Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/324

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292 HISTORY OF GREKCK. heroic glory before the walls of Troy ; nor could the place be taken without both his cooperation and that of his son after him. But they hud forewarned him that this brilliant career would be rapidly brought to a close ; and that if he desired a long life, he must remain tranquil and inglorious in his native land. In spite of the reluctance of his mother Thetis, he preferred few years with bright renown, and joined the Achaean host. 1 When Nes- tor and Odysseus came to Phthia to invite him, both he and his intimate friend Patroclus eagerly obeyed the call. 2 Agamemnon and his powerful host set sail from Aulis ; but being ignorant of the locality and the direction, they landed by mistake in Teuthrania, a part of Mysia near the river Kaikus, and began to ravage the country under the persuasion that it was the neighborhood of Troy. Telephus, the king of the coun- try, 3 opposed and repelled them, but was ultimately defeated and severely wounded by Achilles. The Greeks now, discovering their mistake, retired ; but their fleet was dispersed by a storm and driven back to Greece. Achilles attacked and took Skyrus, and there married Deidamia, the daughter of Lycomedes. 4 Te- lephus, suffering from his wounds, was directed by the oracle to come to Greece and present himself to Achilles to be healed, by applying the scrapings of the spear with which the wound had been given : thus restored, he became the guide of the Greeks when they were prepared to renew their expedition. 5 with the Schol. Argument of the Cypria in Heinrichsen, De Carmin. Cypr. p. 23 (the sentence is left out in Dllntzer, p. 11). A lost tragedy of Sophokles, 'OSvcoeve Maivo/uevoe, handled this subject. Other Greek chiefs were not less reluctant than Odysseus to take part in the expedition : see the tale of Pcemandrus, forming a part of the temple- legend of the Achilleium at Tanagra in Bceotia (Plutarch, Question. Gra;c. p. 299). 1 Iliad, i. 352; ix. 411. Iliad, xi. 782. 3 Telephus was the son of Auge, daughter of king Alcus of Tegea in Arcadia, by HeraklSs : respecting her romantic adventures, see the previous chapter on Arcadian legends Strabo's faith in the story (xii. p. 572). The spot called the Harbor of the Achaeans, near Gryneium, was stated to be the place where Agamemnon and the chiefs took counsel whether they should attack Telephus or not (Skylax, c. 97 ; compare Strabo, xiv. p. 622). 4 Iliad, xi. 664; Argum. Cypr. p. 11, Ddntzer; Diktys Cret. ii. 3- 4. 5 Euripid. Telephus, Frag. 26, Pindorf ; Hygin. f. 101 ; Diktys, ii. 10. Eu ripide's had treated the adventure of Telephus in this lost tnuredv: he gave