A Smaller History of Greece | Page 7

Here, also, as in the legend of
Theseus, love played a prominent part. Medea, the daughter of AEtes,
who was skilled in magic and supernatural arts, furnished Jason with
the means of accomplishing the labours imposed upon him; and as her
father still delayed to surrender the fleece, she cast the dragon asleep
during the night, seized the fleece, and sailed away in the Argo with her
beloved Jason.
The Trojan war was the greatest of all the heroic achievements. It
formed the subject of innumerable epic poems, and has been
immortalised by the genius of Homer. Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy,
abused the hospitality of Menelaus, king of Sparta, by carrying off his
wife Helen, the most beautiful woman of the age. All the Grecian
princes looked upon the outrage as one committed against themselves.
Responding to the call of Menelaus, they assembled in arms, elected
his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, leader of the expedition,
and sailed across the AEgean in nearly 1200 ships to recover the
faithless fair one. Several of the confederate heroes excelled
Agamemnon in fame. Among them Achilles, chief of the Thessalian
Myrmidons, stood pre-eminent in strength, beauty, and valour; whilst
Ulysses, king of Ithaca; surpassed all the rest in the mental qualities of
counsel and eloquence. Among the Trojans, Hector, one of the sons of
Priam, was most distinguished for heroic qualities and formed a
striking contrast to his handsome but effeminate brother Paris. Next to
Hector in valour stood AEneas, son of Anchises and Aphrodite (Venus).
Even the gods took part in the contest, encouraging their favourite
heroes, and sometimes fighting by their side or in their stead.
It was not till the tenth year of the war that Troy yielded to the
inevitable decree of fate; and it is this year which forms the subject of

the Iliad. Achilles, offended by Agamemnon, abstains from the war;
and in his absence the Greeks are no match for Hector. The Trojans
drive them back into their camp, and are already setting fire to their
ships, when Achilles gives his armour to his friend Patroclus, and
allows him to charge at the head of the Myrmidons. Patroclus repulses
the Trojans from the ships, but the god Apollo is against him, and he
falls under the spear of Hector. Desire to avenge the death of his friend
proves more powerful in the breast of Achilles than anger against
Agamemnon. He appears again in the field in new and gorgeous
armour, forged for him by the god Hephrastus (Vulcan) at the prayer of
Thetis. The Trojans fly before him, and, although Achilles is aware that
his own death must speedily follow that of the Trojan hero, he slays
Hector in single combat.
The Iliad closes with the burial of Hector. The death of Achilles and the
capture of Troy were related in later poems. The hero of so many
achievements perishes by an arrow shot by the unwarlike Paris, but
directed by the hand of Apollo. The noblest combatants had now fallen
on either side, and force of arms had proved unable to accomplish what
stratagem at length effects. It is Ulysses who now steps into the
foreground and becomes the real conqueror of Troy. By his advice a
wooden horse is built, in whose inside he and other heroes conceal
themselves. The infatuated Trojans admit the horse within their walls.
In the dead of night the Greeks rush out and open the gates to their
comrades. Troy is delivered over to the sword, and its glory sinks in
ashes. The fall of Troy is placed in the year 1184 B.C.
The return of the Grecian leaders from Troy forms another series of
poetical legends. Several meet with tragical ends. Agamemnon is
murdered on his arrival at Mycenae, by his wife Clytaemnestra and her
paramour AEgisthus. But of these wanderings the most celebrated and
interesting are those of Ulysses, which form the subject of the Odyssey.
After twenty years' absence he arrives at length in Ithaca, where he
slays the numerous suitors who devoured his substance and contended
for the hand of his wife Penelope.
The Homeric poems must not be regarded as a record of historical
persons and events, but, at the same time, they present a valuable
picture of the institutions and manners of the earliest known state of
Grecian society.

In the Heroic age Greece was already divided into a number of
independent states, each governed by its own king. The authority of the
king was not limited by any laws; his power resembled that of the
patriarchs in the Old Testament; and for the exercise of it he was
responsible only to Zeus, and not to his people. But though the king
was not restrained in the exercise of his power by