[Illustration]
Agamemnon and Menelaus were educated with Atreus, until banished the
kingdom by Thyestes, they went to Calydonia, and they were treated with
great kindness, and from thence to Sparta, where, like the remainder of the
Greek princes, they sought the hand of Helen. By the advice and artifice of
Ulysses, Menelaus became her husband, Agamemnon marrying Clytemnestra; and
Tyndarus, their father, monarch of Sparta, assisted in recovering for them
their father's kingdom.
Menelaus succeeded to his father in law's throne, and became King of
Sparta, and Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy, was one of the numerous
visitors at his court. To this prince Venus had promised the possession of
the finest woman in Greece. The absence of Menelaus in Crete gave to Paris
every opportunity, and he succeeded in corrupting the fidelity of Helen,
who abandoned herself to her seducer, and followed him to his palace at
Troy. Vainly were ambassadors sent to Priam, to make known to him the
infamous conduct of his son. Not only did he refuse all reparation, but he
embittered the interview by recalling all the ancient grievances of the two
kingdoms.
This unjust conduct gave birth to a terrible war; Agamemnon embraced the
cause of his brother with fervour, awoke all Greece {229} to the wrongs of
Menelaus, and was proclaimed the chief of the kings, who united their
armies beneath the walls of Argos; and showed his personal zeal by
furnishing one hundred ships, and lending sixty more for her assistance.
The Greek army amounted to sixty thousand soldiers, and their fleet to
twelve hundred vessels, but at the very moment that they reckoned on
starting, a deep calm settled on the waters.
The oracle was consulted, which declared that nothing less than the
sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, could suffice, as the
latter had excited the wrath of Diana, by killing a favourite stag. The
father heard the decree with the greatest horror and indignation, and, as
chief of the forces, ordered his herald to command them all to retire to
their separate homes.
Ulysses and the other generals interfered; and at last Agamemnon was
persuaded to sacrifice a daughter so tenderly beloved but as she was a
great favourite with Clytemnestra, her mother, the Greeks sent for
Iphigenia, pretending that they sought her hand in marriage for Achills.
[Illustration]
Clytemnestra gladly gave her consent; but when they came to Aulis,
Iphigenia saw the bloody preparation for her sacrifice. In vain did she
implore the protection of her father: tears and entreaties were alike
unavailing, but as the fatal blow was about to be struck, a goat of great
beauty was found in her place for the {230} sacrifice. The supernatural
change animated the Greeks, the wind suddenly became favourable, and the
combined fleet set sail.
"Fair Iphigenia, the devoted maid,
Was by the weeping priests in linen robes arrayed,
All mourn her fate; but no relief appeared:
The royal victim bound, the knife already reared
When that offended power who caused their woe,
Relenting, ceased her wrath, and stopped the coming blow.
A mist before the ministers she cast,
And in the virgin's room a hind she placed."
After the fall of Troy the beautiful Cassandra came to the share of
Agamemnon, and she foretold that his wife Clytemnestra would put him to
death. He, however, returned with Cassandra to Argos, where the sad
prediction was fulfilled. One day as he came from the bath, Clytemnestra
gave him a tunic, the sleeves of which were sewn together, and as he was
embarrassed with the folds, she brought him to the ground with the stroke
of a hatchet, while Egisthus, with whom she had dishonoured herself during
Agamemnon's absence, gave him the finishing blow.
"_Clytemnestra._ What have I done?--
Where am I?
_Egisthus._ Hast thou slain the tyrant? Now
At length thou art worthy of me.
_Cly._ See with blood
The dagger drops:--my hands--my face--my garment,
All, all are blood. Ah! for a deed like this
What vengeance shall be wreaked? I see already,
Already to my breast that very sword
I see hurled back--and by what hand! I freeze,
I faint, I shudder, I dissolve with horror!
My strength, my utterance fail me. Where am I,
What have I done? Alas!
_Egis._ Tremendous cries
Resound on every side throughout the palace.
_Cly._ He had no power to escape, or to resist,
Entangled in the gorgeous robe that shone
Fatally rich. I struck him twice, and twice
He groaned, then died. A third time as he lay
I gored him with a wound; a grateful present
To the stern god that in the realms below
Reigns o'er the dead.
There let him take his seat,
He lay, and spouting from his wounds a stream
Of blood, bedewed me with these crimson drops."