t out of his caste.

Hinduism is, however, not only a social league resting upon caste--it is
also a religious alliance based upon worship. As the various race
elements of the Indian people have been welded into caste, so the simple
old beliefs of the Veda, the mild doctrines of Buddha, and the fierce
rites of the non-Aryan tribes, have been thrown into the melting-pot,
and poured out thence as a mixture of precious metal and dross, to be
worked up into the complex worship of the Hindu gods.

FALL OF TROY

B.C. 1184

GEORGE GROTE

The siege of Troy is an event not to be reckoned as history,
although Herodotus, the "Father of History," speaks of it as such,
and it would be quite impossible to understand the history and
character of the Greek people without a study of the _Iliad_ and
_Odyssey_ poems attributed to "a blind bard of Scio's
isle"--immortal Homer. The campaign of the Greek heroes in Asia is
to be referred to a hazy point in the past when Europe was just
beginning to have an Eastern Question. A vast circle of tales and
poems has gathered round this mythical event, and the _Iliad_--Song
of Ilium, or Troy--is still a poem of unfailing interest and
fascination.

Ilium, or Troy, was a city of Asia Minor, a little south of the
Hellespont. It was the centre of a powerful state, Grecian in race
and language; and when Paris, son of King Priam, visited Sparta and
carried off the beautiful wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, all the
heroes of Greece banded together and invaded Priam's dominions.

The twelve hundred ships that sailed for Troy transported one
hundred thousand warriors to the valley of Simois and Scamander.
Among them was Agamemnon, "king of men," brother of Menelaus. He
was the leader, and in his train were Achilles, "swift of foot";
"god-like, wise" Ulysses, King of Ithaca, the two Ajaxes, and the
aged Nestor. The narrative of their adventures is told in the
Homeric poems with a power of musical expression, a charm of
language, and a vividness of imagery unsurpassed in poetry.

For ten years the besiegers encircled the city of Priam. After many
engagements and single combats on "the windy plain of Troy" the
great hero of the Greeks, Achilles of Thessaly, is wronged by
Agamemnon, who carries away Briseis, a fair captive girl allotted
as the spoil