The gods and goddesses were merrily feasting when Ate, the goddess of
strife, desirous of making mischief, threw down among them a golden
apple, engraven with the words, "This apple to the Fair." The three
goddesses, Juno, Pallas, and Venus, each thought it meant for her--one
having the beauty of dignity, the other the beauty of wisdom, and the
third the beauty of grace and fairness. They would not accept the award
of any of the gods, lest they should not be impartial; but they declared
that no one should decide between them but Paris, a shepherd, though a
king's son, who was keeping his flocks on Mount Ida.
Each goddess tried to allure him to choose her by promises. Juno offered
him a mighty throne; Pallas promised to make him the wisest of men; Venus
declared that she would give him the fairest woman on earth for his wife
for ten years--she could assure him of no more. And it was Venus to whom
Paris assigned the golden apple of discord, thus bitterly offending Juno
and Pallas, who became the enemies of his nation.
[Picture: Plains of Troy]
His nation was the Trojan, who dwelt on the east coast of the AEgean Sea,
and were of the Pelasgic race. Their chief city was Troy, with the
citadel Ilium, lying near the banks of the rivers Simois and Scamander,
between the sea shore and the wooded mount of Ida, in the north-east of
the peninsula we call Asia Minor. The story went that the walls had been
built by Neptune and Apollo, the last of whom had brought the stones to
their place by the music of his lyre; but the king who was then reigning
had refused to pay them, and had thus made them also his foes. But
within the citadel was an image of Pallas, three ells long, with a spear
in one hand and a distaff in the other, which was called the Palladium.
It was said to have been given by Jupiter to Ilus, the first founder of
the city; and as long as it was within the walls, the place could never
be taken.
The present king was Priam, and his wife was Hecuba. They had nineteen
children, and lived in a palace built round a court, with an altar in the
middle, their sons having houses likewise opening into the court. Paris,
who was worthless and pleasure-loving, was the eldest son; Hector, a very
noble person, was the second. After Paris had given judgment in her
favour, Venus directed him to build a ship, and go to visit the Greek
kings. He was kindly entertained everywhere, and especially at Sparta;
and here it was that Venus fulfilled her promise, by helping him to steal
away Helen, the fairest of women, while her husband Menelaus was gone to
Crete.
As soon as Menelaus found out how his hospitality had been misused, he
called upon all the Greek heroes to remember their oath, and help him to
recover his wife, and take vengeance on Paris. Everyone replied to the
call; but the wise Ulysses, grandson of Sisyphus, and king of the little
isle of Ithaca, could not bear to leave his home, or his fair young wife
Penelope, for a war which he knew would be long and terrible, so he
feigned to be mad, and began furiously ploughing the sea shore with a
yoke of oxen. However, the next cleverest hero, Palamedes, to prove him,
placed his infant son Telemachus full in the way of the plough, and when
Ulysses turned it aside from the child, they declared that his madness
was only pretended, and he was forced to go with them.
The Nereid Thetis knew that if her brave and beautiful son Achilles went
to Troy, he would die there; so she dressed him as a maiden, and placed
him at the court of the king of Scyros, where he stayed for love of one
of the king's daughters. But the Greeks had a man named Calchas, who was
an augur--that is, he could tell what was going to happen by the flight
of birds, by the clouds, and by the inwards of sacrificed animals.
Calchas told the Greeks that Troy would never be taken unless Achilles
went with them. So Ulysses, guessing where the youth was, disguised
himself as a merchant, and went with his wares to the palace of Scyros.
All the maidens came forth to look at them, and while most were busy with
the jewels and robes, one, tall and golden-haired, seemed to care for
nothing but a bright sword, holding it with a strong, firm hand. Then
Ulysses knew he had found Achilles, and told him of the famous war that
was beginning, and the youth threw off his maiden's garb, put on his
armour, and went eagerly with them; but before he went he married the
fair Deidamia, and left her to wait for him at Scyros, where she had a
son named Pyrrhus.
Indeed the Greeks were whole years gathering their forces, and when they
did all meet at last, with their ships and men, Agamemnon, king of
Mycenae, Menelaus' brother, took the lead of them all. As they were
sacrificing to Jupiter, a snake glided up a tree, where there was a
sparrow's nest, and ate up all the eight young ones, and then the mother
bird. On seeing this, Calchas foretold that the war would last nine
years, and after the ninth Troy would be taken.
