from Edith Hamilton’s Mythology

PART FOUR: The Heroes of the Trojan War

Chapter 1: The Trojan War

This story, of course, is taken almost entirely easy. What men care for most was set before him.
from Homer. Hera promised to make him Lord of Europe and Asia;
The Iliad, however; begins after the Greeks Athena, that he would lead the Trojans to victory
have reached Troy, when Apollo sends the pestilence against the Greeks and lay Greece in ruins;
upon them. It does not mention the sacrifice of Aphrodite, that the fairest woman in all the world
Iphigenia, and makes only a dubious allusion to the should be his. Paris, a weakling and something of a
Judgment of Paris. I have taken Iphigenia's story from coward, too, as later events showed, chose the last. He
a play by the fifth-century tragic poet Aeschylus, the gave Aphrodite the golden apple.
Agamemnon, and the Judgment of Paris from the That was the Judgment of Paris, famed
Trojan Woman, a play by his contemporary, Euripides, everywhere as the real reason why the Trojan War
adding a few details, such as the tale of Oenone, from was fought.
the prose-writer Apollodorus, who wrote probably in The fairest woman in the world was Helen,
the first or second century A.D. He is usually very the daughter of Zeus and Leda and the sister of
uninteresting, but in treating the events leading up to Castor and Pollux. Such was the report of her beauty
the Iliad he was apparently inspired by touching so that not a young prince in Greece but wanted to many
great a subject and he is less dull than in almost any her. When her suitors assembled in her home to make
other part of his book. a formal proposal for her hand they were so many and
More than a thousand years before Christ, from such powerful families that her reputed father,
near the eastern end of the Mediterranean was a King Tyndareus, her mother's husband, was afraid to
great city very rich and powerful, second to ~on~ on select one among them, fearing that the others would
earth. The name of it was Troy and even today no city unite against him. He therefore exacted first a solemn
is more famous. The cause of this long- lasting fame oath from all that they would champion the cause of
was a war told of in one of the world's greatest poems, Helen's husband, whoever he might be, if any wrong
the Iliad, and the cause of the war went back to a was done to him through his marriage. It was, after
dispute between three jealous goddesses. all, to each man's advantage to take the oath, since
Prologue: THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS each was hoping he would be the person chosen, so
The evil goddess of Discord, Eris, was they all bound themselves to punish to the uttermost
naturally not popular in Olympus, and when the gods anyone who carried or tried to carry Helen away.
gave a banquet they were apt to leave her out. Then Tyndareus chose Menelaus, the brother of
Resenting this deeply, she determined to make Agamemnon, and made him King of Sparta as well.
trouble—and she succeeded very well indeed. At an So matters stood when Paris gave the golden
important marriage, that of King Peleus and the sea apple to Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love and Beauty
nymph Thetis, to which she alone of all the divinities knew very well where the most beautiful woman on
was not invited, she threw into the banqueting hall a earth was to be found. She led the young shepherd,
golden apple marked For the Fairest. Of course all the with never a thought of Oenone left forlorn, straight
goddesses wanted it, but in the end the choice was to Sparta, where Menelaus and Helen received him
narrowed down to three: Aphrodite, Hera and Pallas graciously as their guest. The ties between guest and
Athena. They asked Zeus to judge between them, but host were strong. Each was bound to help and never
very wisely he refused to have anything to do with the harm the other. But Paris broke
matter. He told them to go to Mount Ida, near Troy, that sacred bond. Menelaus trusting completely to it
where the young prince Paris, also called Alexander, left Paris in his home and went off to
was keeping his father's sheep. He was an excellent Crete. Then,
judge of beauty, Zeus told them. Paris, though a royal
prince, was doing shepherd's work because his father Paris who coming
Priam, the King of Troy, had been warned that this Entered a friend's kind dwelling;
prince would some day be the ruin of his country, and Shamed the hand there that gave him food,
so had sent him away. At the moment Paris was Stealing away a woman.
living with a lovely nymph named Oenone.
His amazement can be imagined when there Menelaus got back to find Helen gone, and he called
appeared before him the wondrous forms of the three upon all Greece to help him. The chieftains responded,
great goddesses. He was not asked, however, to gaze as they were bound to do. They came eager for the
at the radiant divinities and choose which of them great enterprise, to cross the sea and lay mighty Troy
seemed to him the fairest, but only to consider the in ashes. Two, however, of the first rank, were
bribes each offered and choose which seemed to him missing: Odysseus, King of the Island of Ithaca, and
best worth taking. Nevertheless, the choice was not Achilles, the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis.
Odysseus, who was one of the shrewdest and most Slaying his child to help a war.
sensible men in Greece, did not want to leave his
house and family to embark on a romantic adventure He sent home for her, writing his wife that he
overseas for the sake of a faithless woman. He had arranged a great marriage for her, to Achilles,
pretended, therefore, that he had gone mad, and when who had already shown himself the best and greatest
a messenger from the Greek Army arrived, the King of all chieftains. But when she came to her wedding
was plowing a field and sowing it with salt instead of she was carried to the altar to be killed.
seed. But the messenger was shrewd too. He seized
Odysseus’ little son and put him directly in the way of And all her prayers—cries of Father, Father,
the plow. Instantly the father turned the plow aside, Her maiden life,
thus proving that he had all his wits about him. These they held as nothing,
However reluctant, he had to join the Army. The savage warriors, battle-mad.
