Priam and his warriors fell by the sword, and their kingdom was plundered of all its fair possessions, women and children and treasure.  Last of all, the city itself was burned to its very foundations.

Homeward sailed the Greeks, taking as royal captives poor Cassandra and Andromache and many another Trojan.  And home at last went fair Helen, the cause of all this sorrow, eager to be forgiven by her husband, King Menelaus.  For she had awakened from the enchantment of Venus, and even before the death of Paris she had secretly longed for her home and kindred.  Home to Sparta she came with the king after a long and stormy voyage, and there she lived and died the fairest of women.

But the kingdom of Troy was fallen.  Nothing remained of all its glory but the glory of its dead heroes and fair women, and the ruins of its citadel by the river Scamander.  There even now, beneath the foundations of later homes that were built and burned, built and burned, in the wars of a thousand years after, the ruins of ancient Troy lie hidden, like mouldered leaves deep under the new grass.  And there, to this very day, men who love the story are delving after the dead city as you might search for a buried treasure.

THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES

AN ADVENTURE WITH THE CYCLOPS

By Alfred J. Church

[After the fall of Troy the Greeks set out for home, but many of them had troubles and dangers to meet before they saw again the shores of their native land.  The one who suffered most was Ulysses, and the following is his story of his adventure with the one-eyed giant, the Cyclops.]

The wind that bore me from Troy brought me to Ismarus, a city of the Ciconians.  This I sacked, slaying the people that dwelt therein.  Much spoil did we take out of the city, dividing it among the people, so that each man had his share.  And when we had done this, I commanded my men that they should depart with all speed; but they, in their folly, would not hear me.  For there was much wine to drink, and sheep and kine to slay; therefore they sat on the shore and feasted.  Meanwhile the people of the city fetched others, their kinsmen that dwelt in the mountains, and were more in number and more valiant than they, and skillful in all manner of fighting.  In the early morning they assembled themselves together, thick as the flowers and the leaves that grow in the springtime, and set the battle in array.  Then we fought with them; while the day waxed we prevailed over them, and beat them back, though they were more in number than we; but when the sun was descending in the heavens, then the Cicones overcame us, and drave us to our ships.  Six from each ship perished, but the remnant of us escaped from death.

On the tenth day after this we came to the land where the lotus grows—­a wondrous fruit of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children again.  Now the Lotus-Eaters, for they so called the people of the land, were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to give.  These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more over the sea; which, when I heard, I bade their comrades bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.