ould have seemed very splendid, and
also, in some ways, rather rough. The palace floors, at least in the
house of Ulysses, were littered with bones and feet of the oxen slain
for food, but this happened when Ulysses had been long from home. The
floor of the hall in the house of Ulysses was not boarded with planks,
or paved with stone: it was made of clay; for he was a poor king of
small islands. The cooking was coarse: a pig or sheep was killed,
roasted and eaten immediately. We never hear of boiling meat, and though
people probably ate fish, we do not hear of their doing so, except when
no meat could be procured. Still some people must have liked them; for
in the pictures that were painted or cut in precious stones in these
times we see the half-naked fisherman walking home, carrying large fish.

The people were wonderful workers of gold and bronze. Hundreds of their
golden jewels have been found in their graves, but probably these were
made and buried two or three centuries before the time of Ulysses. The
dagger blades had pictures of fights with lions, and of flowers, inlaid
on them, in gold of various colours, and in silver; nothing so beautiful
is made now. There are figures of men hunting bulls on some of the gold
cups, and these are wonderfully life-like. The vases and pots of
earthenware were painted in charming patterns: in short, it was a
splendid world to live in.

The people believed in many Gods, male and female, under the chief God,
Zeus. The Gods were thought to be taller than men, and immortal, and to
live in much the same way as men did, eating, drinking, and sleeping in
glorious palaces. Though they were supposed to reward good men, and to
punish people who broke their oaths and were unkind to strangers, there
were many stories told in which the Gods were fickle, cruel, selfish,
and set very bad examples to men. How far these stories were believed is
not sure; it is certain that 'all men felt a need of the Gods,' and
thought that they were pleased by good actions and displeased by evil.
Yet, when a man felt that his behaviour had been bad, he often threw the
blame on the Gods, and said that they had misled him, which really meant
no more than that 'he could not help it.'

There was a curious custom by which the princes bought wives from the
fathers of the princesses, giving cattle and gold, and bronze and iron,
but sometimes a prince got a wife as the reward for some very brave
action. A man would no