Chapter XIV: Part III: The Heroes (4)

Ten years later, the sons of the fallen heroes are said to have combined with Ægialeus, the son of Adrastus, to avenge their fathers’ defeat. This expedition has therefore been called the war of the Epigoni (descendants), and not being undertaken, like that of their fathers, in manifest opposition to the will of the gods, proved successful. Laodamas, the savage son of Eteocles, who was now king of Thebes, was defeated in a decisive battle near Thebes, and, after Ægialeus had fallen by his hands, was himself slain by Alcmæon, the son of Amphiaraüs. The Thebans were unable any longer to hold their city, and, following the advice of the blind seer Tiresias, they withdrew under the cover of darkness and mist. The aged Tiresias expired on the road, at the fountain of Tilphusa; of the rest, some took refuge in Thessalia, and some sought other lands. The victorious Argives, after plundering and partly destroying the city, dedicated a great portion of the booty—among which was Manto, the daughter of Tiresias—to the oracle of Delphi. They then made Thersander, the son of Polynices, king of Thebes; upon which many of the fugitive inhabitants returned. Thersander subsequently took part in the Trojan war, and there perished.

=4. The Trojan Cycle.=—We now come to the Trojan war, the fourth and most celebrated of the common undertakings of the later heroic age. Here the sources of our information are far more plentiful than in any former period of mythic history, because both the grand national epics, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, which are commonly ascribed to Homer, relate to the Trojan war. As the contents of these immortal poems are probably well known to our readers, we shall only dwell on the most essential features of the story.

I. THE HEROIC RACES OF THE TROJAN WAR.—_1. The Dardanidæ, or race of Dardanus._—The royal family of Troy were descended from Dardanus, a son of Zeus by Electra, a daughter of Atlas. Dardanus is said to have emigrated from Samothrace, or, according to others, from Italy to Arcadia, to the north-west portion of Asia Minor, between the range of Ida and the Hellespont, where he received from king Teucer some land to form a settlement. By a daughter of the river-god Simoïs, or, as others say, of Scamander, Dardanus had a son called Tros, from whom the Trojans derived their name. Tros had three sons—Assaracus, Ilus, and Ganymedes. The last, who, like all the scions of the race of Dardanus, was possessed of wonderful beauty, was raised by Zeus to the dignity of cupbearer to the gods, and thus became immortal. Ilus and Assaracus became the founders of two different branches of the Dardanian race. The latter remained in his native settlement of Dardania, where he became the father of Capys and the grandfather of Anchises, the father of Æneas. Ilus, on the other hand, emigrated to the plains of the Scamander, where he founded the city of Ilium, or Troy. After completing the town, he begged Zeus to bestow on him a sign of his favour. The next morning he found in front of his tent the celebrated Palladium—an image of Pallas Athene, carved in wood. On the possession of this depended the fortune and welfare of the city. After the death of Ilus, his son Laomedon became king of Troy. At his request, Poseidon and Apollo built the citadel of Pergamum. We have already related how this king, by his faithless conduct provoked the wrath of Heracles, and the first capture of the city. Of his sons only Priam remained; in him the race of Dardanus flourished afresh, for by his wife Hecuba and by his concubines he had a great number of sons and daughters.

_2. The Pelopidæ, or race of Pelops._—The Pelopidæ, who were chiefly instrumental in the destruction of Troy, were descended from the Phrygian king Tantalus, who was renowned alike for his unexampled good fortune and his subsequent unhappy fate. He was the son of Zeus and Pluto (rich plenty), and inhabited a citadel on Mount Sipylus, whence his rich pasture-lands and fruitful corn-fields extended twelve days’ journey, as far as Ida and the Propontis. The very gods honoured him with their friendship, and lived on such intimate terms that they invited him to eat at their table. This unheard-of good fortune, however, begot in the puny mortal such presumption, that he began to indulge in the grossest outrages on gods and men. At length he went so far as to cut his son Pelops in pieces to boil them, and set them before the gods in order to test their omniscience. The cup of his iniquity now seemed full, and the gods brought down a heavy retribution on the head of the criminal by his well-known punishment in the lower world, where, though surrounded by the most delicious fruits, and standing up to his neck in water, he was nevertheless condemned to suffer the pangs of continual hunger and thirst. Another tradition relates that he was kept in constant anxiety by a huge rock which was suspended over his head. (See pp. 149, 150.)

The children of Tantalus were Pelops and Niobe. The unhappy fate of the latter has already been described in the mythic history of Thebes. Pelops was restored to life by the art of Hermes; and a portion of his shoulder, which had been consumed by Demeter, was replaced by the gods with a piece of ivory. Pelops is said to have grown up in Olympus, amongst the blessed gods. On being restored to earth, he proceeded to Elis, where he became a suitor for the hand of Hippodamia, the beautiful daughter of the king Œnomaüs. The latter had promised his daughter to the man who should vanquish him in a chariot race: whoever failed was obliged to expiate his temerity with his life, as Œnomaüs transfixed him with his unerring lance as he passed. Thirteen noble youths had already suffered this fate, when Pelops appeared to undergo the dangerous ordeal. By means of the untiring winged horses which had been given him by Poseidon, and also by bribing Myrtilus, the King’s charioteer—who, before starting, withdrew the linch-pins from his master’s chariot or replaced them with wax—he came off victorious. Œnomaüs either was killed by the breaking down of his chariot, or put an end to his own life on seeing himself vanquished. Pelops now obtained both Hippodamia and the kingdom of Elis; but he ill rewarded Myrtilus, who had rendered him such valuable service, by casting him into the sea, in order to release himself from his obligations. Hermes, whose son he is reputed to have been, set him amongst the stars as charioteer.

The sons of Pelops by Hippodamia were Atreus and Thyestes, whose history, which is full of the most revolting crimes, formed a favourite subject with the tragic poets. First, Atreus and Thyestes murdered their step-brother Chrysippus, and were compelled to leave their country in company with their mother. They were hospitably received at Mycenæ by their brother-in-law Sthenelus, the son of Perseus, or by his son Eurystheus. On Eurystheus’ death, they inherited the sovereignty of the Persidæ in Argos, and Atreus now took up his residence in the proud capital of Mycenæ, whence, strange to say, the most ancient specimen of Greek sculpture has come down to us in the so-called Gate of Lions. Soon an implacable enmity arose between the two brothers, and Thyestes, in consequence, was banished from Argos. He took with him, in revenge, Pleisthenes, the young son of Atreus, brought him up as his own son, and despatched him, later, to Mycenæ to kill Atreus. His design was discovered, and he expiated his intended crime with his life. When Atreus learned that it was his own son whom he had condemned to death, he determined on a dreadful revenge. Pretending to be reconciled, he recalled Thyestes and his children to Mycenæ; and Thyestes, trusting to his brother’s word, returned. Atreus then privately seized the two young sons of Thyestes, slew them, and set this horrible food before their father. Horror-struck at this inhuman cruelty, the sun turned his chariot and went back in his course. Thyestes, uttering fearful curses against his brother and the whole race of the Pelopidæ, again escaped, and took refuge with Thesprotus, king of Epirus. Later, he succeeded, with the help of his only remaining son Ægisthus, in avenging himself on his brother. Atreus was slain by Ægisthus whilst offering up a sacrifice on the sea-shore, and Thyestes now acquired the sovereignty of Mycenæ. The sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaüs, fled from their barbarous uncle to Sparta, where Tyndareüs, the king, received them kindly, and gave them his daughters, Clytæmnestra and Helen, in marriage. With his aid Agamemnon recovered his father’s kingdom, slew Thyestes, and drove out Ægisthus. Menelaüs remained in Sparta—where he succeeded Tyndareüs—until the carrying off of his wife Helen by Paris gave rise to the Trojan war.

