40.

The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted. The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every year, a short time afterwards. This however is not told by Homer. Nor was Homer acquainted with the violation of Cassandra,1424 but says that she was a virgin about that time:

“He slew Othryoneus, who had lately come to the war from Cabesus, induced by the glory of the contest, and who sought in marriage the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam, Cassandra, without a dower.”1425

He does not mention any force having been used, nor does he attribute the death of Ajax by shipwreck to the wrath of Minerva, nor to any similar cause, but says, in general terms, that he was an object of hatred to Minerva, (for she was incensed against all who had profaned her temple,) and that Ajax died by the agency of Neptune for his boasting speeches.

The Locrian virgins were sent there when the Persians were masters of the country.

41.

Such is the account of the Ilienses. But Homer speaks expressly of the demolition of the city:

“The day will come when at length sacred Ilium shall perish,1426

 

After we have destroyed the lofty city of Priam,1427

 

By counsel, by wisdom, and by artifice,

The city of Priam was destroyed in the tenth year.”1428

Of this they produce evidence of the following kind; the statue of Minerva, which Homer represents as in a sitting posture, is seen at present to be a standing figure, for he orders them

“to place the robe on the knees of Athene,”1429

in the same sense as this verse,

“no son of mine should sit upon her knees,”1430

and it is better to understand it thus, than as some explain it, “by placing the robe at the knees,” and adduce this line,

“she sat upon the hearth in the light of the fire,”1431

[Pg 368]

[CAS. 601]

for “near the hearth.” For what would the laying the robe at the knees mean? And they who alter the accent, and for γούνασιν read γουνασιν, like θυιάσιν, or in whatever way they understand it,1432 come to no conclusion. Many of the ancient statues of Minerva are found in a sitting posture, as those at Phocæa, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and many other cities. But modern writers, among whom is Lycurgus the rhetorician, agree that the city was destroyed, for in mentioning the city of the Ilienses he says, “who has not heard, when it was once razed by the Greeks, that it was uninhabited?”1433