e light of an undying
love. Then she laid her hand upon him and said, gently, "Dost thou
know me, Paris? I am the same Oenone whom thou didst woo in the dells
of woody Ida. My grief hath not changed me, but thou art not the same,
O Paris, for thy love hath wandered far away, and thou hast yielded
thyself long to an evil dream." But Paris said, "I have wronged thee,
Oenone, fairest and sweetest, and what may atone for the wrong? The
fire burns in my veins, my head reels, and mine eye is dim; look but
upon me once, that thinking on our ancient love, I may fall asleep and
die."

Then Oenone knelt by the side of Paris, and saw the wound which the
arrow of Philoctetes had made; but soon she knew that neither gods nor
men could stay the poison with which Herakles had steeped his mighty
weapons. There she knelt, but Paris spoke not more. The coldness of
death passed over him as Oenone looked down upon his face and thought
of the days when they lived and loved amid the dells of Ida.

Long time she knelt by his side, until the stars looked forth in the
sky. Then Oenone said, "O Eris, well hast thou worked thy will, and
well hath Aphrodite done thy bidding. O Paris, we have loved and
suffered, but I never did thee wrong, and now I follow thee to the
dark land of Hades."

Presently the flame shot up to heaven from the funeral pile of Paris,
and Oenone lay down to rest on the fiery couch by his side.

ACHILLES.

Nine years the Achaians had fought against Ilion to avenge the wrongs
and woes of Helen, and still the war went on, and only the words of
Kalchas, which he spoke long ago in Aulis, cheered them with the hope
that the day of vengeance was near at hand. For strife had arisen
between the King, Agamemnon, and the mighty son of Peleus, and it
seemed to the men of Argos that all their toil must be for naught. In
fierce anger Achilles vowed a vow that he would go forth no more to
the battle, and he sat in sullen silence within his tent, or wandered
gloomily along the sea-shore. With fresh courage the hosts of the
Trojans poured out from their walls when they knew that Achilles
fought no more on the side of the Achaians, and the chieftains sought
in vain for his help when the battle went against them. Then the face
of the war was changed, for the men of Ilion came forth from their
city, and shut up the Achaians within their camp, and fought fiercely
to take the ships. Many a chief and warrior was smitten down, and
still Ac