_3. The Æacidæ, or race of Æacus._—After the sons of Atreus, the Æacidæ play the most important part in the Trojan war; in fact, we are almost justified in saying that the war was an exploit of these two races of heroes and their peoples, the Achæans of Argos and the Hellenes of Phthia. The ancestor of the Æacidæ was Æacus, who was renowned alike for his wisdom and justice, and on this account subsequently made a judge in the lower world. Æacus was a son of Zeus by Ægina, a daughter of the river-god Asopus. He ruled over the island of Ægina, and married Endeïs, the daughter of the wise Centaur Chiron. She bore him two sons, Peleus and Telamon. On reaching manhood they were compelled to leave their country, because, like the sons of Pelops, they had murdered, in a fit of jealousy, a step-brother who was a favourite with their father. Peleus betook himself to Phthia, where he was kindly received by Eurytion, who bestowed on him the hand of his daughter and a third part of his kingdom. Peleus afterwards took part in the boar hunt of Calydon, on which occasion he had the misfortune to kill his father-in-law. In consequence of this, he left Phthia and proceeded to Iolcus, where he took part in the funeral games which Acastus was celebrating in honour of his father Pelias, who had perished by the treachery of Medea. Here he experienced a similar fate to that of Bellerophon at the court of Prœtus. Astydameia, the wife of Acastus, finding herself unable to seduce him, slandered him to her husband, who thereupon sought to take his life. After hunting on Pelion one day, Peleus fell asleep, and was left thus unprotected by Acastus, who hoped by this means to get rid of him. He would, indeed, have been murdered by the Centaurs, if the gods had not taken pity on him, and sent him by Hermes a sword of wonderful power, with which he was enabled to repel the assaults of the wild inhabitants of the forest. Peleus, with the help of the Dioscuri, subsequently took Iolcus, and put the treacherous Acastus and his wife to death. As a reward for his chastity, the gods gave him the goddess Thetis—a beautiful daughter of Nereus—to wife. She bore him one son, Achilleus (Achilles), the greatest and bravest hero of the Trojan war. A later tradition asserts that Thetis left her husband soon after the birth of Achilles, because he had disturbed her when she was about to render her child immortal in the fire, just as Demeter intended to do to the child of Celeüs; but this story is unknown to Homer. According to a still later legend, she plunged her son into the Styx, and thereby rendered him invulnerable in every part except the heel by which she held him. Like all noble heroes, Achilles was instructed by Chiron, under whom he acquired such wonderful skill in all feats of strength and agility that he soon surpassed all his contemporaries. In addition to Chiron, Homer names Phœnix, the son of Amyntor, as the instructor of the youthful hero. Achilles proceeded to the Trojan war with cheerful determination, although he knew beforehand that he was not fated to return alive. The story that his mother Thetis, in order to avert his fate, sent him, disguised in women’s clothes, to the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, where he was discovered by the craft of Odysseus, is a post-Homeric invention.

From Telamon, the second son of Æacus, was descended Aias or Ajax, a hero of but little less importance. Telamon, after his flight from Ægina, found a new home in Salamis, where he married the daughter of the king Cychreus. On the decease of Cychreus, he succeeded to the crown. After the death of his first wife, he married Peribœa, a daughter of Alcathoüs, king of Megara, who bore him Ajax. Tradition tells us much of the intimate friendship of Heracles and Telamon, who took part in the Trojan expedition of his mighty friend. Heracles, in return, gave him Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became the father of a second son, Teucer. Like every celebrated hero of antiquity, he is said to have taken part in the Calydonian hunt and the expedition of the Argonauts. Nothing inferior to this brave and doughty father was his son Ajax, on whom the mighty hero Heracles had invoked the blessing of his father Zeus, when as a child he held him in his arms. He was of greater size and strength than any of the other heroes; though he appears somewhat uncouth and clumsy when contrasted with the swift and agile form of Achilles. His mighty shield was as characteristic of him as the ponderous deadly spear was of Achilles. Beside him, his brother Teucer ranks as the best archer among the Greeks.

_4. Nestor, the Locrian Ajax, Diomedes, and Odysseus._—Associated with the heroes of the race of Pelops and Æacus were some other renowned chieftains. First among them was the aged Nestor, of Pylus, whose wise counsels were as indispensable to the Greeks before Troy as the dauntless courage of an Achilles or an Ajax. Nestor was the youngest of the twelve sons of Neleus, who was himself a son of Poseidon and Tyro, and twin-brother of Pelias. Neleus, having been driven out by Pelias, took refuge in Messenia, where he became the founder of a new kingdom. Later, however, both his sovereignty and the glory of his house were well-nigh extinguished by the hostility of Heracles, who slew all the sons of Neleus except Nestor. When quite young, Nestor defeated the neighbouring tribes of the Epei and Arcadians, and restored the dominions of his father to their former extent. He likewise took part in the contest between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs, in the Calydonian boar hunt, and in the expedition of the Argonauts. Though so far advanced in years—having ruled over three generations of men—he could not withstand the desire to take part in the Trojan war.

The Locrian Ajax—also called the Lesser Ajax, to distinguish him from his mighty namesake—was a son of the Locrian king Oïleus, of whom nothing more is known than that he took part in the expedition of the Argonauts. Ajax was renowned among the Greeks for his skill in hurling the spear and for his great fleetness, in which he was surpassed only by Achilles. He always appears in a linen corslet, and his followers, the Opuntian Locrians, are also light-armed troops.

Diomedes was a member of the oft-mentioned race of the Æolian Amythaonidæ. His father was the hot-headed Tydeus, who was killed in the war of the Seven against Thebes. Diomedes, who inherited no small portion of his father’s wild, untameable disposition, of course took part in the war of the Epigoni, and subsequently succeeded his grandfather Adrastus in his Argive sovereignty at Sicyon. He also restored his paternal grandfather, the aged Ætolian king Œneus, who had been dethroned by the sons of his brother Agrius, to his kingdom. In the _Iliad_ he appears as a special favourite of Pallas Athene, and Homer makes him play an important part in the contests of the Greeks before the walls of Troy. In post-Homeric story he is represented as having carried off the Trojan Palladium.

Finally, Odysseus (Ulysses), the most popular of the Greek heroes of the Trojan war, was a son of Laërtes, king of Ithaca, by Anticlea, the daughter of Autolycus. Autolycus inhabited a district on Mount Parnassus, and was renowned for his cunning. His grandson seems to have inherited no small part of his grandfather’s disposition. Through his noble and virtuous wife Penelope, Odysseus was closely related to the Atridæ; Penelope being the daughter of Icarius, who was a brother of the Spartan king Tyndareüs. He was therefore obliged—though much against his will—to comply with the request of Menelaüs, and join the expedition against Troy. On account of his wisdom and eloquence, his dexterity in all feats of strength, and his dauntless valour in the midst of danger, he also was a special favourite of Pallas.

