THE TROJAN WAR
... At length I saw a lady within call,
Stiller than chisel'd marble, standing there:
A daughter of the gods, divinely tall,
And most divinely fair.
Her loveliness with shame and with surprise
Froze my swift speech: she turning on my face
The starlike sorrows of immortal eyes,
Spoke slowly in her place.
"I had great beauty; ask thou not my name:
No one can be more wise than destiny.
Many drew swords and died. Where'er I came
I brought calamity."[280]
=195. Its Origin.= At the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the gods
had been invited with the exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her
exclusion, the goddess threw a golden apple among the guests, with the
inscription, "For the fairest." Thereupon Juno, Venus, and Minerva each
claimed the apple. Not willing to decide so delicate a matter, Jupiter
sent the goddesses to Mount Ida where Paris, son of Priam, king of
Troy, was tending his flocks. Till that moment the shepherd-prince had
been happy. He was young and beautiful and beloved,--"White-breasted
like a star," says [OE]none, the nymph whom he had wedded:
White-breasted like a star
Fronting the dawn he moved; a leopard skin
Dropp'd from his shoulder, but his sunny hair
Cluster'd about his temples like a god's:
And his cheek brighten'd as the foam-bow brightens
When the wind blows the foam, and all my heart
Went forth to embrace him coming ere he came.[1]
But to him was now committed the judgment between the goddesses. They
appeared:
And at their feet the crocus brake like fire,
Violet, amaracus, and asphodel,
Lotos and lilies: and a wind arose,
And overhead the wandering ivy and vine,
This way and that, in many a wild festoon
Ran riot, garlanding the gnarlèd boughs
With bunch and berry and flower thro' and thro'.[281]
Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva glory and renown in war,
Venus the fairest of women for his wife,--each attempting to bias
the judge in her own favor. Paris, forgetting the fair nymph to whom
he owed fealty, decided in favor of Venus, thus making the two other
goddesses his enemies. Under the protection of the goddess of love, he
soon afterwards sailed to Greece. Here he was hospitably received by
Menelaüs, whose wife, Helen, as fairest of her sex, was unfortunately
the prize destined for Paris. This fair queen had in time past been
sought by numerous suitors; but before her decision was made known,
they all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, son of Laërtes, king of Ithaca,
had taken an oath that they would sustain her choice and avenge her
cause if necessary. She was living happily with Menelaüs when Paris,
becoming their guest, made love to her, and then, aided by Venus,
persuaded her to elope with him, and carried her to Troy. From this
cause arose the famous Trojan War,--the theme of the greatest poems of
antiquity, those of Homer and Virgil.
[Illustration: FIG. 151. ACHILLES TAKEN FROM SCYROS]
Menelaüs called upon the chieftains of Greece to aid him in recovering
his wife. They came forward with a few exceptions. Ulysses, for
instance, who had married a cousin of Helen's, Penelope, daughter of
Icarius, was happy in his wife and child, and loth to embark in the
troublesome affair. Palamedes was sent to urge him. But when Palamedes
arrived at Ithaca, Ulysses pretended madness. He yoked an ass and an ox
together to the plow and began to sow salt. The ambassador, to try him,
placed the infant Telemachus before the plow, whereupon the father,
turning the plow aside, showed that his insanity was a mere pretense.
Being himself gained for the undertaking, Ulysses lent his aid to bring
in other reluctant chiefs, especially Achilles, son of Peleus and
Thetis. Thetis being herself one of the immortals, and knowing that
her son was fated to perish before Troy if he went on the expedition,
endeavored to prevent his going. She, accordingly, sent him to the
court of King Lycomedes of the island of Scyros, and induced him to
conceal himself in the garb of a maiden among the daughters of the
king. Hearing that the young Achilles was there, Ulysses went disguised
as a merchant to the palace and offered for sale female ornaments,
among which had been placed some arms. Forgetting the part he had
assumed, Achilles handled the weapons and thereby betrayed himself to
Ulysses, who found no great difficulty in persuading him to disregard
his mother's counsels and join his countrymen in the war.
It seems that from early youth Paris had been reared in obscurity,
because there were forebodings that he would be the ruin of the state.
These forebodings appeared, at last, likely to be realized; for the
Grecian armament now in preparation was the greatest that had ever
been fitted out. Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ and brother of Menelaüs,
was chosen commander in chief. Preëminent among the warriors was
the swift-footed Achilles. After him ranked his cousin Ajax, the
son of Telamon, gigantic in size and of great courage, but dull of
intellect; Diomede, the son of Tydeus, second only to Achilles in all
the qualities of a hero; Ulysses, famous for sagacity; and Nestor, the
oldest of the Grecian chiefs, to whom they all looked up for counsel.
But Troy was no feeble enemy. Priam the king, son of Laomedon and
brother of Tithonus and Hesione, was now old; but he had been a wise
prince and had strengthened his state by good government at home and
powerful alliances with his neighbors. By his wife Hecuba he had a
numerous family; but the principal stay and support of his throne was
his son Hector, one of the noblest figures of antiquity. The latter
had, from the first, a presentiment of the ruin of Troy, but still
he persevered in heroic resistance, though he by no means justified
the wrong which brought this danger upon his country. He was united
in marriage with the noble Andromache, and as husband and father his
character was not less admirable than as warrior. The principal leaders
on the side of the Trojans, beside Hector, were his relative, Æneas,
the son of Venus and Anchises, Deiphobus, Glaucus, and Sarpedon.
=196. Iphigenia in Aulis.= After two years of preparation, the Greek
fleet and army assembled in the port of Aulis in B[oe]otia. Here
Agamemnon, while hunting, killed a stag that was sacred to Diana. The
goddess in retribution visited the army with pestilence and produced
a calm which prevented the ships from leaving the port. Thereupon,
Calchas the soothsayer announced that the wrath of the virgin goddess
could only be appeased by the sacrifice of a virgin, and that none
other but the daughter of the offender would be acceptable. Agamemnon,
however reluctant, submitted to the inevitable and sent for his
daughter Iphigenia, under the pretense that her marriage to Achilles
was to be at once performed. But, in the moment of sacrifice, Diana,
relenting, snatched the maiden away and left a hind in her place.
