Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/654

 344 Museums and Rai'ce Skozvs in Antiquity.

the wretched Philoktetes yielded, allowed himself to be conveyed to Troy, and there, with an arrow from this renowned bow, he wounded Paris mortally and hastened the downfall of the mighty city. Even a Greek of a late period must have gazed with awe upon these antique weapons which had played such a prominent part in the soul-stirring events of that distant day.

A contemporary weapon was the sword of Memnon, con- cerning which Pausanias remarks : ^ " That weapons in the heroic age were all of bronze is shown by Homer's lines about the axe of Pisander and the arrow of Meriones : and I am confirmed in this view by the spear of Achilles which is dedicated in the temple of Athena at Phaselis, and by the sword of Memnon in the sanctuary of Asklepios at Nico- media : for the blade and the spike at the butt end of the spear and the whole of the sword are of bronze. This I know to be so."

Apart from these and many others not very well authenti- cated relics there are certain objects described by ancient w^riters from personal observation. Among these were the ships once belonging to two heroes. One was that of Theseus in Athens. ^ You all remember how Theseus sailed back to Athens after slaying the Minotaur. But in his excitement he forgot to hoist white sails in token of victory, and his old father, at sight of the black sails approaching, in his despair cast himself into the sea. This ship was preserved until the fourth century of our era, for the injured parts were restored, so that the philosophers might demon- strate to their pupils. The second ship was that of Aeneas, and was on show in Rome. Procopius states ^ that the length was 120 feet and the breadth 25 feet. Ships seem to have formed a favourite offering, although it is probable that only the beaks were placed in the temples : those of

1 Pausanias, viii. 3. 8.

2 Plato, Phaedron, 518 a.b. ; Plutarch, Thes., 23. ^ Bell. Goth., iv. 22. p. 573 B.