In Rhesus himself--the name is said to be the Thracian form of _rex_[1]--we seem to have the traditional divine king of the Thracian tribes about Pangaion, seen through the eyes of Greek romance. He is the son of the greatest of Rivers and the Muse of the Mountain: she is simply "The Muse," otherwise nameless, and we are lost if we try to bind her down to the identity of any Greek goddess. Like many Thracian heroes Rhesus has a dash of the Sun-god in him, the burning targe, the white horses and the splendour. Like them he is a boaster and a deep drinker, a child of battle and of song. Like other divine kings he dies in his youth and strength, and keeps watch over his people from some "feasting presence, full of light," where he lies among the buried silver-veins of Pangaion. If the uttermost need comes, doubtless he will wake again. When the Athenians began making their dangerous settlements on the coast of Thrace--ten thousand settlers were massacred by Rhesus's people about 465 B.C.: Amphipolis not fully established till 437--they found the legend of Rhesus in the air, and eventually they thought it prudent to send for his hallowed bones from the Troad, where they were supposed to be buried, and give them a tomb in the Athenian colony. Possibly that pacified him. And his legend in the mouth of the poets seemed perhaps like the story of his own mountaineers, multitudes of strong men, stormy and chivalrous, terrible in onset, who somehow in the end melted away before the skill and persistent courage of a civilised Greek city. [Footnote 1: Perdrizet, _Cultes et Mythes de Pangée_, p. 17.] RHESUS CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY HECTOR, _Prince of Îlion and General of the Trojan Armies_. AENÊAS, _a Trojan Prince_. DOLON, _a Trojan_. PARIS, _also called_ ALEXANDER, _brother of Hector_. RHÊSUS, _King of Thrace, son of the River Str[^y]mon and the Muse of the Mountains_. A THRACIAN, _the King's charioteer_. ODYSSEUS, _a Greek chieftain, famous for craft and daring_. DIOMÊDÊS, _a Greek chieftain, famous for valour_. A SHEPHERD. The Goddess ATHÊNA. The MUSE OF THE MOUNTAINS. CHORUS _of Trojan Guards with their_ LEADER. _Some_ THRACIANS _with their_ CAPTAIN, _Attendants, &c._ _The date and authorship of the play are unknown; it probably belongs to the Fifth Century B.C., and is attributed to Euripides._ RHESUS _It is a cloudy but moonlight night on the plain before Troy. [vv. 1-10] The Trojans and their allies have won a decisive victory and are camping on the open field close to the Greek outposts. The scene is in front of a rude tent or hut that has been set up for_ HECTOR, _the Trojan leader. A watch-fire burns low in front. Far off at the back can be seen rows of watch-fires in the Greek camp. The road to Troy is in front to the left; the road to Mount Ida leads far away to the right._ _All is silence; then a noise outside. Enter tumultuously a band of Trojan Pickets._