Achilles was kept back by his mother. The sea
nymph knew that if he went to Troy he was fated to She died and the north wind ceased to blow
die there. She sent him to the court of Lycomedes, the and the Greek ships sailed out over a quiet sea, but
king who had treacherously killed Theseus, and made the evil price they had paid was bound some day to
him wear women's clothes and hide among the bring evil down upon them.
maidens. Odysseus was dispatched by the chieftains When they reached the mouth of the Simois,
to find him out. Disguised as a peddler he went to the one of the rivers of Troy, the first man to leap ashore
court where the lad was said to be, with gay was Protesilaus. It was a brave deed, for the oracle
ornaments in his pack such as women love, and also had said that he who landed first would be the first to
some fine weapons. While the girls flocked around the die. Therefore when he had fallen by a Trojan spear
trinkets, Achilles fingered the swords and daggers. the Greeks paid him honors as though he were divine
Odysseus knew him then, and he had no trouble at all and the gods, too, greatly distinguished him. They had
in making him disregard what his mother had said Hermes bring him up from the dead to see once again
and go to the Greek camp with him. his deeply mourning wife, Laodamia. She would not
So the great fleet made ready. A thousand give him up a second time, however. When he went
ships carried the Greek host. They met at Aulis, a back to the underworld she went with him; she killed
place of strong winds and dangerous tides, impossible herself.
to sail from as long as the north wind blew. And it The thousand ships carried a great host of
kept on blowing, day after day. fighting men and the Greek Army was very strong,
but the Trojan City was strong, too. Priam, the King,
It broke men's heart, and his Queen, Hecuba, had many brave sons to lead
Spared not ship nor cable. the attack and to defend the walls, one above all,
The time dragged, Hector, than whom no man anywhere was nobler or
Doubling itself in passing. more brave, and only one a greater warrior, the
champion of the Greeks Achilles. Each knew that he
The Army was desperate. At last the would die before Troy was taken. Achilles had been
soothsayer, Calchas, declared that the gods had told by his mother: "Very brief is your lot. Would that
spoken to him: Artemis was angry. One of her beloved you could be free now from tears and troubles, for you
wild creatures, a hare, had been slain by the Greeks, shall not long endure, my child, short-lived beyond all
together with her young, and the only way to calm the men and to be pitied." No divinity had told Hector, but
wind and ensure a safe voyage to Troy was to appease he was equally sure. ''I know well in my heart and in
her by sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia, my soul," he said to his wife Andromache, "the day
the eldest daughter of the Commander in Chief, shall come when holy Troy will be laid low and Priam
Agamemnon. This was terrible to all, but to her father and Priam’s people." Both heroes fought under the
hardly bearable. shadow of certain death.
If I must slay For nine years victory wavered, now to this
The joy of my house, my daughter. side, now to that. Neither was ever able to gain any
A father's hands decided advantage. Then a quarrel flared up between
Stained with dark streams flowing two Greeks, Achilles and Agamemnon, and for a time
From blood of a girl it turned the tide in favor of the Trojans. Again a
Slaughtered before the altar. woman was the reason, Chryseis, daughter of Apollo's
priest, whom the Greeks had carried off and given to
Nevertheless he yielded. His reputation with Agamemnon. Her father came to beg for her release,
the Army was at stake, and his ambition to conquer but Agamemnon would not let her go. Then the priest
Troy and exalt Greece. prayed to the mighty god he served and Phoebus
Apollo heard him. From his sun-chariot he shot fiery
He dared the deed, arrows down upon the Greek Army, and men sickened
and died so that the funeral pyres were burning of all that agony and death, yet as they looked at her,
continually. they could not feel any blame. "Men must fight for
At last Achilles called an assembly of the such as she," they said to each other. "For her face
chieftains. He told them that they could not hold out was like to that of, an immortal spirit." She stayed by
against both the pestilence and the Trojans, and that them, telling them the names of this and that Greek
they must either find a way to appease Apollo or else hero, until to their astonishment the battle ceased.
sail home. Then the prophet Calchas stood up and The armies drew back on either side and in the space
said he knew why he god was angry, but that he was between, Paris and Menelaus faced each other. It was
afraid to speak unless Achilles would guarantee his evident that the sensible decision had been reached to
safety. "I do so," Achilles answered, "even if you let the two most concerned fight it out alone.
accuse Agamemnon himself." Every man there Paris struck first, but Menelaus caught the
understood what that meant; they knew how Apollo's swift spear on his shield, then hurled his own. It rent
priest had been treated. When Calchas declared that Paris’ tunic, but did not wound him. Menelaus drew
Chryseis must be given back to her father, he had all his sword, his only weapon now, but as he did so it fell
the chiefs behind him and Agamemnon, greatly from his hand broken. Undaunted though unarmed he
angered, was obliged to agree. "But if I lose her who leaped upon Paris and seizing him by his helmet's
was my prize of honor," he told Achilles, "I will have crest swung him off his feet. He would have dragged
another in her stead." him to the Greeks victoriously if it had not been for
Therefore when Chryseis had been returned to Aphrodite. She tore away the strap that kept the
her father, Agamemnon sent two of his squires to helmet on so that it came away in Menelaus' hand.
Achilles' tent to take his prize of honor away from Paris himself, who had not fought at all except to
him, the maiden Briseis. Most unwillingly they went throw his spear, she caught up in a cloud and took
and stood before the hero in heavy silence. But he back to Troy.
