TIIOY. 



thirty feet long; the third, which was broken in three 

 places, was thirty-five feet in length, and four feet nine inches 

 in diameter : they were all three full of granite. Le Brun 

 fpeaks of great remains of a mod noble ftruAure, which he 

 vifited, at the diftance of about five miles from the coaft. 

 The four gates of this great edifice, at that time entire, were 

 about forty-five feet in height, and near them ilood a wall of 

 an extraordinary thicknefs, with fourteen gates of a compe- 

 tent fize. The veftiges of this magnificent ftrufture took 

 up a hundred and thirty feet in length, and a hundred in 

 breadth. Our author thinks, that thefe ruins may vie with any 

 monuments of antiquity he ever faw. The harbour of Troy, 

 fo much fpoken of by the ancients, is now quite choaked 

 up with fand ; however, there are ftill to be feen fragments 

 of columns, to which they fallened their ftiips and gallies ; 

 and, as thefe were placed round it, Spon thinks that the 

 port was about a mile and a half in circumference. 



The town of Ilium, or Troy, was fortified by Laomedon, 

 the fucceflbr of Ilus, with walls of fuch uncommon ftrength, 

 that, in the language and belief of the times, they were 

 deemed the work of the gods. It is faid that he was aflifted 

 by Apollo and Neptune, or that he carried on and accom- 

 plifhed this great work with the treafures that were confe- 

 craied to them and lodged in their temples, which he plun- 

 dered. It is certain, however, that the guilt of Laomedon 

 was believed to entail calamity on his unhappy defcendants. 

 His fon Priam, who attained old age in the undifturbed pof- 

 feflion of a throne, furrounded by a numerous family, be- 

 loved by his fubjefts, and refpefted by his neighbours, was 

 deilined to feel the (liarpeft pangs of human mifery, in 

 a long protrafted war and fiege, the caufes of which are 

 thus detailed by one of the modern hiftorians of ancient 

 Greece. 



Hereditary feuds fubfiftcd between the anceftors of Priam 

 and thofe of Agamemnon, when the latter quitted their 

 eftablifhments in Afia, to feek new fettlements in Greece. 

 The infult offered to Ganymede, a beautiful Trojan youth, 

 by the brutal fury of Tantalus, was retorted on Menelaus, 

 the fourth in defcent from this infamous prince, by the rape 

 and detention of his queen, the celebrated Helen. Paris, 

 the ill-fated fon of Priam, was the author of this new injury'. 

 But refentment for the wrongs of his houfe formed not the 

 only motive which engaged the youthful levity of Paris to 

 difhonour the fifter-in-law of Agamemnon. Helen was the 

 daughter of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. The illuftrious 

 honours of her family were adorned by the generous magna- 

 nimity of her brothers, Caftor and Polydeuces, whofe ex- 

 ploits ihone confpicuous in all the military expeditions of 

 that gallant age. But the native luftre of Helen needed 

 not the aid of foreign' ornament. Even in the tender age 

 of childhood, her opening charms had inflamed the heart of 

 Thefeus, the moft admired and the moft: virtuous of the Gre- 

 cian chiefs. The fame of her beauty increafed with her 

 ripening age, and her perfon became an objecl of eager con- 

 tention among thofe who, by birth or merit, were entitled to 

 afpire at the invaluable prize. Tyndareus, folicitous to 

 prevent the violence of a fecond lover (for, agreeably to the 

 manners of his age, Thefeus had carried her off by force ) , 

 bound the various fuitors by oath to defend the honour of 

 his daughter, and to fecnre the pofTefiioli of her charms to 

 the man who fhould be honoured with her choice. The 

 princely mien and infinuating manners of Menelaus, were 

 preferred to the more folid qualities of his numerous com- 

 petitors. Having married the heirefs of Tyndareus, he 

 fucceeded, in her right, to the Spartan throne. The grace- 

 ful pair had not long enjoyed the honours of royalty, and 

 ihe fweets of conjugal union, when their happinels was 



interrupted by the arrival of the fon of Priam, the hand- 

 fomeft man of his age, and fingularly adorned with tH^ 

 frivolous accomplifhments that often captivate the weakne!. 