Iphigenia, enveloped in a cloud, was conveyed to Tauris, where Diana
made her priestess of her temple.[282]
[Illustration: FIG. 152. THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA]
Iphigenia is represented as thus describing her feelings at the moment
of sacrifice:
"I was cut off from hope in that sad place,
Which men call'd Aulis in those iron years:
My father held his hand upon his face;
I, blinded with my tears,
"Still strove to speak: my voice was thick with sighs
As in a dream. Dimly I could descry
The stern black-bearded kings, with wolfish eyes
Waiting to see me die.
"The high masts flicker'd as they lay afloat;
The crowds, the temples, waver'd, and the shore;
The bright death quiver'd at the victim's throat;
Touch'd; and I knew no more."[283]
=197. Protesilaüs and Laodamia.= The wind now proving fair, the fleet
made sail and brought the forces to the coast of Troy. The Trojans
opposed their landing, and at the first onset one of the noblest of
the Greeks, Protesilaüs, fell by the hand of Hector. This Protesilaüs
had left at home his wife Laodamia (a niece of Alcestis),--who was
most tenderly attached to him. The story runs that when the news of
his death reached her, she implored the gods for leave to converse
with him if but for three hours. The request was granted. Mercury led
Protesilaüs back to the upper world; and when the hero died a second
time Laodamia died with him. It is said that the nymphs planted elm
trees round his grave, which flourished till they were high enough
to command a view of Troy, then withered away, giving place to fresh
branches that sprang from the roots.
Wordsworth has taken the story of Protesilaüs and Laodamia for a poem
invested with the atmosphere of the classics. The oracle, according
to the tradition, had declared that victory should be the lot of that
party from which should fall the first victim in the war. The poet
represents Protesilaüs, on his brief return to earth, relating to
Laodamia the story of his fate:
"The wished-for wind was given:--I then revolved
The oracle, upon the silent sea;
And, if no worthier led the way, resolved
That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be
The foremost prow in pressing to the strand,--
Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand.
"Yet bitter, ofttimes bitter, was the pang
When of thy loss I thought, belovèd Wife!
On thee too fondly did my memory hang,
And on the joys we shared in mortal life,--
The paths which we had trod--these fountains, flowers,
My new-planned cities, and unfinished towers.
"But should suspense permit the foe to cry,
'Behold they tremble!--haughty their array,
Yet of their number no one dares to die'?
In soul I swept the indignity away:
Old frailties then recurred:--but lofty thought,
In act embodied, my deliverance wrought."...
... Upon the side
Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained)
A knot of spiry trees for ages grew
From out the tomb of him for whom she died;
And ever, when such stature they had gained
That Ilium's walls were subject to their view,
The trees' tall summits withered at the sight;
A constant interchange of growth and blight!
=198. Homer's Iliad.= The war continued without decisive result for
nine years. Then an event occurred which seemed likely to prove fatal
to the cause of the Greeks,--a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon.
It is at this point that the great poem of Homer, the Iliad, begins.
Of this and the other epics from which the story is drawn an account
will be found in Chapter XXXII below; and a list of the best English
translations, in the corresponding sections of the Commentary. What
delight one may derive from reading the Greek epics even in translation
is nowhere better expressed than in the following sonnet of John Keats,
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer":
Much have I travel'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne:
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
--Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific--and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
=199. The Wrath of Achilles.= The Greeks, though unsuccessful against
Troy, had taken the neighboring and allied cities; and in the division
of the spoil a female captive, by name Chryseïs, daughter of Chryses,
priest of Apollo, had fallen to the share of Agamemnon. Chryses came
bearing the sacred emblems of his office and begged the release of
his daughter. Agamemnon refused. Thereupon Chryses implored Apollo to
afflict the Greeks till they should be forced to yield their prey.
Apollo granted the prayer of his priest and sent such pestilence upon
the Grecian camp, that a council was called to deliberate how to allay
the wrath of the gods and avert the plague. Achilles boldly charged
the misfortunes upon Agamemnon as caused by his withholding Chryseïs.
Agamemnon, in anger, consented, thereupon, to relinquish his captive,
but demanded that Achilles should yield to him in her stead Briseïs,
a maiden who had fallen to that hero's share in the division of the
spoil. Achilles submitted, but declared that he would take no further
part in the war,--withdrew his forces from the general camp and avowed
his intention of returning to Greece.
[Illustration: FIG. 153. THE SURRENDER OF BRISEÏS From the relief by
Thorwaldsen]
=200. The Enlistment of the Gods.= The gods and goddesses interested
themselves as much in this famous siege as did the parties themselves.
It was well known in heaven that fate had decreed the fall of Troy, if
her enemies only persevered. Yet there was room for chance sufficient
to excite by turns the hopes and fears of the powers above who took
part with either side. Juno and Minerva, in consequence of the slight
put upon their charms by Paris, were hostile to the Trojans; Venus
for the opposite cause favored them; she enlisted, also, her admirer
Mars on the same side. Neptune favored the Greeks. Apollo was neutral,
sometimes taking one side, sometimes the other. Jove himself, though he
loved Priam, exercised a degree of impartiality,--not, however, without
exceptions.
=201. Thetis intercedes for Achilles.= Resenting the injury done by
Agamemnon to her son, Thetis, the silver-footed, repaired to Jove's
palace, and besought him to grant success to the Trojan arms and so
make the Greeks repent of their injustice to Achilles. The father of
the gods, wavering at first, finally sighed and consented, saying, "Go
thou now, but look to it that Juno see thee not, for oft she taunts me
that I aid the Trojan cause." Vain precaution: the jealous queen had
seen only too well, and quickly she confronted the Thunderer with her
suspicions,--
"Fateful favor to Achilles, hast thou granted now I trow!"
said she.
Zeus that rolls the clouds of heaven, her addressing answered then:
"Moonstruck! thou art ever _trowing_; never I escape thy ken.
After all, it boots thee nothing; leaves thee of my heart the less,--
So thou hast the worser bargain. What if I the fact confess?
