The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-30
"a TALE OF TROY "
Offered for the Study OF fAdults-Snggested
by "Grandpa's" Story Published in
Herald and News.

offered for the Study OF tAdults-SnSGesteo
by "Grandpa's" Story Published in
Herald and News.
To the Editor of The Herald and
News: "a Tale of Troy" in your paper
of May the 2lst, for children, is so in-
teresting that 1 offer one for adults
embracing part of the same narrative
and some other matters not mentioned
in it.
The Had and Odyssey Of Homer,
'the blind ole. man OF Scio," possess in
describable expressions of thought and
grandeur of description. Take for in
stance the description of Jupiter's call
ing the gods to council just after the
break of day:
Aurora, now, fair daughter of the
dawn,
SprinkIed with rosy light the dewy
lawn,
When Jove convened the Senate ofthe
skies,
Where high Olympus's cloudy tops
arise;
The sire of gods the awful silence
broke,
The heavens. attentive, trembled as he
spoke"
See another description Of similar
event, which shows the great poets
versatility:
"Soon as Aurora heaved her orient
head
Above the seas, that blushed with early
red,
With new born day, to gladden. mortal
sight
And Gid the courts of heaven with
sacred light;
Then Jove to Themis gave command
to call
The gods to council in the starry hall;
Swift DER Olympus's hundred hills she
flies,
And summons all the senate Of the
skies"
The above are specimens from the
Had of Homer's inimitable beauties,
seen in both his poems.
The Had describes the war between
the Greeks and Trojsns, mainly from
the time of the quarrel between At
rides and Achilles, the sulking of the
latter in his tent; his reconciliation fol-
lowed by his killing Hector, when it
closes.
The subsequent stratagem Of the
wooden horse and consequent destruc-
ton of Troy is told in full in Virgips
Aeneid, the English translation OF
which, by Dryden, fully equals that Of
Homer by Pope. The story of the
wooden horse is perhaps the most re-
markable one, either in epic poetry or
history; it shows how strategy may
succeed where force alone fails, also
that We should never trust appear
ances that may be deceptive. such
were those of the horse, the danger Of
whose admittance was SO apparent to
LAGOON, the priest, that, to convince
the Trojans of it, he pierced it with his
spear or dart, after telling them of the
danger. Dryden's translation :hus de-
scribes it:
"Thus having said, against the steed
he threw
His forceful dart, which, whizzing as it
flew,
It tore its way through joints of cracA-
ling wood,
And, quivering, in the hollow belly
stood;
Then groans of Greeks came issuing
from the wound"
Such, however, was tbs iDfatuation
of the people, and such their desire fer
peace, that they believed the false rep
resentations of the pretended Greek
deserter, the crafty Simon, who told
them chat the horse wotld fill the
place of the statue of Minerva which
made the city impregnable, but which
Ulysses and Diomede had stolen. Also
that the Greeks would leave, which
they could not safely do until that
reparation was made.
The infatuated Trojans took in the
fatal steed, Simon opened it in the night
while the joyful inhabitants were in
dulging in festivity, let out Ulysses and
his band, who opened the gates to the
now returned Grecian forces, who i'm
mediately sacked and burned the
city.
While they were destroying it they
met most formidable resistance from
the Trojan soldiers, which Virgil thus
describes:
"From their dowu-fallipg towers the
Trojans throw
Huge heaps of stones which, falling,
crush the foe;
And beams and rafters from its lofty
sides,
Such arms their last necessity provides.
There, where the rafters on the col
umns meet,
They shove them headlong with their
hands and feet;
Inc NSntDlng lies nOG s"liteI tn%n
..-, they fall,
nor thunder louder than the ruined
wall;
Down goes the tops at once; the Greeks
beneath
Are piecemeal torn, and pounded into
death;
Yet more succeed, aud more to death
are sent.
Nor those below will cease, nor those
~ above relent."
The destruction of this splendid and
beautiful city was caused by Helen, the
haDdsomest woman in the world, thus
showing what evil unhallowed beauty
can accomplish. The wooden horse is