The Story of Troy · Michael Clarke
III. THE LEAGUE AGAINST TROY.
The carrying off of Helen was the cause of the Trojan War. Menelaus, upon hearing what Paris had done, immediately returned to Sparta, and began to make preparations to avenge the wrong. He called upon the other kings and princes of Greece to join him with their armies and fleets in a war against Troy. They were bound to do this by an oath they had taken at the time of the marriage of Helen and Menelaus. Helen was the daughter of Tynʹda-rus, who was king of Sparta before Menelaus. Some say that she was the daughter of Jupiter, and that Tyndarus was her stepfather. But from her infancy she was brought up at the royal palace of Sparta as the daughter of Tyndarus and his wife, Leʹda. When she became old enough to marry, the fame of her great beauty drew many of the young princes of Greece to Sparta, all competing for her favor, and each hoping to win her for his wife. This placed Tyndarus in a difficulty. He was alarmed at the sight of so many suitors for the hand of his daughter, for he knew that he could not give her to one without offending all the rest. He therefore resolved to adopt the advice of Ulysses, the prince of Ithʹa-ca (an island on the west coast of Greece). Ulysses, also named O-dysʹseus, was famed for great wisdom as well as valor in war.
Ulysses, man of many arts, Son of Laertes, reared in Ithaca, That rugged isle, and skilled in every form Of shrewd device and action wisely planned. BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book III. Ulysses had himself been one of the suitors for Helen, but he saw that among so many competitors he had little chance of success. Besides, he had fallen in love with Pe-nelʹo-pe, the niece of Tyndarus. He therefore withdrew from the contest, and he offered to suggest a plan for settling the difficulty about Helen, if Tyndarus would give him Penelope to be his wife. Tyndarus consented. Ulysses then advised that Helen should choose for herself which of the princes she would have for her husband, but that before she did so, all the suitors should pledge themselves by oath to submit to her decision, and engage that if any one should take her away from the husband of her choice, they would all join in punishing the offender. If any dared to seize and bear her off, All would unite in arms, and lay his town Level with the ground. EURIPIDES (Potter's tr.). The Grecian princes consented to this proposal. They all, including Ulysses himself, took the required oath. Helen then made choice of Menelaus, to whom she was immediately married with great pomp and popular rejoicing. On the death of Tyndarus, Menelaus became king of Sparta, and he and his beautiful queen lived and reigned together in prosperity and happiness until the ill-fated visit of Paris.
Menelaus was the brother of Ag-a-memʹnon, king of My-ceʹnæ, one of the most powerful and wealthy of the kings of Helʹlas, as Greece was anciently called. Their father, Aʹtreus, was a son of the hero Peʹlops, who conquered the greater part of the peninsula named from him the Pel-oponneʹsus, and who was the grandson of Jupiter. Agamemnon, or A-triʹdes (son of Atreus), as he is often called, was commander in chief of all the Greek armies during the siege of Troy. From his high rank and authority Homer calls him the "king of men" and the "king of kings." He is sometimes also called "king of all Arʹgos," a powerful kingdom near Mycenæ, and from this name the Greeks are sometimes called "Arʹgives." The royal scepter which Agamemnon bore in his hands when addressing his soldiers was made by Vulcan for Jupiter. The king of kings his awful figure raised; High in his hand the golden sceptre blazed; The golden sceptre, of celestial flame, By Vulcan formed, from Jove to Hermes came: To Pelops he the immortal gift resign'd; The immortal gift great Pelops left behind. POPE, _Iliad_, Book II. The kings and princes of Hellas, who met at the call of Menelaus, decided, after some discussion of the matter, that before declaring war against Troy it would be well to try to obtain satisfaction by peaceful means. They therefore sent ambassadors to Troy to demand the restoration of Helen and the treasures which Paris had carried off. Diʹo-mede, king of Æ-toʹlia, and the wise Ulysses, were chosen for this mission. Menelaus volunteered to accompany them, thinking that he might be able to persuade his wife to return to her home.
When the Greek ambassadors arrived in the Trojan capital they were respectfully received by the king. During their stay in the city they were entertained at the residence of An-teʹnor, one of Priam's ministers of state, who had the wisdom to disapprove of the action of Paris, and to advise that the Spartan queen should be given back to her husband. Antenor much admired the appearance and eloquence of Ulysses, which are thus described in the Iliad: "But when Ulysses rose, in thought profound, His modest eyes he fixed upon the ground; As one unskilled or dumb, he seem'd to stand, Nor raised his head, nor stretch'd his sceptred hand; But, when he speaks, what elocution flows! Soft as the fleeces of descending snows, The copious accents fall, with easy art; Melting they fall, and sink into the heart!" POPE, _Iliad_, Book III. But the eloquence of Ulysses was of no avail. King Priam, blinded by his love for his son, saw not the threatened danger, and he refused the demand of the ambassadors. Menelaus was not even permitted to see his wife. Ulysses and his companions then returned to Greece, and at once preparations for war with Troy were commenced.
These preparations occupied a very long time. Ten years were spent in getting together the vast force, which in more than a thousand ships was carried across the Ægean Sea to the Trojan shores, from the port of Auʹlis on the east coast-of Greece. Some of the Hel-lenʹic (Greek) princes were very unwilling to join the expedition, as they knew that the struggle would be a tedious and perilous one. Even Ulysses, who, as we have seen, had first proposed the suitors' oath at Sparta, was at the last moment unwilling to go. He had now become king of Ithaca, his father, La-erʹtes, having retired from the cares of government, and he would gladly have remained in his happy island home with his young wife, Penelope, and his infant son, Te-lemʹa-chus, both of whom he tenderly loved. But the man of many arts could not be spared from the Trojan War. He paid no heed, however, to the messages sent to him asking him to join the army at Aulis. Agamemnon resolved, therefore, to go himself to Ithaca to persuade Ulysses to take part in the expedition. He was accompanied by his brother Menelaus, and by a chief named Pal-a-meʹdes, a very wise and learned man as well as a brave warrior. As soon as Ulysses heard of their arrival in Ithaca, he pretended to be insane, and he tried by a very amusing stratagem to make them believe that he was really mad. Dressing himself in his best clothes, and going down to the seashore, he began to plow the beach with a horse and an _ox_ yoked together, and to scatter salt upon the sand instead of seed.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.