knowing their errand told them it was not they who Furiously Menelaus went through the Trojan
were wronging him. Let them take the girl without ranks seeking Paris, and not a man there but would
fear for themselves, but hear him first while he swore have helped him for they all hated Paris, but he was
before gods and men that Agamemnon would pay gone, no one knew how or where. So Agamemnon
dearly for the deed. spoke to both armies, declaring that Menelaus was
That night Achilles' mother, silver-footed victor and bidding the Trojans give Helen back. This
Thetis the sea nymph, came to him. She was as angry was just, and the Trojans would have agreed if
as he. She told him to have nothing more to do with Athena, at Hera's prompting, had not interfered. Hera
the Greeks, and with that she went up to heaven and was determined that the war should not end until
asked Zeus to give success to the Trojans. Zeus was Troy was ruined. Athena, sweeping down to the
very reluctant. The war by now had reached battlefield, persuaded the foolish heart of Pandarus, a
Olympus—the gods were ranged against each other. Trojan, to break the truce and shoot an arrow at
Aphrodite, of course, was on the side of Paris. Equally, Menelaus. He did so and wounded him, only slightly,
of course, Hera and Athena were against him. Ares, but the Greeks in rage at the treachery turned upon
God of War, always took sides with Aphrodite; while the Trojans and the battle was on again. Terror and
Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, favored the Greeks, a sea Destruction and Strife, whose fury never slackens, all
people, always great sailors. Apollo cared for Hector friends of the murderous War-god, were there to urge
and for his sake helped the Trojans, and Artemis, as men on to slaughter each other. Then the voice of
his sister, did so too. Zeus liked the Trojans best, on groaning was heard and the voice of triumph from
the whole, but he wanted to be neutral because Hera slayer and from slain and the earth steamed with
was so disagreeable whenever he opposed her openly. blood.
However, he could not resist Thetis. He had a hard On the Greek side, with Achilles gone, the two
time with Hera, who guessed, as she usually did, what greatest champions were Ajax and Diomedes. They
he was about. He was driven finally into telling her fought gloriously that day and many a Trojan lay on
that he would lay hands upon her if she did not stop his face in the dust before them. The best and bravest
talking. Hera kept silence then, but her thoughts were next to Hector, the Prince Aeneas, came near to death
busy as to how she might help the Greeks and at Iomedes' hands. He was of more than royal blood;
circumvent Zeus. his mother was Aphrodite herself and when Diomedes
The plan Zeus made was simple. He knew wounded him she hastened down to the battlefield to
that the Greeks without Achilles were inferior to the save him. She lifted him in her soft arms but
Trojans, and he sent a lying dream to Agamemnon Diomedes, knowing she was a coward goddess, not one
promising him victory if he attacked. While Achilles of those who like Athena are masters where warriors
stayed in his tent a fierce battle followed, the hardest fight, leaped toward her and wounded her hand.
yet fought. Up on the wall of Troy the old King Priam Crying out she let Aeneas fall, and weeping for pain
and the other old men, wise in the ways of war, sat made her way to Olympus, where Zeus smiling to see
watching the contest. To them came Helen, the cause the laughter-loving goddess in tears bade her stay
away from battle and remember hers were the works turned to leave her, but first he held out his arms to
of love and not of war. But although his mother failed his son. Terrified the little boy shrank back, afraid of
him Aeneas was not killed. Apollo enveloped him in a the helmet and its fierce nodding crest. Hector
cloud and carried him to sacred Pergamos, the holy laughed and took the shining helmet from his head.
place of Troy, where Artemis healed him of his wound. Then holding the child in his arms he caressed him
But Diomedes raged on, working havoc in the and prayed, "O Zeus in after years may men say of
Trojan ranks until he came face to face with Hector. this my son when he returns from battle, 'Far greater
There to his dismay he saw Ares too. The bloodstained is he than his father was.’ "
murderous god of war was fighting for Hector. At the So he laid the boy in his wife's arms and she
sight Diomedes shuddered and cried to the Greeks to took him, smiling, yet with tears. And Hector pitied
fall back, slowly, however, and with their faces toward her and touched her tenderly with his hand and spoke
the Trojans. Then Hera was angry. She urged her to her: "Dear one, be not so sorrowful. That which is
horses to Olympus and asked Zeus if she might drive fated must come to pass, but against my fate no man
that bane of men, Ares, from the battlefield. can kill me." Then taking up his helmet he left her
Zeus, who loved him no more than Hera did and she went to her house, often looking back at him
even though he was their son, willingly gave her and weeping bitterly.
leave. She hastened down to stand beside Diomedes Once again on the battlefield he was eager for
and urge him to smite the terrible god and have no the fight, and better fortune for a time lay before him.
fear. At that, joy filled the hero's heart. He rushed at Zeus had by now remembered his promise to Thetis to
Ares and hurled his spear at him. Athena drove it avenge Achilles' wrong. He ordered all the other
home, and it entered Ares' body. The War-god immortals to stay in Olympus; he himself went down
bellowed as loud as ten thousand cry in battle, and at to earth to help the Trojans. Then it went hard with
the awful sound trembling seized the whole host, the Greeks. Their great champion was far away.
Greeks and Trojans alike. Achilles sat alone in his tent, brooding over his
Ares, really a bully at heart and unable to wrongs. The great Trojan champion had never before
bear what he brought upon unnumbered multitudes of shown himself so brilliant and so brave. Hector
men, fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained seemed irresistible. Tamer of horses, the Trojans
bitterly of Athena's violence. But Zeus looked at him always called him, and he drove his car through the
sternly and told him he was as intolerable as his Greek ranks as if the same spirit animated steeds and
mother, and bade him cease his whining. With Ares driver. His glancing helm was everywhere and one
gone, however, the Trojans were forced to fall back. At gallant warrior after another fell beneath his terrible
this crisis a brother of Hector's, wise in discerning the bronze spear. When evening ended the battle, the
will of the gods, urged Hector to go with all speed to Trojans had driven the Greeks back almost to their
the city and tell the Queen, his mother, to offer to ships.