It was done because I willed it. Hold thy place--my word obey,
Lest if I come near, and on thee these unconquered hands I lay,
All the gods that hold Olympus naught avail thee here to-day."[284]
=202. Agamemnon calls a Council.= In the events which immediately
follow we are introduced to the more important human personages on
both sides. To begin with, Agamemnon, king of men, deceived by a dream
sent by Jupiter, calls a council of the Greeks in which, desiring
to arouse them to fresh onslaught upon the Trojans, he tests their
patience first by depicting the joys of the return home to Greece, and
nearly overreaches himself in his cunning; for had it not been for the
wise Nestor, king of sandy Pylos, and Ulysses of many devices, peer of
Jove in wisdom, the common soldiers, fired with hope of viewing their
dear native land and wives and little children once more, would have
launched the ships and sailed forthwith. Among the murmuring host of
those who clamor for retreat the leader is Thersites, uncontrolled of
speech, full of disorderly words, striving idly against the chieftains,
aiming ever to turn their authority into ridicule. He is the one
ludicrous character of the Iliad, this boaster and scandalmonger,
sneering and turbulent of tongue:
His figure such as might his soul proclaim;
One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame;
His mountain shoulders half his breast o'erspread,
Thin hairs bestrewed his long misshapen head.
Spleen to mankind his envious heart possest,
And much he hated all, but most the best.
Ulysses or Achilles still his theme;
But royal scandal his delight supreme.[1]
Him Ulysses hearing rebukes, raising his scepter to strike:
"Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state,
With wrangling talents formed for foul debate....
Have we not known thee, slave of all our host,
The man who acts the least, upbraids the most?..."
He said, and cowering as the dastard bends,
The weighty scepter on his back descends:
On the round bunch the bloody tumors rise;
The tears spring starting from his haggard eyes:
Trembling he sat, and, shrunk in abject fears,
From his wild visage wiped the scalding tears.[285]
The revolt is thus stayed. A banquet of the Greek chieftains is then
held, merely of the greatest--Nestor, Idomeneus of Crete, Ajax the son
of Telamon and cousin of Achilles, and Ajax the less, son of Oïleus,
Ulysses, also, and Agamemnon himself. Menelaüs comes, unbid but not
unwelcome. Sacrifices are offered, but in vain; Jove heeds them not.
Finally, a muster of the Greek troops, by nations and by kings, is
determined upon; and so the army is set in array.
=203. Paris plays the Champion.= Likewise the army of the Trojans; and
battle is about to be joined when forth from the Trojan ranks steps
Paris himself to challenge some champion of the opposing host to single
combat,--the beauteous Paris,
In form a god! The panther's speckled hide
Flowed o'er his armor with an easy pride,--
His bended bow across his shoulders flung,
His sword beside him negligently hung,
Two pointed spears he shook with gallant grace,
And dared the bravest of the Grecian race.[1]
Him, Menelaüs whom he had betrayed, Menelaüs loved of Mars, raging
like a lion, swift espies and, leaping from his chariot, hastens to
encounter. But Paris, smitten with a sense of his own treachery,
fearful, trembling, pale at sight of the avenger, betakes himself to
his heels and hides in the thick of the forces behind. Upbraided,
however, by the generous Hector, noblest of Priam's sons, the handsome
Trojan recovers his self-possession and consents to meet Menelaüs
in formal combat between the opposing hosts: Helen and the wealth
she brought to be the prize; and, thus, the long war to reach its
termination. The Greeks accept the proposal, and a truce is agreed upon
that sacrifices may be made on either side for victory, and the duel
proceed.
=204. Helen surveys the Grecian Host.= Meantime, Iris, the goddess of
the rainbow, summons Helen to view the impending duel. At her loom in
the Trojan palace the ill-starred daughter of Leda is sitting, weaving
in a golden web her own sad story. At memory of her former husband's
love, her home, her parents, the princess drops a tear; then, softly
sighing, turns her footsteps to the Scæan gate. No word is said of
her matchless beauty, but what it was Homer shows us by its effect.
For as she approaches the tower where aged Priam and his gray-haired
chieftains sit, these cry,--
"No wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms;
What winning graces! what majestic mien!
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.
Yet hence, oh Heaven! convey that fatal face,
And from destruction save the Trojan race."[286]
--Words reëchoed by our English Marlowe, two thousand years later:
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.--
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again!
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena....
Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appeared to hapless Semele;...
And none but thou shalt be my paramour![287]
Priam, receiving his daughter-in-law tenderly, inquires of her the
names of one and another of the Greeks moving on the plain below.--
"Who, that
Around whose brow such martial graces shine,
So tall, so awful, and almost divine?"[2]
"The son of Atreus," answers she, shamefacedly. "Agamemnon, king of
kings, my brother once, before my days of shame."
"What's he whose arms lie scattered on the plain?
Broad is his breast, his shoulders larger spread,
Though great Atrides overtops his head.
Nor yet appear his care and conduct small;
From rank to rank he moves and orders all."[2]
"That is Ulysses," replies Helen, "of the barren isle of Ithaca; but
his fame for wisdom fills the earth."
Old Antenor, seated by Priam's side, thereupon recalls the modesty and
the restrained but moving eloquence of the wondrous son of Laërtes.
The king then asked, as yet the camp he viewed,
"What chief is that, with giant strength endued;
Whose brawny shoulders, and whose swelling chest,
And lofty stature, far exceed the rest?"[288]
"That is Ajax the great," responds the beauteous queen, "himself a
host, bulwark of the Achæans." And she points out Idomeneus, also, the
godlike king of Crete; then scans the array for her own dear brothers
Castor and Pollux;--in vain, for them the life-giving earth held fast
there in Lacedæmon, their native land.
=205. Menelaüs defeats Paris.= Now from both sides sacrifices have been
made to Jove, avenger of oaths, with prayer for victory and vow of
fidelity to the contract made. But Jove vouchsafes not yet fulfillment.
