Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome 23

ALCMÆON AND THE NECKLACE.

 

When Alcmæon returned from his expedition against the Thebans he determined

to fulfil the last injunction of his father Amphiaraus, who had desired him

to be revenged on his mother Eriphyle for her perfidy in accepting a bribe

to betray him. This resolution was further strengthened by the discovery

that his unprincipled mother had urged him also to join the expedition

{278} in return for the much-coveted veil of Harmonia. He therefore put her

to death; and taking with him the ill-fated necklace and veil, abandoned

for ever the home of his fathers.

 

But the gods, who could not suffer so unnatural a crime to go unpunished,

afflicted him with madness, and sent one of the Furies to pursue him

unceasingly. In this unhappy condition he wandered about from place to

place, until at last having reached Psophis in Arcadia, Phegeus, king of

the country, not only purified him of his crime, but also bestowed upon him

the hand of his daughter Arsinoë, to whom Alcmæon presented the necklace

and veil, which had already been the cause of so much unhappiness.

 

Though now released from his mental affliction, the curse which hung over

him was not entirely removed, and on his account the country of his

adoption was visited with a severe drought. On consulting the oracle of

Delphi he was informed that any land which offered him shelter would be

cursed by the gods, and that the malediction would continue to follow him

till he came to a country which was not in existence at the time he had

murdered his mother. Bereft of hope, and resolved no longer to cast the

shadow of his dark fate over those he loved, Alcmæon took a tender leave of

his wife and little son, and became once more an outcast and wanderer.

 

Arrived after a long and painful pilgrimage at the river Achelous, he

discovered, to his unspeakable joy, a beautiful and fertile island, which

had but lately emerged from beneath the water. Here he took up his abode;

and in this haven of rest he was at length freed from his sufferings, and

finally purified of his crime by the river-god Achelous. But in his

new-found home where prosperity smiled upon him, Alcmæon soon forgot the

loving wife and child he had left behind, and wooed Calirrhoë, the

beautiful daughter of the river-god, who became united to him in marriage.

 

For many years Alcmæon and Calirrhoë lived happily together, and two sons

were born to them. But {279} unfortunately for the peace of her husband,

the daughter of Achelous had heard of the celebrated necklace and veil of

Harmonia, and became seized with a violent desire to become the possessor

of these precious treasures.

 

Now the necklace and veil were in the safe-keeping of Arsinoë; but as

Alcmæon had carefully concealed the fact of his former marriage from his

young wife, he informed her, when no longer able to combat her

importunities, that he had concealed them in a cave in his native country,

and promised to hasten thither and procure them for her. He accordingly

took leave of Calirrhoë and his children, and proceeded to Psophis, where

he presented himself before his deserted wife and her father, king Phegeus.

To them he excused his absence by the fact of his having suffered from a

fresh attack of madness, and added that an oracle had foretold to him that

his malady would only be cured when he had deposited the necklace and veil

of Harmonia in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Arsinoë, deceived by his

artful representations, unhesitatingly restored to him his bridal gifts,

whereupon Alcmæon set out on his homeward journey, well satisfied with the

successful issue of his expedition.

 

But the fatal necklace and veil were doomed to bring ruin and disaster to

all who possessed them. During his sojourn at the court of king Phegeus,

one of the servants who had accompanied Alcmæon betrayed the secret of his

union with the daughter of the river-god; and when the king informed his

sons of his treacherous conduct, they determined to avenge the wrongs of

their sister Arsinoë. They accordingly concealed themselves at a point of

the road which Alcmæon was compelled to pass, and as he neared the spot

they suddenly emerged from their place of ambush, fell upon him and

despatched him.

 

When Arsinoë, who still loved her faithless husband, heard of the murder,

she bitterly reproached her brothers for the crime which they had

perpetrated, at which they were so incensed, that they placed her in a

chest, and conveyed her to Agapenor, son of Ancæus, at Tegea. {280} Here

they accused her of the murder of which they themselves were guilty, and

she suffered a painful death.

 

Calirrhoë, on learning the sad fate of Alcmæon, implored Zeus that her

infant sons might grow at once to manhood, and avenge the death of their

father. The ruler of Olympus heard the petition of the bereaved wife, and,

in answer to her prayer, the children of yesterday became transformed into

bearded men, full of strength and courage, and thirsting for revenge.

