"Surely I take thought for all these things, my wife; but I have very sore shame of the Trojans and Trojan dames with trailing robes, if like a coward I shrink away from battle. Moreover mine own soul forbiddeth me, seeing I have learned ever to be valiant and fight in the forefront 5 of the Trojans, winning my father's great glory and mine own. Yea of a surety I know this in heart and soul; the day shall come for holy Ilios to be laid low, and Priam and the folk of Priam of the good ashen spear. "Yet doth the anguish of the Trojans hereafter not so 10 much trouble me, neither Hekabe's own, neither King Priam's, neither my brethren's, the many and brave that shall fall in the dust before their foemen, as doth thine anguish in the day when some mail-clad Achaian shall lead thee weeping and rob thee of the light of freedom. So 15 shalt thou abide in Argos and ply the loom at another woman's bidding, and bear water from the fount Messeis or Hyperia, being grievously entreated, and sore constraint shall be laid upon thee. And then shall one say that beholdeth thee weep: This is the wife of Hector, that 20 was foremost in battle of the horse-taming Trojans when men fought about Ilios.' Thus shall one say hereafter, and fresh grief will be thine for lack of such a husband as thou hadst to ward off the day of thraldom. But me in death may the heaped-up earth be covering, ere I hear thy 25 crying and thy carrying into captivity." So spake glorious Hector, and stretched out his arm to his boy. But the child shrunk crying to the bosom of his fair-girdled nurse, dismayed at his dear father's aspect, and in dread at the bronze and horsehair crest that 30 he beheld nodding fiercely from the helmet's top. Then his dear father laughed aloud, and his lady mother; forthwith glorious Hector took the helmet from his head, and laid it all gleaming upon the earth; then kissed he his dear son and dandled him in his arms, and 5 spake in prayer to Zeus and all the gods: "O Zeus and all ye gods, vouchsafe ye that this my son may likewise prove even as I, preeminent amid the Trojans, and as valiant in might, and be a great king of Ilios. Then men may say of him, Far greater is he than his father,' 10 as he returneth home from battle; and may he bring with him blood-stained spoils from the foemen he hath slain, and may his mother's heart be glad." So spake he, and laid his son in his dear wife's arms; and she took him to her fragrant bosom, smiling tearfully. 15 And her husband had pity to see her, and caressed her with his hand, and spake and called upon her name: "Dear one, I pray thee be not of oversorrowful heart; no man against my fate shall hurl me to Hades; only destiny, I ween, no man hath escaped, be he coward or be he valiant, when 20 once he hath been born. But go thou to thine house and see to thine own tasks, the loom and distaff, and bid thine handmaidens ply their work; but for war men shall provide, and I in chief of all men that dwell in Ilios." So spake glorious Hector, and took up his horsehair25 crested helmet; and his dear wife departed to her home, oft looking back, and letting fall big tears. Anon she came to the well-stablished house of manslaying Hector, and found therein her many handmaidens, and stirred lamentation in them all. So bewailed they Hector, while 30 yet he lived, within his house for they deemed that he would no more come back to them from battle, nor escape the fury of the hands of the Achaians. Ăn drăm'ächẽ. Éětion. Skā mãndri os. Ås ty'ä năm: city king. A chil'les: the greatest of the Greek heroes who besieged Troy. Bǎr'row: a large mound of earth or stone raised over the remains of the dead. Aē'gis-bearing: shieldbearing. Zeus is represented as wearing a shield of stormcloud, made for him by Hephæstus, the god of fire. Ha'dēs: the ruler of the lower world, the place of the dead. Är'té mís: the moon goddess, whose arrows were said to send upon women a speedy and painless death. Ai ăn'tés. I dom'è neus: a Greek hero, king of Crete. Sons of A'treus: Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks against Troy, and Menelaus, at whose solicitation the war was undertaken. Tyd'eus' valiant son: Diomedes, a Greek hero second only to Achilles in heroic qualities. Hěk'a be or Hĕc'ü bȧ: the wife of Priam, king of Troy. Měs sē'is. Hypēri'ȧ. Thral'dom: bondage; slavery. Ween: think. Sonnet: On First Looking into Chapman's "Homer" BY JOHN KEATS John Keats (1795-1821): An English poet of much promise cut short by an early death. He wrote "Endymion," "Hyperion," "The Eve of St. Agnes," and other poems. Much have I traveled in the realms of gold, That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne: 5 10 Looked at each other with a wild surmise, Silent, upon a peak in Darien. Dễ mēsne': a lord's private property kept for his own use. George Chapman (1557-1634): an English poet who made a spirited translation of Homer into English verse. The Renaissance FROM "LECTURES ON ENGLISH HISTORY," BY M. J. GUEST The time was a most interesting one. All sorts of wonderful things were being done or thought, which excited 5 the minds of men, opened their eyes, and stirred their hopes. The old times, which were almost worn out, were passing away, and new ones were beginning. This period at the close of the Wars of the Roses was the end of the Middle Ages, and the death of the feudal system. 10 But if it was the death of one order of things, it was the life and new birth of others, as is expressed by the very name which this period often bears the Renaissance, the being born again. In some ways men now went back to very old times, which had been long buried 15 and nearly forgotten, and, as it were, brought them to life again. And many quite new and wonderful things came to life now also, so that it was a time of great spirit and stir, full of eagerness and anticipation and wonder. We shall first notice one or two of the quite new things 20 which came into life, and then some of the quite old ones which were revived. First, then, we may almost say the world itself grew larger, as if to make room for the great hopes and schemes of men, by the discovery of America. Hitherto only the 25 three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa had been known; but now the two great Americas were added to the map of the world. At first, of course, only small parts were touched at and discovered; but whatever was seen and gradually approached must have struck the imagination very forcibly. 5 In America everything seems immense; the mountains, the rivers, the lakes are all on a vast scale compared with any of those in Europe. As travelers saw more and more of these they must have been amazed. Then there was the wonderful vegetation: the infinite forests, the giant 10 trees, the climbing plants, the flowers: the strange animals, lovely humming birds, and uncouth alligators; and, again, the curious red-hued men; some half savage, some civilized after a fashion of their own, with their religion, their temples, their arts and history and legends. In this 15 region, too, there were great stores of gold, which has always had a fascination for the eyes of man. The alchemists, with all their toil, had never succeeded in making one of those pure, shining grains; but here it was in abundance. All this was very exciting and animating. It was 20 really a new world opening. Never, in all our lives, can we know what it was to find oneself living on the brink of such a wonderland as America seemed for the first hundred years or more after its discovery. It would have been a great pride and pleasure to have 25 been able to say that England had the glory of discovering, or even helping to discover, this new world beyond the sea. It was almost by chance that she did not, as Christopher Columbus, who could not find any one to help him with money or ships, though he applied to Genoa, 30 Portugal, and Spain, one after the other, at last sent his brother Bartholomew to England, to see if its king would |