The lists are measured out by Hector and Ulysses. The duel is on. Paris
throws his spear: it strikes, but fails to penetrate the shield of
Menelaüs. Menelaüs then breaks his blade upon the helmet of the Trojan,
seizes him by the horsehair crest, and drags him toward the Grecian
lines. But Aphrodite touches the chin strap of Paris' headpiece so that
it breaks and leaves the futile helmet in the victor's hand. Then,
wrapping her favorite in a mist, the goddess bears him from the pursuit
of the furious Menelaüs, and, laying him safe in Helen's chamber,
summons his mistress, who first upbraids, then soothes him with her
love.
The Greeks claim the victory, and with justice. The Trojans, then and
there, would have yielded Helen and her wealth, and the fate of Troy
might have been averted, had it not been for the machinations of the
goddesses, Juno and Minerva. These could not bear that the hated city
should thus escape. Prompted by the insidious urging of Minerva, one of
the Trojans, Pandarus, breaks the truce; he shoots his arrow full at
the heart of the unsuspecting Menelaüs. Minerva, of course, deflects
the fatal shaft. But the treachery has accomplished its purpose; the
war is reopened with fresh bitterness.
=206. The Two Days' Battle.= The battle which then begins lasts for
two whole days. In its progress we witness a series of single combats.
Pandarus the archer wounds Diomede, the son of Tydeus. He in turn,
raging over the plain, fells Pandarus with his spear and crushes Æneas,
Priam's valiant kinsman, to his knees with a great stone. Venus shrouds
her fallen son in her shining veil and will rescue him. But Diomedes,
clear of vision, spies her out and drives his pointed spear against
her hand, grazing the palm of it. Out leaps the ichor, life-stream of
the blessed gods, and the goddess shrieking drops her burden and flees
from the jeering Diomede;--nay, mounts even to Olympus where, sobbing
in the arms of her mother, Dione, she finds solace of her pain, and
straightway turns to hopes of vengeance. Æneas, meantime, is wrapped by
Ph[oe]bus Apollo in a dusky cloud and borne aloft to that god's temple,
where Diana and Latona heal him.
To Diomede still breathing slaughter, the god of war himself, Mars, now
appears in form of a Thracian captain, opposing him and stirring Hector
and the swiftly recovered Æneas and the godlike Sarpedon against the
Greeks. And the Greeks give back, but the keen eye of Diomede pierces
the disguise of the War-god, and he shouts a warning to his comrades.
Then Minerva descends to where Diomede, the son of Tydeus, is resting
beside his chariot, and she spurs him afresh to the fray. "Thou joy
of my heart," says she, "fear thou neither Mars nor any other of the
immortals, for I shall help thee mightily." So she takes the place of
his charioteer, and together they drive upon the War-god. And that one
cannot come at the son of Tydeus to strike him down, because of the
ward that Minerva vouchsafes. But, for his part, Diomede strikes his
spear against the nethermost belly of Mars and wounds him, rending
his fair skin; and he plucks forth the spear again. Then brazen Mars
bellows loud as nine or ten thousand soldiers all at once; and, like
Venus before him, betakes himself to Olympus. There, complaining to
Jove, he receives stern reprimand for his intolerant and hateful
spirit, stirring men ever to strife,--"like thine own mother Juno,
after whom, not after me, thou takest." Thus, the father of the gods;
and he makes an end, and bids Pæan, the family physician, heal him.
Diomedes, still bearing down upon the Trojans, is about to fight with
a young warrior when, struck by his appearance, he inquires his name.
It is Glaucus, and the youth is grandson of the noble Bellerophon.
Then Diomede of the loud war cry is glad and strikes his spear into
the earth and declines to fight. "For lo," says he, "our grandfathers
were guest-friends, and guest-friends are we. Why slay each other?
There are multitudes of Trojans for me to slay, and for thee Achæans
in multitude, if thou canst. Let us twain rather exchange arms as a
testimony of our good faith." And this they do; and Diomede gets the
best of the bargain, his armor being worth but nine oxen, and young
Glaucus' five score.
=207. Hector and Andromache.= The Trojans being still pushed nearer to
their own walls, Hector, bravest of Priam's sons, returns to the city
to urge the women to prayer, and to carry the loitering Paris back with
him to the defense. Here he meets his brave mother Hecuba, and then the
fair Helen; but most to our purpose and his, his wife, the white-armed
Andromache, the noblest of the women of the Iliad, for whom he has
searched in vain.
[Illustration: FIG. 154. HECTOR'S FAREWELL
From the relief by Thorwaldsen]
But when he had passed through the great city and was come to the
Scæan gates, whereby he was minded to issue upon the plain, then
came his dear-won wife, running to meet him, even Andromache,
daughter of great-hearted Eëtion.... So she met him now; and with
her went the handmaid bearing in her bosom the tender boy, the
little child, Hector's loved son, like unto a beautiful star. Him
Hector called Scamandrius, but all the folk Astyanax, "defender
of the city." So now he smiled and gazed at his boy silently, and
Andromache stood by his side weeping, and clasped her hand in
his, and spake and called upon his name. "Dear my lord, this thy
hardihood will undo thee, neither hast thou any pity for thine
infant boy, nor for hapless me that soon shall be thy widow; for
soon will the Achæans all set upon thee and slay thee. But it
were better for me to go down to the grave if I lose thee; for
nevermore will any comfort be mine, when once thou, even thou,
hast met thy fate,--but only sorrow. Moreover I have no father,
now, nor lady mother.... And the seven brothers that were mine
within our halls, all these on the selfsame day went within the
house of Hades; for fleet-footed, goodly Achilles slew them all
amid their kine of trailing gait and white-faced sheep.... Nay,
Hector, thou art to me father and lady mother, yea and brother,
even as thou art my goodly husband. Come now, have pity and abide
here upon the tower, lest thou make thy child an orphan and thy
wife a widow." ...