Athena the most beautiful robe she owned and pray There was rejoicing in Troy that night, but
her to have mercy. Hector felt the wisdom of the grief and despair in the Greek camp. Agamemnon
advice and sped through the gates to the palace, himself was all for giving up and sailing back to
where his mother did all as he said. She took a robe so Greece. Nestor, however, who was the oldest among
precious that it shone like a star, and laying it on the the chieftains and therefore the wisest, wiser even
goddess's knees she besought her: "Lady. Athena, than the shrewd Odysseus, spoke out boldly and told
spare the city and the wives of the Trojans and the Agamemnon that if he had not angered Achilles they
little children." But Pallas Athena denied the prayer. would not have been defeated. "Try to find some way
As Hector went back to the battle he turned of appeasing him," he said, "instead of going home
aside to see once more, perhaps for the last time, the disgraced."
wife he tenderly loved, Andromache, and his son All applauded the advice and Agamemnon
Astyanax. He met heron the wall where she had gone confessed that he had acted like a fool. He would send
in terror to watch the fighting when she heard the Briseis back, he promised them, and with her many
Trojans were in retreat. With her was a handmaid other splendid gifts, and he begged Odysseus to take
carrying the little boy. Hector smiled and looked at his offer to Achilles.
them silently, but Andromache took his hand in hers Odysseus and the two chieftains chosen to
and wept. "My dear lord," she said, "you who are accompany him found the hero with his friend
father and mother and brother unto me as well as Patroclus, who of all men on earth was dearest to him.
husband, stay here with us. Do not make me a widow Achilles welcomed them courteously and set food and
and your child an orphan." He refused her gently. He drink before them, but when they told him why they
could not be a coward, he said. It was for him to fight had come and all the rich gifts that would be his if he
always in the forefront of the battle. Yet she could would yield, and begged him to have pity on his hard-
know that he never forgot what her anguish would be pressed countrymen, they received an absolute
when he died. That was the thought that troubled him refusal. Not all the treasures of Egypt could buy him,
above all else, more than his many other cares. He
he told them. He was sailing home and they would be cried to Achilles. "I cannot. Give me your armor. If
wise to do the same. they think I am you, the Trojans may pause and the
But all rejected that counsel when Odysseus worn-out Greeks have a breathing space. You and I
brought back the answer. The next day they went into are fresh. We might yet drive back the enemy. But if
battle with the desperate courage of brave men you will sit nursing your anger, at least let me have
cornered. Again they were driven back, until they the armor." As he spoke one of the Greek ships burst
stood fighting on the beach where their ships were into flame. "That way they can cut off the Army's
drawn up. But help was at hand. Hera had laid her retreat," Achilles said. "Go. Take my armor, my men
plans. She saw Zeus sitting on Mount Ida watching too, and defend the ships. I cannot go. I am a man
the Trojans conquer, and she thought how she dishonored. For my own ships, if the battle comes
detested him. But she knew well that she could get near them, I will fight. I will not fight for men who
the better of him only in one way. She must go to him have disgraced me."
looking so lovely that he could not resist her. When he So Patroclus put on the splendid armor all the
took her in his arms she would pour sweet sleep upon Trojans knew and feared, and led the Myrmidons,
him and he would forget the Trojans. So she did. She Achilles' men, to the battle. At the first onset of this
went to her chamber and used every art she knew to new band of warriors the Trojans wavered; they
make herself beautiful beyond compare. Last of all thought Achilles led them on. And indeed for a time
she borrowed Aphrodite's girdle wherein were all her Patroclus fought as gloriously as that great hero
enchantments, and with this added charm she himself could have done. But at last he met Hector
appeared before Zeus. As he saw her, love overcame face to face and his doom was sealed as surely as a
his heart so that he thought no more of his promise to boar is doomed when he faces a lion. Hector's spear
Thetis. gave him a mortal wound and his soul fled from his
At once the battle turned in favor of the body down to the house of Hades. Then Hector
Greeks. Ajax hurled Hector to the ground, although stripped his armor from him and casting his own
before he could wound him Aeneas lifted him and bore aside, put it on. It seemed as though he had taken on,
him away. With Hector gone, the Greeks were able to too, Achilles' strength, and no man of the Greeks
drive the Trojans far back from the ships and Troy could stand before him.
might have been sacked that very day if Zeus had not Evening came that puts an end to battle.
awakened. He leaped up and saw the Trojans in flight Achilles sat by his tent waiting for Patroclus to
and Hector lying gasping on the plain. All was clear to return. But instead he saw old Nestor's son running
him and he turned fiercely to Hera. This was her toward him, fleet-footed Antilochus. He was weeping
doing, he said, her crafty, crooked ways. He was half- hot tears as he ran. "Bitter tidings," he cried out.
minded to give her then and there a beating. When it "Patroclus is fallen and Hector has his armor." Grief
came to that kind of fighting Hera knew she was took hold of Achilles, so black that those around him
helpless. She promptly denied that she had had feared for his life. Down in the sea caves his mother
anything to do with the Trojans' defeat. It was all knew his sorrow and came up to try to comfort him. "I
Poseidon, she said, and indeed the Sea-god had been will no longer live among men," he told her, If I do not
helping the Greeks contrary to Zeus's orders, but only make Hector pay with his death for Patroclus dead."
because she had begged him. However, Zeus was glad Then Thetis weeping bade him remember that he
enough of an excuse not to lay hands on her. He sent himself was fated to die straightway after Hector. "So
her back to Olympus and summoned Iris, the rainbow may I do," Achilles answered, "I who did not help my
messenger, to carry his command to Poseidon to comrade in his sore need. I will kill the destroyer of
withdraw from the field. Sullenly the Sea-god obeyed him I loved; then I will accept death when it comes."
and once more the tide of battle turned against the Thetis did not attempt to hold him back. "Only
Greeks. wait until morning," she said, "and you will not go
Apollo had revived the fainting Hector and unarmed to battle.
