ed for his skill in marshalling an army,
mustered 50 ships; the Myrmidons from Phthia and Hellas, under Achilles,
assembled in 50 ships; Protesilaus from Phylace and Pyrasus, and
Eurypylus from Ormenium, each came with 40 ships; Machaon and
Podaleirius, from Trikka, with 30; Eumelus, from Pherae and the lake
Boebeis, with 11; and Philoctetes from Meliboea with 7; the Lapithae,
under Polypoetes, son of Peirithous, filled 40 vessels, the AEnianes and
Perrhaebians, under Guneus, 22; and the Magnetes, under Prothous, 40;
these last two were from the northernmost parts of Thessaly, near the
mountains Pelion and Olympus. From Rhodes, under Tlepolemus, son of
Heracles, appeared 9 ships; from Syme, under the comely but effeminate
Nireus, 3; from Cos, Crapathus, and the neighboring islands, 30, under
the orders of Pheidippus and Antiphus, sons of Thessalus and grandsons
of Heracles.

Among this band of heroes were included the distinguished warriors Ajax
and Diomedes, and the sagacious Nestor; while Agamemnon himself,
scarcely inferior to either of them in prowess, brought with him a high
reputation for prudence in command. But the most marked and conspicuous
of all were Achilles and Odysseus; the former a beautiful youth born of
a divine mother, swift in the race, of fierce temper and irresistible
might; the latter not less efficient as an ally, from his eloquence, his
untiring endurance, his inexhaustible resources under difficulty, and
the mixture of daring courage with deep-laid cunning which never
deserted him: the blood of the arch-deceiver Sisyphus, through an
illicit connection with his mother Anticleia, was said to flow in his
veins, and he was especially patronized and protected by the goddess
Athene. Odysseus, unwilling at first to take part in the expedition, had
even simulated insanity; but Palamedes, sent to Ithaca to invite him,
tested the reality of his madness by placing in the furrow where
Odysseus was ploughing his infant son Telemachus. Thus detected,
Odysseus could not refuse to join the Achaean host, but the prophet
Halitherses predicted to him that twenty years would elapse before he
revisited his native land. To Achilles the gods had promised the full
effulgence of heroic glory before the walls of Troy; nor could the
place be taken without both his cooeperation and that of his son after
him. But they had forewarned him that this brilliant career would be
rapidly brought to a close; and that if he desired