II. THE WAR.—The _Iliad_ of Homer, the most important source of our information with regard to the Trojan war, does not deal with the events of the first nine years; and of those of the tenth and last year it only gives such episodes as relate to the quarrel of Achilles and Agamemnon. Of the origin of the war, and the events of the first nine years, it speaks only incidentally, for the sake of explanation. The gap has to be filled up from the works of those writers who had access to other epic poems of the Trojan cycle, which are now no longer extant.

Eris, the goddess of discord, not having been invited to the marriage festivities of Peleus and Thetis, avenged herself by casting into the assembly a golden apple, with the inscription—“To the fairest.” The three rival goddesses—Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite—each claimed the apple for herself, but were referred by Zeus to the decision of Paris. Paris was a son of Priam, the Trojan king. Immediately after birth, he was exposed on Mount Ida, in consequence of an ill-omened dream which his mother Hecuba had during her pregnancy. He was found, however, and brought up by some shepherds. He decided in favour of Aphrodite, who had promised him the most beautiful woman on earth as his wife. Soon afterwards, at some games given by the king, the youth, who was equally distinguished for his handsome person and his bodily dexterity, after having wrested the prize from all his brethren, was recognised by the prophetess Cassandra, and received into his father’s favour. He next undertook a journey across the sea to Greece, and, among other places, visited the court of Menelaüs, king of Sparta, by whom he was hospitably received and entertained. Aphrodite kindled in the breast of the young wife of Menelaüs a fatal love for their handsome guest, who dazzled her as much by the beauty of his person as by the oriental splendour of his appearance. While Menelaüs was absent in Crete, and her brothers, the Dioscuri, were engaged in their strife with the sons of Aphareus, Helen fled with her seducer to Troy. On the refusal of the king of Troy to surrender Helen, Menelaüs succeeded in rousing the whole of Greece to a war of revenge. This task was the more easy, as most of the Grecian chieftains had been suitors of Helen, and had bound themselves by an oath to Tyndareüs to unite in support of the husband whom Helen should choose, in the event of his ever being injured or attacked. The well-manned ships of the Greeks assembled in the Bœotian port of Aulis. Their number amounted to eleven hundred and eighty-six, according to Homer; of which Agamemnon, who had been chosen leader of the expedition, alone furnished over one hundred. Agamemnon, however, having offended Artemis by killing a hind sacred to the goddess, the departure of the expedition was delayed by continuous calms, until at length, at the command of the priest Calchas, Agamemnon determined to appease the wrath of the goddess by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia on her altar. At the fatal moment Artemis rescued the victim, and, after substituting a hind in her stead, conveyed Iphigenia to Tauris, where she became a priestess in the temple of the goddess. The fleet now sailed with a fair wind. The expedition first stopped at Tenedos, opposite the coast of Troy. Here, on the occasion of a banquet, Philoctetes, who possessed the bow and arrows of Heracles on which the conquest of Troy depended, was bitten in the foot by a serpent, and on account of his cries and the offensive smell of the wound was carried to Lemnos, and there left to his fate. The Greeks next effected a landing on the coast of Troy, in spite of the opposition of Hector and Æneas; for Protesilaüs devoted himself to death for the Greeks, and sprang first on the Trojan shore. Even Cycnus, the mighty son of Poseidon, who was king of Colonæ in Troas, and came to the assistance of the Trojans, was unable to stem the advance of the Greeks; and his body being invulnerable, he was strangled by Achilles by means of a thong twisted round his neck.

After the Greeks had made a station for their ships, the war began in earnest. Several of their attacks on the town having been successfully repelled by the Trojans, the Greeks now confined themselves to making inroads and plundering excursions into the surrounding country, in which Achilles was always the most prominent actor. The first nine years of the war were by no means fruitful in important events, and the wearisome monotony of the siege was broken only by the single combat between Achilles and Troïlus, the youngest son of Priam, in which Troïlus was slain, and by the fall of Palamedes of Eubœa, the head of the Greek peace-party, which was brought about by the treachery of Odysseus. At length, in the tenth year of the war, a quarrel broke out between Achilles and Agamemnon respecting a female slave who had been taken captive, and gave for the time quite another aspect to affairs. It is at this point that the _Iliad_ commences. Achilles, in his wrath, retired to his tent, and refused to take any further part in the war; whilst the Trojans, who feared him more than all the other Greeks, became bolder, and no longer kept to the protection of their walls. Zeus, at the request of Thetis, gave them the victory in their first engagement with the Greeks. Hector drove the latter back to their ships, and was already about to set them on fire, when Achilles consented to allow his friend Patroclus to don his armour and lead his Myrmidons to the assistance of the Greeks. The Trojans were now driven back, but Patroclus, in the ardour of pursuit, was slain by Hector, and deprived of his armour, and Menelaüs, with the help of the greater Ajax and other heroes, only succeeded in rescuing his corpse after a bloody and obstinate struggle. The wrath of Achilles was now entirely diverted by the desire of avenging on Hector the death of his much-loved friend Patroclus. He was scarcely willing even to wait for the new armour which his goddess-mother procured him from the workshop of Hephæstus. No sooner was he in possession of it than he again appeared on the field, and Hector—the bulwark of Troy—soon succumbed to his furious onslaught. Achilles, however, was generous enough to surrender his corpse to the entreaties of Priam. The _Iliad_ concludes with the solemn funeral of Hector.

The succeeding events, up to the death of Achilles and the contest for his arms, were narrated in the _Æthiopis_ of Arctinus of Miletus, with the contents of which we have some slight acquaintance, although the work itself is lost. All kinds of brilliant exploits are reported to have been performed by Achilles before the walls of Troy, which were manifestly unknown to the earlier story. In the first place, immediately after Hector’s death, Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, came to the assistance of the Trojans, and fought so bravely at the head of her army that the Greeks were hard pressed. Achilles at length overcame the heroic daughter of Ares. After her fall, a new ally of the Trojans appeared in Memnon, king of Æthiopia, who is called a son of Eos, because the Æthiopians were supposed to dwell in the far East. Among those who fell by the hand of this handsome and courageous hero was Antilochus, the valiant son of Nestor. When Memnon, however, ventured to meet the invincible Achilles, he also was vanquished, after a brave struggle. The fresh morning dew, which springs from the tears of Eos, proves that she has never ceased to lament her heroic son. But death was soon to overtake him before whom so many heroes had bitten the dust. In an assault on the Scæan gate, Achilles was killed, at the head of his Myrmidons, by an arrow of Paris, which was directed by Apollo. According to later writers, whose accounts were followed by the tragic poets, he was treacherously murdered here on the occasion of his betrothal to Polyxena, the beautiful daughter of Priam. A furious contest, lasting the whole day, took place for the possession of his corpse and armour: at length Odysseus and Ajax succeeded in conveying it to a place of safety. Mourning and confusion reigned among the Greeks at his death. During seventeen days and nights Thetis, with the whole band of Nereids, bewailed his untimely fate in mourning melodies, so sad and touching that neither gods nor men could refrain from tears.

