Apollodorus, Epitome
Sir James George Frazer, Ed.

1 These events were narrated in the Aethiopis of Arctinus, as we learn from the summary of that poem drawn up by Proclus. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 33. Compare Diod. 2.46.5; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica i.18ff., 227ff., 538ff.; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 6ff., 100ff., 136ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 999; Dictys Cretensis iv.2ff. Quintus Smyrnaeus explains more fully than Apollodorus the reason why Penthesilia came to Troy （Posthomerica i.18ff.）. Aiming at a deer in the chase, she had accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte with her spear, and, haunted by the Furies of the slain woman, she came to Troy to be purified from her guilt. The same story is told more briefly by Diodorus Siculus. According to Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 999, Thersites excited the wrath of Achilles, not only by his foul accusations, but by gouging out the eyes of the beautiful Amazon. In the Aethiopis it was related how, after killing the base churl, Achilles sailed to Lesbos and was there purified from the guilt of murder by Ulysses, but not until he had offered sacrifice to Apollo, Artemis, and Latona. See Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 33. The mother of Penthesilia is named Otrere （Otrera） by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 997 and Hyginus, Fab. 112, in agreement with Apollodorus. Machaon is usually said to have been killed by Eurypylus, and not, as Apollodorus says, by Penthesilia. See Paus. 3.26.9; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.390ff.; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 520ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 113. From Paus. 3.26.9 we learn that Eurypylus, not Penthesilia, was represented as the slayer in the Little Iliad of Lesches.

2 See above, Apollod. E.1.17. The two passages are practically duplicates of each other. The former occurs in the Sabbaitic, the latter in the Vatican Epitome of Apollodorus. The author of the one compendium preferred to relate the incident in the history of Theseus, the other in the history of Troy.

3 These events were narrated in the Aethiopis of Arctinus, as we learn from the summary of Proclus. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 33. Compare Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica ii.100ff., 235ff., 452ff.; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 234ff.; Dictys Cretensis iv.6. The fight between Memnon and Achilles was represented on the throne of Apollo at Amyclae, and on the chest of Cypselus at Olympia （Paus. 3.18.12; Paus. 5.19.1）. It was also the subject of a group of statuary, which was set up beside the Hippodamium at Olympia （Paus. 5.22.2）. Some fragments of the pedestal which supported the group have been discovered: one of them bears the name MEMNON inscribed in archaic letters. See Die Inschriften von Olympia 662; and Frazer, commentary on Pausanias, vol. iii. pp. 629ff. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy on the subject called Psychostasia, in which he described Zeus weighing the souls of the rival heroes in scales. See Plut. De audiendis poetis 2; Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.70; TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 88ff. A play of Sophocles, called The Ethiopians, probably dealt with the same theme. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 22ff. The slaying of Antilochus by Memnon is mentioned by Hom. Od. 4.187ff.

4 The death of Achilles was similarly related in the Aethiopis of Arctinus. See Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 33ff. Compare Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iii.26-387; Hyginus, Fab. 107. All these writers agree with Apollodorus in saying that the fatal wound was inflicted on the heel of Achilles. The story ran that at his birth his mother Thetis made Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the water of Styx; but his heel, by which she held him, was not wetted by the water and so remained vulnerable. See Serv. Verg. A. 6.57; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. i.134; Lactantius Placidus, Narrat. Fabul. xii.6; Fulgentius, Mytholog. iii.7. Tradition varied as to the agent of Achilles's death. Some writers, like Arctinus and Apollodorus, say that the hero was killed by Apollo and Paris jointly. Thus in Hom. Il. 22.359ff.） the dying Hector prophesies that Achilles will be slain by Paris and Apollo at the Scaean gate; and the same prophecy is put by Homer more darkly into the mouth of the talking horse Xanthus, who, like Balaam's ass, warns his master of the danger that besets his path （Hom. Il. 19.404ff.）. According to Virgil and Ovid, it was the hand of Paris that discharged the fatal arrow, but the hand of Apollo that directed it to the mark. See Verg. A. 6.56-58; Ov. Met. 12.597-609. According to Hyginus, it was Apollo in the guise of Paris who transfixed the mortal heel of Achilles with an arrow （Hyginus, Fab. 107）. But in one passage （Hom. Il. 21.277ff.） homer speaks of the death of Achilles as wrought by the shafts of Apollo alone; and this version was followed by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iii.60ff. and apparently by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Horace. See Plat. Rep. 2.383a-b; Soph. Phil. 334ff.; Hor. Carm. 4.6.1ff. Other writers, on the contrary, speak of Paris alone as the slayer of Achilles. See Eur. And. 655; Eur. Hec. 387ff.; Plut. Quaest. Conviv. ix.13.2; Plut. Lys. 4. A very different version of the story connected the death of Achilles with a romantic passion he had conceived for Polyxena, daughter of Priam. It is said that Priam offered her hand in marriage to Achilles on condition that the siege of Troy was raised. In the negotiations which were carried on for this purpose Achilles went alone and unarmed to the temple of Thymbraean Apollo and was there treacherously assassinated, Deiphobus clasping him to his breast in a pretended embrace of friendship while Paris stabbed him with a sword. See Tzetzes, Posthomerica 385-423; Philostratus, Her. xx.16ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 110; Dictys Cretensis iv.10ff.; Serv. Verg. A. 6.57; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. i.134; Dares Phrygius, De excidio Trojae 34; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 13, 143 (First Vatican Mythographer 36; Second Vatican Mythographer 205). Of these writers, the Second Vatican Mythographer tells us that Achilles first saw Polyxena, Hector's sister, when she stood on a tower in the act of throwing down bracelets and earrings with which to ransom Hector's body, and that when Achilles came to the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo to ratify the treaty of marriage and peace, Paris lurked behind the image of the god and shot the confiding hero with an arrow. This seems to be the account of the death which Serv. Verg. A. 6.57 and Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. i.134 followed in their briefer narrative. Compare Nonnus, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum 62, p. 382.

