the sea, for we have that for the which we came to
this land." So the sailors rowed with all their might; and while the
ship was in the harbor it went well with them, but when it was come to
the open sea a great wave took it, for a violent wind blew against it
and drove it backwards to the shore.

And one of the guards when he saw this ran to King Thoas and told him,
and the king made haste and sent messengers mounted upon horses, to call
the men of the land that they might do battle with Orestes and his
comrade. But while he was yet sending them, there appeared in the air
above his head the goddess Athene, who spake, saying, "Cease, King
Thoas, from pursuing this man and his companions; for he hath come
hither on this errand by the command of Apollo; and I have persuaded
Poseidon that he make the sea smooth for him to depart."

And King Thoas answered, "It shall be as thou wilt, O goddess; and
though Orestes hath borne away his sister and the image, I dismiss my
anger, for who can fight against the gods?"

So Orestes departed and came to his own country and dwelt in peace,
being set free from his madness, according to the word of Apollo.

[Illustration: IPHIGENIA ABOUT TO BE SACRIFICED]

[Illustration: THE TROJAN HORSE]

THE SACK OF TROY

For ten years King Agamemnon and the men of Greece laid siege to Troy.
But though sentence had gone forth against the city, yet the day of its
fall tarried, because certain of the gods loved it well and defended it,
as Apollo and Mars, the god of war, and Father Jupiter himself.
Wherefore Minerva put it into the heart of Epeius, Lord of the Isles,
that he should make a cunning device wherewith to take the city. Now the
device was this: he made a great horse of wood, feigning it to be a
peace-offering to Minerva, that the Greeks might have a safe return to
their homes. In the belly of this there hid themselves certain of the
bravest of the chiefs, as Menelaues, and Ulysses, and Thoas the AEtolian,
and Machaon the great physician, and Pyrrhus, son of Achilles (but
Achilles himself was dead, slain by Paris, Apollo helping, even as he
was about to take the city), and others also, and with them Epeius
himself. But the rest of the people made as if they had departed to
their homes; only they went not further than Tenedos, which was an
island near to the coast.

Great joy was there in Troy when it was noised abroad that the men of
Greece had departed. The gates were opened,