believe nor give faith to dreams, and would not abide nor tarry therefore. When it was in the morning, Andromeda went to the King Priamus, and to the queen, and told to them the verity of her vision; and prayed them with all her heart that they would do so much at her request as to dissuade Hector, that he should not in any wise that day go to the battle, &c. It happened that day was fair and clear, and the Troyans armed them, and Troylus issued first into the battle; after him Eneas. And the King Priamus sent to Hector that he should keep him well that day from going to battle. Wherefore Hector was angry, and said to his wife many reproachful words, as that he knew well that this commandment came by her request; yet, notwithstanding the forbidding, he armed him... At this instant came the Queen Hecuba, and the Queen Helen, and the sisters of Hector, and they humbled themselves and kneeled down presently before his feet, and prayed and desired him with weeping tears that he would do off his harness, and unarm him, and come with them into the hall: but never would he do it for their prayers, but descended from the palace thus armed as he was, and took his horse, and would have gone to battle. But at the request of Andromeda the King Priamus came running anon, and took him by the bridle, and said to him so many things of one and other, that he made him to return, but in no wise he would be made to unarm him." This circumstance is also minutely copied from The Destruction of Troy:' "And of the party of the Troyans came the King Ademon that jousted against Menelaus, and smote him, and hurt him in the face and be and Troylus took him, and had led him away, if Diomedes had not come the sooner with a great company of knights, and fought with Troylus at his coming, and smote him down, and took his horse, and sent it to Briseyda, and did cause to say to her by his servant that it was Troylus's horse, her love, and that he had conquered him by his promise, and prayed her from thenceforth that she would hold him for her love." "And with him Guido saith that he had Or the lightning that falleth from the heaven; 17 SCENE V. "Now here he fights on Galathe his horse." "Then when Hector was richly arrayed, and armed with good harness and sure, he mounted upon his horse named Galathe, that was one of the most great and strongest horse of the world." (Destruction of Troy.') 18 SCENE IX.-" Rest, sword." Shakspere borrowed the circumstance which preceded the death of Hector from the Gothic romancers: 66 When Achilles saw that Hector slew thus the nobles of Greece, and so many other that it was marvel to behold, he thought that, if Hector were not slain, the Greeks would never have victory. And forasmuch as he had slain many kings and princes, he ran upon him marvellously, * but Hector cast to him a dart fiercely, and made him a wound in his thigh: and then Achilles issued out of the battle, and did bind up his wound, and took a great spear in purpose to slay Hector, if he might meet him. Among all these things Hector had taken a very noble baron of Greece, that was quaintly and richly armed, and, for to lead him out of the host at his ease, had cast his shield behind him at his back, and had left his breast discovered :—and as he was in this point, and took none heed of Achilles, he came privily unto TRAGEDIES.-VOL. II. H him, and thrust his spear within his body, and strongly, and was enclosed on all parts, but he Hector fell down dead to the ground." "After these things the nineteenth battle began with great slaughter; and afore that Achilles entered into the battle he assembled his Myrmidons, and prayed them that they would intend to none other thing but to enclose Troylus, and to hold him without flying till he came, and that he would not be far from them. And they promised him that they so would. And he thronged into the battle. And on the other side came Troylus, that began to flee and beat down all them that he caught, and did so much, that about mid-day he put the Greeks to flight then the Myrmidons (that were two thousand fighting men, and had not forgot the commandment of their lord) thrust in among the Troyans, and recovered the field. And as they held them together, and sought no man but Troylus, they found him that he fought slew and wounded many. And as he was all alone among them, and had no man to succour him, they slew his horse, and hurt him in many places, and plucked off his head helm, and his coif of iron, and he defended him in the best manner he could. Then came on Achilles, when he saw Troilus all naked, and ran upon him in a rage, and smote off his head, and cast it under the feet of his horse, and took the body and bound it to the tail of his horse, and so drew it after him throughout the host." COSTUME. છે the Amazons, was the Pelta, or small semi-lunar shield, and their favourite weapon the bi-pennis, or double axe. Yet Homer does not make this distinction, but arms the Trojans with the large orbicular shield of the Greeks, the two spears, the sword, &c. He also describes the warriors of both armies as wearing occasionally the skins of beasts over their armour. Is it that some of the poets and painters of Greece, like all those of the middle ages, represented persons of every nation and period in the costume of the country and the time in which they themselves wrote or bend-painted; or was there really little or no difference between the Greeks and Trojans when armed for battle? In the latter case, are we to look upon the interesting figures of Paris and other Phrygians represented on the ancient vases, &c., as things of no authority? These are questions the discussion of which would require much more time and space than can be afforded to us in the present instance, and we must content ourselves with submitting to our readers the engravings from the antique which are scattered throughout this play, with the avowal that we lean, as in duty bound, to the pictorial side, and consider that there was that remarkable difference between the Grecian armour and that of the Trojans which may be observed in the specimens given. The Phrygians are represented in shoes, the Greeks in sandals, or with naked feet, when wearing the In our notice of the costume for the Midsummer Night's Dream' we have given a description of the dress and arms of the Greeks during the heroical ages, illustrated by engra vings from the frieze of the Parthenon. To the information there collected may be added on the present occasion that afforded to us by the Iliad' of Homer, and the vases and statues | possessed or described by the late Mr. Hope. According to the latter authorities, the Trojans and other Phrygians appear to have worn the tunic with sleeves to the wrist, the tight trousers or pantaloons, and the cap with the point ing forwards, in the form of which their helmets were made. In war the tunic of mail composed of rings sewn flat upon leather or cloth, like those of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans of the eleventh century, would seem to have distinguished them in general from the Greeks, who wore the cuirass and the greaves. Homer, however, by his descriptions of the armour of the Trojan heroes, would induce us to believe that it did not always so essentially differ from that of the Greeks. He describes Paris, when arming for the combat with Menelaus, as putting on greaves, fastened with silver buttons, a thorax, or breast plate, and a helmet with horse-hair crest. On an old Sicilian vase too, in the Hope collection, Eneas is represented in complete Grecian armour". Again, we gather from the vases that the Phrygian shield, like that of • Ridiculously rendered by Pope as "purple cuishes." Phrygian helmets, with crests, both of horse-hair and metal, in imitation of the Greek, appear in Hope's collection, and so far bear out the poet's description. • Mr. Hope, however, does not give us his authority for so designating the figure, which in the edition of 1806 is termed "a Greek warrior." greaves. The arms of Achilles, worn by Patroclus, are said by Homer to have been of brass orna 4 Then wherefore "the well-greaved Greeks?" Does not that designation imply a peculiarity distinguishing them from their Asiatic or other opponents? mented with gold. Those made for Achilles, rass was composed of steel, tin, and gold, and by Vulcan, were of various metals, the greaves ornamented with dragons. The hilt of his of tin, the corslet of gold, the sword of brass, sword was gold, the sheath silver. His the helmet with a fourfold crest of gilded buckler was defended by ten circles and twenty horse hair, the shield of the most elaborate bosses of brass, and in the centre had a Gorgon's workmanship. The arms of Diomed were all head. The helmet was surmounted by a fourbrass; those of Ajax steel. Agamemnon's cui-fold crest of horse-hair. |