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THE BATTLES WITH THE AMAZONS AND MEMNON--THE DEATH OF ACHILLES
Ulysses thought much and often of Helen, without whose kindness he could
not have saved the Greeks by stealing the Luck of Troy. He saw that,
though she remained as beautiful as when the princes all sought her hand,
she was most unhappy, knowing herself to be the cause of so much misery,
and fearing what the future might bring. Ulysses told nobody about the
secret which she had let fall, the coming of the Amazons.
The Amazons were a race of warlike maids, who lived far away on the banks
of the river Thermodon. They had fought against Troy in former times,
and one of the great hill-graves on the plain of Troy covered the ashes
of an Amazon, swift-footed Myrine. People believed that they were the
daughters of the God of War, and they were reckoned equal in battle to
the bravest men. Their young Queen, Penthesilea, had two reasons for
coming to fight at Troy: one was her ambition to win renown, and the
other her sleepless sorrow for having accidentally killed her sister,
Hippolyte, when hunting. The spear which she threw at a stag struck
Hippolyte and slew her, and Penthesilea cared no longer for her own life,
and desired to fall gloriously in battle. So Penthesilea and her
bodyguard of twelve Amazons set forth from the wide streams of Thermodon,
and rode into Troy. The story says that they did not drive in chariots,
like all the Greek and Trojan chiefs, but rode horses, which must have
been the manner of their country.
Penthesilea was the tallest and most beautiful of the Amazons, and shone
among her twelve maidens like the moon among the stars, or the bright
Dawn among the Hours which follow her chariot wheels. The Trojans
rejoiced when they beheld her, for she looked both terrible and
beautiful, with a frown on her brow, and fair shining eyes, and a blush
on her cheeks. To the Trojans she came like Iris, the Rainbow, after a
storm, and they gathered round her cheering, and throwing flowers and
kissing her stirrup, as the people of Orleans welcomed Joan of Arc when
she came to deliver them. Even Priam was glad, as is a man long blind,
when he has been healed, and again looks upon the light of the sun. Priam
held a great feast, and gave to Penthesilea many beautiful gifts: cups of
gold, and embroideries, and a sword with a hilt of silver, and she vowed
that she would slay Achilles. But when Andromache, the wife of Hector,
heard her she said within herself, "Ah, unhappy girl, what is this boast
of thine! Thou hast not the strength to fight the unconquerable son of
Peleus, for if Hector could not slay him, what chance hast thou? But the
piled-up earth covers Hector!"
In the morning Penthesilea sprang up from sleep and put on her glorious
armour, with spear in hand, and sword at side, and bow and quiver hung
behind her back, and her great shield covering her side from neck to
stirrup, and mounted her horse, and galloped to the plain. Beside her
charged the twelve maidens of her bodyguard, and all the company of
Hector's brothers and kinsfolk. These headed the Trojan lines, and they
rushed towards the ships of the Greeks.
Then the Greeks asked each other, "Who is this that leads the Trojans as
Hector led them, surely some God rides in the van of the charioteers!"
Ulysses could have told them who the new leader of the Trojans was, but
it seems that he had not the heart to fight against women, for his name
is not mentioned in this day's battle. So the two lines clashed, and the
plain of Troy ran red with blood, for Penthesilea slew Molios, and
Persinoos, and Eilissos, and Antiphates, and Lernos high of heart, and
Hippalmos of the loud warcry, and Haemonides, and strong Elasippus, while
her maidens Derinoe and Clonie slew each a chief of the Greeks. But
Clonie fell beneath the spear of Podarkes, whose hand Penthesilea cut off
with the sword, while Idomeneus speared the Amazon Bremousa, and Meriones
of Crete slew Evadre, and Diomede killed Alcibie and Derimacheia in close
fight with the sword, so the company of the Twelve were thinned, the
bodyguard of Penthesilea.
