The Story of Troy Part 19

The Trojans, beholding this dreadful spectacle from the walls of the city, broke out into loud lamentations, and King Priam and Queen Hecuba were almost distracted with grief. Andromache had not been a witness of the combat. She was at home with her maids, making preparations for Hector's return from the battle, and was therefore unaware of the terrible events which had taken place. But the sound of the wailing on the ramparts having reached her ears, she rushed forth from the palace, fearful that some evil had happened to her husband. Hastening through the streets to the Scaean Gate, she ascended the tower, and looking out on the plain, saw the body of her beloved Hector dragged behind the wheels of the chariot of Achilles. Overpowered with grief at the sight, the unhappy woman sank fainting into the arms of her attendants.

A sudden darkness shades her swimming eyes: She faints, she falls; her breath, her color flies.

Her hair's fair ornaments, the braids that bound, The net that held them, and the wreath that crown'd, The veil and diadem flew far away (The gift of Venus on her bridal day).

Around a train of weeping sisters stands To raise her sinking with a.s.sistant hands.

POPE, _Iliad_, Book XXII.

While the Trojans thus mourned the loss of their chief, his body was dragged into the Grecian camp and flung on the beach beside the ships.

Preparations were then made for funeral services in honor of Patroclus.

The ceremonies occupied three days. A vast quant.i.ty of wood was cut down on Mount Ida, and carried to the plain, where the logs were heaped together in an immense pile, a hundred feet square. Upon this they placed the corpse. They next put upon the pile the fat of several oxen, that it might the more easily burn, and they slew and laid upon it the dead man's horses. Achilles cut off a lock of his own hair and put it in the dead hero's hand, and each of the other warriors placed a lock of his hair on the body.

Torches were now applied, and they prayed to the wind G.o.ds, Bo're-as and Zeph'y-rus, to send strong breezes to fan the flames. All through the night the pile blazed with a mighty roar, and in the morning, when it was consumed, the embers were quenched with wine, and the bones of Patroclus were gathered up and inclosed in a golden urn. On the spot where the pyre had stood they raised a mound of earth as a monument to the hero.

Then there were funeral games at which valuable prizes, given by Achilles, were competed for,--prizes of gold and silver, and shining weapons, and vases, and steeds, and oxen. Diomede won the prize in the chariot race, for he ran with the immortal horses he had taken in battle from aeneas. In the wrestling match Ulysses and Ajax Telamon were the rival champions. Both displayed such strength and skill that it could not be decided which was the victor, and so a prize of equal value was given to each. Ajax Telamon also competed with Diomede in a combat with swords, and both were declared equal and received each a prize.

In the contest with bow and arrows, Teu'cer and Me-ri'o-nes were the compet.i.tors, and a dove tied to the top of a mast fixed in the ground, was the object aimed at. Teucer missed the bird, but he struck and cut the cord that fastened her to the pole, and she flew up into the heavens. Then Meriones shot at her with his arrow. The weapon pierced the dove beneath the wing and she fell to the earth. This feat was greatly admired by the spectators, and Meriones received as his prize ten double-bladed battle-axes. To Teucer, whose performance was also much applauded, a prize of ten single-bladed axes was given.

Thus did Achilles honor his dead friend by funeral rites and funeral games. But his wrath against Hector still continued, even when he had dragged the hero's body at his chariot wheels three times round the tomb of Patroclus. This cruel insult he repeated at dawn for several days.

But Apollo watched the body.

Apollo, moved With pity for the hero, kept him free From soil or stain, though dead, and o'er him held The golden aegis, lest, when roughly dragged Along the ground, the body might be torn.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MERIONES' WONDERFUL SHOT.

_Drawn by Hubbell._]

But at last the G.o.ds, with the exception of Juno, were moved to pity, and on the twelfth day from the death of the Trojan hero, Jupiter summoned Thetis to Olympus, and bade her command Achilles to restore Hector's body to his parents. He also sent Iris with a message to King Priam, telling him to go to the Greek fleet, bearing with him a suitable ransom for his son. Thetis promptly carried out the order of Jupiter.

She told her son of the command of the king of heaven, and Achilles answered that since it was the will of Jove he was ready to obey.

"Let him who brings the ransom come and take The body, if it be the will of Jove."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

Joyfully the aged Priam received the message of Iris, and he made haste to set out for the Grecian camp. He took with him costly things as ransom,--ten talents of gold, and precious vases and goblets, and many beautiful robes of state. These were carried in a wagon drawn by four mules, which were driven by the herald Idaeus. The king rode in his own chariot and he himself was the charioteer. As they crossed the plain they were met by the G.o.d Mercury, whom Jupiter had sent to conduct them safely to the tent of the Greek warrior.

