The Story of Troy Part 20

_Painting by Michelena._]

Filled with pity for the unfortunate queen, and with admiration for her courage and beauty, the hero granted the request. He even proposed that the Greeks should perform funeral rites and build a tomb in her honor.

The foul-mouthed Thersites (mentioned in a previous chapter as having been chastised by Ulysses) scoffed at this proposal, and ridiculed Achilles, saying that he was not so soft-hearted in his treatment of Hector. Enraged at his insulting words, the chief of the Myrmidons struck him dead with a mighty blow of his fist.

Now Diomede was a relative of the unfortunate Thersites, and he demanded that Achilles should pay to the family of the dead man the fine required by Greek law for such offenses. Achilles refused, and he was about to retire again in anger from the war, and even to return home. But Ulysses persuaded Diomede to withdraw his claim, and so made peace between the two chiefs.

Another ally, and a very powerful one, now came to help the Trojans.

This was Mem'non, king of Ethiopia, and nephew of Priam, being the son of Priam's brother Ti-tho'nus, and Au-ro'ra, G.o.ddess of the dawn. With an army of ten thousand men he arrived at Troy, and immediately entered the field to do battle with the Greeks. Again there was great slaughter of heroes on both sides. Memnon killed Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and Nestor challenged Memnon to single combat. But on account of the great age of the venerable Greek, the Ethiopian warrior declined to fight him. Achilles then challenged Memnon, and the two heroes fought in presence of both armies. The conflict was long and furious, for Memnon, too, had a suit of armor made for him by Vulcan, at the request of his G.o.ddess mother Aurora, and in strength and courage he was almost equal to Achilles. Once more, however, fortune favored the chief of the Myrmidons. The brave Memnon was slain, and Aurora bore away his body that funeral rites might be performed.

But the time was now at hand when the great warrior who so far had conquered in every fight was to meet his own doom. We have seen that Hector, as he lay dying in front of the Scaean Gate, warned Achilles that he himself should fall by the hand of Paris. This prophecy was fulfilled.

By the death of Memnon the Trojans were much discouraged. Their powerful allies had been defeated, and they were no longer able to hold the field against the enemy. Soon after the death of Memnon there was a great battle, in which the Greeks, headed by Achilles, drove them back to the city walls. Through the Scaean Gate, which lay open, the Trojans rushed in terror and confusion, the Greeks pressing on close behind. Achilles reached the gate, and was about to enter, when Paris aimed at him with an arrow. Guided by Apollo, the weapon struck the hero in the heel, the only part in which he could be fatally wounded.

The warrior fell to the ground, whereupon the Trojan prince hastened up and slew him with his sword. A terrific struggle took place over the body of the dead chief, but by mighty efforts Ajax Telamon and Ulysses succeeded in gaining possession of it, and carrying it to the Grecian camp. Deep was the grief of the Greeks at the death of their great champion. Magnificent funeral rites and games were celebrated in his honor, his G.o.ddess mother, Thetis, presiding over the ceremonies. After the body had been burned in the customary manner, the bones were placed in a vase of gold, made by Vulcan, and a vast mound was raised on the sh.o.r.e as a monument to the hero.

The sacred army of the warlike Greeks Built up a tomb magnificently vast Upon a cape of the broad h.e.l.lespont, There to be seen, far off upon the deep, By those who now are born, or shall be born In future years.

BRYANT, _Odyssey_, Book XXIV.

The armor of Achilles was offered as a reward for the warrior who had fought most bravely in rescuing the body, and who had done most harm to the Trojans. To decide the question which of the Greek chiefs deserved this honor, it was resolved to take the votes of the Trojan prisoners then in the Greek camp, who had witnessed the struggle at the Scaean Gate. The majority of votes were in favor of Ulysses, and to him, therefore, the splendid s.h.i.+eld and corselet and helmet and greaves, made by Vulcan for the son of Thetis, were given. Ajax was so disappointed and grieved at not having obtained the coveted prize that he became insane, and in his frenzy he slew himself with his own sword.

The Greeks had now lost their two most powerful warriors, and they began to think that it was impossible for them to take Troy by force, and that they must try other methods. So the wise Ulysses then set his brain to work to devise some stratagem by which the city might be taken.