breathed into him surpassing power. Before the two, I will bring you arms fashioned by the divine armorer
the god and the hero, the Greeks were like a flock of the god Hephaestus himself."
frightened sheep driven by mountain lions. They fled Marvelous arms they were when Thetis
in confusion to the ships, and the wall they had built brought them worthy of their maker, such as no man
to defend them went down like a sand wall children on earth had ever borne. The Myrmidons gazed at
heap up on the shore and then scatter in their play. them with awe and a flame of fierce joy blazed in
The Trojans were almost near enough to set the ships Achilles' eyes as he put them on. Then at last he left
on fire. The Greeks, hopeless, thought only of dying the tent in which he had sat so long, and went down
bravely. to where the Greeks were gathered, a wretched
Patroclus, Achilles' beloved friend, saw the company, Diomedes grievously wounded, Odysseus,
rout with horror. Not even for Achilles' sake could he Agamemnon, and many another. He felt shame before
stay longer away from the battle. "You can keep your them and he told them he saw his own exceeding folly
wrath while your countrymen go down in ruin," he in allowing the loss of a mere girl to make him forget
everything else. But that was over; he was ready to between sheep and wolves, nor between you and me."
lead them as before. Let them prepare at once for the So saying he hurled his spear. It missed its aim, but
battle. The chieftains applauded joyfully, but Athena brought it back. Then Hector struck with a
Odysseus spoke for all when he said they must first true aim; the spear hit the center of Achilles' shield.
take their fill of food and wine, for fasting men made But to what good? That armor was magical and could
poor fighters. "Our comrades lie dead on the field and not be pierced. He turned quickly to Deiphobus to get
you call to food," Achilles answered scornfully. "Down his spear, but he was not there. Then Hector knew the
my throat shall go neither bite nor sup until my dear truth. Athena had tricked him and there was no way
comrade is avenged." And to himself he said, "O of escape. "The gods have summoned me to death," he
dearest of friends, for want of you I cannot eat, I thought. "At least I will not die without a struggle,
cannot drink." but in some great deed of arms which men yet to be
When the others had satisfied their hunger he born will tell each other." He drew his sword, his only
led the attack. Till was the last fight between the two weapon now, and rushed upon his enemy. But
great champions. As all the immortals knew. They Achilles had a spear, the one Athena had recovered
also knew how it would turn out. Father Zeus hung for him. Before Hector could approach, he who knew
his golden balances and set in one the lot of Hector's well that armor taken by Hector from the dead
death and in the other that of Achilles. Hector's lot Patroclus aimed at an opening in it near the throat,
sank down. It was appointed that he should die. and drove the spear point in. Hector fell, dying at last.
Nevertheless, the victory was long in doubt. The With his last breath he prayed, "Give back my body to
Trojans under Hector fought as brave men fight my father and my mother." No prayers from you to
before the walls of their home. Even the great river of me, you dog" Achilles answered." I would that I could
Troy, which the gods call Xanthus and men make myself devour raw your flesh for the evil you
Scamander, took part and strove to drown Achilles as have brought upon me." Then Hector’s soul flew forth
he crossed its waters. In vain, for nothing could check from his body and was gone to Hades, bewailing his
him as he rushed on slaughtering all in his path and fate, leaving vigor and youth behind.
seeking everywhere for Hector. The gods by now were Achilles stripped the bloody armor from the
fighting, too, as hotly as the men, and Zeus sitting corpse while the Greeks ran up to wonder how tall he
apart m Olympus laughed pleasantly to himself when was as he lay there and how noble to look upon. But
he saw god matched against god: Athena felling Ares Achilles' mind was on other matters. He pierced the
to the ground, Hera seizing the bow of Artemis from feet of the dead man and fastened them with thongs
her shoulders and boxing her ears with it this way to the back of his chariot, letting the head trail. Then
and that; Poseidon provoking Apollo with taunting he lashed his horses and round and round the walls of
words to strike him first. The Sun-god refused the Troy he dragged all that was left of glorious Hector.
challenge. He knew it was of no use now to fight for At last when his fierce soul was satisfied with
Hector. vengeance he stood beside the body of
By this time the gates, the great Scaean gates Patroclus and said, "Hear me even in the house of
of Troy, had been flung wide, for the Trojans at last Hades. I have dragged Hector behind my chariot and I
were in full flight and were crowding into the town. will give him to the dogs to devour beside your funeral
Only Hector stood unmovable before the wall. From pyre."
the gates old Priam, his father, and his mother Up in Olympus there was dissension. This
Hecuba cried to him to come within and save himself, abuse of the dead displeased all the immortals except
but he did not heed. He was thinking, "I led the Hera and Athena and Poseidon. Especially it
Trojans. Their defeat is my fault. Then am I to pare displeased Zeus. He sent Iris to Priam, to order him to
myself? And yet—what if I were to lay down shield go without fear to Achilles to redeem Hector's body,
and pear and go tell Achilles that we will give Helen bearing a rich ransom. She was to tell him that
back and half of Troy's treasures with her? Useless. violent as Achilles was, he was not really evil, but one
He would but kill me unarmed as if I were a woman. who would treat properly a suppliant.
