"Think of thy father, godlike Achilles, and pity me. He is old, as I am, and it may be, his neighbors trouble him, seeing that he has no defender; yet so long as he knows that thou art alive, it is well with him, for every day he hopes to see his dear 5 son returned from Troy. But as for me, I am altogether wretched. Many a valiant son I had-nineteen born to me of one mother— and most of them are dead, and he that was the best of all, who kept our city safe, he has been slain by thee. He it is whom I have come to ransom. Have pity on him and on me, thinking of 10 thy father. Never, surely, was lot so sad as this, to kiss the hands that slew a son."

But the words so stirred the heart of Achilles that he wept, thinking now of Patroclus, and now of his old father at home; and Priam wept, thinking of his dead Hector. But at last Achil15 les stood up from his seat and raised King Priam, having pity on his white hair and his white beard, and spake

"How didst thou dare to come to the ships of the Greeks, to the man who slew thy sons? Surely thou must have a heart of iron. But sit thou down: let our sorrows rest in our hearts, for 20 there is no profit in lamentation. It is the will of the gods that men should suffer wce, but they are themselves free from care. Two chests are set by the side of Father Zeus, one of good and one of evil gifts, and he mixes the lot of men, taking out of both. Many noble gifts did the gods give to King Peleus: wealth and 25 bliss beyond that of other men, and kingship over the Myrmidons. Aye! and they gave him a goddess to be his wife. But they gave also this evil, that he had no stock of stalwart children in his house, but one son only, and I cannot help him at all in his old age, for I tarry here far away in Troy. Thou, too, old man 30 hadst wealth and power of old, and lordship over all that lies

35

between Lesbos and Phrygia and the stream of Hellespont. And to thee the gods have given this ill, that there is ever battle and slaughter about thy city walls. But as for thy son, wail not for him, for thou canst not raise him up."

But Priam answered, “Make me not to sit, great Achilles, frij'i a hěl'es pont

les'bos

while Hector lies unhonored. Let me ransom him, and look upon him with my eyes, and do thou take the gifts. And the gods grant thee to return safe to thy fatherland."

Then Achilles hastened from his tent, and two comrades with 5 him. First they loosed the horses from the chariot and the mules from the wagon; then they brought in the herald and took the gifts. Only they left of them two cloaks and a tunic, wherein they might wrap the dead. And Achilles bade the women wash and anoint the body, but apart from the tent, lest, perchance, 10 Priam should see his son and cry aloud, and so awaken the fury

in his heart. But when it was washed and anointed, Achilles himself lifted it in his arms and put it on the litter, and his comrades lifted the litter on the wagon.

And when all was finished Achilles groaned and cried to his 15 dead friend, saying—

20

"Be not wroth, Patroclus, if thou shouldst hear in the unknown land that I have ransomed Hector to his father: a noble ransom hath he paid me, and of this, too, thou shalt have thy share, as is meet.”

Then Priam said, "If thou art minded to let me bury Hector, let there be a truce between my people and the Greeks. For nine days let us mourn for Hector, and on the tenth will we bury him and feast the people, and on the eleventh raise a great tomb above him, and on the twelfth we will fight again, if 25 fight we must."

And Achilles answered, "Be it so: I will stay the war for so long."

So for nine days the people gathered much wood, and on the tenth they laid Hector upon the pile, and lit fire beneath it. And 30 when it was burnt they quenched the embers with wine. Then his

brethren and comrades gathered together the white bones, and laid them in a chest of gold; and this they covered with purple robes and put in a great coffin, and laid upon it stones many and great. And over all they raised a mighty mound; and all the 35 while the watchers watched, lest the Greeks should arise and slay

them. Last of all was a great feast held in the palace of King Priam.

So they buried Hector, the tamer of horses.

HELPS TO STUDY

Historical and Biographical: The story of Achilles is found in "The Iliad, one of the oldest poems in existence. The poem takes its name from Ilium, the Greek name of the city of Troy where the war, with which the poem deals, was fought. There is much doubt about the date and authorship of both this poem and the Odyssey, but it is commonly believed that they are the work of Homer, a blind poet who lived in the eighth century B. C. The events which they celebrate occurred about 1000 B. C. It is generally supposed that Homer earned his living as a minstrel, traveling from town to town reciting his poems to the music of his harp. There is much uncertainty as to his birth-place, as the following epigram shows

"Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead

Through which the living Homer begged for bread.'

After the birth of Achilles, his mother, who was a sea nymph, returned to the sea but was nevertheless deeply concerned for the welfare of her son. She wished for him a long, even if inglorious, life rather than, as the Fates decreed, a short and glorious one. For this reason she tried to make him invulnerable, by dipping him, when an infant, in the river Styx, from which he came out, all but the heel by which she held him, proof against all wounds.

While Achilles was in the temple of Apollo arranging for his marriage to one of the daughters of King Priam, Paris discharged at him a poisoned arrow which, guided by Apollo, fatally wounded him in the heel, his only vulnerable spot.

Hector was the son of King Priam and Hecuba. He was the great hero on the Trojan side just as Achilles was on the Greek. Though less is known of Hector's life, yet in the story we find him a very admirable character.

Notes and Questions

A few rules that will be found helpful in pronouncing Greek and Roman names:

C is soft before e, i, and y and hard before all other sounds. The vowel in an accented closed syllable is generally short and

in an accented open syllable,
is generally long: i. e., Agamem'-
non, Menela'us.

Final eus is generally one syllable
and pronounced like long u.
Peleus, pelus; Zeus, zūs.
Chapter One: What do you think

BOOK II

THE STORY OF ULYSSES

CHAPTER ONE

THE LOTUS EATERS-THE CYCLOPES

WHEN the great city of Troy was taken, all the chiefs who had fought against it set sail for their homes. But there was wrath in heaven against them, for indeed they had borne themselves haughtily and cruelly in the day of their victory. There5 fore they did not all find a safe and happy return. For one was shipwrecked, and another was shamefully slain by his false wife in his palace, and others found all things at home troubled and changed, and were driven to seek new dwellings elsewhere. And some, whose wives and friends and people had been still true to 10 them through those ten long years of absence, were driven far and wide about the world before they saw their native land again. And of all, the wise Ulysses wandered farthest and suffered most.

He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many 15 days to do pleasure to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks.

Twelve ships he had with him-twelve he had brought to Troy —and in each there were some fifty men, being scarce half of those that had sailed in them in the old days, so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep, in the plain and on the seashore, 20 slain in battle or by the shafts of Apollo.

First they sailed north-west to the Thracian coast, where the Ciconians dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might have escaped unhurt, but that 25 they stayed to hold revel on the shore. For the Ciconians gathered their neighbors, being men of the same blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ships. And si klō'pēz si kō'ni anz