The first thing he did was to capture the Trojan prince and soothsayer, Helenus, who had gone out from the city to offer sacrifices in the temple of Apollo on Mount Ida. Calchas, the Greek soothsayer, had said that Helenus was the only mortal who knew by what means Troy could be conquered, and so Ulysses made him prisoner and threatened him with death if he did not tell.

Then Helenus told the Ithacan chief that before Troy could be taken three things must be done. First, he said, the Greeks must get the arrows of Hercules; next, they must carry away the sacred Palladium, for as long as it remained within the walls the city was safe; and, lastly, they must have the help of the son of Achilles.

Now the arrows of Hercules could be obtained only from Phil-oc-te'tes, a Greek chief who received them from Hercules himself. These arrows had been dipped in the blood of the hydra, a monster Hercules had slain.

This made them poisonous, so that wounds inflicted by them were fatal.

Philoctetes was with his countrymen at Aulis when they set sail for Troy, but he was bitten on the foot by a serpent, and the smell of the injured part being so offensive that his comrades could not endure it, he had been left behind, on the advice of Ulysses.

Far in an island, suffering grievous pangs,-- The hallowed isle of Lemnos. There the Greeks Left him, in torture from a venomed wound Made by a serpent's fangs. He lay and pined.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book II.

Ulysses now resolved to get Philoctetes to come to Troy, if he were still alive, and so, taking Diomede with him, he set out for Lemnos.

They found him at the cave where they had left him ten years before. The wound was not yet healed, and he had suffered much, having had no means of existence except game which he had to procure himself.

Exposed to the inclement skies, Deserted and forlorn he lies; No friend or fellow-mourner there, To soothe his sorrows and divide his care.

SOPHOCLES (Francklin's tr.)

Still enraged at their former ill-treatment of him, Philoctetes at first refused the request of the two chiefs. Their mission would have failed had not Hercules appeared to him in a dream and advised him to go to Troy, telling him that his wound would be healed by the famous Machaon.

He then gladly went with Ulysses and Diomede. On his arrival at the Grecian camp the great physician cured him by casting him into a deep sleep and cutting away the diseased flesh from the injured foot. He awoke in perfect health and strength, and at once joined his countrymen in the war, resolved to make good use of his fatal arrows.

An opportunity soon offered, for the Trojans now began again to venture out in the open plain, thinking that the Greeks were not so dangerous since the terrible Achilles was no longer at their head. Their new general in chief was Paris, and Philoctetes, happening to encounter him in battle, aimed at him with one of his poisoned arrows and pierced him through the shoulder. Paris was immediately carried back to the city, suffering intense pain, for the poison quickly began to take effect.

Then at last the thoughts of Paris turned to the fair none, whom, twenty years before, he had left in sorrow and loneliness on Mount Ida.

He remembered her words, that he would one day have recourse to her for help. Hoping, therefore, that she might take pity on him, and perhaps cure him of his wound, for she had been instructed in medicine by Apollo, he ordered his attendants to carry him to where she still dwelt on the slopes of Ida. none had not forgotten his cruel desertion of her, and so she refused to use her skill in his behalf. But when she heard that he was dead, she came down to Troy, and in her grief threw herself on his funeral pyre, and perished by his side.

She rose, and slowly down, By the long torrent's ever-deepen'd roar, Paced, following, as in trance, the silent cry.

Then moving quickly forward till the heat Smote on her brow, she lifted up a voice Of shrill command, "Who burns upon the pyre?"

Whereon their oldest and their boldest said, "He whom thou wouldst not heal!" and all at once The morning light of happy marriage broke Thro' all the clouded years of widowhood, And m.u.f.fling up her comely head, and crying "Husband!" she leapt upon the funeral pile, And mixt herself with him and past in fire.

TENNYSON, _Death of none_.

Meanwhile the Ithacan king, not forgetting the other conditions mentioned by Helenus, set sail for the island of Scyros, where the son of Achilles resided. His name was Pyr'rhus, or Ne-op-tol'-mus, and, as he was a brave youth, he rejoiced at having an opportunity of fighting the Trojans, by whom his father had been killed. Ulysses gave him his father's armor, and by many heroic deeds in the war he proved that he was worthy to wear it.