 

Hastening to Tegea, they there encountered the sons of Phegeus, who were

about to repair to Delphi, in order to deposit the necklace and veil in the

sanctuary of Apollo; and before the brothers had time to defend themselves,

the stalwart sons of Calirrhoë rushed upon them and slew them. They then

proceeded to Psophis, where they killed king Phegeus and his wife, after

which they returned to their mother with the necklace and veil, which, by

the command of her father Achelous, were deposited as sacred offerings in

the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

 

THE HERACLIDÆ.

 

After the apotheosis of Heracles, his children were so cruelly persecuted

by Eurystheus, that they fled for protection to king Ceyx at Trachin,

accompanied by the aged Iolaus, the nephew and life-long friend of their

father, who constituted himself their guide and protector. But on

Eurystheus demanding the surrender of the fugitives, the Heraclidæ, knowing

that the small force at the disposal of king Ceyx would be altogether

inadequate to protect them against the powerful king of Argos, abandoned

his territory, and sought refuge at Athens, where they were hospitably

received by king Demophoon, the son of the great hero Theseus. He warmly

espoused their cause, and determined to protect them at all costs against

Eurystheus, who had despatched a numerous force in pursuit of them.

 

When the Athenians had made all necessary preparations to repel the

invaders, an oracle announced that the {281} sacrifice of a maiden of noble

birth was necessary to ensure to them victory; whereupon Macaria, the

beautiful daughter of Heracles and Deianira, magnanimously offered herself

as a sacrifice, and, surrounded by the noblest matrons and maidens of

Athens, voluntarily devoted herself to death.

 

While these events were transpiring in Athens, Hyllus, the eldest son of

Heracles and Deianira, had advanced with a large army to the assistance of

his brothers, and having sent a messenger to the king announcing his

arrival, Demophoon, with his army, joined his forces.

 

In the thick of the battle which ensued, Iolaus, following a sudden

impulse, borrowed the chariot of Hyllus, and earnestly entreated Zeus and

Hebe to restore to him, for this one day only, the vigour and strength of

his youth. His prayer was heard. A thick cloud descended from heaven and

enveloped the chariot, and when it disappeared, Iolaus, in the full

plenitude of manly vigour, stood revealed before the astonished gaze of the

combatants. He then led on his valiant band of warriors, and soon the enemy

was in headlong flight; and Eurystheus, who was taken prisoner, was put to

death by the command of king Demophoon.

 

After gratefully acknowledging the timely aid of the Athenians, Hyllus,

accompanied by the faithful Iolaus and his brothers, took leave of king

Demophoon, and proceeded to invade the Peloponnesus, which they regarded as

their lawful patrimony; for, according to the will of Zeus, it should have

been the rightful possession of their father, the great hero Heracles, had

not Hera maliciously defeated his plans by causing his cousin Eurystheus to

precede him into the world.

 

For the space of twelve months the Heraclidæ contrived to maintain

themselves in the Peloponnesus; but at the expiration of that time a

pestilence broke out, which spread over the entire peninsula, and compelled

the Heraclidæ to evacuate the country and return to Attica, where for a

time they settled.

 

After the lapse of three years Hyllus resolved on {282} making another

effort to obtain his paternal inheritance. Before setting out on the

expedition, however, he consulted the oracle of Delphi, and the response

was, that he must wait for the third fruit before the enterprise would

prove successful. Interpreting this ambiguous reply to signify the third

summer, Hyllus controlled his impatience for three years, when, having

collected a powerful army, he once more entered the Peloponnesus.

 

At the isthmus of Corinth he was opposed by Atreus, the son of Pelops, who

at the death of Eurystheus had inherited the kingdom. In order to save

bloodshed, Hyllus offered to decide his claims by single combat, the

conditions being, that if he were victorious, he and his brothers should

obtain undisputed possession of their rights; but if defeated, the

Heraclidæ were to desist for fifty years from attempting to press their

claim.

 

The challenge was accepted by Echemon, king of Tegea, and Hyllus lost his

life in the encounter, whereupon the sons of Heracles, in virtue of their

agreement, abandoned the Peloponnesus and retired to Marathon.

 

Hyllus was succeeded by his son Cleodæus, who, at the expiration of the

appointed time, collected a large army and invaded the Peloponnesus; but he

was not more successful than his father had been, and perished there with

all his forces.