“See, tears are shed by every god and goddess, to survey
How soon the Beautiful is past, the Perfect dies away!”

The death of the bravest of the Greeks was followed by an unhappy quarrel between Ajax and Odysseus respecting his arms. Ajax, on account of his near relationship to the deceased hero, and the great services he had rendered to the cause of the Greeks, seemed to have the best claim; but Agamemnon, by the advice of Athene, adjudged them to Odysseus. Ajax was so mortified at this decision that he became insane, and put an end to his own life. An entire tragedy of Sophocles, treating of the mournful fate of the son of Telamon, has come down to us.

After Ajax had quitted the scene, Odysseus became decidedly the chief personage among the Greeks. It was he who captured the Trojan seer Helenus, and extorted from him the secret that Ilium could not be taken without the arrows of Heracles. Hereupon Philoctetes, who was still lying sick at Lemnos, was fetched, and his wound healed by Machaon. Paris soon afterwards fell by his hand. It was Odysseus, moreover, who, in company with Diomedes, undertook the perilous task of entering Troy in disguise and stealing the Palladium, on which the safety of the city depended. It was he who fetched Neoptolemus, the young son of Achilles, from Scyros to the Trojan camp, it having been decreed that his presence was necessary to the success of the Greeks. Lastly—and this was his greatest service—it was Odysseus who devised the celebrated wooden horse, and the stratagem which led to the final capture of the city. In the belly of the horse, which was built by Epeüs, one hundred chosen warriors of the Greeks concealed themselves. The rest of the Greeks set fire to their camp, and sailed away to Tenedos; whereupon the Trojans, deceived by the assurances of Sinon, dragged the fatal horse, amid cries of joy, into the city. In vain did the Trojan priest of Apollo, Laocoön, seek to divert them from their folly. None would give heed to his warnings; and when, soon afterwards, both he and his sons, whilst sacrificing to Poseidon on the sea-shore, were strangled by two serpents that came up out of the sea, the Trojans regarded this as a punishment sent by the gods for his evil counsel, and were the more confirmed in their purpose.

The death of Laocoön and his sons forms the subject of one of the
most splendid of the creations of Greek art that have come down to
us from antiquity. The group was found, in the year 1506, by a Roman
citizen in his vineyard, close to the former Thermæ of Titus, and
was made over by him, for a considerable annuity, to Pope Julius
II., who then placed it in the Vatican collection. The right arm of
Laocoön, which was wanting, has, unfortunately, been incorrectly
restored. This is attested by a copy of the group which was
subsequently discovered in Naples. We give an engraving of the group
in its original form (Fig. 61).

It treats really of three distinct incidents, which have been
skilfully incorporated, by the artists to whom we owe the work (the
Rhodians Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus), into one harmonious
group. The eldest son is as yet unhurt, and appears to be so loosely
held by the coils of the serpent that he might easily escape his
impending fate, if he were not more effectually restrained by his
loving sympathy with his noble father, on whom he gazes with piteous
looks. Laocoön himself, who naturally forms the centre of the group,
is depicted at the moment in which, mortally wounded by the serpent,
he sinks on the altar, to rise from which he vainly exerts his last
remaining strength. With his left arm he still mechanically seeks to
repel the serpents. His hitherto energetic resistance has begun to
fail, and his noble head is raised in mournful resignation to
heaven, as though to ask the gods why they had condemned him to so
terrible a fate. The dignified and resolute aspect of his
countenance forms a beautiful contrast to that of his body, which is
manifestly quivering in the keenest agony. The younger son on his
right is already in the last agonies of death, and though his left
hand grasps instinctively the head of the snake, he is evidently
incapable of further resistance. He is drooping like a plucked
flower, and in one more moment will have breathed his last.

On the night succeeding Laocoön’s horrible end, and the rejoicings of the Trojans at the apparent departure of the Greeks, the Greek fleet returned in silence at a signal given by Sinon. The heroes who were hidden in the wooden horse then descended and opened the gates to the Greek host, who rushed into the doomed city. A terrible scene of plunder and carnage ensued, the Trojans, in their dismay and confusion, offering no resistance. The fate of the sacred city was fulfilled; Priam perished before the altar of Zeus by the hand of Neoptolemus, and with him the glory of Troy was laid in the dust. The men were put to death, the women and children, together with the rich booty, were carried off, the former being destined to the hard lot of slavery. Among them was the aged queen Hecuba, with all her daughters and daughters-in-law. Helen—the cause of all this misfortune—was found in the house of Deïphobus, whom she had married after the death of his brother Paris.

The city was burnt to the ground, and, long after, other cities rose on its site. Still the tradition of the siege remained among the inhabitants, though, even in Roman times, learned men had begun to declare that Old Troy must have had another site. And now when the last Ilium had been no more for many centuries, and the very existence of Homer’s Troy had been declared a fable, the palace and the traces of the conflagration have been found. Dr. Schliemann has excavated the legendary site, and we know now that Athene was worshipped in the city, and that it perished by fire. We can hardly tell at present the full importance of these discoveries, nor of those at Mycenæ, where the traditional tombs of the Grecian leaders have been examined, and their long-buried wealth brought to light.

Yet this, too, the greatest of all the Grecian legend series, dissolves into the phenomena of nature. That there was a Trojan war, and that we have some historical facts about it, we can hardly doubt; but so many myths have crystallised round it, that to us it must be merely legend. The very names of Achilles, and Paris, and Helen, upon whom the whole story turns, have been recognised in Indian legend. Point after point in their history is found in the legend history of every nation of the Aryan family. The only conclusion that we can draw is, that such stories must have come into being before the separation of the Aryan family, and cannot therefore contain the later history of any one branch.

III. THE RETURN.—The Greeks, after sacrificing Polyxena on the grave of Achilles at Sigeum, prepared to return to their country. Few, however, were destined to reach their homes without some misfortune, or, even when arrived there, to experience a kindly welcome. Of the two sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, after escaping a storm on the coast of Eubœa, landed safely on his native shores, but was soon after murdered by his wife and Ægisthus, who had, during his absence, returned to Argos and married Clytæmnestra. Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess, who, in the division of the spoils, had fallen to Agamemnon, shared his fate. She had continually predicted the unfortunate end of the war and the ultimate fate of the city, but had always been laughed to scorn by her incredulous countrymen. The fate of the commander of the Greeks, with its eventful consequences, was a favourite subject with the tragic poets. His murder did not go unavenged. Orestes, the only son of Agamemnon and Clytæmnestra, had been hastily removed from the scene by his sister Electra, and sent to his uncle, Strophius, king of Phocis. Strophius had him carefully educated with his own son Pylades, who was about the same age. A most intimate friendship soon sprang up between the two youths, which, from its faithfulness and constancy, has become proverbial. On reaching manhood, the sole thought of Orestes was to avenge his noble father’s treacherous death at the hands of the crafty Ægisthus and his mother Clytæmnestra. Accompanied by his friend Pylades, he returned, in the eighth year of his exile, to Mycenæ, and there slew both Ægisthus and Clytæmnestra. Although in so doing he had only fulfilled a duty, he yet incurred the deepest guilt by the murder of her who gave him birth, and at once found himself pursued by the avenging Furies. They dogged his steps, and ceased not to pursue him through all the countries of the earth, until he was at length directed by the oracle at Delphi to convey the statue of Artemis from Tauris to Attica. After he had, with the help of his newly-found sister, successfully achieved this task, he was purified by Apollo (see page 152). Of the numerous dramas that were written on the subject of the fortunes of the Pelopidæ, which we have here briefly touched on, the _Agamemnon_, _Choëphoræ_, and _Eumenides_ of Æschylus, the _Electra_ of Sophocles, and the _Electra_ and _Iphigenia in Tauris_ of Euripides, are still extant.