5 According to Arctinus in the Aethiopis, when the body of Achilles was lying in state, his mother Thetis came with the Muses and her sisters and mourned over her dead son; then she snatched it away from the pyre and conveyed it to the White Isle; but the Greeks raised a sepulchral mound and held games in honour of the departed hero. See Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 34. Compare Hom. Od. 24.43-92; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iii.525-787 （the laying-out of the body, the lamentation of Thetis, the Nereids, and the Muses, and the burning of the corpse）; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 431-467; Dictys Cretensis iv.13, 15. Homer tells how the bones of Achilles, after his body had been burnt on the pyre, were laid with the bones of his friend Patroclus in a golden urn, made by Hephaestus, which Thetis had received from Dionysus. The urn was buried at the headland of Sigeum, according to Tzetzes and Dictys Cretensis. In Quintus Smyrnaeus, iii.766-780 we read how Poseidon comforted Thetis by assuring her that Achilles, her sorrow, was not dead, for he himself would bestow on the departed hero an island in the Euxine Sea where he should be a god for evermore, worshipped with sacrifices by the neighbouring tribes. The promised land was the White Isle mentioned by Apollodorus. It is described as a wooded island off the mouth of the Danube. In it there was a temple of Achilles with an image of him; and there the hero was said to dwell immortal with Helen for his wife and his friends Patroclus and Antilochus for his companions. There he chanted the verses of Homer, and mariners who sailed near the island could hear the song wafted clearly across the water; while such as put in to the shore or anchored off the coast, heard the trampling of horses, the shouts of warriors, and the clash of arms. See Paus. 3.19.11-13; Philostratus, Her. xx.32-40. As the mortal remains of Achilles were buried in the Troad, and only his immortal spirit was said to dwell in the White Isle, the statement of Apollodorus that the Greeks interred him in the White Isle must be regarded as erroneous, whether the error is due to Apollodorus himself, or, as is more probable, either to his abbreviator or to a copyist. Perhaps in the original form of his work Apollodorus followed Arctinus in describing how Thetis snatched the body of Achilles from the pyre and transported it to the White Isle.

6 Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.810ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 174. According to the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.815, the first to affirm that Achilles married Medea in the Elysian Fields was the poet Ibycus, and the tale was afterwards repeated by Simonides. The story is unknown to Homer, who describes the shade of Achilles repining at his lot and striding alone in the Asphodel Meadow （Hom. Od. 11.471-540）.

7 The funeral games in honour of Achilles are described at full length, in the orthodox manner, by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iv.88-595. He agrees with Apollodorus in representing Teucer and Ajax as victorious in the contests of archery and quoit-throwing respectively （Posthomerica iv.405ff., 436ff.）; and he seems to have described Eumelus as the winner of the chariot-race （Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iv.500ff.）, but the conclusion of the race is lost through a gap in the text.

8 These events were narrated in the Little Iliad of Lesches. See Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 36; compare Aristot. Poet. 1459b 4ff.. The contest between Ajax and Ulysses for the arms of Achilles was also related in the Aethiopis of Arctinus. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 34. It was known to Hom. Od. 11.542ff., who tells us that the Trojans and Pallas Athena acted as judges and awarded the arms to Ulysses. A Scholiast on Hom. Od. 11.547 informs us that Agamemnon, unwilling to undertake the invidious duty of deciding between the two competitors, referred the dispute to the decision of the Trojan prisoners, inquiring of them which of the two heroes had done most harm to the Trojans. The prisoners decided that Ulysses was the man, and the arms were therefore awarded to him. According to another account, which was adopted by the author of the Little Iliad, the Greeks on the advice of Nestor sent spies to the walls of Troy to overhear the Trojans discussing the respective merits of the two champions. They heard two girls debating the question, and thinking that she who gave the preference to Ulysses reasoned the better, they decided accordingly. See Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn. 1056. According to Pind. N. 8.26(45)ff., it was the Greeks who by secret votes decided in favour of Ulysses. The subject was treated by Aeschylus in a lost play called The Decision of the Arms. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 57ff. The madness and suicide of Ajax, consequent on his disappointment at not being awarded the arms, are the theme of Sophocles's extant tragedy Ajax. As to the contest for the arms, see further Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica v.121ff.; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 481ff.; Zenobius, Cent. i.43; Hyginus, Fab. 107; Ov. Met. 12.620-628, xiii.1-398. Quintus Smyrnaeus and Tzetzes agree in representing the Trojan captives as the judges in the dispute, while Ovid speaks of the Greek chiefs sitting in judgment and deciding in favour of Ulysses. According to Zenobius, Cent. i.43, Ajax in his frenzy scourged two rams, believing that he was scourging Agamemnon and Menelaus. This account is based on the description of the frenzy of Ajax in Soph. Aj. 97-110, Soph. Aj. 237-244）.

