Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/29

Rh mother of a son, Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus, by him. The Greeks at last discovered his place of concealment, and an embassy was sent to Lycomedes, who, though he denied the presence of Achilles, yet allowed the messengers to search his palace. Odysseus discovered the young hero by a stratagem, and Achilles immediately promised his assistance to the Greeks. (Apollod. l.c.; Hyg. Fab. 96; Stat. Achil. 2.200.) A different account of his stay in Scyros is given by Plutarch (Plut. Thes. 35) and Philostratus. (Her. 19.3.) Respecting his conduct towards Iphigeneia at Aulis, see AGAMEMNON, IPHIGENEIA.

During the war against Troy, Achilles slew Penthesileia, an Amazon, but was deeply moved when he discovered her beauty; and when Thersites ridiculed him for his tenderness of heart, Achilles killed the scoffer by a blow with the fist. (Q. Smyrn. 1.669, &c.; Paus. 5.11.2; comp. Soph. Philoct. 445; Lycoph. Cas. 999; Tzetzes, Posthom. 199.) He also fought with Memnon and Troilus. (Q. Smyrn. 2.480, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 112; Verg. A. 1.474, &c.) The accounts of his death differ very much, though all agree in stating that he did not fall by human hands, or at least not without the interference of the god Apollo. According to some traditions, he was killed by Apollo himself (Soph. Philoct. 334; Q. Smyrn. 3.62; Hor. Carm. 4.6.3, &c.), as he had been foretold. (Hom. Il. 21.278.) According to Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 107), Apollo assumed the appearance of Paris in killing him, while others say that Apollo merely directed the weapon of Paris against Achilles, and thus caused his death, as had been suggested by the dying Hector. (Verg. A. 6.57 ; Ov. Met. 12.601, &c.; Hom. Il. 22.358, &c.) Dictys Cretensis (3.29) relates his death thus : Achilles loved Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, and tempted by the promise that he should receive her as his wife, if he would join the Trojans, he went without arms into the temple of Apollo at Thymbra, and was assassinated there by Paris. (Comp. Philostr. Her. 19.11; Hyg. Fab. 107 and 110; Dares Phryg. 34; Q. Smyrn. 3.50; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 307.) His body was rescued by Odysseus and Ajax the Telamonian; his armour was promised by Thetis to the bravest among the Greeks, which gave rise to a contest between the two heroes who had rescued his body. [AJAX.]

After his death, Achilles became one of the judges in the lower world, and dwelled in the islands of the blessed, where he was united with Medeia or Iphigeneia. The fabulous island of Leuce in the Euxine was especially sacred to him, and was called Achillea, because, according to some reports, it contained his body. (Mela, 2.7; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 4.49; Paus. 3.19.11.) Achilles was worshipped as one of the national heroes of Greece. The Thessalians, at the command of the oracle of Dodona, offered annual sacrifices to him in Troas. (Philostr. Her. 19.14.) In the ancient gymnasium at Olympia there was a cenotaph, at which certain solemnities were performed before the Olympic games commenced. (Paus. 6.23.2.) Sanctuaries of Achilles existed on the road from Arcadia to Sparta (Paus. 3.20.8), on cape Sigeum in Troas (Strab. xi. p.494), and other places. The events of his life were frequently represented in ancient works of art. (Böttiger, Vasengemälde, iii. p. 144, &c.; Museum Clement. 1.52, ? 17; Villa Borg. 1.9; Mus. Nap. 2.59.)

ACHILLES (Ἀχιλλεύς), a son of Lyson of Athens, who was believed to have first introduced in his native city the mode of sending persons into exile by ostracism. (Ptolem. Heph. vi. p. 333.) Several other and more credible accounts, however, ascribe this institution with more probability to other persons.

ACHILLES TATIUS (Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος), or as Suidas and Eudocia call him Achilles Statius, an Alexandrine rhetorician, who was formerly believed to have lived in the second or third century of our aera. But as it is a well-known fact, which is also acknowledged by Photius, that he imitated Heliodorus of Emesa, he must have lived after this writer, and therefore belongs either to the latter half of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century of our aera. Suidas states that he was originally a Pagan, and that subsequently he was converted to Christianity. The truth of this assertion, as far as Achilles Tatius, the author of the romance, is concerned, is not supported by the work of Achilles, which bears no marks of Christian thoughts, while it would not be difficult to prove from it that he was a heathen. This romance is a history of the adventures of two lovers, Cleitophon and Leucippe. It bears the title Τὰ κατὰ Λευκίππην καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα, and consists of eight books. Notwithstanding all its defects, it is one of the best love-stories of the Greeks. Cleitophon is represented in it relating to a friend the whole course of the events from beginning to end, a plan which renders the story rather tedious, and makes the narrator appear affected and insipid. Achilles, like his predecessor Heliodorus, disdained having recourse to what is marvellous and improbable in itself, but the accumulation of adventures and of physical as well as moral difficulties, which the lovers have to overcome, before they are happily united, is too great and renders the story improbable, though their arrangement and succession are skilfully managed by the author. Numerous parts of the work however are written without taste and judgment, and do not appear connected with the story by any internal necessity. Besides these, the work has a great many digressions, which, although interesting in themselves and containing curious information, interrupt and impede the progress of the narrative. The work is full of imitations of other writers from the time of Plato to that of Achilles himself, and while he thus trusts to his books and his learning, he appears ignorant of human nature and the affairs of real life. The laws of decency and morality are not always paid due regard to, a defect which is even noticed by Photius. The style of the work, on which the author seems to have bestowed his principal care, is thoroughly rhetorical: there is a perpetual striving after elegance and beauty, after images, puns, and antitheses. These things, however, were just what the age of Achilles required, and that his novel was much read, is attested by the number of MSS. still extant. A part of it was first printed in a Latin translation by Annibal della Croce (Crucejus), Leyden, 1544; a complete translation appeared at Basel in 1554. The first edition of the Greek original appeared at Heidelberg, 1601, 8vo., printed together with similar works of Longus and Parthenius. An edition, with a voluminous though rather careless commentary, was published by Sal-