nurse, took care of +him. They were all very happy, and lived in peace in rocky Ithaca, and +Ulysses looked after his lands, and flocks, and herds, and went hunting +with his dog Argos, the swiftest of hounds. + + + + +IV + +THE STEALING OF HELEN + + +This happy time did not last long, and Telemachus was still a baby, when +war arose, so great and mighty and marvellous as had never been known in +the world. Far across the sea that lies on the east of Greece, there +dwelt the rich King Priam. His town was called Troy, or Ilios, and it +stood on a hill near the seashore, where are the straits of Hellespont, +between Europe and Asia; it was a great city surrounded by strong walls, +and its ruins are still standing. The kings could make merchants who +passed through the straits pay toll to them, and they had allies in +Thrace, a part of Europe opposite Troy, and Priam was chief of all +princes on his side of the sea, as Agamemnon was chief king in Greece. +Priam had many beautiful things; he had a vine made of gold, with golden +leaves and clusters, and he had the swiftest horses, and many strong and +brave sons; the strongest and bravest was named Hector, and the youngest +and most beautiful was named Paris. + +There was a prophecy that Priam's wife would give birth to a burning +torch, so, when Paris was born, Priam sent a servant to carry the baby +into a wild wood on Mount Ida, and leave him to die or be eaten by +wolves and wild cats. The servant left the child, but a shepherd found +him, and brought him up as his own son. The boy became as beautiful, for +a boy, as Helen was for a girl, and was the best runner, and hunter, and +archer among the country people. He was loved by the beautiful Oenone, +a nymph--that is, a kind of fairy--who dwelt in a cave among the woods +of Ida. The Greeks and Trojans believed in these days that such fair +nymphs haunted all beautiful woodland places, and the mountains, and +wells, and had crystal palaces, like mermaids, beneath the waves of the +sea. These fairies were not mischievous, but gentle and kind. Sometimes +they married mortal men, and Oenone was the bride of Paris, and hoped +to keep him for her own all the days of his life. + +It was believed that she had the magical power of healing wounded men, +however sorely they were hurt. Paris and Oenone lived most happily +together in the forest; but one day, when the servants of Priam had +driven off a beautiful bull that was in the herd of Paris, he left the +hills to seek it, and came into the town of Troy. His mother, Hecuba, +saw him, and looking at him closely, perceived that he wore a ring which +she had tied round her baby's neck when he was taken away from her soon +after his birth. Then Hecuba, beholding him so beautiful, and knowing +him to be her son, wept for joy, and they all forgot the prophecy that +he would be a burning torch of fire, and Priam gave him a house like +those of his brothers, the Trojan princes. + +The fame of beautiful Helen reached Troy, and Paris quite forgot unhappy +Oenone, and must needs go to see Helen for himself. Perhaps he meant +to try to win her for his wife, before her marriage. But sailing was +little understood in these times, and the water was wide, and men were +often driven for years out of their course, to Egypt, and Africa, and +far away into the unknown seas, where fairies lived in enchanted +islands, and cannibals dwelt in caves of the hills. + +Paris came much too late to have a chance of marrying Helen; however, he +was determined to see her, and he made his way to her palace beneath +the mountain Taygetus, beside the clear swift river Eurotas. The +servants came out of the hall when they heard the sound of wheels and +horses' feet, and some of them took the horses to the stables, and +tilted the chariots against the gateway, while others led Paris into the +hall, which shone like the sun with gold and silver. Then Paris and his +companions were led to the baths, where they were bathed, and clad in +new clothes, mantles of white, and robes of purple, and next they were +brought before King Menelaus, and he welcomed them kindly, and meat was +set before them, and wine in cups of gold. While they were talking, +Helen came forth from her fragrant chamber, like a Goddess, her maidens +following her, and carrying for her an ivory distaff with +violet-coloured wool, which she span as she sat, and heard Paris tell +how far he had travelled to see her who was so famous for her beauty +even in countries far away. + +Then Paris knew that he had never seen, and never could see, a lady so +lovely and gracious as Helen as she sat and span, while the red drops +fell and vanished from the ruby called the Star; and Helen knew that +among all the princes in the world there was none so beautiful as Paris. +Now some say that Paris, by art magic, put on the appearance of +Menelaus, and asked Helen to come sailing with him, and that she, +thinking he was her husband, followed him, and he carried her across the +wide waters of Troy, away from her lord and her one beautiful little +daughter, the child Hermione. And others say that the Gods carried Helen +herself off to Egypt, and that they made in her likeness a beautiful +ghost, out of flowers and sunset clouds, whom Paris bore to Troy, and +this they did to cause war between Greeks and Trojans. Another story is +that Helen and her bower maiden and her jewels were seized by force, +when Menelaus was out hunting. It is only certain that Paris and Helen +did cross the seas together, and that Menelaus and little Hermione were +left alone in the melancholy palace beside the Eurotas. Penelope, we +know for certain, made no excuses for her beautiful cousin, but hated +her as the cause of her own sorrows and of the deaths of thousands of +men in war, for all the Greek princes were bound by their oath to fight +for Menelaus against any one who injured him and stole his wife away. +But Helen was very unhappy in Troy, and blamed herself as bitterly as +all the other women blamed her, and most of all Oenone, who had been +the love of Paris. The men were much more kind to Helen, and were +determined to fight to the death rather than lose the sight of her +beauty among them. + +The news of the dishonour done to Menelaus and to all the princes of +Greece ran through the country like fire through a forest. East and west +and south and north went the news: to kings in their castles on the +hills, and beside the rivers and on cliffs above the sea. The cry came +to ancient Nestor of the white beard at Pylos, Nestor who had reigned +over two generations of men, who had fought against the wild folk of the +hills, and remembered the strong Heracles, and Eurytus of the black bow +that sang before the day of battle. + +The cry came to black-bearded Agamemnon, in his strong town called +'golden Mycenae,' because it was so rich; it came to the people in +Thisbe, where the wild doves haunt; and it came to rocky Pytho, where is +the sacred temple of Apollo and the maid who prophesies. It came to +Aias, the tallest and strongest of men, in his little isle of Salamis; +and to Diomede of the loud war-cry, the bravest of warriors, who held +Argos and Tiryns of the black walls of huge stones, that are still +standing. The summons came to the western islands and to Ulysses in +Ithaca, and even far south to the great island of Crete of the hundred +cities, where Idomeneus ruled in Cnossos; Idomeneus, whose ruined palace +may still be seen with the throne of the king, and pictures painted on +the walls, and the King's own draught-board of gold and silver, and +hundreds of tablets of clay, on which are written the lists of royal +treasures. Far north went the news to Pelasgian Argos, and Hellas, where +the people of Peleus dwelt, the Myrmidons; but Peleus was too old to +fight, and his boy, Achilles, dwelt far away, in the island of Scyros, +dressed as a girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. To many +another town and to a hundred islands went the bitter news of +approaching war, for all princes knew that their honour and their oaths +compelled them to gather their spearmen, and bowmen, and slingers from +the fields and the fishing, and to make ready their ships, and meet King +Agamemnon in the harbour of Aulis, and cross the wide sea to besiege +Troy town. + +Now the story is told that Ulysses was very unwilling to leave his +island and his wife Penelope, and little Telemachus; while Penelope had +no wish that he should pass into danger, and into the sight of Helen of +the fair hands. So it is said that when two of the princes came to +summon Ulysses, he pretended to be mad, and went ploughing the sea sand +with oxen, and sowing the sand with salt. Then the prince Palamedes took +the baby Telemachus from the arms of his nurse, Eurycleia, and laid him +in the line of the furrow, where the ploughshare would strike him and +kill him. But Ulysses turned the plough aside, and they cried that he +was not mad, but sane, and he must keep his oath, and join the fleet at +Aulis, a long voyage for him to sail, round the stormy southern Cape of +Maleia. + +Whether this tale be true or not, Ulysses did go, leading twelve black +ships, with high beaks painted red at prow and stern. The ships had +oars, and the warriors manned the oars, to row when there was no wind. +There was a small raised deck at each end of the ships; on these decks +men stood to fight with sword and spear when there was a battle at sea. +Each ship had but one mast, with a broad lugger sail, and for anchors +they had only heavy stones attached to cables. They generally landed at +night, and slept on the shore of one of the many islands, when they +could, for they greatly feared to sail out of sight of land. + +The fleet consisted of more than a thousand ships, each with fifty +warriors, so the army was of more than fifty thousand men. Agamemnon had +a hundred ships, Diomede had eighty, Nestor had ninety, the Cretans with +Idomeneus, had eighty, Menelaus had sixty; but Aias and Ulysses, who +lived in small islands, had only twelve ships apiece. Yet Aias was so +brave and strong, and Ulysses so brave and wise, that they were ranked +among the greatest chiefs and advisers of Agamemnon, with Menelaus, +Diomede, Idomeneus, Nestor, Menestheus of Athens, and two or three +others. These chiefs were called the Council, and gave advice to +Agamemnon, who was commander-in-chief. He was a brave fighter, but so +anxious and fearful of losing the lives of his soldiers that Ulysses and +Diomede were often obliged to speak to him very severely. Agamemnon was +also very insolent and greedy, though, when anybody stood up to him, he +was ready to apologise, for fear the injured chief should renounce his +service and take away his soldiers. + +Nestor was much respected because he remained brave, though he was too +old to be very useful in battle. He generally tried to make peace when +the princes quarrelled with Agamemnon. He loved to tell long stories +about his great deeds when he was young, and he wished the chiefs to +fight in old-fashioned ways. + +For instance, in his time the Greeks had fought in clan regiments, and +the princely men had never dismounted in battle, but had fought in +squadrons of chariots, but now the owners of chariots fought on foot, +each man for himself, while his squire kept the chariot near him to +escape on if he had to retreat. Nestor wished to go back to the good old +way of chariot charges against the crowds of foot soldiers of the enemy. +In short, he was a fine example of the old-fashioned soldier. + +Aias, though so very tall, strong, and brave, was rather stupid. He +seldom spoke, but he was always ready to fight, and the last to retreat. +Menelaus was weak of body, but as brave as the best, or more brave, for +he had a keen sense of honour, and would attempt what he had not the +strength to do. Diomede and Ulysses were great friends, and always +fought side by side, when they could, and helped each other in the most +dangerous adventures. + +These were the chiefs who led the great Greek armada from the harbour of +Aulis. A long time had passed, after the flight of Helen, before the +large fleet could be collected, and more time went by in the attempt to +cross the sea to Troy. There were tempests that scattered the ships, so +they were driven back to Aulis to refit; and they fought, as they went +out again, with the peoples of unfriendly islands, and besieged their +towns. What they wanted most of all was to have Achilles with them, for +he was the leader of fifty ships and 2,500 men, and he had magical +armour made, men said, for his father, by Hephaestus, the God of +armour-making and smithy work. + +At last the fleet came to the Isle of Scyros, where they suspected that +Achilles was concealed. King Lycomedes received the chiefs kindly, and +they saw all his beautiful daughters dancing and playing at ball, but +Achilles was still so young and slim and so beautiful that they did not +know him among the others. There was a prophecy that they could not take +Troy without him, and yet they could not find him out. Then Ulysses had +a plan. He blackened his eyebrows and beard and put on the dress of a +Phoenician merchant. The Phoenicians were a people who lived near the +Jews, and were of the same race, and spoke much the same language, but, +unlike the Jews, who, at that time were farmers in Palestine, tilling +the ground, and keeping flocks and herds, the Phoenicians were the +greatest of traders and sailors, and stealers of slaves. They carried +cargoes of beautiful cloths, and embroideries, and jewels of gold, and +necklaces of amber, and sold these everywhere about the shores of Greece +and the islands. + +Ulysses then dressed himself like a Phoenician pedlar, with his pack on +his back: he only took a stick in his hand, his long hair was turned up, +and hidden under a red sailor's cap, and in this figure he came, +stooping beneath his pack, into the courtyard of King Lycomedes. The +girls heard that a pedlar had come, and out they all ran, Achilles with +the rest, to watch the pedlar undo his pack. Each chose what she liked +best: one took a wreath of gold; another a necklace of gold and amber; +another earrings; a fourth a set of brooches, another a dress of +embroidered scarlet cloth; another a veil; another a pair of bracelets; +but at the bottom of the pack lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt +studded with golden nails. Achilles seized the sword. 'This is for me!' +he said, and drew the sword from the gilded sheath, and made it whistle +round his head. + +'You are Achilles, Peleus' son!' said Ulysses; 'and you are to be the +chief warrior of the Achaeans,' for the Greeks then called themselves +Achaeans. Achilles was only too glad to hear these words, for he was +quite tired of living among maidens. Ulysses led him into the hall where +the chiefs were sitting at their wine, and Achilles was blushing like +any girl. + +'Here is the Queen of the Amazons,' said Ulysses--for the Amazons were a +race of warlike maidens--'or rather here is Achilles, Peleus' son, with +sword in hand.' Then they all took his hand, and welcomed him, and he +was clothed in man's dress, with the sword by his side, and presently +they sent him back with ten ships to his home. There his mother, Thetis, +of the silver feet, the goddess of the sea, wept over him, saying, 'My +child, thou hast the choice of a long and happy and peaceful life here +with me, or of a brief time of war and undying renown. Never shall I see +thee again in Argos if thy choice is for war.' But Achilles chose to die +young, and to be famous as long as the world stands. So his father gave +him fifty ships, with Patroclus, who was older than he, to be his +friend, and with an old man, Phoenix, to advise him; and his mother gave +him the glorious armour that the God had made for his father, and the +heavy ashen spear that none but he could wield, and he sailed to join +the host of the Achaeans, who all praised and thanked Ulysses that had +found for them such a prince. For Achilles was the fiercest fighter of +them all, and the swiftest-footed man, and the most courteous prince, +and the gentlest with women and children, but he was proud and high of +heart, and when he was angered his anger was terrible. + +The Trojans would have had no chance against the Greeks if only the men +of the city of Troy had fought to keep Helen of the fair hands. But they +had allies, who spoke different languages, and came to fight for them +both from Europe and from Asia. On the Trojan as well as on the Greek +side were people called Pelasgians, who seem to have lived on both +shores of the sea. There were Thracians, too, who dwelt much further +north than Achilles, in Europe and beside the strait of Hellespont, +where the narrow sea runs like a river. There were warriors of Lycia, +led by Sarpedon and Glaucus; there were Carians, who spoke in a strange +tongue; there were Mysians and men from Alybe, which was called 'the +birthplace of silver,' and many other peoples sent their armies, so that +the war was between Eastern Europe, on one side, and Western Asia Minor +on the other. The people of Egypt took no part in the war: the Greeks +and Islesmen used to come down in their ships and attack the Egyptians +as the Danes used to invade England. You may see the warriors from the +islands, with their horned helmets, in old Egyptian pictures. + +The commander-in-chief, as we say now, of the Trojans was Hector, the +son of Priam. He was thought a match for any one of the Greeks, and was +brave and good. His brothers also were leaders, but Paris preferred to +fight from a distance with bow and arrows. He and Pandarus, who dwelt on +the slopes of Mount Ida, were the best archers in the Trojan army. The +princes usually fought with heavy spears, which they threw at each +other, and with swords, leaving archery to the common soldiers who had +no armour of bronze. But Teucer, Meriones, and Ulysses were the best +archers of the Achaeans. People called Dardanians were led by Aeneas, +who was said to be the son of the most beautiful of the goddesses. +These, with Sarpedon and Glaucus, were the most famous of the men who +fought for Troy. + +Troy was a strong town on a hill: Mount Ida lay behind it, and in front +was a plain sloping to the sea shore. Through this plain ran two +beautiful clear rivers, and there were scattered here and there what you +would have taken for steep knolls, but they were really mounds piled up +over the ashes of warriors who had died long ago. On these mounds +sentinels used to stand and look across the water to give warning if the +Greek fleet drew near, for the Trojans had heard that it was on its way. +At last the fleet came in view, and the sea was black with ships, the +oarsmen pulling with all their might for the honour of being the first +to land. The race was won by the ship of the prince Protesilaus, who was +first of all to leap on shore, but as he leaped he was struck to the +heart by an arrow from the bow of Paris. This must have seemed a good +omen to the Trojans, and to the Greeks evil, but we do not hear that the +landing was resisted in great force, any more than that of Norman +William was, when he invaded England. + +The Greeks drew up all their ships on shore, and the men camped in huts +built in front of the ships. There was thus a long row of huts with the +ships behind them, and in these huts the Greeks lived all through the +ten years that the siege of Troy lasted. In these days they do not seem +to have understood how to conduct a siege. You would have expected the +Greeks to build towers and dig trenches all round Troy, and from the +towers watch the roads, so that provisions might not be brought in from +the country. This is called 'investing' a town, but the Greeks never +invested Troy. Perhaps they had not men enough; at all events the place +remained open, and cattle could always be driven in to feed the warriors +and the women and children. + +Moreover, the Greeks for long never seem to have tried to break down one +of the gates, nor to scale the walls, which were very high, with +ladders. On the other hand, the Trojans and allies never ventured to +drive the Greeks into the sea; they commonly remained within the walls +or skirmished just beneath them. The older men insisted on this way of +fighting, in spite of Hector, who always wished to attack and storm the +camp of the Greeks. Neither side had machines for throwing heavy stones, +such as the Romans used later, and the most that the Greeks did was to +follow Achilles and capture small neighbouring cities, and take the +women for slaves, and drive the cattle. They got provisions and wine +from the Phoenicians, who came in ships, and made much profit out of the +war. + +It was not till the tenth year that the war began in real earnest, and +scarcely any of the chief leaders had fallen. Fever came upon the +Greeks, and all day the camp was black with smoke, and all night shone +with fire from the great piles of burning wood, on which the Greeks +burned their dead, whose bones they then buried under hillocks of earth. +Many of these hillocks are still standing on the plain of Troy. When the +plague had raged for ten days, Achilles called an assembly of the whole +army, to try to find out why the Gods were angry. They thought that the +beautiful God Apollo (who took the Trojan side) was shooting invisible +arrows at them from his silver bow, though fevers in armies are usually +caused by dirt and drinking bad water. The great heat of the sun, too, +may have helped to cause the disease; but we must tell the story as the +Greeks told it themselves. So Achilles spoke in the assembly, and +proposed to ask some prophet why Apollo was angry. The chief prophet was +Calchas. He rose and said that he would declare the truth if Achilles +would promise to protect him from the anger of any prince whom the truth +might offend. + +Achilles knew well whom Calchas meant. Ten days before, a priest of +Apollo had come to the camp and offered ransom for his daughter +Chryseis, a beautiful girl, whom Achilles had taken prisoner, with many +others, when he captured a small town. Chryseis had been given as a +slave to Agamemnon, who always got the best of the plunder because he +was chief king, whether he had taken part in the fighting or not. As a +rule he did not. To Achilles had been given another girl, Briseis, of +whom he was very fond. Now when Achilles had promised to protect +Calchas, the prophet spoke out, and boldly said, what all men knew +already, that Apollo caused the plague because Agamemnon would not +return Chryseis, and had insulted her father, the priest of the God. + +On hearing this, Agamemnon was very angry. He said that he would send +Chryseis home, but that he would take Briseis away from Achilles. Then +Achilles was drawing his great sword from the sheath to kill Agamemnon, +but even in his anger he knew that this was wrong, so he merely called +Agamemnon a greedy coward, 'with face of dog and heart of deer,' and he +swore that he and his men would fight no more against the Trojans. Old +Nestor tried to make peace, and swords were not drawn, but Briseis was +taken away from Achilles, and Ulysses put Chryseis on board of his ship +and sailed away with her to her father's town, and gave her up to her +father. Then her father prayed to Apollo that the plague might cease, +and it did cease--when the Greeks had cleansed their camp, and purified +themselves and cast their filth into the sea. + +We know how fierce and brave Achilles was, and we may wonder that he did +not challenge Agamemnon to fight a duel. But the Greeks never fought +duels, and Agamemnon was believed to be chief king by right divine. +Achilles went alone to the sea shore when his dear Briseis was led away, +and he wept, and called to his mother, the silver-footed lady of the +waters. Then she arose from the grey sea, like a mist, and sat down +beside her son, and stroked his hair with her hand, and he told her all +his sorrows. So she said that she would go up to the dwelling of the +Gods, and pray Zeus, the chief of them all, to make the Trojans win a +great battle, so that Agamemnon should feel his need of Achilles, and +make amends for his insolence, and do him honour. + +Thetis kept her promise, and Zeus gave his word that the Trojans should +defeat the Greeks. That night Zeus sent a deceitful dream to Agamemnon. +The dream took the shape of old Nestor, and said that Zeus would give +him victory that day. While he was still asleep, Agamemnon was full of +hope that he would instantly take Troy, but, when he woke, he seems not +to have been nearly so confident, for in place of putting on his armour, +and bidding the Greeks arm themselves, he merely dressed in his robe and +mantle, took his sceptre, and went and told the chiefs about his dream. +They did not feel much encouraged, so he said that he would try the +temper of the army. He would call them together, and propose to return +to Greece; but, if the soldiers took him at his word, the other chiefs +were to stop them. This was a foolish plan, for the soldiers were +wearying for beautiful Greece, and their homes, and wives and children. +Therefore, when Agamemnon did as he had said, the whole army rose, like +the sea under the west wind, and, with a shout, they rushed to the +ships, while the dust blew in clouds from under their feet. Then they +began to launch their ships, and it seems that the princes were carried +away in the rush, and were as eager as the rest to go home. + +But Ulysses only stood in sorrow and anger beside his ship, and never +put hand to it, for he felt how disgraceful it was to run away. At last +he threw down his mantle, which his herald Eurybates of Ithaca, a +round-shouldered, brown, curly-haired man, picked up, and he ran to find +Agamemnon, and took his sceptre, a gold-studded staff, like a marshal's +baton, and he gently told the chiefs whom he met that they were doing a +shameful thing; but he drove the common soldiers back to the place of +meeting with the sceptre. They all returned, puzzled and chattering, but +one lame, bandy-legged, bald, round-shouldered, impudent fellow, named +Thersites, jumped up and made an insolent speech, insulting the princes, +and advising the army to run away. Then Ulysses took him and beat him +till the blood came, and he sat down, wiping away his tears, and looking +so foolish that the whole army laughed at him, and cheered Ulysses when +he and Nestor bade them arm and fight. Agamemnon still believed a good +deal in his dream, and prayed that he might take Troy that very day, and +kill Hector. Thus Ulysses alone saved the army from a cowardly retreat; +but for him the ships would have been launched in an hour. But the +Greeks armed and advanced in full force, all except Achilles and his +friend Patroclus with their two or three thousand men. The Trojans also +took heart, knowing that Achilles would not fight, and the armies +approached each other. Paris himself, with two spears and a bow, and +without armour, walked into the space between the hosts, and challenged +any Greek prince to single combat. Menelaus, whose wife Paris had +carried away, was as glad as a hungry lion when he finds a stag or a +goat, and leaped in armour from his chariot, but Paris turned and slunk +away, like a man when he meets a great serpent on a narrow path in the +hills. Then Hector rebuked Paris for his cowardice, and Paris was +ashamed and offered to end the war by fighting Menelaus. If he himself +fell, the Trojans must give up Helen and all her jewels; if Menelaus +fell, the Greeks were to return without fair Helen. The Greeks accepted +this plan, and both sides disarmed themselves to look on at the fight in +comfort, and they meant to take the most solemn oaths to keep peace till +the combat was lost and won, and the quarrel settled. Hector sent into +Troy for two lambs, which were to be sacrificed when the oaths were +taken. + +In the meantime Helen of the fair hands was at home working at a great +purple tapestry on which she embroidered the battles of the Greeks and +Trojans. It was just like the tapestry at Bayeux on which Norman ladies +embroidered the battles in the Norman Conquest of England. Helen was +very fond of embroidering, like poor Mary, Queen of Scots, when a +prisoner in Loch Leven Castle. Probably the work kept both Helen and +Mary from thinking of their past lives and their sorrows. + +[Illustration: HELEN POINTS OUT THE CHIEF HEROES IN THE GREEK HOST TO +PRIAM.] + +When Helen heard that her husband was to fight Paris, she wept, and +threw a shining veil over her head, and with her two bower maidens went +to the roof of the gate tower, where king Priam was sitting with the old +Trojan chiefs. They saw her and said that it was small blame to fight +for so beautiful a lady, and Priam called her 'dear child,' and said, 'I +do not blame you, I blame the Gods who brought about this war.' But +Helen said that she wished she had died before she left her little +daughter and her husband, and her home: 'Alas! shameless me!' Then she +told Priam the names of the chief Greek warriors, and of Ulysses, who +was shorter by a head than Agamemnon but broader in chest and shoulders. +She wondered that she could not see her own two brothers, Castor and +Polydeuces, and thought that they kept aloof in shame for her sin; but +the green grass covered their graves, for they had both died in battle, +far away in Lacedaemon, their own country. + +Then the lambs were sacrificed, and the oaths were taken, and Paris put +on his brother's armour: helmet, breastplate, shield, and leg-armour. +Lots were drawn to decide whether Paris or Menelaus should throw his +spear first, and, as Paris won, he threw his spear, but the point was +blunted against the shield of Menelaus. But when Menelaus threw his +spear it went clean through the shield of Paris, and through the side of +his breastplate, but only grazed his robe. Menelaus drew his sword, and +rushed in, and smote at the crest of the helmet of Paris, but his bronze +blade broke into four pieces. Menelaus caught Paris by the horsehair +crest of his helmet, and dragged him towards the Greeks, but the +chin-strap broke, and Menelaus turning round threw the helmet into the +ranks of the Greeks. But when Menelaus looked again for Paris, with a +spear in his hand, he could see him nowhere! The Greeks believed that +the beautiful goddess Aphrodite, whom the Romans called Venus, hid him +in a thick cloud of darkness and carried him to his own house, where +Helen of the fair hands found him and said to him, 'Would that thou +hadst perished, conquered by that great warrior who was my lord! Go +forth again and challenge him to fight thee face to face.' But Paris had +no more desire to fight, and the Goddess threatened Helen, and compelled +her to remain with him in Troy, coward as he had proved himself. Yet on +other days Paris fought well; it seems that he was afraid of Menelaus +because, in his heart, he was ashamed of himself. + +Meanwhile Menelaus was seeking for Paris everywhere, and the Trojans, +who hated him, would have shown his hiding place. But they knew not +where he was, and the Greeks claimed the victory, and thought that, as +Paris had the worst of the fight, Helen would be restored to them, and +they would all sail home. + + + + +V + +TROJAN VICTORIES + + +The war might now have ended, but an evil and foolish thought came to +Pandarus, a prince of Ida, who fought for the Trojans. He chose to shoot +an arrow at Menelaus, contrary to the sworn vows of peace, and the arrow +pierced the breastplate of Menelaus through the place where the clasped +plates meet, and drew his blood. Then Agamemnon, who loved his brother +dearly, began to lament, saying that, if he died, the army would all go +home and Trojans would dance on the grave of Menelaus. 'Do not alarm +all our army,' said Menelaus, 'the arrow has done me little harm;' and +so it proved, for the surgeon easily drew the arrow out of the wound. + +Then Agamemnon hastened here and there, bidding the Greeks arm and +attack the Trojans, who would certainly be defeated, for they had broken +the oaths of peace. But with his usual insolence he chose to accuse +Ulysses and Diomede of cowardice, though Diomede was as brave as any +man, and Ulysses had just prevented the whole army from launching their +ships and going home. Ulysses answered him with spirit, but Diomede said +nothing at the moment; later he spoke his mind. He leaped from his +chariot, and all the chiefs leaped down and advanced in line, the +chariots following them, while the spearmen and bowmen followed the +chariots. The Trojan army advanced, all shouting in their different +languages, but the Greeks came on silently. Then the two front lines +clashed, shield against shield, and the noise was like the roaring of +many flooded torrents among the hills. When a man fell he who had slain +him tried to strip off his armour, and his friends fought over his body +to save the dead from this dishonour. + +Ulysses fought above a wounded friend, and drove his spear through head +and helmet of a Trojan prince, and everywhere men were falling beneath +spears and arrows and heavy stones which the warriors threw. Here +Menelaus speared the man who built the ships with which Paris had sailed +to Greece; and the dust rose like a cloud, and a mist went up from the +fighting men, while Diomede stormed across the plain like a river in +flood, leaving dead bodies behind him as the river leaves boughs of +trees and grass to mark its course. Pandarus wounded Diomede with an +arrow, but Diomede slew him, and the Trojans were being driven in +flight, when Sarpedon and Hector turned and hurled themselves on the +Greeks; and even Diomede shuddered when Hector came on, and charged at +Ulysses, who was slaying Trojans as he went, and the battle swayed this +way and that, and the arrows fell like rain. + +But Hector was sent into the city to bid the women pray to the goddess +Athene for help, and he went to the house of Paris, whom Helen was +imploring to go and fight like a man, saying: 'Would that the winds had +wafted me away, and the tides drowned me, shameless that I am, before +these things came to pass!' + +Then Hector went to see his dear wife, Andromache, whose father had been +slain by Achilles early in the siege, and he found her and her nurse +carrying her little boy, Hector's son, and like a star upon her bosom +lay his beautiful and shining golden head. Now, while Helen urged Paris +to go into the fight, Andromache prayed Hector to stay with her in the +town, and fight no more lest he should be slain and leave her a widow, +and the boy an orphan, with none to protect him. The army, she said, +should come back within the walls, where they had so long been safe, not +fight in the open plain. But Hector answered that he would never shrink +from battle, 'yet I know this in my heart, the day shall come for holy +Troy to be laid low, and Priam and the people of Priam. But this and my +own death do not trouble me so much as the thought of you, when you +shall be carried as a slave to Greece, to spin at another woman's +bidding, and bear water from a Grecian well. May the heaped up earth of +my tomb cover me ere I hear thy cries and the tale of thy captivity.' + +Then Hector stretched out his hands to his little boy, but the child was +afraid when he saw the great glittering helmet of his father and the +nodding horsehair crest. So Hector laid his helmet on the ground and +dandled the child in his arms, and tried to comfort his wife, and said +good-bye for the last time, for he never came back to Troy alive. He +went on his way back to the battle, and Paris went with him, in glorious +armour, and soon they were slaying the princes of the Greeks. + +The battle raged till nightfall, and in the night the Greeks and Trojans +burned their dead; and the Greeks made a trench and wall round their +camp, which they needed for safety now that the Trojans came from their +town and fought in the open plain. + +Next day the Trojans were so successful that they did not retreat behind +their walls at night, but lit great fires on the plain: a thousand +fires, with fifty men taking supper round each of them, and drinking +their wine to the music of flutes. But the Greeks were much discouraged, +and Agamemnon called the whole army together, and proposed that they +should launch their ships in the night and sail away home. Then Diomede +stood up, and said: 'You called me a coward lately. You are the coward! +Sail away if you are afraid to remain here, but all the rest of us will +fight till we take Troy town.' + +Then all shouted in praise of Diomede, and Nestor advised them to send +five hundred young men, under his own son, Thrasymedes, to watch the +Trojans, and guard the new wall and the ditch, in case the Trojans +attacked them in the darkness. Next Nestor counselled Agamemnon to send +Ulysses and Aias to Achilles, and promise to give back Briseis, and rich +presents of gold, and beg pardon for his insolence. If Achilles would +be friends again with Agamemnon, and fight as he used to fight, the +Trojans would soon be driven back into the town. + +Agamemnon was very ready to beg pardon, for he feared that the whole +army would be defeated, and cut off from their ships, and killed or kept +as slaves. So Ulysses and Aias and the old tutor of Achilles, Phoenix, +went to Achilles and argued with him, praying him to accept the rich +presents, and help the Greeks. But Achilles answered that he did not +believe a word that Agamemnon said; Agamemnon had always hated him, and +always would hate him. No; he would not cease to be angry, he would sail +away next day with all his men, and he advised the rest to come with +him. 'Why be so fierce?' said tall Aias, who seldom spoke. 'Why make so +much trouble about one girl? We offer you seven girls, and plenty of +other gifts.' + +Then Achilles said that he would not sail away next day, but he would +not fight till the Trojans tried to burn his own ships, and there he +thought that Hector would find work enough to do. This was the most that +Achilles would promise, and all the Greeks were silent when Ulysses +delivered his message. But Diomede arose and said that, with or without +Achilles, fight they must; and all men, heavy at heart, went to sleep in +their huts or in the open air at their doors. + +Agamemnon was much too anxious to sleep. He saw the glow of the thousand +fires of the Trojans in the dark, and heard their merry flutes, and he +groaned and pulled out his long hair by handfuls. When he was tired of +crying and groaning and tearing his hair, he thought that he would go +for advice to old Nestor. He threw a lion skin, the coverlet of his bed, +over his shoulder, took his spear, went out and met Menelaus--for he, +too, could not sleep--and Menelaus proposed to send a spy among the +Trojans, if any man were brave enough to go, for the Trojan camp was all +alight with fires, and the adventure was dangerous. Therefore the two +wakened Nestor and the other chiefs, who came just as they were, wrapped +in the fur coverlets of their beds, without any armour. First they +visited the five hundred young men set to watch the wall, and then they +crossed the ditch and sat down outside and considered what might be +done. 'Will nobody go as a spy among the Trojans?' said Nestor; he meant +would none of the young men go. Diomede said that he would take the risk +if any other man would share it with him, and, if he might choose a +companion, he would take Ulysses. + +'Come, then, let us be going,' said Ulysses, 'for the night is late, and +the dawn is near.' As these two chiefs had no armour on, they borrowed +shields and leather caps from the young men of the guard, for leather +would not shine as bronze helmets shine in the firelight. The cap lent +to Ulysses was strengthened outside with rows of boars' tusks. Many of +these tusks, shaped for this purpose, have been found, with swords and +armour, in a tomb in Mycenae, the town of Agamemnon. This cap which was +lent to Ulysses had once been stolen by his grandfather, Autolycus, who +was a Master Thief, and he gave it as a present to a friend, and so, +through several hands, it had come to young Meriones of Crete, one of +the five hundred guards, who now lent it to Ulysses. So the two princes +set forth in the dark, so dark it was that though they heard a heron +cry, they could not see it as it flew away. + +While Ulysses and Diomede stole through the night silently, like two +wolves among the bodies of dead men, the Trojan leaders met and +considered what they ought to do. They did not know whether the Greeks +had set sentinels and outposts, as usual, to give warning if the enemy +were approaching; or whether they were too weary to keep a good watch; +or whether perhaps they were getting ready their ships to sail homewards +in the dawn. So Hector offered a reward to any man who would creep +through the night and spy on the Greeks; he said he would give the spy +the two best horses in the Greek camp. + +Now among the Trojans there was a young man named Dolon, the son of a +rich father, and he was the only boy in a family of five sisters. He was +ugly, but a very swift runner, and he cared for horses more than for +anything else in the world. Dolon arose and said, 'If you will swear to +give me the horses and chariot of Achilles, son of Peleus, I will steal +to the hut of Agamemnon and listen and find out whether the Greeks mean +to fight or flee.' Hector swore to give these horses, which were the +best in the world, to Dolon, so he took his bow and threw a grey wolf's +hide over his shoulders, and ran towards the ships of the Greeks. + +Now Ulysses saw Dolon as he came, and said to Diomede, 'Let us suffer +him to pass us, and then do you keep driving him with your spear towards +the ships, and away from Troy.' So Ulysses and Diomede lay down among +the dead men who had fallen in the battle, and Dolon ran on past them +towards the Greeks. Then they rose and chased him as two greyhounds +course a hare, and, when Dolon was near the sentinels, Diomede cried +'Stand, or I will slay you with my spear!' and he threw his spear just +over Dolon's shoulder. So Dolon stood still, green with fear, and with +his teeth chattering. When the two came up, he cried, and said that his +father was a rich man, who would pay much gold, and bronze, and iron for +his ransom. + +Ulysses said, 'Take heart, and put death out of your mind, and tell us +what you are doing here.' Dolon said that Hector had promised him the +horses of Achilles if he would go and spy on the Greeks. 'You set your +hopes high,' said Ulysses, 'for the horses of Achilles are not earthly +steeds, but divine; a gift of the Gods, and Achilles alone can drive +them. But, tell me, do the Trojans keep good watch, and where is Hector +with his horses?' for Ulysses thought that it would be a great adventure +to drive away the horses of Hector. + +'Hector is with the chiefs, holding council at the tomb of Ilus,' said +Dolon; 'but no regular guard is set. The people of Troy, indeed, are +round their watch fires, for they have to think of the safety of their +wives and children; but the allies from far lands keep no watch, for +their wives and children are safe at home.' Then he told where all the +different peoples who fought for Priam had their stations; but, said he, +'if you want to steal horses, the best are those of Rhesus, King of the +Thracians, who has only joined us to-night. He and his men are asleep at +the furthest end of the line, and his horses are the best and greatest +that ever I saw: tall, white as snow, and swift as the wind, and his +chariot is adorned with gold and silver, and golden is his armour. Now +take me prisoner to the ships, or bind me and leave me here while you go +and try whether I have told you truth or lies.' + +'No,' said Diomede, 'if I spare your life you may come spying again,' +and he drew his sword and smote off the head of Dolon. They hid his cap +and bow and spear where they could find them easily, and marked the +spot, and went through the night to the dark camp of King Rhesus, who +had no watch-fire and no guards. Then Diomede silently stabbed each +sleeping man to the heart, and Ulysses seized the dead by the feet and +threw them aside lest they should frighten the horses, which had never +been in battle, and would shy if they were led over the bodies of dead +men. Last of all Diomede killed King Rhesus, and Ulysses led forth his +horses, beating them with his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip +from the chariot. Then Ulysses and Diomede leaped on the backs of the +horses, as they had not time to bring away the chariot, and they +galloped to the ships, stopping to pick up the spear, and bow, and cap +of Dolon. They rode to the princes, who welcomed them, and all laughed +for glee when they saw the white horses and heard that King Rhesus was +dead, for they guessed that all his army would now go home to Thrace. +This they must have done, for we never hear of them in the battles that +followed, so Ulysses and Diomede deprived the Trojans of thousands of +men. The other princes went to bed in good spirits, but Ulysses and +Diomede took a swim in the sea, and then went into hot baths, and so to +breakfast, for rosy-fingered Dawn was coming up the sky. + + + + +VI + +BATTLE AT THE SHIPS + + +With dawn Agamemnon awoke, and fear had gone out of his heart. He put on +his armour, and arrayed the chiefs on foot in front of their chariots, +and behind them came the spearmen, with the bowmen and slingers on the +wings of the army. Then a great black cloud spread over the sky, and +red was the rain that fell from it. The Trojans gathered on a height in +the plain, and Hector, shining in armour, went here and there, in front +and rear, like a star that now gleams forth and now is hidden in a +cloud. + +The armies rushed on each other and hewed each other down, as reapers +cut their way through a field of tall corn. Neither side gave ground, +though the helmets of the bravest Trojans might be seen deep in the +ranks of the Greeks; and the swords of the bravest Greeks rose and fell +in the ranks of the Trojans, and all the while the arrows showered like +rain. But at noon-day, when the weary woodman rests from cutting trees, +and takes his dinner in the quiet hills, the Greeks of the first line +made a charge, Agamemnon running in front of them, and he speared two +Trojans, and took their breastplates, which he laid in his chariot, and +then he speared one brother of Hector and struck another down with his +sword, and killed two more who vainly asked to be made prisoners of war. +Footmen slew footmen, and chariot men slew chariot men, and they broke +into the Trojan line as fire falls on a forest in a windy day, leaping +and roaring and racing through the trees. Many an empty chariot did the +horses hurry madly through the field, for the charioteers were lying +dead, with the greedy vultures hovering above them, flapping their wide +wings. Still Agamemnon followed and slew the hindmost Trojans, but the +rest fled till they came to the gates, and the oak tree that grew +outside the gates, and there they stopped. + +But Hector held his hands from fighting, for in the meantime he was +making his men face the enemy and form up in line and take breath, and +was encouraging them, for they had retreated from the wall of the +Greeks across the whole plain, past the hill that was the tomb of Ilus, +a king of old, and past the place of the wild fig-tree. Much ado had +Hector to rally the Trojans, but he knew that when men do turn again +they are hard to beat. So it proved, for when the Trojans had rallied +and formed in line, Agamemnon slew a Thracian chief who had come to +fight for Troy before King Rhesus came. But the eldest brother of the +slain man smote Agamemnon through the arm with his spear, and, though +Agamemnon slew him in turn, his wound bled much and he was in great +pain, so he leaped into his chariot and was driven back to the ships. + +Then Hector gave the word to charge, as a huntsman cries on his hounds +against a lion, and he rushed forward at the head of the Trojan line, +slaying as he went. Nine chiefs of the Greeks he slew, and fell upon the +spearmen and scattered them, as the spray of the waves is scattered by +the wandering wind. + +Now the ranks of the Greeks were broken, and they would have been driven +among their ships and killed without mercy, had not Ulysses and Diomede +stood firm in the centre, and slain four Trojan leaders. The Greeks +began to come back and face their enemies in line of battle again, +though Hector, who had been fighting on the Trojan right, rushed against +them. But Diomede took good aim with his spear at the helmet of Hector, +and struck it fairly. The spear-point did not go through the helmet, but +Hector was stunned and fell; and, when he came to himself, he leaped +into his chariot, and his squire drove him against the Pylians and +Cretans, under Nestor and Idomeneus, who were on the left wing of the +Greek army. Then Diomede fought on till Paris, who stood beside the +pillar on the hillock that was the tomb of old King Ilus, sent an arrow +clean through his foot. Ulysses went and stood in front of Diomede, who +sat down, and Ulysses drew the arrow from his foot, and Diomede stepped +into his chariot and was driven back to the ships. + +Ulysses was now the only Greek chief that still fought in the centre. +The Greeks all fled, and he was alone in the crowd of Trojans, who +rushed on him as hounds and hunters press round a wild boar that stands +at bay in a wood. 'They are cowards that flee from the fight,' said +Ulysses to himself; 'but I will stand here, one man against a +multitude.' He covered the front of his body with his great shield, that +hung by a belt round his neck, and he smote four Trojans and wounded a +fifth. But the brother of the wounded man drove a spear through the +shield and breastplate of Ulysses, and tore clean through his side. Then +Ulysses turned on this Trojan, and he fled, and Ulysses sent a spear +through his shoulder and out at his breast, and he died. Ulysses dragged +from his own side the spear that had wounded him, and called thrice with +a great voice to the other Greeks, and Menelaus and Aias rushed to +rescue him, for many Trojans were round him, like jackals round a +wounded stag that a man has struck with an arrow. But Aias ran and +covered the wounded Ulysses with his huge shield till he could climb +into the chariot of Menelaus, who drove him back to the ships. + +Meanwhile, Hector was slaying the Greeks on the left of their battle, +and Paris struck the Greek surgeon, Machaon, with an arrow; and +Idomeneus bade Nestor put Machaon in his chariot and drive him to +Nestor's hut, where his wound might be tended. Meanwhile, Hector sped to +the centre of the line, where Aias was slaying the Trojans; but +Eurypylus, a Greek chief, was wounded by an arrow from the bow of +Paris, and his friends guarded him with their shields and spears. + +Thus the best of the Greeks were wounded and out of the battle, save +Aias, and the spearmen were in flight. Meanwhile Achilles was standing +by the stern of his ship watching the defeat of the Greeks, but when he +saw Machaon being carried past, sorely wounded, in the chariot of +Nestor, he bade his friend Patroclus, whom he loved better than all the +rest, to go and ask how Machaon did. He was sitting drinking wine with +Nestor when Patroclus came, and Nestor told Patroclus how many of the +chiefs were wounded, and though Patroclus was in a hurry Nestor began a +very long story about his own great deeds of war, done when he was a +young man. At last he bade Patroclus tell Achilles that, if he would not +fight himself, he should at least send out his men under Patroclus, who +should wear the splendid armour of Achilles. Then the Trojans would +think that Achilles himself had returned to the battle, and they would +be afraid, for none of them dared to meet Achilles hand to hand. + +So Patroclus ran off to Achilles; but, on his way, he met the wounded +Eurypylus, and he took him to his hut and cut the arrow out of his thigh +with a knife, and washed the wound with warm water, and rubbed over it a +bitter root to take the pain away. Thus he waited for some time with +Eurypylus, but the advice of Nestor was in the end to cause the death of +Patroclus. The battle now raged more fiercely, while Agamemnon and +Diomede and Ulysses could only limp about leaning on their spears; and +again Agamemnon wished to moor the ships near shore, and embark in the +night and run away. But Ulysses was very angry with him, and said: 'You +should lead some other inglorious army, not us, who will fight on till +every soul of us perish, rather than flee like cowards! Be silent, lest +the soldiers hear you speaking of flight, such words as no man should +utter. I wholly scorn your counsel, for the Greeks will lose heart if, +in the midst of battle, you bid them launch the ships.' + +Agamemnon was ashamed, and, by Diomede's advice, the wounded kings went +down to the verge of the war to encourage the others, though they were +themselves unable to fight. They rallied the Greeks, and Aias led them +and struck Hector full in the breast with a great rock, so that his +friends carried him out of the battle to the river side, where they +poured water over him, but he lay fainting on the ground, the black +blood gushing up from his mouth. While Hector lay there, and all men +thought that he would die, Aias and Idomeneus were driving back the +Trojans, and it seemed that, even without Achilles and his men, the +Greeks were able to hold their own against the Trojans. But the battle +was never lost while Hector lived. People in those days believed in +'omens:' they thought that the appearance of birds on the right or left +hand meant good or bad luck. Once during the battle a Trojan showed +Hector an unlucky bird, and wanted him to retreat into the town. But +Hector said, 'One omen is the best: to fight for our own country.' While +Hector lay between death and life the Greeks were winning, for the +Trojans had no other great chief to lead them. But Hector awoke from his +faint, and leaped to his feet and ran here and there, encouraging the +men of Troy. Then the most of the Greeks fled when they saw him; but +Aias and Idomeneus, and the rest of the bravest, formed in a square +between the Trojans and the ships, and down on them came Hector and +Aeneas and Paris, throwing their spears, and slaying on every hand. The +Greeks turned and ran, and the Trojans would have stopped to strip the +armour from the slain men, but Hector cried: 'Haste to the ships and +leave the spoils of war. I will slay any man who lags behind!' + +On this, all the Trojans drove their chariots down into the ditch that +guarded the ships of the Greeks, as when a great wave sweeps at sea over +the side of a vessel; and the Greeks were on the ship decks, thrusting +with very long spears, used in sea fights, and the Trojans were boarding +the ships, and striking with swords and axes. Hector had a lighted torch +and tried to set fire to the ship of Aias; but Aias kept him back with +the long spear, and slew a Trojan, whose lighted torch fell from his +hand. And Aias kept shouting: 'Come on, and drive away Hector; it is not +to a dance that he is calling his men, but to battle.' + +The dead fell in heaps, and the living ran over them to mount the heaps +of slain and climb the ships. Hector rushed forward like a sea wave +against a great steep rock, but like the rock stood the Greeks; still +the Trojans charged past the beaks of the foremost ships, while Aias, +thrusting with a spear more than twenty feet long, leaped from deck to +deck like a man that drives four horses abreast, and leaps from the back +of one to the back of another. Hector seized with his hand the stern of +the ship of Protesilaus, the prince whom Paris shot when he leaped +ashore on the day when the Greeks first landed; and Hector kept calling: +'Bring fire!' and even Aias, in this strange sea fight on land, left the +decks and went below, thrusting with his spear through the portholes. +Twelve men lay dead who had brought fire against the ship which Aias +guarded. + + + + +VII + +THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS + + +At this moment, when torches were blazing round the ships, and all +seemed lost, Patroclus came out of the hut of Eurypylus, whose wound he +had been tending, and he saw that the Greeks were in great danger, and +ran weeping to Achilles. 