9 Similarly the author of the Little Iliad said that the body of Ajax was not burned, but placed in a coffin “on account of the wrath of the king.” See Eustathius on Hom. Il. ii.557, p. 285. Philostratus tells us that the body was laid in the earth by direction of the seer Calchas, “because suicides may not lawfully receive the burial by fire” （Philostratus, Her. xiii.7）. This was probably the true reason for the tradition that the corpse was not cremated in the usual way. For the ghosts of suicides appear to be commonly dreaded; hence unusual modes of disposing of their bodies are adopted in order to render their spirits powerless for mischief. For example, the Baganda of Central Africa, who commonly bury their dead in the earth, burn the bodies of suicides on waste land or at crossroads in order to destroy the ghosts; for they believe that if the ghost of a suicide is not thus destroyed, it will tempt other people to imitate its example. As an additional precaution everyone who passed the place where the body of a suicide had been burnt threw some grass or a few sticks on the spot, “so as to prevent the ghost from catching him, in case it had not been destroyed.” For the same reason, if a man took his life by hanging himself on a tree, the tree was torn up by the roots and burned with the body; if he had killed himself in a house, the house was pulled down and the materials consumed with fire; for “people feared to live in a house in which a suicide had taken place, lest they too should be tempted to commit the same crime.” See J. Roscoe, The Baganda （London, 1911）, pp. 20ff., 289. Similar customs prevailed among the Banyoro, a neighbouring nation of Central Africa. “It was said to be necessary to destroy a tree upon which a person had hanged himself and to burn down a house in which a person had committed suicide, otherwise they would be a danger to people in general and would influence them to commit suicide.” See J. Roscoe, The Northern Bantu （Cambridge, 1915）, pp. 24ff. （where, however, the burning of the body is not expressly mentioned）. In like manner the Hos of Togoland, in West Africa, are much afraid of the ghost of a suicide. They believe that the ghost of a man who has hanged himself will torment the first person who sees the body. Hence when the relations of such a man approach the corpse they protect themselves against the ghost by wearing magical cords and smearing their faces with a magical powder. The tree on which a man hanged himself is cut down, and the branch on which he tied the fatal noose is lopped off. To this branch the corpse is then tied and dragged ruthlessly through the woods, over stones and through thorny bushes, to the place where “men of blood,” that is, all who die a violent death, are buried. There they dig a shallow grave in great haste and throw the body in. Having done so they run home; for they say that the ghosts of “men of blood” fling stones at such as do not retreat fast enough, and that he who is struck by one of these stones must die. The houses of such men are broken down and burnt. A suicide is believed to defile the land and to prevent rain from falling. Hence the district where a man has killed himself must be purified by a sacrifice offered to the Earth-god. See J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme （Berlin, 1906）, pp. 272, 274, 276ff. 756, 758. As to the special treatment of the bodies of suicides, see R. Lasch, “Die Behandlung der Leiche des Selbstmorders,” Globus, lxxvi. （Brunswick, 1899, pp. 63-66）. In the Ajax of Sophocles the rites of burial are at first refused, but afterwards conceded, to the dead body of Ajax; and though these ceremonies are not described, we may assume that they included the burning of the corpse on a pyre. This variation from what appears to be the usual tradition may have been introduced by Sophocles out of deference to the religious feelings of the Athenians, who worshipped Ajax as a hero, and who would have been shocked to think of his remains being denied the ordinary funeral honours. See Jebb's Introduction to his edition of the Ajax（Cambridge, 1896）, pp. xxix.ff. As to the worship of Ajax at Athens, see Paus. 1.35.3; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum ii. 467-471; Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum 717, vol. ii. p. 370. From these inscriptions we learn that the Athenian youths used to sail across every year to Salamis and there sacrifice to Ajax.