The Trojans and Greeks kept slaying each other, but Penthesilea avenged
her maidens, driving the ranks of Greece as a lioness drives the cattle
on the hills, for they could not stand before her. Then she shouted,
"Dogs! to-day shall you pay for the sorrows of Priam! Where is Diomede,
where is Achilles, where is Aias, that, men say, are your bravest? Will
none of them stand before my spear?" Then she charged again, at the head
of the Household of Priam, brothers and kinsmen of Hector, and where they
came the Greeks fell like yellow leaves before the wind of autumn. The
white horse that Penthesilea rode, a gift from the wife of the North
Wind, flashed like lightning through a dark cloud among the companies of
the Greeks, and the chariots that followed the charge of the Amazon
rocked as they swept over the bodies of the slain. Then the old Trojans,
watching from the walls, cried: "This is no mortal maiden but a Goddess,
and to-day she will burn the ships of the Greeks, and they will all
perish in Troyland, and see Greece never more again."
Now it so was that Aias and Achilles had not heard the din and the cry of
war, for both had gone to weep over the great new grave of Patroclus.
Penthesilea and the Trojans had driven back the Greeks within their
ditch, and they were hiding here and there among the ships, and torches
were blazing in men's hands to burn the ships, as in the day of the
valour of Hector: when Aias heard the din of battle, and called to
Achilles to make speed towards the ships.
So they ran swiftly to their huts, and armed themselves, and Aias fell
smiting and slaying upon the Trojans, but Achilles slew five of the
bodyguard of Penthesilea. She, beholding her maidens fallen, rode
straight against Aias and Achilles, like a dove defying two falcons, and
cast her spear, but it fell back blunted from the glorious shield that
the God had made for the son of Peleus. Then she threw another spear at
Aias, crying, "I am the daughter of the God of War," but his armour kept
out the spear, and he and Achilles laughed aloud. Aias paid no more heed
to the Amazon, but rushed against the Trojan men; while Achilles raised
the heavy spear that none but he could throw, and drove it down through
breastplate and breast of Penthesilea, yet still her hand grasped her
sword-hilt. But, ere she could draw her sword, Achilles speared her
horse, and horse and rider fell, and died in their fall.
There lay fair Penthesilea in the dust, like a tall poplar tree that the
wind has overthrown, and her helmet fell, and the Greeks who gathered
round marvelled to see her lie so beautiful in death, like Artemis, the
Goddess of the Woods, when she sleeps alone, weary with hunting on the
hills. Then the heart of Achilles was pierced with pity and sorrow,
thinking how she might have been his wife in his own country, had he
spared her, but he was never to see pleasant Phthia, his native land,
again. So Achilles stood and wept over Penthesilea dead.
Now the Greeks, in pity and sorrow, held their hands, and did not pursue
the Trojans who had fled, nor did they strip the armour from Penthesilea
and her twelve maidens, but laid the bodies on biers, and sent them back
in peace to Priam. Then the Trojans burned Penthesilea in the midst of
her dead maidens, on a great pile of dry wood, and placed their ashes in
a golden casket, and buried them all in the great hill-grave of Laomedon,
an ancient King of Troy, while the Greeks with lamentation buried them
whom the Amazon had slain.
The old men of Troy and the chiefs now held a council, and Priam said
that they must not yet despair, for, if they had lost many of their
bravest warriors, many of the Greeks had also fallen. Their best plan
was to fight only with arrows from the walls and towers, till King Memnon
came to their rescue with a great army of Aethiopes. Now Memnon was the
son of the bright Dawn, a beautiful Goddess who had loved and married a
mortal man, Tithonus. She had asked Zeus, the chief of the Gods, to make
her lover immortal, and her prayer was granted. Tithonus could not die,
but he began to grow grey, and then white haired, with a long white
beard, and very weak, till nothing of him seemed to be left but his
voice, always feebly chattering like the grasshoppers on a summer day.