'Why do you weep,' said Achilles, 'like a +little girl that runs by her mother's side, and plucks at her gown and +looks at her with tears in her eyes, till her mother takes her up in her +arms? Is there bad news from home that your father is dead, or mine; or +are you sorry that the Greeks are getting what they deserve for their +folly?' Then Patroclus told Achilles how Ulysses and many other princes +were wounded and could not fight, and begged to be allowed to put on +Achilles' armour and lead his men, who were all fresh and unwearied, +into the battle, for a charge of two thousand fresh warriors might turn +the fortune of the day. + +Then Achilles was sorry that he had sworn not to fight himself till +Hector brought fire to his own ships. He would lend Patroclus his +armour, and his horses, and his men; but Patroclus must only drive the +Trojans from the ships, and not pursue them. At this moment Aias was +weary, so many spears smote his armour, and he could hardly hold up his +great shield, and Hector cut off his spearhead with the sword; the +bronze head fell ringing on the ground, and Aias brandished only the +pointless shaft. So he shrank back and fire blazed all over his ship; +and Achilles saw it, and smote his thigh, and bade Patroclus make haste. +Patroclus armed himself in the shining armour of Achilles, which all +Trojans feared, and leaped into the chariot where Automedon, the squire, +had harnessed Xanthus and Balius, two horses that were the children, men +said, of the West Wind, and a led horse was harnessed beside them in the +side traces. Meanwhile the two thousand men of Achilles, who were called +Myrmidons, had met in armour, five companies of four hundred apiece, +under five chiefs of noble names. Forth they came, as eager as a pack of +wolves that have eaten a great red deer and run to slake their thirst +with the dark water of a well in the hills. + +So all in close array, helmet touching helmet and shield touching +shield, like a moving wall of shining bronze, the men of Achilles +charged, and Patroclus in the chariot led the way. Down they came at +full speed on the flank of the Trojans, who saw the leader, and knew the +bright armour and the horses of the terrible Achilles, and thought that +he had returned to the war. Then each Trojan looked round to see by what +way he could escape, and when men do that in battle they soon run by the +way they have chosen. Patroclus rushed to the ship of Protesilaus, and +slew the leader of the Trojans there, and drove them out, and quenched +the fire; while they of Troy drew back from the ships, and Aias and the +other unwounded Greek princes leaped among them, smiting with sword and +spear. Well did Hector know that the break in the battle had come again; +but even so he stood, and did what he might, while the Trojans were +driven back in disorder across the ditch, where the poles of many +chariots were broken and the horses fled loose across the plain. + +The horses of Achilles cleared the ditch, and Patroclus drove them +between the Trojans and the wall of their own town, slaying many men, +and, chief of all, Sarpedon, king of the Lycians; and round the body of +Sarpedon the Trojans rallied under Hector, and the fight swayed this way +and that, and there was such a noise of spears and swords smiting +shields and helmets as when many woodcutters fell trees in a glen of the +hills. At last the Trojans gave way, and the Greeks stripped the armour +from the body of brave Sarpedon; but men say that Sleep and Death, like +two winged angels, bore his body away to his own country. Now Patroclus +forgot how Achilles had told him not to pursue the Trojans across the +plain, but to return when he had driven them from the ships. On he +raced, slaying as he went, even till he reached the foot of the wall of +Troy. Thrice he tried to climb it, but thrice he fell back. + +Hector was in his chariot in the gateway, and he bade his squire lash +his horses into the war, and struck at no other man, great or small, but +drove straight against Patroclus, who stood and threw a heavy stone at +Hector; which missed him, but killed his charioteer. Then Patroclus +leaped on the charioteer to strip his armour, but Hector stood over the +body, grasping it by the head, while Patroclus dragged at the feet, and +spears and arrows flew in clouds around the fallen man. At last, towards +sunset, the Greeks drew him out of the war, and Patroclus thrice charged +into the thick of the Trojans. But the helmet of Achilles was loosened +in the fight, and fell from the head of Patroclus, and he was wounded +from behind, and Hector, in front, drove his spear clean through his +body. With his last breath Patroclus prophesied: 'Death stands near +thee, Hector, at the hands of noble Achilles.' But Automedon was driving +back the swift horses, carrying to Achilles the news that his dearest +friend was slain. + +After Ulysses was wounded, early in this great battle, he was not able +to fight for several days, and, as the story is about Ulysses, we must +tell quite shortly how Achilles returned to the war to take vengeance +for Patroclus, and how he slew Hector. When Patroclus fell, Hector +seized the armour which the Gods had given to Peleus, and Peleus to his +son Achilles, while Achilles had lent it to Patroclus that he might +terrify the Trojans. Retiring out of reach of spears, Hector took off +his own armour and put on that of Achilles, and Greeks and Trojans +fought for the dead body of Patroclus. Then Zeus, the chief of the Gods, +looked down and said that Hector should never come home out of the +battle to his wife, Andromache. But Hector returned into the fight +around the dead Patroclus, and here all the best men fought, and even +Automedon, who had been driving the chariot of Patroclus. Now when the +Trojans seemed to have the better of the fight, the Greeks sent +Antilochus, a son of old Nestor, to tell Achilles that his friend was +slain, and Antilochus ran, and Aias and his brother protected the Greeks +who were trying to carry the body of Patroclus back to the ships. + +Swiftly Antilochus came running to Achilles, saying: 'Fallen is +Patroclus, and they are fighting round his naked body, for Hector has +his armour.' Then Achilles said never a word, but fell on the floor of +his hut, and threw black ashes on his yellow hair, till Antilochus +seized his hands, fearing that he would cut his own throat with his +dagger, for very sorrow. His mother, Thetis, arose from the sea to +comfort him, but he said that he desired to die if he could not slay +Hector, who had slain his friend. Then Thetis told him that he could not +fight without armour, and now he had none; but she would go to the God +of armour-making and bring from him such a shield and helmet and +breastplate as had never been seen by men. + +Meanwhile the fight raged round the dead body of Patroclus, which was +defiled with blood and dust, near the ships, and was being dragged this +way and that, and torn and wounded. Achilles could not bear this sight, +yet his mother had warned him not to enter without armour the battle +where stones and arrows and spears were flying like hail; and he was so +tall and broad that he could put on the arms of no other man. So he went +down to the ditch as he was, unarmed, and as he stood high above it, +against the red sunset, fire seemed to flow from his golden hair like +the beacon blaze that soars into the dark sky when an island town is +attacked at night, and men light beacons that their neighbours may see +them and come to their help from other isles. There Achilles stood in a +splendour of fire, and he shouted aloud, as clear as a clarion rings +when men fall on to attack a besieged city wall. Thrice Achilles shouted +mightily, and thrice the horses of the Trojans shuddered for fear and +turned back from the onslaught, and thrice the men of Troy were +confounded and shaken with terror. Then the Greeks drew the body of +Patroclus out of the dust and the arrows, and laid him on a bier, and +Achilles followed, weeping, for he had sent his friend with chariot and +horses to the war; but home again he welcomed him never more. Then the +sun set and it was night. + +Now one of the Trojans wished Hector to retire within the walls of Troy, +for certainly Achilles would to-morrow be foremost in the war. But +Hector said, 'Have ye not had your fill of being shut up behind walls? +Let Achilles fight; I will meet him in the open field.' The Trojans +cheered, and they camped in the plain, while in the hut of Achilles +women washed the dead body of Patroclus, and Achilles swore that he +would slay Hector. + +In the dawn came Thetis, bearing to Achilles the new splendid armour +that the God had made for him. Then Achilles put on that armour, and +roused his men; but Ulysses, who knew all the rules of honour, would not +let him fight till peace had been made, with a sacrifice and other +ceremonies, between him and Agamemnon, and till Agamemnon had given him +all the presents which Achilles had before refused. Achilles did not +want them; he wanted only to fight, but Ulysses made him obey, and do +what was usual. Then the gifts were brought, and Agamemnon stood up, and +said that he was sorry for his insolence, and the men took breakfast, +but Achilles would neither eat nor drink. He mounted his chariot, but +the horse Xanthus bowed his head till his long mane touched the ground, +and, being a fairy horse, the child of the West Wind, he spoke (or so +men said), and these were his words: 'We shall bear thee swiftly and +speedily, but thou shalt be slain in fight, and thy dying day is near at +hand.' 'Well I know it,' said Achilles, 'but I will not cease from +fighting till I have given the Trojans their fill of war.' + +So all that day he chased and slew the Trojans. He drove them into the +river, and, though the river came down in a red flood, he crossed, and +slew them on the plain. The plain caught fire, the bushes and long dry +grass blazed round him, but he fought his way through the fire, and +drove the Trojans to their walls. The gates were thrown open, and the +Trojans rushed through like frightened fawns, and then they climbed to +the battlements, and looked down in safety, while the whole Greek army +advanced in line under their shields. + +But Hector stood still, alone, in front of the gate, and old Priam, who +saw Achilles rushing on, shining like a star in his new armour, called +with tears to Hector, 'Come within the gate! This man has slain many of +my sons, and if he slays thee whom have I to help me in my old age?' His +mother also called to Hector, but he stood firm, waiting for Achilles. +Now the story says that he was afraid, and ran thrice in full armour +round Troy, with Achilles in pursuit. But this cannot be true, for no +mortal men could run thrice, in heavy armour, with great shields that +clanked against their ankles, round the town of Troy: moreover Hector +was the bravest of men, and all the Trojan women were looking down at +him from the walls. + +We cannot believe that he ran away, and the story goes on to tell that +he asked Achilles to make an agreement with him. The conqueror in the +fight should give back the body of the fallen to be buried by his +friends, but should keep his armour. But Achilles said that he could +make no agreement with Hector, and threw his spear, which flew over +Hector's shoulder. Then Hector threw his spear, but it could not pierce +the shield which the God had made for Achilles. Hector had no other +spear, and Achilles had one, so Hector cried, 'Let me not die without +honour!' and drew his sword, and rushed at Achilles, who sprang to meet +him, but before Hector could come within a sword-stroke Achilles had +sent his spear clean through the neck of Hector. He fell in the dust and +Achilles said, 'Dogs and birds shall tear your flesh unburied.' With his +dying breath Hector prayed him to take gold from Priam, and give back +his body to be burned in Troy. But Achilles said, 'Hound! would that I +could bring myself to carve and eat thy raw flesh, but dogs shall devour +it, even if thy father offered me thy weight in gold.' With his last +words Hector prophesied and said, 'Remember me in the day when Paris +shall slay thee in the Scaean gate.' Then his brave soul went to the +land of the Dead, which the Greeks called Hades. To that land Ulysses +sailed while he was still a living man, as the story tells later. + +Then Achilles did a dreadful deed; he slit the feet of dead Hector from +heel to ankle, and thrust thongs through, and bound him by the thongs to +his chariot and trailed the body in the dust. All the women of Troy who +were on the walls raised a shriek, and Hector's wife, Andromache, heard +the sound. She had been in an inner room of her house, weaving a purple +web, and embroidering flowers on it, and she was calling her bower +maidens to make ready a bath for Hector when he should come back tired +from battle. But when she heard the cry from the wall she trembled, and +the shuttle with which she was weaving fell from her hands. 'Surely I +heard the cry of my husband's mother,' she said, and she bade two of her +maidens come with her to see why the people lamented. + +She ran swiftly, and reached the battlements, and thence she saw her +dear husband's body being whirled through the dust towards the ships, +behind the chariot of Achilles. Then night came over her eyes and she +fainted. But when she returned to herself she cried out that now none +would defend her little boy, and other children would push him away from +feasts, saying, 'Out with you; no father of thine is at our table,' and +his father, Hector, would lie naked at the ships, unclad, unburned, +unlamented. To be unburned and unburied was thought the greatest of +misfortunes, because the dead man unburned could not go into the House +of Hades, God of the Dead, but must always wander, alone and +comfortless, in the dark borderland between the dead and the living. + + + + +VIII + +THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR + + +When Achilles was asleep that night the ghost of Patroclus came, saying, +'Why dost thou not burn and bury me? for the other shadows of dead men +suffer me not to come near them, and lonely I wander along the dark +dwelling of Hades.' Then Achilles awoke, and he sent men to cut down +trees, and make a huge pile of fagots and logs. On this they laid +Patroclus, covered with white linen, and then they slew many cattle, and +Achilles cut the throats of twelve Trojan prisoners of war, meaning to +burn them with Patroclus to do him honour. This was a deed of shame, for +Achilles was mad with sorrow and anger for the death of his friend. Then +they drenched with wine the great pile of wood, which was thirty yards +long and broad, and set fire to it, and the fire blazed all through the +night and died down in the morning. They put the white bones of +Patroclus in a golden casket, and laid it in the hut of Achilles, who +said that, when he died, they must burn his body, and mix the ashes with +the ashes of his friend, and build over it a chamber of stone, and cover +the chamber with a great hill of earth, and set a pillar of stone above +it. This is one of the hills on the plain of Troy, but the pillar has +fallen from the tomb, long ago. + +Then, as the custom was, Achilles held games--chariot races, foot races, +boxing, wrestling, and archery--in honour of Patroclus. Ulysses won the +prize for the foot race, and for the wrestling, so now his wound must +have been healed. + +But Achilles still kept trailing Hector's dead body each day round the +hill that had been raised for the tomb of Patroclus, till the Gods in +heaven were angry, and bade Thetis tell her son that he must give back +the dead body to Priam, and take ransom for it, and they sent a +messenger to Priam to bid him redeem the body of his son. It was +terrible for Priam to have to go and humble himself before Achilles, +whose hands had been red with the blood of his sons, but he did not +disobey the Gods. He opened his chests, and took out twenty-four +beautiful embroidered changes of raiment; and he weighed out ten heavy +bars, or talents, of gold, and chose a beautiful golden cup, and he +called nine of his sons, Paris, and Helenus, and Deiphobus, and the +rest, saying, 'Go, ye bad sons, my shame; would that Hector lived and +all of you were dead!' for sorrow made him angry; 'go, and get ready for +me a wain, and lay on it these treasures.' So they harnessed mules to +the wain, and placed in it the treasures, and, after praying, Priam +drove through the night to the hut of Achilles. In he went, when no man +looked for him, and kneeled to Achilles, and kissed his terrible +death-dealing hands. 'Have pity on me, and fear the Gods, and give me +back my dead son,' he said, 'and remember thine own father. Have pity on +me, who have endured to do what no man born has ever done before, to +kiss the hands that slew my sons.' + +Then Achilles remembered his own father, far away, who now was old and +weak: and he wept, and Priam wept with him, and then Achilles raised +Priam from his knees and spoke kindly to him, admiring how beautiful he +still was in his old age, and Priam himself wondered at the beauty of +Achilles. And Achilles thought how Priam had long been rich and happy, +like his own father, Peleus, and now old age and weakness and sorrow +were laid upon both of them, for Achilles knew that his own day of death +was at hand, even at the doors. So Achilles bade the women make ready +the body of Hector for burial, and they clothed him in a white mantle +that Priam had brought, and laid him in the wain; and supper was made +ready, and Priam and Achilles ate and drank together, and the women +spread a bed for Priam, who would not stay long, but stole away back to +Troy while Achilles was asleep. + +All the women came out to meet him, and to lament for Hector. They +carried the body into the house of Andromache and laid it on a bed, and +the women gathered around, and each in turn sang her song over the great +dead warrior. His mother bewailed him, and his wife, and Helen of the +fair hands, clad in dark mourning raiment, lifted up her white arms, and +said: 'Hector, of all my brethren in Troy thou wert the dearest, since +Paris brought me hither. Would that ere that day I had died! For this is +now the twentieth year since I came, and in all these twenty years never +heard I a word from thee that was bitter and unkind; others might +upbraid me, thy sisters or thy mother, for thy father was good to me as +if he had been my own; but then thou wouldst restrain them that spoke +evil by the courtesy of thy heart and thy gentle words. Ah! woe for +thee, and woe for me, whom all men shudder at, for there is now none in +wide Troyland to be my friend like thee, my brother and my friend!' + +So Helen lamented, but now was done all that men might do; a great pile +of wood was raised, and Hector was burned, and his ashes were placed in +a golden urn, in a dark chamber of stone, within a hollow hill. + + + + +IX + +HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY + + +After Hector was buried, the siege went on slowly, as it had done during +the first nine years of the war. The Greeks did not know at that time +how to besiege a city, as we saw, by way of digging trenches and +building towers, and battering the walls with machines that threw heavy +stones. The Trojans had lost courage, and dared not go into the open +plain, and they were waiting for the coming up of new armies of +allies--the Amazons, who were girl warriors from far away, and an +Eastern people called the Khita, whose king was Memnon, the son of the +Bright Dawn. + +Now everyone knew that, in the temple of the Goddess Pallas Athene, in +Troy, was a sacred image, which fell from heaven, called the Palladium, +and this very ancient image was the Luck of Troy. While it remained safe +in the temple people believed that Troy could never be taken, but as it +was in a guarded temple in the middle of the town, and was watched by +priestesses day and night, it seemed impossible that the Greeks should +ever enter the city secretly and steal the Luck away. + +As Ulysses was the grandson of Autolycus, the Master Thief, he often +wished that the old man was with the Greeks, for if there was a thing to +steal Autolycus could steal it. But by this time Autolycus was dead, and +so Ulysses could only puzzle over the way to steal the Luck of Troy, and +wonder how his grandfather would have set about it. He prayed for help +secretly to Hermes, the God of Thieves, when he sacrificed goats to him, +and at last he had a plan. + +There was a story that Anius, the King of the Isle of Delos, had three +daughters, named Oeno, Spermo, and Elais, and that Oeno could turn +water into wine, while Spermo could turn stones into bread, and Elais +could change mud into olive oil. Those fairy gifts, people said, were +given to the maidens by the Wine God, Dionysus, and by the Goddess of +Corn, Demeter. Now corn, and wine, and oil were sorely needed by the +Greeks, who were tired of paying much gold and bronze to the Phoenician +merchants for their supplies. Ulysses therefore went to Agamemnon one +day, and asked leave to take his ship and voyage to Delos, to bring, if +he could, the three maidens to the camp, if indeed they could do these +miracles. As no fighting was going on, Agamemnon gave Ulysses leave to +depart, so he went on board his ship, with a crew of fifty men of +Ithaca, and away they sailed, promising to return in a month. + +Two or three days after that, a dirty old beggar man began to be seen in +the Greek camp. He had crawled in late one evening, dressed in a dirty +smock and a very dirty old cloak, full of holes, and stained with smoke. +Over everything he wore the skin of a stag, with half the hair worn off, +and he carried a staff, and a filthy tattered wallet, to put food in, +which swung from his neck by a cord. He came crouching and smiling up to +the door of the hut of Diomede, and sat down just within the doorway, +where beggars still sit in the East. Diomede saw him, and sent him a +loaf and two handfuls of flesh, which the beggar laid on his wallet, +between his feet, and he made his supper greedily, gnawing a bone like a +dog. + +After supper Diomede asked him who he was and whence he came, and he +told a long story about how he had been a Cretan pirate, and had been +taken prisoner by the Egyptians when he was robbing there, and how he +had worked for many years in their stone quarries, where the sun had +burned him brown, and had escaped by hiding among the great stones, +carried down the Nile in a raft, for building a temple on the seashore. +The raft arrived at night, and the beggar said that he stole out from it +in the dark and found a Phoenician ship in the harbour, and the +Phoenicians took him on board, meaning to sell him somewhere as a slave. +But a tempest came on and wrecked the ship off the Isle of Tenedos, +which is near Troy, and the beggar alone escaped to the island on a +plank of the ship. From Tenedos he had come to Troy in a fisher's boat, +hoping to make himself useful in the camp, and earn enough to keep body +and soul together till he could find a ship sailing to Crete. + +He made his story rather amusing, describing the strange ways of the +Egyptians; how they worshipped cats and bulls, and did everything in +just the opposite of the Greek way of doing things. So Diomede let him +have a rug and blankets to sleep on in the portico of the hut, and next +day the old wretch went begging about the camp and talking with the +soldiers. Now he was a most impudent and annoying old vagabond, and was +always in quarrels. If there was a disagreeable story about the father +or grandfather of any of the princes, he knew it and told it, so that he +got a blow from the baton of Agamemnon, and Aias gave him a kick, and +Idomeneus drubbed him with the butt of his spear for a tale about his +grandmother, and everybody hated him and called him a nuisance. He was +for ever jeering at Ulysses, who was far away, and telling tales about +Autolycus, and at last he stole a gold cup, a very large cup, with two +handles, and a dove sitting on each handle, from the hut of Nestor. The +old chief was fond of this cup, which he had brought from home, and, +when it was found in the beggar's dirty wallet, everybody cried that he +must be driven out of the camp and well whipped. So Nestor's son, young +Thrasymedes, with other young men, laughing and shouting, pushed and +dragged the beggar close up to the Scaean gate of Troy, where +Thrasymedes called with a loud voice, 'O Trojans, we are sick of this +shameless beggar. First we shall whip him well, and if he comes back we +shall put out his eyes and cut off his hands and feet, and give him to +the dogs to eat. He may go to you, if he likes; if not, he must wander +till he dies of hunger.' + +The young men of Troy heard this and laughed, and a crowd gathered on +the wall to see the beggar punished. So Thrasymedes whipped him with his +bowstring till he was tired, and they did not leave off beating the +beggar till he ceased howling and fell, all bleeding, and lay still. +Then Thrasymedes gave him a parting kick, and went away with his +friends. The beggar lay quiet for some time, then he began to stir, and +sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes, and shouting curses and bad +words after the Greeks, praying that they might be speared in the back, +and eaten by dogs. + +At last he tried to stand up, but fell down again, and began to crawl on +hands and knees towards the Scaean gate. There he sat down, within the +two side walls of the gate, where he cried and lamented. Now Helen of +the fair hands came down from the gate tower, being sorry to see any man +treated so much worse than a beast, and she spoke to the beggar and +asked him why he had been used in this cruel way? + +At first he only moaned, and rubbed his sore sides, but at last he said +that he was an unhappy man, who had been shipwrecked, and was begging +his way home, and that the Greeks suspected him of being a spy sent out +by the Trojans. But he had been in Lacedaemon, her own country, he said, +and could tell her about her father, if she were, as he supposed, the +beautiful Helen, and about her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, and her +little daughter, Hermione. + +'But perhaps,' he said, 'you are no mortal woman, but some goddess who +favours the Trojans, and if indeed you are a goddess then I liken you to +Aphrodite, for beauty, and stature, and shapeliness.' Then Helen wept; +for many a year had passed since she had heard any word of her father, +and daughter, and her brothers, who were dead, though she knew it not. +So she stretched out her white hand, and raised the beggar, who was +kneeling at her feet, and bade him follow her to her own house, within +the palace garden of King Priam. + +Helen walked forward, with a bower maiden at either side, and the beggar +crawling after her. When she had entered her house, Paris was not there, +so she ordered the bath to be filled with warm water, and new clothes to +be brought, and she herself washed the old beggar and anointed him with +oil. This appears very strange to us, for though Saint Elizabeth of +Hungary used to wash and clothe beggars, we are surprised that Helen +should do so, who was not a saint. But long afterwards she herself told +the son of Ulysses, Telemachus, that she had washed his father when he +came into Troy disguised as a beggar who had been sorely beaten. + +You must have guessed that the beggar was Ulysses, who had not gone to +Delos in his ship, but stolen back in a boat, and appeared disguised +among the Greeks. He did all this to make sure that nobody could +recognise him, and he behaved so as to deserve a whipping that he might +not be suspected as a Greek spy by the Trojans, but rather be pitied by +them. Certainly he deserved his name of 'the much-enduring Ulysses.' + +Meanwhile he sat in his bath and Helen washed his feet. But when she had +done, and had anointed his wounds with olive oil, and when she had +clothed him in a white tunic and a purple mantle, then she opened her +lips to cry out with amazement, for she knew Ulysses; but he laid his +finger on her lips, saying 'Hush!' Then she remembered how great danger +he was in, for the Trojans, if they found him, would put him to some +cruel death, and she sat down, trembling and weeping, while he watched +her. + +'Oh thou strange one,' she said, 'how enduring is thy heart and how +cunning beyond measure! How hast thou borne to be thus beaten and +disgraced, and to come within the walls of Troy? Well it is for thee +that Paris, my lord, is far from home, having gone to guide Penthesilea, +the Queen of the warrior maids whom men call Amazons, who is on her way +to help the Trojans.' + +Then Ulysses smiled, and Helen saw that she had said a word which she +ought not to have spoken, and had revealed the secret hope of the +Trojans. Then she wept, and said, 'Oh cruel and cunning! You have made +me betray the people with whom I live, though woe is me that ever I left +my own people, and my husband dear, and my child! And now if you escape +alive out of Troy, you will tell the Greeks, and they will lie in ambush +by night for the Amazons on the way to Troy and will slay them all. If +you and I were not friends long ago, I would tell the Trojans that you +are here, and they would give your body to the dogs to eat, and fix your +head on the palisade above the wall. Woe is me that ever I was born.' + +Ulysses answered, 'Lady, as you have said, we two are friends from of +old, and your friend I will be till the last, when the Greeks break into +Troy, and slay the men, and carry the women captives. If I live till +that hour no man shall harm you, but safely and in honour you shall come +to your palace in Lacedaemon of the rifted hills. Moreover, I swear to +you a great oath, by Zeus above, and by Them that under earth punish the +souls of men who swear falsely, that I shall tell no man the thing which +you have spoken.' + +So when he had sworn and done that oath, Helen was comforted and dried +her tears. Then she told him how unhappy she was, and how she had lost +her last comfort when Hector died. 'Always am I wretched,' she said, +'save when sweet sleep falls on me. Now the wife of Thon, King of Egypt, +gave me this gift when we were in Egypt, on our way to Troy, namely, a +drug that brings sleep even to the most unhappy, and it is pressed from +the poppy heads of the garland of the God of Sleep.' Then she showed him +strange phials of gold, full of this drug: phials wrought by the +Egyptians, and covered with magic spells and shapes of beasts and +flowers. 'One of these I will give you,' she said, 'that even from Troy +town you may not go without a gift in memory of the hands of Helen.' So +Ulysses took the phial of gold, and was glad in his heart, and Helen set +before him meat and wine. When he had eaten and drunk, and his strength +had come back to him, he said: + +'Now I must dress me again in my old rags, and take my wallet, and my +staff, and go forth, and beg through Troy town. For here I must abide +for some days as a beggar man, lest if I now escape from your house in +the night the Trojans may think that you have told me the secrets of +their counsel, which I am carrying to the Greeks, and may be angry with +you.' So he clothed himself again as a beggar, and took his staff, and +hid the phial of gold with the Egyptian drug in his rags, and in his +wallet also he put the new clothes that Helen had given him, and a +sword, and he took farewell, saying, 'Be of good heart, for the end of +your sorrows is at hand. But if you see me among the beggars in the +street, or by the well, take no heed of me, only I will salute you as a +beggar who has been kindly treated by a Queen.' + +So they parted, and Ulysses went out, and when it was day he was with +the beggars in the streets, but by night he commonly slept near the fire +of a smithy forge, as is the way of beggars. So for some days he begged, +saying that he was gathering food to eat while he walked to some town +far away that was at peace, where he might find work to do. He was not +impudent now, and did not go to rich men's houses or tell evil tales, or +laugh, but he was much in the temples, praying to the Gods, and above +all in the temple of Pallas Athene. The Trojans thought that he was a +pious man for a beggar. + +Now there was a custom in these times that men and women who were sick +or in distress, should sleep at night on the floors of the temples. They +did this hoping that the God would send them a dream to show them how +their diseases might be cured, or how they might find what they had +lost, or might escape from their distresses. + +Ulysses slept in more than one temple, and once in that of Pallas +Athene, and the priests and priestesses were kind to him, and gave him +food in the morning when the gates of the temple were opened. + +In the temple of Pallas Athene, where the Luck of Troy lay always on her +altar, the custom was that priestesses kept watch, each for two hours, +all through the night, and soldiers kept guard within call. So one night +Ulysses slept there, on the floor, with other distressed people, seeking +for dreams from the Gods. He lay still all through the night till the +turn of the last priestess came to watch. The priestess used to walk up +and down with bare feet among the dreaming people, having a torch in her +hand, and muttering hymns to the Goddess. Then Ulysses, when her back +was turned, slipped the gold phial out of his rags, and let it lie on +the polished floor beside him. When the priestess came back again, the +light from her torch fell on the glittering phial, and she stooped and +picked it up, and looked at it curiously. There came from it a sweet +fragrance, and she opened it, and tasted the drug. It seemed to her the +sweetest thing that ever she had tasted, and she took more and more, and +then closed the phial and laid it down, and went along murmuring her +hymn. + +But soon a great drowsiness came over her, and she sat down on the step +of the altar, and fell sound asleep, and the torch sunk in her hand, and +went out, and all was dark. Then Ulysses put the phial in his wallet, +and crept very cautiously to the altar, in the dark, and stole the Luck +of Troy. It was only a small black mass of what is now called meteoric +iron, which sometimes comes down with meteorites from the sky, but it +was shaped like a shield, and the people thought it an image of the +warlike shielded Goddess, fallen from Heaven. Such sacred shields, made +of glass and ivory, are found deep in the earth in the ruined cities of +Ulysses' time. Swiftly Ulysses hid the Luck in his rags and left in its +place on the altar a copy of the Luck, which he had made of blackened +clay. Then he stole back to the place where he had lain, and remained +there till dawn appeared, and the sleepers who sought for dreams awoke, +and the temple gates were opened, and Ulysses walked out with the rest +of them. + +He stole down a lane, where as yet no people were stirring, and crept +along, leaning on his staff, till he came to the eastern gate, at the +back of the city, which the Greeks never attacked, for they had never +drawn their army in a circle round the town. There Ulysses explained to +the sentinels that he had gathered food enough to last for a long +journey to some other town, and opened his bag, which seemed full of +bread and broken meat. The soldiers said he was a lucky beggar, and let +him out. He walked slowly along the waggon road by which wood was +brought into Troy from the forests on Mount Ida, and when he found that +nobody was within sight he slipped into the forest, and stole into a +dark thicket, hiding beneath the tangled boughs. Here he lay and slept +till evening, and then took the new clothes which Helen had given him +out of his wallet, and put them on, and threw the belt of the sword over +his shoulder, and hid the Luck of Troy in his bosom. He washed himself +clean in a mountain brook, and now all who saw him must have known that +he was no beggar, but Ulysses of Ithaca, Laertes' son. + +So he walked cautiously down the side of the brook which ran between +high banks deep in trees, and followed it till it reached the river +Xanthus, on the left of the Greek lines. Here he found Greek sentinels +set to guard the camp, who cried aloud in joy and surprise, for his +ship had not yet returned from Delos, and they could not guess how +Ulysses had come back alone across the sea. So two of the sentinels +guarded Ulysses to the hut of Agamemnon, where he and Achilles and all +the chiefs were sitting at a feast. They all leaped up, but when Ulysses +took the Luck of Troy from within his mantle, they cried that this was +the bravest deed that had been done in the war, and they sacrificed ten +oxen to Zeus. + +'So you were the old beggar,' said young Thrasymedes. + +'Yes,' said Ulysses, 'and when next you beat a beggar, Thrasymedes, do +not strike so hard and so long.' + +That night all the Greeks were full of hope, for now they had the Luck +of Troy, but the Trojans were in despair, and guessed that the beggar +was the thief, and that Ulysses had been the beggar. The priestess, +Theano, could tell them nothing; they found her, with the extinguished +torch drooping in her hand, asleep, as she sat on the step of the altar, +and she never woke again. + + + + +X + +THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON--THE DEATH OF ACHILLES + + +Ulysses thought much and often of Helen, without whose kindness he could +not have saved the Greeks by stealing the Luck of Troy. He saw that, +though she remained as beautiful as when the princes all sought her +hand, she was most unhappy, knowing herself to be the cause of so much +misery, and fearing what the future might bring. Ulysses told nobody +about the secret which she had let fall, the coming of the Amazons. + +The Amazons were a race of warlike maids, who lived far away on the +banks of the river Thermodon. They had fought against Troy in former +times, and one of the great hill-graves on the plain of Troy covered the +ashes of an Amazon, swift-footed Myrine. People believed that they were +the daughters of the God of War, and they were reckoned equal in battle +to the bravest men. Their young Queen, Penthesilea, had two reasons for +coming to fight at Troy: one was her ambition to win renown, and the +other her sleepless sorrow for having accidentally killed her sister, +Hippolyte, when hunting. The spear which she threw at a stag struck +Hippolyte and slew her, and Penthesilea cared no longer for her own +life, and desired to fall gloriously in battle. So Penthesilea and her +bodyguard of twelve Amazons set forth from the wide streams of +Thermodon, and rode into Troy. The story says that they did not drive in +chariots, like all the Greek and Trojan chiefs, but rode horses, which +must have been the manner of their country. + +Penthesilea was the tallest and most beautiful of the Amazons, and shone +among her twelve maidens like the moon among the stars, or the bright +Dawn among the Hours which follow her chariot wheels. The Trojans +rejoiced when they beheld her, for she looked both terrible and +beautiful, with a frown on her brow, and fair shining eyes, and a blush +on her cheeks. To the Trojans she came like Iris, the Rainbow, after a +storm, and they gathered round her cheering, and throwing flowers and +kissing her stirrup, as the people of Orleans welcomed Joan of Arc when +she came to deliver them. Even Priam was glad, as is a man long blind, +when he has been healed, and again looks upon the light of the sun. +Priam held a great feast, and gave to Penthesilea many beautiful gifts: +cups of gold, and embroideries, and a sword with a hilt of silver, and +she vowed that she would slay Achilles. But when Andromache, the wife of +Hector, heard her she said within herself, 'Ah, unhappy girl, what is +this boast of thine! Thou hast not the strength to fight the +unconquerable son of Peleus, for if Hector could not slay him, what +chance hast thou? But the piled-up earth covers Hector!' + +In the morning Penthesilea sprang up from sleep and put on her glorious +armour, with spear in hand, and sword at side, and bow and quiver hung +behind her back, and her great shield covering her side from neck to +stirrup, and mounted her horse, and galloped to the plain. Beside her +charged the twelve maidens of her bodyguard, and all the company of +Hector's brothers and kinsfolk. These headed the Trojan lines, and they +rushed towards the ships of the Greeks. + +Then the Greeks asked each other, 'Who is this that leads the Trojans as +Hector led them, surely some God rides in the van of the charioteers!' +Ulysses could have told them who the new leader of the Trojans was, but +it seems that he had not the heart to fight against women, for his name +is not mentioned in this day's battle. So the two lines clashed, and the +plain of Troy ran red with blood, for Penthesilea slew Molios, and +Persinoos, and Eilissos, and Antiphates, and Lernos high of heart, and +Hippalmos of the loud warcry, and Haemonides, and strong Elasippus, +while her maidens Derinoe and Clonie slew each a chief of the Greeks. +But Clonie fell beneath the spear of Podarkes, whose hand Penthesilea +cut off with the sword, while Idomeneus speared the Amazon Bremousa, +and Meriones of Crete slew Evadre, and Diomede killed Alcibie and +Derimacheia in close fight with the sword, so the company of the Twelve +were thinned, the bodyguard of Penthesilea. + +The Trojans and Greeks kept slaying each other, but Penthesilea avenged +her maidens, driving the ranks of Greece as a lioness drives the cattle +on the hills, for they could not stand before her. Then she shouted, +'Dogs! to-day shall you pay for the sorrows of Priam! Where is Diomede, +where is Achilles, where is Aias, that, men say, are your bravest? Will +none of them stand before my spear?' Then she charged again, at the head +of the Household of Priam, brothers and kinsmen of Hector, and where +they came the Greeks fell like yellow leaves before the wind of autumn. +The white horse that Penthesilea rode, a gift from the wife of the North +Wind, flashed like lightning through a dark cloud among the companies of +the Greeks, and the chariots that followed the charge of the Amazon +rocked as they swept over the bodies of the slain. Then the old Trojans, +watching from the walls, cried: 'This is no mortal maiden but a Goddess, +and to-day she will burn the ships of the Greeks, and they will all +perish in Troyland, and see Greece never more again.' + +Now it so was that Aias and Achilles had not heard the din and the cry +of war, for both had gone to weep over the great new grave of Patroclus. +Penthesilea and the Trojans had driven back the Greeks within their +ditch, and they were hiding here and there among the ships, and torches +were blazing in men's hands to burn the ships, as in the day of the +valour of Hector: when Aias heard the din of battle, and called to +Achilles to make speed towards the ships. + +So they ran swiftly to their huts, and armed themselves, and Aias fell +smiting and slaying upon the Trojans, but Achilles slew five of the +bodyguard of Penthesilea. She, beholding her maidens fallen, rode +straight against Aias and Achilles, like a dove defying two falcons, and +cast her spear, but it fell back blunted from the glorious shield that +the God had made for the son of Peleus. Then she threw another spear at +Aias, crying, 'I am the daughter of the God of War,' but his armour kept +out the spear, and he and Achilles laughed aloud. Aias paid no more heed +to the Amazon, but rushed against the Trojan men; while Achilles raised +the heavy spear that none but he could throw, and drove it down through +breastplate and breast of Penthesilea, yet still her hand grasped her +sword-hilt. But, ere she could draw her sword, Achilles speared her +horse, and horse and rider fell, and died in their fall. + +There lay fair Penthesilea in the dust, like a tall poplar tree that the +wind has overthrown, and her helmet fell, and the Greeks who gathered +round marvelled to see her lie so beautiful in death, like Artemis, the +Goddess of the Woods, when she sleeps alone, weary with hunting on the +hills. Then the heart of Achilles was pierced with pity and sorrow, +thinking how she might have been his wife in his own country, had he +spared her, but he was never to see pleasant Phthia, his native land, +again. So Achilles stood and wept over Penthesilea dead. + +Now the Greeks, in pity and sorrow, held their hands, and did not pursue +the Trojans who had fled, nor did they strip the armour from Penthesilea +and her twelve maidens, but laid the bodies on biers, and sent them back +in peace to Priam. Then the Trojans burned Penthesilea in the midst of +her dead maidens, on a great pile of dry wood, and placed their ashes +in a golden casket, and buried them all in the great hill-grave of +Laomedon, an ancient King of Troy, while the Greeks with lamentation +buried them whom the Amazon had slain. + +[Illustration: ACHILLES PITIES PENTHESILEA AFTER SLAYING HER.] + +The old men of Troy and the chiefs now held a council, and Priam said +that they must not yet despair, for, if they had lost many of their +bravest warriors, many of the Greeks had also fallen. Their best plan +was to fight only with arrows from the walls and towers, till King +Memnon came to their rescue with a great army of Aethiopes. Now Memnon +was the son of the bright Dawn, a beautiful Goddess who had loved and +married a mortal man, Tithonus. She had asked Zeus, the chief of the +Gods, to make her lover immortal, and her prayer was granted. Tithonus +could not die, but he began to grow grey, and then white haired, with a +long white beard, and very weak, till nothing of him seemed to be left +but his voice, always feebly chattering like the grasshoppers on a +summer day. + +Memnon was the most beautiful of men, except Paris and Achilles, and his +home was in a country that borders on the land of sunrising. There he +was reared by the lily maidens called Hesperides, till he came to his +full strength, and commanded the whole army of the Aethiopes. For their +arrival Priam wished to wait, but Polydamas advised that the Trojans +should give back Helen to the Greeks, with jewels twice as valuable as +those which she had brought from the house of Menelaus. Then Paris was +very angry, and said that Polydamas was a coward, for it was little to +Paris that Troy should be taken and burned in a month if for a month he +could keep Helen of the fair hands. + +At length Memnon came, leading a great army of men who had nothing white +about them but the teeth, so fiercely the sun burned on them in their +own country. The Trojans had all the more hopes of Memnon because, on +his long journey from the land of sunrising, and the river Oceanus that +girdles the round world, he had been obliged to cross the country of the +Solymi. Now the Solymi were the fiercest of men and rose up against +Memnon, but he and his army fought them for a whole day, and defeated +them, and drove them to the hills. When Memnon came, Priam gave him a +great cup of gold, full of wine to the brim, and Memnon drank the wine +at one draught. But he did not make great boasts of what he could do, +like poor Penthesilea, 'for,' said he, 'whether I am a good man at arms +will be known in battle, where the strength of men is tried. So now let +us turn to sleep, for to wake and drink wine all through the night is an +ill beginning of war.' + +Then Priam praised his wisdom, and all men betook them to bed, but the +bright Dawn rose unwillingly next day, to throw light on the battle +where her son was to risk his life. Then Memnon led out the dark clouds +of his men into the plain, and the Greeks foreboded evil when they saw +so great a new army of fresh and unwearied warriors, but Achilles, +leading them in his shining armour, gave them courage. Memnon fell upon +the left wing of the Greeks, and on the men of Nestor, and first he slew +Ereuthus, and then attacked Nestor's young son, Antilochus, who, now +that Patroclus had fallen, was the dearest friend of Achilles. On him +Memnon leaped, like a lion on a kid, but Antilochus lifted a huge stone +from the plain, a pillar that had been set on the tomb of some great +warrior long ago, and the stone smote full on the helmet of Memnon, who +reeled beneath the stroke. But Memnon seized his heavy spear, and drove +it through shield and corselet of Antilochus, even into his heart, and +he fell and died beneath his father's eyes. Then Nestor in great sorrow +and anger strode across the body of Antilochus and called to his other +son, Thrasymedes, 'Come and drive afar this man that has slain thy +brother, for if fear be in thy heart thou art no son of mine, nor of the +race of Periclymenus, who stood up in battle even against the strong man +Heracles!' + +But Memnon was too strong for Thrasymedes, and drove him off, while old +Nestor himself charged sword in hand, though Memnon bade him begone, for +he was not minded to strike so aged a man, and Nestor drew back, for he +was weak with age. Then Memnon and his army charged the Greeks, slaying +and stripping the dead. But Nestor had mounted his chariot and driven to +Achilles, weeping, and imploring him to come swiftly and save the body +of Antilochus, and he sped to meet Memnon, who lifted a great stone, the +landmark of a field, and drove it against the shield of the son of +Peleus. But Achilles was not shaken by the blow; he ran forward, and +wounded Memnon over the rim of his shield. Yet wounded as he was Memnon +fought on and struck his spear through the arm of Achilles, for the +Greeks fought with no sleeves of bronze to protect their arms. + +Then Achilles drew his great sword, and flew on Memnon, and with +sword-strokes they lashed at each other on shield and helmet, and the +long horsehair crests of the helmets were shorn off, and flew down the +wind, and their shields rang terribly beneath the sword strokes. They +thrust at each others' throats between shield and visor of the helmet, +they smote at knee, and thrust at breast, and the armour rang about +their bodies, and the dust from beneath their feet rose up in a cloud +around them, like mist round the falls of a great river in flood. So +they fought, neither of them yielding a step, till Achilles made so +rapid a thrust that Memnon could not parry it, and the bronze sword +passed clean through his body beneath the breast-bone, and he fell, and +his armour clashed as he fell. + +Then Achilles, wounded as he was and weak from loss of blood, did not +stay to strip the golden armour of Memnon, but shouted his warcry, and +pressed on, for he hoped to enter the gate of Troy with the fleeing +Trojans, and all the Greeks followed after him. So they pursued, slaying +as they went, and the Scaean gate was choked with the crowd of men, +pursuing and pursued. In that hour would the Greeks have entered Troy, +and burned the city, and taken the women captive, but Paris stood on the +tower above the gate, and in his mind was anger for the death of his +brother Hector. He tried the string of his bow, and found it frayed, for +all day he had showered his arrows on the Greeks; so he chose a new +bowstring, and fitted it, and strung the bow, and chose an arrow from +his quiver, and aimed at the ankle of Achilles, where it was bare +beneath the greave, or leg-guard of metal, that the God had fashioned +for him. Through the ankle flew the arrow, and Achilles wheeled round, +weak as he was, and stumbled, and fell, and the armour that the God had +wrought was defiled with dust and blood. + +Then Achilles rose again, and cried: 'What coward has smitten me with a +secret arrow from afar? Let him stand forth and meet me with sword and +spear!' So speaking he seized the shaft with his strong hands and tore +it out of the wound, and much blood gushed, and darkness came over his +eyes. Yet he staggered forward, striking blindly, and smote Orythaon, a +dear friend of Hector, through the helmet, and others he smote, but now +his force failed him, and he leaned on his spear, and cried his warcry, +and said, 'Cowards of Troy, ye shall not all escape my spear, dying as I +am.' But as he spoke he fell, and all his armour rang around him, yet +the Trojans stood apart and watched; and as hunters watch a dying lion +not daring to go nigh him, so the Trojans stood in fear till Achilles +drew his latest breath. Then from the wall the Trojan women raised a +great cry of joy over him who had slain the noble Hector: and thus was +fulfilled the prophecy of Hector, that Achilles should fall in the +Scaean gateway, by the hand of Paris. + +Then the best of the Trojans rushed forth from the gate to seize the +body of Achilles, and his glorious armour, but the Greeks were as eager +to carry the body to the ships that it might have due burial. Round the +dead Achilles men fought long and sore, and both sides were mixed, +Greeks and Trojans, so that men dared not shoot arrows from the walls of +Troy lest they should kill their own friends. Paris, and Aeneas, and +Glaucus, who had been the friend of Sarpedon, led the Trojans, and Aias +and Ulysses led the Greeks, for we are not told that Agamemnon was +fighting in this great battle of the war. Now as angry wild bees flock +round a man who is taking their honeycombs, so the Trojans gathered +round Aias, striving to stab him, but he set his great shield in front, +and smote and slew all that came within reach of his spear. Ulysses, +too, struck down many, and though a spear was thrown and pierced his leg +near the knee he stood firm, protecting the body of Achilles. At last +Ulysses caught the body of Achilles by the hands, and heaved it upon his +back, and so limped towards the ships, but Aias and the men of Aias +followed, turning round if ever the Trojans ventured to come near, and +charging into the midst of them. Thus very slowly they bore the dead +Achilles across the plain, through the bodies of the fallen and the +blood, till they met Nestor in his chariot and placed Achilles therein, +and swiftly Nestor drove to the ships. + +There the women, weeping, washed Achilles' comely body, and laid him on +a bier with a great white mantle over him, and all the women lamented +and sang dirges, and the first was Briseis, who loved Achilles better +than her own country, and her father, and her brothers whom he had slain +in war. The Greek princes, too, stood round the body, weeping and +cutting off their long locks of yellow hair, a token of grief and an +offering to the dead. + +Men say that forth from the sea came Thetis of the silver feet, the +mother of Achilles, with her ladies, the deathless maidens of the +waters. They rose up from their glassy chambers below the sea, moving +on, many and beautiful, like the waves on a summer day, and their sweet +song echoed along the shores, and fear came upon the Greeks. Then they +would have fled, but Nestor cried: 'Hold, flee not, young lords of the +Achaeans! Lo, she that comes from the sea is his mother, with the +deathless maidens of the waters, to look on the face of her dead son.' +Then the sea nymphs stood around the dead Achilles and clothed him in +the garments of the Gods, fragrant raiment, and all the Nine Muses, one +to the other replying with sweet voices, began their lament. + +Next the Greeks made a great pile of dry wood, and laid Achilles on it, +and set fire to it, till the flames had consumed his body except the +white ashes. These they placed in a great golden cup and mingled with +them the ashes of Patroclus, and above all they built a tomb like a +hill, high on a headland above the sea, that men for all time may see it +as they go sailing by, and may remember Achilles. Next they held in his +honour foot races and chariot races, and other games, and Thetis gave +splendid prizes. Last of all, when the games were ended, Thetis placed +before the chiefs the glorious armour that the God had made for her son +on the night after the slaying of Patroclus by Hector. 'Let these arms +be the prize of the best of the Greeks,' she said, 'and of him that +saved the body of Achilles out of the hands of the Trojans.' + +Then stood up on one side Aias and on the other Ulysses, for these two +had rescued the body, and neither thought himself a worse warrior than +the other. Both were the bravest of the brave, and if Aias was the +taller and stronger, and upheld the fight at the ships on the day of the +valour of Hector; Ulysses had alone withstood the Trojans, and refused +to retreat even when wounded, and his courage and cunning had won for +the Greeks the Luck of Troy. Therefore old Nestor arose and said: 'This +is a luckless day, when the best of the Greeks are rivals for such a +prize. He who is not the winner will be heavy at heart, and will not +stand firm by us in battle, as of old, and hence will come great loss to +the Greeks. Who can be a just judge in this question, for some men will +love Aias better, and some will prefer Ulysses, and thus will arise +disputes among ourselves. Lo! have we not here among us many Trojan +prisoners, waiting till their friends pay their ransom in cattle and +gold and bronze and iron? These hate all the Greeks alike, and will +favour neither Aias nor Ulysses. Let _them_ be the judges, and decide +who is the best of the Greeks, and the man who has done most harm to the +Trojans.' + +Agamemnon said that Nestor had spoken wisely. The Trojans were then made +to sit as judges in the midst of the Assembly, and Aias and Ulysses +spoke, and told the stories of their own great deeds, of which we have +heard already, but Aias spoke roughly and discourteously, calling +Ulysses a coward and a weakling. 'Perhaps the Trojans know,' said +Ulysses quietly, 'whether they think that I deserve what Aias has said +about me, that I am a coward; and perhaps Aias may remember that he did +not find me so weak when we wrestled for a prize at the funeral of +Patroclus.' + +Then the Trojans all with one voice said that Ulysses was the best man +among the Greeks, and the most feared by them, both for his courage and +his skill in stratagems of war. On this, the blood of Aias flew into his +face, and he stood silent and unmoving, and could not speak a word, till +his friends came round him and led him away to his hut, and there he sat +down and would not eat or drink, and the night fell. + +Long he sat, musing in his mind, and then rose and put on all his +armour, and seized a sword that Hector had given him one day when they +two fought in a gentle passage of arms, and took courteous farewell of +each other, and Aias had given Hector a broad sword-belt, wrought with +gold. This sword, Hector's gift, Aias took, and went towards the hut of +Ulysses, meaning to carve him limb from limb, for madness had come upon +him in his great grief. Rushing through the night to slay Ulysses he +fell upon the flock of sheep that the Greeks kept for their meat. And up +and down among them he went, smiting blindly till the dawn came, and, +lo! his senses returned to him, and he saw that he had not smitten +Ulysses, but stood in a pool of blood among the sheep that he had +slain. He could not endure the disgrace of his madness, and he fixed the +sword, Hector's gift, with its hilt firmly in the ground, and went back +a little way, and ran and fell upon the sword, which pierced his heart, +and so died the great Aias, choosing death before a dishonoured life. + + + + +XI + +ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES.--THE VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS + + +When the Greeks found Aias lying dead, slain by his own hand, they made +great lament, and above all the brother of Aias, and his wife Tecmessa +bewailed him, and the shores of the sea rang with their sorrow. But of +all no man was more grieved than Ulysses, and he stood up and said: +'Would that the sons of the Trojans had never awarded to me the arms of +Achilles, for far rather would I have given them to Aias than that this +loss should have befallen the whole army of the Greeks. Let no man blame +me, or be angry with me, for I have not sought for wealth, to enrich +myself, but for honour only, and to win a name that will be remembered +among men in times to come.' Then they made a great fire of wood, and +burned the body of Aias, lamenting him as they had sorrowed for +Achilles. + +Now it seemed that though the Greeks had won the Luck of Troy and had +defeated the Amazons and the army of Memnon, they were no nearer taking +Troy than ever. They had slain Hector, indeed, and many other Trojans, +but they had lost the great Achilles, and Aias, and Patroclus, and +Antilochus, with the princes whom Penthesilea and Memnon slew, and the +bands of the dead chiefs were weary of fighting, and eager to go home. +The chiefs met in council, and Menelaus arose and said that his heart +was wasted with sorrow for the death of so many brave men who had sailed +to Troy for his sake. 