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176 He, comrade brave and true,

With conquering Iolaus slew

The steely-shafted host of Amazons."—(S.)

Æacus, the great ancestor of all these heroes, is introduced in the Eighth Olympian, in connection with the remarkable legend of the building of Troy. He came, summoned by Apollo and Poseidon, to aid them in this task. The assistance of a mortal was necessary, for Fate required that Troy should one day perish; yet perish it could not if it consisted wholly of the imperishable work of immortal gods. Accordingly, Æacus was summoned to supply a perishable element in the walls of the new city:—

Foredoomed of Fate, from its embattled tower,

When war's fell affrays

Should in havock outblaze,

Ruin's lurid fumes to pour."

Suddenly a. portent appeared, shadowing the fate of Troy:—

Up-leaped upon the city's new-built wall

Three sheeny snakes. Two back in ruin thrown

Crashed suddenly, and perished in their fall:

One rushed exulting on."

Apollo explained the portent. Descendants of Æacus should assault and take the city, breaching its walls in the only place where a breach was possible—the portion reared by his own mortal hands. By the two snakes which fell baffled from the ramparts Pindar appears to have signified the Æacids, Achilles