Orestes reigned many years in Mycenæ, and was married to his cousin Hermi´one, daughter of Menela´us and Helen. Pyl´ades married Electra, the sister of his friend.
The tragic poets add many incidents to the story of Orestes. They say that when pursued by the Furies, he took refuge in the temple of Apollo, at Delphi. By the command of that god, he repaired to Athens, where he was tried by the court of Areop´agus. The judges were divided in their sentiments, but Minerva interfered in behalf of Orestes, and he was acquitted.
HECTOR.
Ques. Who was Hector?
Ans. He was the son of Priam and Hec´uba, and the most valiant of all the Trojan chiefs who fought against the Greeks. The Fates had decreed that Troy should not be taken as long as Hector lived. The hero knew that he was destined to fall before the walls of his native city, and that he could at best only postpone the ruin of his country for a little time. Not discouraged by this, he performed prodigies of valor, and slew, with his own hand, Patroclus, the friend of Achil´les. He next went out to meet Achil´les himself, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Priam and Hec´uba, and the tears of his wife Androm´ache. He fell as we have seen, and this event was shortly followed by the overthrow of his father’s kingdom. Hector was not only distinguished as a warrior and a patriot; he was equally admirable as a son, husband, and father; and his character is perhaps the noblest which has been described by any writer of antiquity.
When Troy was taken, Calchas excited much uneasiness among the Greeks, by a prediction, that if Asty´anax, the son of Hector, were permitted to live, he would one day avenge his father’s death, and raise Troy from its ruins. Diligent search was therefore made for the child, who had been concealed by his mother in the recesses of Hector’s tomb. Here he was discovered by Ulys´ses. Disregarding the prayers of the unhappy Androm´ache, the Grecian commanders precipitated the boy from the summit of a lofty tower.
ŒDIPUS—ETEOCLES AND POLYNICES.
Ques. What was the story of these princes?
Ans. Œdipus was the son of La´ius, king of Thebes. He was exposed by his father immediately on his birth, to avoid the fulfillment of an oracle which declared that La´ius was destined to fall by the hand of one of his children. Œdipus was found by a herdsman, who brought him to Pol´ybus, king of Corinth. This monarch was childless, and adopted the infant as his own.
When Œdipus was grown to manhood, he desired to learn something of his real parentage, and went to consult the oracle of Delphi. The god warned him to shun his native country, declaring that if he returned thither, he would become the murderer of his father, and be guilty of crimes which would draw upon him the vengeance of the gods. Œdipus understood this of Corinth, and instead of returning to that city, proceeded to Thebes. Here he slew his father La´ius in an accidental encounter, and, after his victory over the Sphinx, which we have already mentioned, he fulfilled the other predictions of the oracle.