'Would that death had come upon me before I +gathered this host,' he said, 'but come, let the rest of us launch our +swift ships, and return each to our own country.' + +He spoke thus to try the Greeks, and see of what courage they were, for +his desire was still to burn Troy town and to slay Paris with his own +hand. Then up rose Diomede, and swore that never would the Greeks turn +cowards. No! he bade them sharpen their swords, and make ready for +battle. The prophet Calchas, too, arose and reminded the Greeks how he +had always foretold that they would take Troy in the tenth year of the +siege, and how the tenth year had come, and victory was almost in their +hands. Next Ulysses stood up and said that, though Achilles was dead, +and there was no prince to lead his men, yet a son had been born to +Achilles, while he was in the isle of Scyros, and that son he would +bring to fill his father's place. + +'Surely he will come, and for a token I will carry to him those unhappy +arms of the great Achilles. Unworthy am I to wear them, and they bring +back to my mind our sorrow for Aias. But his son will wear them, in the +front of the spearmen of Greece and in the thickest ranks of Troy shall +the helmet of Achilles shine, as it was wont to do, for always he fought +among the foremost.' Thus Ulysses spoke, and he and Diomede, with fifty +oarsmen, went on board a swift ship, and sitting all in order on the +benches they smote the grey sea into foam, and Ulysses held the helm and +steered them towards the isle of Scyros. + +Now the Trojans had rest from war for a while, and Priam, with a heavy +heart, bade men take his chief treasure, the great golden vine, with +leaves and clusters of gold, and carry it to the mother of Eurypylus, +the king of the people who dwell where the wide marshlands of the river +Caycus clang with the cries of the cranes and herons and wild swans. For +the mother of Eurypylus had sworn that never would she let her son go to +the war unless Priam sent her the vine of gold, a gift of the gods to an +ancient King of Troy. + +With a heavy heart, then, Priam sent the golden vine, but Eurypylus was +glad when he saw it, and bade all his men arm, and harness the horses to +the chariots, and glad were the Trojans when the long line of the new +army wound along the road and into the town. Then Paris welcomed +Eurypylus who was his nephew, son of his sister Astyoche, a daughter of +Priam; but the grandfather of Eurypylus was the famous Heracles, the +strongest man who ever lived on earth. So Paris brought Eurypylus to his +house, where Helen sat working at her embroideries with her four bower +maidens, and Eurypylus marvelled when he saw her, she was so beautiful. +But the Khita, the people of Eurypylus, feasted in the open air among +the Trojans, by the light of great fires burning, and to the music of +pipes and flutes. The Greeks saw the fires, and heard the merry music, +and they watched all night lest the Trojans should attack the ships +before the dawn. But in the dawn Eurypylus rose from sleep and put on +his armour, and hung from his neck by the belt the great shield on which +were fashioned, in gold of many colours and in silver, the Twelve +Adventures of Heracles, his grandfather; strange deeds that he did, +fighting with monsters and giants and with the Hound of Hades, who +guards the dwellings of the dead. Then Eurypylus led on his whole army, +and with the brothers of Hector he charged against the Greeks, who were +led by Agamemnon. + +In that battle Eurypylus first smote Nireus, who was the most beautiful +of the Greeks now that Achilles had fallen. There lay Nireus, like an +apple tree, all covered with blossoms red and white, that the wind has +overthrown in a rich man's orchard. Then Eurypylus would have stripped +off his armour, but Machaon rushed in, Machaon who had been wounded and +taken to the tent of Nestor, on the day of the Valour of Hector, when he +brought fire against the ships. Machaon drove his spear through the left +shoulder of Eurypylus, but Eurypylus struck at his shoulder with his +sword, and the blood flowed; nevertheless, Machaon stooped, and grasped +a great stone, and sent it against the helmet of Eurypylus. He was +shaken, but he did not fall, he drove his spear through breastplate and +breast of Machaon, who fell and died. With his last breath he said, +'Thou, too, shalt fall,' but Eurypylus made answer, 'So let it be! Men +cannot live for ever, and such is the fortune of war.' + +Thus the battle rang, and shone, and shifted, till few of the Greeks +kept steadfast, except those with Menelaus and Agamemnon, for Diomede +and Ulysses were far away upon the sea, bringing from Scyros the son of +Achilles. But Teucer slew Polydamas, who had warned Hector to come +within the walls of Troy; and Menelaus wounded Deiphobus, the bravest of +the sons of Priam who were still in arms, for many had fallen; and +Agamemnon slew certain spearmen of the Trojans. Round Eurypylus fought +Paris, and Aeneas, who wounded Teucer with a great stone, breaking in +his helmet, but he drove back in his chariot to the ships. Menelaus and +Agamemnon stood alone and fought in the crowd of Trojans, like two wild +boars that a circle of hunters surrounds with spears, so fiercely they +stood at bay. There they would both have fallen, but Idomeneus, and +Meriones of Crete, and Thrasymedes, Nestor's son, ran to their rescue, +and fiercer grew the fighting. Eurypylus desired to slay Agamemnon and +Menelaus, and end the war, but, as the spears of the Scots encompassed +King James at Flodden Field till he ran forward, and fell within a +lance's length of the English general, so the men of Crete and Pylos +guarded the two princes with their spears. + +There Paris was wounded in the thigh with a spear, and he retreated a +little way, and showered his arrows among the Greeks; and Idomeneus +lifted and hurled a great stone at Eurypylus which struck his spear out +of his hand, and he went back to find it, and Menelaus and Agamemnon had +a breathing space in the battle. But soon Eurypylus returned, crying on +his men, and they drove back foot by foot the ring of spears round +Agamemnon, and Aeneas and Paris slew men of Crete and of Mycenae till +the Greeks were pushed to the ditch round the camp; and then great +stones and spears and arrows rained down on the Trojans and the people +of Eurypylus from the battlements and towers of the Grecian wall. Now +night fell, and Eurypylus knew that he could not win the wall in the +dark, so he withdrew his men, and they built great fires, and camped +upon the plain. + +The case of the Greeks was now like that of the Trojans after the death +of Hector. They buried Machaon and the other chiefs who had fallen, and +they remained within their ditch and their wall, for they dared not come +out into the open plain. They knew not whether Ulysses and Diomede had +come safely to Scyros, or whether their ship had been wrecked or driven +into unknown seas. So they sent a herald to Eurypylus, asking for a +truce, that they might gather their dead and burn them, and the Trojans +and Khita also buried their dead. + +Meanwhile the swift ship of Ulysses had swept through the sea to Scyros, +and to the palace of King Lycomedes. There they found Neoptolemus, the +son of Achilles, in the court before the doors. He was as tall as his +father, and very like him in face and shape, and he was practising the +throwing of the spear at a mark. Right glad were Ulysses and Diomede to +behold him, and Ulysses told Neoptolemus who they were, and why they +came, and implored him to take pity on the Greeks and help them. + +'My friend is Diomede, Prince of Argos,' said Ulysses, 'and I am Ulysses +of Ithaca. Come with us, and we Greeks will give you countless gifts, +and I myself will present you with the armour of your father, such as it +is not lawful for any other mortal man to wear, seeing that it is +golden, and wrought by the hands of a God. Moreover, when we have taken +Troy, and gone home, Menelaus will give you his daughter, the beautiful +Hermione, to be your wife, with gold in great plenty.' + +Then Neoptolemus answered: 'It is enough that the Greeks need my sword. +To-morrow we shall sail for Troy.' He led them into the palace to dine, +and there they found his mother, beautiful Deidamia, in mourning +raiment, and she wept when she heard that they had come to take her son +away. But Neoptolemus comforted her, promising to return safely with the +spoils of Troy, 'or, even if I fall,' he said, 'it will be after doing +deeds worthy of my father's name.' So next day they sailed, leaving +Deidamia mournful, like a swallow whose nest a serpent has found, and +has killed her young ones; even so she wailed, and went up and down in +the house. But the ship ran swiftly on her way, cleaving the dark waves +till Ulysses showed Neoptolemus the far off snowy crest of Mount Ida; +and Tenedos, the island near Troy; and they passed the plain where the +tomb of Achilles stands, but Ulysses did not tell the son that it was +his father's tomb. + +Now all this time the Greeks, shut up within their wall and fighting +from their towers, were looking back across the sea, eager to spy the +ship of Ulysses, like men wrecked on a desert island, who keep watch +every day for a sail afar off, hoping that the seamen will touch at +their isle and have pity upon them, and carry them home, so the Greeks +kept watch for the ship bearing Neoptolemus. + +Diomede, too, had been watching the shore, and when they came in sight +of the ships of the Greeks, he saw that they were being besieged by the +Trojans, and that all the Greek army was penned up within the wall, and +was fighting from the towers. Then he cried aloud to Ulysses and +Neoptolemus, 'Make haste, friends, let us arm before we land, for some +great evil has fallen upon the Greeks. The Trojans are attacking our +wall, and soon they will burn our ships, and for us there will be no +return.' + +Then all the men on the ship of Ulysses armed themselves, and +Neoptolemus, in the splendid armour of his father, was the first to leap +ashore. The Greeks could not come from the wall to welcome him, for they +were fighting hard and hand-to-hand with Eurypylus and his men. But they +glanced back over their shoulders and it seemed to them that they saw +Achilles himself, spear and sword in hand, rushing to help them. They +raised a great battle-cry, and, when Neoptolemus reached the +battlements, he and Ulysses, and Diomede leaped down to the plain, the +Greeks following them, and they all charged at once on the men of +Eurypylus, with levelled spears, and drove them from the wall. + +Then the Trojans trembled, for they knew the shields of Diomede and +Ulysses, and they thought that the tall chief in the armour of Achilles +was Achilles himself, come back from the land of the dead to take +vengeance for Antilochus. The Trojans fled, and gathered round +Eurypylus, as in a thunderstorm little children, afraid of the lightning +and the noise, run and cluster round their father, and hide their faces +on his knees. + +But Neoptolemus was spearing the Trojans, as a man who carries at night +a beacon of fire in his boat on the sea spears the fishes that flock +around, drawn by the blaze of the flame. Cruelly he avenged his father's +death on many a Trojan, and the men whom Achilles had led followed +Achilles' son, slaying to right and left, and smiting the Trojans, as +they ran, between the shoulders with the spear. Thus they fought and +followed while daylight lasted, but when night fell, they led +Neoptolemus to his father's hut, where the women washed him in the bath, +and then he was taken to feast with Agamemnon and Menelaus and the +princes. They all welcomed him, and gave him glorious gifts, swords with +silver hilts, and cups of gold and silver, and they were glad, for they +had driven the Trojans from their wall, and hoped that to-morrow they +would slay Eurypylus, and take Troy town. + +But their hope was not to be fulfilled, for though next day Eurypylus +met Neoptolemus in the battle, and was slain by him, when the Greeks +chased the Trojans into their city so great a storm of lightning and +thunder and rain fell upon them that they retreated again to their camp. +They believed that Zeus, the chief of the Gods, was angry with them, and +the days went by, and Troy still stood unconquered. + + + + +XII + +THE SLAYING OF PARIS + + +When the Greeks were disheartened, as they often were, they consulted +Calchas the prophet. He usually found that they must do something, or +send for somebody, and in doing so they diverted their minds from their +many misfortunes. Now, as the Trojans were fighting more bravely than +before, under Deiphobus, a brother of Hector, the Greeks went to Calchas +for advice, and he told them that they must send Ulysses and Diomede to +bring Philoctetes the bowman from the isle of Lemnos. This was an +unhappy deserted island, in which the married women, some years before, +had murdered all their husbands, out of jealousy, in a single night. The +Greeks had landed in Lemnos, on their way to Troy, and there Philoctetes +had shot an arrow at a great water dragon which lived in a well within a +cave in the lonely hills. But when he entered the cave the dragon bit +him, and, though he killed it at last, its poisonous teeth wounded his +foot. The wound never healed, but dripped with venom, and Philoctetes, +in terrible pain, kept all the camp awake at night by his cries. + +The Greeks were sorry for him, but he was not a pleasant companion, +shrieking as he did, and exuding poison wherever he came. So they left +him on the lonely island, and did not know whether he was alive or +dead. Calchas ought to have told the Greeks not to desert Philoctetes at +the time, if he was so important that Troy, as the prophet now said, +could not be taken without him. But now, as he must give some advice, +Calchas said that Philoctetes must be brought back, so Ulysses and +Diomede went to bring him. They sailed to Lemnos, a melancholy place +they found it, with no smoke rising from the ruinous houses along the +shore. As they were landing they learned that Philoctetes was not dead, +for his dismal old cries of pain, _ototototoi, ai, ai; pheu, pheu; +ototototoi_, came echoing from a cave on the beach. To this cave the +princes went, and found a terrible-looking man, with long, dirty, dry +hair and beard; he was worn to a skeleton, with hollow eyes, and lay +moaning in a mass of the feathers of sea birds. His great bow and his +arrows lay ready to his hand: with these he used to shoot the sea birds, +which were all that he had to eat, and their feathers littered all the +floor of his cave, and they were none the better for the poison that +dripped from his wounded foot. + +When this horrible creature saw Ulysses and Diomede coming near, he +seized his bow and fitted a poisonous arrow to the string, for he hated +the Greeks, because they had left him in the desert isle. But the +princes held up their hands in sign of peace, and cried out that they +had come to do him kindness, so he laid down his bow, and they came in +and sat on the rocks, and promised that his wound should be healed, for +the Greeks were very much ashamed of having deserted him. It was +difficult to resist Ulysses when he wished to persuade any one, and at +last Philoctetes consented to sail with them to Troy. The oarsmen +carried him down to the ship on a litter, and there his dreadful wound +was washed with warm water, and oil was poured into it, and it was +bound up with soft linen, so that his pain grew less fierce, and they +gave him a good supper and wine enough, which he had not tasted for many +years. + +Next morning they sailed, and had a fair west wind, so that they soon +landed among the Greeks and carried Philoctetes on shore. Here +Podaleirius, the brother of Machaon, being a physician, did all that +could be done to heal the wound, and the pain left Philoctetes. He was +taken to the hut of Agamemnon, who welcomed him, and said that the +Greeks repented of their cruelty. They gave him seven female slaves to +take care of him, and twenty swift horses, and twelve great vessels of +bronze, and told him that he was always to live with the greatest chiefs +and feed at their table. So he was bathed, and his hair was cut and +combed and anointed with oil, and soon he was eager and ready to fight, +and to use his great bow and poisoned arrows on the Trojans. The use of +poisoned arrow-tips was thought unfair, but Philoctetes had no scruples. + +Now in the next battle Paris was shooting down the Greeks with his +arrows, when Philoctetes saw him, and cried: 'Dog, you are proud of your +archery and of the arrow that slew the great Achilles. But, behold, I am +a better bowman than you, by far, and the bow in my hands was borne by +the strong man Heracles!' So he cried and drew the bowstring to his +breast and the poisoned arrowhead to the bow, and the bowstring rang, +and the arrow flew, and did but graze the hand of Paris. Then the bitter +pain of the poison came upon him, and the Trojans carried him into their +city, where the physicians tended him all night. But he never slept, and +lay tossing in agony till dawn, when he said: 'There is but one hope. +Take me to Oenone, the nymph of Mount Ida!' + +Then his friends laid Paris on a litter, and bore him up the steep path +to Mount Ida. Often had he climbed it swiftly, when he was young, and +went to see the nymph who loved him; but for many a day he had not trod +the path where he was now carried in great pain and fear, for the poison +turned his blood to fire. Little hope he had, for he knew how cruelly he +had deserted Oenone, and he saw that all the birds which were +disturbed in the wood flew away to the left hand, an omen of evil. + +At last the bearers reached the cave where the nymph Oenone lived, and +they smelled the sweet fragrance of the cedar fire that burned on the +floor of the cave, and they heard the nymph singing a melancholy song. +Then Paris called to her in the voice which she had once loved to hear, +and she grew very pale, and rose up, saying to herself, 'The day has +come for which I have prayed. He is sore hurt, and has come to bid me +heal his wound.' So she came and stood in the doorway of the dark cave, +white against the darkness, and the bearers laid Paris on the litter at +the feet of Oenone, and he stretched forth his hands to touch her +knees, as was the manner of suppliants. But she drew back and gathered +her robe about her, that he might not touch it with his hands. + +Then he said: 'Lady, despise me not, and hate me not, for my pain is +more than I can bear. Truly it was by no will of mine that I left you +lonely here, for the Fates that no man may escape led me to Helen. Would +that I had died in your arms before I saw her face! But now I beseech +you in the name of the Gods, and for the memory of our love, that you +will have pity on me and heal my hurt, and not refuse your grace and let +me die here at your feet.' + +[Illustration: PARIS COMES BACK TO OENONE.] + +Then Oenone answered scornfully: 'Why have you come here to me? Surely +for years you have not come this way, where the path was once worn with +your feet. But long ago you left me lonely and lamenting, for the love +of Helen of the fair hands. Surely she is much more beautiful than the +love of your youth, and far more able to help you, for men say that she +can never know old age and death. Go home to Helen and let her take away +your pain.' + +Thus Oenone spoke, and went within the cave, where she threw herself +down among the ashes of the hearth and sobbed for anger and sorrow. In a +little while she rose and went to the door of the cave, thinking that +Paris had not been borne away back to Troy, but she found him not; for +his bearers had carried him by another path, till he died beneath the +boughs of the oak trees. Then his bearers carried him swiftly down to +Troy, where his mother bewailed him, and Helen sang over him as she had +sung over Hector, remembering many things, and fearing to think of what +her own end might be. But the Trojans hastily built a great pile of dry +wood, and thereon laid the body of Paris and set fire to it, and the +flame went up through the darkness, for now night had fallen. + +But Oenone was roaming in the dark woods, crying and calling after +Paris, like a lioness whose cubs the hunters have carried away. The moon +rose to give her light, and the flame of the funeral fire shone against +the sky, and then Oenone knew that Paris had died--beautiful +Paris--and that the Trojans were burning his body on the plain at the +foot of Mount Ida. Then she cried that now Paris was all her own, and +that Helen had no more hold on him: 'And though when he was living he +left me, in death we shall not be divided,' she said, and she sped down +the hill, and through the thickets where the wood nymphs were wailing +for Paris, and she reached the plain, and, covering her head with her +veil like a bride, she rushed through the throng of Trojans. She leaped +upon the burning pile of wood, she clasped the body of Paris in her +arms, and the flame of fire consumed the bridegroom and the bride, and +their ashes mingled. No man could divide them any more, and the ashes +were placed in a golden cup, within a chamber of stone, and the earth +was mounded above them. On that grave the wood nymphs planted two rose +trees, and their branches met and plaited together. + +This was the end of Paris and Oenone. + + + + +XIII + +HOW ULYSSES INVENTED THE DEVICE OF THE HORSE OF TREE + + +After Paris died, Helen was not given back to Menelaus. We are often +told that only fear of the anger of Paris had prevented the Trojans from +surrendering Helen and making peace. Now Paris could not terrify them, +yet for all that the men of the town would not part with Helen, whether +because she was so beautiful, or because they thought it dishonourable +to yield her to the Greeks, who might put her to a cruel death. So Helen +was taken by Deiphobus, the brother of Paris, to live in his own house, +and Deiphobus was at this time the best warrior and the chief captain of +the men of Troy. + +Meanwhile, the Greeks made an assault against the Trojan walls and +fought long and hardily; but, being safe behind the battlements, and +shooting through loopholes, the Trojans drove them back with loss of +many of their men. It was in vain that Philoctetes shot his poisoned +arrows, they fell back from the stone walls, or stuck in the palisades +of wood above the walls, and the Greeks who tried to climb over were +speared, or crushed with heavy stones. When night fell, they retreated +to the ships and held a council, and, as usual, they asked the advice of +the prophet Calchas. It was the business of Calchas to go about looking +at birds, and taking omens from what he saw them doing, a way of +prophesying which the Romans also used, and some savages do the same to +this day. Calchas said that yesterday he had seen a hawk pursuing a +dove, which hid herself in a hole in a rocky cliff. For a long while the +hawk tried to find the hole, and follow the dove into it, but he could +not reach her. So he flew away for a short distance and hid himself; +then the dove fluttered out into the sunlight, and the hawk swooped on +her and killed her. + +The Greeks, said Calchas, ought to learn a lesson from the hawk, and +take Troy by cunning, as by force they could do nothing. Then Ulysses +stood up and described a trick which it is not easy to understand. The +Greeks, he said, ought to make an enormous hollow horse of wood, and +place the bravest men in the horse. Then all the rest of the Greeks +should embark in their ships and sail to the Isle of Tenedos, and lie +hidden behind the island. The Trojans would then come out of the city, +like the dove out of her hole in the rock, and would wander about the +Greek camp, and wonder why the great horse of tree had been made, and +why it had been left behind. Lest they should set fire to the horse, +when they would soon have found out the warriors hidden in it, a cunning +Greek, whom the Trojans did not know by sight, should be left in the +camp or near it. He would tell the Trojans that the Greeks had given up +all hope and gone home, and he was to say that they feared the Goddess +Pallas was angry with them, because they had stolen her image that fell +from heaven, and was called the Luck of Troy. To soothe Pallas and +prevent her from sending great storms against the ships, the Greeks (so +the man was to say) had built this wooden horse as an offering to the +Goddess. The Trojans, believing this story, would drag the horse into +Troy, and, in the night, the princes would come out, set fire to the +city, and open the gates to the army, which would return from Tenedos as +soon as darkness came on. + +The prophet was much pleased with the plan of Ulysses, and, as two birds +happened to fly away on the right hand, he declared that the stratagem +would certainly be lucky. Neoptolemus, on the other hand, voted for +taking Troy, without any trick, by sheer hard fighting. Ulysses replied +that if Achilles could not do that, it could not be done at all, and +that Epeius, a famous carpenter, had better set about making the horse +at once. + +Next day half the army, with axes in their hands, were sent to cut down +trees on Mount Ida, and thousands of planks were cut from the trees by +Epeius and his workmen, and in three days he had finished the horse. +Ulysses then asked the best of the Greeks to come forward and go inside +the machine; while one, whom the Greeks did not know by sight, should +volunteer to stay behind in the camp and deceive the Trojans. Then a +young man called Sinon stood up and said that he would risk himself and +take the chance that the Trojans might disbelieve him, and burn him +alive. Certainly, none of the Greeks did anything more courageous, yet +Sinon had not been considered brave. Had he fought in the front ranks, +the Trojans would have known him; but there were many brave fighters who +would not have dared to do what Sinon undertook. + +Then old Nestor was the first that volunteered to go into the horse; but +Neoptolemus said that, brave as he was, he was too old, and that he must +depart with the army to Tenedos. Neoptolemus himself would go into the +horse, for he would rather die than turn his back on Troy. So +Neoptolemus armed himself and climbed into the horse, as did Menelaus, +Ulysses, Diomede, Thrasymedes (Nestor's son), Idomeneus, Philoctetes, +Meriones, and all the best men except Agamemnon, while Epeius himself +entered last of all. Agamemnon was not allowed by the other Greeks to +share their adventure, as he was to command the army when they returned +from Tenedos. They meanwhile launched their ships and sailed away. + +But first Menelaus had led Ulysses apart, and told him that if they took +Troy (and now they must either take it or die at the hands of the +Trojans), he would owe to Ulysses the glory. When they came back to +Greece, he wished to give Ulysses one of his own cities, that they might +always be near each other. Ulysses smiled and shook his head; he could +not leave Ithaca, his own rough island kingdom. 'But if we both live +through the night that is coming,' he said, 'I may ask you for one gift, +and giving it will make you none the poorer.' Then Menelaus swore by the +splendour of Zeus that Ulysses could ask him for no gift that he would +not gladly give; so they embraced, and both armed themselves and went up +into the horse. With them were all the chiefs except Nestor, whom they +would not allow to come, and Agamemnon, who, as chief general, had to +command the army. They swathed themselves and their arms in soft silks, +that they might not ring and clash, when the Trojans, if they were so +foolish, dragged the horse up into their town, and there they sat in the +dark waiting. Meanwhile, the army burned their huts and launched their +ships, and with oars and sails made their way to the back of the isle of +Tenedos. + + + + +XIV + +THE END OF TROY AND THE SAVING OF HELEN + + +From the walls the Trojans saw the black smoke go up thick into the sky, +and the whole fleet of the Greeks sailing out to sea. Never were men so +glad, and they armed themselves for fear of an ambush, and went +cautiously, sending forth scouts in front of them, down to the seashore. +Here they found the huts burned down and the camp deserted, and some of +the scouts also caught Sinon, who had hid himself in a place where he +was likely to be found. They rushed on him with fierce cries, and bound +his hands with a rope, and kicked and dragged him along to the place +where Priam and the princes were wondering at the great horse of tree. +Sinon looked round upon them, while some were saying that he ought to be +tortured with fire to make him tell all the truth about the horse. The +chiefs in the horse must have trembled for fear lest torture should +wring the truth out of Sinon, for then the Trojans would simply burn the +machine and them within it. + +But Sinon said: 'Miserable man that I am, whom the Greeks hate and the +Trojans are eager to slay!' When the Trojans heard that the Greeks hated +him, they were curious, and asked who he was, and how he came to be +there. 'I will tell you all, oh King!' he answered Priam. 'I was a +friend and squire of an unhappy chief, Palamedes, whom the wicked +Ulysses hated and slew secretly one day, when he found him alone, +fishing in the sea. I was angry, and in my folly I did not hide my +anger, and my words came to the ears of Ulysses. From that hour he +sought occasion to slay me. Then Calchas----' here he stopped, saying: +'But why tell a long tale? If you hate all Greeks alike, then slay me; +this is what Agamemnon and Ulysses desire; Menelaus would thank you for +my head.' + +The Trojans were now more curious than before. They bade him go on, and +he said that the Greeks had consulted an Oracle, which advised them to +sacrifice one of their army to appease the anger of the Gods and gain a +fair wind homewards. 'But who was to be sacrificed? They asked Calchas, +who for fifteen days refused to speak. At last, being bribed by Ulysses, +he pointed to me, Sinon, and said that I must be the victim. I was bound +and kept in prison, while they built their great horse as a present for +Pallas Athene the Goddess. They made it so large that you Trojans might +never be able to drag it into your city; while, if you destroyed it, the +Goddess might turn her anger against you. And now they have gone home to +bring back the image that fell from heaven, which they had sent to +Greece, and to restore it to the Temple of Pallas Athene, when they have +taken your town, for the Goddess is angry with them for that theft of +Ulysses.' + +The Trojans were foolish enough to believe the story of Sinon, and they +pitied him and unbound his hands. Then they tied ropes to the wooden +horse, and laid rollers in front of it, like men launching a ship, and +they all took turns to drag the horse up to the Scaean gate. Children +and women put their hands to the ropes and hauled, and with shouts and +dances, and hymns they toiled, till about nightfall the horse stood in +the courtyard of the inmost castle. + +Then all the people of Troy began to dance, and drink, and sing. Such +sentinels as were set at the gates got as drunk as all the rest, who +danced about the city till after midnight, and then they went to their +homes and slept heavily. + +Meanwhile the Greek ships were returning from behind Tenedos as fast as +the oarsmen could row them. + +One Trojan did not drink or sleep; this was Deiphobus, at whose house +Helen was now living. He bade her come with them, for he knew that she +was able to speak in the very voice of all men and women whom she had +ever seen, and he armed a few of his friends and went with them to the +citadel. Then he stood beside the horse, holding Helen's hand, and +whispered to her that she must call each of the chiefs in the voice of +his wife. She was obliged to obey, and she called Menelaus in her own +voice, and Diomede in the voice of his wife, and Ulysses in the very +voice of Penelope. Then Menelaus and Diomede were eager to answer, but +Ulysses grasped their hands and whispered the word 'Echo!' Then they +remembered that this was a name of Helen, because she could speak in all +voices, and they were silent; but Anticlus was still eager to answer, +till Ulysses held his strong hand over his mouth. There was only +silence, and Deiphobus led Helen back to his house. When they had gone +away Epeius opened the side of the horse, and all the chiefs let +themselves down softly to the ground. Some rushed to the gate, to open +it, and they killed the sleeping sentinels and let in the Greeks. Others +sped with torches to burn the houses of the Trojan princes, and +terrible was the slaughter of men, unarmed and half awake, and loud were +the cries of the women. But Ulysses had slipped away at the first, none +knew where. Neoptolemus ran to the palace of Priam, who was sitting at +the altar in his courtyard, praying vainly to the Gods, for Neoptolemus +slew the old man cruelly, and his white hair was dabbled in his blood. +All through the city was fighting and slaying; but Menelaus went to the +house of Deiphobus, knowing that Helen was there. + +In the doorway he found Deiphobus lying dead in all his armour, a spear +standing in his breast. There were footprints marked in blood, leading +through the portico and into the hall. There Menelaus went, and found +Ulysses leaning, wounded, against one of the central pillars of the +great chamber, the firelight shining on his armour. + +'Why hast thou slain Deiphobus and robbed me of my revenge?' said +Menelaus. 'You swore to give me a gift,' said Ulysses, 'and will you +keep your oath?' 'Ask what you will,' said Menelaus; 'it is yours and my +oath cannot be broken.' 'I ask the life of Helen of the fair hands,' +said Ulysses; 'this is my own life-price that I pay back to her, for she +saved my life when I took the Luck of Troy, and I swore that hers should +be saved.' + +Then Helen stole, glimmering in white robes, from a recess in the dark +hall, and fell at the feet of Menelaus; her golden hair lay in the dust +of the hearth, and her hands moved to touch his knees. His drawn sword +fell from the hands of Menelaus, and pity and love came into his heart, +and he raised her from the dust and her white arms were round his neck, +and they both wept. That night Menelaus fought no more, but they tended +the wound of Ulysses, for the sword of Deiphobus had bitten through his +helmet. + +When dawn came Troy lay in ashes, and the women were being driven with +spear shafts to the ships, and the men were left unburied, a prey to +dogs and all manner of birds. Thus the grey city fell, that had lorded +it for many centuries. All the gold and silver and rich embroideries, +and ivory and amber, the horses and chariots, were divided among the +army; all but a treasure of silver and gold, hidden in a chest within a +hollow of the wall, and this treasure was found, not very many years +ago, by men digging deep on the hill where Troy once stood. The women, +too, were given to the princes, and Neoptolemus took Andromache to his +home in Argos, to draw water from the well and to be the slave of a +master, and Agamemnon carried beautiful Cassandra, the daughter of +Priam, to his palace in Mycenae, where they were both slain in one +night. Only Helen was led with honour to the ship of Menelaus. + +[Illustration: MENELAUS REFRAINS FROM KILLING HELEN AT THE INTERCESSION +OF ULYSSES.] + + + + +THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES + + + + +I + +THE SLAYING OF AGAMEMNON AND THE SORROWS OF ULYSSES + + +The Greeks left Troy a mass of smouldering ashes; the marks of fire are +still to be seen in the ruins on the hill which is now called Hissarlik. +The Greeks had many troubles on their way home, and years passed before +some of the chiefs reached their own cities. As for Agamemnon, while he +was at Troy his wife, Clytaemnestra, the sister of Helen, had fallen in +love with a young man named Aegisthus, who wished to be king, so he +married Clytaemnestra, just as if Agamemnon had been dead. Meanwhile +Agamemnon was sailing home with his share of the wealth of Troy, and +many a storm drove him out of his course. At last he reached the +harbour, about seven miles from his city of Mycenae, and he kissed the +earth when he landed, thinking that all his troubles were over, and that +he would find his son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, grown up, and +his wife happy because of his return. + +But Aegisthus had set, a year before, a watchman on a high tower, to +come with the news as soon as Agamemnon landed, and the watchman ran to +Mycenae with the good news. Aegisthus placed twenty armed men in a +hidden place in the great hall, and then he shouted for his chariots +and horses, and drove down to meet Agamemnon, and welcome him, and carry +him to his own palace. Then he gave a great feast, and when men had +drunk much wine, the armed men, who had been hiding behind curtains, +rushed out, with sword and spear, and fell on Agamemnon and his company. +Though taken by surprise they drew their swords, and fought so well for +their lives that none were left alive, not one, neither of the company +of Agamemnon nor of the company of Aegisthus; they were all slain in the +hall except Aegisthus, who had hidden himself when the fray began. The +bodies lay round the great mixing bowl of wine, and about the tables, +and the floor ran with blood. Before Agamemnon died he saw Clytaemnestra +herself stab Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, whom he had brought from +Troy. + +In the town of Agamemnon, Mycenae, deep down in the earth, have been +found five graves, with bones of men and women, and these bones were all +covered with beautiful ornaments of gold, hundreds of them, and swords +and daggers inlaid with gold, and golden cups, and a sceptre of gold and +crystal, and two gold breastplates. There were also golden masks that +had been made to cover the faces of the dead kings, and who knows but +that one of these masks may show us the features of the famous +Agamemnon? + +Ulysses, of course, knew nothing about these murders at the time, for he +was being borne by the winds into undiscovered seas. But later he heard +all the story from the ghost of a dead prophet, in the Land of the Dead, +and he determined to be very cautious if ever he reached his own island, +for who knew what the young men might do, that had grown up since he +sailed to Troy? + +Of the other Greeks Nestor soon and safely arrived at his town of Pylos, +but Menelaus and Helen were borne by the winds to Egypt and other +strange countries, and the ship of the brother of Aias was wrecked on a +rock, and there he was drowned, and Calchas the prophet died on land, on +his way across Greece. + +When Ulysses left Troy the wind carried him to the coast of Thrace, +where the people were allies of the Trojans. It was a king of the +Thracians that Diomede killed when he and Ulysses stole into the camp of +the Trojans in the night, and drove away the white horses of the king, +as swift as the winds. Ismarus was the name of the Thracian town where +Ulysses landed, and his men took it and plundered it, yet Ulysses +allowed no one to harm the priest of Apollo, Maron, but protected him +and his wife and child, in their house within the holy grove of the God. +Maron was grateful, and gave Ulysses twelve talents, or little wedges, +of gold, and a great bowl of silver, and twelve large clay jars, as big +as barrels, full of the best and strongest wine. It was so strong that +men put into the mixing bowl but one measure of wine to twenty measures +of water. These presents Ulysses stored up in his ship, and lucky for +him it was that he was kind to Maron. + +Meanwhile his men, instead of leaving the town with their plunder, sat +eating and drinking till dawn. By that time the people of the town had +warned their neighbours in the country farms, who all came down in full +armour, and attacked the men of Ulysses. In this fight he lost +seventy-two men, six from each of his twelve ships, and it was only by +hard fighting that the others were able to get on board their ships and +sail away. + +A great storm arose and beat upon the ships, and it seems that Ulysses +and his men were driven into Fairyland, where they remained for ten +years. We have heard that King Arthur and Thomas the Rhymer were carried +into Fairyland, but what adventures they met with there we do not know. +About Ulysses we have the stories which are now to be told. For ten days +his ships ran due south, and, on the tenth, they reached the land of the +Lotus Eaters, who eat food of flowers. They went on shore and drew +water, and three men were sent to try to find the people of that +country, who were a quiet, friendly people, and gave the fruit of the +lotus to the strange sailors. Now whoever tastes of that fruit has no +mind ever to go home, but to sit between the setting sun and the rising +moon, dreaming happy dreams, and forgetting the world. The three men ate +the lotus, and sat down to dream, but Ulysses went after them, and drove +them to the ships, and bound their hands and feet, and threw them on +board, and sailed away. Then he with his ships reached the coast of the +land of the Cyclopes, which means the round-eyed men, men with only one +eye apiece, set in the middle of their foreheads. They lived not in +houses, but in caves among the hills, and they had no king and no laws, +and did not plough or sow, but wheat and vines grew wild, and they kept +great flocks of sheep. + +There was a beautiful wild desert island lying across the opening of a +bay; the isle was full of wild goats, and made a bar against the waves, +so that ships could lie behind it safely, run up on the beach, for there +was no tide in that sea. There Ulysses ran up his ships, and the men +passed the time in hunting wild goats, and feasting on fresh meat and +the wine of Maron, the priest of Apollo. Next day Ulysses left all the +ships and men there, except his own ship, and his own crew, and went to +see what kind of people lived on the mainland, for as yet none had been +seen. He found a large cave close to the sea, with laurels growing on +the rocky roof, and a wall of rough stones built round a court in front. +Ulysses left all his men but twelve with the ship; filled a goat skin +with the strong wine of Maron, put some corn flour in a sack, and went +up to the cave. Nobody was there, but there were all the things that are +usually in a dairy, baskets full of cheese, pails and bowls full of milk +and whey, and kids and lambs were playing in their folds. + +All seemed very quiet and pleasant. The men wanted to take as much +cheese as they could carry back to the ship, but Ulysses wished to see +the owner of the cave. His men, making themselves at home, lit a fire, +and toasted and ate the cheeses, far within the cave. Then a shadow +thrown by the setting sun fell across the opening of the cave, and a +monstrous man entered, and threw down a dry trunk of a tree that he +carried for firewood. Next he drove in the ewes of his flock, leaving +the rams in the yard, and he picked up a huge flat stone, and set it so +as to make a shut door to the cave, for twenty-four yoke of horses could +not have dragged away that stone. Lastly the man milked his ewes, and +put the milk in pails to drink at supper. All this while Ulysses and his +men sat quiet and in great fear, for they were shut up in a cave with a +one-eyed giant, whose cheese they had been eating. + +Then the giant, when he had lit the fire, happened to see the men, and +asked them who they were. Ulysses said that they were Greeks, who had +taken Troy, and were wandering lost on the seas, and he asked the man to +be kind to them in the name of their chief God, Zeus. + +'We Cyclopes,' said the giant, 'do not care for Zeus or the Gods, for we +think that we are better men than they. Where is your ship?' Ulysses +answered that it had been wrecked on the coast, to which the man made no +answer, but snatched up two of the twelve, knocked out their brains on +the floor, tore the bodies limb from limb, roasted them at his fire, ate +them, and, after drinking many pailfuls of milk, lay down and fell +asleep. Now Ulysses had a mind to drive his sword-point into the giant's +liver, and he felt for the place with his hand. But he remembered that, +even if he killed the giant, he could not move the huge stone that was +the door of the cave, so he and his men would die of hunger, when they +had eaten all the cheeses. + +In the morning the giant ate two more men for breakfast, drove out his +ewes, and set the great stone in the doorway again, as lightly as a man +would put a quiverlid on a quiver of arrows. Then away he went, driving +his flock to graze on the green hills. + +Ulysses did not give way to despair. The giant had left his stick in the +cave: it was as large as the mast of a great ship. From this Ulysses cut +a portion six feet long, and his men cut and rubbed as if they were +making a spear shaft: Ulysses then sharpened it to a point, and hardened +the point in the fire. It was a thick rounded bar of wood, and the men +cast lots to choose four, who should twist the bar in the giant's eye +when he fell asleep at night. Back he came at sunset, and drove his +flocks into the cave, rams and all. Then he put up his stone door, +milked his ewes, and killed two men and cooked them. + +Ulysses meanwhile had filled one of the wooden ivy bowls full of the +strong wine of Maron, without putting a drop of water into it. This +bowl he offered to the giant, who had never heard of wine. He drank one +bowl after another, and when he was merry he said that he would make +Ulysses a present. 'What is your name?' he asked. 'My name is _Nobody_,' +said Ulysses. 'Then I shall eat the others first and Nobody last,' said +the giant. 'That shall be your gift.' Then he fell asleep. + +Ulysses took his bar of wood, and made the point red-hot in the fire. +Next his four men rammed it into the giant's one eye, and held it down, +while Ulysses twirled it round, and the eye hissed like red-hot iron +when men dip it into cold water, which is the strength of iron. The +Cyclops roared and leaped to his feet, and shouted for help to the other +giants who lived in the neighbouring caves. 'Who is troubling you, +Polyphemus,' they answered. 'Why do you wake us out of our sleep?' The +giant answered, 'Nobody is killing me by his cunning, not at all in fair +fight.' 'Then if nobody is harming you nobody can help you,' shouted a +giant. 'If you are ill pray to your father, Poseidon, who is the god of +the sea.' So the giants all went back to bed, and Ulysses laughed low to +see how his cunning had deceived them. Then the giant went and took down +his door and sat in the doorway, stretching out his arms, so as to catch +his prisoners as they went out. + +But Ulysses had a plan. He fastened sets of three rams together with +twisted withies, and bound a man to each ram in the middle, so that the +blind giant's hands would only feel the two outside rams. The biggest +and strongest ram Ulysses seized, and held on by his hands and feet to +its fleece, under its belly, and then all the sheep, went out through +the doorway, and the giant felt them, but did not know that they were +carrying out the men. 'Dear ram!' he said to the biggest, which carried +Ulysses, 'you do not come out first, as usual, but last, as if you were +slow with sorrow for your master, whose eye Nobody has blinded!' + +Then all the rams went out into the open country, and Ulysses unfastened +his men, and drove the sheep down to his ship and so on board. His crew +wept when they heard of the death of six of their friends, but Ulysses +made them row out to sea. When he was just so far away from the cave as +to be within hearing distance he shouted at the Cyclops and mocked him. +Then that giant broke off the rocky peak of a great hill and threw it in +the direction of the sound. The rock fell in front of the ship, and +raised a wave that drove it back to shore, but Ulysses punted it off +with a long pole, and his men rowed out again, far out. Ulysses again +shouted to the giant, 'If any one asks who blinded you, say that it was +Ulysses, Laertes' son, of Ithaca, the stormer of cities.' + +Then the giant prayed to the Sea God, his father, that Ulysses might +never come home, or if he did, that he might come late and lonely, with +loss of all his men, and find sorrow in his house. Then the giant heaved +and threw another rock, but it fell at the stern of the ship, and the +wave drove the ship further out to sea, to the shore of the island. +There Ulysses and his men landed, and killed some of the giant's sheep, +and took supper, and drank wine. + +But the Sea God heard the prayer of his son the blind giant. + +Ulysses and his men sailed on, in what direction and for how long we do +not know, till they saw far off an island that shone in the sea. When +they came nearer they found that it had a steep cuff of bronze, with a +palace on the top. Here lived Aeolus, the King of the Winds, with his +six sons and six daughters. He received Ulysses kindly on his island, +and entertained him for a whole month. Then he gave him a leather bag, +in which he had bound the ways of all the noisy winds. This bag was +fastened with a silver cord, and Aeolus left no wind out except the West +Wind, which would blow Ulysses straight home to Ithaca. Where he was we +cannot guess, except that he was to the west of his own island. + +So they sailed for nine days and nights towards the east, and Ulysses +always held the helm and steered, but on the tenth day he fell asleep. +Then his men said to each other, 'What treasure is it that he keeps in +the leather bag, a present from King Aeolus? No doubt the bag is full of +gold and silver, while we have only empty hands.' So they opened the bag +when they were so near Ithaca that they could see people lighting fires +on the shore. Then out rushed all the winds, and carried the ship into +unknown seas, and when Ulysses woke he was so miserable that he had a +mind to drown himself. But he was of an enduring heart, and he lay +still, and the ship came back to the isle of Aeolus, who cried, 'Away +with you! You are the most luckless of living men: you must be hated by +the Gods.' + +Thus Aeolus drove them away, and they sailed for seven days and nights, +till they saw land, and came to a harbour with a narrow entrance, and +with tall steep rocks on either side. The other eleven ships sailed into +the haven, but Ulysses did not venture in; he fastened his ship to a +rock at the outer end of the harbour. The place must have been very far +north, for, as it was summer, the sun had hardly set till dawn began +again, as it does in Norway and Iceland, where there are many such +narrow harbours within walls of rock. These places are called _fiords_. +Ulysses sent three men to spy out the country, and at a well outside the +town they met a damsel drawing water; she was the child of the king of +the people, the Laestrygonians. The damsel led them to her father's +house; he was a giant and seized one of the men of Ulysses, meaning to +kill and eat him. The two other men fled to the ships, but the +Laestrygonians ran along the tops of the cliffs and threw down great +rocks, sinking the vessels and killing the sailors. When Ulysses saw +this he drew his sword and cut the cable that fastened his ship to the +rock outside the harbour, and his crew rowed for dear life and so +escaped, weeping for the death of their friends. Thus the prayer of the +blind Cyclops was being fulfilled, for now out of twelve ships Ulysses +had but one left. + + + + +II + +THE ENCHANTRESS CIRCE, THE LAND OF THE DEAD, THE SIRENS + + +On they sailed till they came to an island, and there they landed. What +the place was they did not know, but it was called Aeaea, and here lived +Circe, the enchantress, sister of the wizard king Aetes, who was the +Lord of the Fleece of Gold, that Jason won from him by help of the +king's daughter, Medea. For two days Ulysses and his men lay on land +beside their ship, which they anchored in a bay of the island. On the +third morning Ulysses took his sword and spear, and climbed to the top +of a high hill, whence he saw the smoke rising out of the wood where +Circe had her palace. He thought of going to the house, but it seemed +better to return to his men and send some of them to spy out the place. +Since the adventure of the Cyclops Ulysses did not care to risk himself +among unknown people, and for all that he knew there might be man-eating +giants on the island. So he went back, and, as he came to the bank of +the river, he found a great red deer drinking under the shadow of the +green boughs. He speared the stag, and, tying his feet together, slung +the body from his neck, and so, leaning on his spear, he came to his +fellows. Glad they were to see fresh venison, which they cooked, and so +dined with plenty of wine. + +Next morning Ulysses divided his men into two companies, Eurylochus led +one company and he himself the other. Then they put two marked pieces of +wood, one for Eurylochus, one for Ulysses, in a helmet, to decide who +should go to the house in the wood. They shook the helmet, and the lot +of Eurylochus leaped out, and, weeping for fear, he led his twenty-two +men away into the forest. Ulysses and the other twenty-two waited, and, +when Eurylochus came back alone, he was weeping, and unable to speak for +sorrow. At last he told his story: they had come to the beautiful house +of Circe, within the wood, and tame wolves and lions were walking about +in front of the house. They wagged their tails, and jumped up, like +friendly dogs, round the men of Ulysses, who stood in the gateway and +heard Circe singing in a sweet voice, as she went up and down before the +loom at which she was weaving. Then one of the men of Ulysses called to +her, and she came out, a beautiful lady in white robes covered with +jewels of gold. She opened the doors and bade them come in, but +Eurylochus hid himself and watched, and saw Circe and her maidens mix +honey and wine for the men, and bid them sit down on chairs at tables, +but, when they had drunk of her cup, she touched them with her wand. +Then they were all changed into swine, and Circe drove them out and shut +them up in the styes. + +When Ulysses heard that he slung his sword-belt round his shoulders, +seized his bow, and bade Eurylochus come back with him to the house of +Circe; but Eurylochus was afraid. Alone went Ulysses through the woods, +and in a dell he met a most beautiful young man, who took his hand and +said, 'Unhappy one! how shalt thou free thy friends from so great an +enchantress?' Then the young man plucked a plant from the ground; the +flower was as white as milk, but the root was black: it is a plant that +men may not dig up, but to the Gods all things are easy, and the young +man was the cunning God Hermes, whom Autolycus, the grandfather of +Ulysses, used to worship. 