We must now turn to the fortunes of the other Greek leaders. Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus was overtaken, off Cape Malea, by a fearful storm, which carried him to Crete and Egypt, whence, after seven years of wandering, he returned to Sparta with Helen and his share of the spoils of Troy.

The Locrian Ajax experienced a still more unhappy fate. On the night of the destruction of Troy he had penetrated into the temple of Pallas, and had not only torn away the priestess Cassandra, who was clinging for safety to the altar and statue of the goddess, but had also overturned the statue of Pallas herself. As a punishment for this offence, his ship was wrecked on Cape Caphareus, He would still have been able to escape with his life—having succeeded in getting hold of a rock—if he had not given such offence to Poseidon by his impious boast that he needed not the help of the gods, that the god split the rock with his trident, whereupon Ajax fell into the sea and was drowned.

Diomedes, Philoctetes, and Idomeneus reached their homes in safety, but were all soon afterwards driven out, after which they all three emigrated to Italy. Here Diomedes founded many towns, and was long worshipped with heroic honours.

Teucer also succeeded in reaching Salamis in safety, but his father Telamon was so wroth because he had not better protected his brother Ajax, or at least avenged his death, that he refused to receive him. He was, therefore, likewise obliged to leave his country, and subsequently settled on the island of Cyprus.

But of all the Greek heroes Odysseus experienced the most reverses, while at home his faithful wife Penelope and his son Telemachus were hard pressed by the suitors. It was only in the tenth year after the fall of Troy, and after numerous wanderings and vicissitudes, that he was permitted to return to his native Ithaca and punish the shameless suitors who had wasted his substance and goods. The story of his adventures is so well known that we need not dwell on it here, further than to mention that, according to post-Homeric accounts, Odysseus was killed by the hand of Telegonus, his own son by Circe.

The events of the Trojan cycle have supplied not only the poet, but
also the artist and the sculptor, with a large number of their most
acceptable subjects. Single scenes, such as the judgment of Paris,
have been continually selected, ever since the time of Raphael, as
favourite subjects of representation. Of modern masters, Carstens,
Thorwaldsen the great Danish sculptor, Cornelius, Genelli, and
Preller (Landscapes of the _Odyssey_) have illustrated the story of
Troy in a series of splendid compositions. We give an engraving of a
relief by Thorwaldsen, representing Priam before Achilles (Fig. 62).

Of the more important extant works of antiquity, we may mention the
wedding of Peleus and Thetis, depicted on the Français vase in the
Naples Museum; the abduction of Helen, depicted on a marble relief
in the former Campana collection, now in the Louvre (Fig. 63); the
marble group in Rome, known by the name of “Pasquino,” which
represents Menelaüs raising the corpse of Patroclus; and, lastly,
the celebrated Ægina marbles in Munich. These last are the remains
of a marble group from the gable of a temple of Pallas at Ægina,
representing a battle between the Greeks and Trojans. They were
discovered at Ægina in the year 1811; King Ludwig I. of Bavaria, who
was a great patron of art, bought the Ægina marbles, and, after
having them restored by Thorwaldsen, placed them in the Munich
collection. The Laocoön, the most important of all the works
relating to the Trojan cycle, has already been discussed.

V.—MYTHIC SEERS AND BARDS.

We have already incidentally mentioned most of the seers of antiquity—Melampus, the son of Amythaon, who figures in Argive legend; likewise Amphiaraüs, Tiresias, and Calchas. Concerning Tiresias, we may remark that the ancients ascribed to him a fabulous age, extending over seven or even nine generations; so that he was thus a witness of all that happened to Thebes, from the foundation of the city to its destruction by the Epigoni. Like all celebrated soothsayers, he was acquainted with the language of birds, and could penetrate the most hidden secrets of nature; on which account he enjoyed up to his death an ever-increasing reputation among the Thebans. We have already related how, in extreme old age, when his native city could no longer withstand the assaults of the Epigoni, he experienced the bitter lot of having to take refuge in flight, and at length succumbed beneath the hardships of the journey. In the second century A.D. his grave was still shown in the neighbourhood of Haliartus.

Among the fugitive Thebans who fell into the hands of the Argives is said to have been Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, who was likewise renowned as a prophetess. She was dedicated, together with a large portion of the spoils, to the oracle at Delphi. By the command of the god she was sent into Asia Minor, where she founded the oracle of Claros, near Colophon. She here married the Cretan Rhacius, and became by him the mother of Mopsus, who afterwards founded the oracle of Mallos in Cilicia.

Among the names of the mythic bards that have been handed down to us are undoubtedly to be found some recollections of those who first cultivated the art of poetry; partly, however, they are nothing more than personifications of certain tendencies and modes of poetry. Such is probably the case with the mythic bard Linus, who was celebrated in Argos, Thebes, and Eubœa. Nothing is more common than for an unsophisticated people to burst forth in lamentation over the decay and final extinction of the blooming life of nature. This, as we see in the myth of Hyacinthus, was often portrayed under the metaphor of a beautiful boy slain by a quoit or by savage dogs—both symbols of the scorching heat of the sun. The dirges which from time immemorial were sung over the beautiful boy Linus, at the season of vintage, probably gave rise to the myth which makes Linus himself the singer.

Similar doleful memories are linked with the name of Orpheus, who is often termed a brother of Linus, though he was really not an Æolian, but a Thracian of Pieria. That which is best known of him is the story of his love for the beautiful nymph Eurydice. She was bitten in the foot by a snake, and thus snatched away from him by death. Orpheus then filled mountain and valley with songs of lamentation so piteous, that the wild beasts of the forest were enchanted at the sound, and followed him like lambs; and the very rocks and trees moved from their places. His yearning towards his beloved Eurydice induced him to descend to the lower world, to beg her release from the grim king of shadows. Here his piteous lay caused even the Erinyes to shed tears of compassion, and moved the hard heart of the Stygian king. He released Eurydice on condition that Orpheus should not look back on her till he reached the upper world. Orpheus, however, violated this condition, and Eurydice was once more lost to him. He himself, not long afterwards, whilst wandering in his despair over the Thracian mountains, was torn in pieces by some women in the mad excitement of their nightly Bacchanalian orgies.

A splendid representation of the second parting of the lovers by
Hermes, the guide of souls, has come down to us on a marble relief,
which is preserved in the Villa Albani (Fig. 64).

INDEX.

Ăbas, 187.

Ăcastus, 234, 237, 246.

Ăchĕlōus, 110, 210.

Ăchĕrōn, 149.

Ăchilles (Ăchilleus), 35, 168, 246, 251, 253.

Āchĭrŏē, 186.

Ăcrĭsĭus, 187, 191.

Actæon, 49, 171.

