The Story of Troy Part 7

VI. THE DREAM OF AGAMEMNON.

Very soon great evils came upon the Greeks because of the strife between the chiefs. When Chryseis was restored to her father, Apollo stopped the plague; but the wrong done to Achilles provoked the anger of another deity. This was Thetis, who, having much power with Jupiter, was able to persuade him to take up the cause of her injured son.

For as soon as the heralds departed from his tent, leading away the fair-cheeked Briseis, Achilles withdrew from his friends, retired to the seash.o.r.e, and sitting there alone he bitterly wept, and with outstretched hands prayed to his mother, Thetis. The G.o.ddess heard his voice, and ascending from the depths of the ocean, where she dwelt in the palace of her aged father, Nereus, she sat down beside the hero, and soothing him with her hand, she inquired the cause of his distress. "Why do you weep, my son? What grief has come upon thy mind?"

Then Achilles related to his mother what Agamemnon had done, and he begged her to go to Mount Olympus and entreat Jupiter to punish the insult that had been offered to her son. He spoke of the service she had done for Jupiter long before, when Juno, Neptune, and Minerva had made a plot to bind him, and cast him from the throne of heaven. They might have succeeded in doing this if Thetis had not called Bri'a-reus up from Pluto's kingdom to help Jupiter. Briareus was a mighty giant who had a hundred hands, and his appearance in Olympus so terrified the conspirators that they did not attempt to carry out their wicked plot.

"Now," said Achilles to his mother, "remind Jupiter of this, and beg him to aid the Trojans and give them victory in battle, so that Agamemnon may feel the effects of his folly in dishonoring me."

"Ascend to heaven and bring thy prayer to Jove, If e'er by word or act thou gav'st him aid.

For I remember, in my father's halls I often heard thee, glorying, tell how thou, Alone of all the G.o.ds, didst interpose To save the cloud-compeller, Saturn's son, From shameful overthrow, when all the rest Who dwell upon Olympus had conspired To bind him,--Juno, Neptune, and with them Pallas Athene. Thou didst come and loose His bonds, and call up to the Olympian heights The hundred-handed, whom the immortal G.o.ds Have named Briareus."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I.

Thetis readily consented to do as her son desired.

"Not now, however!" said she, "for yesterday Jupiter went to E-thi-o'pi-a to a banquet, and all the G.o.ds went with him. But in twelve days he will return. Then I will go to Olympus and tell your words to thunder-delighting Jove, and I think I shall be able to persuade him to grant your request."

"Thou, meanwhile, abide By thy swift s.h.i.+ps, incensed against the Greeks, And take no part in all their battles more."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I.

Thetis did not forget her promise. On the twelfth day, at the dawn of morning, she emerged from beneath the waves, and went up to Olympus.

There she threw herself at the feet of Jupiter, as he sat on the summit of the mount apart from the other G.o.ds, and earnestly prayed him to grant victory to the Trojans until the Greeks should make amends to her son for the injury that had been done him.

Now it may seem that it was not just to ask that the whole Greek army should be punished for the act of their general. But the other chiefs and their people were hardly less to blame than Agamemnon, for they did not try to prevent him from doing the wrong. If they had opposed him very much, he would not perhaps have dared to insult their greatest warrior, the man without whose help they knew Troy could not be taken.

Therefore Thetis begged Jupiter to punish all the Greeks by giving victory to the Trojans.

"O Jupiter, my father, if among The immortals I have ever given thee aid By word or act, deny not my request.

Honor my son whose life is doomed to end So soon; for Agamemnon, king of men, Hath done him shameful wrong: he takes from him And keeps the prize he won in war. But thou, Olympian Jupiter, supremely wise, Honor him thou, and give the Trojan host The victory, until the humbled Greeks Heap large increase of honors on my son."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I.

Jupiter hesitated for some time before consenting to grant the prayer of Thetis.

"This," said he, "is a serious matter, for by doing as you desire I may give offense to Juno, who has already been blaming me among the G.o.ds, saying that I aid the Trojans in battle. However, since you will have it so, I shall grant your request."

"And that thou Mayst be a.s.sured, behold, I give the nod; For this, with me, the immortals know, portends The highest certainty; no word of mine Which once my nod confirms can be revoked, Or prove untrue, or fail to be fulfilled."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I.

The awful nod was then given, and mighty Olympus trembled. Thetis, rejoicing at the success of her mission, departed from the heavenly regions and plunged into the depths of the sea, while Jupiter went to his golden palace where the other G.o.ds were sitting around the banqueting table. As he entered all rose up to do him honor, and met him as he advanced to his throne. But his talk with Thetis had not escaped the notice of Juno, and suspecting what it was about, she addressed her spouse in harsh words.

"Thou art ever," said she, "plotting secret things apart from me, and now I greatly fear that the silver-footed Thetis has persuaded thee to do some evil to the Greeks."

"Thou hast promised her, I cannot doubt, To give Achilles honor and to cause Myriads of Greeks to perish by their fleet."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I.

"You are always suspecting," answered Jupiter, "but now it will avail you nothing. Even though I have done what you say, such is my sovereign pleasure. Be silent, and sit down in peace, and take care not to provoke my anger."

[Ill.u.s.tration: JUNO.