Memnon was the most beautiful of men, except Paris and Achilles, and his
home was in a country that borders on the land of sunrising. There he
was reared by the lily maidens called Hesperides, till he came to his
full strength, and commanded the whole army of the Aethiopes. For their
arrival Priam wished to wait, but Polydamas advised that the Trojans
should give back Helen to the Greeks, with jewels twice as valuable as
those which she had brought from the house of Menelaus. Then Paris was
very angry, and said that Polydamas was a coward, for it was little to
Paris that Troy should be taken and burned in a month if for a month he
could keep Helen of the fair hands.
At length Memnon came, leading a great army of men who had nothing white
about them but the teeth, so fiercely the sun burned on them in their own
country. The Trojans had all the more hopes of Memnon because, on his
long journey from the land of sunrising, and the river Oceanus that
girdles the round world, he had been obliged to cross the country of the
Solymi. Now the Solymi were the fiercest of men and rose up against
Memnon, but he and his army fought them for a whole day, and defeated
them, and drove them to the hills. When Memnon came, Priam gave him a
great cup of gold, full of wine to the brim, and Memnon drank the wine at
one draught. But he did not make great boasts of what he could do, like
poor Penthesilea, "for," said he, "whether I am a good man at arms will
be known in battle, where the strength of men is tried. So now let us
turn to sleep, for to wake and drink wine all through the night is an ill
beginning of war."
Then Priam praised his wisdom, and all men betook them to bed, but the
bright Dawn rose unwillingly next day, to throw light on the battle where
her son was to risk his fife. Then Memnon led out the dark clouds of his
men into the plain, and the Greeks foreboded evil when they saw so great
a new army of fresh and unwearied warriors, but Achilles, leading them in
his shining armour, gave them courage. Memnon fell upon the left wing of
the Greeks, and on the men of Nestor, and first he slew Ereuthus, and
then attacked Nestor's young son, Antilochus, who, now that Patroclus had
fallen, was the dearest friend of Achilles. On him Memnon leaped, like a
lion on a kid, but Antilochus lifted a huge stone from the plain, a
pillar that had been set on the tomb of some great warrior long ago, and
the stone smote full on the helmet of Memnon, who reeled beneath the
stroke. But Memnon seized his heavy spear, and drove it through shield
and corselet of Antilochus, even into his heart, and he fell and died
beneath his father's eyes. Then Nestor in great sorrow and anger strode
across the body of Antilochus and called to his other son, Thrasymedes,
"Come and drive afar this man that has slain thy brother, for if fear be
in thy heart thou art no son of mine, nor of the race of Periclymenus,
who stood up in battle even against the strong man Heracles!"
But Memnon was too strong for Thrasymedes, and drove him off, while old
Nestor himself charged sword in hand, though Memnon bade him begone, for
he was not minded to strike so aged a man, and Nestor drew back, for he
was weak with age. Then Memnon and his army charged the Greeks, slaying
and stripping the dead. But Nestor had mounted his chariot and driven to
Achilles, weeping, and imploring him to come swiftly and save the body of
Antilochus, and he sped to meet Memnon, who lifted a great stone, the
landmark of a field, and drove it against the shield of the son of
Peleus. But Achilles was not shaken by the blow; he ran forward, and
wounded Memnon over the rim of his shield. Yet wounded as he was Memnon
fought on and struck his spear through the arm of Achilles, for the
Greeks fought with no sleeves of bronze to protect their arms.
Then Achilles drew his great sword, and flew on Memnon, and with sword-
strokes they lashed at each other on shield and helmet, and the long
horsehair crests of the helmets were shorn off, and flew down the wind,
and their shields rang terribly beneath the sword strokes. They thrust
at each others' throats between shield and visor of the helmet, they
smote at knee, and thrust at breast, and the armour rang about their
bodies, and the dust from beneath their feet rose up in a cloud around
them, like mist round the falls of a great river in flood. So they
fought, neither of them yielding a step, till Achilles made so rapid a
thrust that Memnon could not parry it, and the bronze sword passed clean
through his body beneath the breast-bone, and he fell, and his armour
clashed as he fell.
