Then Hector died, and Achilles drew out the spear from the corpse, and
stripped off the arms. Then great Achilles did a shocking deed; for he
bound the body of the dead Hector to his chariot, letting the brave
and noble head lie in the dust; and so he dragged the corpse of the
valiant Trojan round the walls of Troy, even to the Grecian ships. And
sorrowing Priam saw him from the walls; and fair Andromaché, the wife
of Hector, also beheld this dreadful spectacle, and thereupon fell in a
deadly swoon; and from her beautiful head dropped the golden wreath and
diadem, which Aphrodité gave her on her bridal day.
[Illustration: THE FUNERAL OF HECTOR.]
Then did old King Priam gather rich gifts, and aided by the gods, mount
his swift chariot and go to the tent of great Achilles, to beg the body
of his much loved son, brave Hector, praying to Jupiter that Achilles
might have pity on him. This did Jove grant; for Achilles received
him kindly, and gave up the body of dead Hector, which King Priam
carried back into the city of Troy. For nine days the people wailed and
mourned, and gathered much wood for a funeral pile, upon which they
laid brave Hector; and when his body was burnt to ashes, they gathered
up the white bones and put them in a chest of gold, and covered it
with purple. This chest they placed in a coffin and laid upon it many
stones, even until they had raised a mighty mound above it. Thus did
they bury the valiant Hector, bravest of Trojan princes.
Such is a brief outline of the story of the famous Trojan War, as told
by the illustrious Homer in his matchless poem of the “Iliad.” Now we
return to the few further facts regarding King Agamemnon which can be
culled from history.
There are two different accounts of the final overthrow and capture
of Troy. According to one of these, Antenor and Æneas treacherously
betrayed the Palladium to the Greeks, and at the same time threw open
the gates of the city at night. The other account relates that the
capture was effected by the stratagem of the wooden horse, which was
planned by the cunning of Ulysses. A huge, hollow structure resembling
a horse, was filled with armed men, and left standing in the plain,
while the Greeks went on board their ships and sailed to the island of
Tenedos, which lay not far distant. By an artful manœuvre, the Trojans
were made to believe that this horse was an offering to Minerva, and
that they would achieve a great triumph by carrying it into the city.
Accordingly they made a breach in the wall, and transported the horse
within. In the dead of night the Greeks broke out of their concealment,
and set the city on fire. The fleet, on a signal given, sailed back
from Tenedos; the army landed. Troy was taken and destroyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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