THE STORY OF THE ILIAD BY THE REV. ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A. LATELY PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON EDITED FOR SCHOOL USE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1920 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1905. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE ILIAD: I. THE QUARREL II. THE ASSEMBLY III. THE DUEL OF PARIS AND MENELAUS IV. THE BROKEN OATH V. THE VALIANT DEEDS OF DIOMED VI. GLAUCUS AND DIOMED VII. HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE VIII. THE DUEL OF HECTOR AND AJAX IX. THE BATTLE ON THE PLAIN X. THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES XI. THE ADVENTURE OF ULYSSES AND DIOMED XII. THE WOUNDING OF THE CHIEFS XIII. THE BATTLE AT THE WALL XIV. THE BATTLE AT THE SHIPS XV. THE DEEDS AND DEATH OF PATROCLUS XVI. THE ROUSING OF ACHILLES XVII. THE MAKING OF THE ARMS XVIII. THE ENDING OF THE STRIFE XIX. THE BATTLE AT THE RIVER XX. THE BATTLE OF THE GODS XXI. THE SLAYING OF HECTOR XXII. THE BURNING OF PATROCLUS XXIII. THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES INTRODUCTION Three thousand years ago the world was still young. The western continent was a huge wilderness, and the greater part of Europe was inhabited by savage and wandering tribes. Only a few nations at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in the neighbouring parts of Asia had learned to dwell in cities, to use a written language, to make laws for themselves, and to live in a more orderly fashion. Of these nations the most brilliant was that of the Greeks, who were destined in war, in learning, in government, and in the arts, to play a great part in the world, and to be the real founders of our modern civilization. While they were still a rude people, they had noble ideals of beauty and bravery, of duty and justice. Even before they had a written language, their singers had made songs about their heroes and their great deeds; and later these songs, which fathers had taught to children, and these children to their children, were brought together into two long and wonderful poems, which have ever since been the delight of the world, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. The _Iliad_ is the story of the siege of Ilium, or Troy, on the western coast of Asia Minor. Paris, son of the king of Troy, had enticed Helen, the most beautiful of Grecian women, and the wife of a Grecian king, to leave her husband's home with him; and the kings and princes of the Greeks had gathered an army and a fleet and sailed across the Ægean Sea to rescue her. For ten years they strove to capture the city. According to the fine old legends, the gods themselves took a part in the war, some siding with the Greeks, and some with the Trojans. It was finally through Ulysses, a famous Greek warrior, brave and fierce as well as wise and crafty, that the Greeks captured the city.