Better to join battle with him now even if I die." Then the aged King heaped a car with
On came Achilles, glorious as the sun when he splendid treasures, the best in Troy, and went over
rises. Beside him was Athena, but Hector was alone. the plain to the reek camp. Hermes met him, looking
Apollo had left him to his fate. As the pair drew near like a Greek youth and offering himself as a guide to
he turned and fled. Three times around the wall of Achilles’ tent. So accompanied the old man passed the
Troy pursued and pursuer ran with flying feet. It was guards and came into the presence of the man who
Athena who made Hector halt. She appeared beside had killed and maltreated his son. He clasped his
him in the shape of his brother, Deiphobus, and with knees and kissed his hands and as he did so Achilles
this ally as he thought, Hector faced Achilles. He cried felt awe and so did all the others there, looking
out to him, "If I kill you I will give back your body to strangely upon one another, “Remember. Achilles,”
your friends and do you do the same to me." But Priam said, “your own father, of like years with me
Achilles answered, "Madman. There are no covenants and like me wretched for want of a son. Yet I am by
far more to be pitied who have braved what no man Then Priam brought Hector home, mourned in Troy
on earth ever did before, to stretch out my hand to the as never another. Even Helen wept. “The other
slayer of my son.” Trojans upbraid me,” she said, “but always I had
Grief stirred within Achilles heart as he comfort from you through the gentleness of your spirit
listened. Gently, he raised the old man. “Sit by me and your gentle words. You only were my friend.”
here,” he said. “and let our sorrow lie quiet in our Nine days they lamented him; then they laid
hearts. Evil is all men’s lot, but yet we must keep him on a lofty pyre and set fire to it. When all was
courage.” Then he bade his servants wash and anoint burned they quenched the flame with wine and
Hector’s body and cover it with a soft robe, so that gathered the bones into a golden urn, shrouding them
Priam should not see it, frightfully mangled as it was, in soft purple. They set the urn in a hollow grave and
and be unable to keep back his wrath. He feared for piled great stones over it.
his own self-control if Priam vexed him. “How many
days do you desire to make his funeral?” he asked. This was the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses.
“For so long I will keep the Greeks back from battle.” And with it the Iliad ends.

The Fall of Troy His arms, those marvelous arms Thetis had
The greater part of this story comes from Virgil. brought him from Hephaestus, caused the death of
The capture of Troy is the subject of the second book of Ajax. It was decided in full assembly that the heroes
the Aeneid and it is one of the best, if not the best, story who best serves them were Ajax and Odysseus. A
Virgil ever told — concise, pointed, vivid. The secret vote was then taken between the two and
beginning and the end of my account are not Virgil. I Odysseus got the arms. Such a decision was a very
have taken the story of Philctetes and the death of Ajax serious matter in those days. It was not only that the
from two plays of the fifth-century tragic poet man who won was honored; the man who was
Sophocles. The end, the tale of what happened to the defeated was held to be dishonored. Ajax saw himself
Trojan women when Troy fell, comes from a play by disgraced and in a fit of furious anger he determined
Sophocles ' fellow playwright, Euripides. It is a to kill Agamemnon and Menalaus. He believed and
curious Contrast to the martial spirit of the Aeneid. To with reason that they had turned the vote against
Virgil As to all Roman poets, war was the noblest and him. At nightfall he went to find them and he had
most glorious of human activities. Four hundred years reached their quarters when Athena struck him with
before Virgil a Greek poet looked at it differently. What madness. He thought the flocks and herds of the
was the end of that far-famed war? Euripides seems to Greeks were the army and rushed to kill them,
ask. Just this, a ruined town, a dead baby, a few believing that he was slaying now this chieftain, now
wretched women. that. Finally he dragged to his tent a huge ram, which
to his distracted mind was Odysseus, bound him to
With Hector dead, Achilles knew, as his the tent pole and beat him savagely. Then his frenzy
mother had told him that his own death was near. left him. His rage, his folly, his madness, would be
One more, great feat of arms he did before his fighting apparent to everyone. The slaughtered animals were
ended forever. Prince Memnon of lying all over the field. “The poor cattle,” he said to
Ethiopia, the son of the Goddess of the Dawn, came to himself, “killed to no purpose by my hand! And I
the assistance of Troy with a large army and for a stand here alone, hateful to men and to gods. In such
time, even though Hector was gone, the Greeks were a state only a coward clings to life. A man if he cannot
hard-pressed and lost many a gallant warrior, live nobly can die nobly.” He drew his sword and
including the swift-footed Antilochus, old Nestor’s son. killed himself. The Greeks would not burn his body;
Finally, Achilles killed Memnon in a glorious combat, they buried him. They held that a suicide should not
the Greek hero’s last battle. Then he himself fell be honored with a funeral pyre and urn-burial.
beside the Scaean gates. He had driven the Trojans His death following so soon upon Achilles
before him up to the wall of Troy. There Paris shot an dismayed the Greeks. Victory seemed as far off as
arrow at him and Apollo guided it so that it struck his ever. Their prophet Calchas told them that he had no
foot in the one spot where he could be wounded, his message from the gods for them, but that there was a
heel. His mother Thetis when he was born had man among the Trojans who knew the future, the
intended to make him invulnerable by dipping him prophet Helenus. If they captured him they could
into the river Styx, but she was careless and did not learn from him what they should do. Odysseus
see to it that the water covered the part of the foot by succeeded in making him a prisoner, and he told the
which she was holding him. He dies, and Ajax carried Greeks Troy would not fall until someone fought
his body out of the battle while Odysseus held the against the Trojans with the bow and arrows of
Trojans back. It is said that after he had been burned Hercules. These had been given when Hercules died
on the funeral pyre his bones were placed in the same to the Prince Philoctetes, the man who had fired his
urn that held those of his friend Patroclus. funeral pyre and who later had joined the Greek host
when they sailed to Troy. On the voyage, the Greeks He had a skillful worker in wood make a huge
stopped at an island to offer a sacrifice and wooden horse which was hollow and so big that it
Philoctetes was bitten by a serpent, a most frightful could hold a number of men. Then he persuaded—and
wound. It would not heal; it was impossible to carry had a great difficulty in doing so—certain of the
him to Troy as he was; the Army could not wait. They chieftains to hide inside it, along with himself, of
left him finally at Lemnos, then an uninhabited island course. They were all terror-stricken except Achilles'
although once the heroes of the Quest of the Golden son Neoptolemus, and indeed what they faced was no
Fleece had found plenty of women there. slight danger. The idea was that all the other Greeks
It was cruel to desert the helpless sufferer, but should strike camp, and apparently put out to sea, but
they were desperate to get on to Troy, and with his they would really hide beyond the nearest island
bow and arrows he would at least never lack for food. where they could not be seen by the Trojans.
