THE CLASSICS FOR THE MILLION. HOMER. DIED B.C. 850. THE ILIA D. EN of learning are far from being agreed whether ence; whether he was the author of the poems which bear his name, or whether they are the collected works of several composers, dove-tailed into each other by some clever editor of ancient times. Uncritical readers, however, will prefer the idea of the blind old bard singing his lays to a crowd of admiring listeners. In a biography of him, supposed to have been written by Herodotus, we are told, though several other cities have claimed the honour, that he was born at Smyrna, and that in early life he travelled through Egypt, Italy, Spain, and the islands of the Mediterranean, until he was stricken with blindness, when he returned to his native place, and composed his two great poems, which he afterwards recited through the towns of Asia Minor, and at Athens, as a wandering minstrel. Their preservation, in days when writing was hardly invented, has been the subject of much speculation; but copies of them appear to have existed from an early period of Greek civilisation, and they have ever since been regarded as the store-house of ancient history and genealogy, as well as the main source of the epic poetry, the heroic drama, and the romantic literature of medieval and modern times. The ILIAD consists of more than fifteen thousand lines, and the date of the story, which embraces a period of thirty years, is about twelve hundred years before the Christian era. It passes over the carrying way of Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, by Paris, the son of Priam, King of Troy; the outraged Monarch's appeal to his brother Agamemnon, King of Argos and Mycena; the preparations throughout Greece for the invasion of Troas; the sailing of a fleet of twelve hundred ships, carrying 100,000 men; the sacrifice of Iphigenia, and the landing on the coast of Ilium; but assumes all these, and many other details, to be understood. Nine years are supposed to have elapsed in desultory warfare, and the opening line of the poem,— 'Sing, heavenly muse, the wrath of Peleus' son,' introduces Achilles, who has quarrelled with Agamemnon about a captive woman appropriated by the latter. This has angered Apollo, and a pestilence is raging in the Greek camp. Agamemnon consents to restore his captive to her father, but insists that Achilles shall give up a woman named Briseis whom he has carried off. Achilles complies, but appeals to his goddess-mother, Thetis, who counsels him to nurse his wrath, and withdraw from the siege, whilst she intercedes with Jupiter. The king of the gods, however, has gone to a festival of twelve days' duration with the Ethiopians, and, when Thetis obtains an audience, he tells her that he dreads the taunts of his wife Juno, but pledges his promise to humiliate the Greeks, and ratifies it with a nod: 'Waved on th' immortal head th' ambrosial locks, Juno, however, has witnessed the interview, and a connubial dialogue ensues, in which she is silenced by the Thunderer. Vulcan soothes his mother with nectar, and hands the cup round, whilst the gods and goddesses make fun of his hobbling gait. Jupiter sends a vision of Nestor to Agamemnon, urging him to storm the city. The 'king of men' assembles his council, and, to test the temper of the army, proposes, before leading them to the assault, that they shall embark at once for home. They take him at his word and commence launching the galleys; but Juno intervenes by sending Minerva to bid Ulysses check their flight. He borrows the king's sceptre and awes the crowd. Thersites alone raises his voice in defiance,- 'The ugliest man was he that came to Troy,' upon which Ulysses chastises him, and the Greeks laugh heartily as he writhes and howls. They are then addressed by Ulysses and Nestor, and Agamemnon concludes the debate by a call to immediate battle. But first the troops are well fed, whilst Agamemnon gives a banquet to six of the chieftains, at which Menelaus is present. The king stands by the burnt-offering, to which no omen is vouchsafed. Nevertheless, the army is set in array, and a long muster-roll follows of the Greek clans on the one side, and of the Trojans and their allies on the other. The battle begins—the Asiatics move forward with shouts and clashing weapons, the Greeks in silence. Godlike in his beauty, Paris advances alone from the Trojan ranks, and challenges the leaders of the Greeks to single combat. Menelaus springs from his chariot, exulting at the opportunity of gratifying his vengeance. But Paris starts back from the man he has wronged, and encounters Hector, who checks his retreat, ashamed at his cowardice, and Paris is induced by his brother's rebuke to accept the answer to his challenge. Helen is writing her own history when she is warned by the goddess Iris of the impending duel, and goes to the palace, where old King Priam is sitting at the Scaan gate. Her beauty enchants every beholder, and all say it is no blame to fight for such a woman, the spells of Venus are irresistible. She takes her place beside the king, and is pointing out to him the |