10 These events are related in precisely the same way, though with many poetic embellishments, by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica ix.325-479 （the fetching of Philoctetes from Lemnos and the healing of him by Podalirius）, Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica x.206ff. （Paris wounded to death by the arrows of Philoctetes）. The story was told somewhat differently by Lesches in the Little Iliad. According to him, the prophecy that Troy could not be taken without the help of Philoctetes was uttered, not by Calchas, but by the Trojan seer Helenus, whom Ulysses had captured; Philoctetes was brought from Lemnos by Diomedes alone, and he was healed, not by Podalirius, but by Machaon. The account of Tzetzes, Posthomerica 571-595 agrees with that of Lesches in respect of the prophecy of Helenus and the cure by Machaon. Sophocles also followed the Little Iliad in putting the prophecy in the mouth of the captured Trojan seer Helenus （Soph. Phil. 604-613）. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 911. In their plays on the subject （see above, note on Apollod. E.3.27） Euripides and Sophocles differed as to the envoys whom the Greeks sent to bring the wounded Philoctetes from Lemnos to Troy. According to Euripides, with whom Apollodorus, Quintus Smyrnaeus, and Hyginus, Fab. 103 agree, the envoys were Ulysses and Diomedes; according to Sophocles, they were Ulysses and Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. See Dio Chrysostom lii. vol. ii. p. 161, ed. L. Dindorf; Jebb's Introduction to his edition of Sophocles, Philoctetes （Cambridge, 1898）, pp. xvff.; TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 613ff. However, while Sophocles diverges from what seems to have been the usual story by representing Neoptolemus instead of Diomedes as the companion of Ulysses on this errand, he implicitly recognizes the other version by putting it in the mouth of the merchant （Soph. Phil. 570-597）. A painting at the entrance to the acropolis of Athens represented Ulysses or Diomedes （it is uncertain which） in the act of carrying off the bow of Philoctetes. See Paus. 1.22.6, with Frazer's commentary (vol. ii. pp. 263ff.). The combat between Philoctetes and Paris is described by Malalas, Chr. v. pp. 110ff., ed. L. Dindorf.

11 Compare Conon 34; Serv. Verg. A. 2.166. The marriage of Deiphobus to Helen after the death of Paris was related in the Little Iliad. See Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 36. Compare Tzetzes, Posthomerica 600ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on. Lycophron, 143, 168; Eur. Tro. 959ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 24.251, and on Od. iv.276; Dictys Cretensis iv.22. The marriage was seemingly known to Hom. Od. 4.276.

12 As to the capture of Helenus and his prophecy, see Soph. Phil. 604ff.; Soph. Phil. 1337ff.; Conon 34; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 571-579; Tzetzes, Chiliades vi.508-515; Serv. Verg. A. 2.166; Dictys Cretensis ii.18. The mode of his capture and the substance of his prophecies were variously related. The need of fetching the bones of Pelops is mentioned by Tzetzes among the predictions of Helenus; and the necessity of obtaining the Palladium is recorded by Conon and Servius. According to Paus. 5.13.4, it was a shoulder-blade of Pelops that was brought from Pisa to Troy; on the return from Troy the bone was lost in a shipwreck, but afterwards recovered by a fisherman.

13 As to the Palladium, see above, Apollod. 3.12.3.

14 As to the fetching of Neoptolemus from Scyros, see Hom. Od. 11.506ff.; the Little Iliad of Lesches, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 36ff.; Pind. Pa. 6.98ff.; Soph. Phil. 343-356; Philostratus Junior, Im. 2; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.57-113, vii.169- 430; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 523-534. Apollodorus agrees with Sophocles in saying that the Greek envoys who fetched Neoptolemus from Scyros were Ulysses and Phoenix. According to Quintus Smyrnaeus, they were Ulysses and Diomedes. Ulysses is the only envoy mentioned by Homer, Lesches, and Tzetzes; and Phoenix is the only envoy mentioned by Philostratus. Pindar speaks vaguely of “messengers.” In this passage I have adopted Wagner's conjecture πείθουσι < αὐ> τὸν νεοπτόλεμον προέσθαι, “persuaded him to let Neoptolemus go.” If this conjecture is not accepted, we seem forced to translate the passage “persuaded Neoptolemus to venture.” But I cannot cite any exact parallel to such a use of the middle of προΐημι. When employed absolutely, the verb seems often to convey a bad meaning. Thus Demosthenes uses it in the sense of “throwing away a chance,” “neglecting an opportunity” （Dem.19.150, 152, μὴ πρόεσθαι, οὐ προήσεσθαι）. Iphicrates employed it with the same significance （quoted by Aristot. Rh. 2.1397b διότι προεῖτο）. Aristotle applied the verb to a man who had “thrown away” his health （Aristot. Nic. Eth. 3.1114a 15, τότε μὲν οὖν ἐξῆν αὐτῷ μὴ νοσεῖν, προεμένῳ δ᾽ οὐκέτι, ὥσπερ οὐδ᾽ ἀφέντι λίθον ἔτ᾽ αὐτὸν δυνατὸν ἀναλαβεῖν）. However, elsewhere Aristotle uses the word to describe the lavish liberality of generous men （Aristot. Rh. 1.1366b, εἶτα ἡ ἐλευθεριότης: προΐενται γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἀνταγωνίζονται περὶ τῶν χρημάτων, ὧν μάλιστα ἐφίενται ἄλλοι）. In the present passage of Apollodorus, if Wagner's emendation is not accepted, we might perhaps read <μὴ>πρόεσθαι and translate, “persuaded Neoptolemus not to throw away the chance.” But it is better to acquiesce in Wagner's simple and probable correction.

