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 assaults of the enemy. But some allies having come to their assistance, they were encouraged to sally forth again and fight the Greeks in the open plain. The famous and beautiful Queen Pen-the-si-leʹa came with an army of her Amʹa-zons, a nation of female warriors who dwelt on the shores of the Black Sea.

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.

Combat of the Amazons.
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 Memʹnon, king of Ethiopia, and nephew of Priam, being the son of Priam's brother Ti-thoʹnus, and Au-roʹra, goddess 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 goddess 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 Scæan 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 Scæan 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 goddess 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 shore as a monument to the hero.

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 Scæan Gate. The majority of votes were in favor of Ulysses, and to him, therefore, the splendid shield 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-teʹtes, 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.

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.

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 Œnone, 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. Œnone 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.

Tennyson, Death of Œnone.

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 Pyrʹrhus, or Ne-op-tolʹ-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 accomplishing it. Putting on the garments of a beggar, and scourging his body so as to leave marks, he went to the Scæan 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.

Bryant, Odyssey, Book IV.

But Helen, happening to pass 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.

Bryant, Odyssey, Book IV.

Helen passed 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 unobserved 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 ships, who rejoiced at the success of the undertaking.

Troy was now no longer under the protection of Pallas Minerva. Though that goddess 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-peʹus how to make it. This horse was of vast size, large enough to contain about a hundred men, for it was hollow within.

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.

Vergil.

Meanwhile the other Greeks broke up their camp, and all going aboard their ships, 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 Tenʹe-dos, about three miles from the shore.

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 multitudes upon the plain, King Priam riding in his chariot at their head.

Vergil.

But soon their attention was attracted by the huge wooden horse, and they gathered about it, astonished at its great size, and wondering what it meant. Some thought that it meant evil to Troy, and advised that it should be burned; others proposed that it should be hauled into the city and placed within the citadel. La-ocʹo-on, one of Priam's sons, who was also a priest of Apollo, cried out in a loud voice, warning the king and people against doing this. "Are you so foolish," he exclaimed, "as to suppose that the enemy are gone? Put no faith in this horse. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when offering gifts."

Vergil.

Thus saying, Laocoon hurled his spear against the side of the horse, and it sent forth a hollow sound like a deep groan. But at this moment a stranger, having the appearance of a Greek, was brought before the king. Some Trojan shepherds, finding him loitering on the river bank, had made him prisoner. Being asked who he was and why he was there, he told an artful story. His name, he said, was Si'non, and he was a Greek. His countrymen, having decided to give up the war, resolved to offer one of themselves as a sacrifice to the gods, that they might get fair winds to return home, and they selected him to be the victim. To escape that terrible fate he concealed himself among the reeds by the side of the Scamander until the fleet departed. This was Sinon's account of himself. The Trojans believed it, and the prisoner was set free. But the king asked him to tell them about the wooden horse,—why it had been made, and left there upon the plain.

Then Sinon told another false story. He said that the horse was a peace offering to Minerva, who had been angry because the Palladium was taken from Troy. For that insult to her, the goddess commanded the Greeks to return to their own country, and Calchas ordered them to build the horse as an atonement for their crime. He also told them to make it so large that the Trojans might not be able to drag it within their gates; for if it were brought into the city, it would be a protection to Troy, but if any harm were done to it, ruin would come on the kingdom of Priam.

Vergil.

King Priam and the Trojans believed this story too, and a terrible thing which just then happened made them believe it all the more. After Laocoon had hurled his spear at the wooden horse, he and his two sons went to offer sacrifice to the gods at an altar erected on the beach. While they were thus engaged, two enormous serpents, darting out from the sea, glided up to the altar, seized the priest and his sons, and crushed all three to death in their tremendous coils.

Vergil.

The terrified Trojans regarded this awful event as a punishment sent by the gods upon Laocoon for insulting Minerva by casting his spear at her gift, which they now believed the horse to be. They therefore resolved to take the huge figure into the city in spite of the advice of Cassandra, who also warned them that it would bring ruin upon Troy. And so they made a great breach in the walls, for none of their gates were large enough to admit the vast image, and fastening strong ropes to its feet they dragged it into the citadel. Then they decorated the temples with garlands of green boughs, and spent the remainder of the day in festivity and rejoicing.

But in the dead of the night, when they were all sunk in deep repose, the treacherous Sinon drew the bolts from the trapdoor in the side of the wooden horse, and out came the Greek warriors, rejoicing at the success of their stratagem.

Sinon next hurried down to the beach, and there kindled a fire as a signal to his countrymen on the ships. They knew what it meant, for it was part of the plan that had been agreed on. Quickly plying their oars, they soon reached the shore, and, marching across the plain, the Greeks poured in thousands into the streets, through the breach that had been made in the walls.

The Trojans, startled from their sleep by the noise, understood at once what had happened. Hastily they rushed to arms, and, led and encouraged by Æneas and other chiefs, they fought valiantly to drive out the enemy, but all their valor was in vain. Troy was at last taken. The victorious Greeks swept through the city, dealing death and destruction around them. King Priam was slain by Pyrrhus, at the foot of the altar in one of the temples, to which he fled for safety. His son Deiphobus, who had married Helen after the death of Paris, was slain by Menelaus. The Spartan king, believing that what his wife had done had been decreed by the Fates and the will of the gods, pardoned her and took her with him to his ships. The women of the Trojan royal family were carried off as slaves.

Æneas, with his father Anchises and his son I-uʹlus, escaped from the city, and sailed from Troas with a fleet and a number of warlike followers. After many adventures by sea and land, which the Roman poet, Verʹgil, tells about in his poem called the Æ-neʹid, he reached Italy. There he established a settlement, and his descendants, it is said, were the founders of Rome.

Having completed their work of destruction and carried off to their ships all the riches of Troy, the Greeks set fire to the city, and in a few hours nothing remained but a mass of smouldering ruins. So ended the famous Trojan War. The prophecy of the soothsayer, Æsacus, at the birth of Paris, was fulfilled. Paris had brought destruction upon his family and country.

Captive Andromache.
Painting by Lord Leighton.