When Helenus spoke, however, the Greeks knew well Whatever happened they would be safe; they could
that it would be hard to persuade him whom they had sail home if anything went wrong. But in that case
so wronged, to give his precious weapons to them. So the men inside the wooden horse would surely die.
they sent Odysseus, the master of crafty cunning, to Odysseus, as can be readily believed, had not
get them by trickery. Some say that Diomedes went overlooked this fact. His plan was to leave a single
with him and others Neoptolemus, also called Greek behind in the deserted camp, primed with a
Pyrrhus, the young son of Achilles. They succeeded in tale calculated to make the Trojans draw the horse
stealing the bow and arrows, but when it came to into the city—and without investigating it. Then,
leaving the poor wretch alone there deprived of them, when night was darkest, the Greeks inside were to
they could not do it. In the end they, persuaded him to leave their wooden prison and open the city gates to
go with them. Back at Troy the wise physician of the the Army, which by that time would have sailed back,
Greeks healed him, and when at last he went joyfully and be waiting before the wall.
once again into battle the first man he wounded with A night came when the plan was carried out.
his arrows was Paris. As he fell Paris begged to be Then the last day of Troy dawned. On the walls the
carried to Oenone, the nymph he had lived with on Trojan watchers saw with astonishment two sights,
Mount Ida before the three goddesses came to him. each as startling as the other. In front of the Scaean
She had told him that she knew a magic drug to cure gates stood an enormous figure of a horse, such a
any ailment. They took him to her and he asked her thing as no one had ever seen, an apparition so
for his life, but she refused. His desertion of her, his strange that it was vaguely terrifying, even though
long forgetfulness could not be forgiven in a moment there was no sound or movement coming from it. No
because of his need. She watched him die; then she sound or movement anywhere, indeed. The noisy
went away and killed herself. Greek camp was hushed; nothing was stirring there.
Troy did not fall because Paris was dead. He And the ships were gone. Only one conclusion seemed
was, indeed no great loss. At last the Greeks learned possible: The Greeks had given up. They had sailed
that there was a most sacred image of Pallas Athena for Greece; they had accepted defeat. All Troy exulted.
in the city, called the Palladium and that as long as Her long warfare was over; her sufferings lay behind
the Trojans d it Troy could not be taken. Accordingly, her.
the two greatest of the chieftains left alive by then, The people flocked to the abandoned Greek
Odysseus and Diomedes, determined to try to steal it. camp to see the sights: here Achilles had sulked so
Diomedes was the one who bore the image off. In a long; there Agamemnon's tent had stood; this was the
dark night he climbed the wall with Odysseus' help, quarters of the trickster, Odysseus. What rapture to
found the Palladium and took it to the camp. With see the places empty; nothing in them now to fear. At
this great encouragement the Greeks determined to last they drifted back to where that monstrosity, the
wait no longer, but devise some way to put an end to wooden horse, stood, and they gathered around it,
the endless war. puzzled what to do with it. Then the Greek who had
They saw clearly by now that unless they been left behind in the camp discovered himself to
could get their Army into the city and take the them. His name was Sinon, and he was a most
Trojans by surprise, they would never conquer. plausible speaker. He was seized and dragged to
Almost ten years had passed since they had first laid Priam weeping and protesting that he no longer
siege to the town, and it seemed as strong as ever. wished to be a Greek. The story he told was one of
The walls stood uninjured. They had never suffered a Odysseus' masterpieces. Pallas Athena had been
real attack. The fighting had taken place, for the most exceedingly angry, Sinon said, at the theft of the
part, at a distance from them. The Greeks must find a Palladium, and the Greeks in terror had sent to the
secret way of entering the city, or accept defeat. The oracle to ask how they could appease her. The oracle
result of this new determination and new vision was answered: "With blood and with a maiden slain you
the stratagem of the wooden horse. It was, as anyone calmed the winds when first you came to Troy. With
would guess, the creation of Odysseus' wily mind. blood must your return be sought. With a Greek life
make expiation." He himself, Sinon told Priam, was
the wretched victim chosen to be sacrificed. All was themselves down. They stole to the gates and threw
ready for the awful rite, which was to be carried out them wide, and into the sleeping town marched the
just before the Greeks' departure, but in the night he Greek Army. What they had first to do could be
had managed to escape and hidden in a swamp had carried out silently. Fires were started in buildings
watched the ships sail away. throughout the city. By the time the Trojans were
It was a good tale and the Trojans never awake, before they realized what had happened, while
questioned it. They pitied Sinon and assured him that they were struggling into their armor, Troy was
he should henceforth live as one of themselves. So it burning. They rushed out to the street one by one in
befell that by false cunning and pretended tears those confusion. Bands of soldiers were waiting there to
were conquered whom great Diomedes had never strike each man down before he could join himself to
overcome, nor savage Achilles, nor ten years of others. It was not fighting, it was butchery. Very
warfare, nor a thousand ships. For Sinon did not many died without ever a chance of dealing a blow in
forget the second part of his story: The wooden horse return. In the more distant parts of the town the
had been made, he said, as a votive offering to Trojans were able to gather together here and there
Athena, and the reason for its immense size was to and then it was the Greeks who suffered. They were
discourage the Trojans from taking it into the city. borne down by desperate men who wanted only to kill
What the Greeks hoped for was that the Trojans before they were killed. They knew that the one safety
would destroy it and so draw down upon them for the conquered was to hope for no safety. This spirit
Athena’s anger. Placed in the city it would turn her often turned the victors into the vanquished. The
favor to them and away from the Greeks. The story quickest-witted Trojans tore off their own armor and
was clever enough to have had by itself, in all put on that of the dead Greeks, and many and many a
probability, the desired effect; but Poseidon, the most Greek thinking he was joining friends discovered too
bitter of all the gods against Troy, contrived an late that they were enemies and paid for his error
addition which made the issue certain. The priest with his life.