Then Achilles, wounded as he was and weak from loss of blood, did not
stay to strip the golden armour of Memnon, but shouted his warcry, and
pressed on, for he hoped to enter the gate of Troy with the fleeing
Trojans, and all the Greeks followed after him. So they pursued, slaying
as they went, and the Scaean gate was choked with the crowd of men,
pursuing and pursued. In that hour would the Greeks have entered Troy,
and burned the city, and taken the women captive, but Paris stood on the
tower above the gate, and in his mind was anger for the death of his
brother Hector. He tried the string of his bow, and found it frayed, for
all day he had showered his arrows on the Greeks; so he chose a new
bowstring, and fitted it, and strung the bow, and chose an arrow from his
quiver, and aimed at the ankle of Achilles, where it was bare beneath the
greave, or leg-guard of metal, that the God had fashioned for him.
Through the ankle flew the arrow, and Achilles wheeled round, weak as he
was, and stumbled, and fell, and the armour that the God had wrought was
defiled with dust and blood.
Then Achilles rose again, and cried: "What coward has smitten me with a
secret arrow from afar? Let him stand forth and meet me with sword and
spear!" So speaking he seized the shaft with his strong hands and tore
it out of the wound, and much blood gushed, and darkness came over his
eyes. Yet he staggered forward, striking blindly, and smote Orythaon, a
dear friend of Hector, through the helmet, and others he smote, but now
his force failed him, and he leaned on his spear, and cried his warcry,
and said, "Cowards of Troy, ye shall not all escape my spear, dying as I
am." But as he spoke he fell, and all his armour rang around him, yet
the Trojans stood apart and watched; and as hunters watch a dying lion
not daring to go nigh him, so the Trojans stood in fear till Achilles
drew his latest breath. Then from the wall the Trojan women raised a
great cry of joy over him who had slain the noble Hector: and thus was
fulfilled the prophecy of Hector, that Achilles should fall in the Scaean
gateway, by the hand of Paris.
Then the best of the Trojans rushed forth from the gate to seize the body
of Achilles, and his glorious armour, but the Greeks were as eager to
carry the body to the ships that it might have due burial. Round the
dead Achilles men fought long and sore, and both sides were mixed, Greeks
and Trojans, so that men dared not shoot arrows from the walls of Troy
lest they should kill their own friends. Paris, and Aeneas, and Glaucus,
who had been the friend of Sarpedon, led the Trojans, and Aias and
Ulysses led the Greeks, for we are not told that Agamemnon was fighting
in this great battle of the war. Now as angry wild bees flock round a
man who is taking their honeycombs, so the Trojans gathered round Aias,
striving to stab him, but he set his great shield in front, and smote and
slew all that came within reach of his spear. Ulysses, too, struck down
many, and though a spear was thrown and pierced his leg near the knee he
stood firm, protecting the body of Achilles. At last Ulysses caught the
body of Achilles by the hands, and heaved it upon his back, and so limped
towards the ships, but Aias and the men of Aias followed, turning round
if ever the Trojans ventured to come near, and charging into the midst of
them. Thus very slowly they bore the dead Achilles across the plain,
through the bodies of the fallen and the blood, till they met Nestor in
his chariot and placed Achilles therein, and swiftly Nestor drove to the
ships.
There the women, weeping, washed Achilles' comely body, and laid him on a
bier with a great white mantle over him, and all the women lamented and
sang dirges, and the first was Briseis, who loved Achilles better than
her own country, and her father, and her brothers whom he had slain in
war. The Greek princes, too, stood round the body, weeping and cutting
off their long locks of yellow hair, a token of grief and an offering to
the dead.
Men say that forth from the sea came Thetis of the silver feet, the
mother of Achilles, with her ladies, the deathless maidens of the waters.
They rose up from their glassy chambers below the sea, moving on, many
and beautiful, like the waves on a summer day, and their sweet song
echoed along the shores, and fear came upon the Greeks. Then they would
have fled, but Nestor cried: "Hold, flee not, young lords of the
Achaeans! Lo, she that comes from the sea is his mother, with the
deathless maidens of the waters, to look on the face of her dead son."
