[Illustration: _DEATH OF HECTOR_] _Life Stories for Young People_ ACHILLES _Translated, and abridged from the German of Carl Friedrich Becker_ BY GEORGE P. UPTON _Translator of “Memories,” “Immensee,” etc._ WITH THREE ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration: A. C. McCLURG & CO.] CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1912 Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1912 Published September, 1912 THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS [W·D·O] NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A Translator’s Preface In tracing the career of Achilles in connection with the Trojan war, that inimitable classic story-teller, Carl Friedrich Becker, follows the lines of Homer’s Iliad. He gives the reader a graphic picture of the stirring events in the ten years’ siege maintained by the Greeks, under the leadership of Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ, in their finally successful effort to redress the injury done to Menelaus, king of Sparta, whose wife, Helen, was carried off by Paris. The striking points in this thrilling narrative are the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles; the exploits of Hector, noblest character of them all; the human impersonations of the gods, who take part in the strife—some on one side, some on the other; the death of Patroclus; the final reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon and the former’s tremendous exploits; the death of Hector, and the touching interview with the aged Priam, who seeks to recover his body. The ultimate fate of Achilles and the fall of the city are not told, nor the wretched end of Agamemnon, who, according to Æschylus, was killed by Clytemnestra, the queen, upon his return. Hector is one of the most conspicuous figures in this great drama and appears only second to Achilles among all the warriors. The exciting Trojan war story has never been told more graphically or interestingly in modern prose than in Becker’s version. In adapting it to the series of “Life Stories” the translator has been obliged to abridge the original work somewhat, but the parts omitted do not interfere with the flow of the story. G. P. U. Chicago, _May_, 1912. Contents