Then great Hector of the glancing helm answered her: "Surely I
take thought for all these things, my wife; but I have very sore
shame of the Trojans and Trojan dames with trailing robes, if
like a coward I shrink away from battle. Moreover mine own soul
forbiddeth me, seeing I have learnt ever to be valiant and fight
in the forefront of the Trojans, winning my father's great glory
and mine own. Yea of a surety, I know this in heart and soul; the
day shall come for holy Ilios to be laid low, and Priam and the
folk of Priam of the good ashen spear. Yet doth the anguish of
the Trojans hereafter not so much trouble me, neither Hecuba's
own, neither king Priam's, neither my brethren's, the many and
brave that shall fall in the dust before their foemen, as doth
thine anguish in the day when some mail-clad Achæan shall lead
thee weeping, and rob thee of the light of freedom.... But me in
death may the heaped-up earth be covering, ere I hear thy crying
and thy carrying into captivity."[289]
So spoke the great-hearted hero, and stretched his arms out to take his
little boy. But
The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast,
Scared at the dazzling helm, and nodding crest.
With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled,
And Hector hasted to relieve his child,--
The glittering terrors from his brows unbound
And placed the beaming helmet on the ground.
Then kissed the child, and, lifting high in air,
Thus to the gods, preferred a father's prayer:
"O thou! whose glory fills the ethereal throne,
And all ye deathless powers! protect my son!
Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown,
To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown,
Against his country's foes the war to wage.
And rise the Hector of the future age!
So when, triumphant from successive toils
Of heroes slain, he bears the reeking spoils,
Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim
And say, 'This chief transcends his father's fame':
While, pleased, amidst the general shouts of Troy,
His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy."[290]
So prayed he, the glorious Hector, foreboding of the future, but
little thinking that, when he himself was slain and the city sacked,
his starlike son should be cast headlong to death from Troy's high
towers, and his dear wife led into captivity as he had dreaded,
indeed, and by none other than Neoptolemus, the son of his mortal foe,
Achilles. But now Hector laid the boy in the arms of his wife, and she,
smiling tearfully, gathered him to her fragrant bosom; and her husband
pitied her, and caressed her with his hand, and bade her farewell,
saying:
"Andromache! my soul's far better part,
Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart?
No hostile hand can antedate my doom,
Till fate condemns me to the silent tomb.
Fixed is the term to all the race of earth;
And such the hard condition of our birth,
No force can then resist, no flight can save;
All sink alike, the fearful and the brave.
No more--but hasten to thy tasks at home,
There guide the spindle, and direct the loom;
Me glory summons to the martial scene,
The field of combat is the sphere for men.
Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim,
The first in danger, as the first in fame."[291]
He took up his horsehair crested helmet; and she departed to her home,
oft looking back and letting fall big tears, thinking that he would no
more come back from battle.
=208. Neptune aids the Discouraged Greeks.= But the end was not to be
so soon. Hector, returning to the field, challenged the bravest of
the Greeks to combat. Nine accepted the challenge; but the lot fell
upon Ajax, the son of Telamon. The duel lasted till night, with deeds
of valor on both sides; and the heroes parted, each testifying to his
foeman's worth. The next day a truce was declared for the burning of
the dead; but, soon after, the conflict was renewed, and before the
might of Hector and his troops the Greeks were driven back to their
trenches.
Then Agamemnon, king of men, called another council of his wisest and
bravest chiefs and, grievously discouraged, proposed, this time in
earnest, that they reëmbark and sail home to Greece.[292] In the debate
that ensued Nestor advised that an embassy should be sent to Achilles
persuading him to return to the field; and that Agamemnon should yield
the maiden, the cause of dispute, with ample gifts to atone for the
wrong he had done. Agamemnon assented; and Ulysses, Ajax, and Ph[oe]nix
were sent to carry to Achilles the penitent message. They performed
that duty, but Achilles was deaf to their entreaties. He positively
refused to return to the attack and persisted in his determination to
embark for Greece without delay.
[Illustration: FIG. 155. THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES
(Left section)]
Meanwhile the Greeks, having constructed a rampart around their ships,
were now, instead of besieging Troy, in a manner themselves besieged,
within their rampart. The next day after the unsuccessful embassy to
Achilles, another battle was fought, in which Agamemnon raged mightily
with his spear till, wounded, he was forced to retire to the hollow
ships; and Ulysses, too, bravely warring, had a narrow escape with
life.[293] Then the Trojans, favored by Jove, succeeded in forcing
a passage through the Grecian rampart and were about to set fire to
the ships. But Neptune, seeing the Greeks hard pressed, came to their
rescue.[294] Appearing in the form of Calchas the prophet, he raised
the ardor of the warriors to such a pitch that they forced the Trojans
to give way. Here Ajax, son of Telamon, performed prodigies of valor.
Bearing his massy shield and "shaking his far-shadowing spear," he
encountered Hector.[295] The Greek shouted defiance, to which Hector
replied, and hurled his lance at the huge warrior. It was well aimed
and struck Ajax where the belts that bore his sword and shield
crossed each other on the breast, but the double guard prevented its
penetrating, and it fell harmless. Then Ajax, seizing a huge stone,
one of those that served to prop the ships, hurled it at Hector. It
struck him near the neck and stretched him on the plain. His followers
instantly seized him and bore him off stunned and wounded.
[Illustration: FIG. 156. THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES
(Right Section)]
=209. Jupiter inspirits the Trojans.= While Neptune was thus aiding
the Greeks and driving back the Trojans, Jupiter saw nothing of what
was going on, for his attention had been drawn from the field by
the wiles of Juno.[296] That goddess had arrayed herself in all her
charms, and to crown all had borrowed of Venus her girdle, the Cestus,
which enhanced the wearer's charms to such a degree that they were
irresistible. So prepared, Juno had joined her husband, who sat on
Olympus watching the battle. When he beheld her, the fondness of his
early love revived and, forgetting the contending armies and all other
affairs of state, he gave himself up to her and let the battle go as it
would.
But this oblivion did not continue long. When, upon turning his
eyes downward, the cloud-compeller beheld Hector stretched, almost
lifeless, on the plain, he angrily dismissed Juno, commanding her to
send Iris and Apollo to him.[297] The former bore a peremptory message
to Neptune, ordering him to quit the contest. Apollo was dispatched
to heal Hector's bruises and to inspirit his heart. These orders were
obeyed with such speed that while the battle was still raging, Hector
returned to the field and Neptune betook himself to his own dominions.