'Take this herb of grace,' he said, 'and when +Circe has made thee drink of the cup of her enchantments the herb will +so work that they shall have no power over thee. Then draw thy sword, +and rush at her, and make her swear that she will not harm thee with her +magic.' + +Then Hermes departed, and Ulysses went to the house of Circe, and she +asked him to enter, and seated him on a chair, and gave him the +enchanted cup to drink, and then smote him with her wand and bade him go +to the styes of the swine. But Ulysses drew his sword, and Circe, with a +great cry, fell at his feet, saying, 'Who art thou on whom the cup has +no power? Truly thou art Ulysses of Ithaca, for the God Hermes has told +me that he should come to my island on his way from Troy. Come now, fear +not; let us be friends!' + +[Illustration: CIRCE SENDS THE SWINE (THE COMPANIONS OF ULYSSES) TO THE +STYES.] + +Then the maidens of Circe came to them, fairy damsels of the wells and +woods and rivers. They threw covers of purple silk over the chairs, +and on the silver tables they placed golden baskets, and mixed wine in a +silver bowl, and heated water, and bathed Ulysses in a polished bath, +and clothed him in new raiment, and led him to the table and bade him +eat and drink. But he sat silent, neither eating nor drinking, in sorrow +for his company, till Circe called them out from the styes and +disenchanted them. Glad they were to see Ulysses, and they embraced him, +and wept for joy. + +So they went back to their friends at the ship, and told them how Circe +would have them all to live with her; but Eurylochus tried to frighten +them, saying that she would change them into wolves and lions. Ulysses +drew his sword to cut off the head of Eurylochus for his cowardice, but +the others prayed that he might be left alone to guard the ship. So +Ulysses left him; but Eurylochus had not the courage to be alone, and +slunk behind them to the house of Circe. There she welcomed them all, +and gave them a feast, and there they dwelt for a whole year, and then +they wearied for their wives and children, and longed to return to +Ithaca. They did not guess by what a strange path they must sail. + +When Ulysses was alone with Circe at night he told her that his men were +home-sick, and would fain go to Ithaca. Then Circe said, 'There is no +way but this: you must sail to the last shore of the stream of the river +Oceanus, that girdles round the world. There is the Land of the Dead, +and the House of Hades and Persephone, the King and Queen of the ghosts. +There you must call up the ghost of the blind prophet, Tiresias of +Thebes, for he alone has knowledge of your way, and the other spirits +sweep round shadow-like.' + +Then Ulysses thought that his heart would break, for how should he, a +living man, go down to the awful dwellings of the dead? But Circe told +him the strange things that he must do, and she gave him a black ram and +a black ewe, and next day Ulysses called his men together. All followed +him to the ship, except one, Elpenor. He had been sleeping, for the sake +of the cool air, on the flat roof of the house, and, when suddenly +wakened, he missed his foothold on the tall ladder, and fell to the +ground and broke his neck. They left him unburned and unburied, and, +weeping, they followed Ulysses, as follow they must, to see the homes of +the ghosts and the house of Hades. Very sorrowfully they all went on +board, taking with them the black ram and the black ewe, and they set +the sails, and the wind bore them at its will. + +Now in mid-day they sailed out of the sunlight into darkness, for they +had come to the land of the Cimmerian men, which the sun never sees, but +all is dark cloud and mist. There they ran the ship ashore, and took out +the two black sheep, and walked along the dark banks of the river +Oceanus to a place of which Circe had told Ulysses. There the two rivers +of the dead meet, where a rock divides the two dark roaring streams. +There they dug a trench and poured out mead, and wine, and water, and +prayed to the ghosts, and then they cut the throat of the black ewe, and +the grey ghosts gathered to smell the blood. Pale spectres came, spirits +of brides who died long ago, and youths unwed, and old unhappy men; and +many phantoms were there of men who fell in battle, with shadowy spears +in their hands, and battered armour. Then Ulysses sacrificed the black +ram to the ghost of the prophet Tiresias, and sat down with his sword in +his hand, that no spirit before Tiresias might taste the blood in the +trench. + +First the spirit of Elpenor came, and begged Ulysses to burn his body, +for till his body was burned he was not allowed to mingle with the other +souls of dead men. So Ulysses promised to burn and bury him when he went +back to Circe's island. Then came the shadow of the mother of Ulysses, +who had died when he was at Troy, but, for all his grief, he would not +allow the shadow to come near the blood till Tiresias had tasted it. At +length came the spirit of the blind prophet, and he prayed Ulysses to +sheathe his sword and let him drink the blood of the black sheep. + +When he had tasted it he said that the Sea God was angry because of the +blinding of his son, the Cyclops, and would make his voyaging vain. But +if the men of Ulysses were wise, and did not slay and eat the sacred +cattle of the Sun God, in the isle called Thrinacia, they might all win +home. If they were unwise, and if Ulysses did come home, lonely and late +he would arrive, on the ship of strangers, and he would find proud men +wasting his goods and seeking to wed his wife, Penelope. Even if Ulysses +alone could kill these men his troubles would not be ended. He must +wander over the land, as he had wandered over the waters, carrying an +oar on his shoulder, till he came to men who had never heard of the sea +or of boats. When one of these men, not knowing what an oar was, came +and told him that he carried a fan for winnowing corn, then Ulysses must +fix the oar in the ground, and offer a sacrifice to the Sea God, and go +home, where he would at last live in peace. Ulysses said, 'So be it!' +and asked how he could have speech with the ghosts. Tiresias told him +how this might be done, and then his mother told him how she died of +sorrow for him, and Ulysses tried to embrace and kiss her, but his arms +only clasped the empty air. + +Then came up the beautiful spirits of many dead, unhappy ladies of old +times, and then came the souls of Agamemnon, and of Achilles, and of +Aias. Achilles was glad when he heard how bravely his young son had +fought at Troy, but he said it was better to be the servant of a poor +farmer on earth than to rule over all the ghosts of the dead in the +still grey land where the sun never shone, and no flowers grew but the +mournful asphodel. Many other spirits of Greeks slain at Troy came and +asked for news about their friends, but Aias stood apart and silent, +still in anger because the arms of Achilles had been given to Ulysses. +In vain Ulysses told him that the Greeks had mourned as much for him as +for Achilles; he passed silently away into the House of Hades. At last +the legions of the innumerable dead, all that have died since the world +began, flocked, and filled the air with their low wailing cries, and +fear fell on Ulysses, and he went back along that sad last shore of the +world's end to his ship, and sailed again out of the darkness into the +sunlight, and to the isle of Circe. There they burned the body of +Elpenor, and piled a mound over it, and on the mound set the oar of the +dead man, and so went to the palace of Circe. + +Ulysses told Circe all his adventures, and then she warned him of +dangers yet to come, and showed him how he might escape them. He +listened, and remembered all that she spoke, and these two said good-bye +for ever. Circe wandered away alone into the woods, and Ulysses and his +men set sail and crossed the unknown seas. Presently the wind fell, and +the sea was calm, and they saw a beautiful island from which came the +sound of sweet singing. Ulysses knew who the singers were, for Circe +had told him that they were the Sirens, a kind of beautiful Mermaids, +deadly to men. Among the flowers they sit and sing, but the flowers hide +the bones of men who have listened and landed on the island, and died of +that strange music, which carries the soul away. + +Ulysses now took a great cake of bees' wax and cut it up into small +pieces, which he bade his men soften and place in their ears, that they +might not hear that singing. But, as he desired to hear it and yet live, +he bade the sailors bind him tightly to the mast with ropes, and they +must not unbind him, however much he might implore them to set him free. +When all this was done the men sat down on the benches, all orderly, and +smote the grey sea with their oars, and the ship rushed along through +the clear still water, and came opposite the island. + +Then the sweet singing of the Sirens was borne over the sea, + + 'Hither, come hither, renowned Ulysses, + Great glory of the Achaean name. + Here stay thy ship, that thou mayest listen to our song. + Never has any man driven his ship past our island + Till he has heard our voices, sweet as the honeycomb; + Gladly he has heard, and wiser has he gone on his way. + Hither, come hither, for we know all things, + All that the Greeks wrought and endured in Troyland, + All that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.' + +Thus they sang, offering Ulysses all knowledge and wisdom, which they +knew that he loved more than anything in the world. To other men, no +doubt, they would have offered other pleasures. Ulysses desired to +listen, and he nodded to his men to loosen his bonds. But Perimedes +and Eurylochus arose, and laid on him yet stronger bonds, and the ship +was driven past that island, till the song of the Sirens faded away, and +then the men set Ulysses free and took the wax out of their ears. + + + + +III + +THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE OF THE SUN + + +They had not sailed far when they heard the sea roaring, and saw a great +wave, over which hung a thick shining cloud of spray. They had drifted +to a place where the sea narrowed between two high black rocks: under +the rock on the left was a boiling whirlpool in which no ship could +live; the opposite rock showed nothing dangerous, but Ulysses had been +warned by Circe that here too lay great peril. We may ask, Why did +Ulysses pass through the narrows between these two rocks? why did he not +steer on the outer side of one or the other? The reason seems to have +been that, on the outer side of these cliffs, were the tall reefs which +men called the Rocks Wandering. Between them the sea water leaped in +high columns of white foam, and the rocks themselves rushed together, +grinding and clashing, while fire flew out of the crevices and crests as +from a volcano. + +Circe had told Ulysses about the Rocks Wandering, which do not even +allow flocks of doves to pass through them; even one of the doves is +always caught and crushed, and no ship of men escapes that tries to pass +that way, and the bodies of the sailors and the planks of the ships are +confusedly tossed by the waves of the sea and the storms of ruinous +fire. Of all ships that ever sailed the sea only 'Argo,' the ship of +Jason, has escaped the Rocks Wandering, as you may read in the story of +the Fleece of Gold. For these reasons Ulysses was forced to steer +between the rock of the whirlpool and the rock which seemed harmless. In +the narrows between these two cliffs the sea ran like a rushing river, +and the men, in fear, ceased to hold the oars, and down the stream the +oars plashed in confusion. But Ulysses, whom Circe had told of this new +danger, bade them grasp the oars again and row hard. He told the man at +the helm to steer under the great rocky cliff, on the right, and to keep +clear of the whirlpool and the cloud of spray on the left. Well he knew +the danger of the rock on the left, for within it was a deep cave, where +a monster named Scylla lived, yelping with a shrill voice out of her six +hideous heads. Each head hung down from a long, thin, scaly neck, and in +each mouth were three rows of greedy teeth, and twelve long feelers, +with claws at the ends of them, dropped down, ready to catch at men. +There in her cave Scylla sits, fishing with her feelers for dolphins and +other great fish, and for men, if any men sail by that way. Against this +deadly thing none may fight, for she cannot be slain with the spear.[A] + +[A. There is a picture of this monster attacking a man in a boat. The +picture was painted centuries before the time of Ulysses.] + +All this Ulysses knew, for Circe had warned him. But he also knew that +on the other side of the strait, where the sea spray for ever flew high +above the rock, was a whirlpool, called Charybdis, which would swallow +up his ship if it came within the current, while Scylla could only catch +some of his men. For this reason he bade the helmsman to steer close to +the rock of Scylla, and he did not tell the sailors that she lurked +there with her body hidden in her deep cave. He himself put on his +armour, and took two spears, and went and stood in the raised half deck +at the front of the ship, thinking that, at least, he would have a +stroke at Scylla. Then they rowed down the swift sea stream, while the +wave of the whirlpool now rose up, till the spray hid the top of the +rock, and now fell, and bubbled with black sand. They were watching the +whirlpool, when out from the hole in the cliff sprang the six heads of +Scylla, and up into the air went six of Ulysses' men, each calling to +him, as they were swept within her hole in the rock, where she devoured +them. 'This was the most pitiful thing,' Ulysses said, 'that my eyes +have seen, of all my sorrows in searching out the paths of the sea.' + +The ship swept through the roaring narrows between the rock of Scylla +and the whirlpool of Charybdis, into the open sea, and the men, weary +and heavy of heart, bent over their oars, and longed for rest. + +Now a place of rest seemed near at hand, for in front of the ship lay a +beautiful island, and the men could hear the bleating of sheep and the +lowing of cows as they were being herded into their stalls. But Ulysses +remembered that, in the Land of the Dead, the ghost of the blind prophet +had warned him of one thing. If his men killed and ate the cattle of the +Sun, in the sacred island of Thrinacia, they would all perish. So +Ulysses told his crew of this prophecy, and bade them row past the +island. Eurylochus was angry and said that the men were tired, and could +row no further, but must land, and take supper, and sleep comfortably on +shore. On hearing Eurylochus, the whole crew shouted and said that they +would go no further that night, and Ulysses had no power to compel them. +He could only make them swear not to touch the cattle of the Sun God, +which they promised readily enough, and so went ashore, took supper, and +slept. + +[Illustration: THE ADVENTURE WITH SCYLLA.] + +In the night a great storm arose: the clouds and driving mist blinded +the face of the sea and sky, and for a whole month the wild south wind +hurled the waves on the coast, and no ship of these times could venture +out in the tempest. Meanwhile the crew ate up all the stores in the +ship, and finished the wine, so that they were driven to catch sea birds +and fishes, of which they took but few, the sea being so rough upon the +rocks. Ulysses went up into the island alone, to pray to the Gods, and +when he had prayed he found a sheltered place, and there he fell asleep. + +Eurylochus took the occasion, while Ulysses was away, to bid the crew +seize and slay the sacred cattle of the Sun God, which no man might +touch, and this they did, so that, when Ulysses wakened, and came near +the ship, he smelled the roast meat, and knew what had been done. He +rebuked the men, but, as the cattle were dead, they kept eating them for +six days; and then the storm ceased, the wind fell, the sun shone, and +they set the sails, and away they went. But this evil deed was punished, +for when they were out of sight of land, a great thunder cloud +overshadowed them, the wind broke the mast, which crushed the head of +the helmsman, the lightning struck the ship in the centre; she reeled, +the men fell overboard, and the heads of the crew floated a moment, like +cormorants, above the waves. + +But Ulysses had kept hold of a rope, and, when the vessel righted, he +walked the deck till a wave stripped off all the tackling, and loosened +the sides from the keel. Ulysses had only time to lash the broken mast +with a rope to the keel, and sit on this raft with his feet in the +water, while the South Wind rose again furiously, and drove the raft +back till it came under the rock where was the whirlpool of Charybdis. +Here Ulysses would have been drowned, but he caught at the root of a fig +tree that grew on the rock, and there he hung, clinging with his toes to +the crumbling stones till the whirlpool boiled up again, and up came the +timbers. Down on the timbers Ulysses dropped, and so sat rowing with his +hands, and the wind drifted him at last to a shelving beach of an +island. + +Here dwelt a kind of fairy, called Calypso, who found Ulysses nearly +dead on the beach, and was kind to him, and kept him in her cave, where +he lived for seven long years, always desiring to leave the beautiful +fairy and return to Ithaca and his wife Penelope. But no ship of men +ever came near that isle, which is the central place of all the seas, +and he had no ship, and no men to sail and row. Calypso was very kind, +and very beautiful, being the daughter of the wizard Atlas, who holds +the two pillars that keep earth and sea asunder. But Ulysses was longing +to see if it were but the smoke going up from the houses of rocky +Ithaca, and he had a desire to die. + + + + +IV + +HOW TELEMACHUS WENT TO SEEK HIS FATHER + + +When Ulysses had lived nearly seven years in the island of Calypso, his +son Telemachus, whom he had left in Ithaca as a little child, went forth +to seek for his father. In Ithaca he and his mother, Penelope, had long +been very unhappy. As Ulysses did not come home after the war, and as +nothing was heard about him from the day when the Greeks sailed from +Troy, it was supposed that he must be dead. But Telemachus was still but +a boy of twelve years old, and the father of Ulysses, Laertes, was very +old, and had gone to a farm in the country, where he did nothing but +take care of his garden. There was thus no King in Ithaca, and the boys, +who had been about ten years old when Ulysses went to Troy, were now +grown up, and, as their fathers had gone to the war, they did just as +they pleased. Twelve of them wanted to marry Penelope, and they, with +about a hundred others as wild as themselves, from the neighbouring +islands, by way of paying court to Penelope ate and drank all day at her +house. They killed the cattle, sheep, and swine; they drank the wine, +and amused themselves with Penelope's maidens, of whom she had many. +Nobody could stop them; they would never go away, they said, till +Penelope chose one of them to be her husband, and King of the island, +though Telemachus was the rightful prince. + +Penelope at last promised that she would choose one of them when she had +finished a great shroud of linen, to be the death shroud of old Laertes +when he died. All day she wove it, but at night, when her wooers had +gone (for they did not sleep in her house), she unwove it again. But one +of her maidens told this to the wooers, so she had to finish the shroud, +and now they pressed her more than ever to make her choice. But she kept +hoping that Ulysses was still alive, and would return, though, if he +did, how was he to turn so many strong young men out of his house? + +The Goddess of Wisdom, Athene, had always favoured Ulysses, and now she +spoke up among the Gods, where they sat, as men say, in their holy +heaven. Not by winds is it shaken, nor wet with rain, nor does the snow +come thither, but clear air is spread about it cloudless, and the white +light floats over it. Athene told how good, wise, and brave Ulysses was, +and how he was kept in the isle of Calypso, while men ruined his wealth +and wooed his wife. She said that she would herself go to Ithaca, and +make Telemachus appeal to all the people of the country, showing how +evilly he was treated, and then sail abroad to seek news of his father. +So Athene spoke, and flashed down from Olympus to Ithaca, where she took +the shape of a mortal man, Mentes, a chief of the Taphians. In front of +the doors she found the proud wooers playing at draughts and other games +while supper was being made ready. When Telemachus, who was standing +apart, saw the stranger, he went to him, and led him into the house, and +treated him kindly, while the wooers ate and drank, and laughed noisily. + +Then Telemachus told Athene (or, as he supposed, the stranger), how +evilly he was used, while his father's white bones might be wasting on +an unknown shore or rolling in the billows of the salt sea. Athene said, +or Mentes said, that he himself was an old friend of Ulysses, and had +touched at Ithaca on his way to Cyprus to buy copper. 'But Ulysses,' he +said, 'is not dead; he will certainly come home, and that speedily. You +are so like him, you must be his son.' Telemachus replied that he was, +and Mentes was full of anger, seeing how the wooers insulted him, and +told him first to complain to an assembly of all the people, and then to +take a ship, and go seeking news of Ulysses. + +Then Athene departed, and next day Telemachus called an assembly, and +spoke to the people, but though they were sorry for him they could not +help him. One old man, however, a prophet, said that Ulysses would +certainly come home, but the wooers only threatened and insulted him. In +the evening Athene came again, in the appearance of Mentor, not the +same man as Mentes, but an Ithacan, and a friend of Ulysses. She +encouraged Telemachus to take a ship, with twenty oarsmen, and he told +the wooers that he was going to see Menelaus and Nestor, and ask tidings +of his father. They only mocked him, but he made all things ready for +his voyage without telling his mother. It was old Eurycleia, who had +been his nurse and his father's nurse, that brought him wine and food +for his journey; and at night, when the sea wind wakens in summer, he +and Mentor went on board, and all night they sailed, and at noon next +day they reached Pylos on the sea sands, the city of Nestor the Old. + +Nestor received them gladly, and so did his sons, Pisistratus and +Thrasymedes, who fought at Troy, and next day, when Mentor had gone, +Pisistratus and Telemachus drove together, up hill and down dale, a two +days' journey, to Lacedaemon, lying beneath Mount Taygetus on the bank +of the clear river Eurotas. + +Not one of the Greeks had seen Ulysses since the day when they all +sailed from Troy, yet Menelaus, in a strange way, was able to tell +Telemachus that his father still lived, and was with Calypso on a lonely +island, the centre of all the seas. We shall see how Menelaus knew this. +When Telemachus and Pisistratus came, he was giving a feast, and called +them to his table. It would not have been courteous to ask them who they +were till they had been bathed and clothed in fresh raiment, and had +eaten and drunk. After dinner, Menelaus saw how much Telemachus admired +his house, and the flashing of light from the walls, which were covered +with bronze panels, and from the cups of gold, and the amber and ivory +and silver. Such things Telemachus had never seen in Ithaca. Noticing +his surprise, Menelaus said that he had brought many rich things from +Troy, after eight years wandering to Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, +and even to Libya, on the north coast of Africa. Yet he said that, +though he was rich and fortunate, he was unhappy when he remembered the +brave men who had died for his sake at Troy. But above all he was +miserable for the loss of the best of them all, Ulysses, who was so long +unheard of, and none knew whether, at that hour, he was alive or dead. +At these words Telemachus hid his face in his purple mantle and shed +tears, so that Menelaus guessed who he was, but he said nothing. + +Then came into the hall, from her own fragrant chamber, Helen of the +fair hands, as beautiful as ever she had been, her bower maidens +carrying her golden distaff, with which she span, and a silver basket to +hold her wool, for the white hands of Helen were never idle. + +Helen knew Telemachus by his likeness to his father, Ulysses, and when +she said this to Menelaus, Pisistratus overheard her, and told how +Telemachus had come to them seeking for news of his father. Menelaus was +much moved in his heart, and Helen no less, when they saw the son of +Ulysses, who had been the most trusty of all their friends. They could +not help shedding tears, for Pisistratus remembered his dear brother +Antilochus, whom Memnon slew in battle at Troy, Memnon the son of the +bright Dawn. But Helen wished to comfort them, and she brought a drug of +magical virtue, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, King of Egypt had +given to her. This drug lulls all pain and anger, and brings +forgetfulness of every sorrow, and Helen poured it from a golden vial +into the mixing bowl of gold, and they drank the wine and were +comforted. + +Then Helen told Telemachus what great deeds Ulysses did at Troy, and +how he crept into the town disguised as a beggar, and came to her house, +when he stole the Luck of Troy. Menelaus told how Ulysses kept him and +the other princes quiet in the horse of tree, when Deiphobus made Helen +call to them all in the very voices of their own wives, and to +Telemachus it was great joy to hear of his father's courage and wisdom. + +Next day Telemachus showed to Menelaus how hardly he and his mother were +treated by the proud wooers, and Menelaus prayed that Ulysses might come +back to Ithaca, and slay the wooers every one. 'But as to what you ask +me,' he said, 'I will tell you all that I have heard about your father. +In my wanderings after I sailed from Troy the storm winds kept me for +three weeks in the island called Pharos, a day's voyage from the mouth +of the river "Aegyptus"' (which is the old name of the Nile). 'We were +almost starving, for our food was done, and my crew went round the +shores, fishing with hook and line. Now in that isle lives a goddess, +the daughter of Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea. She advised me that if +I could but catch her father when he came out of the sea to sleep on the +shore he would tell me everything that I needed to know. At noonday he +was used to come out, with all his flock of seals round him, and to +sleep among them on the sands. If I could seize him, she said, he would +turn into all manner of shapes in my hands: beasts, and serpents, and +burning fire; but at last he would appear in his own shape, and answer +all my questions. + +'So the goddess spoke, and she dug hiding places in the sands for me and +three of my men, and covered us with the skins of seals. At noonday the +Old Man came out with his seals, and counted them, beginning with us, +and then he lay down and fell asleep. Then we leaped up and rushed at +him and gripped him fast. He turned into the shapes of a lion, and of a +leopard, of a snake, and a huge boar; then he was running water, and +next he was a tall, blossoming tree. But we held him firmly, and at last +he took his own shape, and told me that I should never have a fair wind +till I had sailed back into the river Aegyptus and sacrificed there to +the gods in heaven. Then I asked him for news about my brother, +Agamemnon, and he told me how my brother was slain in his own hall, and +how Aias was drowned in the sea. Lastly, he told me about Ulysses: how +he was kept on a lonely island by the fairy Calypso, and was unhappy, +and had no ship and no crew to escape and win home.' + +This was all that Menelaus could tell Telemachus, who stayed with +Menelaus for a month. All that time the wooers lay in wait for him, with +a ship, in a narrow strait which they thought he must sail through on +his way back to Ithaca. In that strait they meant to catch him and kill +him. + + + + +V + +HOW ULYSSES ESCAPED FROM THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO + + +Now the day after Menelaus told Telemachus that Ulysses was still a +living man, the Gods sent Hermes to Calypso. So Hermes bound on his feet +his fair golden sandals, that wax not old, and bear him, alike over wet +sea and dry land, as swift as the wind. Along the crests of the waves he +flew, like the cormorant that chases fishes through the sea deeps, with +his plumage wet in the sea brine. He reached the island, and went up to +the cave of Calypso, wherein dwelt the nymph of the braided tresses, +and he found her within. And on the hearth there was a great fire +burning, and from afar, through the isle, was smelt the fragrance of +cleft cedar blazing, and of sandal wood. And the nymph within was +singing with a sweet voice as she fared to and fro before the loom, and +wove with a shuttle of gold. All round about the cave there was a wood +blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet smelling cypress. Therein roosted +birds long of wing--owls and falcons and chattering sea-crows, which +have their business in the waters. And lo! there, about the hollow cave, +trailed a gadding garden vine, all rich with clusters. And fountains, +four set orderly, were running with clear water hard by one another, +turned each to his own course. Around soft meadows bloomed of violets +and parsley; yea, even a deathless God who came thither might wonder at +the sight and be glad at heart. + +There the messenger, the slayer of Argos, stood and wondered. Now when +he had gazed at all with wonder, he went into the wide cave; nor did +Calypso, that fair Goddess, fail to know him when she saw him face to +face; for the Gods use not to be strange one to another, not though one +have his habitation far away. But he found not Ulysses, the +great-hearted, within the cave, who sat weeping on the shore even as +aforetime, straining his soul with tears and groans and griefs, and as +he wept he looked wistfully over the unharvested deep. And Calypso, that +fair Goddess, questioned Hermes, when she had made him sit on a bright +shining star: + +'Wherefore, I pray thee, Hermes of the golden wand, hast thou come +hither, worshipful and welcome, whereas as of old thou wert not wont to +visit me? Tell me all thy thought; my heart is set on fulfilling it, if +fulfil it I may, and if it hath been fulfilled in the counsel of fate. +But now follow me further, that I may set before thee the entertainment +of strangers.' + +Therewith the goddess spread a table with ambrosia and set it by him, +and mixed the ruddy nectar. So the messenger, the slayer of Argos, did +eat and drink. Now after he had supped and comforted his soul with food, +at the last he answered, and spake to her on this wise: + +'Thou makest question of me on my coming, a Goddess of a God, and I will +tell thee this my saying truly, at thy command. 'Twas Zeus that bade me +come hither, by no will of mine; nay, who of his free will would speed +over such a wondrous space of sea whereby is no city of mortals that do +sacrifice to the gods. He saith that thou hast with thee a man most +wretched beyond his fellows, beyond those men that round the city of +Priam for nine years fought, and in the tenth year sacked the city and +departed homeward. Yet on the way they sinned against Athene, and she +raised upon them an evil blast and long waves of the sea. Then all the +rest of his good company was lost, but it came to pass that the wind +bare and the wave brought him hither. And now Zeus biddeth thee send him +hence with what speed thou mayest, for it is not ordained that he die +away from his friends, but rather it is his fate to look on them even +yet, and to come to his high-roofed home and his own country.' + +[Illustration: CALYPSO TAKES PITY ON ULYSSES.] + +So spake he, and Calypso, that fair Goddess, shuddered and spake unto +him: 'Hard are ye Gods and jealous exceeding, who ever grudge Goddesses +openly to mate with men. Him I saved as he went all alone bestriding the +keel of a bark, for that Zeus had crushed and cleft his swift ship +with a white bolt in the midst of the wine-dark deep. There all the rest +of his good company was lost, but it came to pass that the wind bare and +the wave brought him hither. And him have I loved and cherished, and I +said that I would make him to know not death and age for ever. But I +will give him no despatch, not I, for I have no ships by me with oars, +nor company to bear him on his way over the broad back of the sea. Yet +will I be forward to put this in his mind, and will hide nought, that +all unharmed he may come to his own country.' + +Then the messenger, the slayer of Argos, answered her: 'Yea, speed him +now upon his path and have regard unto the wrath of Zeus, lest haply he +be angered and bear hard on thee hereafter.' + +Therewith the great slayer of Argos departed, but the lady nymph went on +her way to the great-hearted Ulysses, when she had heard the message of +Zeus. And there she found him sitting on the shore, and his eyes were +never dry of tears, and his sweet life was ebbing away as he mourned for +his return. In the daytime he would sit on the rocks and on the beach, +straining his soul with tears, and groans, and griefs, and through his +tears he would look wistfully over the unharvested deep. So, standing +near him, that fair goddess spake to him: + +'Hapless man, sorrow no more I pray thee in this isle, nor let thy good +life waste away, for even now will I send thee hence with all my heart. +Nay, arise and cut long beams, and fashion a wide raft with the axe, and +lay deckings high thereupon, that it may bear thee over the misty deep. +And I will place therein bread and water, and red wine to thy heart's +desire, to keep hunger far away. And I will put raiment upon thee, and +send a fair gale, that so thou mayest come all unharmed to thine own +country, if indeed it be the good pleasure of the gods who hold wide +heaven, who are stronger than I am both to will and to do.' + +Then Ulysses was glad and sad: glad that the Gods took thought for him, +and sad to think of crossing alone the wide unsailed seas. Calypso said +to him: + +'So it is indeed thy wish to get thee home to thine own dear country +even in this hour? Good fortune go with thee even so! Yet didst thou +know in thine heart what thou art ordained to suffer, or ever thou reach +thine own country, here, even here, thou wouldst abide with me and keep +this house, and wouldst never taste of death, though thou longest to see +thy wife, for whom thou hast ever a desire day by day. Not, in sooth, +that I avow me to be less noble than she in form or fashion, for it is +in no wise meet that mortal women should match them with immortals in +shape and comeliness.' + +And Ulysses of many counsels answered, and spake unto her: 'Be not wroth +with me, goddess and queen. Myself I know it well, how wise Penelope is +meaner to look upon than thou in comeliness and stature. But she is +mortal, and thou knowest not age nor death. Yet, even so, I wish and +long day by day to fare homeward and see the day of my returning. Yea, +and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will +endure, with a heart within me patient of affliction. For already have I +suffered full much, and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war; +let this be added to the tale of those.' + +Next day Calypso brought to Ulysses carpenters' tools, and he felled +trees, and made a great raft, and a mast, and sails out of canvas. In +five days he had finished his raft and launched it, and Calypso placed +in it skins full of wine and water, and flour and many pleasant things +to eat, and so they kissed for that last time and took farewell, he +going alone on the wide sea, and she turning lonely to her own home. He +might have lived for ever with the beautiful fairy, but he chose to live +and die, if he could, with his wife Penelope. + + + + +VI + +HOW ULYSSES WAS WRECKED, YET REACHED PHAEACIA + + +As long as the fair wind blew Ulysses sat and steered his raft, never +seeing land or any ship of men. He kept his eye at night on the Great +Bear, holding it always on his left hand, as Calypso taught him. +Seventeen days he sailed, and on the eighteenth day he saw the shadowy +mountain peaks of an island called Phaeacia. But now the Sea god saw +him, and remembered how Ulysses had blinded his son the Cyclops. In +anger he raised a terrible storm: great clouds covered the sky, and all +the winds met. Ulysses wished that he had died when the Trojans gathered +round him as he defended the dead body of Achilles. For, had he died +then, he would have been burned and buried by his friends, but if he +were now drowned his ghost would always wander alone on the fringes of +the Land of the Dead, like the ghost of Elpenor. + +As he thought thus, the winds broke the mast of his raft, and the sail +and yardarm fell into the sea, and the waves dragged him deep down. At +last he rose to the surface and swam after his raft, and climbed on to +it, and sat there, while the winds tossed the raft about like a feather. +The Sea goddess, Ino, saw him and pitied him, and rose from the water +as a seagull rises after it has dived. She spoke to him, and threw her +bright veil to him, saying, 'Wind this round your breast, and throw off +your clothes. Leap from the raft and swim, and, when you reach land, +cast the veil back into the sea, and turn away your head.' + +Ulysses caught the veil, and wound it about his breast, but he +determined not to leave the raft while the timbers held together. Even +as he thought thus, the timbers were driven asunder by the waves, and he +seized a plank, and sat astride it as a man rides a horse. Then the +winds fell, all but the north wind, which drifted Ulysses on for two +days and nights. On the third day all was calm, and the land was very +near, and Ulysses began to swim towards it, through a terrible surf, +which crashed and foamed on sheer rocks, where all his bones would be +broken. Thrice he clasped a rock, and thrice the back wash of the wave +dragged him out to sea. Then he swam outside of the breakers, along the +line of land, looking for a safe place, and at last he came to the mouth +of the river. Here all was smooth, with a shelving beach, and his feet +touched bottom. He staggered out of the water and swooned away as soon +as he was on dry land. When he came to himself he unbound the veil of +Ino, and cast it into the sea, and fell back, quite spent, among the +reeds of the river, naked and starving. He crept between two thick olive +trees that grew close together and made a shelter against the wind, and +he covered himself all over thickly with fallen dry leaves, till he grew +warm again and fell into a deep sleep. + +While Ulysses slept, alone and naked in an unknown land, a dream came to +beautiful Nausicaa, the daughter of the King of that country, which is +called Phaeacia. The dream was in the shape of a girl who was a friend +of Nausicaa, and it said: 'Nausicaa, how has your mother such a careless +daughter? There are many beautiful garments in the house that need to be +washed, against your wedding day, when, as is the custom, you must give +mantles and tunics to the guests. Let us go a washing to the river +to-morrow, taking a car to carry the raiment.' + +When Nausicaa wakened next day she remembered the dream, and went to her +father, and asked him to lend her a car to carry the clothes. She said +nothing about her marriage day, for though many young princes were in +love with her, she was in love with none of them. Still, the clothes +must be washed, and her father lent her a waggon with a high frame, and +mules to drive. The clothes were piled in the car, and food was packed +in a basket, every sort of dainty thing, and Nausicaa took the reins and +drove slowly while many girls followed her, her friends of her own age. +They came to a deep clear pool, that overflowed into shallow paved runs +of water, and there they washed the clothes, and trod them down in the +runlets. Next they laid them out to dry in the sun and wind on the +pebbles, and then they took their meal of cakes and other good things. + +When they had eaten they threw down their veils and began to play at +ball, at a game like rounders. Nausicaa threw the ball at a girl who was +running, but missed her, and the ball fell into the deep swift river. +All the girls screamed and laughed, and the noise they made wakened +Ulysses where he lay in the little wood. 'Where am I?' he said to +himself; 'is this a country of fierce and savage men? A sound of girls +at play rings round me. Can they be fairies of the hill tops and the +rivers, and the water meadows?' As he had no clothes, and the voices +seemed to be voices of women, Ulysses broke a great leafy bough which +hid all his body, but his feet were bare, his face was wild with +weariness, and cold, and hunger, and his hair and beard were matted and +rough with the salt water. + +The girls, when they saw such a face peering over the leaves of the +bough, screamed, and ran this way and that along the beach. But +Nausicaa, as became the daughter of the King, stood erect and unafraid, +and as Ulysses dared not go near and kneel to her, he spoke from a +distance and said: + +'I pray thee, O queen, whether thou art a goddess or a mortal! If indeed +thou art a goddess of them that keep the wide heaven, to Artemis, then, +the daughter of great Zeus, I mainly liken thee for beauty and stature +and shapeliness. But if thou art one of the daughters of men who dwell +on earth, thrice blessed are thy father and thy lady mother, and thrice +blessed thy brethren. Surely their souls ever glow with gladness for thy +sake each time they see thee entering the dance, so fair a flower of +maidens. But he is of heart the most blessed beyond all other who shall +prevail with gifts of wooing, and lead thee to his home. Never have mine +eyes beheld such an one among mortals, neither man nor woman; great awe +comes upon me as I look on thee. Yet in Delos once I saw as goodly a +thing: a young sapling of a palm tree springing by the altar of Apollo. +For thither, too, I went, and much people with me, on that path where my +sore troubles were to be. Yea! and when I looked thereupon, long time I +marvelled in spirit--for never grew there yet so goodly a shoot from +ground--even in such wise as I wonder at thee, lady, and am astonished +and do greatly fear to touch thy knees, though grievous sorrow is upon +me. + +[Illustration: HOW ULYSSES MET NAUSICAA.] + +'Yesterday, on the twentieth day, I escaped from the wine-dark deep, but +all that time continually the wave bare me, and the vehement winds drave +from the isle Ogygia. And now some god has cast me on this shore that +here too, methinks, some evil may betide me; for I think not that +trouble will cease; the gods ere that time will yet bring many a thing +to pass. But, queen, have pity on me, for, after many trials and sore, +to thee first of all am I come, and of the other folk, who hold this +city and land, I know no man. Nay, show me the town; give me an old +garment to cast about me, if thou hadst, when thou camest here, any wrap +for the linen. And may the gods grant thee all thy heart's desire: a +husband and a home, and a mind at one with his may they give--a good +gift, for there is nothing mightier and nobler than when man and wife +are of one heart and mind in a house, a grief to their foes, and to +their friends great joy, but their own hearts know it best.' + +Then Nausicaa of the white arms, answered him, and said: + +'Stranger, as thou seemest no evil man nor foolish--and it is Olympian +Zeus himself that giveth weal to men, to the good and to the evil, to +each one as he will, and this thy lot doubtless is of him, and so thou +must in anywise endure it--now, since thou hast come to our city and our +land, thou shalt not lack raiment nor aught else that is the due of a +hapless suppliant when he has met them who can befriend him. And I will +show thee the town, and name the name of the people. The Phaeacians hold +this city and land, and I am the daughter of Alcinous, great of heart, +on whom all the might and force of the Phaeacians depend.' + +Thus she spake, and called to her maidens of the fair tresses: 'Halt, my +maidens, whither flee ye at the sight of a man? Ye surely do not take +him for an enemy? That mortal breathes not, and never will be born, who +shall come with war to the land of the Phaeacians, for they are very +dear to the gods. Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the +outermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us. Nay, but +this man is some helpless one come hither in his wanderings, whom now we +must kindly entreat, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a +little gift is dear. So, my maidens, give the stranger meat and drink, +and bathe him in the river, where there is a shelter from the winds.' + +So she spake, but they halted and called each to the other, and they +brought Ulysses to the sheltered place, and made him sit down, as +Nausiaca bade them, the daughter of Alcinous, high of heart. Beside him +they laid a mantle and a doublet for raiment, and gave him soft olive +oil in the golden cruse, and bade him wash in the streams of the river. +Then goodly Ulysses spake among the maidens, saying: 'I pray you stand +thus apart while I myself wash the brine from my shoulders, and anoint +me with olive oil, for truly oil is long a stranger to my skin. But in +your sight I will not bathe, for I am ashamed to make me naked in the +company of fair-tressed maidens.' + +Then they went apart and told all to their lady. But with the river +water the goodly Ulysses washed from his skin the salt scurf that +covered his back and broad shoulders, and from his head he wiped the +crusted brine of the barren sea. But when he had washed his whole body, +and anointed him with olive oil, and had clad himself in the raiment +that the unwedded maiden gave him, then Athene, the daughter of Zeus, +made him greater and more mighty to behold, and from his head caused +deep curling locks to flow, like the hyacinth flower. And, as when some +skilful man overlays gold upon silver--one that Hephaestus and Pallas +Athene have taught all manner of craft, and full of grace is his +handiwork--even so did Athene shed grace about his head and shoulders. + +Then to the shore of the sea went Ulysses apart, and sat down, glowing +in beauty and grace, and the princess marvelled at him, and spake among +her fair-tressed maidens, saying: + +'Listen, my white-armed maidens, and I will say somewhat. Not without +the will of all the gods who hold Olympus has this man come among the +godlike Phaeacians. Erewhile he seemed to me uncomely, but now he is +like the gods that keep the wide heaven. Would that such an one might be +called my husband, dwelling here, and that it might please him here to +abide! But come, my maidens, give the stranger meat and drink.' + +Thus she spake, and they gave ready ear and hearkened, and set beside +Ulysses meat and drink, and the steadfast goodly Ulysses did eat and +drink eagerly, for it was long since he had tasted food. + +Now Nausicaa of the white arms had another thought. She folded the +raiment and stored it in the goodly wain, and yoked the mules, strong of +hoof, and herself climbed into the car. Then she called on Ulysses, and +spake and hailed him: 'Up now, stranger, and rouse thee to go to the +city, that I may convey thee to the house of my wise father, where, I +promise thee, thou shalt get knowledge of all the noblest of the +Phaeacians. But do thou even as I tell thee, and thou seemest a discreet +man enough. So long as we are passing along the fields and farms of +men, do thou fare quickly with the maidens behind the mules and the +chariot, and I will lead the way. But when we set foot within the city, +whereby goes a high wall with towers, and there is a fair haven on +either side of the town, and narrow is the entrance, and curved ships +are drawn up on either hand of the mole, thou shalt find a fair grove of +Athene, a poplar grove, near the road, and a spring wells forth therein, +and a meadow lies all around. + +There is my father's land, and his fruitful close, within the sound of a +man's shout from the city. Sit thee down there and wait until such time +as we may have come into the city, and reached the house of my father. +But when thou deemest that we are got to the palace, then go up to the +city of the Phaeacians, and ask for the house of my father, Alcinous, +high of heart. It is easily known, and a young child could be thy guide, +for nowise like it are builded the houses of the Phaeacians, so goodly +is the palace of the hero Alcinous. But when thou art within the shadow +of the halls and the court, pass quickly through the great chamber till +thou comest to my mother, who sits at the hearth in the light of the +fire, weaving yarn of sea-purple stain, a wonder to behold. Her chair is +leaned against a pillar, and her maidens sit behind her. And there my +father's throne leans close to hers, wherein he sits and drinks his +wine, like an immortal. Pass thou by him, and cast thy hands about my +mother's knees that thou mayest see quickly and with joy the day of thy +returning, even if thou art from a very far country. If but her heart be +kindly disposed towards thee, then is there hope that thou shalt see thy +friends, and come to thy well-builded house, and to thine own country.' + +She spake and smote the mules with the shining whip, and quickly they +left behind them the streams of the river; and well they trotted and +well they paced, and she took heed to drive in such wise that the +maidens and Ulysses might follow on foot, and cunningly she plied the +lash. Then the sun set, and they came to the famous grove, the sacred +place of Athene; so there the goodly Ulysses sat him down. Then +straightway he prayed to the daughter of mighty Zeus: 'Listen to me, +child of Zeus, lord of the aegis, unwearied maiden; hear me even now, +since before thou heardest not when I was smitten on the sea, when the +renowned earth-shaker smote me. Grant me to come to the Phaeacians as +one dear and worthy of pity.' + +So he spake in prayer, and Pallas Athene heard him; but she did not yet +appear to him face to face, for she had regard unto her father's +brother, who furiously raged against the god-like Ulysses till he should +come to his own country. + +While Nausicaa and her maidens went home, Ulysses waited near the temple +till they should have arrived, and then he rose and walked to the city, +wondering at the harbour, full of ships, and at the strength of the +walls. The Goddess Athene met him, disguised as a mortal girl, and told +him again how the name of the king was Alcinous, and his wife's name was +Arete: she was wise and kind, and had great power in the city. The +Goddess caused Ulysses to pass unseen among the people till he reached +the palace, which shone with bronze facings to the walls, while within +the hall were golden hounds and golden statues of young men holding +torches burning to give light to those who sat at supper. The gardens +were very beautiful, full of fruit trees, and watered by streams that +flowed from two fountains. Ulysses stood and wondered at the beauty of +the gardens, and then walked, unseen, through the hall, and knelt at the +feet of Queen Arete, and implored her to send him in a ship to his own +country. + +A table was brought to him, and food and wine were set before him, and +Alcinous, as his guests were going home, spoke out and said that the +stranger was to be entertained, whoever he might be, and sent safely on +his way. The guests departed, and Arete, looking at Ulysses, saw that +the clothes he wore were possessions of her house, and asked him who he +was, and how he got the raiment? Then he told her how he had been +shipwrecked, and how Nausicaa had given him food, and garments out of +those which she had been washing. Then Arete said that Nausicaa should +have brought Ulysses straight to her house; but Ulysses answered: 'Chide +not, I pray you, the blameless damsel,' and explained that he himself +was shy, and afraid that Nausicaa's parents might not like to see her +coming with an unknown stranger. King Alcinous answered that he was not +jealous and suspicious. To a stranger so noble as Ulysses he would very +gladly see his daughter married, and would give him a house and plenty +of everything. But if the stranger desired to go to his own country, +then a ship should be made ready for him. Thus courteous was Alcinous, +for he readily saw that Ulysses, who had not yet told his name, was of +noble birth, strong and wise. Then all went to bed, and Ulysses had a +soft bed and a warm, with blankets of purple. + +Next day Alcinous sent two-and-fifty young men to prepare a ship, and +they moored her in readiness out in the shore water; but the chiefs +dined with Alcinous, and the minstrel sang about the Trojan war, and so +stirred the heart of Ulysses, that he held his mantle before his face +and wept. When Alcinous saw that, he proposed that they should go and +amuse themselves with sports in the open air; races, wrestling, and +boxing. The son of Alcinous asked Ulysses if he would care to take part +in the games, but Ulysses answered that he was too heavy at heart. To +this a young man, Euryalus, said that Ulysses was probably a captain of +a merchant ship, a tradesman, not a sportsman. + +At this Ulysses was ill pleased, and replied that while he was young and +happy, he was well skilled in all sports, but now he was heavy and weak +with war and wandering. Still, he would show what he could do. Then he +seized a heavy weight, much heavier than any that the Phaeacians used in +putting the stone. He whirled it up, and hurled it far--far beyond the +furthest mark that the Phaeacians had reached when putting a lighter +weight. Then he challenged any man to run a race with him or box with +him, or shoot at a mark with him. Only his speed in running did he +doubt, for his limbs were stiffened by the sea. Perhaps Alcinous saw +that it would go ill with any man who matched himself against the +stranger, so he sent for the harper, who sang a merry song, and then he +made the young men dance and play ball, and bade the elder men go and +bring rich presents of gold and garments for the wanderer. Alcinous +himself gave a beautiful coffer and chest, and a great golden cup, and +Arete tied up all the gifts in the coffer, while the damsels took +Ulysses to the bath, and bathed him and anointed him with oil. + +As he left the bath he met Nausicaa, standing at the entrance of the +hall. She bade him good-bye, rather sadly, saying: 'Farewell, and do not +soon forget me in your own country, for to me you owe the ransom of your +life.' 'May God grant to me to see my own country, lady,' he answered, +'for there I will think of you with worship, as I think of the blessed +Gods, all my days, for to you, lady, I owe my very life.' These were the +last words they spoke to each other, for Nausicaa did not sit at meat in +the hall with the great company of men. When they had taken supper, the +blind harper sang again a song about the deeds of Ulysses at Troy, and +again Ulysses wept, so that Alcinous asked him: 'Hast thou lost a dear +friend or a kinsman in the great war?' Then Ulysses spoke out: 'I am +Ulysses, Laertes' son, of whom all men have heard tell.' While they sat +amazed, he began, and told them the whole story of his adventures, from +the day when he left Troy till he arrived at Calypso's island; he had +already told them how he was shipwrecked on his way thence to Phaeacia. + +All that wonderful story he told to their pleasure, and Euryalus made +amends for his rude words at the games, and gave Ulysses a beautiful +sword of bronze, with an ivory hilt set with studs of gold. Many other +gifts were given to him, and were carried and stored on board the ship +which had been made ready, and then Ulysses spoke good-bye to the Queen, +saying: 'Be happy, oh Queen, till old age and death come to you, as they +come to all. Be joyful in your house with your children and your people, +and Alcinous the King.' Then he departed, and lay down on sheets and +cloaks in the raised deck of the ship, and soundly he slept while the +fifty oars divided the waters of the sea, and drove the ship to Ithaca. + + + + +VII + +HOW ULYSSES CAME TO HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND FOR SAFETY DISGUISED HIMSELF AS +AN OLD BEGGAR MAN + + +When Ulysses awoke, he found himself alone, wrapped in the linen sheet +and the bright coverlet, and he knew not where he was. The Phaeacians +had carried him from the ship as he slept, and put him on shore, and +placed all the rich gifts that had been given him under a tree, and then +had sailed away. There was a morning mist that hid the land, and Ulysses +did not know the haven of his own island, Ithaca, and the rock whence +sprang a fountain of the water fairies that men call Naiads. He thought +that the Phaeacians had set him in a strange country, so he counted all +his goods, and then walked up and down sadly by the seashore. Here he +met a young man, delicately clad, like a king's son, with a double +mantle, such as kings wear, folded round his shoulders, and a spear in +his hand. 'Tell me pray,' said Ulysses, 'what land is this, and what men +dwell here?' + +The young man said: 'Truly, stranger, you know little, or you come from +far away. This isle is Ithaca, and the name of it is known even in +Troyland.' + +Ulysses was glad, indeed, to learn that he was at home at last; but how +the young men who had grown up since he went away would treat him, all +alone as he was, he could not tell. So he did not let out that he was +Ulysses the King, but said that he was a Cretan. The stranger would +wonder why a Cretan had come alone to Ithaca, with great riches, and yet +did not know that he was there. So he pretended that, in Crete, a son of +Idomeneus had tried to rob him of all the spoil he took at Troy, and +that he had killed this prince, and packed his wealth and fled on board +a ship of the Phoenicians, who promised to land him at Pylos. But the +wind had borne them out of their way, and they had all landed and slept +on shore, here; but the Phoenicians had left him asleep and gone off in +the dawn. + +On this the young man laughed, and suddenly appeared as the great +Goddess, Pallas Athene. 'How clever you are,' she said; 'yet you did not +know me, who helped you in Troyland. But much trouble lies before you, +and you must not let man or woman know who you really are, your enemies +are so many and powerful.' + +'You never helped me in my dangers on the sea,' said Ulysses, 'and now +do you make mock of me, or is this really mine own country?' + +'I had no mind,' said the Goddess, 'to quarrel with my brother the Sea +God, who had a feud against you for the blinding of his son, the +Cyclops. But come, you shall see this is really Ithaca,' and she +scattered the white mist, and Ulysses saw and knew the pleasant cave of +the Naiads, and the forests on the side of the mountain called Neriton. +So he knelt down and kissed the dear earth of his own country, and +prayed to the Naiads of the cave. Then the Goddess helped him to hide +all his gold, and bronze, and other presents in a secret place in the +cavern; and she taught him how, being lonely as he was, he might destroy +the proud wooers of his wife, who would certainly desire to take his +life. + +The Goddess began by disguising Ulysses, so that his skin seemed +wrinkled, and his hair thin, and his eyes dull, and she gave him dirty +old wraps for clothes, and over all a great bald skin of a stag, like +that which he wore when he stole into Troy disguised as a beggar. She +gave him a staff, too, and a wallet to hold scraps of broken food. There +was not a man or a woman that knew Ulysses in this disguise. Next, the +Goddess bade him go across the island to his own swineherd, who remained +faithful to him, and to stay there among the swine till she brought home +Telemachus, who was visiting Helen and Menelaus in Lacedaemon. She fled +away to Lacedaemon, and Ulysses climbed the hills that lay between the +cavern and the farm where the swineherd lived. + +When Ulysses reached the farmhouse, the swineherd, Eumaeus, was sitting +alone in front of his door, making himself a pair of brogues out of the +skin of an ox. He was a very honest man, and, though he was a slave, he +was the son of a prince in his own country. When he was a little child +some Phoenicians came in their ship to his father's house and made +friends with his nurse, who was a Phoenician woman. One of them, who +made love to her, asked her who she was, and she said that her father +was a rich man in Sidon, but that pirates had carried her away and sold +her to her master. The Phoenicians promised to bring her back to Sidon, +and she fled to their ship, carrying with her the child whom she nursed, +little Eumaeus; she also stole three cups of gold. The woman died at +sea, and the pirates sold the boy to Laertes, the father of Ulysses, who +treated him kindly. Eumaeus was fond of the family which he served, and +he hated the proud wooers for their insolence. + +When Ulysses came near his house the four great dogs rushed out and +barked at him; they would have bitten, too, but Eumaeus ran up and threw +stones at them, and no farm dog can face a shower of stones. He took +Ulysses into his house, gave him food and wine, and told him all about +the greed and pride of the wooers. Ulysses said that the master of +Eumaeus would certainly come home, and told a long story about himself. +He was a Cretan, he said, and had fought at Troy, and later had been +shipwrecked, but reached a country called Thesprotia, where he learned +that Ulysses was alive, and was soon to leave Thesprotia and return to +Ithaca. + +Eumaeus did not believe this tale, and supposed that the beggar man only +meant to say what he would like to hear. However, he gave Ulysses a good +dinner of his own pork, and Ulysses amused him and his fellow slaves +with stories about the Siege of Troy, till it was bedtime. + +In the meantime Athene had gone to Lacedaemon to the house of Menelaus, +where Telemachus was lying awake. She told him that Penelope, his +mother, meant to marry one of the wooers, and advised him to sail home +at once, avoiding the strait between Ithaca and another isle, where his +enemies were lying in wait to kill him. When he reached Ithaca he must +send his oarsmen to the town, but himself walk alone across the island +to see the swineherd. In the morning Telemachus and his friend, +Pisistratus, said good-bye to Menelaus and Helen, who wished to make him +presents, and so went to their treasure house. Now when they came to the +place where the treasures were stored, then Atrides took a double cup, +and bade his son, Megapenthes, to bear a mixing-bowl of silver. And +Helen stood by the coffers, wherein were her robes of curious needlework +which she herself had wrought. So Helen, the fair lady, lifted one and +brought it out--the widest and most beautifully embroidered of all--and +it shone like a star, and lay far beneath the rest. + +Then they went back through the house till they came to Telemachus; and +Menelaus, of the fair hair, spake to him, saying: + +'Telemachus, may Zeus the thunderer, and the lord of Hera, in very truth +bring about thy return according to the desire of thy heart. And of the +gifts, such as are treasures stored in my house, I will give thee the +goodliest and greatest of price. I will give thee a mixing-bowl +beautifully wrought; it is all of silver, and the lips thereof are +finished with gold, the work of Hephaestus; and the hero Phaedimus, the +king of the Sidonians, gave it to me when his house sheltered me, on my +coming thither. This cup I would give to thee.' + +Therewith the hero Atrides set the double cup in his hands. And the +strong Megapenthes bare the shining silver bowl and set it before him. +And Helen came up, beautiful Helen, with the robe in her hands, and +spake and hailed him: + +'Lo! I, too, give thee this gift, dear child, a memorial of the hands of +Helen, against the day of thy desire, even of thy bridal, for thy bride +to wear it. But, meanwhile, let it lie by thy dear mother in her +chamber. And may joy go with thee to thy well-builded house and thine +own country.' + +Just when Telemachus was leaving her palace door, an eagle stooped from +the sky and flew away with a great white goose that was feeding on the +grass, and the farm servants rushed out shouting, but the eagle passed +away to the right hand, across the horses of Pisistratus. + +Then Helen explained the meaning of this omen. 