However, they sailed on, till at Aulis they were stopped by foul winds
for many days, and Calchas told them it was because of Agamemnon's broken
vow. He had sworn, one year, to sacrifice to Diana the fairest thing
that was born in his house or lands. The fairest thing that was born was
his little daughter Iphigenia; but he could not bear to sacrifice her,
and so had tried offering his choicest kid. Now Diana sent these winds
to punish him, and the other kings required him to give up his child. So
a message was sent to her mother, Clytemnestra, to send her, on pretence
that she was to be married to Achilles, and when she came to Aulis she
found that it was only to be offered up. However, she resigned herself
bravely, and was ready to die for her father and the cause; but just as
Agamemnon had his sword ready, and had covered her face that he might not
see her pleading eyes as he was slaying her, Diana took pity, darted down
in a cloud, and in the place of the maiden a white hind lay on the altar
to be offered. Iphigenia was really carried off to serve as priestess at
Diana's temple at Tauris, but it was long before it was known what had
become of her, and Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for what he had
intended to do.
At the isle of Tenedos the Greeks had to leave behind Philoctetes, the
friend of Hercules, who had his quiver of poisoned arrows, because the
poor man had a wound in his heel, which was in such a dreadful state that
no one could bear to come near him. One story was that he was bitten by
a water-snake, another that when he was just setting off he had been
over-persuaded to show where he had buried the ashes of Hercules. He did
not say one word, but stamped with his foot on the place, and an arrow
fell out at the moment and pierced his heel. At any rate, he and the
arrows were left behind, while the Greeks reached the coast of Troy.
[Picture: Greek ships]
The augurs had declared that the first man who touched the shore would be
the first to be killed. Achilles threw his shield before him, and leaped
out of the ship upon that; but Protesilaus leaped without so doing, and
was slain almost instantly by the Trojans. When his wife Laodamia heard
of his death, she grieved and pined so piteously that his spirit could
not rest, and Mercury gave him leave to come back and spend three hours
with her on earth. He came, but when she tried to embrace him she found
that he was only thin air, which could not be grasped, and when the time
was over he vanished from her sight. Then Laodamia made an image of him,
and treated it as a god; and when her father forbade her to do this, she
leaped into the fire, and thus perished.
The chief of the Greeks were Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, his brother
Menelaus of Sparta, and Achilles of AEgina, whose men were called
Myrmidons, and said to be descended from ants. His friend, to whom he
was devoted, was called Patroclus. He was the most perfect warrior in
the army, but Diomed the AEtolian came near him in daring, and Ajax of
Salamis, son of Telamon, was the biggest and strongest man. His brother
Teucer used to stand behind his shield and aim arrows at the Trojans.
There was another Ajax, from Locria, called after his father Oileus. The
oldest man in the camp was Nestor, king of Pylos, who had been among the
Argonauts, and had been a friend of Hercules, and was much looked up to.
The wisest men were Ulysses of Ithaca, and Palamedes, who is said to have
invented the game of chess to amuse the warriors in the camp; but Ulysses
never forgave Palamedes for his trick on the shore at Ithaca, and managed
to make him be suspected of secret dealings with the Trojans, and put to
death. Each of these brought a band of fighting men, and they had their
ships, which were not much more than large boats, drawn up high and dry
on the shore behind the camp. They fought with swords and spears, which
latter were thrown with the hand. Some had bows and arrows, and the
chiefs generally went to battle in a chariot, an open car drawn by two
horses, and driven by some trusty friend, who held the horses while the
chief stood up and launched spear after spear among the enemy. There was
no notion of mercy to the fallen; prisoners were seldom made, and if a
man was once down, unless his friends could save him, he was sure to be
killed.
During the first eight years of the war we do not hear much of the
Greeks. They seem to have been taking and wasting the cities belonging
to the Trojans all round the country. The home of Andromache, Hector's
good and loving wife, was destroyed, and her parents and brothers killed;
and Priam's cousin AEneas was also driven in from Mount Ida, with his old
father Anchises, and wife and little son. In the ninth year of the war
the Greeks drew up their forces round the walls of Troy itself, their
last exploit having been the taking of the city of Chrysae, where they
had gained a great deal of plunder. All captives were then made slaves,
and in the division of the spoil a maiden named Briseis was given to
Achilles, while Agamemnon took one called Chryseis, the daughter of
Chryses, priest of Apollo.
[Picture: Decorative chapter heading]