"Haste, guide King Priam to the Grecian fleet, Yet so that none may see him, and no Greek Know of his coming, till he stand before Pelides."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

Mercury mounted the chariot of Priam, and taking in his hands the reins, he drove rapidly towards the ships. When they came to the trenches the G.o.d cast the guards into a deep slumber, and so the Trojan king and his companion reached the tent of the chief of the Myrmidons, unseen by any of the Greeks. Then Mercury departed, and ascended to Olympus.

Achilles received his visitors respectfully, and the aged king, kissing the hero's hand, knelt down before him and begged him have pity on a father mourning for his son.

"For his sake I come To the Greek fleet, and to redeem his corse I bring uncounted ransom. O, revere The G.o.ds, Achilles, and be merciful, Calling to mind thy father! happier he Than I; for I have borne what no man else That dwells on earth could bear,--have laid my lips Upon the hand of him who slew my son."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

The Greek chief, moved by this appeal, replied in kind words and accepted the ransom, after which he caused Priam and Idaeus to sit down and refresh themselves with food and drink, and invited them to remain with him for the night. He also granted a truce of twelve days for funeral rites in honor of Hector.

Early in the morning the Trojan king and his herald arose, and Mercury again descended from Olympus to conduct them safely from the Grecian camp. Quickly they yoked their steeds, and mournfully they drove across the plain to the city. Ca.s.sandra, who stood watching on the citadel of Pergamus, saw them coming, and she cried out in a loud voice to the people, bidding them go and meet their dead hero.

"If e'er ye rush'd in crowds, with vast delight, To hail your hero glorious from the fight, Now meet him dead, and let your sorrows flow; Your common triumph, and your common woe."

POPE, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

Amid the lamentations of the people the corpse was borne through the streets to the royal palace, where it was placed on a magnificent couch.

Then Andromache and Queen Hecuba approached the body and wept aloud, each in turn uttering words of grief. Helen, too, came to mourn over Hector, and she spoke of his constant kindness and tenderness to her.

"O Hector, who wert dearest to my heart Of all my husband's brothers,--for the wife Am I of G.o.dlike Paris, him whose fleet Brought me to Troy,--would I had sooner died!

And now the twentieth year is past since first I came a stranger from my native sh.o.r.e, Yet have I never heard from thee a word Of anger or reproach. And when the sons Of Priam, and his daughters, and the wives Of Priam's sons, in all their fair array, Taunted me grievously, or Hecuba Herself,--for Priam ever was to me A gracious father,--thou didst take my part With kindly admonitions, and restrain Their tongues with soft address and gentle words.

Therefore my heart is grieved, and I bewail Thee and myself at once,--unhappy me!

For now I have no friend in all wide Troy,-- None to be kind to me: they hate me all."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

With the funeral of Hector the Iliad of Homer ends. The poet's subject, as has been said, was the Wrath of Achilles, and the poem properly closes when the results of the hero's wrath have been related. The concluding lines of the twenty-fourth, and last, book of the Iliad describe the funeral ceremonies of Hector, which were the same as those performed by the Greeks in honor of Patroclus.

Nine days they toiled To bring the trunks of trees, and when the tenth Arose to light the abodes of men, they brought The corse of valiant Hector from the town With many tears, and laid it on the wood High up, and flung the fire to light the pile.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

The fire burned all night, and next day they gathered the bones of Hector and placed them in a golden urn. Then they buried the urn and erected a tomb over the grave.

In haste they reared the tomb, with sentries set On every side, lest all too soon the Greeks Should come in armor to renew the war.

When now the tomb was built, the mult.i.tude Returned, and in the halls where Priam dwelt, Nursling of Jove, were feasted royally.

Such was the mighty Hector's burial rite.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XXIV.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FEASTING-CUP.]

XII. DEATH OF ACHILLES--FALL AND DESTRUCTION OF TROY.

After the funeral of Hector the war was renewed. For a time the Trojans remained within the walls of their city, which were strong enough to resist all the a.s.saults of the enemy. But some allies having come to their a.s.sistance, they were encouraged to sally forth again and fight the Greeks in the open plain. The famous and beautiful Queen Pen-the-si-le'a came with an army of her Am'a-zons, a nation of female warriors who dwelt on the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea.

Penthesilea there with haughty grace, Leads to the wars an Amazonian race; In their right hands a pointed dart they wield; The left for ward, sustains the lunar shield.

VERGIL.

Brave as she was beautiful, the queen of the Amazons scorned to remain behind the shelter of walls, and so, leading her valiant band of women out through the gates, she made a fierce attack on the Greeks. A terrific battle then began, and many warriors on both sides were laid in the dust. Penthesilea herself was slain by Achilles. The hero was unwilling to fight with a woman, and he tried to avoid meeting the queen, but she attacked him so furiously, first hurling her spear, and then rushing upon him sword in hand, that he was obliged to strike in self-defense. With a thrust of his lance he gave her a mortal wound, and the brave heroine fell, begging Achilles to permit her body to be taken away by her own people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMBAT OF THE AMAZONS.