15 As to the single combat of Eurypylus and Neoptolemus, and the death of Eurypylus, see Hom. Od. 11.516-521; the Little Iliad of Lesches, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 37; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica viii.128-220; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 560-565; Dictys Cretensis iv.17. Eurypulus was king of Mysia. At first his mother Astyoche refused to let him go to the Trojan war, but Priam overcame her scruples by the present of a golden vine. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.520. The brief account which Apollodorus gives of the death of Eurypylus agrees closely with the equally summary narrative of Proclus. Sophocles composed a tragedy on the subject, of which some very mutilated fragments have been discovered in Egypt. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 146ff.; A. S. Hunt, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta Papyracea nuper reperta （Oxford; no date, no pagination）.

16 These events were narrated in the Little Iliad of Lesches, as we learn from the summary of Proclus (Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 37), which runs thus: “And Ulysses, having disfigured himself, comes as a spy to Troy, and being recognized by Helen he makes a compact with her concerning the capture of the city; and having slain some of the Trojans he arrives at the ships. And after these things he with Diomedes conveys the Palladium out of Ilium.” From this it appears that Ulysses made two different expeditions to Troy: in one of them he went by himself as a spy in mean attire, and being recognized by Helen concerted with her measures for betraying Troy to the Greeks; in the other he went with Diomedes, and together the two stole the Palladium. The former of these expeditions is described by Homer in the Odyssey （Hom. Od. 4.242ff.）, where Helen tells how Ulysses disfigured himself with wounds, and disguising himself in mean attire came as a beggar to Troy; how she alone detected him, wormed the secrets of the Greeks out of him, and having sworn not to betray him till he had returned in safety to the ships, let him go free, whereupon on his way back he killed many Trojans. Euripides also relates this visit of Ulysses to Troy, adding that Helen revealed his presence to Hecuba, who spared his life and sent him out of the country （Eur. Hec. 239-250）. These two quite distinct expeditions of Ulysses have been confused and blended into one by Apollodorus. As to the joint expedition of Ulysses and Diomedes to Troy, and the stealing of the Palladium, see further Conon 34; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica x.350-360; Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.311; Malalas, Chr. v. pp. 109, 111ff., ed. L. Dindorf; Zenobius, Cent. iii.8; Apostolius, Cent. vi.15; Suidas, s. vv. Διομήδειος ἀνάγκη and Παλλάδιον; Hesychius, s.v. Διομήδειος ἀνάγκη; Eustathius on Hom. Il. x.531, p. 822; Scholiast on Plat. Rep. 6, 493b; Verg. A. 2.162-170; Serv. Verg. A. 2.166; Dictys Cretensis v.5, 8ff. The narrative of Apollodorus suggests that Ulysses had the principal share in the exploit. But according to another and seemingly more prevalent tradition it was Diomedes who really bore off the image. This emerges particularly from Conon's account. Diomedes, he tells us, mounted on the shoulders of Ulysses, and having thus scaled the wall, he refused to draw his comrade up after him, and went in search of the Palladium. Having secured it, he returned with it to Ulysses, and together they retraced their steps to the Greek camp. But by the way the crafty Ulysses conceived the idea of murdering his companion and making himself master of the fateful image. So he dropped behind Diomedes and drew his sword. But the moon shone full; and as he raised his arm to strike, the flash of the blade in the moonlight caught the eye of the wary Diomedes. He faced round, drew his sword, and, upbraiding the other with his cowardice, drove him before him, while he beat the back of the recreant with the flat of his sword. This incident gave rise to the proverb, “Diomedes's compulsion,” applied to such as did what they were forced to do by dire necessity. The proverb is similarly explained by the other Greek proverb-writers and lexicographers cited above, except that, instead of the flash of the sword in the moonlight, they say it was the shadow of the sword raised to strike him which attracted the attention of Diomedes. The picturesque story appears to have been told in the Little Iliad （Hesychius, s.v. Διομήδειος ἀνάγκη）. According to one account, Diomedes and Ulysses made their way into the Trojan citadel through a sewer （Serv. Verg. A. 2.166）, indeed a narrow and muddy sewer, as Sophocles called it in the play which he composed on the subject. See Julius Pollux, ix.49; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.36, frag. 367. Some affirmed that the Palladium was treacherously surrendered to the Greek heroes by Theano, the priestess of the goddess （Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.311; Suidas, s.v. Παλλάδιον）; to this step she was said to have been instigated by her husband Antenor （Malalas, Chr. v. p. 109, ed. L. Dindorf; Dictys Cretensis v.5, 8）. As to Theano in her capacity of priestess, see Hom. Il. 6.297ff. The theft of the Palladium furnished a not infrequent subject to Greek artists; but the artistic, like the literary, tradition was not agreed on the question whether the actual thief was Diomedes or Ulysses. See Frazer on Paus. 1.22.6 （vol. ii. pp. 264 sq.）.