Actŏrĭdæ, 209.

Admētē, 202.

Admētus, 231, 234

Ădōnis, 57.

Adrastus, 240, 241, 248.

Æăcus, 149, 245, 247.

Ăēdōn, 179.

Æētēs, 90, 235.

Ægeus, 220, 223, 237.

Ægĭăleus, 241.

Ægĭmĭus, 211.

Ægīna, 180, 245.

Ægis, 22, 35, 40.

Ægisthus, 64, 152, 245, 257.

Ægyptus, 186.

Ænēas, 58, 157, 251.

Æŏlus, 94, 179, 232.

Æscŭlāpĭus (_vide_ Asclepius).

Æsōn, 233.

Æthra, 220.

Ætna, 21, 69.

Ăgămemnōn, 49, 64, 152, 245, 257.

Ăgăthŏdæmōn, 98.

Ăgāvē, 115, 171.

Ăgēnōr, 170, 186, 227.

Aglăĭa, 83.

Aglaurus, 218.

Agrĭus, 248.

Ăĭdōneus, 146 (_vide_ Hades).

Ājax, Telamonian, 247, 253.

Ājax, Locrian, 247, 248, 259.

Alcæus, 198.

Alcăthŏus, 247.

Alcmæon, 241.

Alcmēnē, 26, 191, 198.

Ālectō, 151.

Ălēus, 209.

Ălōīdæ, 102.

Althæa, 232.

Ămalthēa, 19, 210.

Ămāzons, 180, 182, 202, 224.

Ămor, 78.

Amphĭărāus, 188, 231, 234, 240.

Amphicty̆ōn, 218.

Amphīōn, 171, 172.

Amphitrītē, 101, 104.

Amphitry̆ōn, 191, 198.

Ămy̆cus, 195, 234.

Ămyntor, 246.

Ămy̆thāŏnĭdæ, 188, 240, 248.

Ănăcĕs, 196.

Ancæus, 231.

Anchĭnŏē, 186.

Anchīsēs, 58, 242.

Andrŏgĕōs, 222, 228.

Andrŏmĕda, 102, 190.

Anna Pĕrenna, 98.

Antæus, 102, 205.

Antēa, 187.

Antĕros, 57, 78.

Anthestērĭa, 118.

Anticlēa, 249.

Antĭgŏnē, 240.

Antĭlŏchus, 253.

Antĭŏpē, 224.

Ăphăreus, 194.

Ăphărīdæ, 194, 231.

Ăphidnæ, 195, 224.

Aphrŏdītē, 25, 52, 56, 78, 83, 163, 222, 249.

Ăpollo, 14, 26, 40, 62, 152, 155, 176, 206, 242.

Apsyrtus, 236.

Ăquĭlo, 94.

Arcas, 93.

Arctus, 93.

Areopagus, 52, 152.

Ărēs, 26, 51, 57, 78, 170, 171, 202, 233.

Argēs, 18.

Argīphontēs, 185.

Argonauts, 90, 107, 195, 201, 225, 230, 232, 234, 248.

Argō, 234.

Argŏs, 31, 185, 244.

Argus, 64, 185, 186, 234.

Ărĭadnē, 116, 123, 222, 228.

Ăristæus, 171.

Artĕmis, 25, 48, 155, 171, 201, 230, 250, 258.

Asclēpĭus, 42, 94, 229.

Ăsōpus, 180, 245.

Assărăcus, 242.

Astĕrĭa, 18, 153.

Astĕrĭōn, 227.

Astræus, 92.

Asty̆dămīa, 246.

Ătălantē, 231.

Ăthămas, 108, 232.

Ăthēnē, 13, 34, 163, 206, 249.

Ăthēnē Pŏlĭas, 35, 38, 219.

Atlas, 62, 162, 205.

Atreus, 244.

Atrŏpos, 98.

Attica, 36, 217.

Attis (Ātys), 114, 130.

Augē, 209.

Augēas, 201, 208, 212.

Aurōra, 92.

Autŏly̆cus, 249.

Autŏnŏē, 171.

Bacchus, 114.

Bellĕrŏphōn (Belīĕrŏphontēs), 180, 239.

Bellōna, 54.

Bēlus, 186.

Benthĕsĭcȳmē, 104.

Bĕrŏē, 115.

Bĭas, 188, 240.

Bŏnă Dĕă, 132.

Bŏnus Ēventus, 98.

Bŏrĕădæ, 94, 234.

Bŏrĕas, 92, 94, 219.

Brĭăreus, 18.

Brontēs, 18.

Būsīris, 205.

Căbīrī, 70.

Cācus, 204, 214.

Cadmus, 26, 52, 114, 170, 171, 217, 232, 237, 240.

Cæneus, 165.

Călăĭs, 94, 219, 234.

Calchas, 250, 262.

Callĭŏpē, 82.

Callĭrhŏē, 203.

Callistō, 93.

Calydonian Hunt, 195, 225, 230, 246.

Călypsō, 64.

Cămēnæ, 83.

Căpys, 242.

Carna (Cardĕa), 97.

Carpō, 85.

Cassandra, 250, 257, 259.

Cassĭŏpēa, 190.

Castōr, 168, 175, 194, 231.

Catreus, 228.

Cecrops, 217, 218.

Cēlĕus, 140.

Centaurs, 165, 200, 223.

Centaurs, fight with, 166.

Centimanes, 17.

Cĕphălus, 219.

Cēpheus (Æthiopia), 190.

Cēpheus (Tegea), 209.

Cēphīsus, 125.

Cerbĕrus, 149, 197, 206.

Cercōpes, 208.

Cercy̆ōn, 102, 221.

Cĕres, 25, 137, 143.

Cēres (Fates), 155.

Cētō, 18, 106, 109, 189.

Cēÿx, 210.

Chăŏs, 17.

Chărĭtĕs, 25, 83.

Chărōn, 149.

Chĭmæra, 181.

Chīrōn, 168, 171, 220, 233, 245.

Chrȳsăor, 190, 203.

Chrȳsippus, 244.

Circē, 90, 259.

Clărus, oracle of, 42, 262.

Clīō, 82.

Clŏācīna, 59.

Clōthō, 98.

Cly̆mĕnē, 162.

Cly̆tæmnestra, 152, 194, 245, 257, 258.

Cōcălus, 229.

Cœus, 18.

Cŏlossus of Rhodes, 91.

Cŏra, 138, 143.

Cŏry̆bantes, 113.

Cŏry̆nētēs, 221.

Cottus, 18.

Crănăus, 218.

Crĕōn, 198, 199, 238, 241.

Crētheus, 233.

Crĕūsa, 237.

Crīus, 17.

Crŏnus, 18, 71, 113, 134, 168.

Cŭpīdo, 79.

Cūrētes, 19, 113, 231.

Cy̆bĕlē, 113, 127.

Cychreus, 247.

Cyclōpes, 17, 70, 187.

Cycnus, 210, 251.

Cyllēnē, 62.

Dædălus, 228, 229.

Dæmons, 100.

Dămastēs, 221.

Dănăē, 26, 188.

Danaids, 149, 186.

Dănăus, 186.

Dardănus, 242.

Death, 154.

Dēĭănīra, 210.

