Chrestomathy

1. By the same author, concerning the poems called the "Cypria"

Following upon these comes the poem called the "Cypria," handed down in eleven books; of whose authorship we shall speak later, that we may not now interrupt the continuous account. Its contents are as follows.

Zeus takes counsel with Thetis about the Trojan War. Strife arrives while the gods are feasting at the wedding of Peleus and stirs up a quarrel about beauty among Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite; and they are led by Hermes, at the command of Zeus, to Alexander on Mount Ida for the judgment. Alexander, won over by the promise of marriage with Helen, gives the preference to Aphrodite.

Then, at Aphrodite's prompting, he has ships built; and Helenus foretells to them what is to come; and Aphrodite bids Aeneas sail with him; and Cassandra reveals beforehand what is to come.

Alexander lands in Lacedaemon and is entertained as a guest by the sons of Tyndareus; and after this, at Sparta, in the house of Menelaus and Helen, Alexander gives gifts during the feasting. And after this Menelaus sails off to Crete, charging Helen to provide the strangers with what they need until they depart. Meanwhile Aphrodite brings Helen together with Alexander; and after their union they load up the greater part of the treasures and sail away by night.

But Hera raises a storm against them; and Alexander, driven to Sidon, takes the city. Then, sailing off to Ilium, he celebrates his marriage with Helen.

Meanwhile Castor, together with Polydeuces, are caught stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynceus; and Castor is killed by Idas, but Lynceus and Idas are killed by Polydeuces; and Zeus grants them immortality on alternate days.

And after this Iris reports to Menelaus what has happened in his house. He returns and takes counsel with his brother about the expedition against Ilium, and Menelaus then goes to Nestor. In a digression Nestor relates to him how Epopeus, having seduced the daughter of Lycurgus, was utterly destroyed; and the story of Oedipus, and the madness of Heracles, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne.

Then they go through Greece and gather the leaders. They detect Odysseus, who had feigned madness because he did not wish to join the expedition, when, at the suggestion of Palamedes, they snatched up his son Telemachus to punish him.

And after this they assemble at Aulis and offer sacrifice; and the portent of the serpent and the sparrows is shown to them, and Calchas foretells to them what is to come about.

Then they put out to sea and put in at Teuthrania, which they began to ravage, taking it for Ilium. But Telephus comes to its defence and kills Thersander, the son of Polyneices, and is himself wounded by Achilles. As they sail off from Mysia, a storm falls upon them and they are scattered; and Achilles, putting in at Scyros, marries Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes.

Then Achilles heals Telephus, who had come to Argos in accordance with an oracle, on condition that he should become their guide for the voyage to Ilium.

When the fleet had assembled for the second time at Aulis, Agamemnon, having shot a deer while hunting, declared that he surpassed even Artemis. The goddess, in her wrath, held them back from sailing by sending storms upon them; and when Calchas had told them of the goddess's wrath and had bidden them sacrifice Iphigenia to Artemis, they send for her as though for marriage to Achilles and set about the sacrifice. But Artemis snatches her away and carries her off to the land of the Taurians, and makes her immortal, setting a deer at the altar in place of the girl.

Then they sail to Tenedos; and while they are feasting, Philoctetes, struck by a water-snake, is left behind on Lemnos because of the foul stench; and Achilles, having been summoned late, quarrels with Agamemnon.

Then, as they disembark at Ilium, the Trojans hold them off, and Protesilaus is killed by Hector. Then Achilles routs them, having slain Cycnus, the son of Poseidon; and they take up their dead. They send envoys to the Trojans, demanding back Helen and the treasures; and when the Trojans would not give heed, they then assault the walls. Then they go out over the country and ravage the neighbouring cities as well.

And after this Achilles conceives a desire to behold Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis brought them together to the same place. Then, when the Achaeans were eager to return home, Achilles holds them back. After that he drives off the cattle of Aeneas, and he sacks Lyrnessus and Pedasus and many of the surrounding cities, and he kills Troilus. And Patroclus, taking Lycaon to Lemnos, sells him there.

From the spoils Achilles receives Briseis as his prize of honour, and Agamemnon receives Chryseis. Then comes the death of Palamedes, and the plan of Zeus to relieve the Trojans by withdrawing Achilles from the Greek alliance; and a catalogue of those who fought as allies of the Trojans.