'Hear me, and I will +prophesy as the immortals put it into my heart, and as I deem it will be +accomplished. Even as yonder eagle came down from the hill, the place +of his birth and kin, and snatched away the goose that was fostered in +the house, even so shall Ulysses return home after much trial and long +wanderings and take vengeance; yea! or even now is he at home and sowing +the seeds of evil for all the wooers.' We are told no more about Helen +of the fair hands, except that she and Menelaus never died, but were +carried by the Gods to the beautiful Elysian plain, a happy place where +war and trouble never came, nor old age, nor death. After that she was +worshipped in her own country as if she had been a Goddess, kind, +gentle, and beautiful. + +Telemachus thanked Helen for prophesying good luck, and he drove to the +city of Nestor, on the sea, but was afraid to go near the old king, who +would have kept him and entertained him, while he must sail at once for +Ithaca. He went to his own ship in the harbour, and, while his crew made +ready to sail, there came a man running hard, and in great fear of the +avenger of blood. This was a second-sighted man, called Theoclymenus, +and he implored Telemachus to take him to Ithaca, for he had slain a man +in his own country, who had killed one of his brothers, and now the +brothers and cousins of that man were pursuing him to take his life. +Telemachus made him welcome, and so sailed north to Ithaca, wondering +whether he should be able to slip past the wooers, who were lying in +wait to kill him. Happily the ship of Telemachus passed them unseen in +the night, and arrived at Ithaca. He sent his crew to the town, and was +just starting to walk across the island to the swineherd's house, when +the second-sighted man asked what _he_ should do. Telemachus told +Piraeus, one of his friends, to take the man home and be kind to him, +which he gladly promised to do, and then he set off to seek the +swineherd. + +The swineherd, with Ulysses, had just lit a fire to cook breakfast, when +they saw the farm dogs frolicking round a young man who was walking +towards the house. The dogs welcomed him, for he was no stranger, but +Telemachus. Up leaped the swineherd in delight, and the bowl in which he +was mixing wine and water fell from his hands. He had been unhappy for +fear the wooers who lay in wait for Telemachus should kill him, and he +ran and embraced the young man as gladly as a father welcomes a son who +has long been in a far country. Telemachus, too, was anxious to hear +whether his mother had married one of the wooers, and glad to know that +she still bore her troubles patiently. + +When Telemachus stepped into the swineherd's house Ulysses arose from +his seat, but Telemachus bade the old beggar man sit down again, and a +pile of brushwood with a fleece thrown over it was brought for himself. +They breakfasted on what was ready, cold pork, wheaten bread, and wine +in cups of ivy wood, and Eumaeus told Telemachus that the old beggar +gave himself out as a wanderer from Crete. Telemachus answered that he +could not take strangers into his mother's house, for he was unable to +protect them against the violence of the wooers, but he would give the +wanderer clothes and shoes and a sword, and he might stay at the farm. +He sent the swineherd to tell his mother, Penelope, that he had returned +in safety, and Eumaeus started on his journey to the town. + +At this moment the farm dogs, which had been taking their share of the +breakfast, began to whine, and bristle up, and slunk with their tails +between their legs to the inmost corner of the room. Telemachus could +not think why they were afraid, or of what, but Ulysses saw the Goddess +Athene, who appeared to him alone, and the dogs knew that something +strange and terrible was coming to the door. Ulysses went out, and +Athene bade him tell Telemachus who he really was, now that they were +alone, and she touched Ulysses with her golden wand, and made him appear +like himself, and his clothes like a king's raiment. + +Telemachus, who neither saw nor heard Athene, wondered greatly, and +thought the beggar man must be some God, wandering in disguise. But +Ulysses said, 'No God am I, but thine own father,' and they embraced +each other and wept for joy. + +At last Ulysses told Telemachus how he had come home in a ship of the +Phaeacians, and how his treasure was hidden in the cave of the Naiads, +and asked him how many the wooers were, and how they might drive them +from the house. Telemachus replied that the wooers were one hundred and +eight, and that Medon, a servant of his own, took part with them; there +was also the minstrel of the house, whom they compelled to sing at their +feasts. They were all strong young men, each with his sword at his side, +but they had with them no shields, helmets, and breastplates. Ulysses +said that, with the help of the Goddess, he hoped to get the better of +them, many as they were. Telemachus must go to the house, and Ulysses +would come next day, in the disguise of an old beggar. However ill the +wooers might use him, Telemachus must take no notice, beyond saying that +they ought to behave better. Ulysses, when he saw a good chance, would +give Telemachus a sign to take away the shields, helmets, and weapons +that hung on the walls of the great hall, and to hide them in a secret +place. If the wooers missed them, he must say--first, that the smoke of +the fire was spoiling them; and, again, that they were better out of the +reach of the wooers, in case they quarrelled over their wine. Telemachus +must keep two swords, two spears, and two shields for himself and +Ulysses to use, if they saw a chance, and he must let neither man nor +woman know that the old beggar man was his father. + +While they were talking, one of the crew of Telemachus and the swineherd +went to Penelope and told her how her son had landed. On hearing this +the wooers held a council as to how they should behave to him: Antinous +was for killing him, but Amphinomus and Eurymachus were for waiting, and +seeing what would happen. Before Eumaeus came back from his errand to +Penelope, Athene changed Ulysses into the dirty old beggar again. + + + + +VIII + +ULYSSES COMES DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR TO HIS OWN PALACE + + +Next morning Telemachus went home, and comforted his mother, and told +her how he had been with Nestor and Menelaus, and seen her cousin, Helen +of the fair hands, but this did not seem to interest Penelope, who +thought that her beautiful cousin was the cause of all her misfortunes. +Then Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man whom Telemachus brought from +Pylos, prophesied to Penelope that Ulysses was now in Ithaca, taking +thought how he might kill the wooers, who were then practising +spear-throwing at a mark, while some of them were killing swine and a +cow for breakfast. + +Meanwhile Ulysses, in disguise, and the swineherd were coming near the +town, and there they met the goatherd, Melanthius, who was a friend of +the wooers, and an insolent and violent slave. He insulted the old +beggar, and advised him not to come near the house of Ulysses, and +kicked him off the road. Then Ulysses was tempted to slay him with his +hands, but he controlled himself lest he should be discovered, and he +and Eumaeus walked slowly to the palace. As they lingered outside the +court, lo! a hound raised up his head and pricked his ears, even where +he lay: Argos, the hound of Ulysses, of the hardy heart, which of old +himself had bred. Now in time past the young men used to lead the hound +against wild goats and deer and hares; but, as then, he lay despised +(his master being afar) in the deep dung of mules and kine, whereof an +ample bed was spread before the doors till the slaves of Ulysses should +carry it away to dung therewith his wide demesne. There lay the dog +Argos, full of vermin. Yet even now, when he was aware of Ulysses +standing by, he wagged his tail and dropped both his ears, but nearer to +his master he had not now the strength to draw. But Ulysses looked aside +and wiped away a tear that he easily hid from Eumaeus, and straightway +he asked him, saying: + +'Eumaeus, verily this is a great marvel: this hound lying here in the +dung. Truly he is goodly of growth, but I know not certainly if he have +speed with this beauty, or if he be comely only, like men's trencher +dogs that their lords keep for the pleasure of the eye.' + +Then answered the swineherd Eumaeus: 'In very truth this is the dog of a +man that has died in a far land. If he were what once he was in limb and +in the feats of the chase, when Ulysses left him to go to Troy, soon +wouldst thou marvel at the sight of his swiftness and his strength. +There was no beast that could flee from him in the deep places of the +wood when he was in pursuit; for even on a track he was the keenest +hound. But now he is holden in an evil case, and his lord hath perished +far from his own country, and the careless women take no charge of him.' + +Therewith he passed within the fair-lying house, and went straight to +the hall, to the company of the proud wooers. But upon Argos came death +even in the hour that he beheld Ulysses again, in the twentieth year. + +Thus the good dog knew Ulysses, though Penelope did not know him when +she saw him, and tears came into Ulysses' eyes as he stood above the +body of the hound that loved him well. Eumaeus went into the house, but +Ulysses sat down where it was the custom for beggars to sit, on the +wooden threshold outside the door of the hall. Telemachus saw him, from +his high seat under the pillars on each side of the fire, in the middle +of the room, and bade Eumaeus carry a loaf and a piece of pork to the +beggar, who laid them in his wallet between his feet, and ate. Then he +thought he would try if there were one courteous man among the wooers, +and he entered the hall and began to beg among them. Some gave him +crusts and bones, but Antinous caught up a footstool and struck him hard +on the shoulder. 'May death come upon Antinous before his wedding day!' +said Ulysses, and even the other wooers rebuked him for striking a +beggar. + +Penelope heard of this, and told Eumaeus to bring the beggar to her; she +thought he might have news of her husband. But Ulysses made Eumaeus say +that he had been struck once in the hall, and would not come to her +till after sunset, when the wooers left the house. Then Eumaeus went to +his own farmhouse, after telling Telemachus that he would come next day, +driving swine for the wooers to eat. + +Ulysses was the new beggar in Ithaca: he soon found that he had a rival, +an old familiar beggar, named Irus. This man came up to the palace, and +was angry when he saw a newcomer sitting in the doorway, 'Get up,' he +said, 'I ought to drag you away by the foot: begone before we quarrel!' +'There is room enough for both of us,' said Ulysses, 'do not anger me.' +Irus challenged him to fight, and the wooers thought this good sport, +and they made a ring, and promised that the winner should be +beggar-in-chief, and have the post to himself. Ulysses asked the wooers +to give him fair play, and not to interfere, and then he stripped his +shoulders, and kilted up his rags, showing strong arms and legs. As for +Irus he began to tremble, but Antinous forced him to fight, and the two +put up their hands. Irus struck at the shoulder of Ulysses, who hit him +with his right fist beneath the ear, and he fell, the blood gushing from +his mouth, and his heels drumming in the ground, and Ulysses dragged him +from the doorway and propped him against the wall of the court, while +the wooers laughed. Then Ulysses spoke gravely to Amphinomus, telling +him that it would be wise in him to go home, for that if Ulysses came +back it might not be so easy to escape his hands. + +After sunset Ulysses spoke so fiercely to the maidens of Penelope, who +insulted him, that they ran to their own rooms, but Eurymachus threw a +footstool at him. He slipped out of the way, and the stool hit the +cupbearer and knocked him down, and all was disorder in the hall. The +wooers themselves were weary of the noise and disorder, and went home to +the houses in the town where they slept. Then Telemachus and Ulysses, +being left alone, hid the shields and helmets and spears that hung on +the walls of the hall in an armoury within the house, and when this was +done Telemachus went to sleep in his own chamber, in the courtyard, and +Ulysses waited till Penelope should come into the hall. + +Ulysses sat in the dusky hall, where the wood in the braziers that gave +light had burned low, and waited to see the face of his wife, for whom +he had left beautiful Calypso. The maidens of Penelope came trooping, +laughing, and cleared away the food and the cups, and put faggots in the +braziers. They were all giddy girls, in love with the handsome wooers, +and one of them, Melantho, bade Ulysses go away, and sleep at the +blacksmith's forge, lest he should be beaten with a torch. Penelope +heard Melantho, whom she had herself brought up, and she rebuked her, +and ordered a chair to be brought for Ulysses. When he was seated, she +asked him who he was, and he praised her beauty, for she was still very +fair, but did not answer her question. She insisted that he should tell +her who he was, and he said that he was a Cretan prince, the younger +brother of Idomeneus, and that he did not go to fight in Troyland. In +Crete he stayed, and met Ulysses, who stopped there on his way to Troy, +and he entertained Ulysses for a fortnight. Penelope wept when she heard +that the stranger had seen her husband, but, as false stories were often +told to her by strangers who came to Ithaca, she asked how Ulysses was +dressed, and what manner of men were with him. + +The beggar said that Ulysses wore a double mantle of purple, clasped +with a gold brooch fastened by two safety pins (for these were used at +that time), and on the face of the brooch was a figure of a hound +holding a struggling fawn in his forepaws. (Many such brooches have been +found in the graves in Greece). Beneath his mantle Ulysses wore a +shining smock, smooth and glittering like the skin of an onion. Probably +it was made of silk: women greatly admired it. With him was a squire +named Eurybates, a brown, round-shouldered man. + +On hearing all this Penelope wept again and said that she herself had +given Ulysses the brooch and the garments. She now knew that the beggar +had really met Ulysses, and he went on to tell her that, in his +wanderings, he had heard how Ulysses was still alive, though he had lost +all his company, and that he had gone to Dodona in the west of Greece to +ask for advice from the oak tree of Zeus, the whispering oak tree, as to +how he should come home, openly or secretly. Certainly, he said, Ulysses +would return that year. + +Penelope was still unable to believe in such good news, but she bade +Eurycleia, the old nurse, wash the feet of the beggar in warm water, so +a foot bath was brought. Ulysses turned his face away from the +firelight, for the nurse said that he was very like her master. As she +washed his legs she noticed the long scar of the wound made by the boar, +when he hunted with his cousins, long ago, before he was married. The +nurse knew him now, and spoke to him in a whisper, calling him by his +name. But he caught her throat with his hand, and asked why she would +cause his death, for the wooers would slay him if they knew who he was. +Eurycleia called him her child, and promised that she would be silent, +and then she went to fetch more hot water, for she had let his foot +fall into the bath and upset it when she found the scar. + +When she had washed him, Penelope told the beggar that she could no +longer refuse to marry one of the wooers. Ulysses had left a great bow +in the house, the old bow of King Eurytus, that few could bend, and he +had left twelve iron axes, made with a round opening in the blade of +each. Axes of this shape have been found at Lacedaemon, where Helen +lived, so we know what the axes of Ulysses were like. When he was at +home he used to set twelve of them in a straight line, and shoot an +arrow through the twelve holes in the blades. Penelope therefore +intended, next day, to bring the bow and the axes to the wooers, and to +marry any one of them who could string the bow, and shoot an arrow +through the twelve axes. + +'I think,' said the beggar, 'that Ulysses will be here before any of the +wooers have bent his bow.' Then Penelope went to her upper chamber, and +Ulysses slept in an outer gallery of the house on piled-up sheep skins. + +There Ulysses lay, thinking how he might destroy all the wooers, and the +Goddess Athene came and comforted him, and, in the morning, he rose and +made his prayer to Zeus, asking for signs of his favour. There came, +first a peal of thunder, and then the voice of a woman, weak and old, +who was grinding corn to make bread for the wooers. All the other women +of the mill had done their work and were asleep, but she was feeble and +the round upper stone of the quern, that she rolled on the corn above +the under stone, was too heavy for her. + +She prayed, and said, 'Father Zeus, King of Gods and men, loudly hast +thou thundered. Grant to me my prayer, unhappy as I am. May this be the +last day of the feasting of the wooers in the hall of Ulysses: they +have loosened my knees with cruel labour in grinding barley for them: +may they now sup their last!' Hearing this prayer Ulysses was glad, for +he thought it a lucky sign. Soon the servants were at work, and Eumaeus +came with swine, and was as courteous to the beggar as Melanthius, who +brought some goats, was insolent. The cowherd, called Philoetius, also +arrived; he hated the wooers, and spoke friendly to the beggar. Last +appeared the wooers, and went in to their meal, while Telemachus bade +the beggar sit on a seat just within the hall, and told the servants to +give him as good a share of the food as any of them received. One wooer, +Ctesippus, said: 'His fair share this beggar man has had, as is right, +but I will give him a present over and above it!' Then he picked up the +foot of an ox, and threw it with all his might at Ulysses, who merely +moved aside, and the ox foot struck the wall. + +Telemachus rebuked him, and the wooers began to laugh wildly and to +weep, they knew not why, but Theoclymenus, the second-sighted man, knew +that they were all fey men, that is, doomed to die, for such men are gay +without reason. 'Unhappy that you are,' cried Theoclymenus, 'what is +coming upon you? I see shrouds covering you about your knees and about +your faces, and tears are on your cheeks, and the walls and the pillars +of the roof are dripping blood, and in the porch and the court are your +fetches, shadows of yourselves, hurrying hellward, and the sun is +darkened.' + +On this all the wooers laughed, and advised him to go out of doors, +where he would see that the sun was shining. 'My eyes and ears serve me +well,' said the second-sighted man, 'but out I will go, seeking no more +of your company, for death is coming on every man of you.' Then he +arose and went to the house of Piraeus, the friend of Telemachus. The +wooers laughed all the louder, as fey men do, and told Telemachus that +he was unlucky in his guests: one a beggar, the other a madman. But +Telemachus kept watching his father while the wooers were cooking a meal +that they did not live to enjoy. + +Through the crowd of them came Penelope, holding in her hand the great +bow of Eurytus, and a quiver full of arrows, while her maidens followed, +carrying the chest in which lay the twelve iron axes. She stood up, +stately and scornful, among the wooers, and told them that, as marry she +must, she would take the man who could string the bow and shoot the +arrow through the axes. Telemachus said that he would make the first +trial, and that, if he succeeded, he would not allow any man of the +wooers to take his mother away with him from her own house. Then thrice +he tried to string the bow, and the fourth time he would have strung it, +but Ulysses made a sign to him, and he put it down. 'I am too weak,' he +said, 'let a stronger man achieve this adventure.' So they tried each in +turn, beginning with the man who sat next the great mixing-bowl of wine, +and so each rising in his turn. + +First their prophet tried, Leiodes the Seer, who sat next the bowl, but +his white hands were too weak, and he prophesied, saying that the bow +would be the death of all of them. Then Antinous bade the goatherd light +a fire, and bring grease to heat the bow, and make it more supple. They +warmed and greased the bow, and one after another tried to bend it. +Eumaeus and the cowherd went out into the court, and Ulysses followed +them. 'Whose side would you two take,' he asked, 'if Ulysses came home? +Would you fight for him or for the wooers?' 'For Ulysses!' they both +cried, 'and would that he was come indeed!' 'He is come, and I am he!' +said Ulysses. Then he promised to give them lands of their own if he was +victorious, and he showed them the scar on his thigh that the boar dealt +with his white tusk, long ago. The two men kissed him and shed tears of +joy, and Ulysses said that he would go back first into the hall, and +that they were to follow him. He would ask to be allowed to try to bend +the bow, and Eumaeus, whatever the wooers said, must place it in his +hands, and then see that the women were locked up in their own separate +hall. Philoetius was to fasten the door leading from the courtyard into +the road. Ulysses then went back to his seat in the hall, near the door, +and his servants followed. + +Eurymachus was trying in vain to bend the bow, and Antinous proposed to +put off the trial till next day, and then sacrifice to the God Apollo, +and make fresh efforts. They began to drink, but Ulysses asked to be +allowed to try if he could string the bow. They told him that wine had +made him impudent, and threatened to put him in a ship and send him to +King Echetus, an ogre, who would cut him to pieces. But Penelope said +that the beggar must try his strength; not that she would marry him, if +he succeeded. She would only give him new clothes, a sword, and a spear, +and send him wherever he wanted to go. Telemachus cried out that the bow +was his own; he would make a present of it to the beggar if he chose; +and he bade his mother join her maidens, and work at her weaving. She +was amazed to hear her son speak like the master of the house, and she +went upstairs with her maidens to her own room. + +Eumaeus was carrying the bow to Ulysses, when the wooers made such an +uproar that he laid it down, in fear for his life. But Telemachus +threatened to punish him if he did not obey his master, so he placed the +bow in the hands of Ulysses, and then went and told Eurycleia to lock +the women servants up in their own separate hall. Philoetius slipped +into the courtyard, and made the gates fast with a strong rope, and then +came back, and watched Ulysses, who was turning the bow this way and +that, to see if the horns were still sound, for horns were then used in +bow making. The wooers were mocking him, but suddenly he bent and strung +the great bow as easily as a harper fastens a new string to his harp. He +tried the string, and it twanged like the note of a swallow. He took up +an arrow that lay on the table (the others were in the quiver beside +him), he fitted it to the string, and from the chair where he sat he +shot it through all the twelve axe heads. 'Your guest has done you no +dishonour, Telemachus,' he said, 'but surely it is time to eat,' and he +nodded. Telemachus drew his sword, took a spear in his left hand, and +stood up beside Ulysses. + + + + +IX + +THE SLAYING OF THE WOOERS + + +Ulysses let all his rags fall down, and with one leap he reached the +high threshold, the door being behind him, and he dropped, the arrows +from the quiver at his feet. 'Now,' he said, 'I will strike another mark +that no man yet has stricken!' He aimed the arrow at Antinous, who was +drinking out of a golden cup. The arrow passed clean through the throat +of Antinous; he fell, the cup rang on the ground, and the wooers leaped +up, looking round the walls for shields and spears, but the walls were +bare. + +'Thou shalt die, and vultures shall devour thee,' they shouted, thinking +the beggar had let the arrow fly by mischance. + +'Dogs!' he answered, 'ye said that never should I come home from Troy; +ye wasted my goods, and insulted my wife, and had no fear of the Gods, +but now the day of death has come upon you! Fight or flee, if you may, +but some shall not escape!' + +'Draw your blades!' cried Eurymachus to the others; 'draw your blades, +and hold up the tables as shields against this man's arrows. Have at +him, and drive him from the doorway.' He drew his own sword, and leaped +on Ulysses with a cry, but the swift arrow pierced his breast, and he +fell and died. Then Amphinomus rushed towards Ulysses, but Telemachus +sent his spear from behind through his shoulders. He could not draw +forth the spear, but he ran to his father, and said, 'Let me bring +shields, spears, and helmets from the inner chamber, for us, and for the +swineherd and cowherd.' 'Go!' said Ulysses, and Telemachus ran through a +narrow doorway, down a gallery to the secret chamber, and brought four +shields, four helmets, and eight spears, and the men armed themselves, +while Ulysses kept shooting down the wooers. When his arrows were spent +he armed himself, protected by the other three. But the goatherd, +Melanthius, knew a way of reaching the armoury, and he climbed up, and +brought twelve helmets, spears, and shields to the wooers. + +[Illustration: ULYSSES SHOOTS THE FIRST ARROW AT THE WOOERS.] + +Ulysses thought that one of the women was showering down the weapons +into the hall, but the swineherd and cowherd went to the armoury, +through the doorway, as Telemachus had gone, and there they caught +Melanthius, and bound him like a bundle, with a rope, and, throwing the +rope over a rafter, dragged him up, and fastened him there, and left him +swinging. Then they ran back to Ulysses, four men keeping the doorway +against all the wooers that were not yet slain. But the Goddess Athene +appeared to Ulysses, in the form of Mentor, and gave him courage. He +needed it, for the wooers, having spears, threw them in volleys, six at +a time, at the four. They missed, but the spears of the four slew each +his man. Again the wooers threw, and dealt two or three slight wounds, +but the spears of the four were winged with death. They charged, +striking with spear and sword, into the crowd, who lost heart, and flew +here and there, crying for mercy and falling at every blow. Ulysses slew +the prophet, Leiodes, but Phemius, the minstrel, he spared, for he had +done no wrong, and Medon, a slave, crept out from beneath an ox hide, +where he had been lying, and asked Telemachus to pity him, and Ulysses +sent him and the minstrel into the courtyard, where they sat trembling. +All the rest of the wooers lay dead in heaps, like heaps of fish on the +sea shore, when they have been netted, and drawn to land. + +Then Ulysses sent Telemachus to bring Eurycleia, who, when she came and +saw the wooers dead, raised a scream of joy, but Ulysses said 'it is an +unholy thing to boast over dead men.' He bade Telemachus and the +servants carry the corpses into the courtyard, and he made the women +wash and clean the hall, and the seats, and tables, and the pillars. +When all was clean, they took Melanthius and slew him, and then they +washed themselves, and the maidens who were faithful to Penelope came +out of their rooms, with torches in their hands, for it was now night, +and they kissed Ulysses with tears of joy. These were not young women, +for Ulysses remembered all of them. + +Meanwhile old Eurycleia ran to tell Penelope all the good news: up the +stairs to her chamber she ran, tripping, and falling, and rising, and +laughing for joy. In she came and awakened Penelope, saying: + +'Come and see what you have long desired: Ulysses in his own house, and +all the wicked wooers slain by the sword.' 'Surely you are mad, dear +nurse,' said Penelope, 'to waken me with such a wild story. Never have I +slept so sound since Ulysses went to that ill Ilios, never to be named. +Angry would I have been with any of the girls that wakened me with such +a silly story; but you are old: go back to the women's working room.' +The good nurse answered: 'Indeed, I tell you no silly tale. Indeed he is +in the hall; he is that poor guest whom all men struck and insulted, but +Telemachus knew his father.' + +Then Penelope leaped up gladly, and kissed the nurse, but yet she was +not sure that her husband had come, she feared that it might be some God +disguised as a man, or some evil man pretending to be Ulysses. 'Surely +Ulysses has met his death far away,' she said, and though Eurycleia +vowed that she herself had seen the scar dealt by the boar, long ago, +she would not be convinced. 'None the less,' she said, 'let us go and +see my son, and the wooers lying dead, and the man who slew them.' So +they went down the stairs and along a gallery on the ground floor that +led into the courtyard, and so entered the door of the hall, and crossed +the high stone threshold on which Ulysses stood when he shot down +Antinous. Penelope went up to the hearth and sat opposite Ulysses, who +was leaning against one of the four tall pillars that supported the +roof; there she sat and gazed at him, still wearing his rags, and still +not cleansed from the blood of battle. She did not know him, and was +silent, though Telemachus called her hard of belief and cold of heart. + +'My child,' she said, 'I am bewildered, and can hardly speak, but if +this man is Ulysses, he knows things unknown to any except him and me.' +Then Ulysses bade Telemachus go to the baths and wash, and put on fresh +garments, and bade the maidens bring the minstrel to play music, while +they danced in the hall. In the town the friends and kinsfolk of the +wooers did not know that they were dead, and when they heard the music +they would not guess that anything strange had happened. It was +necessary that nobody should know, for, if the kinsfolk of the dead men +learned the truth, they would seek to take revenge, and might burn down +the house. Indeed, Ulysses was still in great danger, for the law was +that the brothers and cousins of slain men must slay their slayers, and +the dead were many, and had many clansmen. + +Now Eurynome bathed Ulysses himself, and anointed him with oil, and clad +him in new raiment, so that he looked like himself again, full of +strength and beauty. He sat down on his own high seat beside the fire, +and said: 'Lady, you are the fairest and most cruel Queen alive. No +other woman would harden her heart against her husband, come home +through many dangers after so many years. 'Nurse,' he cried to +Eurycleia, 'strew me a bed to lie alone, for her heart is hard as iron.' + +Now Penelope put him to a trial. 'Eurycleia,' she said, 'strew a bed for +him outside the bridal chamber that he built for himself, and bring the +good bedstead out of that room for him.' + +'How can any man bring out that bedstead?' said Ulysses, 'did I not make +it with my own hands, with a standing tree for the bedpost? No man could +move that bed unless he first cut down the tree trunk.' + +Then at last Penelope ran to Ulysses and threw her arms round his neck, +kissing him, and said: 'Do not be angry, for always I have feared that +some strange man of cunning would come and deceive me, pretending to be +my lord. But now you have told me the secret of the bed, which no mortal +has ever seen or knows but you and I, and my maiden whom I brought from +my own home, and who kept the doors of our chamber.' Then they embraced, +and it seemed as if her white arms would never quite leave their hold on +his neck. + +Ulysses told her many things, all the story of his wanderings, and how +he must wander again, on land, not on the sea, till he came to the +country of men who had never seen salt. 'The Gods will defend you and +bring you home to your rest in the end,' said Penelope, and then they +went to their own chamber, and Eurynome went before them with lighted +torches in her hands, for the Gods had brought them to the haven where +they would be. + + + + +X + +THE END + + +With the coming of the golden dawn Ulysses awoke, for he had still much +to do. He and Telemachus and the cowherd and Eumaeus put on full armour, +and took swords and spears, and walked to the farm where old Laertes, +the father of Ulysses, lived among his servants and worked in his +garden. Ulysses sent the others into the farmhouse to bid the old +housekeeper get breakfast ready, and he went alone to the vines, being +sure that his father was at work among them. + +There the old man was, in his rough gardening clothes, with leather +gloves on, and patched leather leggings, digging hard. His servants had +gone to gather loose stones to make a rough stone dyke, and he was all +alone. He never looked up till Ulysses went to him, and asked him whose +slave he was, and who owned the garden. He said that he was a stranger +in Ithaca, but that he had once met the king of the island, who declared +that one Laertes was his father. + +Laertes was amazed at seeing a warrior all in mail come into his garden, +but said that he was the father of Ulysses, who had long been unheard of +and unseen. 'And who are you?' he asked. 'Where is your own country?' +Ulysses said that he came from Sicily, and that he had met Ulysses five +years ago, and hoped that by this time he had come home. + +Then the old man sat down and wept, and cast dust on his head, for +Ulysses had not arrived from Sicily in five long years; certainly he +must be dead. Ulysses could not bear to see his father weep, and told +him that he was himself, come home at last, and that he had killed all +the wooers. + +But Laertes asked him to prove that he really was Ulysses, so he showed +the scar on his leg, and, looking round the garden, he said: 'Come, I +will show you the very trees that you gave me when I was a little boy +running about after you, and asking you for one thing or another, as +children do. These thirteen pear trees are my very own; you gave them to +me, and mine are these fifty rows of vines, and these forty fig trees.' + +Then Laertes was fainting for joy, but Ulysses caught him in his arms +and comforted him. But, when he came to himself, he sighed, and said: +'How shall we meet the feud of all the kin of the slain men in Ithaca +and the other islands?' 'Be of good courage, father,' said Ulysses. 'And +now let us go to the farmhouse and breakfast with Telemachus.' + +So Laertes first went to the baths, and then put on fresh raiment, and +Ulysses wondered to see him look so straight and strong. 'Would I were +as strong as when I took the castle of Nericus, long ago,' said the old +man, 'and would that I had been in the fight against the wooers!' Then +all the old man's servants came in, overjoyed at the return of Ulysses, +and they breakfasted merrily together. + +By this time all the people in the town knew that the wooers had been +slain, and they crowded to the house of Ulysses in great sorrow, and +gathered their dead and buried them, and then met in the market place. +The father of Antinous, Eupeithes, spoke, and said that they would all +be dishonoured if they did not slay Ulysses before he could escape to +Nestor's house in Pylos. It was in vain that an old prophet told them +that the young men had deserved their death. The most of the men ran +home and put on armour, and Eupeithes led them towards the farm of +Laertes, all in shining mail. But the Gods in heaven had a care for +Ulysses, and sent Athene to make peace between him and his subjects. + +She did not come too soon, for the avengers were drawing near the +farmhouse, which had a garrison of only twelve men: Ulysses, Laertes, +Telemachus, the swineherd, the cowherd, and servants of Laertes. They +all armed themselves, and not choosing to defend the house, they went +boldly out to meet their enemies. They encouraged each other, and +Laertes prayed to Athene, and then threw his spear at Eupeithes. The +spear passed clean through helmet and through head, and Eupeithes fell +with a crash, and his armour rattled as he fell. But now Athene +appeared, and cried: 'Hold your hands, ye men of Ithaca, that no more +blood may be shed, and peace may be made.' The foes of Ulysses, hearing +the terrible voice of the Goddess, turned and fled, and Ulysses uttered +his war-cry, and was rushing among them, when a thunderbolt fell at his +feet, and Athene bade him stop, lest he should anger Zeus, the Lord of +Thunder. Gladly he obeyed, and peace was made with oaths and with +sacrifice, peace in Ithaca and the islands. + +Here ends the story of Ulysses, Laertes' son, for we do not know +anything about his adventures when he went to seek a land of men who +never heard of the sea, nor eat meat savoured with salt. + + + + +THE FLEECE OF GOLD + + + + +I + +THE CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD + + +While Troy still stood fast, and before King Priam was born, there was a +king called Athamas, who reigned in a country beside the Grecian sea. +Athamas was a young man, and was unmarried; because none of the +princesses who then lived seemed to him beautiful enough to be his wife. +One day he left his palace and climbed high up into a mountain, +following the course of a little river. He came to a place where a great +black rock stood on one side of the river, jutting into the stream. +Round the rock the water flowed deep and dark. Yet, through the noise of +the river, the king thought he heard laughter and voices like the voices +of girls. So he climbed very quietly up the back of the rock, and, +looking over the edge, there he saw three beautiful maidens bathing in a +pool, and splashing each other with the water. Their long yellow hair +covered them like cloaks and floated behind them on the pool. One of +them was even more beautiful than the others, and as soon as he saw her +the king fell in love with her, and said to himself, 'This is the wife +for me.' + +As he thought this, his arm touched a stone, which slipped from the top +of the rock where he lay, and went leaping, faster and faster as it +fell, till it dropped with a splash into the pool below. Then the three +maidens heard it, and were frightened, thinking some one was near. So +they rushed out of the pool to the grassy bank where their clothes lay, +lovely soft clothes, white and gray, and rosy-coloured, all shining with +pearl drops, and diamonds like dew. + +In a moment they had dressed, and then it was as if they had wings, for +they rose gently from the ground, and floated softly up and up the +windings of the brook. Here and there among the green tops of the +mountain-ash trees the king could just see the white robes shining and +disappearing, and shining again, till they rose far off like a mist, and +so up and up into the sky, and at last he only followed them with his +eyes, as they floated like clouds among the other clouds across the +blue. All day he watched them, and at sunset he saw them sink, golden +and rose-coloured and purple, and go down into the dark with the setting +sun. + +The king went home to his palace, but he was very unhappy, and nothing +gave him any pleasure. All day he roamed about among the hills, and +looked for the beautiful girls, but he never found them, and all night +he dreamed about them, till he grew thin and pale and was like to die. + +Now, the way with sick men then was that they made a pilgrimage to the +temple of a god, and in the temple they offered sacrifices. Then they +hoped that the god would appear to them in a dream, or send them a true +dream at least, and tell them how they might be made well again. So the +king drove in his chariot a long way, to the town where this temple was. +When he reached it, he found it a strange place. The priests were +dressed in dogs' skins, with the heads of the dogs drawn down over +their faces, and there were live dogs running all about the shrines, for +they were the favourite beasts of the god, whose name was Asclepius. +There was an image of him, with a dog crouched at his feet, and in his +hand he held a serpent, and fed it from a bowl. + +The king sacrificed before the god, and when night fell he was taken +into the temple, and there were many beds strewn on the floor and many +people lying on them, both rich and poor, hoping that the god would +appear to them in a dream, and tell them how they might be healed. There +the king lay, like the rest, and for long he could not close his eyes. +At length he slept, and he dreamed a dream. But it was not the god of +the temple that he saw in his dream; he saw a beautiful lady, she seemed +to float above him in a chariot drawn by doves, and all about her was a +crowd of chattering sparrows, and he knew that she was Aphrodite, the +Queen of Love. She was more beautiful than any woman in the world, and +she smiled as she looked at the king, and said, 'Oh, King Athamas, you +are sick for love! Now this you must do: go home and on the first night +of the new moon, climb the hills to that place where you saw the Three +Maidens. In the dawn they will come again to the river, and bathe in the +pool. Then do you creep out of the wood, and steal the clothes of her +you love, and she will not be able to fly away with the rest, and she +will be your wife.' + +Then she smiled again, and her doves bore her away, and the king woke, +and remembered the dream, and thanked the lady in his heart, for he knew +that she was a goddess, the Queen of Love. + +[Illustration: KING ATHAMAS STEALS NEPHELE'S CLOTHES SO THAT SHE CANNOT +FLOAT AWAY WITH HER SISTERS.] + +Then he drove home, and did all that he had been told to do. On the +first night of the new moon, when she shines like a thin gold thread in +the sky, he left his palace, and climbed up through the hills, and hid +in the wood by the edge of the pool. When the dawn began to shine +silvery, he heard voices, and saw the three girls come floating through +the trees, and alight on the river bank, and undress, and run into the +water. There they bathed, and splashed each other with the water, +laughing in their play. Then he stole to the grassy bank, and seized the +clothes of the most beautiful of the three; and they heard him move, and +rushed out to their clothes. Two of them were clad in a moment, and +floated away up the glen, but the third crouched sobbing and weeping +under the thick cloak of her yellow hair. Then she prayed the king to +give her back her soft gray and rose-coloured raiment, but he would not +till she had promised to be his wife. And he told her how long he had +loved her, and how the goddess had sent him to be her husband, and at +last she promised, and took his hand, and in her shining robes went down +the hill with him to the palace. But he felt as if he walked on the air, +and she scarcely seemed to touch the ground with her feet. She told him +that her name was Nephele, which meant 'a cloud,' in their language, and +that she was one of the Cloud Fairies who bring the rain, and live on +the hilltops, and in the high lakes, and water springs, and in the sky. + +So they were married, and lived very happily, and had two children, a +boy called Phrixus, and a daughter named Helle. The two children had a +beautiful pet, a Ram with a fleece all of gold, which was given them by +the young god called Hermes, a beautiful god, with wings on his +shoon,--for these were the very Shoon of Swiftness, that he lent +afterwards to the boy, Perseus, who slew the Gorgon, and took her head. +This Ram the children used to play with, and they would ride on his +back, and roll about with him on the flowery meadows. + +They would all have been happy, but for one thing. When there were +clouds in the sky, and when there was rain, then their mother, Nephele, +was always with them; but when the summer days were hot and cloudless, +then she went away, they did not know where. The long dry days made her +grow pale and thin, and, at last, she would vanish altogether, and never +come again, till the sky grew soft and gray with rain. + +King Athamas grew weary of this, for often his wife would be long away. +Besides there was a very beautiful girl called Ino, a dark girl, who had +come in a ship of Phoenician merchantmen, and had stayed in the city +of the king when her friends sailed from Greece. The king saw her, and +often she would be at the palace, playing with the children when their +mother had disappeared with the Clouds, her sisters. + +This Ino was a witch, and one day she put a drug into the king's wine, +and when he had drunk it, he quite forgot Nephele, his wife, and fell in +love with Ino. At last he married her, and they had two children, a boy +and a girl, and Ino wore the crown, and was queen, and gave orders that +Nephele should never be allowed to enter the palace any more. So Phrixus +and Helle never saw their mother, and they were dressed in ragged old +skins of deer, and were ill fed, and were set to do hard work in the +house, while the children of Ino wore gold crowns in their hair, and +were dressed in fine raiment, and had the best of everything. + +One day when Phrixus and Helle were in the field, herding the sheep (for +now they were treated like peasant children, and had to work for their +bread), they met an old woman, all wrinkled, and poorly clothed, and +they took pity on her, and brought her home with them. Queen Ino saw +her, and as she wanted a nurse for her own children, she took her in to +be the nurse, and the old woman had charge of the children, and lived in +the house, and she was kind to Phrixus and Helle. But neither of them +knew that she was their own mother, Nephele, who had disguised herself +as an old woman and a servant, that she might be with her children. + +Phrixus and Helle grew strong and tall, and more beautiful than Ino's +children, so she hated them, and determined, at last, to kill them. They +all slept at night in one room, but Ino's children had gold crowns in +their hair, and beautiful coverlets on their beds. One night, Phrixus +was half awake, and he heard the old nurse come, in the dark, and put +something on his head, and on his sister's, and change their coverlets. +But he was so drowsy that he half thought it was a dream, and he lay and +fell asleep. In the dead of night, the wicked stepmother, Ino, crept +into the room with a dagger in her hand, and she stole up to the bed of +Phrixus, and felt his hair, and his coverlet. Then she went softly to +the bed of Helle, and felt her coverlet, and her hair with the gold +crown on it. So she supposed these to be her own children, and she +kissed them in the dark, and went to the beds of the other two children. +She felt their heads, and they had no crowns on, so she killed them, +supposing that they were Phrixus and Helle. Then she crept downstairs +and went back to bed. + +In the morning, there lay the stepmother Ino's children cold and dead, +and nobody knew who had killed them. Only the wicked queen knew, and +she, of course, would not tell of herself, but if she hated Phrixus and +Helle before, now she hated them a hundred times worse than ever. But +the old nurse was gone; nobody ever saw her there again, and everybody +but the queen thought that _she_ had killed the two children. Everywhere +the king sought for her, to burn her alive, but he never found her, for +she had gone back to her sisters, the Clouds. + +And the Clouds were gone, too! For six long months, from winter to +harvest time, the rain never fell. The country was burned up, the trees +grew black and dry, there was no water in the streams, the corn turned +yellow and died before it was come into the ear. The people were +starving, the cattle and sheep were perishing, for there was no grass. +And every day the sun rose hot and red, and went blazing through the sky +without a cloud. + +Here the wicked stepmother, Ino, saw her chance. The king sent +messengers to Pytho, to consult the prophetess, and to find out what +should be done to bring back the clouds and the rain. Then Ino took the +messengers, before they set out on their journey, and gave them gold, +and threatened also to kill them, if they did not bring the message she +wished from the prophetess. Now this message was that Phrixus and Helle +must be burned as a sacrifice to the gods. + +So the messengers went, and came back dressed in mourning. And when they +were brought before the king, at first they would tell him nothing. But +he commanded them to speak, and then they told him, not the real message +from the prophetess, but what Ino had bidden them to say: that Phrixus +and Helle must be offered as a sacrifice to appease the gods. + +The king was very sorrowful at this news, but he could not disobey the +gods. So poor Phrixus and Helle were wreathed with flowers, as sheep +used to be when they were led to be sacrificed, and they were taken to +the altar, all the people following and weeping, and the Golden Ram went +between them, as they walked to the temple. Then they came within sight +of the sea, which lay beneath the cliff where the temple stood, all +glittering in the sun, and the happy white sea-birds flying over it. + +Here the Ram stopped, and suddenly he spoke to Phrixus, for the god gave +him utterance, and said: 'Lay hold of my horn, and get on my back, and +let Helle climb up behind you, and I will carry you far away.' + +Then Phrixus took hold of the Ram's horn, and Helle mounted behind him, +and grasped the golden fleece, and suddenly the Ram rose in the air, and +flew above the people's heads, far away over the sea. + +Far away to the eastward he flew, and deep below them they saw the sea, +and the islands, and the white towers and temples, and the fields, and +ships. Eastward always he went, toward the sun-rising, and Helle grew +dizzy and weary. At last a deep sleep came over her, and she let go her +hold of the Fleece, and fell from the Ram's back, down and down, into +the narrow seas, that run between Europe and Asia, and there she was +drowned. And that strait is called Helle's Ford, or Hellespont, to this +day. + +But Phrixus and the Ram flew on up the narrow seas, and over the great +sea which the Greeks called the Euxine and we call the Black Sea, till +they reached a country named Colchis. There the Ram alighted, so tired +and weary that he died, and Phrixus had his beautiful Golden Fleece +stripped off, and hung on an oak tree in a dark wood. And there it was +guarded by a monstrous Dragon, so that nobody dared to go near it. And +Phrixus married the king's daughter, and lived long, till he died also, +and a king called Aetes, the brother of the enchantress, Circe, ruled +that country. Of all the things he had, the rarest was the Golden +Fleece, and it became a proverb that nobody could take that Fleece away, +nor deceive the Dragon who guarded it. + + + + +II + +THE SEARCH FOR THE FLEECE + + +Some years after the Golden Ram died in Colchis, far across the sea, a +certain king reigned in Iolcos in Greece, and his name was Pelias. He +was not the rightful king, for he had turned his stepbrother, King Aeson, +from the throne, and taken it for himself. Now, Aeson had a son, a boy +called Jason, and he sent him far away from Pelias, up into the +mountains. In these hills there was a great cave, and in that cave lived +Chiron the Wise, who, the story says, was half a horse. He had the head +and breast of a man, but a horse's body and legs. He was famed for +knowing more about everything than anyone else in all Greece. He knew +about the stars, and the plants of earth, which were good for medicine +and which were poisonous. He was the best archer with the bow, and the +best player of the harp; he could sing songs and tell stories of old +times, for he was the last of a people, half horse and half man, who had +dwelt in ancient days on the hills. Therefore the kings in Greece sent +their sons to him to be taught shooting, singing, and telling the truth, +and that was all the teaching they had then, except that they learned to +hunt, fish, and fight, and throw spears, and toss the hammer and the +stone. There Jason lived with Chiron and the boys in the cave, and many +of the boys became famous. + +There was Orpheus who played the harp so sweetly that wild beasts +followed his minstrelsy, and even the trees danced after him, and +settled where he stopped playing. There was Mopsus who could understand +what the birds say to each other; and there was Butes, the handsomest of +men; and Tiphys, the best steersman of a ship; and Castor, with his +brother Polydeuces, the boxer. Heracles, too, the strongest man in the +whole world, was there; and Lynceus, whom they called Keen-eye, because +he could see so far, and could see even the dead men in their graves +under the earth. There was Ephemus, so swift and light-footed that he +could run upon the gray sea and never wet his feet; and there were +Calais and Zetes, the two sons of the North Wind, with golden wings upon +their feet. There also was Peleus, who later married Thetis of the +silver feet, goddess of the sea foam, and was the father of Achilles. +Many others were there whose names it would take too long to tell. They +all grew up together in the hills good friends, healthy, and brave, and +strong. And they all went out to their own homes at last; but Jason had +no home to go to, for his uncle, Pelias, had taken it, and his father +was a wanderer. + +So at last he wearied of being alone, and he said good-bye to his +teacher, and went down through the hills toward Iolcos, his father's old +home, where his wicked uncle Pelias was reigning. As he went, he came to +a great, flooded river, running red from bank to bank, rolling the round +boulders along. And there on the bank was an old woman sitting. + +'Cannot you cross, mother?' said Jason; and she said she could not, but +must wait until the flood fell, for there was no bridge. + +'I'll carry you across,' said Jason, 'if you will let me carry you.' + +So she thanked him, and said it was a kind deed, for she was longing to +reach the cottage where her little grandson lay sick. + +Then he knelt down, and she climbed upon his back, and he used his spear +for a staff, and stepped into the river. It was deeper than he thought, +and stronger, but at last he staggered out on the farther bank, far +below where he went in. And then he set the old woman down. + +'Bless you, my lad, for a strong man and a brave!' she said, 'and my +blessing go with you to the world's end.' + +Then he looked and she was gone he did not know where, for she was the +greatest of the goddesses, Hera, the wife of Zeus, who had taken the +shape of an old woman, to try Jason, whether he was kind and strong, or +rude and churlish. From this day her grace went with him, and she helped +him in all dangers. + +Then Jason went down limping to the city, for he had lost one shoe in +the flood. And when he reached the town he went straight up to the +palace, and through the court, and into the open door, and up the hall, +where the king was sitting at his table among his men. There Jason +stood, leaning on his spear. + +When the king saw him he turned white with terror. For he had been told +by the prophetess of Pytho that a man with only one shoe would come some +day and take away his kingdom. And here was the half-shod man of whom +the prophecy had spoken. + +But Pelias still remembered to be courteous, and he bade his men lead +the stranger to the baths, and there the attendants bathed him, pouring +hot water over him. And they anointed his head with oil, and clothed him +in new raiment, and brought him back to the hall, and set him down at a +table beside the king, and gave him meat and drink. + +When he had eaten and was refreshed, the king said: 'Now it is time to +ask the stranger who he is, and who his parents are, and whence he comes +to Iolcos?' + +And Jason answered, 'I am Jason, son of the rightful king, Aeson, and I +am come to take back my kingdom.' + +The king grew pale again, but he was cunning, and he leaped up and +embraced the lad, and made much of him, and caused a gold circlet to be +twisted in his hair. Then he said he was old, and weary of judging the +people. 'And weary work it is,' he said, 'and no joy therewith shall any +king have. For there is a curse on the country, that shall not be taken +away till the Fleece of Gold is brought home, from the land of the +world's end. The ghost of Phrixus stands by my bedside every night, +wailing and will not be comforted, till the Fleece is brought home +again.' + +When Jason heard that he cried, 'I shall take the curse away, for by the +splendour of Lady Hera's brow, I shall bring the Fleece of Gold from the +land of the world's end before I sit on the throne of my father.' + +Now this was the very thing that the king wished, for he thought that if +once Jason went after the Fleece, certainly he would never come back +living to Iolcos. So he said that it could never be done, for the land +was far away across the sea, so far that the birds could not come and go +in one year, so great a sea was that and perilous. Also, there was a +dragon that guarded the Fleece of Gold, and no man could face it and +live. + +But the idea of fighting a dragon was itself a temptation to Jason, and +he made a great vow by the water of Styx, an oath the very gods feared +to break, that certainly he would bring home that Fleece to Iolcos. And +he sent out messengers all over Greece, to all his old friends, who were +with him in the Centaur's cave, and bade them come and help him, for +that there was a dragon to kill, and that there would be fighting. And +they all came, driving in their chariots down dales and across hills: +Heracles, the strong man, with the bow that none other could bend; and +Orpheus with his harp, and Castor and Polydeuces, and Zetes and Calais +of the golden wings, and Tiphys, the steersman, and young Hylas, still a +boy, and as fair as a girl, who always went with Heracles the strong. + +These came, and many more, and they set shipbuilders to work, and oaks +were felled for beams, and ashes for oars, and spears were made, and +arrows feathered, and swords sharpened. But in the prow of the ship they +placed a bough of an oak tree from the forest of Zeus in Dodona where +the trees can speak, and that bough spoke, and prophesied things to +come. They called the ship 'Argo,' and they launched her, and put bread, +and meat, and wine on board, and hung their shields outside the +bulwarks. Then they said good-bye to their friends, went aboard, sat +down at the oars, set sail, and so away eastward to Colchis, in the land +of the world's end. + +All day they rowed, and at night they beached the ship, as was then the +custom, for they did not sail at night, and they went on shore, and took +supper, and slept, and next day to the sea again. And old Chiron, the +man-horse, saw the swift ship from his mountain heights, and ran down +to the beach; there he stood with the waves of the gray sea breaking +over his feet, waving with his mighty hands, and wishing his boys a safe +return. And his wife stood beside him, holding in her arms the little +son of one of the ship's company, Achilles, the son of Peleus of the +Spear, and of Thetis the goddess of the Sea Foam. + +So they rowed ever eastward, and ere long they came to a strange isle +where dwelt men with six hands apiece, unruly giants. And these giants +lay in wait for them on cliffs above the river's mouth where the ship +was moored, and before the dawn they rolled down great rocks on the +crew. But Heracles drew his huge bow, the bow for which he slew Eurytus, +king of Oechalia, and wherever a giant showed hand or shoulder above the +cliff, he pinned him through with an arrow, till all were slain. After +that they still held eastward, passing many islands, and towns of men, +till they reached Mysia, and the Asian shore. Here they landed, with bad +luck. For while they were cutting reeds and grass to strew their beds on +the sands, young Hylas, beautiful Hylas, went off with a pitcher in his +hand to draw water. He came to a beautiful spring, a deep, clear, green +pool, and there the water-fairies lived, whom men called Nereids. There +were Eunis, and Nycheia with her April eyes, and when they saw the +beautiful Hylas, they longed to have him always with them, to live in +the crystal caves beneath the water, for they had never seen anyone so +beautiful. As he stooped with his pitcher and dipped it into the stream, +they caught him softly in their arms, and drew him down below, and no +man ever saw him any more, but he dwelt with the water-fairies. + +But Heracles the strong, who loved him like a younger brother, wandered +all over the country crying '_Hylas! Hylas!