Dēĭphŏbus, 256.

Delphian Oracle, 42, 72, 112, 170.

Dēmētēr, 19, 25, 109, 137, 139, 186, 243.

Dēmŏphōn, 140, 225.

Dēmus, 52, 57.

Dēō, 137.

Deucălĭōn, 162, 164, 218.

Dĭāna, 49 (_vide_ Artemis).

Dĭcē, 84.

Dictys, 189.

Didymæan Oracle, 42.

Dĭoclēs, 140.

Dĭŏmēdēs, Argive, 168, 247, 259.

Dĭŏmēdēs, Thracian, 202.

Dĭōnē, 25, 56.

Dĭŏnȳsĭa, Greater, 119.

Dĭŏnȳsĭa, Lesser, 118.

Dĭō̆nȳsus, 26, 57, 68, 83, 114, 130, 223.

Dĭoscūri, 194, 224, 231, 234, 246, 250.

Dircē, 173.

Dis, 147.

Dōdōna, Oracle of, 24.

Dōris, 106.

Dryads, 125.

Dry̆ŏpes, 211, 212.

Dry̆ops, 128.

Ĕchidna, 181, 200, 204.

Ēchō, 58, 124.

Ēgĕrĭa, 83.

Ēlectra (daughter of Agamemnon), 258.

Ēlectra (daughter of Atlas), 242.

Ēlectra (daughter of Oceanus), 106.

Ēlectry̆ōn, 191, 198.

Ĕleusīnĭa, 141.

Ĕleusis, 140.

Ēly̆sĭum, 149, 161.

Ēmăthĭōn, 205.

Endēĭs, 168, 245.

Endy̆mĭōn, 91.

Ĕnȳō, 54.

Ē̆ōs, 18, 92, 219, 253.

Ĕpăphus, 185, 186.

Ĕpēus, 254.

Ĕpĭgŏni, 241, 248, 262.

Ĕpĭmētheus, 163.

Ĕpōpeus, 173.

Ĕrătō, 82.

Ĕrechtheus, 94, 218, 229.

Ergīnus, 199.

Ĕrichthŏnĭus (_vide_ Erechtheus).

Ĕrīnȳes, 99, 150, 151, 231, 258, 264.

Ĕriphȳlē, 240.

Ĕris, 249.

Ĕros, 17, 57, 58, 78.

Ĕry̆sichthōn, 141.

Ĕtĕoclēs, 240, 241.

Eumĕnĭdes, 152, 239.

Eumolpus, 140.

Eunŏmĭa, 84.

Euphrŏsy̆nē, 83.

Eurōpē (Europa), 26, 227.

Eurus, 92.

Eury̆ălē, 190.

Eury̆bĭa, 18.

Eury̆dĭcē, 264.

Eury̆nŏmē, 25, 68, 83.

Eurystheus, 198, 202, 244.

Eury̆tĭōn, 165, 246.

Eury̆tus, 206, 211.

Euterpē, 82.

Fates (_vide_ Mœræ).

Fauna, 132.

Faunālĭa, 132.

Faunus, 131.

Făvōnĭus, 94.

Fēlīcĭtas, 100.

Flōra, 136.

Fontus, 76, 110.

Fortūna, 98.

Fūrĭæ (Furies) (_vide_ Erinyes).

Gæa, 17, 19, 112, 129, 153, 204, 218.

Găny̆mēdēs, 87, 203.

Gē, 17 (_vide_ Gæa).

Gĕlānōr, 186.

Gĕnĭi, 100.

Gēry̆ŏnēs (Geryon), 190, 203.

Gĭgantes (Giants), 21.

Glaucus Pontius, 107.

Glaucus (son of Minos), 228.

Glaucus (son of Sisyphus), 180.

Gorgŏnēum (_vide_ Ægis).

Gorgons, 18, 107, 189.

Graces, 83, 163.

Grā̆dīvus, 53.

Grææ, 18, 107, 189.

Grātĭæ (_vide_ Graces).

Gy̆ēs, 18.

Hādēs, 19, 139, 146, 187, 224.

Hamadryads, 125.

Harmŏnĭa, 52, 171, 240.

Harpies, 18, 106, 235.

Hēbē, 26, 87, 197, 212.

Hĕcăbē (_vide_ Hecuba).

Hĕcătē, 91, 153.

Hector, 251.

Hĕcŭba, 243, 249, 256.

Hĕlĕnē (Helen), 58, 194, 224, 245, 256, 259.

Hĕlĕnus, 254.

Hēlĭos, 18, 89, 139, 203, 228.

Hellē, 232.

Hēphæstus, 26, 52, 57, 68, 163, 221, 229, 235, 252.

Hēra, 13, 19, 26, 31, 68, 87, 96, 197, 202, 204, 238, 249.

Hēraclēs, 79, 87, 106, 161, 183, 187, 197, 234.

Hēræum, 32.

Hercŭles, 204, 214 (_vide_ Heracles).

Hermēs, 14, 25, 57, 62, 163, 186, 189, 206, 243.

Heroes, 159.

Hersē, 218, 219.

Hēsĭŏne, 203, 208, 247.

Hespĕrĭdes, 90, 107, 204.

Hespĕrus, 93.

Hestĭa, 19, 71.

Hīmĕrus, 58.

Hippŏcŏōn, 209, 212.

Hippŏdămīa, 243.

Hippŏly̆tē, 224.

Hippŏly̆tus, 58, 224.

Homer, 13, 35, 52, 86, 144, 206, 249.

Hŏnos, 196.

Hōræ, 25, 84.

Hy̆ăcinthus, 41, 263.

Hy̆ădes, 93.

Hydra, 200.

Hy̆gĭēa, 36, 96.

Hy̆las, 234.

Hyllus, 210.

Hy̆mēn, 58.

Hy̆mĕnæus, 58.

Hy̆pĕrīōn, 18, 90, 92.

Hy̆permnestra, 187.

Hypnus, 155.

Īăpĕtus, 17, 162.

Īcărĭus, 194, 249.

Īcărŭs, 229.

Ichthyocentaurs, 105.

Īdas, 195, 231.

Īdŏmĕneus, 229, 259.

Iliad, 231, 242, 248.

Īlīthyia, 96.

Īlus, 242.

Īnăchus, 185.

Īnō, 108, 115, 171, 232.

Ĭnŭus, 131.

Īō, 26, 64, 185.

Īŏbătēs, 181, 187.

Ĭŏcastē, 238.

Ĭŏlāus, 200, 204, 206, 231.

Ĭŏlē, 206, 211.

Ĭōn, 219.

Īphĭănassa, 188.

Īphiclēs, 198, 231.

Īphĭgĕnīa, 49, 251.

Īphĭtus, 206, 234.

Īrēnē, 84.

Īrĭs, 18, 86, 106.

Īsis, 186.

Ismenian Oracle, 42.

Isthmian Games, 101.

Ĭty̆lus, 179.

Ixīōn, 149, 166.

Jānus, 13, 74.

Jāsōn, 231, 233.

Jūno, 13, 26, 32.

Jūpĭter, 13, 22, 24, 36, 77.

Jŭventas, 87.

Labdăcĭdæ, 237.

Labdăcus, 179.

Lăchĕsis, 98.

Lādōn, 204.