 

Twenty years later his son Aristomachus consulted an oracle, which promised

him victory if he went by way of the defile. The Heraclidæ once more set

out, but were again defeated, and Aristomachus shared the fate of his

father and grandfather, and fell on the field of battle.

 

When, at the expiration of thirty years, the sons of Aristomachus, Temenus,

Cresphontes, and Aristodemus again consulted the oracle, the answer was

still the same; but this time the following explanation accompanied the

response: the third fruit signified the third generation, to which they

themselves belonged, and not the third fruit of the earth; and by the

defile was indicated, not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits on the

right of the isthmus.

 

{283}

 

Temenus lost no time in collecting an army and building ships of war; but

just as all was ready and the fleet about to sail, Aristodemus, the

youngest of the brothers, was struck by lightning. To add to their

misfortunes, Hippolytes, a descendant of Heracles, who had joined in the

expedition, killed a soothsayer whom he mistook for a spy, and the gods, in

their displeasure, sent violent tempests, by means of which the entire

fleet was destroyed, whilst famine and pestilence decimated the ranks of

the army.

 

The oracle, on being again consulted, advised that Hippolytes, being the

offender, should be banished from the country for ten years, and that the

command of the troops should be delegated to a man having three eyes. A

search was at once instituted by the Heraclidæ for a man answering to this

description, who was found at length in the person of Oxylus, a descendant

of the Ætolian race of kings. In obedience to the command of the oracle,

Hippolytes was banished, an army and fleet once more equipped, and Oxylus

elected commander-in-chief.

 

And now success at length crowned the efforts of the long-suffering

descendants of the great hero. They obtained possession of the

Peloponnesus, which was divided among them by lot. Argos fell to Temenus,

Lacedæmon to Aristodemus, and Messene to Cresphontes. In gratitude for the

services of their able leader, Oxylus, the kingdom of Elis, was conferred

upon him by the Heraclidæ.

 

THE SIEGE OF TROY.

 

Troy or Ilion was the capital of a kingdom in Asia Minor, situated near the

Hellespont, and founded by Ilus, son of Tros. At the time of the famous

Trojan war this city was under the government of Priam, a direct descendant

of Ilus. Priam was married to Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, king of Thrace;

and among the most celebrated of their children were the renowned and {284}

valiant Hector, the prophetess Cassandra, and Paris, the cause of the

Trojan war.

 

Before the birth of her second son Paris, Hecuba dreamt that she had given

birth to a flaming brand, which was interpreted by Æsacus the seer (a son

of Priam by a former marriage) to signify that she would bear a son who

would cause the destruction of the city of Troy. Anxious to prevent the

fulfilment of the prophecy, Hecuba caused her new-born babe to be exposed

on Mount Ida to perish; but being found by some kind-hearted shepherds, the

child was reared by them, and grew up unconscious of his noble birth.

 

As the boy approached manhood he became remarkable, not only for his

wonderful beauty of form and feature, but also for his strength and

courage, which he exercised in defending the flocks from the attacks of

robbers and wild beasts; hence he was called Alexander, or helper of men.

It was about this time that he settled the famous dispute concerning the

golden apple, thrown by the goddess of Discord into the assembly of the

gods. As we have already seen, he gave his decision in favour of Aphrodite;

thus creating for himself two implacable enemies, for Hera and Athene never

forgave the slight.

 

Paris became united to a beautiful nymph named Oenone, with whom he lived

happily in the seclusion and tranquillity of a pastoral life; but to her

deep grief this peaceful existence was not fated to be of long duration.

 

Hearing that some funereal games were about to be held in Troy in honour of

a departed relative of the king, Paris resolved to visit the capital and

take part in them himself. There he so greatly distinguished himself in a

contest with his unknown brothers, Hector and Deiphobus, that the proud

young princes, enraged that an obscure shepherd should snatch from them the

prize of victory, were about to create a disturbance, when Cassandra, who

had been a spectator of the proceedings, stepped forward, and announced to

them that the humble peasant who had so signally defeated them was their

own {285} brother Paris. He was then conducted to the presence of his

parents, who joyfully acknowledged him as their child; and amidst the

festivities and rejoicings in honour of their new-found son the ominous

prediction of the past was forgotten.