The Palladium was now to be carried off from Troy, and this was a task by no means easy to perform. But the man of many arts succeeded in accomplis.h.i.+ng it. Putting on the garments of a beggar, and scourging his body so as to leave marks, he went to the Scaean Gate, and entreated the guards to admit him. He told them that he was a Greek slave, and that he wished to escape from his master who had cruelly ill-used him. The guards, believing his story, permitted him to enter the city.

"He had given himself Unseemly stripes, and o'er his shoulders flung Vile garments like a slave's, and entered thus The enemy's town, and walked its s.p.a.cious streets.

Another man he seemed in that disguise.-- A beggar, though when at the Achaian fleet So different was the semblance that he wore.

He entered Ilium thus transformed, and none Knew who it was that pa.s.sed."

BRYANT, _Odyssey_, Book IV.

But Helen, happening to pa.s.s by at a place near the king's palace, where the pretended beggar sat down to rest, immediately recognized him. He made a sign to her to keep silent, thinking that Paris being now dead, Helen perhaps was friendly to the Greeks, and wished them to take Troy, so that she might return to her own country. In this Ulysses was right, as very soon appeared, and as Helen declared years afterwards, when telling to his own son, Telemachus, the story of the Ithacan king's adventure within the walls of Troy.

"For I already longed For my old home, and deeply I deplored The evil fate that Venus brought on me, Who led me thither from my own dear land."

BRYANT, _Odyssey_, Book IV.

Helen pa.s.sed on without uttering a word, but in the evening she sent one of her maids to bring Ulysses secretly to her apartment in the palace.

There she expressed her joy at meeting her countryman, and after hospitably entertaining him, she listened with pleasure to his plans.

She then told him of the plans of the Trojans, and where and how the Palladium was to be got. Having thus obtained the information he desired, Ulysses contrived to make his way back un.o.bserved to the Greek camp. In a few days he returned, accompanied by Diomede. They got into the city by scaling the walls, and Diomede, climbing on the shoulders of Ulysses, entered the citadel. Here, by following the directions given by Helen, he found the famous statue, and he and his companion carried it off to their friends at the s.h.i.+ps, who rejoiced at the success of the undertaking.

Troy was now no longer under the protection of Pallas Minerva. Though that G.o.ddess helped the Greeks in their battles, she was obliged to save the city itself while it contained her sacred statue. But the Palladium being no longer within the walls, she was now at liberty to help the Greeks to capture and destroy the city. She therefore put into the mind of Ulysses the idea of the wooden horse, and she instructed the Greek chief E-pe'us how to make it. This horse was of vast size, large enough to contain about a hundred men, for it was hollow within.

By Minerva's aid, a fabric reared, Which like a steed of monstrous height appeared; The sides were flanked with pine.

VERGIL.

When it was finished, provisions were put into it. Then Ulysses, and Pyrrhus, and Menelaus, and Epeus, and a number of other Greek warriors, mounted into it by means of a ladder, after which the opening was fastened by strong bolts.

In the hollow side, Selected numbers of their soldiers hide; With inward arms the dire machine they load; And iron bowels stuff the dark abode.

VERGIL.

Meanwhile the other Greeks broke up their camp, and all going aboard their s.h.i.+ps, they set sail, as if they had given up the siege, and were about to return to Greece. But they went no farther than the island of Ten'e-dos, about three miles from the sh.o.r.e.

In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an isle (While Fortune did on Priam's empire smile) Renowned for wealth; but since, a faithless bay, Where s.h.i.+ps exposed to wind and weather lay.

There was their fleet concealed.

VERGIL.

As soon as the Trojans saw from their walls that the tents of the enemy were removed, and that their fleet had departed, they were filled with surprise and delight. They believed that the Greeks had given up the war, and so, throwing open their gates, they rushed out in mult.i.tudes upon the plain, King Priam riding in his chariot at their head.

The Trojans, cooped within their walls so long, Unbar their gates, and issue in a throng Like swarming bees, and with delight survey The camp deserted, where the Grecians lay.

VERGIL.