_' and the boy's voice +answered so faintly from below the stream that Heracles never heard him. +So he roamed alone in the forests, and the rest of the crew thought he +was lost. + +Then the sons of the North Wind were angry, and bade them set sail +without him, and sail they did, leaving the strong man behind. Long +afterward, when the Fleece was won, Heracles met the sons of the North +Wind, and slew them with his arrows. And he buried them, and set a great +stone on each grave, and one of these is ever stirred, and shakes when +the North Wind blows. There they lie, and their golden wings are at +rest. + +Still they sped on, with a west wind blowing, and they came to a country +whose king was strong, and thought himself the best boxer then living, +so he came down to the ship and challenged anyone of that crew; and +Polydeuces, the boxer, took up the challenge. All the rest, and the +people of the country, made a ring, and Polydeuces and huge King Amycus +stepped into the midst, and put up their hands. First they moved round +each other cautiously, watching for a chance, and then, as the sun shone +forth in the Giant's face, Polydeuces leaped in and struck him between +the eyes with his left hand, and, strong as he was, the Giant staggered +and fell. Then his friends picked him up, and sponged his face with +water, and all the crew of 'Argo' shouted with joy. He was soon on his +feet again, and rushed at Polydeuces, hitting out so hard that he would +have killed him if the blow had gone home. But Polydeuces just moved his +head a little on one side, and the blow went by, and, as the Giant +slipped, Polydeuces planted one in his mouth and another beneath his +ear, and was away before the Giant could recover. + +There they stood, breathing heavily, and glaring at each other, till the +Giant made another rush, but Polydeuces avoided him, and struck him +several blows quickly in the eyes, and now the Giant was almost blind. +Then Polydeuces at once ended the combat by a right-hand blow on the +temple. The Giant fell, and lay as if he were dead. When he came to +himself again, he had no heart to go on, for his knees shook, and he +could hardly see. So Polydeuces made him swear never to challenge +strangers again as long as he lived, and then the crew of 'Argo' crowned +Polydeuces with a wreath of poplar leaves, and they took supper, and +Orpheus sang to them, and they slept, and next day they came to the +country of the unhappiest of kings. + +His name was Phineus, and he was a prophet; but, when he came to meet +Jason and his company, he seemed more like the ghost of a beggar than a +crowned king. For he was blind, and very old, and he wandered like a +dream, leaning on a staff, and feeling the wall with his hand. His limbs +all trembled, he was but a thing of skin and bone, and foul and filthy +to see. At last he reached the doorway of the house where Jason was, and +sat down, with his purple cloak fallen round him, and he held up his +skinny hands, and welcomed Jason, for, being a prophet, he knew that now +he should be delivered from his wretchedness. + +He lived, or rather lingered, in all this misery because he had offended +the gods, and had told men what things were to happen in the future +beyond what the gods desired that men should know. So they blinded him, +and they sent against him hideous monsters with wings and crooked claws, +called Harpies, which fell upon him at his meat, and carried it away +before he could put it to his mouth. Sometimes they flew off with all +the meat; sometimes they left a little, that he might not quite starve, +and die, and be at peace, but might live in misery. Yet what they left +was made so foul, and of such evil savour, that even a starving man +could scarcely take it within his lips. Thus this king was the most +miserable of all men living. + +He welcomed the heroes, and, above all, Zetes and Calais, the sons of +the North Wind, for they, he knew, would help him. And they all went +into his wretched, naked hall, and sat down at the tables, and the +servants brought meat and drink and placed it before them, the latest +and last supper of the Harpies. Then down on the meat swooped the +Harpies, like lightning or wind, with clanging brazen wings, and iron +claws, and the smell of a battlefield where men lie dead; down they +swooped, and flew shrieking away with the food. But the two sons of the +North Wind drew their short swords, and rose in the air on their golden +wings, and followed where the Harpies fled, over many a sea and many a +land, till they came to a distant isle, and there they slew the Harpies +with their swords. And that isle was called 'Turn Again,' for there the +sons of the North Wind turned, and it was late in the night when they +came back to the hall of Phineus, and to their companions. + +Here Phineus was telling Jason and his company how they might win their +way to Colchis and the world's end, and the wood of the Fleece of Gold. +'First,' he said, 'you shall come in your ship to the Rocks Wandering, +for these rocks wander like living things in the sea, and no ship has +ever sailed between them. They open, like a great mouth, to let ships +pass, and when she is between their lips they clash again, and crush her +in their iron jaws. By this way even winged things may never pass; nay, +not even the doves that bear ambrosia to Father Zeus, the lord of +Olympus, but the rocks ever catch one even of these. So, when you come +near them, you must let loose a dove from the ship, and let her go +before you to try the way. And if she flies safely between the rocks +from one sea to the other sea, then row with all your might when the +rocks open again. But if the rocks close on the bird, then return, and +do not try the adventure. But, if you win safely through, then hold +right on to the mouth of the River Phasis, and there you shall see the +towers of Aetes, the king, and the grove of the Fleece of Gold. And then +do as well as you may.' + +So they thanked him, and the next morning they set sail, till they came +to a place where the Rocks Wandering wallowed in the water, and all was +foam; but when the Rocks leaped apart the stream ran swift, and the +waves roared beneath the rocks, and the wet cliffs bellowed. Then +Euphemus took the dove in his hands, and set her free, and she flew +straight at the pass where the rocks met, and sped right through, and +the rocks gnashed like gnashing teeth, but they caught only a feather +from her tail. + +Then slowly the rocks opened again, like a wild beast's mouth that +opens, and Tiphys, the helmsman, shouted, 'Row on, hard all!' and he +held the ship straight for the pass. Then the oars bent like bows in the +hands of men, and the good ship leaped at the stroke. Three strokes they +pulled, and at each the ship leaped, and now they were within the black +jaws of the rocks, the water boiling round them, and so dark it was that +overhead they could see the stars, but the oarsmen could not see the +daylight behind them, and the steersman could not see the daylight in +front. Then the great tide rushed in between the rocks like a rushing +river, and lifted the ship as if it were lifted by a hand, and through +the strait she passed like a bird, and the rocks clashed, and only broke +the carved wood of the ship's stern. And the ship reeled into the +seething sea beyond, and all the men of Jason bowed their heads over +their oars, half dead with the fierce rowing. + +Then they set all sail, and the ship sped merrily on, past the shores of +the inner sea, past bays and towns, and river mouths, and round green +hills, the tombs of men slain long ago. And, behold, on the top of one +mound stood a tall man, clad in rusty armour, and with a broken sword in +his hand, and on his head a helmet with a blood-red crest. Thrice he +waved his hand, and thrice he shouted aloud, and was no more seen, for +this was the ghost of Sthenelus, Actaeon's son, whom an arrow had slain +there long since, and he had come forth from his tomb to see men of his +own blood, and to greet Jason and his company. So they anchored there, +and slew sheep in sacrifice, and poured blood and wine on the grave of +Sthenelus. There Orpheus left a harp, placing it in the bough of a tree, +that the wind might sing in the chords, and make music to Sthenelus +below the earth. + +Then they sailed on, and at evening they saw above their heads the snowy +crests of Mount Caucasus, flushed in the sunset; and high in the air +they saw, as it were, a black speck that grew greater and greater, and +fluttered black wings, and then fell sheer down like a stone. Then they +heard a dreadful cry from a valley of the mountain, for there Prometheus +was fastened to the rock, and the eagles fed upon him, because he stole +fire from the gods, and gave it to men. All the heroes shuddered when +they heard his cry; but not long after Heracles came that way, and he +slew the eagle with his bow, and set Prometheus free. + +But at nightfall they came into the wide mouth of the River Phasis, that +flows through the land of the world's end, and they saw the lights +burning in the palace of Aetes the king. So now they were come to the +last stage of their journey, and there they slept, and dreamed of the +Fleece of Gold. + + + + +III + +THE WINNING OF THE FLEECE + + +Next morning the heroes awoke, and left the ship moored in the river's +mouth, hidden by tall reeds, for they took down the mast, lest it should +be seen. Then they walked toward the city of Colchis, and they passed +through a strange and horrible wood. Dead men, bound together with +cords, were hanging from the branches, for the Colchis people buried +women, but hung dead men from the branches of trees. Then they came to +the palace, where King Aetes lived, with his young son Absyrtus, and his +daughter Chalciope, who had been the wife of Phrixus, and his younger +daughter, Medea, who was a witch, and the priestess of Brimo, a dreadful +goddess. Now Chalciope came out and welcomed Jason, for she knew the +heroes were of her dear husband's country. And beautiful Medea, the dark +witch-girl, came forth and saw Jason, and as soon as she saw him she +loved him more than her father and her brother and all her father's +house. For his bearing was gallant, and his armour golden, and long +yellow hair fell over his shoulders, and over the leopard skin that he +wore above his armour. Medea turned white and then red, and cast down +her eyes, but Chalciope took the heroes to the baths, and gave them +food, and they were brought to Aetes, who asked them why they came, and +they told him that they desired the Fleece of Gold, and he was very +angry, and told them that only to a better man than himself would he +give up that Fleece. If any wished to prove himself worthy of it he must +tame two bulls which breathed flame from their nostrils, and must plough +four acres with these bulls, and next he must sow the field with the +teeth of a dragon, and these teeth when sown would immediately grow up +into armed men. Jason said that, as it must be, he would try this +adventure, but he went sadly enough back to the ship and did not notice +how kindly Medea was looking after him as he went. + +Now, in the dead of night, Medea could not sleep, because she was so +sorry for the stranger, and she knew that she could help him by her +magic. But she remembered how her father would burn her for a witch if +she helped Jason, and a great shame, too, came on her that she should +prefer a stranger to her own people. So she arose in the dark, and stole +just as she was to her sister's room, a white figure roaming like a +ghost in the palace. At her sister's door she turned back in shame, +saying, 'No, I will never do it,' and she went back again to her +chamber, and came again, and knew not what to do; but at last she +returned to her own bower, and threw herself on her bed, and wept. Her +sister heard her weeping, and came to her and they cried together, but +softly, that no one might hear them. For Chalciope was as eager to help +the Greeks for love of Phrixus, her dead husband, as Medea was for the +love of Jason. + +At last Medea promised to carry to the temple of the goddess of whom she +was a priestess, a drug that would tame the bulls which dwelt in the +field of that temple. But still she wept and wished that she were dead, +and had a mind to slay herself; yet, all the time, she was longing for +the dawn, that she might go and see Jason, and give him the drug, and +see his face once more, if she was never to see him again. So, at dawn +she bound up her hair, and bathed her face, and took the drug, which was +pressed from a flower. That flower first blossomed when the eagle shed +the blood of Prometheus on the earth. The virtue of the juice of the +flower was this, that if a man anointed himself with it, he could not +that day be wounded by swords, and fire could not burn him. So she +placed it in a vial beneath her girdle, and she went with other girls, +her friends, to the temple of the goddess. Now Jason had been warned by +Chalciope to meet her there, and he was coming with Mopsus who knew the +speech of birds. But Mopsus heard a crow that sat on a poplar tree +speaking to another crow, saying: + +'Here comes a silly prophet, and sillier than a goose. He is walking +with a young man to meet a maid, and does not know that, while he is +there to hear, the maid will not say a word that is in her heart. Go +away, foolish prophet; it is not you she cares for.' + +Then Mopsus smiled, and stopped where he was; but Jason went on, where +Medea was pretending to play with the girls, her companions. When she +saw Jason she felt as if she could neither go forward, nor go back, and +she was very pale. But Jason told her not to be afraid, and asked her to +help him, but for long she could not answer him; however, at the last, +she gave him the drug, and taught him how to use it. 'So shall you carry +the fleece to Iolcos, far away, but what is it to me where you go when +you have gone from here? Still remember the name of me, Medea, as I +shall remember you. And may there come to me some voice, or some bird +bearing the message, whenever you have quite forgotten me.' + +But Jason answered, 'Lady, let the winds blow what voice they will, and +what that bird will, let him bring. But no wind or bird shall ever bear +the news that I have forgotten you, if you will cross the sea with me, +and be my wife.' + +Then she was glad, and yet she was afraid, at the thought of that dark +voyage, with a stranger, from her father's home and her own. So they +parted, Jason to the ship, and Medea to the palace. But in the morning +Jason anointed himself and his armour with the drug, and all the heroes +struck at him with spears and swords, but the swords would not bite on +him nor on his armour. He felt so strong and light that he leaped in the +air with joy, and the sun shone on his glittering shield. Now they all +went up together to the field where the bulls were breathing flame. +There already was Aetes, with Medea, and all the Colchians had come to +see Jason die. A plough had been brought to which he was to harness the +bulls. Then he walked up to them, and they blew fire at him that flamed +all round him, but the magic drug protected him. He took a horn of one +bull in his right hand, and a horn of the other in his left, and dashed +their heads together so mightily that they fell. + +When they rose, all trembling, he yoked them to the plough, and drove +them with his spear, till all the field was ploughed in straight ridges +and furrows. Then he dipped his helmet in the river, and drank water, +for he was weary; and next he sowed the dragon's teeth on the right and +left. Then you might see spear points, and sword points, and crests of +helmets break up from the soil like shoots of corn, and presently the +earth was shaken like sea waves, as armed men leaped out of the furrows, +all furious for battle, and all rushed to slay Jason. But he, as Medea +had told him to do, caught up a great rock, and threw it among them, and +he who was struck by the rock said to his neighbour, 'You struck me; +take that!' and ran his spear through that man's breast, but before he +could draw it out another man had cleft his helmet with a stroke, and so +it went: an hour of striking and shouting, while the sparks of fire +sprang up from helmet and breastplate and shield. The furrows ran red +with blood, and wounded men crawled on hands and knees to strike or stab +those that were yet standing and fighting. So axes and sword and spear +flashed and fell, till now all the men were down but one, taller and +stronger than the rest. Round him he looked, and saw only Jason standing +there, and he staggered toward him, bleeding, and lifting his great axe +above his head. But Jason only stepped aside from the blow which would +have cloven him to the waist, the last blow of the Men of the Dragon's +Teeth, for he who struck fell, and there he lay and died. + +Then Jason went to the king, where he sat looking darkly on, and said, +'O King, the field is ploughed, the seed is sown, the harvest is reaped. +Give me now the Fleece of Gold, and let me be gone.' But the king said, +'Enough is done. To-morrow is a new day. To-morrow shall you win the +Fleece.' + +Then he looked sidewise at Medea, and she knew that he suspected her, +and she was afraid. + +Aetes went and sat brooding over his wine with the captains of his +people; and his mood was bitter, both for loss of the Fleece, and +because Jason had won it not by his own prowess, but by the magic aid +of Medea. As for Medea herself, it was the king's purpose to put her to +a cruel death, and this she needed not her witchery to know, and a fire +was in her eyes, and terrible sounds were ringing in her ears, and it +seemed she had but two choices: to drink poison and die, or to flee with +the heroes in the ship 'Argo.' But at last flight seemed better than +death. So she hid all her engines of witchcraft in the folds of her +gown, and she kissed her bed where she would never sleep again, and the +posts of the door, and she caressed the very walls with her hand in that +last farewell. And she cut a long lock of her yellow hair, and left it +in the room, a keepsake to her mother dear, in memory of her maiden +days. 'Good-bye, my mother,' she said, 'this long lock I leave thee in +place of me; good-bye, a long good-bye, to me who am going on a long +journey; good-bye, my sister Chalciope, good-bye! dear house, good-bye!' + +Then she stole from the house, and the bolted doors leaped open at their +own accord at the swift spell Medea murmured. With her bare feet she ran +down the grassy paths, and the daisies looked black against the white +feet of Medea. So she sped to the temple of the goddess, and the moon +overhead looked down on her. Many a time had she darkened the moon's +face with her magic song, and now the Lady Moon gazed white upon her, +and said, 'I am not, then, the only one that wanders in the night for +love, as I love Endymion the sleeper, who sleeps on the crest of the +Latmian hill, and beholds me in his dreams. Many a time hast thou +darkened my face with thy songs, and made night black with thy +sorceries, and now thou too art in love! So go thy way, and bid thy +heart endure, for a sore fate is before thee!' + +But Medea hastened on till she came to the high river bank, and saw the +heroes, merry at their wine in the light of a blazing fire. Thrice she +called aloud, and they heard her, and came to her, and she said, 'Save +me, my friends, for all is known, and my death is sure. And I will give +you the Fleece of Gold for the price of my life.' + +Then Jason swore that she should be his wife, and more dear to him than +all the world. So she went aboard their boat, and swiftly they rowed up +stream to the dark wood where the dragon who never sleeps lay guarding +the Fleece of Gold. There she landed, and Jason, and Orpheus with his +harp, and through the wood they went, but that old serpent saw them +coming, and hissed so loud that women wakened in Colchis town, and +children cried to their mothers. But Orpheus struck softly on his harp, +and he sang a hymn to Sleep, bidding him come and cast a slumber on the +dragon's wakeful eyes. This was the song he sang: + + Sleep! King of Gods and men! + Come to my call again, + Swift over field and fen, + Mountain and deep; + Come, bid the waves be still; + Sleep, streams on height and hill; + Beasts, birds, and snakes, thy will + Conquereth, Sleep! + Come on thy golden wings, + Come ere the swallow sings, + Lulling all living things, + Fly they or creep! + Come with thy leaden wand, + Come with thy kindly hand, + Soothing on sea or land + Mortals that weep. + Come from the cloudy west, + Soft over brain and breast, + Bidding the Dragon rest, + Come to me, Sleep! + +This was Orpheus's song, and he sang so sweetly that the bright, small +eyes of the dragon closed, and all his hard coils softened and uncurled. +Then Jason set his foot on the dragon's neck and hewed off his head, and +lifted down the Golden Fleece from the sacred oak tree, and it shone +like a golden cloud at dawn. He waited not to wonder at it, but he and +Medea and Orpheus hurried through the wet wood-paths to the ship, and +threw it on board, cast a cloak over it, and bade the heroes sit down to +the oars, half of them, but the others to take their shields and stand +each beside the oarsmen, to guard them from the arrows of the Colchians. +Then he cut the stern cables with his sword, and softly they rowed, +under the bank, down the dark river to the sea. But the hissing of the +dragon had already awakened the Colchians, and lights were flitting by +the palace windows, and Aetes was driving in his chariot with all his +men down to the banks of the river. Then their arrows fell like hail +about the ship, but they rebounded from the shields of the heroes, and +the swift ship sped over the bar, and leaped as she felt the first waves +of the salt sea. + +[Illustration: HOW THE SERPENT THAT GUARDED THE GOLDEN FLEECE WAS +SLAIN.] + +And now the Fleece was won. But it was weary work bringing it home to +Greece, and Medea and Jason did a deed which angered the gods. They slew +her brother Absyrtus, who followed after them with a fleet, and cut him +limb from limb, and when Aetes came with his ships, and saw the dead +limbs, he stopped, and went home, for his heart was broken. The gods +would not let the Greeks return by the way they had come, but by strange +ways where never another ship has sailed. Up the Ister (the Danube) +they rowed, through countries of savage men, till the 'Argo' could go no +farther, by reason of the narrowness of the stream. Then they hauled her +overland, where no man knows, but they launched her on the Elbe at last, +and out into a sea where never sail had been seen. Then they were driven +wandering out into Ocean, and to a fairy, far-off isle where Lady Circe +dwelt. Circe was the sister of King Aetes, both were children of the Sun +God, and Medea hoped that Circe would be kind to her, as she could not +have heard of the slaying of Absyrtus. Medea and Jason went up through +the woods of the isle to the house of Circe, and had no fear of the +lions and wolves and bears that guarded the house. These knew that Medea +was an enchantress, and they fawned on her and Jason and let them pass. +But in the house they found Circe clad in dark mourning raiment, and all +her long black hair fell wet and dripping to her feet, for she had seen +visions of terror and sin, and therefore she had purified herself in +salt water of the sea. The walls of her chamber, in the night, had shone +as with fire, and dripped as with blood, and a voice of wailing had +broken forth, and the spirit of dead Absyrtus had cried in her ears. + +When Medea and Jason entered her hall, Circe bade them sit down, and +called her bower maidens, fairies of woods and waters, to strew a table +with a cloth of gold, and set on it food and wine. But Jason and Medea +ran to the hearth, the sacred place of the house to which men that have +done murder flee, and there they are safe, when they come in their +flight to the house of a stranger. They cast ashes from the hearth on +their heads, and Circe knew that they had slain Absyrtus. Yet she was of +Medea's near kindred, and she respected the law of the hearth. +Therefore she did the rite of purification, as was the custom, cleansing +blood with blood, and she burned in the fire a cake of honey, and meal, +and oil, to appease the Furies who revenge the deaths of kinsmen by the +hands of kinsmen. + +When all was done, Jason and Medea rose from their knees, and sat down +on chairs in the hall, and Medea told Circe all her tale, except the +slaying of Absyrtus. + +'More and worse than you tell me you have done,' said Circe, 'but you +are my brother's daughter.' + +Then she advised them of all the dangers of their way home to Greece, +how they must shun the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis, and she sent a +messenger, Iris, the goddess of the Rainbow, to bid Thetis help them +through the perils of the sea, and bring them safe to Phaeacia, where the +Phaeacians would send them home. + +'But you shall never be happy, nor know one good year in all your +lives,' said Circe, and she bade them farewell. + +They went by the way that Ulysses went on a later day; they passed +through many perils, and came to Iolcos, where Pelias was old, and made +Jason reign in his stead. + +But Jason and Medea loved each other no longer, and many stories, all +different from each other, are told concerning evil deeds that they +wrought, and certainly they left each other, and Jason took another +wife, and Medea went to Athens. Here she lived in the palace of Aegeus, +an unhappy king who had been untrue to his own true love, and therefore +the gods took from him courage and strength. But about Medea at Athens +the story is told in the next tale, the tale of Theseus, Aegeus's son. + + + + +THESEUS + + + + +I + +THE WEDDING OF AETHRA + + +Long before Ulysses was born, there lived in Athens a young king, +strong, brave, and beautiful, named Aegeus. Athens, which later became +so great and famous, was then but a little town, perched on the top of a +cliff which rises out of the plain, two or three miles from the sea. No +doubt the place was chosen so as to be safe against pirates, who then +used to roam all about the seas, plundering merchant ships, robbing +cities, and carrying away men, women, and children, to sell as slaves. +The Athenians had then no fleet with which to put the pirates down, and +possessed not so much land as would make a large estate in England: +other little free towns held the rest of the surrounding country. + +King Aegeus was young, and desired to take a wife, indeed a wife had been +found for him. But he wanted to be certain, if he could, that he was to +have sons to succeed him: so many misfortunes happen to kings who have +no children. But how was he to find out whether he should have children +or not? At that time, and always in Greece before it was converted to +Christianity, there were temples of the gods in various places, at which +it was supposed that men might receive answers to their questions. +These temples were called oracles, or places where oracles were given, +and the most famous of them was the temple of Apollo at Pytho, or +Delphi, far to the north-west of Athens. Here was a deep ravine of a +steep mountain, where the god Apollo was said to have shot a monstrous +dragon with his arrows. He then ordered that a temple should be built +here, and in this temple a maiden, being inspired by the god, gave her +prophecies. The people who came to consult her made the richest presents +to the priests, and the temple was full of cups and bowls of gold and +silver, and held more wealth in its chambers than the treasure houses of +the richest kings. + +Aegeus determined to go to Delphi to ask his question: would he have sons +to come after him? He did not tell his people where he was going; he +left the kingdom to be governed by his brother Pallas, and he set out +secretly at night, taking no servant. He did not wear royal dress, and +he drove his own chariot, carrying for his offering only a small cup of +silver, for he did not wish it to be known that he was a king, and told +the priests that he was a follower of Peleus, King of Phthia. In answer +to his question, the maiden sang two lines of verse, for she always +prophesied in verse. Her reply was difficult to understand, as oracles +often were, for the maiden seldom spoke out clearly, but in a kind of +riddle that might be understood in more ways than one; so that, whatever +happened, she could not be proved to have made a mistake. + +Aegeus was quite puzzled by the answer he got. He did not return to +Athens, but went to consult the prince of Troezene, named Pittheus, who +was thought the wisest man then living. Pittheus did not know who Aegeus +was, but saw that he seemed of noble birth, tall and handsome, so he +received him very kindly, and kept him in his house for some time, +entertaining him with feasts, dances, and hunting parties. Now Pittheus +had a very lovely daughter, named Aethra. She and Aegeus fell in love +with each other, so deeply that they desired to be married. It was the +custom that the bridegroom should pay a price, a number of cattle, to the +father of the bride, and Aegeus, of course, had no cattle to give. But it +was also the custom, if the lover did some very brave and useful action, +to reward him with the hand of his lady, and Aegeus had his opportunity. +A fleet of pirates landed at Troezene and attacked the town, but Aegeus +fought so bravely and led the men of Pittheus so well, that he not only +slew the pirate chief, and defeated his men, but also captured some of +his ships, which were full of plunder, gold, and bronze, and iron, and +slaves. With this wealth Aegeus paid the bride price, as it was called, +for Aethra, and they were married. Pittheus thought himself a lucky man, +for he had no son, and here was a son-in-law who could protect his +little kingdom, and wear the crown when he himself was dead. + +Though Pittheus was believed to be very wise, in this matter he was very +foolish. He never knew who Aegeus really was, that is the king of Athens, +nor did poor Aethra know. In a short time Aegeus wearied of beautiful +Aethra, who continued to love him dearly. He was anxious also to return +to his kingdom, for he heard that his brother Pallas and his many sons +were governing badly; and he feared that Pallas might keep the crown for +himself, so he began to speak mysteriously to Aethra, talking about a +long and dangerous journey which he was obliged to make, for secret +reasons, and from which he might never return alive. Aethra wept +bitterly, and sometimes thought, as people did in these days, that the +beautiful stranger might be no man, but a god, and that he might return +to Olympus, the home of the gods, and forget her; for the gods never +tarried long with the mortal women who loved them. + +At last Aegeus took Aethra to a lonely glen in the woods, where, beside +a little mountain stream, lay a great moss-grown boulder that an +earthquake, long ago, had shaken from the rocky cliff above. 'The time +is coming,' said Aegeus 'when you and I must part, and only the gods can +tell when we shall meet again! It may be that you will bear a child, +and, if he be a boy, when he has come to his strength you must lead him +to this great stone, and let no man or woman be there but you two only. +You must then bid him roll away the stone, and, if he has no strength to +raise it, so must it be. But if he can roll it away, then let him take +such things as he finds there, and let him consider them well, and do +what the gods put into his heart.' + +Thus Aegeus spoke, and on the dawn of the third night after this day, +when Aethra awoke from sleep, she did not find him by her side. She +arose, and ran through the house, calling his name, but there came no +answer, and from that time Aegeus was never seen again in Troezene, and +people marvelled, thinking that he, who came whence no man knew, and was +so brave and beautiful, must be one of the immortal gods. 'Who but a +god,' they said, 'would leave for no cause a bride, the flower of Greece +for beauty, young, and loving; and a kingdom to which he was not born? +Truly he must be Apollo of the silver bow, or Hermes of the golden +wand.' + +So they spoke among each other, and honoured Aethra greatly, but she +pined and drooped with sorrow, like a tall lily flower, that the frost +has touched in a rich man's garden. + + + + +II + +THE BOYHOOD OF THESEUS + + +Time went by, and Aethra had a baby, a son. This was her only comfort, +and she thought that she saw in him a likeness to his father, whose true +name she did not know. Certainly he was a very beautiful baby, well +formed and strong, and, as soon as he could walk he was apt to quarrel +with other children of his own age, and fight with them in a harmless +way. He never was an amiable child, though he was always gentle to his +mother. From the first he was afraid of nothing, and when he was about +four or five he used to frighten his mother by wandering from home, with +his little bow and arrows, and staying by himself in the woods. However, +he always found his own way back again, sometimes with a bird or a snake +that he had shot, and once dragging the body of a fawn that was nearly +as heavy as himself. Thus his mother, from his early boyhood, had many +fears for him, that he might be killed by some fierce wild boar in the +woods, for he would certainly shoot at whatever beast he met; or that he +might kill some other boy in a quarrel, when he would be obliged to +leave the country. The other boys, however, soon learned not to quarrel +with Theseus (so Aethra had named her son), for he was quick of temper, +and heavy of hand, and, as for the wild beasts, he was cool as well as +eager, and seemed to have an untaught knowledge of how to deal with +them. + +Aethra was therefore very proud of her son, and began to hope that when +he was older he would be able to roll away the great stone in the glen. +She told him nothing about it when he was little, but, in her walks with +him in the woods or on the sea shore, she would ask him to try his +force in lifting large stones. When he succeeded she kissed and praised +him, and told him stories of the famous strong man, Heracles, whose name +was well known through all Greece. Theseus could not bear to be beaten +at lifting any weight, and, if he failed, he would rise early and try +again in the morning, for many men, as soon as they rise from bed, can +lift weights which are too heavy for them later in the day. + +When Theseus was seven years old, Aethra found for him a tutor, named +Connidas, who taught him the arts of netting beasts and hunting, and how +to manage the dogs, and how to drive a chariot, and wield sword and +shield, and to throw the spear. Other things Connidas taught him which +were known to few men in Greece, for Connidas came from the great rich +island of Crete. He had killed a man there in a quarrel, and fled to +Troezene to escape the revenge of the man's brothers and cousins. In +Crete many people could read and write, which in Greece, perhaps none +could do, and Connidas taught Theseus this learning. + +When he was fifteen years old, Theseus went, as was the custom of young +princes, to the temple of Delphi, not to ask questions, but to cut his +long hair, and sacrifice it to the god, Apollo. He cut the forelock of +his hair, so that no enemy, in battle, might take hold of it, for +Theseus intended to fight at close quarters, hand to hand, in war, not +to shoot arrows and throw spears from a distance. By this time he +thought himself a man, and was always asking where his father was, while +Aethra told him how her husband had left her soon after their marriage, +and that she had never heard of him since, but that some day Theseus +might find out all about him for himself, which no other person would +ever be able to do. + +Aethra did not wish to tell Theseus too soon the secret of the great +stone, which hid she knew not what. She saw that he would leave her and +go to seek his father, if he was able to raise the stone and find out +the secret, and she could not bear to lose him, now that day by day he +grew more like his father, her lost lover. Besides, she wanted him not +to try to raise the stone till he came to his strength. But when he was +in his nineteenth year, he told her that he would now go all over Greece +and the whole world seeking for his father. She saw that he meant what +he said, and one day she led him alone to the glen where the great stone +lay, and sat down with him there, now talking, and now silent as if she +were listening to the pleasant song of the burn that fell from a height +into a clear deep pool. Really she was listening to make sure that no +hunter and no lovers were near them in the wood, but she only heard the +songs of the water and the birds, no voices, or cry of hounds, or fallen +twig cracking under a footstep. + +At last, when she was quite certain that nobody was near, she whispered, +and told Theseus how her husband, before he disappeared, had taken her +to this place, and shown her the great moss-grown boulder, and said +that, when his son could lift that stone away, he would find certain +tokens, and that he must then do what the gods put into his heart. +Theseus listened eagerly, and said, 'If my father lifted that stone, and +placed under it certain tokens, I also can lift it, perhaps not yet, but +some day I shall be as strong a man as my father.' Then he set himself +to move the stone, gradually putting out all his force, but it seemed +rooted in the earth, though he tried it now on one side and now on +another. At last he flung himself at his mother's feet, with his head in +the grass, and lay without speaking. His breath came hard and quick, +and his hands were bleeding. Aethra laid her hand on his long hair, and +was silent. 'I shall not lose my boy this year,' she thought. + +They were long in that lonely place, but at last Theseus rose, and +kissed his mother, and stretched his arms. 'Not to-day!' he said, but +his mother thought in her heart, 'Not for many a day, I hope!' Then they +walked home to the house of Pittheus, saying little, and when they had +taken supper, Theseus said that he would go to bed and dream of better +fortune. So he arose, and went to his own chamber, which was built apart +in the court of the palace, and soon Aethra too went to sleep, not +unhappy, for her boy, she thought, would not leave her for a long time. + +But in the night Theseus arose, and put on his shoes, and his smock, and +a great double mantle. He girt on his sword of bronze, and went into the +housekeeper's chamber, where he took a small skin of wine, and some +food. These he placed in a wallet which he slung round his neck by a +cord, and, lastly he stole out of the court, and walked to the lonely +glen, and to the pool in the burn near which the great stone lay. Here +he folded his purple mantle of fine wool round him, and lay down to +sleep in the grass, with his sword lying near his hand. + +When he awoke the clear blue morning light was round him, and all the +birds were singing their song to the dawn. Theseus arose, threw off his +mantle and smock, and plunged into the cold pool of the burn, and then +he drank a little of the wine, and ate of the bread and cold meat, and +set himself to move the stone. At the first effort, into which he put +all his strength, the stone stirred. With the second he felt it rise a +little way from the ground, and then he lifted with all the might in +his heart and body, and rolled the stone clean over. + +[Illustration: THESEUS TRIES TO LIFT THE STONE.] + +Beneath it there was nothing but the fresh turned soil, but in a hollow +of the foot of the rock, which now lay upper-most, there was a wrapping +of purple woollen cloth, that covered something. Theseus tore out the +packet, unwrapped the cloth, and found within it a wrapping of white +linen. This wrapping was in many folds, which he undid, and at last he +found a pair of shoon, such as kings wear, adorned with gold, and also +the most beautiful sword that he had ever seen. The handle was of clear +rock crystal, and through the crystal you could see gold, inlaid with +pictures of a lion hunt done in different shades of gold and silver. The +sheath was of leather, with patterns in gold nails, and the blade was of +bronze, a beautiful pattern ran down the centre to the point, the blade +was straight, and double edged, supple, sharp, and strong. Never had +Theseus seen so beautiful a sword, nor one so well balanced in his hand. + +He saw that this was a king's sword; and he thought that it had not been +wrought in Greece, for in Greece was no sword-smith that could do such +work. Examining it very carefully he found characters engraved beneath +the hilt, not letters such as the Greeks used in later times, but such +Cretan signs as Connidas had taught him to read, for many a weary hour, +when he would like to have been following the deer in the forest. + +Theseus pored over these signs till he read: + + Icmalius me made. Of Aegeus of Athens am I. + +Now he knew the secret. His father was Aegeus, the king of Athens. +Theseus had heard of him and knew that he yet lived, a sad life full of +trouble. For Aegeus had no child by his Athenian wife, and the fifty +sons of his brother, Pallas (who were called the Pallantidae) despised +him, and feasted all day in his hall, recklessly and fiercely, robbing +the people, and Aegeus had no power in his own kingdom. + +'Methinks that my father has need of me!' said Theseus to himself. Then +he wrapped up the sword and shoon in the linen and the cloth of wool, +and walked home in the early morning to the palace of Pittheus. + +When Theseus came to the palace, he went straight to the upper chamber +of his mother, where she was spinning wool with a distaff of ivory. When +he laid before her the sword and the shoon, the distaff fell from her +hand, and she hid her head in a fold of her robe. Theseus kissed her +hands and comforted her, and she dried her eyes, and praised him for his +strength. 'These are the sword and the shoon of your father,' she said, +'but truly the gods have taken away his strength and courage. For all +men say that Aegeus of Athens is not master in his own house; his +brother's sons rule him, and with them Medea, the witch woman, that once +was the wife of Jason.' + +'The more he needs his son!' said Theseus. 'Mother, I must go to help +him, and be the heir of his kingdom, where you shall be with me always, +and rule the people of Cecrops that fasten the locks of their hair with +grasshoppers of gold.' + +'So may it be, my child,' said Aethra, 'if the gods go with you to +protect you. But you will sail to Athens in a ship with fifty oarsmen, +for the ways by land are long, and steep, and dangerous, beset by cruel +giants and monstrous men.' + +'Nay, mother,' said Theseus, 'by land must I go, for I would not be +known in Athens, till I see how matters fall out; and I would destroy +these giants and robbers, and give peace to the people, and win glory +among men. This very night I shall set forth.' + +He had a sore and sad parting from his mother, but under cloud of night +he went on his way, girt with the sword of Aegeus, his father, and +carrying in his wallet the shoon with ornaments of gold. + + + + +III + +ADVENTURES OF THESEUS + + +Theseus walked through the night, and slept for most of the next day at +a shepherd's hut. The shepherd was kind to him, and bade him beware of +one called the Maceman, who guarded a narrow path with a sheer cliff +above, and a sheer precipice below. 'No man born may deal with the +Maceman,' said the shepherd, 'for his great club is of iron, that cannot +be broken, and his strength is as the strength of ten men, though his +legs have no force to bear his body. Men say that he is the son of the +lame god, Hephaestus, who forged his iron mace; there is not the like of +it in the world.' + +'Shall I fear a lame man?' said Theseus, 'and is it not easy, even if he +be so terrible a fighter, for me to pass him in the darkness, for I walk +by night?' + +The shepherd shook his head. 'Few men have passed Periphetes the +Maceman,' said he, 'and wiser are they who trust to swift ships than to +the upland path.' + +'You speak kindly, father,' said Theseus, 'but I am minded to make the +upland paths safe for all men.' + +So they parted, and Theseus walked through the sunset and the dusk, +always on a rising path, and the further he went the harder it was to +see the way, for the path was overgrown with grass, and the shadows were +deepening. Night fell, and Theseus hardly dared to go further, for on +his left hand was a wall of rock, and on his right hand a cliff sinking +sheer and steep to the sea. But now he saw a light in front of him, a +red light flickering, as from a great fire, and he could not be content +till he knew why that fire was lighted. So he went on, slowly and +warily, till he came in full view of the fire which covered the whole of +a little platform of rock; on one side the blaze shone up the wall of +cliff on his left hand, on the other was the steep fall to the sea. In +front of this fire was a great black bulk; Theseus knew not what it +might be. He walked forward till he saw that the black bulk was that of +a monstrous man, who sat with his back to the fire. The man nodded his +heavy head, thick with red unshorn hair, and Theseus went up close to +him. + +'Ho, sir,' he cried, 'this is my road, and on my road I must pass!' + +The seated man opened his eyes sleepily. + +'Not without my leave,' he said, 'for I keep this way, I and my club of +iron.' + +'Get up and begone!' said Theseus. + +'That were hard for me to do,' said the monstrous man, 'for my legs will +not bear the weight of my body, but my arms are strong enough.' + +'That is to be seen!' said Theseus, and he drew his sword, and leaped +within the guard of the iron club that the monster, seated as he was, +swung lightly to this side and that, covering the whole width of the +path. The Maceman swung the club at Theseus, but Theseus sprang aside, +and in a moment, before the monster could recover his stroke, drove +through his throat the sword of Aegeus, and he fell back dead. + +'He shall have his rights of fire, that his shadow may not wander +outside the House of Hades,' said Theseus to himself, and he toppled the +body of the Maceman into his own great fire. Then he went back some way, +and wrapping himself in his mantle, he slept till the sun was high in +heaven, while the fire had sunk into its embers, and Theseus lightly +sprang over them, carrying with him the Maceman's iron club. The path +now led downwards, and a burn that ran through a green forest kept him +company on the way, and brought him to pleasant farms and houses of men. + +They marvelled to see him, a young man, carrying the club of the +Maceman. 'Did you find him asleep?' they asked, and Theseus smiled and +said, 'No, I found him awake. But now he sleeps an iron sleep, from +which he will never waken, and his body had due burning in his own +watchfire.' Then the men and women praised Theseus, and wove for him a +crown of leaves and flowers, and sacrificed sheep to the gods in heaven, +and on the meat they dined, rejoicing that now they could go to Troezene +by the hill path, for they did not love ships and the sea. + +When they had eaten and drunk, and poured out the last cup of wine on +the ground, in honour of Hermes, the God of Luck, the country people +asked Theseus where he was going? He said that he was going to walk to +Athens, and at this the people looked sad. 'No man may walk across the +neck of land where Ephyre is built,' they said, 'because above it Sinis +the Pine-Bender has his castle, and watches the way.' + +'And who is Sinis, and why does he bend pine trees?' asked Theseus. + +'He is the strongest of men, and when he catches a traveller, he binds +him hand and foot, and sets him between two pine trees. Then he bends +them down till they meet, and fastens the traveller to the boughs of +each tree, and lets them spring apart, so that the man is riven +asunder.' + +'Two can play at that game,' said Theseus, smiling, and he bade farewell +to the kind country people, shouldered the iron club of Periphetes, and +went singing on his way. The path led him over moors, and past +farm-houses, and at last rose towards the crest of the hill whence he +would see the place where two seas would have met, had they not been +sundered by the neck of land which is now called the Isthmus of Corinth. +Here the path was very narrow, with thick forests of pine trees on each +hand, and 'here,' thought Theseus to himself, 'I am likely to meet the +Pine-Bender.' + +Soon he knew that he was right, for he saw the ghastly remains of dead +men that the pine trees bore like horrible fruit, and presently the air +was darkened overhead by the waving of vultures and ravens that prey +upon the dead. 'I shall fight the better in the shade,' said Theseus, +and he loosened the blade of the sword in its sheath, and raised the +club of Periphetes aloft in his hand. + +Well it was for him that he raised the iron club, for, just as he lifted +it, there flew out from the thicket something long, and slim, and black, +that fluttered above his head for a moment, and then a loop at the end +of it fell round the head of Theseus, and was drawn tight with a sudden +jerk. But the loop fell also above and round the club, which Theseus +held firm, pushing away the loop, and so pushed it off that it did not +grip his neck. Drawing with his left hand his bronze dagger, he cut +through the leather lasso with one stroke, and bounded into the bushes +from which it had flown. Here he found a huge man, clad in the skin of a +lion, with its head fitting to his own like a mask. The man lifted a +club made of the trunk of a young pine tree, with a sharp-edged stone +fastened into the head of it like an axe-head. But, as the monster +raised his long weapon it struck on a strong branch of a tree above him, +and was entangled in the boughs, so that Theseus had time to thrust the +head of the iron club full in his face, with all his force, and the +savage fell with a crash like a falling oak among the bracken. He was +one of the last of an ancient race of savage men, who dwelt in Greece +before the Greeks, and he fought as they had fought, with weapons of +wood and stone. + +Theseus dropped with his knees on the breast of the Pine-Bender, and +grasped his hairy throat with both his hands, not to strangle him, but +to hold him sure and firm till he came to himself again. When at last +the monster opened his eyes, Theseus gripped his throat the harder, and +spoke, 'Pine-Bender, for thee shall pines be bent. But I am a man and +not a monster, and thou shalt die a clean death before thy body is torn +in twain to be the last feast of thy vultures.' Then, squeezing the +throat of the wretch with his left hand, he drew the sword of Aegeus, and +drove it into the heart of Sinis the Pine-Bender, and he gave a cry like +a bull's, and his soul fled from him. Then Theseus bound the body of the +savage with his own leather cord, and, bending down the tops of two pine +trees, he did to the corpse as Sinis had been wont to do to living men. + +Lastly he cleaned the sword-blade carefully, wiping it with grass and +bracken, and thrusting it to the hilt through the soft fresh ground +under the trees, and so went on his way till he came to a little stream +that ran towards the sea from the crest of the hill above the town of +Ephyre, which is now called Corinth. But as he cleansed himself in the +clear water, he heard a rustle in the boughs of the wood, and running +with sword drawn to the place whence the sound seemed to come, he heard +the whisper of a woman. Then he saw a strange sight. A tall and very +beautiful girl was kneeling in a thicket, in a patch of asparagus thorn, +and was weeping, and praying, in a low voice, and in a childlike +innocent manner, to the thorns, begging them to shelter and defend her. + +Theseus wondered at her, and, sheathing his sword, came softly up to +her, and bade her have no fear. Then she threw her arms about his knees, +and raised her face, all wet with tears, and bade him take pity upon +her, for she had done no harm. + +'Who are you, maiden? You are safe with me,' said Theseus. 'Do you dread +the Pine-Bender?' + +'Alas, sir,' answered the girl, 'I am his daughter, Perigyne, and his +blood is on your hands.' + +'Yet I do not war with women,' said Theseus, 'though that has been done +which was decreed by the gods. If you follow with me, you shall be +kindly used, and marry, if you will, a man of a good house, being so +beautiful as you are.' + +When she heard this, the maiden rose to her feet, and would have put her +hand in his. 'Not yet,' said Theseus, kindly, 'till water has clean +washed away that which is between thee and me. But wherefore, maiden, +being in fear as you were, did you not call to the gods in heaven to +keep you, but to the asparagus thorns that cannot hear or help?' + +'My father, sir,' she said, 'knew no gods, but he came of the race of +the asparagus thorns, and to them I cried in my need.' + +Theseus marvelled at these words, and said, 'From this day you shall +pray to Zeus, the Lord of Thunder, and to the other gods.' Then he went +forth from the wood, with the maiden following, and wholly cleansed +himself in the brook that ran by the way. + +So they passed down to the rich city of Ephyre, where the king received +him gladly, when he heard of the slaying of the Maceman, Periphetes, and +of Sinis the Pine-Bender. The Queen, too, had pity on Perigyne, so +beautiful she was, and kept her in her own palace. Afterwards Perigyne +married a prince, Deiones, son of Eurytus, King of Oechalia, whom the +strong man Heracles slew for the sake of his bow, the very bow with +which Ulysses, many years afterwards, destroyed the Wooers in his halls. +The sons of Perigyne and Deiones later crossed the seas to Asia, and +settled in a land called Caria, and they never burned or harmed the +asparagus thorn to which Perigyne had prayed in the thicket. + +Greece was so lawless in these days that all the road from Troezene +northward to Athens was beset by violent and lawless men. They loved +cruelty even more than robbery, and each of them had carefully thought +out his particular style of being cruel. The cities were small, and at +war with each other, or at war among themselves, one family fighting +against another for the crown. Thus there was no chance of collecting an +army to destroy the monstrous men of the roads, which it would have been +easy enough for a small body of archers to have done. Later Theseus +brought all into great order, but now, being but one man, he went +seeking adventures. + +On the border of a small country called Megara, whose people were much +despised in Greece, he found a chance of advancing himself, and gaining +glory. He was walking in the middle of the day along a narrow path at +the crest of a cliff above the sea, when he saw the flickering of a +great fire in the blue air, and steam going up from a bronze caldron of +water that was set on the fire. On one side of the fire was a foot-bath +of glittering bronze. Hard by was built a bower of green branches, very +cool on that hot day, and from the door of the bower stretched a great +thick hairy pair of naked legs. + +Theseus guessed, from what he had been told, that the owner of the legs +was Sciron the Kicker. He was a fierce outlaw who was called the Kicker +because he made all travellers wash his feet, and, as they were doing +so, kicked them over the cliff. Some say that at the foot of the cliff +dwelt an enormous tortoise, which ate the dead and dying when they fell +near his lair, but as tortoises do not eat flesh, generally, this may be +a mistake. Theseus was determined not to take any insolence from Sciron, +so he shouted-- + +'Slave, take these dirty legs of yours out of the way of a Prince. + +'Prince!' answered Sciron, 'if my legs are dirty, the gods are kind who +have sent you to wash them for me.' + +Then he got up, lazily, laughing and showing his ugly teeth, and stood +in front of his bath with his heavy wooden club in his hand. He whirled +it round his head insultingly, but Theseus was quicker than he, and +again, as when he slew the Pine-Bender, he did not strike, for striking +is slow compared to thrusting, but like a flash he lunged forward and +drove the thick end of his iron club into the breast of Sciron. He +staggered, and, as he reeled, Theseus dealt him a blow across the thigh, +and he fell. Theseus seized the club which dropped from the hand of +Sciron, and threw it over the cliff; it seemed long before the sound +came up from the rocks on which it struck. 