[Illustration: FIG. 157. THE BATTLE BY THE SHIPS]
=210. Achilles and Patroclus.= An arrow from the bow of Paris had
wounded Machaon, son of Æsculapius, a brave warrior, who, having
inherited his father's art, was of great value to the Greeks as their
surgeon. Nestor, taking Machaon in his chariot, conveyed him from the
field. As they passed the ships of Achilles, that hero, looking over
the battle, saw the chariot of Nestor, and recognized the old chief,
but could not discern who the wounded warrior was. Calling Patroclus,
his companion and dearest friend, he sent him to Nestor's tent to
inquire. Patroclus, performing the behest, saw Machaon wounded and,
having told the cause of his coming, would have hastened away, but
Nestor detained him to tell him the extent of the Grecian calamities.
He reminded him also how, at the time of the departure for Troy,
Achilles and himself had been charged by their respective sires: the
one to aspire to the highest pitch of glory; the other, as the elder,
to keep watch over his friend and to guide his inexperience. "Now,"
said Nestor, "is the time for such guidance. If the gods so please,
thou mayest win Achilles back to the common cause; but if not, let him
at least send his soldiers to the field, and come thou, Patroclus,
clad in his armor. Perhaps the very sight of it may drive back the
Trojans."[298]
=211. Patroclus in the Armor of Achilles.= Patroclus, strongly moved by
this address, hastened to his friend, revolving in his mind what he had
seen and heard.[299] He told the prince the sad condition of affairs
at the camp of their late associates; Diomede, Ulysses, Agamemnon,
Machaon, all wounded, the rampart broken down, the enemy among the
ships preparing to burn them and thus to cut off all means of return to
Greece. While they spoke, the flames burst forth from one of the ships.
Achilles, at the sight, relented so far as to intrust Patroclus with
the Myrmidons for the onslaught and to lend him his armor that he might
thereby strike the more terror into the minds of the Trojans. Without
delay the soldiers were marshaled, Patroclus put on the radiant armor,
mounted the chariot of Achilles, and led forth the men ardent for
battle. But before his friend went, Achilles strictly charged him to
be content with repelling the foe. "Seek not," said he, "to press the
Trojans without me, lest thou add still more to the disgrace already
mine." Then exhorting the troops to do their best, he dismissed them
full of ardor to the fight.
Patroclus and his Myrmidons at once plunged into the contest where
it raged hottest. At the sight of them the joyful Grecians shouted,
and the ships reëchoed the acclaim; but the Trojans, beholding the
well-known armor, struck with terror, looked everywhere for refuge.
First those who had got possession of the ship and set it on fire
allowed the Grecians to retake it and extinguish the flames. Then
the rest fled in dismay. Ajax, Menelaüs, and the two sons of Nestor
performed prodigies of valor. Hector was forced to turn his horses'
heads and retire from the enclosure, leaving his men encumbered in the
fosse to escape as they could. Patroclus drove all before him, slaying
many; nor did one dare to make a stand against him.
[Illustration: FIG. 158. MENELAÜS WITH THE BODY OF PATROCLUS]
=212. The Deaths of Sarpedon and Patroclus.= At last the grandson of
Bellerophon, Sarpedon, son of Jove and Laodamia, ventured to oppose
the Greek warrior. The Olympian looked down upon his son and would
have snatched him from the fate impending, but Juno hinted that if he
did so, the other inhabitants of heaven might be induced to interpose
in like manner whenever any of their offspring were endangered,--an
argument to which Jove yielded. Sarpedon threw his spear, but missed
Patroclus; the spear of the Greek, on the other hand, pierced
Sarpedon's breast, and he fell, calling to his friends to save his
body from the foe. Then a furious contest arose for the corpse. The
Greeks succeeded in stripping Sarpedon of his armor, but Jove would not
suffer the body to be dishonored. By his command Apollo snatched it
from the midst of the combatants and committed it to the care of the
twin brothers Death and Sleep. By them it was transported to Lycia,
Sarpedon's native land, and there received due funeral rites.
Thus far Patroclus had succeeded to the utmost in repelling the foe and
relieving his countrymen, but now came a change of fortune. Hector,
borne in his chariot, confronted him. Patroclus threw a vast stone at
the Trojan, which missed its aim, but smote Cebriones, the charioteer,
and felled him from the car. Hector leaped from the chariot to rescue
his friend, and Patroclus also descended to complete his victory. Thus
the two heroes met face to face. At this decisive moment the poet, as
if reluctant to give Hector the glory, records that Ph[oe]bus Apollo,
taking part against Patroclus, struck the helmet from his head and the
lance from his hand. At the same moment an obscure Trojan wounded him
in the back, and Hector pressing forward pierced him with his spear. He
fell mortally wounded.
Then arose a tremendous conflict for the body of Patroclus; but his
armor was at once taken possession of by Hector, who, retiring a short
distance, divested himself of his own mail, put on that of Achilles,
then returned to the fight.[300] Ajax and Menelaüs defended the body,
and Hector and his bravest warriors struggled to capture it. The battle
still raged with equal fortune, when Jove enveloped the whole face
of heaven in a cloud. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared, and
Ajax, looking round for some one whom he might dispatch to Achilles
to tell him of the death of his friend and of the imminent danger of
his remains falling into the hands of the enemy, could see no suitable
messenger. In desperation he exclaimed:
"Father of heaven and earth! deliver thou
Achaia's host from darkness; clear the skies;
Give day; and, since thy sovereign will is such,
Destruction with it; but, oh, give us day!"[301]
Jupiter heard the prayer and dispersed the clouds. Ajax sent Antilochus
to Achilles with the intelligence of Patroclus' death and of the
conflict raging for his remains; and the Greeks at last succeeded in
bearing off the body to the ships, closely pursued by Hector and Æneas
and the rest of the Trojans.
=213. The Remorse of Achilles.= Achilles heard the fate of his friend
with such distress that Antilochus feared for a while lest he might
destroy himself.[302] His groans reached the ears of Thetis, far down
in the deeps of ocean where she abode, and she hastened to inquire
the cause. She found him overwhelmed with self-reproach that he had
suffered his friend to fall a victim to his resentment. His only
consolation was the hope of revenge. He would fly instantly in search
of Hector. But his mother reminded him that he was now without armor
and promised, if he would but wait till the morrow, to procure for
him a suit of armor from Vulcan more than equal to that he had lost.