Laocoon, when the horse was first discovered, had On top of the houses they tore up the roofs
been urgent with the Trojans to destroy it. "I fear the and hurled the beams down upon the Greeks. An
Greeks even when they bear gifts," he said. entire tower standing on the roof of Priam's palace
Cassandra, Priam's daughter, had echoed his was lifted from its foundations and toppled over.
warning, but no one ever listened to her and she had Exulting the defenders saw it fall and annihilate a
gone back to the palace before Sinon appeared. great band who were forcing the palace doors. But the
Laocoon and his two sons heard his story with success brought only a short respite. Others rushed
suspicion, the only doubters there. As Sinon finished, up carrying a huge beam. Over the debris of the tower
suddenly over the sea came two fearful serpents and the crushed bodies they battered the doors with
swimming to the land. Once there, they glided it. It crashed through and the Greeks were in the
straight to Laocoon. They wrapped their huge coils palace before the Trojans could leave the roof. In the
around him and the two lads and they crushed the life inner courtyard around the altar were the women and
out of them. Then they disappeared within Athena's children and one man, the old King. Achilles had
temple. spared Priam, but Achilles' son struck him down
There could be no further hesitation. To the before the eyes of his wife and daughters.
horrified spectators Laocoon had been punished for By now the end was near. The contest from
opposing the entry of the horse which most certainly the first had been unequal. Too many Trojans had
no one else would now do. been slaughtered in the first surprise. The Greeks
could not be beaten back anywhere. Slowly the
All the people cried, defense ceased. Before morning all the leaders were
"Bring the carven image in. dead, except one. Aphrodite's son Aeneas alone among
Bear it to Athena, the Trojan chiefs escaped. He fought the Greeks as
Fit gift for the child of Zeus." long as he could find a living Trojan to stand with
Who of the young but hurried forth? him, but as the slaughter spread and death came near
Who of the old would stay at home? he thought of his home, the helpless people he had left
With song and rejoicing they brought death in, there. He could do nothing more for Troy, but perhaps
Treachery and destruction. something could be done for them. He hurried to
them, his old father, his little son, his wife, and as he
They dragged the horse through the gate and went his mother Aphrodite appeared to him, urging
up to the temple of Athena. Then, rejoicing in their him on and keeping him safe from the flames and
good fortune, believing the war ended and Athena's from the Greeks. Even with the goddess's help he
favor restored to them, they went to their houses in could not save his wife. When they left the house she
peace as they had not for ten years. got separated from him and was killed. But the other
In the middle of the night the door in the two he brought away, through the enemy, past the
horse opened. One by one the chieftains let city gates, out into the country, his father on his
shoulders, his son clinging to his hand. No one but a Not that he does not go with me?
divinity could have saved them, and Aphrodite was He answered,
the only one of the gods that day who helped a Trojan. The boy must die—be thrown
She helped Helen too. She got her out of the Down from the towering wall of Troy.
city and took her to Menelaus. He received her gladly, Now—now—let it be done. Endure
and as he sailed for Greece she was with him. Like a brave woman. Think. You are alone.
When morning came what had been the One woman and a slave and no help anywhere.
proudest city in Asia was a fiery ruin. All that was left She knew what he said was true. There was no help.
of Troy was a band of helpless captive women, whose She said good-by to her child.
husbands were dead, whose children had been taken
from them. They were waiting for their masters to Weeping, my little one? There, there.
carry them overseas to slavery. You cannot know what waits for you.
Chief among the captives was the old Queen, —How will it be? Falling down—down—all broken—
Hecuba, and her daughter-in-law, Hector's wife And none to pity.
Andromache. For Hecuba all was ended. Crouched on Kiss me. Never again. Come closer, closer.
the ground, she saw the Greek ships getting ready Your mother who bore you—put your arms around my
and she watched the city bum. Troy is no longer, she neck.
told herself, and I—who am I? A slave men drive like Now kiss me, lips to lips.
cattle. An old gray woman that has no home.
The soldiers carried him away. Just before they threw
What sorrow is there that is not mine? him from the wall they had killed on
Country lost and husband and children. Achilles' grave a young girl, Hecuba's daughter
Glory of all my house brought low. Polyxena. With the death of Hector's son,
Troy's last sacrifice was accomplished. The women
And the women around her answered: — waiting for the ships watched the end.
We stand at the same point of pain.
We are too slaves. Troy has perished, the great city.
Our children are crying, call to us with tears Only the red flame now lives there.
"Mother, I am all alone. The dust is rising, spreading out like a great wing of
To the dark ships now they drive me, smoke,
And I cannot see you, Mother." And all is hidden.
We now are gone, one here, one there.
One woman still had her child. Andromache And Troy is gone forever.
held in her arms her son Astyanax, the little boy who Farewell, dear city.
had once shrunk back from his father's high-crested Farewell, my country, where my children lived.
helmet. "He is so young," she thought. "They will let There below, the Greek ships wait.
me take him with me." But from the Greek camp a
herald came to her and spoke faltering words. He told
her that she must not hate him for the news he
brought to her against his will. Her son . . . She broke
in,