 

As a proof of his confidence, the king now intrusted Paris with a somewhat

delicate mission. As we have already seen in the Legend of Heracles, that

great hero conquered Troy, and after killing king Laomedon, carried away

captive his beautiful daughter Hesione, whom he bestowed in marriage on his

friend Telamon. But although she became princess of Salamis, and lived

happily with her husband, her brother Priam never ceased to regret her

loss, and the indignity which had been passed upon his house; and it was

now proposed that Paris should be equipped with a numerous fleet, and

proceed to Greece in order to demand the restoration of the king's sister.

 

Before setting out on this expedition, Paris was warned by Cassandra

against bringing home a wife from Greece, and she predicted that if he

disregarded her injunction he would bring inevitable ruin upon the city of

Troy, and destruction to the house of Priam.

 

Under the command of Paris the fleet set sail, and arrived safely in

Greece. Here the young Trojan prince first beheld Helen, the daughter of

Zeus and Leda, and sister of the Dioscuri, who was the wife of Menelaus,

king of Sparta, and the loveliest woman of her time. The most renowned

heroes in Greece had sought the honour of her hand; but her stepfather,

Tyndareus, king of Sparta, fearing that if he bestowed her in marriage on

one of her numerous lovers he would make enemies of the rest, made it a

stipulation that all suitors should solemnly swear to assist and defend the

successful candidate, with all the means at their command, in any feud

which might hereafter arise in connection with the marriage. He at length

conferred the hand of Helen upon Menelaus, a warlike prince, devoted to

martial exercises and the pleasures of the chase, to whom he resigned his

throne and kingdom.

 

{286}

 

When Paris arrived at Sparta, and sought hospitality at the royal palace,

he was kindly received by king Menelaus. At the banquet given in his

honour, he charmed both host and hostess by his graceful manner and varied

accomplishments, and specially ingratiated himself with the fair Helen, to

whom he presented some rare and chaste trinkets of Asiatic manufacture.

 

Whilst Paris was still a guest at the court of the king of Sparta, the

latter received an invitation from his friend Idomeneus, king of Crete, to

join him in a hunting expedition; and Menelaus, being of an unsuspicious

and easy temperament, accepted the invitation, leaving to Helen the duty of

entertaining the distinguished stranger. Captivated by her surpassing

loveliness, the Trojan prince forgot every sense of honour and duty, and

resolved to rob his absent host of his beautiful wife. He accordingly

collected his followers, and with their assistance stormed the royal

castle, possessed himself of the rich treasures which it contained, and

succeeded in carrying off its beautiful, and not altogether unwilling

mistress.

 

They at once set sail, but were driven by stress of weather to the island

of Crania, where they cast anchor; and it was not until some years had

elapsed, during which time home and country were forgotten, that Paris and

Helen proceeded to Troy.

 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE WAR.--When Menelaus heard of the violation of his

hearth and home he proceeded to Pylos, accompanied by his brother

Agamemnon, in order to consult the wise old king Nestor, who was renowned

for his great experience and state-craft. On hearing the facts of the case

Nestor expressed it as his opinion that only by means of the combined

efforts of all the states of Greece could Menelaus hope to regain Helen in

defiance of so powerful a kingdom as that of Troy.

 

Menelaus and Agamemnon now raised the war-cry, which was unanimously

responded to from one end of Greece to the other. Many of those who

volunteered {287} their services were former suitors of the fair Helen, and

were therefore bound by their oath to support the cause of Menelaus; others

joined from pure love of adventure, but one and all were deeply impressed

with the disgrace which would attach to their country should such a crime

be suffered to go unpunished. Thus a powerful army was collected in which

few names of note were missing.

 

Only in the case of two great heroes, Odysseus (Ulysses) and Achilles, did

Menelaus experience any difficulty.

 

Odysseus, famed for his wisdom and great astuteness, was at this time

living happily in Ithaca with his fair young wife Penelope and his little

son Telemachus, and was loath to leave his happy home for a perilous

foreign expedition of uncertain duration. When therefore his services were

solicited he feigned madness; but the shrewd Palamedes, a distinguished

hero in the suite of Menelaus, detected and exposed the ruse, and thus

Odysseus was forced to join in the war. But he never forgave the

interference of Palamedes, and, as we shall see, eventually revenged

himself upon him in a most cruel manner.