Lāërtēs, 249.

Lāĭus, 179, 237.

Lampus, 92.

Lāŏcŏōn, 254.

Lāŏdămas, 241.

Lāŏmĕdōn, 102, 203, 208, 242.

Lăpĭthæ, 165, 211, 223.

Lărēs, 157.

Larvæ, 158.

Lātōna (_vide_ Leto).

Lĕarchus, 108, 232.

Lēda, 26, 194.

Lĕmŭrālĭa, 158.

Lĕmŭrēs, 158.

Lĕnæa, 118.

Lētō, 18, 25, 41, 48, 150.

Leucippus, 195.

Leucŏthĕa (_vide_ Ino).

Līber, 120, 143.

Lībĕrālĭa, 120.

Lĭbĭtīna, 59.

Lĭby̆a, 186.

Lĭchas, 212.

Lĭnus, 42, 199, 263.

Lower World, 147.

Lūna, 49, 91.

Lŭpercālĭa, 132.

Lŭpercus, 131.

Ly̆æus, 117.

Ly̆cŏmēdēs, 225, 247.

Ly̆cus (Thebes), 173.

Ly̆cus (Megara), 220.

Lynceus (Scythian), 141.

Lynceus (son of Aphareus), 195, 231.

Lynceus (son of Danaus), 187.

Măchāōn, 254.

Maia, 25, 62, 132.

Mānēs, 158.

Mantō, 241, 262.

Mars, or Māvors, 26, 52, 77.

Marsy̆as, 127.

Māter Magna Īdæa, 113, 130.

Māter Mātūta, 92 (note).

Matrōnālia, 33.

Mēdēa, 221, 230, 235, 246.

Mĕdūsa, 35, 103, 181, 189.

Mĕgăpenthēs, 191.

Mĕgæra, 150.

Mĕgăra, 199, 206.

Mĕlampūs, 188, 240.

Mĕlĕāger, 168, 210, 230, 234.

Mĕlĭa, 185.

Mĕlīcertēs, 108, 232.

Melpŏmĕnē, 82.

Memnōn, 92, 253.

Mĕnĕlāus, 245, 250, 258.

Mĕnestheus, 225.

Mĕnœtĭus, 162.

Mercŭrĭus, 65.

Mĕrŏpē, 180, 238.

Mētĭōn, 220, 229.

Mētĭŏnĭdæ, 220.

Mētis, 25.

Mĕtus, 54.

Mĭdas, 127.

Mĭnerva, 13, 26, 36, 137, 228.

Mīnōs, 116, 149, 202, 222, 227, 228.

Minotaur, 222, 227, 228.

Mnēmŏsy̆nē, 17, 19, 25, 81.

Mœræ, 25, 98, 232.

Mŏlĭŏnĭdæ, 209.

Mopsus, 262.

Morpheus, 155.

Mŏsychlus, 70.

Mulcĭber, 71.

Murcĭa, 59.

Muses, 25, 42, 80, 81, 121.

Mūtūnus, 133.

Myrtĭlus, 244.

Naiads, 124.

Năpææ, 124.

Narcissus, 58, 124.

Nēleus, 209, 212, 248.

Nĕmĕsis, 98.

Nĕoptŏlĕmus, 254, 256.

Nĕphĕlē, 232.

Neptune (Neptūnus), 104.

Nereids, 105, 190, 253.

Nēreus, 18, 105, 205.

Nerio, 54.

Nessus, 210.

Nestor, 165, 168, 209, 247.

Nīcē, 85.

Night, 154.

Nīlus, 186.

Nĭŏbē, 48, 176, 243.

Nīsus, 220, 222.

Nŏtus, 92.

Nycteus, 172.

Nymphs, 123, 189, 204.

Oceanids, 68, 83, 110, 168.

Ōcĕănus, 18, 25, 91, 109, 162.

Ŏdysseus, 64, 102, 109, 249, 253, 259.

Œdĭpūs, 153, 238.

Œneus, 210, 230, 248.

Œnŏmăus, 243.

Ŏïclēs, 208.

Ŏīleus, 248.

Olympian Games, 24, 43, 196.

Omphălē, 208.

Ops, 133.

Orcus, 155.

Oreads, 124, 129.

Ŏrestēs, 49, 152, 258.

Ōrīōn, 92, 93.

Ōrīthyia, 94, 219.

Orpheus, 42, 234, 264.

Oschŏphŏrĭa, 223.

Pāgānāalĭa, 113.

Pălæmōn, 109.

Pălămēdēs, 251.

Păles, 136.

Pallădĭum, 242, 249, 254.

Pallas, 220, 222.

Pallas Athēnē (_vide_ Athene).

Pallor, 54.

Pān, 115, 128.

Pănăthĕnæa, 37, 223.

Pandărĕōs, 179.

Pandīōn, 220.

Pandōra, 163.

Pandrŏsus, 218.

Pānes, 125, 130, 135.

Parcæ, 98, 155.

Păris, 249, 253, 254.

Parthĕnōn, 36.

Pāsĭphăē, 228.

Patroclus, 252.

Pēgăsus, 103, 181, 190.

Pēleus, 58, 106, 168, 208, 231, 234, 245, 249.

Pĕlĭas, 180, 233, 246, 248.

Pĕlŏpĭdæ, 243, 258.

Pĕlops, 150, 176, 243.

Pĕnātēs, 73, 156.

Pēnĕlŏpē, 191, 249, 259.

Pēnĕlŏpē (Nymph), 128.

Penthĕsĭlēa, 183, 252.

Pentheus, 115.

Pĕrĭbœa, 247.

Pĕricly̆mĕnus, 209, 234.

Pĕrĭphētēs, 221.

Persē, 90.

Persēïs, 228.

Persĕphŏnē, 25, 91, 109, 138, 143, 155, 224.

Perseus, 102, 188, 198, 244.

Phædra, 58, 224, 228.

Phăĕthōn (son of Helios), 90.

Phăĕthōn (horse of Eos), 92.

Phĭloctētēs, 212, 251, 254, 259.

Phĭly̆ra, 168.

Phīneus, 107, 191, 235.

Phŏbus, 57.

Phœbē, 18, 49.

Phœnix, 246.

Phŏlus, 200.

Phorcys, 18, 106, 109, 189.

Phosphŏrus, 93.

Phrixus, 232.

Phȳleus, 209.

Pīrĭthŏus, 165, 206, 231.

Pittheus, 220.

Pĭty̆ŏcamptēs, 221.

Pleiădes, 93.

Plexippus, 232.

Plūteus, 146.

Plūtō, 146, 155.

Plūtō (fem.), 243.

Pŏdarcēs, 208.

Pœas, 212.

Pŏly̆bus, 238.

Pŏly̆castē, 194.

Pŏly̆clētus, 32.

Pŏly̆dectēs, 189, 190.

Pŏly̆deucēs (Pollux), 168, 175, 194, 231.

Pŏly̆dōrus, 172, 179.

Pŏly̆hymnĭa, 83.

Pŏly̆ĭdus, 229.

Pŏly̆nīcēs, 240.

Pŏly̆phēmus, 102.

Pŏlyxĕna, 253, 256.

Pōmōna, 135.

Pontus, 17, 18, 105.