agree that divine honors were paid him. He had statues at Myc{=e}nae and
in Seriphos. A temple was erected to him in Athens, and an altar in it
consecrated to Dictys.

[Illustration:

HECTOR'S BODY DRAGGED AT THE CAR OF ACHILLES.
Pl. 8.]

ACHILLES was the offspring of a goddess. Thetis bore him to Peleus, king
of Thessaly, and was so fond of him, that she charged herself with his
education. By day she fed him with ambrosia, and by night covered him
with celestial fire, to render him immortal. She also dipped him in the
waters of Styx, by which his whole body became invulnerable, except that
part of his heel by which she held him. He was afterwards committed to
the care of Chiron the Centaur, who fed him with honey, and the marrow
of lions and wild boars; whence he obtained that strength of body and
greatness of soul which qualified him for martial toil.

When the Greeks undertook the siege of Troy, Calchas the diviner, and
priest of Apollo, foretold that the city should not be taken without the
help of Achilles. Thetis, his mother, who knew that Achilles, if he went
to the siege of Troy, would never return, clothed him in female apparel,
and concealed him among the maidens at the court of Lycom{=e}des, king
of the island of Scyros. But this stratagem proved ineffectual; for
Calchas having informed the Greeks where Achilles lay in disguise, they
sent Ulysses to the court of Lycom{=e}des, where, under the appearance
of a merchant, he was introduced to the king's daughters, and while they
were studiously intent on viewing his toys, Achilles employed himself in
examining an helmet, which the cunning politician had thrown in his way.

Achilles thus detected, was prevailed on to go to Troy, after Thetis had
furnished him with impenetrable armor made by Vulcan. Thither he led the
troops of Thessaly, in fifty ships, and distinguished himself by a
number of heroic actions; but being disgusted with Agamemnon for the
loss of Briseis, he retired from the camp, and resolved to have no
further concern in the war. In this resolution he continued inexorable,
till news was brought him that Hector had killed his friend
Patr{=o}clus; to avenge his death he not only slew Hector, but fastened
the corpse to his chariot, dragged it round the walls of Troy, offered
many indignities to it, and sold it at last to Priam his father.

Authors are much divided on the manner of Achilles' death; some relate
that he was slain by Apo