 

Achilles was the son of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis, who is said to

have dipped her son, when a babe, in the river Styx, and thereby rendered

him invulnerable, except in the right heel, by which she held him. When the

boy was nine years old it was foretold to Thetis that he would either enjoy

a long life of inglorious ease and inactivity, or that after a brief career

of victory he would die the death of a hero. Naturally desirous of

prolonging the life of her son, the fond mother devoutly hoped that the

former fate might be allotted to him. With this view she conveyed him to

the island of Scyros, in the Ægean Sea, where, disguised as a girl, he was

brought up among the daughters of Lycomedes, king of the country.

 

Now that the presence of Achilles was required, owing to an oracular

prediction that Troy could not be taken without him, Menelaus consulted

Calchas the soothsayer, who revealed to him the place of his concealment.

Odysseus was accordingly despatched to Scyros, where, by {288} means of a

clever device, he soon discovered which among the maidens was the object of

his search. Disguising himself as a merchant, Odysseus obtained an

introduction to the royal palace, where he offered to the king's daughters

various trinkets for sale. The girls, with one exception, all examined his

wares with unfeigned interest. Observing this circumstance Odysseus

shrewdly concluded that the one who held aloof must be none other than the

young Achilles himself. But in order further to test the correctness of his

deduction, he now exhibited a beautiful set of warlike accoutrements,

whilst, at a given signal, stirring strains of martial music were heard

outside; whereupon Achilles, fired with warlike ardour, seized the weapons,

and thus revealed his identity. He now joined the cause of the Greeks,

accompanied at the request of his father by his kinsman Patroclus, and

contributed to the expedition a large force of Thessalian troops, or

Myrmidons, as they were called, and also fifty ships.

 

For ten long years Agamemnon and the other chiefs devoted all their energy

and means in preparing for the expedition against Troy. But during these

warlike preparations an attempt at a peaceful solution of the difficulty

was not neglected. An embassy consisting of Menelaus, Odysseus, &c., was

despatched to king Priam demanding the surrender of Helen; but though the

embassy was received with the utmost pomp and ceremony, the demand was

nevertheless rejected; upon which the ambassadors returned to Greece, and

the order was given for the fleet to assemble at Aulis, in Boeotia.

 

Never before in the annals of Greece had so large an army been collected. A

hundred thousand warriors were assembled at Aulis, and in its bay floated

over a thousand ships, ready to convey them to the Trojan coast. The

command of this mighty host was intrusted to Agamemnon, king of Argos, the

most powerful of all the Greek princes.

 

Before the fleet set sail solemn sacrifices were offered to the gods on the

sea-shore, when suddenly a serpent was seen to ascend a plane-tree, in

which was a sparrow's {289} nest containing nine young ones. The reptile

first devoured the young birds and then their mother, after which it was

turned by Zeus into stone. Calchas the soothsayer, on being consulted,

interpreted the miracle to signify that the war with Troy would last for

nine years, and that only in the tenth would the city be taken.

 

DEPARTURE OF THE GREEK FLEET.--The fleet then set sail; but mistaking the

Mysian coast for that of Troy, they landed troops and commenced to ravage

the country. Telephus, king of the Mysians, who was a son of the great hero

Heracles, opposed them with a large army, and succeeded in driving them

back to their ships, but was himself wounded in the engagement by the spear

of Achilles. Patroclus, who fought valiantly by the side of his kinsman,

was also wounded in this battle; but Achilles, who was a pupil of Chiron,

carefully bound up the wound, which he succeeded in healing; and from this

incident dates the celebrated friendship which ever after existed between

the two heroes, who even in death remained united.

 

The Greeks now returned to Aulis. Meanwhile, the wound of Telephus proving

incurable, he consulted an oracle, and the response was, that he alone who

had inflicted the wound possessed the power of curing it. Telephus

accordingly proceeded to the Greek camp, where he was healed by Achilles,

and, at the solicitation of Odysseus, consented to act as guide in the

voyage to Troy.

 

Just as the expedition was about to start for the second time, Agamemnon

had the misfortune to kill a hind sacred to Artemis, who, in her anger,

sent continuous calms, which prevented the fleet from setting sail. Calchas

on being consulted announced that the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter

of Agamemnon, would alone appease the incensed goddess. How Agamemnon at length overcame his feelings as a father, and how Iphigenia was saved by Artemis herself, has been already related in a previous chapter.