17 As to the stratagem of the Wooden Horse, by which Troy is said to have been captured, see Hom. Od. 4.271-289; Hom. Od. 8.492-515; Hom. Od. 11.523-532; Lesches, Little Iliad, summarized by Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 37; Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 49; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xii.23-83, 104-156, 218-443, 539-585, xiii.21-59; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 57-541; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 629-723; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 930; Verg. A. 2.13-267; Hyginus, Fab. 108; Dictys Cretensis v.9, 11ff. The story is only alluded to by Homer, but was no doubt fully told by Lesches and Arctinus, though of their narratives we possess only the brief abstracts of Proclus. The accounts of later writers, such as Virgil, Quintus Smyrnaeus, Tryphiodorus, Tzetzes, and Apollodorus himself, are probably based on the works of these early cyclic poets. The poem of Arctinus, if we may judge by Proclus's abstract, opened with the deliberations of the Trojans about the Wooden Horse, and from the similarity of the abstract to the text of Apollodorus we may infer that our author followed Arctinus generally, though not in all details; for instance, he differed from Arctinus in regard to the affair of Laocoon and his sons. See below. With the stratagem of the Wooden Horse we may compare the stratagem by which, in the war of Independence waged by the United Provinces against Spain, Prince Maurice contrived to make himself master of Breda. The city was then held by a Spanish garrison, which received its supply of fuel by boats. The master of one of these boats, Adrian Vandenberg by name, noticed that in the absence of the governor there was great negligence in conducting the examination to which all boats were subjected before they were allowed to enter the town. This suggested to Vandenberg a plan for taking the citadel by surprise. He communicated his plan to Prince Maurice, who readily embraced it. Accordingly the boat was loaded in appearance with turf as usual; but the turf was supported by a floor of planks fixed at the distance of several feet from the bottom; and beneath this floor seventy picked soldiers were placed under the command of an able officer named Harauguer. The boat had but a few miles to sail, yet through unexpected accidents several days passed before they could reach Breda. The wind veered against them, the melting ice （for it was the month of February） retarded their course, and the boat, having struck upon a bank, was so much damaged that the soldiers were for some time up to their knees in water. Their provisions were almost spent, and to add to their anxieties one of their number was seized with a violent cough, which, if it had continued, would inevitably have betrayed them to the enemy. The man generously entreated his comrades to kill him, offering them his own sword for the purpose; but they as generously refused, and happily the soldier's cough left him before they approached the walls. Even the leak in the boat was stopped by some accident. On reaching the fortifications the boat was searched, but only in the most superficial manner. Still the danger was great, for the turf was immediately purchased and the soldiers of the garrison set to work to unload it. They would soon have uncovered the planks and detected the ambush, if the ready-witted master of the boat had not first amused them with his discourse and then invited them to drink wine with him. The offer was readily accepted. The day wore on, darkness fell, and the Spanish soldiers were all drunk or asleep. At dead of night Harauguer and his men issued from the boat, and dividing into two bodies they attacked the guards and soon made themselves masters of two gates. Seized with a panic, the garrison fled the town. Prince Maurice marched in and took possession of the citadel. These events happened in the year 1590. See Robert Watson, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, 4th ed. (London, 1785), bk. xxi. vol. iii. pp. 157-161.

18 According to Tzetzes the number of men who entered into the Wooden Horse was twenty-three, and he gives the names of them all （Posthomerica 641-650）. Quintus Smyrnaeus gives the names of thirty, and he says that there were more of them （Posthomerica xii.314-335）. He informs us that the maker of the horse, Epeus, entered last and drew up the ladder after him; and knowing how to open and shut the trapdoor, he sat by the bolt. To judge by Homer's description of the heroes in the Horse （Hom. Od. 11. 526ff.）, the hearts of most of them failed them, for they blubbered and their knees knocked together; but Neoptolemus never blenched and kept fumbling with the hilt of his sword.

19 As to these deliberations of the Trojans, compare Hom. Od. 8.505ff.; Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 49; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 250ff.

20 Compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 49; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.48.2; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xii.444-497; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 347; Verg. A. 2.199-227; Hyginus, Fab. 135; Serv. Verg. A. 2.201; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 144ff. （Second Vatican Mythographer 207）. According to Arctinus, our oldest authority for the tragedy of Laocoon, the two serpents killed Laocoon himself and one of his sons. According to Virgil, Hyginus, and Servius, they killed Laocoon and both his sons. According to Quintus Smyrnaeus, the serpents killed the two sons but spared the father, who lived to lament their fate. This last seems to have been the version followed by Apollodorus. The reason of the calamity which befell Laocoon is explained by Servius on the authority of Euphorion. He tells us that when the Greek army landed in the Troad, the Trojans stoned the priest of Poseidon to death, because he had not, by offering sacrifices to the sea god, prevented the invasion. Accordingly, when the Greeks seemed to be departing, it was deemed advisable to sacrifice to Poseidon, no doubt in order to induce him to give the Greeks a stormy passage. But the priesthood was vacant, and it was necessary to choose a priest by lot. The lot fell on Laocoon, priest of the Thymbraean Apollo, but he had incurred the wrath of Apollo by sleeping with his wife in front of the divine image, and for this sacrilege he perished with his two sons. This narrative helps us to understand the statement of Apollodorus that the two serpents were sent by Apollo for a sign. According to Tzetzes, the death of Laocoon's son took place in the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo, the scene of the crime thus becoming the scene of the punishment. Sophocles wrote a tragedy on the subject of Laocoon, but though a few fragments of the play have survived, its contents are unknown. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 211ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 38ff. In modern times the story of Laocoon is probably even better known from the wonderful group of statuary in the Vatican than from the verses of Virgil. That group, the work of three Rhodian sculptors, graced the palace of the emperor Titus in the time of Pliny, who declared that it was to be preferred to any other work either of sculpture or painting （Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi.37）. Lessing took the group for the text of his famous essay on the comparative limitations of poetry and art.

