The Story of Troy

and began to make preparations to avenge the wrong. He called upon the other kings and princes of Greece to join him with their armies

he became old enough to marry, the fame of her great beauty drew many of the young princes of Greece to Sparta, all competing for her favor, and each hoping to win her for his wife. This placed Tyndarus in a difficulty. He was alarmed at the sight of so many suitors for the hand of his d

man of

tes, reared

le, and skille

ce and action

Iliad, B

nd he offered to suggest a plan for settling the difficulty about Helen, if Tyndarus would give him Penelope to be his wife. Tyndarus consented. Ulysses then advised that Helen should choose for herself which of the princes she would have for

to seize and

te in arms, a

ith the

s (Potte

f Menelaus, to whom she was immediately married with great pomp and popular rejoicing. On the death of Tyndarus, Menelaus became king

the Pel-oponne?sus, and who was the grandson of Jupiter. Agamemnon, or A-tri?des (son of Atreus), as he is often called, was commander in chief of all the Greek armies during the siege of Troy. From his high rank and authority Homer calls him the "king of men" and the "k

ngs his awful

nd the golden

eptre, of cel

ed, from Jove

the immortal

ift great Pelo

liad, B

obtain satisfaction by peaceful means. They therefore sent ambassadors to Troy to demand the restoration of Helen and the treasures which Paris had carried off. Di?o-mede, king o

ned at the residence of An-te?nor, one of Priam's ministers of state, who had the wisdom to disapprove of the action of Paris, and to advise that the

ses rose, in t

es he fixed u

d or dumb, he s

ad, nor stretch'd

peaks, what el

leeces of des

ccents fall,

all, and sink

liad, B

ened danger, and he refused the demand of the ambassadors. Menelaus was not even permitted to see his wife. U

el-len?ic (Greek) princes were very unwilling to join the expedition, as they knew that the struggle would be a tedious and perilous one. Even Ulysses, who, as we have seen, had first proposed the suitors' oath at Sparta, was at the last moment unwilling to go

he expedition. He was accompanied by his brother Menelaus, and by a chief named Pal-a-me?des, a very wise and learned man as well as a brave warrior. As soon as Ulysses heard of their arrival in Ithaca, he pretended to be insane, and he tried by a ve

feigning

ood

aside to avoid injuring his child, thus proving that he was not mad but in full possession of his senses. The king of Ithaca was therefore obliged to join the expedition to Troy. With twelve ships well manned he sailed

council of the Greek generals, saying that Palamedes had taken it from a Trojan prisoner. This letter was written as if by King Priam to Palamedes, thanking him for the information he had given regarding the plans of the Greeks, and mentioning money as having bee

not unkno

rom the malice

ntenced for pr

rg

s, and of the games of chess and backgammon, and that it was he w

e was the son of Peleus and Thetis, at whose marriage feast Eris threw the apple of discord on the table. The prophecy that Thetis would have

dipped him in the river Styx, which, it was believed, made it impossible for any weapon wielded by mortal hands to wound him. But the water did not tou

, as soon as she heard that the Grecian princes were gathering their forces, she secretly sent the youth to the court of Lyc-o-me?des, king of the island of Scy?ros. Here Achilles, dressed

e, the Grecian

er, whose comp

present, and t

Iliad,

ed that Achilles was at Scyros with the king's daughters. He soon made his way to the island, but here there was a new difficulty. He had never seen the young prince, and how was he to know him? But he devised a scheme which proved en

the Court

ng by

h, the pretended peddler announced his name and told why he had come. Achilles, for it was he, gladly agreed to take part with his countrymen in their great expedition, and he immediately returned to Phthi?a, the capital of his father's kingd

ips beneath A

Myrmidons, H

, though variou

ation, and their

liad, B

ps from his kingdom of Mycen?, and his brother Menelaus, eager for vengeance u

on rules the

ssels in lon

tions wait his

eck the king

gent arms in

ost, unrivall'

p he moves al

llows, and to

artans, exer

.

bending ocean,

ips with Me

Iliad

e expedition was Nes?tor, the venerable king of Py?los

l, from Pylos

ge conducts h

liad, B

have been three hundred years. From this it was a custom of the ancient Greeks and Romans,

stor, in persu

honey, from hi

ons now had

ules, and hap

his native rea

ample of the t

Iliad,

eir fathers. Telamon was the king of Salamis, to whom, as has been told, Hercules gave Laomedon's daughter, Hesione. His son A

pear the Sala

gantic Tela

ips to Troy they s

eat Athenians j

liad, B

esake, but few excelled him in the use of the spear or in swif

ed the Locria

ss, Oileus'

rect the flyi

it, and active

Iliad,

the great muster, were Diomede, king of Argos, and I-do

cities pour fo

Idomeneus, be

liad, B

o the account given by Homer. The total number of men which the ships carried is not known, but it is probable th

g to the custom of the ancients, to offer sacrifices to the gods, that their undertaking might have the favor of heaven. Altars were therefore erected, and the sacred services were carried

y. At the top of the tree was a nest containing eight young birds. The serpent devoured them, and immediately afterwards seized and devoured the mother bird, which had been fluttering around the nest. Then suddenly, before the eyes of the astonished Greeks, the reptile turned into stone.

he young of the sparrow, eight in number, and herself, the mother of the brood, was the ni

re Troy, when in the tenth year of the siege, many of the troops