'A deep drop into a stony +way, Sciron,' said Theseus, 'now wash my feet! Stand up, and turn your +back to me, and be ready when I tell you.' Sciron rose, slowly and +sulkily, and stood as Theseus bade him do. + +Now Theseus was not wearing light shoes or sandals, like the golden +sandals of Aegeus, which he carried in his wallet. He was wearing thick +boots, with bronze nails in the soles, and the upper leathers were laced +high up his legs, for the Greeks wore such boots when they took long +walks on mountain roads. As soon as Theseus had trained Sciron to stand +in the proper position, he bade him stoop to undo the lacings of his +boots. As Sciron stooped, Theseus gave him one tremendous kick, that +lifted him over the edge of the cliff, and there was an end of Sciron. + +Theseus left the marches of Megara, and walked singing on his way, above +the sea, for his heart was light, and he was finding adventures to his +heart's desire. Being so young and well trained, his foot and hand, in a +combat, moved as swift as lightning, and his enemies were older than he, +and, though very strong, were heavy with full feeding, and slow to move. +Now it is speed that wins in a fight, whether between armies or single +men, if strength and courage go with it. + +At last the road led Theseus down from the heights to a great fertile +plain, called the Thriasian plain, not far from Athens. There, near the +sea, stands the famous old city of Eleusis. When Hades, the God of the +Dead, carried away beautiful Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the +Goddess of corn and all manner of grain, to his dark palace beside the +stream of Ocean, it was to Eleusis that Demeter wandered. She was clad +in mourning robes, and she sat down on a stone by the way, like a weary +old woman. Now the three daughters of the king who then reigned in +Eleusis came by, on the way to the well, to fetch water, and when they +saw the old woman they set down their vessels and came round her, asking +what they could do for her, who was so tired and poor. They said that +they had a baby brother at home, who was the favourite of them all, and +that he needed a nurse. Demeter was pleased with their kindness, and +they left their vessels for water beside her, and ran home to their +mother. Their long golden hair danced on their shoulders as they ran, +and they came, out of breath, to their mother the Queen, and asked her +to take the old woman to be their brother's nurse. The Queen was kind, +too, and the old woman lived in their house, till Zeus, the chief God, +made the God of the Dead send back Persephone, to be with her mother +through spring, and summer, and early autumn, but in winter she must +live with her husband in the dark palace beside the river of Ocean. + +Then Demeter was glad, and she caused the grain to grow abundantly for +the people of Eleusis, and taught them ceremonies, and a kind of play in +which all the story of her sorrows and joy was acted. It was also taught +that the souls of men do not die with the death of their bodies, any +more than the seed of corn dies when it is buried in the dark earth, but +that they live again in a world more happy and beautiful than ours. +These ceremonies were called the Mysteries of Eleusis, and were famous +in all the world. + +Theseus might have expected to find Eleusis a holy city, peaceful and +quiet. But he had heard, as he travelled, that in Eleusis was a strong +bully, named Cercyon; he was one of the rough Highlanders of Arcadia, +who lived in the hills of the centre of Southern Greece, which is called +Peloponnesus. He is said to have taken the kingship, and driven out the +descendants of the king whose daughters were kind to Demeter. The strong +man used to force all strangers to wrestle with him, and, when he threw +them, for he had never been thrown, he broke their backs. + +Knowing this, and being himself fond of wrestling, Theseus walked +straight to the door of the king's house, though the men in the town +warned him, and the women looked at him with sad eyes. He found the gate +of the courtyard open, with the altar of Zeus the high God smoking in +the middle of it, and at the threshold two servants welcomed him, and +took him to the polished bath, and women washed him, and anointed him +with oil, and clothed him in fresh raiment, as was the manner in kings' +houses. Then they led him into the hall, and he walked straight up to +the high seats between the four pillars beside the hearth, in the middle +of the hall. + +There Cercyon sat, eating and drinking, surrounded by a score of his +clan, great, broad, red-haired men, but he himself was the broadest and +the most brawny. He welcomed Theseus, and caused a table to be brought, +with meat, and bread, and wine, and when Theseus had put away his +hunger, began to ask him who he was and whence he came. Theseus told him +that he had walked from Troezene, and was on his way to the court of +King Peleus (the father of Achilles), in the north, for he did not want +the news of his coming to go before him to Athens. + +'You walked from Troezene?' said Cercyon. 'Did you meet or hear of the +man who killed the Maceman and slew the Pine-Bender, and kicked Sciron +into the sea?' + +'I walk fast, but news flies faster,' said Theseus. + +'The news came through my second-sighted man,' said Cercyon, 'there he +is, in the corner,' and Cercyon threw the leg bone of an ox at his +prophet, who just managed to leap out of the way. 'He seems to have +foreseen that the bone was coming at him,' said Cercyon, and all his +friends laughed loud. 'He told us this morning that a stranger was +coming, he who had killed the three watchers of the way. From your legs +and shoulders, and the iron club that you carry, methinks you are that +stranger?' + +Theseus smiled, and nodded upwards, which the Greeks did when they meant +'Yes!' + +'Praise be to all the gods!' said Cercyon. 'It is long since a good man +came my way. Do they practise wrestling at Troezene?' + +'Now and then,' said Theseus. + +'Then you will try a fall with me? There is a smooth space strewn with +sand in the courtyard.' + +Theseus answered that he had come hoping that the king would graciously +honour him by trying a fall. Then all the wild guests shouted, and out +they all went and made a circle round the wrestling-place, while Theseus +and Cercyon threw down their clothes and were anointed with oil over +their bodies. To it they went, each straining forward and feeling for a +grip, till they were locked, and then they swayed this way and that, +their feet stamping the ground; and now one would yield a little, now +the other, while the rough guests shouted, encouraging each of them. At +last they rested and breathed, and now the men began to bet; seven oxen +to three was laid on Cercyon, and taken in several places. Back to the +wrestle they went, and Theseus found this by far the hardest of his +adventures, for Cercyon was heavier than he, and as strong, but not so +active. So Theseus for long did little but resist the awful strain of +the arms of Cercyon, till, at last, for a moment Cercyon weakened. Then +Theseus slipped his hip under the hip of Cercyon, and heaved him across +and up, and threw him on the ground. He lighted in such a way that his +neck broke, and there he lay dead. + +'Was it fairly done?' said Theseus. + +'It was fairly done!' cried the Highlanders of Arcadia; and then they +raised such a wail for the dead that Theseus deemed it wise to put on +his clothes and walk out of the court; and, leaping into a chariot that +stood empty by the gate, for the servant in the chariot feared the club +of iron, he drove away at full speed. + +Though Cercyon was a cruel man and a wild, Theseus was sorry for him in +his heart. + +The groom in the chariot tried to leap out, but Theseus gripped him +tight. 'Do not hurry, my friend,' said Theseus, 'for I have need of you. +I am not stealing the chariot and horses, and you shall drive them back +after we reach Athens.' + +'But, my lord,' said the groom, 'you will never reach Athens.' + +'Why not?' asked Theseus. + +'Because of the man Procrustes, who dwells in a strong castle among the +hills on the way. He is the maimer of all mortals, and has at his +command a company of archers and spearmen, pirates from the islands. He +meets every traveller, and speaks to him courteously, praying him to be +his guest, and if any refuses the archers leap out of ambush and seize +and bind him. With them no one man can contend. He has a bed which he +says is a thing magical, for it is of the same length as the tallest or +the shortest man who sleeps in it, so that all are fitted. Now the +manner of it is this--there is an engine with ropes at the head of the +bed, and a saw is fitted at the bed foot. If a man is too short, the +ropes are fastened to his hands, and are strained till he is drawn to +the full length of the bed. If he is too long the saw shortens him. Such +a monster is Procrustes. + +'Verily, my lord, King Cercyon was to-morrow to lead an army against +him, and the King had a new device, as you may see, by which two great +shields are slung along the side of this chariot, to ward off the arrows +of the men of Procrustes.' + +'Then you and I will wear the shields when we come near the place where +Procrustes meets travellers by the way, and I think that to-night his +own bed will be too long for him,' said Theseus. + +To this the groom made no answer, but his body trembled. + +Theseus drove swiftly on till the road began to climb the lowest spur of +Mount Parnes, and then he drew rein, and put on one of the great shields +that covered all his body and legs, and he bade the groom do the like. +Then he drove slowly, watching the bushes and underwood beside the way. +Soon he saw the smoke going up from the roof of a great castle high in +the woods beside the road; and on the road there was a man waiting. +Theseus, as he drove towards him, saw the glitter of armour in the +underwood, and the setting sun shone red on a spear-point above the +leaves. 'Here is our man,' he said to the groom, and pulled up his +horses beside the stranger. He loosened his sword in the sheath, and +leaped out of the chariot, holding the reins in his left hand, and bowed +courteously to the man, who was tall, weak-looking, and old, with grey +hair and a clean-shaven face, the colour of ivory. He was clad like a +king, in garments of dark silk, with gold bracelets, and gold rings that +clasped the leather gaiters on his legs, and he smiled and smiled, and +rubbed his hands, while he looked to right and left, and not at Theseus. + +'I am fortunate, fair sir,' said he to Theseus, 'for I love to entertain +strangers, with whom goes the favour and protection of Zeus. Surely +strangers are dear to all men, and holy! You, too, are not unlucky, for +the night is falling, and the ways will be dark and dangerous. You will +sup and sleep with me, and to-night I can give you a bed that is well +spoken of, for its nature is such that it fits all men, the short and +the tall, and you are of the tallest.' + +'To-night, fair sir,' quoth Theseus, 'your own bed will be full long for +you.' And, drawing the sword of Aegeus, he cut sheer through the neck of +Procrustes at one blow, and the head of the man flew one way, and his +body fell another way. + +Then with a swing of his hand Theseus turned his shield from his front +to his back, and leaped into the chariot. He lashed the horses forward +with a cry, while the groom also turned his own shield from front to +back; and the arrows of the bowmen of Procrustes rattled on the bronze +shields as the chariot flew along, or struck the sides and the seat of +it. One arrow grazed the flank of a horse, and the pair broke into a +wild gallop, while the yells of the bowmen grew faint in the distance. +At last the horses slackened in their pace as they climbed a hill, and +from the crest of it Theseus saw the lights in the city of Aphidnae. + +'Now, my friend,' he said to the groom, 'the way is clear to Athens, and +on your homeward road with the horses and the chariot you shall travel +well guarded. By the splendour of Lady Athene's brow, I will burn that +raven's nest of Procrustes!' + +So they slept that night on safe beds at the house of the sons of +Phytalus, who bore rule in Aphidnae. Here they were kindly welcomed, and +the sons of Phytalus rejoiced when they heard how Theseus had made safe +the ways, and slain the beasts that guarded them. 'We are your men,' +they said, 'we and all our people, and our spears will encircle you when +you make yourself King of Athens, and of all the cities in the Attic +land.' + + + + +IV + +THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER + + +Next day Theseus said farewell to the sons of Phytalus, and drove slowly +through the pleasant green woods that overhung the clear river Cephisus. +He halted to rest his horses in a glen, and saw a very beautiful young +man walking in a meadow on the other side of the river. In his hand he +bore a white flower, and the root of it was black; in the other hand he +carried a golden wand, and his upper lip was just beginning to darken, +he was of the age when youth is most gracious. He came towards Theseus, +and crossed the stream where it broke deep, and swift, and white, above +a long pool, and it seemed to Theseus that his golden shoon did not +touch the water. + +'Come, speak with me apart,' the young man said; and Theseus threw the +reins to the groom, and went aside with the youth, watching him +narrowly, for he knew not what strange dangers might beset him on the +way. + +'Whither art thou going, unhappy one,' said the youth, 'thou that +knowest not the land? Behold, the sons of Pallas rule in Athens, +fiercely and disorderly. Thy father is of no force, and in the house +with him is a fair witch woman from a far country. Her name is Medea, +the daughter of Aetes, the brother of Circe the Sorceress. She wedded +the famous Jason, and won for him the Fleece of Gold, and slew her own +brother Absyrtus. Other evils she wrought, and now she dwells with +Aegeus, who fears and loves her greatly. Take thou this herb of grace, +and if Medea offers you a cup of wine, drop this herb in the cup, and so +you shall escape death. Behold, I am Hermes of the golden wand.' + +Then he gave to Theseus the flower, and passed into the wood, and +Theseus saw him no more; so then Theseus knelt down, and prayed, and +thanked the gods. The flower he placed in the breast of his garment, +and, returning to his chariot, he took the reins, and drove to Athens, +and up the steep narrow way to the crest of the rock where the temple of +Athene stood and the palace of King Aegeus. + +Theseus drove through to the courtyard, and left his chariot at the +gate. In the court young men were throwing spears at a mark, while +others sat at the house door, playing draughts, and shouting and +betting. They were heavy, lumpish, red-faced young men, all rather like +each other. They looked up and stared, but said nothing. Theseus knew +that they were his cousins, the sons of Pallas, but as they said nothing +to him he walked through them, iron club on shoulder, as if he did not +see them, and as one tall fellow stood in his way, the tall fellow spun +round from a thrust of his shoulder. At the hall door Theseus stopped +and shouted, and at his cry two or three servants came to him. + +'Look to my horses and man,' said Theseus; 'I come to see your master.' +And in he went, straight up to the high chairs beside the fire in the +centre. The room was empty, but in a high seat sat, fallen forward and +half-asleep, a man in whose grey hair was a circlet of gold and a golden +grasshopper. Theseus knew that it was his father, grey and still, like +the fallen fire on the hearth. As the king did not look up, Theseus +touched his shoulder, and then knelt down, and put his arms round the +knees of the king. The king aroused himself with a start. 'Who? What +want you?' he said, and rubbed his red, bloodshot eyes. + +'A suppliant from Troezene am I, who come to your knees, oh, king, and +bring you gifts.' + +'From Troezene!' said the king sleepily, as if he were trying to +remember something. + +'From Aethra, your wife, your son brings your sword and your shoon,' said +Theseus; and he laid the sword and the shoon at his father's feet. + +The king rose to his feet with a great cry. 'You have come at last,' he +cried, 'and the gods have forgiven me and heard my prayers. But gird on +the sword, and hide the shoon, and speak not the name of "wife," for +there is one that hears.' + +'One that has heard,' said a sweet silvery voice; and from behind a +pillar came a woman, dark and pale, but very beautiful, clothed in a +rich Eastern robe that shone and shifted from colour to colour. Lightly +she threw her white arms round the neck of Theseus, lightly she kissed +his cheeks, and a strange sweet fragrance hung about her. Then, holding +him apart, with her hands on his shoulders, she laughed, and +half-turning to Aegeus, who had fallen back into his chair, she said: +'My lord, did you think that you could hide anything from me?' Then she +fixed her great eyes on the eyes of Theseus. 'We are friends?' she said, +in her silvery voice. + +'Lady, I love you even as you love my father, King Aegeus,' said Theseus. + +'Even so much?' said the lady Medea. 'Then we must both drink to him in +wine.' She glided to the great golden mixing-cup of wine that stood on a +table behind Aegeus, and with her back to Theseus she ladled wine into a +cup of strange coloured glass. 'Pledge me and the king,' she said, +bringing the cup to Theseus. He took it, and from his breast he drew the +flower of black root and white blossom that Hermes had given him, and +laid it in the wine. Then the wine bubbled and hissed, and the cup burst +and broke, and the wine fell on the floor, staining it as with blood. + +Medea laughed lightly. 'Now we are friends indeed, for the gods befriend +you,' she said, 'and I swear by the Water of Styx that your friends are +my friends, and your foes are my foes, always, to the end. The gods are +with you; and by the great oath of the gods I swear, which cannot be +broken; for I come of the kin of the gods who live for ever.' + +Now the father of the father of Medea was the Sun God. + +Theseus took both her hands. 'I also swear,' he said, 'by the splendour +of Zeus, that your friends shall be my friends, and that your foes shall +be my foes, always, to the end.' + +Then Medea sat by the feet of Aegeus, and drew down his head to her +shoulder, while Theseus took hold of his hand, and the king wept for +joy. For the son he loved, and the woman whom he loved and feared, were +friends, and they two were stronger than the sons of Pallas. + +While they sat thus, one of the sons of Pallas--the Pallantidae they were +called--slouched into the hall to see if dinner was ready. He stared, +and slouched out again, and said to his brothers: 'The old man is +sitting in the embraces of the foreign woman, and of the big stranger +with the iron club!' Then they all came together, and growled out their +threats and fears, kicking at the stones in the courtyard, and +quarrelling as to what it was best for them to do. + +Meanwhile, in the hall, the servants began to spread the tables with +meat and drink, and Theseus was taken to the bath, and clothed in new +raiment. + +While Theseus was at the bath Medea told Aegeus what he ought to do. So +when Theseus came back into the hall, where the sons of Pallas were +eating and drinking noisily, Aegeus stood up, and called to Theseus to +sit down at his right hand. He added, in a loud voice, looking all round +the hall: 'This is my son, Theseus, the slayer of monsters, and his is +the power in the house!' + +The sons of Pallas grew pale with fear and anger, but not one dared to +make an insolent answer. They knew that they were hated by the people +of Athens, except some young men of their own sort, and they did not +dare to do anything against the man who had slain Periphetes and Sinis, +and Cercyon, and Sciron, and, in the midst of his paid soldiers, had +struck off the head of Procrustes. Silent all through dinner sat the +sons of Pallas, and, when they had eaten, they walked out silently, and +went to a lonely place, where they could make their plans without being +overheard. + +Theseus went with Medea into her fragrant chamber, and they spake a few +words together. Then Medea took a silver bowl, filled it with water, +and, drawing her dark silken mantle over her head, she sat gazing into +the bowl. When she had gazed silently for a long time she said: 'Some of +them are going towards Sphettus, where their father dwells, to summon +his men in arms, and some are going to Gargettus on the other side of +the city, to lie in ambush, and cut us off when they of Sphettus assail +us. They will attack the palace just before the dawn. Now I will go +through the town, and secretly call the trusty men to arm and come to +defend the palace, telling them that the son of Aegeus, the man who +cleared the ways, is with us. And do you take your chariot, and drive +speedily to the sons of Phytalus, and bring all their spears, chariot +men and foot men, and place them in ambush around the village of +Gargettus, where one band of the Pallantidae will lie to-night till dawn. +The rest you know.' + +Theseus nodded and smiled. He drove at full speed to Aphidnae, where the +sons of Phytalus armed their men, and by midnight they lay hidden in the +woods round the village of Gargettus. When the stars had gone onward, +and the second of the three watches of the night was nearly past, they +set bands of men to guard every way from the little town, and Theseus +with another band rushed in, and slew the men of the sons of Pallas +around their fires, some of them awake, but most of them asleep. Those +who escaped were taken by the bands who watched the ways, and when the +sky was now clear at the earliest dawn, Theseus led his companions to +the palace of Aegeus, where they fell furiously upon the rear of the men +from Sphettus, who were besieging the palace of Aegeus. + +The Sphettus company had broken in the gate of the court, and were +trying to burn the house, while arrows flew thick from the bows of the +trusty men of Athens on the palace roof. The Pallantids had set no +sentinels, for they thought to take Theseus in the palace, and there to +burn him, and win the kingdom for themselves. Then silently and suddenly +the friends of Theseus stole into the courtyard, and, leaving some to +guard the gate, they drew up in line, and charged the confused crowd of +the Pallantids. Their spears flew thick among the enemy, and then they +charged with the sword, while the crowd, in terror, ran this way and +that way, being cut down at the gate, and dragged from the walls, when +they tried to climb them. The daylight found the Pallantidae and their +men lying dead in the courtyard, all the sort of them. + +Then Theseus with the sons of Phytalus and their company marched through +the town, proclaiming that the rightful prince was come, and that the +robbers and oppressors were fallen, and all honest men rejoiced. They +burned the dead, and buried their ashes and bones, and for the rest of +that day they feasted in the hall of Aegeus. Next day Theseus led his +friends back to Aphidnae, and on the next day they attacked and stormed +the castle of Procrustes, and slew the pirates, and Theseus divided all +the rich plunder among the sons of Phytalus and their company, but the +evil bed they burned to ashes. + + + + +V + +HERALDS COME FOR TRIBUTE + + +The days and weeks went by, and Theseus reigned with his father in +peace. The chief men came to Athens from the little towns in the +country, and begged Theseus to be their lord, and they would be his men, +and he would lead their people if any enemy came up against them. They +would even pay tribute to be used for buying better arms, and making +strong walls, and providing ships, for then the people of Athens had no +navy. Theseus received them courteously, and promised all that they +asked, for he did not know that soon he himself would be sent away as +part of the tribute which the Athenians paid every nine years to King +Minos of Crete. + +Though everything seemed to be peaceful and happy through the winter, +yet Theseus felt that all was not well. When he went into the houses of +the town's people, where all had been merry and proud of his visits, he +saw melancholy, silent mothers, and he missed the young people, lads and +maidens. Many of them were said to have gone to visit friends in +far-away parts of Greece. The elder folk, and the young people who were +left, used to stand watching the sea all day, as if they expected +something strange to come upon them from the sea, and Aegeus sat +sorrowful over the fire, speaking little, and he seemed to be in fear. + +Theseus was disturbed in his mind, and he did not choose to put +questions to Aegeus or to the townsfolk. He and Medea were great friends, +and one day when they were alone in her chamber, where a fragrant fire +of cedar wood burned, he told her what he had noticed. Medea sighed, and +said: 'The curse of the sons of Pallas is coming upon the people of +Athens--such a curse and so terrible that not even you, Prince Theseus, +can deal with it. The enemy is not one man or one monster only, but the +greatest and most powerful king in the world.' + +'Tell me all,' said Theseus, 'for though I am but one man, yet the +ever-living gods protect and help me.' + +'The story of the curse is long,' said Medea. 'When your father Aegeus +was young, after he returned to Athens from Troezene, he decreed that +games should be held every five years, contests in running, boxing, +wrestling, foot races, and chariot races. Not only the people of Athens, +but strangers were allowed to take part in the games, and among the +strangers came Androgeos, the eldest son of great Minos, King of +Cnossos, in the isle of Crete of the Hundred Cities, far away in the +southern sea. Minos is the wisest of men, and the most high god, even +Zeus, is his counsellor, and speaks to him face to face. He is the +richest of men, and his ships are without number, so that he rules all +the islands, and makes war, when he will, even against the King of +Egypt. The son of Minos it was who came to the sports with three fair +ships, and he was the strongest and swiftest of men. He won the foot +race, and the prizes for boxing and wrestling, and for shooting with the +bow, and throwing the spear, and hurling the heavy weight, and he easily +overcame the strongest of the sons of Pallas. + +'Then, being unjust men and dishonourable, they slew him at a feast in +the hall of Aegeus, their own guest in the king's house they slew, a +thing hateful to the gods above all other evil deeds. His ships fled in +the night, bearing the news to King Minos, and, a year after that day, +the sea was black with his countless ships. His men landed, and they +were so many, all glittering in armour of bronze, that none dared to +meet them in battle. King Aegeus and all the elder men of the city went +humbly to meet Minos, clad in mourning, and bearing in their hands +boughs of trees, wreathed with wool, to show that they came praying for +mercy. "Mercy ye shall have when ye have given up to me the men who slew +my son," said Minos. But Aegeus could not give up the sons of Pallas, for +long ago they had fled in disguise, and were lurking here and there, in +all the uttermost parts of Greece, in the huts of peasants. Such mercy, +then, the Athenians got as Minos was pleased to give. He did not burn +the city, and slay the men, and carry the women captives. But he made +Aegeus and the chief men swear that every nine years they would choose by +lot seven of the strongest youths, and seven of the fairest maidens, and +give them to his men, to carry away to Crete. Every nine years he sends +a ship with dark sails, to bear away the captives, and this is the ninth +year, and the day of the coming of the ship is at hand. Can you resist +King Minos?' + +'His ship we could burn, and his men we could slay,' said Theseus; and +his hand closed on the hilt of his sword. + +'That may well be,' said Medea, 'but in a year Minos would come with his +fleet and his army, and burn the city; and the other cities of Greece, +fearing him and not loving us, would give us no aid.' + +'Then,' said Theseus, 'we must even pay the tribute for this last time; +but in nine years, if I live, and the gods help me, I shall have a +fleet, and Minos must fight for his tribute. For in nine years Athens +will be queen of all the cities round about, and strong in men and +ships. Yet, tell me, how does Minos treat the captives from Athens, +kindly or unkindly?' + +'None has ever come back to tell the tale,' said Medea, 'but the sailors +of Minos say that he places the captives in a strange prison called the +Labyrinth. It is full of dark winding ways, cut in the solid rock, and +therein the captives are lost and perish of hunger, or live till they +meet a Thing called the Minotaur. This monster has the body of a strong +man, and a man's legs and arms, but his head is the head of a bull, and +his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and no man may deal with him. Those +whom he meets he tosses, and gores, and devours. Whence this evil beast +came I know, but the truth of it may not be spoken. It is not lawful for +King Minos to slay the Horror, which to him is great shame and grief; +neither may he help any man to slay it. Therefore, in his anger against +the Athenians he swore that, once in every nine years, he would give +fourteen of the Athenian men and maidens to the Thing, and that none of +them should bear sword or spear, dagger or axe, or any other weapon. +Yet, if one of the men, or all of them together, could slay the monster, +Minos made oath that Athens should be free of him and his tribute.' + +Theseus laughed and stood up. 'Soon,' he said, 'shall King Minos be free +from the Horror, and Athens shall be free from the tribute, if, indeed, +the gods be with me. For me need no lot be cast; gladly I will go to +Crete of my free will.' + +'I needed not to be a prophetess to know that you would speak thus,' +said Medea. 'But one thing even I can do. Take this phial, and bear it +in your breast, and, when you face the Minotaur, do as I shall tell +you.' Then she whispered some words to Theseus, and he marked them +carefully. + +He went forth from Medea's bower; he walked to the crest of the hill +upon which Athens is built, and there he saw all the people gathered, +weeping, and looking towards the sea. Swiftly a ship with black sails +was being rowed towards the shore, and her sides shone with the bronze +shields of her crew, that were hung on the bulwarks. + +'My friends,' cried Theseus, 'I know that ship, and wherefore she comes, +and with her I shall sail to Crete and slay the Minotaur. Did I not slay +Sinis and Sciron, Cercyon and Procrustes, and Periphetes? Let there be +no drawing of lots. Where are seven men and seven maidens who will come +with me, and meet these Cretans when they land, and sail back with them, +and see this famous Crete, for the love of Theseus?' + +Then there stepped forth seven young men of the best of Athens, tall, +and strong, and fair, the ancestors of them who smote, a thousand years +afterwards, the Persians at Marathon and in the strait of Salamis. 'We +will live or die with you, Prince Theseus,' they said. + +Next, one by one, came out of the throng, blushing, but with heads erect +and firm steps, the seven maidens whom the seven young men loved. They, +too, were tall, and beautiful, and stately, like the stone maidens +called Caryatides who bear up the roofs of temples. + +'We will live and die with you, Prince Theseus, and with our lovers,' +they cried; and all the people gave such a cheer that King Aegeus heard +it, and came from his palace, leaning on his staff, and Medea walked +beside him. + +'Why do you raise a glad cry, my children?' said Aegeus. 'Is not that the +Ship of Death, and must we not cast lots for the tribute to King Minos?' + +'Sir,' said Theseus, 'we rejoice because we go as free folk, of our own +will, these men and maidens and I, to take such fortune as the gods may +give us, and to do as well as we may. Nay, delay us not, for from this +hour shall Athens be free, without master or lord among Cretan men.' + +'But, my son, who shall defend me, who shall guide me, when I have lost +thee, the light of mine eyes, and the strength of my arm?' whimpered +Aegeus. + +'Is the king weeping alone, while the fathers and mothers of my +companions have dry eyes?' said Theseus. 'The gods will be your helpers, +and the lady who is my friend, and who devised the slaying of the sons +of Pallas. Hers was the mind, if the hand was my own, that wrought their +ruin. Let her be your counsellor, for no other is so wise. But that ship +is near the shore, and we must go.' + +Then Theseus embraced Aegeus, and Medea kissed him, and the young men +and maidens kissed their fathers and mothers, and said farewell. With +Theseus at their head they marched down the hill, two by two; but Medea +sent after them chariots laden with changes of raiment, and food, and +skins of wine, and all things of which they had need. They were to sail +in their own hired ship, for such was the custom, and the ship was ready +with her oarsmen. But Theseus and the Seven, by the law of Minos, might +carry no swords or other weapons of war. The ship had a black sail, but +Aegeus gave to the captain a sail dyed scarlet with the juice of the +scarlet oak, and bade him hoist it if he was bringing back Theseus +safe, but, if not, to return under the black sail. + +The captain, and the outlook man, and the crew, and the ship came all +from the isle of Salamis, for as yet the Athenians had no vessels fit +for long voyages--only fishing-boats. As Theseus and his company marched +along they met the herald of King Minos, bearing a sacred staff, for +heralds were holy, and to slay a herald was a deadly sin. He stopped +when he met Theseus, and wondered at his beauty and strength. 'My lord,' +said he, 'wherefore come you with the Fourteen? Know you to what end +they are sailing?' + +'That I know not, nor you, nor any man, but they and I are going to one +end, such as the gods may give us,' answered Theseus. 'Speak with me no +more, I pray you, and go no nearer Athens, for there men's hearts are +high to-day, and they carry swords.' + +The voice and the eyes of Theseus daunted the herald, and he with his +men turned and followed behind, humbly, as if they were captives and +Theseus were conqueror. + + + + +VI + +THESEUS IN CRETE + + +After many days' sailing, now through the straits under the beautiful +peaks of the mountains that crowned the islands, and now across the wide +sea far from sight of land, they beheld the crest of Mount Ida of Crete, +and ran into the harbour, where a hundred ships lay at anchor, and a +great crowd was gathered. Theseus marvelled at the ships, so many and so +strong, and at the harbour with its huge walls, while he and his +company landed. A hundred of the guardsmen of Minos, with large shields, +and breastplates made of ribs of bronze, and helmets of bronze with +horns on them, were drawn up on the pier. They surrounded the little +company of Athenians, and they all marched to the town of Cnossos, and +the palace of the king. + +If Theseus marvelled at the harbour he wondered yet more at the town. It +was so great that it seemed endless, and round it went a high wall, and +at every forty yards was a square tower with small square windows high +up. These towers were exactly like those which you may see among the +hills and beside the burns in the Border country, the south of Scotland +and the north of England; towers built when England and Scotland were at +war. But when they had passed through the gateway in the chief tower, +the town seemed more wonderful than the walls, for in all things it was +quite unlike the cities of Greece. The street, paved with flat paving +stones, wound between houses like our own, with a ground floor (in this +there were no windows) and with two or three stories above, in which +there were windows, with sashes, and with so many panes to each window, +the panes were coloured red. Each window opened on a balcony, and the +balconies were crowded with ladies in gay dresses like those which are +now worn. Under their hats their hair fell in long plaits over their +shoulders: they had very fine white blouses, short jackets, embroidered +in bright coloured silk, and skirts with flounces. Laughing merrily they +looked down at the little troop of prisoners, chatting, and some saying +they were sorry for the Athenian girls. Others, seeing Theseus marching +first, a head taller than the tallest guardsman, threw flowers that +fell at his feet, and cried, 'Go on, brave Prince!' for they could not +believe that he was one of the prisoners. + +The crowd in the street being great, the march was stopped under a house +taller than the rest; in the balcony one lady alone was seated, the +others stood round her as if they were her handmaidens. This lady was +most richly dressed, young, and very beautiful and stately, and was, +indeed, the king's daughter, Ariadne. She looked grave and full of pity, +and, as Theseus happened to glance upwards, their eyes met, and remained +fixed on each other. Theseus, who had never thought much about girls +before, grew pale, for he had never seen so beautiful a maiden: Ariadne +also turned pale, and then blushed and looked away, but her eyes glanced +down again at Theseus, and he saw it, and a strange feeling came into +his heart. + +The guards cleared the crowd, and they all marched on till they came to +the palace walls and gate, which were more beautiful even than the walls +of the town. But the greatest wonder of all was the palace, standing in +a wide park, and itself far greater than such towns as Theseus had seen, +Troezene, or Aphidnae, or Athens. There was a multitude of roofs of +various heights, endless roofs, endless windows, terraces, and gardens: +no king's palace of our times is nearly so great and strong. There were +fountains and flowers and sweet-smelling trees in blossom, and, when the +Athenians were led within the palace, they felt lost among the winding +passages and halls. + +The walls of them were painted with pictures of flying fishes, above a +clear white sea, in which fish of many kinds were swimming, with the +spray and bubbles flying from their tails, as the sea flows apart from +the rudder of a ship. There were pictures of bull fights, men and girls +teasing the bull, and throwing somersaults over him, and one bull had +just tossed a girl high in the air. Ladies were painted in balconies, +looking on, just such ladies as had watched Theseus and his company; and +young men bearing tall cool vases full of wine were painted on other +walls; and others were decorated with figures of bulls and stags, in +hard plaster, fashioned marvellously, and standing out from the walls +'in relief,' as it is called. Other walls, again, were painted with +patterns of leaves and flowers. + +The rooms were full of the richest furniture, chairs inlaid with ivory, +gold, and silver, chests inlaid with painted porcelain in little +squares, each square containing a separate bright coloured picture. +There were glorious carpets, and in some passages stood rows of vases, +each of them large enough to hold a man, like the pots in the story of +Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights. There were tablets +of stone brought from Egypt, with images carved of gods and kings, and +strange Egyptian writing, and there were cups of gold and +silver--indeed, I could not tell you half the beautiful and wonderful +things in the palace of Minos. We know that this is true, for the things +themselves, all of them, or pictures of them, have been brought to +light, dug out from under ground; and, after years of digging, there is +still plenty of this wonderful palace to be explored. + +The Athenians were dazzled, and felt lost and giddy with passing through +so many rooms and passages, before they were led into the great hall +named the Throne Room, where Minos was sitting in his gilded throne that +is still standing. Around him stood his chiefs and princes, gloriously +clothed in silken robes with jewels of gold; they left a lane between +their ranks, and down this lane was led Theseus at the head of his +little company. Minos, a dark-faced man, with touches of white in his +hair and long beard, sat with his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his +hand, and he fixed his eyes on the eyes of Theseus. Theseus bowed and +then stood erect, with his eyes on the eyes of Minos. + +'You are fifteen in number,' said Minos at last, 'my law claims +fourteen.' + +'I came of my own will,' answered Theseus, 'and of their own will came +my company. No lots were cast.' + +'Wherefore?' asked Minos. + +'The people of Athens have a mind to be free, O king.' + +'There is a way,' said Minos. 'Slay the Minotaur and you are free from +my tribute.' + +'I am minded to slay him,' said Theseus, and, as he spoke, there was a +stir in the throng of chiefs, and priests, and princes, and Ariadne +glided through them, and stood a little behind her father's throne, at +one side. Theseus bowed low, and again stood erect, with his eyes on the +face of Ariadne. + +'You speak like a king's son that has not known misfortune,' said Minos. + +'I have known misfortune, and my name is Theseus, Aegeus' son,' said +Theseus. + +'This is a new thing. When I saw King Aegeus he had no son, but he had +many nephews.' + +'No son that he wotted of,' said Theseus, 'but now he has no nephews, +and one son.' + +'Is it so?' asked Minos, 'then you have avenged me on the slayers of my +own son, fair sir, for it was your sword, was it not, that delivered +Aegeus from the sons of Pallas?' + +'My sword and the swords of my friends, of whom seven stand before you.' + +'I will learn if this be true,' said Minos. + +'True!' cried Theseus, and his hand flew to the place where his +sword-hilt should have been, but he had no sword. + +King Minos smiled. 'You are young,' he said, 'I will learn more of these +matters. Lead these men and maidens to their own chambers in the +palace,' he cried to his guard. 'Let each have a separate chamber, and +all things that are fitting for princes. To-morrow I will take counsel.' + +Theseus was gazing at Ariadne. She stood behind her father, and she put +up her right hand as if to straighten her veil, but, as she raised her +hand, she swiftly made the motion of lifting a cup to the lips; and then +she laid on her lips the fingers of her left hand, closing them fast. +Theseus saw the token, and he bowed, as did all his company, to Minos +and to the princess, and they were led upstairs and along galleries, +each to a chamber more rich and beautiful than they had seen before in +their dreams. Then each was taken to a bath, they were washed and +clothed in new garments, and brought back to their chambers, where meat +was put before them, and wine in cups of gold. At the door of each +chamber were stationed two guards, but four guards were set at the door +of Theseus. At nightfall more food was brought, and, for Theseus, much +red wine, in a great vessel adorned with ropes and knobs of gold. + +Theseus ate well, but he drank none, and, when he had finished, he +opened the door of his chamber, and carried out all the wine and the +cup. 'I am one,' he said, 'who drinks water, and loves not the smell of +wine in his chamber.' + +The guards thanked him, and soon he heard them very merry over the +king's best wine, next he did not hear them at all, next--he heard them +snoring! + +Theseus opened the door gently and silently: the guards lay asleep +across and beside the threshold. Something bright caught his eye, he +looked up, a lamp was moving along the dark corridor, a lamp in the hand +of a woman clad in a black robe; the light fell on her white silent +feet, and on the feet of another woman who followed her. + +Theseus softly slipped back into his chamber. The light, though shaded +by the girl's hand, showed in the crevice between the door and the +door-post. Softly entered Ariadne, followed by an old woman that had +been her nurse. 'You guessed the token?' she whispered. 'In the wine was +a sleepy drug.' + +Theseus, who was kneeling to her, nodded. + +'I can show you the way to flee, and I bring you a sword.' + +'I thank you, lady, for the sword, and I pray you to show me the way--to +the Minotaur.' + +Ariadne grew pale, and her hand flew to her heart. + +'I pray you make haste. Flee I will not, nor, if the king have mercy on +us, will I leave Crete till I have met the Minotaur: for he has shed the +blood of my people.' + +Ariadne loved Theseus, and knew well in her heart that he loved her. But +she was brave, and she made no more ado; she beckoned to him, and +stepped across the sleeping guardsmen that lay beside the threshold. +Theseus held up his hand, and she stopped, while he took two swords from +the men of the guard. One was long, with a strong straight narrow blade +tapering to a very sharp point; the other sword was short and straight, +with keen cutting double edges. Theseus slung them round his neck by +their belts, and Ariadne walked down the corridor, Theseus following +her, and the old nurse following him. He had taken the swords from the +sleeping men lest, if Ariadne gave him one, it might be found out that +she had helped him, and she knew this in her heart, for neither of them +spoke a word. + +Swiftly and silently they went, through galleries and corridors that +turned and wound about, till Ariadne came to the door of her own +chamber. Here she held up her hand, and Theseus stopped, till she came +forth again, thrusting something into the bosom of her gown. Again she +led the way, down a broad staircase between great pillars, into a hall, +whence she turned, and passed down a narrower stair, and then through +many passages, till she came into the open air, and they crossed rough +ground to a cave in a hill. In the back of the cave was a door plated +with bronze which she opened with a key. Here she stopped and took out +of the bosom of her gown a coil of fine strong thread. + +'Take this,' she said, 'and enter by that door, and first of all make +fast the end of the coil to a stone, and so walk through the labyrinth, +and, when you would come back, the coil shall be your guide. Take this +key also, to open the door, and lock it from within. If you return place +the key in a cleft in the wall within the outer door of the palace.' + +She stopped and looked at Theseus with melancholy eyes, and he threw his +arms about her, and they kissed and embraced as lovers do who are +parting and know not if they may ever meet again. + +At last she sighed and said, 'The dawn is near--farewell; the gods be +with you. I give you the watchword of the night, that you may pass the +sentinels if you come forth alive,' and she told him the word. Then she +opened the door and gave him the key, and the old nurse gave him the +lamp which she carried, and some food to take with him. + + + + +VII + +THE SLAYING OF THE MINOTAUR + + +Theseus first fastened one end of his coil of string to a pointed rock, +and then began to look about him. The labyrinth was dark, and he slowly +walked, holding the string, down the broadest path, from which others +turned off to right or left. He counted his steps, and he had taken near +three thousand steps when he saw the pale sky showing in a small circle +cut in the rocky roof, above his head, and he saw the fading stars. +Sheer walls of rock went up on either hand of him, a roof of rock was +above him, but in the roof was this one open place, across which were +heavy bars. Soon the daylight would come. + +Theseus set the lamp down on a rock behind a corner, and he waited, +thinking, at a place where a narrow dark path turned at right angles to +the left. Looking carefully round he saw a heap of bones, not human +bones, but skulls of oxen and sheep, hoofs of oxen, and shank bones. +'This,' he thought, 'must be the place where the food of the Minotaur is +let down to him from above. They have not Athenian youths and maidens to +give him every day! Beside his feeding place I will wait.' Saying this +to himself, he rose and went round the corner of the dark narrow path +cut in the rock to the left. He made his own breakfast, from the food +that Ariadne had given him, and it occurred to his mind that probably +the Minotaur might also be thinking of breakfast time. + +He sat still, and from afar away within he heard a faint sound, like the +end of the echo of a roar, and he stood up, drew his long sword, and +listened keenly. The sound came nearer and louder, a strange sound, not +deep like the roar of a bull, but more shrill and thin. Theseus laughed +silently. A monster with the head and tongue of a bull, but with the +chest of a man, could roar no better than that! The sounds came nearer +and louder, but still with the thin sharp tone in them. Theseus now took +from his bosom the phial of gold that Medea had given him in Athens when +she told him about the Minotaur. He removed the stopper, and held his +thumb over the mouth of the phial, and grasped his long sword with his +left hand, after fastening the clue of thread to his belt. + +The roars of the hungry Minotaur came nearer and nearer; now his feet +could be heard padding along the echoing floor of the labyrinth. Theseus +moved to the shadowy corner of the narrow path, where it opened into the +broad light passage, and he crouched there; his heart was beating +quickly. On came the Minotaur, up leaped Theseus, and dashed the +contents of the open phial in the eyes of the monster; a white dust flew +out, and Theseus leaped back into his hiding place. The Minotaur uttered +strange shrieks of pain; he rubbed his eyes with his monstrous hands; he +raised his head up towards the sky, bellowing and confused; he stood +tossing his head up and down; he turned round and round about, feeling +with his hands for the wall. He was quite blind. Theseus drew his short +sword, crept up, on naked feet, behind the monster, and cut through +the back sinews of his legs at the knees. Down fell the Minotaur, with a +crash and a roar, biting at the rocky floor with his lion's teeth, and +waving his hands, and clutching at the empty air. Theseus waited for his +chance, when the clutching hands rested, and then, thrice he drove the +long sharp blade of bronze through the heart of the Minotaur. The body +leaped, and lay still. + +[Illustration: HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR.] + +Theseus kneeled down, and thanked all the gods, and promised rich +sacrifices, and a new temple to Pallas Athene, the Guardian of Athens. +When he had finished his prayer, he drew the short sword, and hacked off +the head of the Minotaur. He sheathed both his swords, took the head in +his hand, and followed the string back out of the daylit place, to the +rock where he had left his lamp. With the lamp and the guidance of the +string he easily found his way to the door, which he unlocked. He +noticed that the thick bronze plates of the door were dinted and scarred +by the points of the horns of the Minotaur, trying to force his way out. + +He went out into the fresh early morning; all the birds were singing +merrily, and merry was the heart of Theseus. He locked the door, and +crossed to the palace, which he entered, putting the key in the place +which Ariadne had shown him. She was there, with fear and joy in her +eyes. 'Touch me not,' said Theseus, 'for I am foul with the blood of the +Minotaur.' She brought him to the baths on the ground floor, and swiftly +fled up a secret stair. In the bathroom Theseus made himself clean, and +clad himself in fresh raiment which was lying ready for him. When he was +clean and clad he tied a rope of byblus round the horns of the head of +the Minotaur, and went round the back of the palace, trailing the head +behind him, till he came to a sentinel. 'I would see King Minos,' he +said, 'I have the password, _Androgeos_!' + +The sentinel, pale and wondering, let him pass, and so he went through +the guards, and reached the great door of the palace, and there the +servants wrapped the bleeding head in cloth, that it might not stain the +floors. Theseus bade them lead him to King Minos, who was seated on his +throne, judging the four guardsmen, that had been found asleep. + +When Theseus entered, followed by the serving men with their burden, the +king never stirred on his throne, but turned his grey eyes on Theseus. +'My lord,' said Theseus, 'that which was to be done is done.' The +servants laid their burden at the feet of King Minos, and removed the +top fold of the covering. + +The king turned to the captain of his guard. 'A week in the cells for +each of these four men,' said he, and the four guards, who had expected +to die by a cruel death, were led away. 'Let that head and the body also +be burned to ashes and thrown into the sea, far from the shore,' said +Minos, and his servants silently covered the head of the Minotaur, and +bore it from the throne room. + +Then, at last, Minos rose from his throne, and took the hand of Theseus, +and said, 'Sir, I thank you, and I give you back your company safe and +free; and I am no more in hatred with your people. Let there be peace +between me and them. But will you not abide with us awhile, and be our +guests?' + +Theseus was glad enough, and he and his company tarried in the palace, +and were kindly treated. Minos showed Theseus all the splendour and +greatness of his kingdom and his ships, and great armouries, full of all +manner of weapons: the names and numbers of them are yet known, for +they are written on tablets of clay, that were found in the storehouse +of the king. Later, in the twilight, Theseus and Ariadne would walk +together in the fragrant gardens where the nightingales sang, and Minos +knew it, and was glad. He thought that nowhere in the world could he +find such a husband for his daughter, and he deemed it wise to have the +alliance of so great a king as Theseus promised to be. But, loving his +daughter, he kept Theseus with him long, till the prince was ashamed of +his delay, knowing that his father, King Aegeus, and all the people of +his country, were looking for him anxiously. + +Therefore he told what was in his heart to Minos, who sighed, and said, +'I knew what is in your heart, and I cannot say you nay. I give to you +my daughter as gladly as a father may.' Then they spoke of things of +state, and made firm alliance between Cnossos and Athens while they both +lived; and the wedding was done with great splendour, and, at last, +Theseus and Ariadne and all their company went aboard, and sailed from +Crete. One misfortune they had: the captain of their ship died of a +sickness while they were in Crete, but Minos gave them the best of his +captains. Yet by reason of storms and tempests they had a long and +terrible voyage, driven out of their course into strange seas. When at +length they found their bearings, a grievous sickness fell on beautiful +Ariadne. Day by day she was weaker, till Theseus, with a breaking heart, +stayed the ship at an isle but two days' sail from Athens. There Ariadne +was carried ashore, and laid in a bed in the house of the king of that +island, and the physicians and the wise women did for her what they +could. But she died with her hands in the hands of Theseus, and his lips +on her lips. In that isle she was buried, and Theseus went on board his +ship, and drew his cloak over his head, and so lay for two days, never +moving nor speaking, and tasting neither meat nor drink. No man dared to +speak to him, but when the vessel stopped in the harbour of Athens, he +arose, and stared about him. + +The shore was dark with people all dressed in mourning raiment, and the +herald of the city came with the news that Aegeus the King was dead. For +the Cretan captain did not know that he was to hoist the scarlet sail if +Theseus came home in triumph, and Aegeus, as he watched the waters, had +descried the dark sail from afar off, and, in his grief, had thrown +himself down from the cliff, and was drowned. This was the end of the +voyaging of Theseus. + + * * * * * + +Theseus wished to die, and be with Ariadne, in the land of Queen +Persephone. But he was a strong man, and he lived to be the greatest of +the Kings of Athens, for all the other towns came in, and were his +subjects, and he ruled them well. His first care was to build a great +fleet in secret harbours far from towns and the ways of men, for, though +he and Minos were friends while they both lived, when Minos died the new +Cretan king might oppress Athens. + +Minos died, at last, and his son picked a quarrel with Theseus, who +refused to give up a man that had fled to Athens because the new king +desired to slay him, and news came to Theseus that a great navy was +being made ready in Crete to attack him. Then he sent heralds to the +king of a fierce people, called the Dorians, who were moving through the +countries to the north-west of Greece, seizing lands, settling on them, +and marching forward again in a few years. They were wild, strong, and +brave, and they are said to have had swords of iron, which were better +than the bronze weapons of the Greeks. The heralds of Theseus said to +them, 'Come to our king, and he will take you across the sea, and show +you plunder enough. But you shall swear not to harm his kingdom.' + +This pleased the Dorians well, and the ships of Theseus brought them +round to Athens, where Theseus joined them with many of his own men, and +they did the oath. They sailed swiftly to Crete, where, as they arrived +in the dark, the Cretan captains thought that they were part of their +own navy, coming in to join them in the attack on Athens; for that +Theseus had a navy the Cretans knew not; he had built it so secretly. In +the night he marched his men to Cnossos, and took the garrison by +surprise, and burned the palace, and plundered it. Even now we can see +that the palace has been partly burned, and hurriedly robbed by some +sudden enemy. + +The Dorians stayed in Crete, and were there in the time of Ulysses, +holding part of the island, while the true Cretans held the greater part +of it. But Theseus returned to Athens, and married Hippolyte, Queen of +the Amazons. The story of their wedding festival is told in +Shakespeare's play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' And Theseus had many +new adventures, and many troubles, but he left Athens rich and strong, +and in no more danger from the kings of Crete. Though the Dorians, after +the time of Ulysses, swept all over the rest of Greece, and seized +Mycenae and Lacedaemon, the towns of Agamemnon and Menelaus, they were +true to their oath to Theseus, and left Athens to the Athenians. + + + + +PERSEUS + + + + +I + +THE PRISON OF DANAE + + +Many years before the Siege of Troy there lived in Greece two princes +who were brothers and deadly enemies. Each of them wished to be king +both of Argos (where Diomede ruled in the time of the Trojan war), and +of Tiryns. After long wars one of the brothers, Proetus, took Tiryns, +and built the great walls of huge stones, and the palace; while the +other brother, Acrisius, took Argos, and he married Eurydice, a princess +of the Royal House of Lacedaemon, where Menelaus and Helen were King and +Queen in later times. + +Acrisius had one daughter, Danae, who became the most beautiful woman in +Greece, but he had no son. This made him very unhappy, for he thought +that, when he grew old, the sons of his brother Proetus would attack +him, and take his lands and city, if he had no son to lead his army. His +best plan would have been to find some brave young prince, like Theseus, +and give Danae to him for his wife, and their sons would be leaders of +the men of Argos. But Acrisius preferred to go to the prophetic maiden +of the temple of Apollo at Delphi (or Pytho, as it was then called), and +ask what chance he had of being the father of a son. + +The maiden seldom had good news to give any man; but at least this time +it was easy to understand what she said. She went down into the deep +cavern below the temple floor, where it was said that a strange mist or +steam flowed up out of the earth, and made her fall into a strange +sleep, in which she could walk and speak, but knew not what she was +singing, for she sang her prophecies. At last she came back, very pale, +with her laurel wreath twisted awry, and her eyes open, but seeing +nothing. She sang that Acrisius would never have a son; but that his +daughter would bear a son, who would kill him. + +Acrisius mounted his chariot, sad and sorry, and was driven homewards. +On the way he never spoke a word, but was thinking how he might escape +from the prophecy, and baffle the will of Zeus, the chief of the gods. +He did not know that Zeus himself had looked down upon Danae and fallen +in love with her, nor did Danae know. + +The only sure way to avoid the prophecy was to kill Danae, and Acrisius +thought of doing this; but he loved her too much; and he was afraid that +his people would rise against him, if he slew his daughter, the pride of +their hearts. Still another fear was upon Acrisius, which will be +explained later in the story. He could think of nothing better than to +build a house all of bronze, in the court of his palace, a house sunk +deep in the earth, but with part of the roof open to the sky, as was the +way in all houses then; the light came in from above, and the smoke of +the fire went out in the same way. This chamber Acrisius built, and in +it he shut up poor Danae with the woman that had been her nurse. They +saw nothing, hills or plains or sea, men or trees, they only saw the sun +at midday, and the sky, and the free birds flitting across it. There +Danae lay, and was weary and sad, and she could not guess why her +father thus imprisoned her. He used to visit her often and seemed kind +and sorry for her, but he would never listen when she implored him to +sell her for a slave into a far country, so that, at least, she might +see the world in which she lived. + +Now on a day a mysterious thing happened; the old poet Pindar, who lived +long after, in the time of the war between the Greeks and the King of +Persia, says that a living stream of gold flowed down from the sky and +filled the chamber of Danae. Some time after this Danae bore a baby, a +son, the strongest and most beautiful of children. She and her nurse +kept it secret, and the child was brought up in an inner chamber of the +house of bronze. It was difficult to prevent so lively a child from +making a noise in his play, and one day, when Acrisius was with Danae, +the boy, now three or four years old, escaped from his nurse, and ran +from her room, laughing and shouting. Acrisius rushed out, and saw the +nurse catch the child, and throw her mantle over him. Acrisius seized +the boy, who stood firm on his little legs, with his head high, frowning +at his grandfather, and gazing in anger out of his large blue eyes. +Acrisius saw that this child would be dangerous when he became a man, +and in great anger he bade his guards take the nurse out, and strangle +her with a rope, while Danae knelt weeping at his feet. + +When they were alone he said to Danae: 'Who is the father of this +child?' but she, with her boy on her arm, slipped past Acrisius, and out +of the open door, and up the staircase, into the open air. She ran to +the altar of Zeus, which was built in the court, and threw her arms +round it, thinking that there no man dared to touch her. 