21 The beacon-light kindled by the deserter and traitor Sinon to guide the Greeks across the water to the doomed city is a regular feature in the narratives of the taking of Troy; but the only other writer who mentions that it shone from the grave of Achilles is Tryphiodorus, who adds that all night long there blazed a light like the full moon above Helen's chamber, for she too was awake and signalling to the enemy, while all the town was plunged in darkness and silence; the sounds of revelry and music had died away, and not even the barking of a dog broke the stillness of the summer night. See Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 487-521. That the poet conceived the fall of Troy to have happened in the summer time is shown by his describing how the Trojans wreathed the mane of the Wooden Horse with flowers culled on river banks, and how the women spread carpets of roses under its feet （Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 316ff., 340-344）. For these flowers of fancy Tryphiodorus is severely taken to task by the pedantic Tzetzes on the ground that Troy fell at midwinter; and he clinches the lesson administered to his predecessor by observing that he had learned from Orpheus, “who had it from another man,” never to tell a lie. Such was the state of the Higher Criticism at Byzantium in the twelfth century of our era. See Tzetzes, Posthomerica 700-707.

22 This incident is derived from Hom. Od. 4.274-289. It is copied and told with fuller details by Tryphiodorus, who says that Anticlus expired under the iron grip of Ulysses （Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 463-490）.

23 As to the death of Priam at the altar, compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 49; Eur. Tro. 16ff.; Eur. Tro. 481-483; Eur. Hec. 22-24; Paus. 4.17.4; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.220-250; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 634-639; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 732ff.; Verg. A. 2.533-558; Dictys Cretensis v.12. According to Lesches, the ruthless Neoptolemus dragged Priam from the altar and despatched him at his own door. See Paus. 10.27.2, with Frazer's note （vol. v. p. 371）. The summary account of Proclus agrees almost verbally with the equally summary account of Apollodorus.

24 Ulysses and Menelaus were bound by ties of hospitality to Antenor; for when they went as ambassadors to Troy to treat of the surrender of Helen, he entertained them hospitably in his house. See Hom. Il. 3.203-207. Moreover, Antenor had advocated the surrender of Helen and her property to the Greeks. See Hom. Il. 3.347-353. According to Lesches, one of Antenor's sons, Lycaon, was wounded in the sack of Troy, but Ulysses recognized him and carried him safe out of the fray. See Paus. 10.26.8. Sophocles composed a tragedy on the subject of Antenor and his sons, in which he said that at the storming of Troy the Greeks hung a leopard's skin in front of Antenor's house in token that it was to be respected by the soldiery. See Strab. 13.1.53. In Polygnotus's great picture of the sack of Troy, which was one of the sights of Delphi, the painter depicted the house of Antenor with the leopard's skin hung on the wall; in front of it were to be seen Antenor and his wife, with their children, including Glaucus, while beside them servants were lading an ass, to indicate the long journey which the exiles were about to undertake. See Paus. 10.27.3ff. According to Roman tradition, Antenor led a colony of Enetians to the head of the Adriatic, where the people were thenceforth called Venetians （Livy i.1）. As to Sophocles's play, The Antenorids, see TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), p. 160; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 86ff.

25 Compare Xen. Cyn. 1.15; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.315-327; Verg. A. 2.699ff.

26 Compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 49; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.354ff.; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 627-633; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 729-731; Dictys Cretensis v.12. Deiphobus had married Helen after the death of Paris. See above, Apollod. E.5.8.9.

27 Compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 50; Paus. 10.25.8; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.496-543; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 123 and Scholiast on Eur. Tro. 31; Dictys Cretensis v.13. Homer mentions Aethra as one of the handmaids of Helen at Troy （Hom. Il. 3.53）. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.496-543 has described at length the recognition of the grandmother by the grandsons, who, according to Hellanicus, went to Troy for the purpose of rescuing or ransoming her （Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 123）. The recognition was related also by Lesches （Paus. 10.25.8）. Aethra had been taken prisoner at Athens by Castor and Pollux when they rescued their sister Helen. See above, Apollod. 3.7.4, Apollod. E.1.23. On the chest of Cypselus at Olympia the artist portrayed Helen setting her foot on Aethra's head and tugging at her handmaid's hair. See Paus. 5.19.3; Dio Chrysostom xi. vol. i. p. 179, ed. L. Dindorf.