He consented, and Thetis immediately repaired to Vulcan's palace.
She found him busy at his forge, making tripods for his own use, so
artfully constructed that they moved forward of their own accord when
wanted, and retired again when dismissed. On hearing the request of
Thetis, Vulcan immediately laid aside his work and hastened to comply
with her wishes. He fabricated a splendid suit of armor for Achilles;
first a shield adorned with elaborate devices, of which a noble
description is given by Homer, then a helmet crested with gold, then a
corselet and greaves of impenetrable temper, all perfectly adapted to
the hero's form, and of consummate workmanship. The suit was made in
one night, and Thetis, receiving it, descended to earth and laid it at
Achilles' feet at the dawn of day.
=214. The Reconciliation of Agamemnon and Achilles.= The first glow of
pleasure that Achilles had felt since the death of Patroclus was at
the sight of this splendid armor.[303] And now arrayed in it, he went
forth to the camp, calling the chiefs to council. When the leaders were
assembled, Achilles addressed them. Renouncing his displeasure against
Agamemnon and bitterly lamenting the miseries that had resulted from
it, he called on them to proceed at once to the field. Agamemnon made
a suitable reply, laying the blame on Ate, the goddess of infatuation;
and thereupon complete reconcilement took place between the heroes.
Then Achilles went forth to battle, heartened by the inspiration of
Minerva and filled with a rage and thirst for vengeance that made him
irresistible. As he mounted his chariot, one of his immortal coursers
was, strange to say, endowed suddenly with speech from on high and,
breaking into prophecy, warned the hero of his approaching doom. But,
nothing daunted, Achilles pressed upon the foe. The bravest warriors
fled before him or fell by his lance.[304] Hector, cautioned by Apollo,
kept aloof; but the god, assuming the form of one of Priam's sons,
Lycaon, urged Æneas to encounter the terrible warrior. Æneas, though
he felt himself unequal, did not decline the combat. He hurled his
spear with all his force against the shield, the work of Vulcan. The
spear pierced two plates of the shield, but was stopped in the third.
Achilles threw his spear with better success. It pierced through the
shield of Æneas, but glanced near his shoulder and made no wound. Then
Æneas, seizing a stone, such as two men of modern times could hardly
lift, was about to throw it,--and Achilles, with sword drawn, was
about to rush upon him,--when Neptune, looking out upon the contest,
had pity upon Æneas, who was sure to have the worst of it. The god,
consequently, spread a cloud between the combatants and, lifting the
Trojan from the ground, bore him over the heads of warriors and steeds
to the rear of the battle. Achilles, when the mist cleared away, looked
round in vain for his adversary, and acknowledging the prodigy, turned
his arms against other champions. But none dared stand before him;
and Priam from his city walls beheld the whole army in full flight
toward the city. He gave command to open wide the gates to receive the
fugitives, and to shut them as soon as the Trojans should have passed,
lest the enemy should enter likewise. But Achilles was so close in
pursuit that that would have been impossible if Apollo had not, in the
form of Agenor, Priam's son, first encountered the swift-footed hero,
then turned in flight, and taken the way apart from the city. Achilles
pursued, and had chased his supposed victim far from the walls before
the god disclosed himself.[305]
=215. The Death of Hector.= But when the rest had escaped into the
town Hector stood without, determined to await the combat. His father
called to him from the walls, begging him to retire nor tempt the
encounter. His mother, Hecuba, also besought him, but all in vain.
"How can I," said he to himself, "by whose command the people went to
this day's contest where so many have fallen, seek refuge for myself
from a single foe? Or shall I offer to yield up Helen and all her
treasures and ample of our own beside? Ah no! even that is too late. He
would not hear me through, but slay me while I spoke." While he thus
ruminated, Achilles approached, terrible as Mars, his armor flashing
lightning as he moved. At that sight Hector's heart failed him and
he fled. Achilles swiftly pursued. They ran, still keeping near the
walls, till they had thrice encircled the city. As often as Hector
approached the walls Achilles intercepted him and forced him to keep
out in a wider circle. But Apollo sustained Hector's strength and
would not let him sink in weariness. Then Pallas, assuming the form of
Deiphobus, Hector's bravest brother, appeared suddenly at his side.
Hector saw him with delight, and thus strengthened, stopped his flight,
and, turning to meet Achilles, threw his spear. It struck the shield
of Achilles and bounded back. He turned to receive another from the
hand of Deiphobus, but Deiphobus was gone. Then Hector understood his
doom and said, "Alas! it is plain this is my hour to die! I thought
Deiphobus at hand, but Pallas deceived me, and he is still in Troy. But
I will not fall inglorious." So saying he drew his falchion from his
side and rushed at once to combat. Achilles, secure behind his shield,
waited the approach of Hector. When he came within reach of his spear,
Achilles, choosing with his eye a vulnerable part where the armor
leaves the neck uncovered, aimed his spear at that part, and Hector
fell, death-wounded. Feebly he said, "Spare my body! Let my parents
ransom it, and let me receive funeral rites from the sons and daughters
of Troy." To which Achilles replied, "Dog, name not ransom nor pity to
me, on whom you have brought such dire distress. No! trust me, nought
shall save thy carcass from the dogs. Though twenty ransoms and thy
weight in gold were offered, I should refuse it all."[306]
[Illustration: FIG. 159. CONTEST OF ACHILLES AND HECTOR]
=216. Achilles drags the Body of Hector.= So saying, the son of Peleus
stripped the body of its armor, and, fastening cords to the feet, tied
them behind his chariot, leaving the body to trail along the ground.
Then mounting the chariot he lashed the steeds and so dragged the body
to and fro before the city. No words can tell the grief of Priam and
Hecuba at this sight. His people could scarce restrain the aged king
from rushing forth. He threw himself in the dust and besought them
each by name to let him pass. Hecuba's distress was not less violent.
The citizens stood round them weeping. The sound of the mourning
reached the ears of Andromache, the wife of Hector, as she sat among
her maidens at work; and anticipating evil she went forth to the wall.