_National Museum, Naples._]

At this point Vulcan interfered, entreating his mother, Juno, to submit to the will of almighty Jove; "for," said he, "if the Thunderer wishes to hurl us from our seats in heaven he can easily do it, since his power is far greater than that of all the other G.o.ds."

Vulcan then reminded her how she and he had both been punished on a former occasion for an offense against Jupiter. When Hercules was returning to Greece from Troy after capturing that city, Juno, who hated the great hero, caused a storm to be raised in the aegean Sea, which drove his s.h.i.+ps out of their course and almost destroyed them. That she might do this without Jupiter knowing it, she contrived to cast him into a deep sleep. When he awoke and found out what she had done, he was so angry that he hung her from the heavens by a golden chain, and tied two heavy iron anvils to her feet. Vulcan tried to loose the chains and set his mother free, and for this offense Jupiter hurled him from the abode of the G.o.ds. He fell on the island of Lem'nos in the aegean Sea, but some of the inhabitants, seeing him descend, caught him in their arms.

Nevertheless, he broke his leg by the fall and was ever afterwards lame.

How he fell From heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, On Lemnos, the aegean isle.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, Book I.

After reminding Juno of these things, and restoring peace between her and the king of heaven, Vulcan took upon himself the office of cupbearer. He poured nectar into golden goblets and served it round to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, all of whom laughed at the sight of the lame G.o.d bustling through the banqueting hall performing the work of Ganymede.

They feasted till sunset, Apollo giving them sweet music from his lyre, while the G.o.ddesses of song accompanied him with their voices.

Thus the blest G.o.ds the genial day prolong, In feasts ambrosial, and celestial song.

Apollo tuned the lyre; the Muses round With voice alternate aid the silver sound.

POPE, _Iliad_, Book I.

When the banquet was over, the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses retired to their palaces,--golden palaces built by Vulcan,--and they sought repose in sleep. But Jupiter did not sleep, for he was thinking how he might carry out his promise to Thetis. After much thought he resolved to send a message to Agamemnon by means of a dream, telling him to lead his forces at once against Troy, as it was the will of the G.o.ds that the city should now fall into the hands of the Greeks. And so this false Dream or Lying Spirit was sent on its deceitful errand. It took the form of the venerable Nestor, and, appearing to Agamemnon while he was sleeping in his tent, delivered to him the command of Jupiter:

"Monarch, awake! 'tis Jove's command I bear; Thou and thy glory claim his heavenly care.

In just array draw forth the embattled train, Lead all thy Grecians to the dusty plain; E'en now, O king! 'tis given thee to destroy The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy."

POPE, _Iliad_, Book II.

As soon as Agamemnon awoke he hastily called a council of the chiefs to meet at the s.h.i.+ps of Nestor. There he told them of the command of Jove, as sent to him in his dream. All agreed that the divine will should be obeyed, but Agamemnon, like a prudent general, thought it would be well, before going to battle, to find out whether the troops, after their toils of nine years, were still willing to support him in carrying on the war. With this object he resolved to try the plan of pretending to them that he had made up his mind to stop the siege and return at once to Greece. But he directed the chiefs to advise their followers not to consent to the proposal, and to encourage them to make one more fight for the honor of their country. Then the heralds summoned the whole army to a.s.semble, and the vast host gathered together on the plain before the camp, to listen to the words of their commander. Homer's description of the muster of the forces on this occasion is very beautiful:

The sceptred rulers lead; the following host, Pour'd forth by thousands, darkens all the coast.

As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees Cl.u.s.tering in heaps on heaps the driving bees, Rolling and blackening, swarms succeeding swarms, With deeper murmurs and more hoa.r.s.e alarms; Dusky they spread, a close embodied crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud.

So, from the tents and s.h.i.+ps, a lengthen'd train Spreads all the beach, and wide o'ershades the plain: Along the region runs a deafening sound; Beneath their footsteps groans the trembling ground.

POPE, _Iliad_, Book II.

The whole Greek army being thus a.s.sembled, with the exception of the wrathful Achilles and his Myrmidons, Agamemnon then addressed them, leaning on his scepter. He told them he now believed that Troy could not be taken, and that Jupiter, who before promised victory to the Greeks, now commanded them to return to Argos.

"Let us therefore," said he, "get ready our s.h.i.+ps and hasten to set sail for our dear native land, where our wives with our beloved children sit within their dwellings expecting us." The proposal was received with a loud shout of joy, and the moment the king finished speaking, the vast mult.i.tude began at once to make preparations for launching the vessels into the sea.

So was the whole a.s.sembly swayed; they ran With tumult to the s.h.i.+ps; beneath their feet Rose clouds of dust, and each exhorted each To seize the s.h.i.+ps and drag them to the deep.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book II.

But Juno, from her seat on high Olympus, was watching these movements, and she resolved that the war against the hated Trojans should not thus come to an end. She therefore sent Minerva down with a message to Ulysses. The azure-eyed G.o.ddess, as Minerva is often called by Homer, hastened to the Grecian camp, and approached the Ithacan king, who was standing near his s.h.i.+ps, much grieved at seeing his countrymen preparing to depart. Minerva addressed him in earnest words, begging him to use his influence with the Greeks and persuade them not to go.