28 As to the violence offered to Cassandra by Ajax, compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 49ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.66, referring to Callimachus; Paus. 1.15.2; Paus. 5.11.6; Paus. 5.19.5; Paus. 10.26.3; Paus. 10.31.2; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.420-429; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 647-650; Verg. A. 2.403-406; Dictys Cretensis v.12; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 55 (First Vatican Mythographer 181). Arctinus described how, in dragging Cassandra from the image of Athena, at which she had taken refuge, Ajax drew down the image itself. This incident was carved on the chest of Cypselus at Olympia （Paus. 5.19.5）, and painted by Polygnotus in his great picture of the sack of Troy at Delphi （Paus. 10.26.3）. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.66 and Quintus Smyrnaeus describe how the image of Athena turned up its eyes to the roof in horror at the violence offered to the suppliant.

29 Compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 50; Eur. Tro. 719-739, Eur. Tro. 1133-1135; Eur. And. 8-11; Paus. 10.26.9; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.251-257; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 644-646; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1263; Scholiast on Eur. Andr. 10; Ov. Met. 13.415-417; Hyginus, Fab. 109; Seneca, Troades 524ff., 1063ff. While ancient writers generally agree that Astyanax was killed by being thrown from a tower at or after the sack of Troy, they differ as to the agent of his death. Arctinus, as reported by Proclus, says merely that he was killed by Ulysses. Tryphiodorus reports that he was hurled by Ulysses from a high tower. On the other hand, Lesches in the Little Iliad said that it was Neoptolemus who snatched Astyanax from his mother's lap and cast him down from the battlements （Tzetzes and Paus. 10.26.9）. According to Euripides and Seneca, the murder of the child was not perpetrated in hot blood during the sack of Troy but was deliberately executed after the capture of the city in pursuance of a decree passed by the Greeks in a regular assembly. This seems to have been the version followed by Apollodorus, who apparently regarded the death of Astyanax as a sacrifice, like the slaughter of Polyxena on the grave of Achilles. But the killing of Astyanax was not thus viewed by our other ancient authorities, unless we except Seneca, who describes how Astyanax leaped voluntarily from the wall while Ulysses was reciting the words of the soothsayer Calchas and invoking the cruel gods to attend the rite.

30 As to the sacrifice of Polyxena on the grave of Achilles, see Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 50; Eur. Hec. 107ff.; Eur. Hec. 218ff.; Eur. Hec. 391-393; Eur. Hec. 521-582; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.210-328; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 686ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 323; Hyginus, Fab. 110; Ov. Met. 13.439-480; Seneca, Troades 168ff., 938-944, 1118-1164; Dictys Cretensis v.13; Serv. Verg. A. 3.322. According to Euripides and Seneca, the ghost of Achilles appeared above his grave and demanded the sacrifice of the maiden. Others said that the spirit of the dead showed himself in a dream to Neoptolemus （so Quintus Smyrnaeus） or to Agamemnon （so Ovid）. In Quintus Smyrnaeus the ghost threatens to keep the Greeks wind-bound at Troy until they have complied with his demand, and accordingly the offering of the sacrifice is followed by a great calm. Euripides seems to have contemplated the sacrifice, in primitive fashion, as a means of furnishing the ghost with the blood needed to quench his thirst （Eur. Hec. 391-393; Eur. Hec. 536ff.）; but Seneca represents the ghost as desiring to have Polyxena as his wife in the Elysian Fields （Seneca, Troades 938-944）. A more romantic turn is given to the tradition by Philostratus, who says that after the death of Achilles, and before the fall of Troy, the amorous Polyxena stole out from the city and stabbed herself to death on the grave of Achilles, that she might be his bride in the other world. See Philostratus, Her. xx.18; Philostratus, Vit. Apollon. iv.16.4. According to the usual tradition, it was Neoptolemus who slew the maiden on his father's tomb. Pictures of the sacrifice were to be seen at Athens and Pergamus （Paus. 1.22.6; Paus. 10.25.10）. Sophocles wrote a tragedy on the theme. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 161ff.

31 Compare Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.20-23, who agrees with Apollodorus as to the partition of these captive women among the Greek leaders.

32 This is the version of the story adopted by Dares Phrygius, who says that Helenus went to the Chersonese along with Hecuba, Andromache, and Cassandra （Dares Phrygius, De excidio Trojae 43）.

33 As to the transformation of Hecuba into a bitch, compare Eur. Hec. 1259-1273; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.347-351; Dio Chrysostom xxxii. vol. ii. p. 20, ed. L. Dindorf; Agatharchides, De Erythraeo Mari, in Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 442a, ll. 23ff., ed. Bekker; Julius Pollux, v.45; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 315, 1176; Excidium Ilii, Tusc. Disp. iii.26.63; Ov. Met. 13.565-571; Hyginus, Fab. 111; Serv. Verg. A. 3.6; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. G.H.Bode, i. p. 145 （Second Vatican Mythographer 209）. A rationalistic version of the story is told by Dictys Cretensis v.16. We may conjecture that the fable of the transformation originated in the resemblance of the name Hecuba to the name Hecate; for Hecate was supposed to be attended by dogs, and Hecuba is called an attendant of Hecate （Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1176）.

34 Compare Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.544-551; Tryphiodorus, Excidium Ilii 660-663; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 736; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 314.

35 Compare Arctinus, Ilii Persis, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 49ff. Ulysses advised the Greeks to stone Ajax to death for his crime against Cassandra （Paus. 10.31.2）.