When she saw the horror there presented, she would have thrown herself
headlong from the wall, but fainted and fell into the arms of her
maidens. Recovering, she bewailed her fate, picturing to herself her
country ruined, herself a captive, and her son, the youthful Astyanax,
dependent for his bread on the charity of strangers.
[Illustration: FIG. 160. ACHILLES OVER THE BODY OF HECTOR AT THE TOMB
OF PATROCLUS]
After Achilles and the Greeks had thus taken their revenge on the
slayer of Patroclus, they busied themselves in paying due funeral
rites to their friend.[307] A pile was erected, and the body burned
with due solemnity. Then ensued games of strength and skill, chariot
races, wrestling, boxing, and archery. Later, the chiefs sat down to
the funeral banquet, and finally retired to rest. But Achilles partook
neither of the feast nor of sleep. The recollection of his lost friend
kept him awake,--the memory of their companionship in toil and dangers,
in battle or on the perilous deep. Before the earliest dawn he left
his tent, and joining to his chariot his swift steeds, he fastened
Hector's body to be dragged behind. Twice he dragged him round the tomb
of Patroclus, leaving him at length stretched in the dust. But Apollo
would not permit the body to be torn or disfigured with all this abuse;
he preserved it free from taint or defilement.[308]
[Illustration: FIG. 161. PRIAM'S VISIT TO ACHILLES]
While Achilles indulged his wrath in thus disgracing Hector, Jupiter
in pity summoned Thetis to his presence. Bidding her prevail on
Achilles to restore the body of Hector to the Trojans, he sent Iris to
encourage Priam to beg of Achilles the body of his son. Iris delivered
her message, and Priam prepared to obey. He opened his treasuries and
took out rich garments and cloths, with ten talents in gold and two
splendid tripods and a golden cup of matchless workmanship. Then he
called to his sons and bade them draw forth his litter and place in it
the various articles designed for a ransom to Achilles. When all was
ready, the old king with a single companion as aged as himself, the
herald Idæus, drove forth from the gates, parting there with Hecuba
his queen, and all his friends, who lamented him as going to certain
death.
=217. Priam in the Tent of Achilles.=[309] But Jupiter, beholding
with compassion the venerable king, sent Mercury to be his guide and
protector. Assuming the form of a young warrior, Mercury presented
himself to the aged couple; and, when at the sight of him they
hesitated whether to fly or yield, approaching he grasped Priam's hand
and offered to be their guide to Achilles' tent. Priam gladly accepted
his service, and Mercury, mounting the carriage, assumed the reins and
conveyed them to the camp. Then having cast the guards into a heavy
sleep, he introduced Priam into the tent where Achilles sat, attended
by two of his warriors. The aged king threw himself at the feet of
Achilles and kissed those terrible hands which had destroyed so many
of his sons. "Think, O Achilles," he said, "of thine own father, full
of days like me, and trembling on the gloomy verge of life. Even now,
mayhap, some neighbor chief oppresses him and there is none at hand
to succor him in his distress. Yet, knowing that Achilles lives, he
doubtless still rejoices, hoping that one day he shall see thy face
again. But me no comfort cheers, whose bravest sons, so late the
flower of Ilium, all have fallen. Yet one I had, one more than all the
rest the strength of my age, whom fighting for his country thou hast
slain. His body I come to redeem, bringing inestimable ransom with me.
Achilles! reverence the gods! recollect thy father! for his sake show
compassion to me!" These words moved Achilles, and he wept, remembering
by turns his absent father and his lost friend. Moved with pity of
Priam's silver locks and beard, he raised him from the earth and spake:
"Priam, I know that thou hast reached this place conducted by some
god, for without aid divine no mortal even in his prime of youth had
dared the attempt. I grant thy request, for I am moved thereto by the
manifest will of Jove." So saying he arose, went forth with his two
friends, and unloaded of its charge the litter, leaving two mantles and
a robe for the covering of the body. This they placed on the litter and
spread the garments over it, that not unveiled it should be borne back
to Troy. Then Achilles dismissed the old king, having first pledged
himself to a truce of twelve days for the funeral solemnities.
As the litter approached the city and was descried from the walls,
the people poured forth to gaze once more on the face of their hero.
Foremost of all, the mother and the wife of Hector came, and at the
sight of the lifeless body renewed their lamentations. The people wept
with them, and to the going down of the sun there was no pause or
abatement of their grief.
The next day, preparations were made for the funeral solemnities. For
nine days the people brought wood and built the pile; and on the tenth
they placed the body on the summit and applied the torch, while all
Troy, thronging forth, encompassed the pyre. When it had completely
burned, they quenched the cinders with wine, and, collecting the bones,
placed them in a golden urn, which they buried in the earth. Over the
spot they reared a pile of stones.
Such honors Ilium to her hero paid,
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade.[310]
FOOTNOTES:
[280] From Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women.
[281] From Tennyson's [OE]none.
[282] Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia among the Tauri.
[283] From Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women.
[284] Gladstone's Translations from the Iliad.
[285] Iliad, 2 (Pope's translation).
[286] Iliad, 3 (Pope's translation).
[287] Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus.
[288] Iliad, 3 (Pope's translation).
[289] Iliad, 6, 390 _et seq._ (Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation).
[290] Iliad, 6, 470-490 (Pope's translation).
[291] Iliad, 6 (Pope's translation).
[292] Iliad, 9.
[293] Iliad, 11.
[294] Iliad, 13.
[295] Iliad, 14, 400-440.
[296] Iliad, 14, 150-350.
[297] Iliad, 15.
[298] Iliad, 11.
[299] Iliad, 16.
[300] Iliad, 17.
[301] Cowper's translation. The lines are often quoted.
[302] Iliad, 18.
[303] Iliad, 19.
[304] Iliad, 20.
[305] Iliad, 21.
[306] Iliad, 22, 350.
[307] Iliad, 23.
[308] Iliad, 24, 15.
[309] Iliad, 24, 330-804.
[310] Iliad, 24, 804 (Pope's translation).
[Illustration: AMAZON]