 of a female mind. Though a foldier of no great renown, 

 Paris had ftrongly imbibed the romantic fpirit of gallantry, 

 which prevailed in the heroic ages, and was diftinguifhed by 

 an ardent paiLon for beauty, which, notwithllanding the 

 general foftnefs of his unwarlike charafter, prompted him to 

 brave every danger in purfuit of his favourite objeft. Ani- 

 mated by the hope of beholding the inimitable model oi i 

 what he moft adored, he feized the opportunity afforded him 

 by a voyage of Menelaus into Crete, vifited the dominions 

 of his hereditary enemies, and fohcited the rites of hofpitality 

 at the Spartan court. 



His perfon, his accomplifhments, his addrefs, and ftill 

 more the voluntary hardfhips which he had endured for her 

 fake, feduced the inconftant affeftions of the Grecian queen. 

 Enamoured of the elegant ftranger, fhe abandoned her 

 country and her hufhand, and having tranfported her moft 

 valuable trcafure within the Trojan walls, defied the refent- 

 ment of Gi'cece, and the vengeance of heaven. 



It was now the time for Menelaus to crave the ftipulated 

 afliftance of his ancient rivals. His demand was enforced by 

 the authority of Agamemnon. At the fummons of the two 

 brothers, the confederates affembled at ./Egium, the capital 

 of Achaia ; confirmed the obhgation of their former pro- 

 mife ; fettled the proportion of troops to be raifed by each 

 prince ; determmed the time and place of their departure ; 

 and named Agamemnon, the moft powerful among them, to 

 the chief command, in an expedition which fo deeply con- 

 cerned the honour of his family. 



Aulis, a fea-port of Bceotia, was appointed for the place 

 of rendezvous and embarkation. Before the whole arma- 

 ment failed from thence, Ulyffes, king of Ithaca, and, what 

 may feem extraordinary', the injured Menelaus, undertook a 

 folemn embafTy to Troy, in order to demand reftitution and 

 reparation ; but returned highly difgufted witk their recep- 

 tion and treatment. Some members of the Trojan council 

 had the barbai-ity to propofe putting them to death. Their 

 juft indignation increafed the warlike ardour of their affo- 

 ciates. But contrary winds long retarded their departure. 

 The Trojans had time to ftrengthen their ramparts, to coUeft 

 arms and provifions, and to fummon the afliftance of their 

 diftant allies. The martial fpirit of the age, together with 

 a fenfe of common danger, brought many powerful auxi- 

 liaries to Priam. His caufe was defended by the herdy 

 mountaineers, who covered the back of his kingdom ; by 

 the Carians, Lycians, and other nations of Afia Minor, ex- 

 tending from the mouth of the river Halys to the fouthern 

 extremity of Cilicia ; and by the Pelafgi, Thracians, and 

 Paeoniaiis, fierce barbarians who inhabited the European 

 fide of the Hellefpont and Propontis. Confiding, however, 

 rather in their domeftic ftrength, than in foreign affiftance, 

 the Trojans determined to defend their native fliores againft 

 hoftile invafion. The debarkation of the Greeks was pur- 

 chafed by much blood. Having efFefted a defctnt, they 

 encamped on the Trojan plain, but loft the only opportunity 

 which they enjoyed, during many years, of crufhing at once 

 the power of their enemies ; who immediately fhut them- 

 felves up within their impenetrable walls, leaving the city 

 open only on the fide of mount Ida, from which they received 

 corn, cattle, and other necefiary fupplies. 



Agamemnon, as there was reafon to expeft from the 

 mannei-s of his age, had been more induftrious in collecting 

 a great army, than provident in contriving means by which 

 it might keep the field. The provifions, tranfported from 

 Greece, were fpeedily confuraed, while the operations of the 



fiese 



