a
city to the northward of Troy, where he was brought up in the house of
his sister, the daughter of Anchises, who was married and settled
there. His having a sister old enough to be married, would seem to
show that youth was not one of the attractions of Anchises in
Aphrodite's eyes. AEneas remained with his sister until he was old
enough to be of service in the care of flocks and herds, and then
returned again to his former residence among the pasturages of the
mountains. His mother, though she had left him, did not forget her
child; but watched over him continually, and interposed directly to
aid or to protect him, whenever her aid was required by the occurrence
of any emergency of difficulty or danger.

[Illustration: AENEAS DEFENDING THE BODY OF PANDARUS.]

At length the Trojan war broke out. For a time, however, AEneas took no
part in it. He was jealous of the attentions which Priam, the king of
Troy, paid to other young men, and fancied that he himself was
overlooked and that the services that he might render were
undervalued. He remained, therefore, at his home among the mountains,
occupying himself with his flocks and herds; and he might, perhaps,
have continued in these peaceful avocations to the end of the war, had
it not been that Achilles, one of the most formidable of the Grecian
leaders, in one of his forays in the country around Troy, in search of
provisions, came upon AEneas's territory, and attacked him while
tending his flocks upon the mountain side. Achilles seized the
flocks and herds, and drove AEneas and his fellow-herdsmen away. They
would, in fact, all have been killed, had not Aphrodite interposed to
protect her son and
save his life.

The loss of his flocks and herds, and the injury which he himself had
received, aroused AEneas's indignation and anger against the Greeks. He
immediately raised an armed force of Dardanians, and thenceforth took
an active part in the war. He became one of the most distinguished
among the combatants, for his prowess and his bravery; and being
always assisted by his mother in his conflicts, and rescued by her
when in danger, he performed prodigies of strength and valor.

At one time he pressed forward into the thickest of the battle to
rescue a Trojan leader named Pandarus, who was beset by his foes and
brought into very imminent danger. AEneas did not succeed in saving his
friend. Pandarus was killed. AEneas, however, flew to the spot, and by
means of the m