'I cry to Zeus +that is throned in the highest, the Lord of Thunder,' she said: 'for he +and no other is the father of my boy, even Perseus.' The sky was bright +and blue without a cloud, and Danae cried in vain. There came no flash +of lightning nor roll of thunder. + +'Is it even so?' said Acrisius, 'then let Zeus guard his own.' He bade +his men drag Danae from the altar; and lock her again in the house of +bronze; while he had a great strong chest made. In that chest he had the +cruelty to place Danae and her boy, and he sent them out to sea in a +ship, the sailors having orders to let the chest down into the waters +when they were far from shore. They dared not disobey, but they put food +and a skin of wine, and two skins of water in the chest, and lowered it +into the sea, which was perfectly calm and still. It was their hope that +some ship would come sailing by, perhaps a ship of Phoenician +merchant-men, who would certainly save Danae and the child, if only that +they might sell them for slaves. + +King Acrisius himself was not ignorant that this might happen, and that +his grandson might live to be the cause of his death. But the Greeks +believed that if any man killed one of his own kinsfolk, he would be +pursued and driven mad by the Furies called the Erinyes, terrible winged +women with cruel claws. These winged women drove Orestes, the son of +Agamemnon, fleeing like a madman through the world, because he slew his +own mother, Clytaemnestra, to avenge his father, whom she and Aegisthus +had slain. Nothing was so much dreaded as these Furies, and therefore +Acrisius did not dare to slay his daughter and his grandson, Perseus, +but only put them in the way of being drowned. He heard no more of them, +and hoped that both of their bodies were rolling in the waves, or that +their bones lay bleaching on some unknown shore. But he could not be +certain--indeed, he soon knew better--and as long as he lived, he lived +in fear that Perseus had escaped, and would come and slay him, as the +prophetess had said in her song. + +The chest floated on the still waters, and the sea birds swooped down to +look at it, and passed by, with one waft of their wings. The sun set, +and Danae watched the stars, the Bear and Orion with his belt, and +wrapped her boy up warm, and he slept sound, for he never knew fear, in +his mother's arms. The Dawn came in her golden throne, and Danae saw +around her the blue sharp crests of the mountains of the islands that +lay scattered like water lilies on the seas of Greece. If only the +current would drift her to an island, she thought, and prayed in her +heart to the Gods of Good Help, Pallas Athene, and Hermes of the Golden +Wand. Soon she began to hope that the chest was drawing near an island. +She turned her head in the opposite direction for a long while, and then +looked forward again. She was much nearer the island, and could see the +smoke going up from cottages among the trees. But she drifted on and +drifted past the end of the isle, and on with the current, and so all +day. + +A weary day she had, for the boy was full of play, and was like to +capsize the chest. She gave him some wine and water, and presently he +fell asleep, and Danae watched the sea and the distant isles till night +came again. It was dark, with no moon, and the darker because the chest +floated into the shadow of a mountain, and the current drew it near the +shore. But Danae dared not hope again; men would not be abroad, she +thought, in the night. As she lay thus helpless, she saw a light moving +on the sea, and she cried as loud as she could cry. Then the light +stopped, and a man's shout came to her over the water, and the light +moved swiftly towards her. It came from a brazier set on a pole in a +boat, and now Danae could see the bright sparks that shone in the drops +from the oars, for the boat was being rowed towards her, as fast as two +strong men could pull. + +Being weak from the heat of the sun that had beaten on her for two days, +and tired out with hopes and fears, Danae fainted, and knew nothing till +she felt cold water on her face. Then she opened her eyes, and saw kind +eyes looking at her own, and the brown face of a bearded man, in the +light of the blaze that fishermen carry in their boats at night, for the +fish come to wonder at it, and the fishermen spear them. There were many +dead fish in the boat, into which Danae and the child had been lifted, +and a man with a fish spear in his hand was stooping over her. + +Then Danae knew that she and her boy were saved, and she lay, unable to +speak, till the oarsmen had pulled their boat to a little pier of stone. +There the man with the fish spear lifted her up lightly and softly set +her on her feet on land, and a boatman handed to him the boy, who was +awake, and was crying for food. + +'You are safe, lady!' said the man with the spear, 'and I have taken +fairer fish than ever swam the sea. I am called Dictys; my brother, +Polydectes, is king of this island, and my wife is waiting for me at +home, where she will make you welcome, and the boy thrice welcome, for +the gods have taken our only son.' + +He asked no questions of Danae; it was reckoned ill manners to put +questions to strangers and guests, but he lighted two torches at the +fire in the boat, and bade his two men walk in front, to show the way, +while he supported Danae, and carried the child on his shoulder. They +had not far to go, for Dictys, who loved fishing of all things, had his +house near the shore. Soon they saw the light shining up from the +opening in the roof of the hall; and the wife of Dictys came running +out, crying: 'Good sport?' when she heard their voices and footsteps. + +'Rare sport,' shouted Dictys cheerily, and he led in Danae, and gave the +child into the arms of his wife. Then they were taken to the warm baths, +and dressed in fresh raiment. Food was set before them, and presently +Danae and Perseus slept on soft beds, with coverlets of scarlet wool. + +Dictys and his wife never asked Danae any questions about how and why +she came floating on the sea through the night. News was carried quickly +enough from the mainland to the islands by fishers in their boats and +merchant men, and pedlars. Dictys heard how the king of Argos had +launched his daughter and her son on the sea, hoping that both would be +drowned. All the people knew in the island, which was called Seriphos, +and they hated the cruelty of Acrisius, and many believed that Perseus +was the son of Zeus. + +If the news from Argos reached Seriphos, we may guess that the news from +Seriphos reached Argos, and that Acrisius heard how a woman as beautiful +as a goddess, with a boy of the race of the gods, had drifted to the +shore of the little isle. Acrisius knew, and fear grew about his heart, +fear that was sharper as the years went on, while Perseus was coming to +his manhood. Acrisius often thought of ways by which he might have his +grandson slain; but none of them seemed safe. By the time when Perseus +was fifteen, Acrisius dared not go out of doors, except among the +spears of his armed guards, and he was so eaten up by fear that it would +have been happier for him if he had never been born. + + + + +II + +THE VOW OF PERSEUS + + +It was fortunate for Perseus that Dictys treated him and taught him like +his own son, and checked him if he was fierce and quarrelsome, as so +strong a boy was apt to be. He was trained in all the exercises of young +men, the use of spear and sword, shield and bow; and in running, +leaping, hunting, rowing, and the art of sailing a boat. There were no +books in Seriphos, nobody could read or write; but Perseus was told the +stories of old times, and of old warriors who slew monsters by sea and +land. Most of the monsters had been killed, as Perseus was sorry to +hear, for he desired to try his own luck with them when he came to be a +man. But the most terrible of all, the Gorgons, who were hated by men +and gods, lived still, in an island near the Land of the Dead; but the +way to that island was unknown. These Gorgons were two sisters, and a +third woman; the two were hideous to look on, with hair and wings and +claws of bronze, and with teeth like the white tusks of swine. Swinish +they were, ugly and loathsome, feeding fearfully on the bodies of +unburied men. But the third Gorgon was beautiful save for the living +serpents that coiled in her hair. She alone of the three Gorgons was +mortal, and could be slain, but who could slay her? So terrible were her +eyes that men who had gone up against her were changed into pillars of +stone. + +This was one of the stories that Perseus heard when he was a boy; and +there was a proverb that this or that hard task was 'as difficult to do +as to slay the Gorgon.' Perseus, then, ever since he was a little boy, +was wondering how he could slay the Gorgon and become as famous as the +strong man Heracles, or the good knight Bellerophon, who slew the +Chimaera. Perseus was always thinking of such famous men as these, and +especially loved the story of Bellerophon, which is this: + +In the city of Ephyre, now called Corinth, was a king named Glaucus, who +had a son, Bellerophon. He was brought up far from home, in Argos, by +King Proetus (the great-uncle of Perseus), who was his foster-father, +and loved him well. Proetus was an old man, but his wife, Anteia, was +young and beautiful, and Bellerophon also was beautiful and young, and, +by little and little, Anteia fell in love with him, and could not be +happy without him, but no such love was in Bellerophon's heart for her, +who was his foster-mother. At last Anteia, forgetting all shame, told +Bellerophon that she loved him, and hated her husband; and she asked him +to fly with her to the seashore, where she had a ship lying ready, and +they two would sail to some island far away, and be happy together. + +Bellerophon knew not what to say; he could not wrong King Proetus, his +foster-father. He stood speechless, his face was red with shame, but the +face of Anteia grew white with rage. + +'Dastard!' she said, 'thou shalt not live long in Argos to boast of my +love and your own virtue!' She ran from him, straight to King Proetus, +and flung herself at his feet. 'What shall be done, oh king,' she cried, +'to the man who speaks words of love dishonourable to the Queen of +Argos?' + +'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Proetus, 'if he were my own foster-son +he shall die!' + +'Thou hast named him!' said Anteia, and she ran to her own upper +chamber, and locked the door, and flung herself on the bed, weeping for +rage as if her heart would break. Proetus followed her, but she would +not unlock her door, only he heard her bitter weeping, and he went +apart, alone, and took thought how he should be revenged on Bellerophon. +He had no desire to slay him openly, for then the King of Ephyre would +make war against him. He could not bring him to trial before the judges, +for there was no witness against him except Anteia; and he did not +desire to make his subjects talk about the queen, for it was the glory +of a woman, in those days, not to be spoken of in the conversation of +men. + +Therefore Proetus, for a day or two, seemed to favour Bellerophon more +kindly than ever. Next he called him into his chamber, alone, and said +that it was well for young men to see the world, to cross the sea and +visit foreign cities, and win renown. The eyes of Bellerophon brightened +at these words, not only because he desired to travel, but because he +was miserable in Argos, where he saw every day the angry eyes of Anteia. +Then Proetus said that the King of Lycia, in Asia far across the sea, +was his father-in-law, and his great friend. To him he would send +Bellerophon, and Proetus gave him a folded tablet, in which he had +written many deadly signs. Bellerophon took the folded tablet, not +looking, of course, at what was written in it, and away he sailed to +Lycia. The king of that country received him well, and on the tenth day +after his arrival asked him if he brought any token from King Proetus. + +Bellerophon gave him the tablet, which he opened and read. The writing +said that Bellerophon must die. Now at that time Lycia was haunted by a +monster of no human birth; her front was the front of a lion, in the +middle of her body she was a goat, she tapered away to a strong swift +serpent, and she breathed flame from her nostrils. The King of Lycia, +wishing to get rid of Bellerophon, had but to name this curse to his +guest, who vowed that he would meet her if he might find her. So he was +led to the cavern where she dwelt, and there he watched for her all +night till the day dawned. + +He was cunning as well as brave, and men asked him why he took with him +no weapon but his sword, and two spears with heavy heads, not of bronze, +but of soft lead. Bellerophon told his companions that he had his own +way of fighting, and bade them go home, and leave him alone, while his +charioteer stood by the horses and chariot in a hollow way, out of +sight. Bellerophon himself watched, lying on his face, hidden behind a +rock in the mouth of the cavern. The moment that the rising sun touched +with a red ray the dark mouth of the cave, forth came the Chimaera, and, +setting her fore paws on the rock, looked over the valley. The moment +that she opened her mouth, breathing flame, Bellerophon plunged his +leaden spears deep down her throat, and sprang aside. On came the +Chimaera, her serpent tail lashing the stones, but Bellerophon ever kept +on the further side of a great tall rock. The Chimaera ceased to pursue +him, she rolled on the earth, uttering screams of pain, for the lead was +melting in the fire that was within her, and at last the molten lead +burned through her, and she died. Bellerophon hacked off her head, and +several feet of her tail, stowed them in his chariot, and drove back to +the palace of the King of Lycia, while the people followed him with +songs of praise. + +The king set him three other terrible tasks, but he achieved each of the +adventures gloriously, and the king gave him his daughter to be his +bride, and half of all the honours of his kingdom. This is the story of +Bellerophon (there were other ways of telling it), and Perseus was +determined to do as great deeds as he. But Perseus was still a boy, and +he did not know, and no man could tell him, the way to the island of the +Gorgons. + +When Perseus was about sixteen years old, the King of Seriphos, +Polydectes, saw Danae, fell in love with her, and wanted to take her +into his palace, but he did not want Perseus. He was a bad and cruel +man, but Perseus was so much beloved by the people that he dared not +kill him openly. He therefore made friends with the lad, and watched him +carefully to see how he could take advantage of him. The king saw that +he was of a rash, daring and haughty spirit, though Dictys had taught +him to keep himself well in hand, and that he was eager to win glory. +The king fell on this plan: he gave a great feast on his birthday, and +invited all the chief men and the richest on the island; Perseus, too, +he asked to the banquet. As the custom was, all the guests brought +gifts, the best that they had, cattle, women-slaves, golden cups, wedges +of gold, great vessels of bronze, and other splendid things, and the +king met the guests at the door of his hall, and thanked them +graciously. + +Last came Perseus: he had no gift to give, for he had nothing of his +own. The others began to sneer at him, saying, 'Here is a birthday guest +without a birthday gift!' 'How should No Man's son have a present fit +for a king.' 'This lad is lazy, tied to his mother; he should long ago +have taken service with the captain of a merchant ship.' 'He might at +least watch the town's cows on the town's fields,' said another. Thus +they insulted Perseus, and the king, watching him with a cruel smile, +saw his face grow red, and his blue eyes blaze, as he turned from one to +another of the mockers, who pointed their fingers at him and jeered. + +At last Perseus spoke: 'Ye farmers and fishers, ye ship-captains and +slave dealers of a little isle, I shall bring to your master such a +present as none of you dare to seek. Farewell. Ye shall see me once +again and no more. I go to slay the Gorgon, and bring such a gift as no +king possesses--the Head of the Gorgon.' + +They laughed and hooted, but Perseus turned away, his hand on his sword +hilt, and left them to their festival, while the king rejoiced in his +heart. Perseus dared not see his mother again, but he spoke to Dictys, +saying that he knew himself now to be of an age when he must seek his +fortune in other lands; and he bade Dictys guard his mother from wrong, +as well as he might. Dictys promised that he would find a way of +protecting Danae, and he gave Perseus three weighed wedges of gold +(which were called 'talents,' and served as money), and lent him a ship, +to take him to the mainland of Greece, there to seek his fortune. + +In the dawn Perseus secretly sailed away, landed at Malea, and thence +walked and wandered everywhere, seeking to learn the way to the island +of the Gorgons. He was poorly clad, and he slept at night by the fires +of smithies, where beggars and wanderers lay: listening to the stories +they told, and asking old people, when he met them, if they knew any one +who knew the way to the island of the Gorgons. They all shook their +heads. 'Yet I should be near knowing,' said one old man, 'if that isle +be close to the Land of the Dead, for I am on its borders. Yet I know +nothing. Perchance the dead may know; or the maid that prophesies at +Pytho, or the Selloi, the priests with unwashen feet, who sleep on the +ground below the sacred oaks of Zeus in the grove of Dodona far away.' + +Perseus could learn no more than this, and he wandered on and on. He +went to the cave that leads down to the Land of the Dead, where the +ghosts answer questions in their thin voices, like the twittering of +bats. But the ghosts could not tell him what he desired to know. He went +to Pytho, where the maid, in her song, bade him seek the land of men who +eat acorns instead of the yellow grain of Demeter, the goddess of +harvest. Thence he wandered to Epirus, and to the Selloi who dwell in +the oak forest of Zeus, and live on the flour ground from acorns. One of +them lay on the ground in the wood, with his head covered up in his +mantle, and listened to what the wind says, when it whispers to the +forest leaves. The leaves said, 'We bid the young man be of good hope, +for the gods are with him.' + +This answer did not tell Perseus where the isle of the Gorgons lay, but +the words put hope in his heart, weary and footsore as he was. He ate of +the bread made of the acorns, and of the flesh of the swine that the +Selloi gave him, and he went alone, and, far in the forest, he laid his +head down on the broad mossy root of an old oak tree. He did not sleep, +but watched the stars through the boughs, and he heard the cries of the +night-wandering beasts in the woodland. + +'If the gods be with me, I shall yet do well,' he said, and, as he +spoke, he saw a white clear light moving through the darkness. That +clear white light shone from a golden lamp in the hand of a tall and +beautiful woman, clad in armour, and wearing, hung by a belt from her +neck, a great shield of polished bronze. With her there came a young +man, with winged shoon of gold on his feet, and belted with a strange +short curved sword: in his hand was a golden wand, with wings on it, and +with golden serpents twisted round it. + +Perseus knew that these beautiful folk were the Goddess Athene, and +Hermes, who brings all fortunate things. He fell upon his face before +them, but Athene spoke in a sweet grave voice, saying, 'Arise, Perseus, +and speak to us face to face, for we are of your kindred, we also are +children of Zeus, the Father of gods and men.' + +Then Perseus arose and looked straight into their eyes. + +'We have watched you long, Perseus, to learn whether you have the heart +of a hero, that can achieve great adventures; or whether you are an idle +dreaming boy. We have seen that your heart is steadfast, and that you +have sought through hunger, and long travel to know the way wherein you +must find death or win glory. That way is not to be found without the +help of the gods. First you must seek the Three Grey Women, who dwell +beyond the land that lies at the back of the North Wind. They will tell +you the road to the three Nymphs of the West, who live in an island of +the sea that never knew a sail; for it is beyond the pillars that +Heracles set up when he wearied in his journey to the Well of the +World's End, and turned again. You must go to these nymphs, where never +foot of man has trod, and they will show you the measure of the way to +the Isle of the Gorgons. If you see the faces of the Gorgons, you will +be turned to stone. Yet you have vowed to bring the head of the youngest +of the three, she who was not born a Gorgon but became one of them by +reason of her own wickedness. If you slay her, you must not see even her +dead head, but wrap it round in this goat-skin which hangs beside my +shield; see not the head yourself, and let none see it but your +enemies.' + +'This is a great adventure,' said Perseus, 'to slay a woman whom I may +not look upon, lest I be changed into stone.' + +'I give you my polished shield,' said Athene. 'Let it never grow dim, if +you would live and see the sunlight.' She took off her shield from her +neck, with the goat-skin cover of the shield, and hung them round the +neck of Perseus. He knelt and thanked her for her grace, and, looking up +through a clear space between the forest boughs, he said, 'I see the +Bear, the stars of the North that are the guide of sailors. I shall walk +towards them even now, by your will, for my heart burns to find the +Three Grey Women, and learn the way.' + +Hermes smiled, and said, 'An old man and white-bearded would you be, ere +you measured out that way on foot! Here, take my winged sandals, and +bind them about your feet. They know all the paths of the air, and they +will bring you to the Three Grey Women. Belt yourself, too, with my +sword, for this sword needs no second stroke, but will cleave through +that you set it to smite.' + +So Perseus bound on the Shoes of Swiftness, and the Sword of Sharpness, +the name of it was Herpe; and when he rose from binding on the shoon, he +was alone. The gods had departed. He drew the sword, and cut at an oak +tree trunk, and the blade went clean through it, while the tree fell +with a crash like thunder. Then Perseus rose through the clear space in +the wood, and flew under the stars, towards the constellation of the +Bear. North of Greece he flew, above the Thracian mountains, and the +Danube (which was then called the Ister) lay beneath him like a long +thread of silver. The air grew cold as he crossed lands then unknown to +the Greeks, lands where wild men dwelt, clad in the skins of beasts, and +using axe-heads and spear-heads made of sharpened stones. He passed to +the land at the back of the North Wind, a sunny warm land, where the +people sacrifice wild asses to the God Apollo. Beyond this he came to a +burning desert of sand, but far away he saw trees that love the water, +poplars and willows, and thither he flew. + +He came to a lake among the trees, and round and round the lake were +flying three huge grey swans, with the heads of women, and their long +grey hair flowed down below their bodies, and floated on the wind. They +sang to each other as they flew, in a voice like the cry of the swan. +They had but one eye among them, and but one tooth, which they passed to +each other in turn, for they had arms and hands under their wings. +Perseus dropped down in his flight, and watched them. When one was +passing the eye to the other, none of them could see him, so he waited +for his chance and took it, and seized the eye. + +'Where is our eye? Have _you_ got it?' said the Grey Woman from whose +hand Perseus took it. 'I have it not.' + +'I have it not!' cried each of the others, and they all wailed like +swans. + +'I have it,' said Perseus, and hearing his voice they all flew to the +sound of it but he easily kept out of their way. 'The eye will I keep,' +said Perseus, 'till you tell me what none knows but you, the way to the +Isle of the Gorgons.' + +'We know it not,' cried the poor Grey Women. 'None knows it but the +Nymphs of the Isle of the West: give us our eye!' + +'Then tell me the way to the Nymphs of the Isle of the West,' said +Perseus. + +'Turn your back, and hold your course past the isle of Albion, with the +white cliffs, and so keep with the land on your left hand, and the +unsailed sea on your right hand, till you mark the pillars of Heracles +on your left, then take your course west by south, and a curse on you! +Give us our eye!' + +Perseus gave them their eye, and she who took it flew at him, but he +laughed, and rose high above them and flew as he was told. Over many and +many a league of sea and land he went, till he turned to his right from +the Pillars of Heracles (at Gibraltar), and sailed along, west by south, +through warm air, over the lonely endless Atlantic waters. At last he +saw a great blue mountain, with snow feathering its crests, in a far-off +island, and on that island he alighted. It was a country of beautiful +flowers, and pine forests high on the hill, but below the pines all was +like a garden, and in that garden was a tree bearing apples of gold, and +round the tree were dancing three fair maidens, clothed in green, and +white, and red. + +'These must be the Nymphs of the Isle of the West,' said Perseus, and he +floated down into the garden, and drew near them. + +As soon as they saw him they left off dancing, and catching each other +by the hands they ran to Perseus laughing, and crying, 'Hermes, our +playfellow Hermes has come!' The arms of all of them went round Perseus +at once, with much laughing and kissing. 'Why have you brought a great +shield, Hermes?' they cried, 'here there is no unfriendly god or man to +fight against you.' + +Perseus saw that they had mistaken him for the god whose sword and +winged shoon he wore, but he did not dislike the mistake of the merry +maidens. + +'I am not Hermes,' he said, 'but a mortal man, to whom the god has +graciously lent his sword and shoon, and the shield was lent to me by +Pallas Athene. My name is Perseus.' + +The girls leaped back from him, blushing and looking shy. The eldest +girl answered, 'We are the daughters of Hesperus, the God of the Evening +Star. I am Aegle, this is my sister Erytheia, and this is Hesperia. We +are the keepers of this island, which is the garden of the gods, and +they often visit us; our cousins, Dionysus, the young god of wine and +mirth, and Hermes of the Golden Wand come often; and bright Apollo, and +his sister Artemis the huntress. But a mortal man we have never seen, +and wherefore have the gods sent you hither?' + +'The two gods sent me, maidens, to ask you the way to the Isle of the +Gorgons, that I may slay Medusa of the snaky hair, whom gods and men +detest.' + +'Alas!' answered the nymphs, 'how shall you slay her, even if we knew +the way to that island, which we know not?' + +Perseus sighed: he had gone so far, and endured so much, and had come to +the Nymphs of the Isle of the West, and even they could not tell how to +reach the Gorgons' island. + +[Illustration: PERSEUS IN THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES.] + +'Do not fear,' said the girl, 'for if we know not the way we know one +that knows it: Atlas is his name--the Giant of the Mountain. He dwells +on the highest peak of the snow-crested hill, and it is he who holds up +the heavens, and keeps heaven and earth asunder. He looks over all the +world, and over the wide western sea: him we must ask to answer your +question. Take off your shield, which is so heavy, and sit down with us +among the flowers, and let us think how you may slay the Gorgon.' + +Perseus gladly unslung his heavy shield, and sat down among the white +and purple wind flowers. Aegle, too, sat down; but young Erytheia held +the shield upright, while beautiful Hesperia admired herself, laughing, +in the polished surface. + +Perseus smiled as he watched them, and a plan came into his mind. In all +his wanderings he had been trying hard to think how, if he found the +Gorgon, he might cut off her head, without seeing the face which turned +men into stone. Now his puzzle was ended. He could hold up the shield +above the Gorgon, and see the reflection of her face, as in a mirror, +just as now he saw the fair reflected face of Hesperia. He turned to +Aegle, who sat silently beside him: 'Maiden,' he said, 'I have found out +the secret that has perplexed me long, how I may strike at the Gorgon +without seeing her face that turns men to stone. I will hang above her +in the air, and see her face reflected in the mirror of the shield, and +so know where to strike.' The two other girls had left the shield on the +grass, and they clapped their hands when Perseus said this, but Aegle +still looked grave. + +'It is much that you should have found this cunning plan; but the +Gorgons will see you, and two of them are deathless and cannot be slain, +even with the sword Herpe. These Gorgons have wings almost as swift as +the winged shoon of Hermes, and they have claws of bronze that cannot +be broken.' + +Hesperia clapped her hands. 'Yet I know a way,' she said, 'so that this +friend of ours may approach the Gorgons, yet not be seen by them. You +must be told,' she said, turning to Perseus, 'that we three sisters were +of the company of the Fairy Queen, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the +Goddess of the Harvest. We were gathering flowers with her, in the plain +of Enna, in a spring morning, when there sprang up a new flower, +fragrant and beautiful, the white narcissus. No sooner had Persephone +plucked that flower than the earth opened beside her, and up came the +chariot and horses of Hades, the King of the Dead, who caught Persephone +into his chariot, and bore her down with him to the House of Hades. We +wept and were in great fear, but Zeus granted to Persephone to return to +earth with the first snowdrop, and remain with her mother, Demeter, till +the last rose had faded. Now I was the favourite of Persephone, and she +carried me with her to see her husband, who is kind to me for her sake, +and can refuse me nothing, and he has what will serve your turn. To him +I will go, for often I go to see my playmate, when it is winter in your +world: it is always summer in our isle. To him I will go, and return +again, when I will so work that you may be seen of none, neither by god, +or man, or monster. Meanwhile my sisters will take care of you, and +to-morrow they will lead you to the mountain top, to speak with the +Giant.' + +'It is well spoken,' said tall, grave Aegle, and she led Perseus to their +house, and gave him food and wine, and at night he slept full of hope, +in a chamber in the courtyard. + +Next morning, early, Perseus and Aegle and Erytheia floated up to the +crest of the mountain, for Hesperia had departed in the night, to visit +Queen Persephone. Perseus took a hand of each of the Nymphs, and they +had no weary climbing; they all soared up together, so great was the +power of the winged shoon of Hermes. They found the good giant Atlas, +kneeling on a black rock above the snow, holding up the vault of heaven +with either hand. When Aegle had spoken to him, he bade his girls go +apart, and said to Perseus, 'Yonder, far away to the west, you see an +island with a mountain that rises to a flat top, like a table. There +dwell the Gorgons.' + +Perseus thanked him eagerly, but Atlas sighed and said, 'Mine is a weary +life. Here have I knelt and done my task, since the Giants fought +against the gods, and were defeated. Then, for my punishment, I was set +here by Zeus to keep sky and earth asunder. But he told me that after +hundreds of years I should have rest, and be changed to a stone. Now I +see that the day of rest appointed is come, for you shall show me the +head of the Gorgon when you have slain her, and my body shall be stone, +but my spirit shall be with the ever living gods.' + +Perseus pitied Atlas; he bowed to the will of Zeus, and to the prayer of +the giant, and gave his promise. Then he floated to Aegle and Erytheia, +and they all three floated down again to the garden of the golden +apples. Here as they walked on the soft grass, and watched the wind toss +the white and red and purple bells of the wind flowers, they heard a low +laughter close to them, the laughter of Hesperia, but her they saw not. +'Where are you, Hesperia, where are you hiding?' cried Aegle, wondering, +for the wide lawn was open, without bush or tree where the girl might be +lurking. + +'Find me if you can,' cried the voice of Hesperia, close beside them, +and handfuls of flowers were lightly tossed to them, yet they saw none +who threw them. 'This place is surely enchanted,' thought Perseus, and +the voice of Hesperia answered: + +'Come follow, follow me. I will run before you to the house, and show +you my secret.' + +Then they all saw the flowers bending, and the grass waving, as if a +light-footed girl were running through it, and they followed to the +house the path in the trodden grass. At the door, Hesperia met them: +'You could not see me,' she said, 'nor will the Gorgons see Perseus. +Look, on that table lies the Helmet of Hades, which mortal men call the +Cap of Darkness. While I wore it you could not see me, nay, a deathless +god cannot see the wearer of that helmet.' She took up a dark cap of +hard leather, that lay on a table in the hall, and raised it to her +head, and when she had put it on, she was invisible. She took it off, +and placed it on the brows of Perseus. 'We cannot see you, Perseus,' +cried all the girls. 'Look at yourself in your shining shield: can you +see yourself?' + +Perseus turned to the shield, which he had hung on a golden nail in the +wall. He saw only the polished bronze, and the faces of the girls who +were looking over his shoulder. He took off the Helmet of Hades and gave +a great sigh. 'Kind are the gods,' he said. 'Methinks that I shall +indeed keep my vow, and bring to Polydectes the Gorgon's head.' + +They were merry that night, and Perseus told them his story, how he was +the son of Zeus, and the girls called him 'cousin Perseus.' 'We love you +very much, and we could make you immortal, without old age and death,' +said Hesperia. 'You might live with us here for ever--it is lonely, +sometimes, for three maidens in the garden of the gods. But you must +keep your vow, and punish your enemies, and cherish your mother, and do +not forget your cousins three, when you have married the lady of your +heart's desire, and are King of Argos.' + +The tears stood in the eyes of Perseus. 'Cousins dear,' he said, 'never +shall I forget you, not even in the House of Hades. You will come +thither now and again, Hesperia? But I love no woman.' + +'I think you will not long be without a lady and a love, Perseus,' said +Erytheia; 'but the night is late, and to-morrow you have much to do.' + +So they parted, and next morning they bade Perseus be of good hope. He +burnished and polished the shield, and covered it with the goat's skin, +he put on the Shoes of Swiftness, and belted himself with the Sword of +Sharpness, and placed on his head the Cap of Darkness. Then he soared +high in the air, till he saw the Gorgons' Isle, and the table-shaped +mountain, a speck in the western sea. + +The way was long, but the shoes were swift, and, far aloft, in the heat +of the noon-day, Perseus looked down on the top of the table-mountain. +There he could dimly see three bulks of strange shapeless shape, with +monstrous limbs that never stirred, and he knew that the Gorgons were +sleeping their midday sleep. Then he held the shield so that the shapes +were reflected in its polished face, and very slowly he floated down, +and down, till he was within striking distance. There they lay, two of +them uglier than sin, breathing loud in their sleep like drunken men. +But the face of her who lay between the others was as quiet as the face +of a sleeping child; and as beautiful as the face of the goddess of +Love, with long dark eyelashes veiling the eyes, and red lips half +open. Nothing stirred but the serpents in the hair of beautiful Medusa; +they were never still, but coiled and twisted, and Perseus loathed them +as he watched them in the mirror. They coiled and uncoiled, and left +bare her ivory neck, and then Perseus drew the sword Herpe, and struck +once. + +In the mirror he saw the fallen head, and he seized it by the hair, and +wrapped it in the goat-skin, and put the goat-skin in his wallet. Then +he towered high in the air, and, looking down, he saw the two sister +Gorgons turning in their sleep; they woke, and saw their sister dead. +They seemed to speak to each other; they looked this way and that, into +the bright empty air, for Perseus in the Cap of Darkness they could not +see. They rose on their mighty wings, hunting low, and high, and with +casts behind their island and in front of it, but Perseus was flying +faster than ever he flew before, stooping and rising to hide his scent. +He dived into the deep sea, and flew under water as long as he could +hold his breath, and then rose and fled swiftly forward. The Gorgons +were puzzled by each double he had made, and, at the place where he +dived they lost the scent, and from far away Perseus heard their loud +yelps, but soon these faded in the distance. He often looked over his +shoulder as he flew straight towards the far-off blue hill of the giant +Atlas, but the sky was empty behind him, and the Gorgons he never saw +again. The mountain turned from blue to clear grey and red and gold, +with pencilled rifts and glens, and soon Perseus stood beside the giant +Atlas. 'You are welcome and blessed,' said the giant. 'Show me the head +that I may be at rest.' + +Then Perseus took the bundle from the wallet, and carefully unbound the +goat-skin, and held up the head, looking away from it, and the Giant +was a great grey stone. Down sailed Perseus, and stood in the garden of +the gods, and laid the Cap of Darkness on the grass. The three Nymphs +who were sitting there, weaving garlands of flowers, leaped up, and came +round him, and kissed him, and crowned him with the flowery chaplets. +That night he rested with them, and in the morning they kissed and said +farewell. + +'Do not forget us,' said Aegle, 'nor be too sorry for our loneliness. +To-day Hermes has been with us, and to-morrow he comes again with +Dionysus, the god of the vine, and all his merry company. Hermes left a +message for you, that you are to fly eastward, and south, to the place +where your wings shall guide you, and there, he said, you shall find +your happiness. When that is won, you shall turn north and west, to your +own country. We say, all three of us, that our love is with you always, +and we shall hear of your gladness, for Hermes will tell us; then we too +shall be glad. Farewell!' + +So the three maidens embraced him with kind faces and smiling eyes, and +Perseus, too, smiled as well as he might, but in his eastward way he +often looked back, and was sad when he could no longer see the kindly +hill above the garden of the gods. + + + + +III + +PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA + + +Perseus flew where the wings bore him, over great mountains, and over a +wilderness of sand. Below his feet the wind woke the sand storms, and +beneath him he saw nothing but a soft floor of yellow grey, and when +that cleared he saw islands of green trees round some well in the +waste, and long trains of camels, and brown men riding swift horses, at +which he wondered; for the Greeks in his time drove in chariots, and did +not ride. The red sun behind him fell, and all the land was purple, but, +in a moment, as it seemed, the stars rushed out, and he sped along in +the starlight till the sky was grey again, and rosy, and full of fiery +colours, green and gold and ruby and amethyst. Then the sun rose, and +Perseus looked down on a green land, through which was flowing north a +great river, and he guessed that it was the river Aegyptus, which we now +call the Nile. Beneath him was a town, with many white houses in groves +of palm trees, and with great temples of the gods, built of red stone. +The shoes of swiftness stopped above the wide market-place, and there +Perseus hung poised, till he saw a multitude of men pour out of the door +of a temple. + +At their head walked the king, who was like a Greek, and he led a maiden +as white as snow wreathed with flowers and circlets of wool, like the +oxen in Greece, when men sacrifice them to the gods. Behind the king and +the maid came a throng of brown men, first priests and magicians and +players on harps, and women shaking metal rattles that made a wild +mournful noise, while the multitude lamented. + +Slowly, while Perseus watched, they passed down to the shore of the +great river, so wide a river as Perseus had never seen. They went to a +steep red rock, like a wall, above the river; at its foot was a flat +shelf of rock--the water just washed over it. Here they stopped, and the +king kissed and embraced the white maiden. They bound her by chains of +bronze to rings of bronze in the rock; they sang a strange hymn; and +then marched back to the town, throwing their mantles over their heads. +There the maiden stood, or rather hung forward supported by the chains. +Perseus floated down, and, the nearer he came, the more beautiful seemed +the white maid, with her soft dark hair falling to her white feet. +Softly he floated down, till his feet were on the ledge of rock. She did +not hear him coming, and when he gently touched her she gave a cry, and +turned on him her large dark eyes, wild and dry, without a tear. 'Is it +a god?' she said, clasping her hands. + +'No god, but a mortal man am I, Perseus the slayer of the Gorgon. What +do you here? What cruel men have bound you?' + +'I am Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, king of a strange people. The +lot fell on me, of all the maidens in the city, to be offered to the +monster fish that walks on feet, who is their god. Once a year they give +to him a maiden.' + +Perseus thereon drew the sword Herpe, and cut the chains of bronze that +bound the girl as if they had been ropes of flax, and she fell at his +feet, covering her eyes with her hands. Then Perseus saw the long reeds +on the further shore of the river waving and stirring and crashing, and +from them came a monstrous fish walking on feet, and slid into the +water. His long sharp black head showed above the stream as he swam, and +the water behind him showed like the water in the wake of a ship. + +'Be still and hide your eyes!' whispered Perseus to the maiden. + +He took the goat-skin from his wallet, and held up the Gorgon's head, +with the back of it turned towards him, and he waited till the long +black head was lifted from the river's edge, and the forefeet of that +fish were on the wet ledge of rock. Then he held the head before the +eyes of the monster, and from the head downward it slowly stiffened. +The head and forefeet and shoulders were of stone before the tail had +ceased to lash the water. Then the tail stiffened into a long jagged +sharp stone, and Perseus, wrapping up the head in the goat-skin, placed +it in his wallet. He turned his back to Andromeda, while he did this +lest by mischance her eyes should open and see the head of the Gorgon. +But her eyes were closed, and Perseus found that she had fainted, from +fear of the monster, and from the great heat of the sun. Perseus put the +palms of his hands together like a cup, and stooping to the stream he +brought water, and threw it over the face and neck of Andromeda, +wondering at her beauty. Her eyes opened at last, and she tried to rise +to her feet, but she dropped on her knees, and clung with her fingers to +the rock. Seeing her so faint and weak Perseus raised her in his arms, +with her beautiful head pillowed on his shoulder, where she fell asleep +like a tired child. Then he rose in the air and floated over the sheer +wall of red stone above the river, and flew slowly towards the town. + +There were no sentinels at the gate; the long street was empty, for all +the people were in their houses, praying and weeping. But a little girl +stole out of a house near the gate. She was too young to understand why +her father and mother and elder brothers were so sad, and would not take +any notice of her. She thought she would go out and play in the street, +and when she looked up from her play, she saw Perseus bearing the king's +daughter in his arms. The child stared, and then ran into her house, +crying aloud, for she could hardly speak, and pulled so hard at her +mother's gown that her mother rose and followed her to the house door. +The mother gave a joyful cry, her husband and her children ran forth, +and they, too, shouted aloud for pleasure. Their cries reached the +ears of people in other houses, and presently all the folk, as glad as +they had been sorrowful, were following Perseus to the palace of the +king. Perseus walked through the empty court, and stood at the door of +the hall, where the servants came to him, both men and women, and with +tears of joy the women bore Andromeda to the chamber of her mother, +Queen Cassiopeia. + +[Illustration: THE RESCUE OF ANDROMEDA.] + +Who can tell how happy were the king and queen, and how gladly they +welcomed Perseus! They made a feast for him, and they sent oxen and +sheep to all the people, and wine, that all might rejoice and make +merry. Andromeda, too, came, pale but smiling, into the hall, and sat +down beside her mother's high seat, listening while Perseus told the +whole story of his adventures. Now Perseus could scarcely keep his eyes +from Andromeda's face while he spoke, and she stole glances at him. When +their eyes met, the colour came into her face again, which glowed like +ivory that a Carian woman has lightly tinged with rose colour, making an +ornament for some rich king. Perseus remembered the message of Hermes, +which Aegle had given him, that if he flew to the east and south he would +find his happiness. He knew that he had found it, if this maiden would +be his wife, and he ended his tale by repeating the message of Hermes. + +'The gods speak only truth,' he said, 'and to have made you all happy is +the greatest happiness to Perseus of Argos.' Yet he hoped in his heart +to see a yet happier day, when the rites of marriage should be done +between Andromeda and him, and the young men and maidens should sing the +wedding song before their door. + +Andromeda was of one mind with him, and, as Perseus must needs go home, +her parents believed that she could not live without him who had saved +her from such a cruel death. So with heavy hearts they made the marriage +feast, and with many tears Andromeda and her father and mother said +farewell. Perseus and his bride sailed down the great river Aegyptus in +the king's own boat; and at every town they were received with feasts, +and songs, and dances. They saw all the wonderful things of Egypt, +palaces and pyramids and temples and tombs of kings, and at last they +found a ship of the Cretans in the mouth of the Nile. This they hired, +for they carried with them great riches, gold, and myrrh, and ivory, +gifts of the princes of Egypt. + + + + +IV + +HOW PERSEUS AVENGED DANAE + + +With a steady south wind behind them they sailed to Seriphos, and +landed, and brought their wealth ashore, and went to the house of +Dictys. They found him lonely and sorrowful, for his wife had died, and +his brother, King Polydectes, had taken Danae, and set her to grind corn +in his house, among his slave women. When Perseus heard that word, he +asked, 'Where is King Polydectes?' + +'It is his birthday, and he holds his feast among the princes,' said +Dictys. + +'Then bring me,' said Perseus, 'the worst of old clothes that any +servant of your house can borrow from a beggar man, if there be a beggar +man in the town.' Such a man there was--he came limping through the door +of the courtyard, and up to the threshold of the house, where he sat +whining, and asking for alms. They gave him food and wine, and Perseus +cried, 'New clothes for old, father, I will give you, and new shoes for +old.' The beggar could not believe his ears, but he was taken to the +baths, and washed, and new clothes were given to him, while Perseus clad +himself in the beggar's rags, and Dictys took charge of the winged shoon +of Hermes and the sword Herpe, and the burnished shield of Athene. Then +Perseus cast dust and wood ashes on his hair, till it looked foul and +grey, and placed the goat-skin covering and the Gorgon's head in his +wallet, and with the beggar's staff in his hand he limped to the palace +of Polydectes. On the threshold he sat down, like a beggar, and +Polydectes saw him and cried to his servants, 'Bring in that man; is it +not the day of my feast? Surely all are welcome.' Perseus was led in, +looking humbly at the ground, and was brought before the king. + +'What news, thou beggar man?' said the king. + +'Such news as was to be looked for,' whined Perseus. 'Behold, I am he +who brought no present to the king's feast, seven long years agone, and +now I come back, tired and hungry, to ask his grace.' + +'By the splendour of Zeus,' cried Polydectes, 'it is none but the beggar +brat who bragged that he would fetch me such a treasure as lies in no +king's chamber! The beggar brat is a beggar man; how time and travel +have tamed him! Ho, one of you, run and fetch his mother who is grinding +at the mill, that she may welcome her son.' + +A servant ran from the hall, and the chiefs of Seriphos mocked at +Perseus. 'This is he who called us farmers and dealers in slaves. Verily +he would not fetch the price of an old cow in the slave market.' Then +they threw at him crusts of bread, and bones of swine, but he stood +silent. + +Then Danae was led in, clad in vile raiment, but looking like a queen, +and the king cried, 'Go forward, woman: look at that beggar man; dost +thou know thy son?' She walked on, her head high, and Perseus whispered, +'Mother, stand thou beside me, and speak no word!' + +'My mother knows me not, or despises me,' said Perseus, 'yet, poor as I +am, I do not come empty-handed. In my wallet is a gift, brought from +very far away, for my lord the king.' + +He swung his wallet round in front of him; he took off the covering of +goat-skin, and he held the Gorgon's head on high, by the hair, facing +the king and the chiefs. In one moment they were all grey stones, all +along the hall, and the chairs whereon they sat crashed under the weight +of them, and they rolled on the hard clay floor. Perseus wrapped the +head in the goat-skin, and shut it in the wallet carefully, and cried, +'Mother, look round, and see thy son and thine own revenge.' + +Then Danae knew her son, by the sound of his voice, if not by her +eyesight, and she wept for joy. So they two went to the house of Dictys, +and Perseus was cleansed, and clad in rich raiment, and Danae, too, was +apparelled like a free woman, and embraced Andromeda with great joy. + +Perseus made the good Dictys king of Seriphos; and he placed the winged +shoes in the temple of Hermes, with the sword Herpe, and the Gorgon's +head, in its goat-skin cover; but the polished shield he laid on the +altar in the temple of Athene. Then he bade all who served in the +temples come forth, both young and old, and he locked the doors, and he +and Dictys watched all night, with the armed Cretans, the crew of his +ship, that none might enter. Next day Perseus alone went into the temple +of Athene. It was as it had been, but the Gorgon's head and the +polished shield were gone, and the winged shoon and the sword Herpe had +vanished from the temple of Hermes. + +With Danae and Andromeda Perseus sailed to Greece, where he learned that +the sons of King Proetus had driven King Acrisius out of Argos, and that +he had fled to Phthia in the north, where the ancestor of the great +Achilles was king. Thither Perseus went, to see his grandfather, and he +found the young men holding games and sports in front of the palace. +Perseus thought that his grandfather might love him better if he showed +his strength in the games, which were open to strangers, so he entered +and won the race, and the prize for leaping, and then came the throwing +of the disc of bronze. Perseus threw a great cast, far beyond the rest, +but the disc swerved, and fell among the crowd. Then Perseus was afraid, +and ran like the wind to the place where the disc fell. There lay an old +man, smitten sorely by the disc, and men said that he had killed King +Acrisius. + +Thus the word of the prophetess and the will of Fate were fulfilled. +Perseus went weeping to the King of Phthia, and told him all the truth, +and the king, who knew, as all Greece knew, how Acrisius had tried to +drown his daughter and her child, believed the tale, and said that +Perseus was guiltless. He and Danae and Andromeda dwelt for a year in +Phthia, with the king, and then Perseus with an army of Pelasgians and +Myrmidons, marched south to Argos, and took the city, and drove out his +cousins, the sons of Proetus. There in Argos Perseus, with his mother +and beautiful Andromeda, dwelt long and happily, and he left the kingdom +to his son when he died. + + + * * * * * + + +_The story of Ulysses is taken mainly from the Iliad, the Odyssey, and +the_ Post Homerica _of Quintus Smyrnaeus. As we have no detailed account of +the stealing of the Palladium by Ulysses, use has been made of Helen's +tale about his entry into Troy in the disguise of a beaten beggar. + +The chief source of 'The Fleece of Gold' is tradition, with the +Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; the fight between Polydeuces and the +Giant is best reported by Theocritus. + +No epic or tragedy concerning the early fortunes of Theseus and the +history of Perseus has reached us: summaries in Plutarch and Apollodorus +provide the outlines of the legends. + +The descriptions of costume, arms, and mode of life are derived from +Homer and from the 'Mycenaean' relics discovered in the last thirty years +by Dr. Schliemann, Mr. A. J. Evans, and many other explorers. + +'The Fleece of Gold,' first published in an American magazine, has also +appeared in America in a little volume (Henry Altemus & Co.). It is here +reprinted by permission of Messrs. Altemus, with some changes and +corrections._ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without +note. + +Some Illustrations have been moved to avoid splitting paragraphs and +make smoother reading. + +There are inconsistencies in the use of ligatures in some of the names. +These inconsistencies have been left as in the original text. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE*** + + +******* This file should be named 32326.txt or 32326.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/2/32326 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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