pair, Oenone threw herself
on the lifeless form of her husband and perished in the flames.

The Trojans were now shut up within their walls and closely besieged; but
the third and most difficult condition being still unfulfilled, all efforts
to take the city were unavailing. In this emergency the wise and devoted
Odysseus came once more to the aid of his comrades. Having disfigured
himself with self-inflicted wounds, he assumed the disguise of a wretched
old mendicant, and then crept stealthily into the city in order to discover
where the Palladium was preserved. He succeeded in his object, and was
recognized by no one save the fair Helen, who after the death of Paris had
been given in marriage to his brother Deiphobus. But since death had robbed
her of her lover, the heart of the Greek princess had turned yearningly
towards her native country and her husband Menelaus, and Odysseus now found
in her a most unlooked-for ally. On his return to the camp {301} Odysseus
called to his aid the valiant Diomedes, and with his assistance the
perilous task of abstracting the Palladium from its sacred precincts was,
after some difficulty, effected.

The conditions of conquest being now fulfilled, a council was called to
decide on final proceedings. Epeios, a Greek sculptor, who had accompanied
the expedition, was desired to construct a colossal wooden horse large
enough to contain a number of able and distinguished heroes. On its
completion a band of warriors concealed themselves within, whereupon the
Greek army broke up their camp, and then set fire to it, as though, wearied
of the long and tedious ten years' siege, they had abandoned the enterprise
as hopeless.

Accompanied by Agamemnon and the sage Nestor, the fleet set sail for the
island of Tenedos, where they cast anchor, anxiously awaiting the torch
signal to hasten back to the Trojan coast.

DESTRUCTION OF TROY.--When the Trojans saw the enemy depart, and the Greek
camp in flames, they believed themselves safe at last, and streamed in
great numbers out of the town in order to view the site where the Greeks
had so long encamped. Here they found the gigantic wooden horse, which they
examined with wondering curiosity, various opinions being expressed with
regard to its utility. Some supposed it to be an engine of war, and were in
favour of destroying it, others regarded it as a sacred idol, and proposed
that it should be brought into the city. Two circumstances which now
occ