Then the sea nymphs stood around the dead Achilles and clothed him in the
garments of the Gods, fragrant raiment, and all the Nine Muses, one to
the other replying with sweet voices, began their lament.
Next the Greeks made a great pile of dry wood, and laid Achilles on it,
and set fire to it, till the flames had consumed his body except the
white ashes. These they placed in a great golden cup and mingled with
them the ashes of Patroclus, and above all they built a tomb like a hill,
high on a headland above the sea, that men for all time may see it as
they go sailing by, and may remember Achilles. Next they held in his
honour foot races and chariot races, and other games, and Thetis gave
splendid prizes. Last of all, when the games were ended, Thetis placed
before the chiefs the glorious armour that the God had made for her son
on the night after the slaying of Patroclus by Hector. "Let these arms
be the prize of the best of the Greeks," she said, "and of him that saved
the body of Achilles out of the hands of the Trojans."
Then stood up on one side Aias and on the other Ulysses, for these two
had rescued the body, and neither thought himself a worse warrior than
the other. Both were the bravest of the brave, and if Aias was the
taller and stronger, and upheld the fight at the ships on the day of the
valour of Hector; Ulysses had alone withstood the Trojans, and refused to
retreat even when wounded, and his courage and cunning had won for the
Greeks the Luck of Troy. Therefore old Nestor arose and said: "This is a
luckless day, when the best of the Greeks are rivals for such a prize. He
who is not the winner will be heavy at heart, and will not stand firm by
us in battle, as of old, and hence will come great loss to the Greeks.
Who can be a just judge in this question, for some men will love Aias
better, and some will prefer Ulysses, and thus will arise disputes among
ourselves. Lo! have we not here among us many Trojan prisoners, waiting
till their friends pay their ransom in cattle and gold and bronze and
iron? These hate all the Greeks alike, and will favour neither Aias nor
Ulysses. Let them be the judges, and decide who is the best of the
Greeks, and the man who has done most harm to the Trojans."
Agamemnon said that Nestor had spoken wisely. The Trojans were then made
to sit as judges in the midst of the Assembly, and Aias and Ulysses
spoke, and told the stories of their own great deeds, of which we have
heard already, but Aias spoke roughly and discourteously, calling Ulysses
a coward and a weakling. "Perhaps the Trojans know," said Ulysses
quietly, "whether they think that I deserve what Aias has said about me,
that I am a coward; and perhaps Aias may remember that he did not find me
so weak when we wrestled for a prize at the funeral of Patroclus."
Then the Trojans all with one voice said that Ulysses was the best man
among the Greeks, and the most feared by them, both for his courage and
his skill in stratagems of war. On this, the blood of Aias flew into his
face, and he stood silent and unmoving, and could not speak a word, till
his friends came round him and led him away to his hut, and there he sat
down and would not eat or drink, and the night fell.
Long he sat, musing in his mind, and then rose and put on all his armour,
and seized a sword that Hector had given him one day when they two fought
in a gentle passage of arms, and took courteous farewell of each other,
and Aias had given Hector a broad sword-belt, wrought with gold. This
sword, Hector's gift, Aias took, and went towards the hut of Ulysses,
meaning to carve him limb from limb, for madness had come upon him in his
great grief. Rushing through the night to slay Ulysses he fell upon the
flock of sheep that the Greeks kept for their meat. And up and down
among them he went, smiting blindly till the dawn came, and, lo! his
senses returned to him, and he saw that he had not smitten Ulysses, but
stood in a pool of blood among the sheep that he had slain. He could not
endure the disgrace of his madness, and he fixed the sword, Hector's
gift, with its hilt firmly in the ground, and went back a little way, and
ran and fell upon the sword, which pierced his heart, and so died the
great Aias, choosing death before a dishonoured life. _
Read next: ULYSSES SAILS TO SEEK THE SON OF ACHILLES.--THE VALOUR OF EURYPYLUS
Read previous: HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY
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