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while he was kissing him, he dipped the sword which he carried. And when Deiphobus held Achilles, Paris inflicted a second blow on Achilles, and finally he became weak and fell. And Paris and Deiphobus departed unsuspectedly through another exit of the grove; and when they were a short distance away, running at great speed they went away into the city. And Odysseus, seeing them, said to Ajax and Diomedes that 'These men have done no good thing; let us go in to Achilles.' Entering the grove, therefore, they see your father Achilles lying by the altar on the ground, bloodied and still breathing. My brother Ajax, therefore, said to him, 'Was there then truly any man who could kill you, who surpasses all in might? But your rashness has destroyed you.' And Achilles said, 'Paris and Deiphobus have done this to me by deceit, because of Polyxena.' And he died. And when he was dead, my brother Ajax, having lifted his body onto his shoulders, they carry it to the tents. And the Trojans, seeing this, come out 132 so that they might seize and mutilate his body. But we Greeks, seeing what had happened, were in great perplexity; and we cremate his body, and placing it in an urn, we bury it in silence. And Pyrrhus, upon hearing this, groaned bitterly; and Teucer, paying attention, praised him and said, 'Who is able to recount your virtues? From your father you bear the blood of Peleus, king of the city of Phthia and the land of Thessaly, and from your mother you bear the blood of Lycomedes, king of the Scyrians. And in vengeance for your father you destroyed all of Ilium and Troy.' And rising up, Teucer embraced Pyrrhus, and asked him to take the sons of Ajax, his own brother, the son of Ajax by Glauce, the first wife of Ajax, and Eurysaces by Tecmessa, and Tecmessa herself; and Pyrrhus granted this to him. And Teucer, taking them, immediately sailed away to Salamis. Likewise Pyrrhus also, taking his own fleet, sailed away, and the whole Achaean army and the heroes departed to their own homelands. And Sisyphus of Cos wrote these things down, being present in the war with Teucer; which writing the poet Homer found and set forth as the Iliad, and Virgil the rest. These things are also contained in the writings of Dictys, 133 which work was found many years after Homer and Virgil in the time of the emperor Claudius Nero in a chest. And Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, having previously heard concerning her own husband that he loved Cassandra, and having found a pretext, gave herself in adultery to Aegisthus the senator, son of Thyestes. And hearing of Agamemnon's impending arrival at Mycenae, she plotted with Aegisthus how Agamemnon, on his arrival, should be murdered by deceit by Aegisthus. And when Agamemnon arrived in the city of Mycenae, and was received by the city and the senate and Aegisthus, entering his own palace he was slaughtered. And his wife immediately made Aegisthus king, and she was lawfully married to him. And she had a daughter by him, whom she called Erigone; who after the death of her father and mother, fearing Orestes, killed herself by hanging. And the senate and the city and the army hated Aegisthus; but Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, having heard of his own father's arrival at the city of Mycenae, came from Schoineus, to whom Agamemnon, when he was about to go to the war, had given him to be raised and educated by him. And his sister, taking him, secretly told him that Aegisthus was plotting to kill him. And while Orestes was deliberating what he should do, in the meantime Strophius arrived 134 at Mycenae, being of the family of Agamemnon, together with his son Pylades who had studied with him. And Strophius, learning what had happened to Agamemnon, took counsel with

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καταφιλοῦντος αὐτόν, ἐβάπτισεν ὃ ἐπεφέρετο ξίφος. τοῦ δὲ ∆ηιφόβου κατασχόντος τὸν Ἀχιλλέα, δευτέραν ἐπιφέρεται πληγὴν ὁ Πάρις τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ, καὶ λοιπὸν ἔκλυτος ἐγένετο καὶ ἔπεσε. καὶ ἐξέρχονται οἱ περὶ Πάριδα καὶ ∆ηίφοβον ἀνυπόπτως δι' ἄλλης ἐξόδου τοῦ ἄλσους· ὡς δὲ μικρὸν ἀπεῖχον, δρόμῳ πολλῷ χρησάμενοι ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ἰδὼν δὲ αὐτοὺς ὁ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἔφη πρὸς Αἴαντα καὶ ∆ιομήδην ὅτι Οὐκ ἀγαθόν τι εἰσὶν ἐργασάμενοι οὗτοι· εἰσέλθωμεν πρὸς τὸν Ἀχιλλέα. εἰσελθόντες οὖν εἰς τὸ ἄλσος ὁρῶσι τὸν σὸν γενέτην Ἀχιλλέα κείμενον παρὰ τὸν βωμὸν εἰς τὸ ἔδαφος καθῃμαγμένον καὶ ἔτι ἐμπνέοντα. εἶπεν οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἐμὸς ἀδελφὸς Αἴας, Ἦν ἄρα ἀληθῶς ὅστις ἀνθρώπων ἠδύνατο κτεῖναί σε ἀλκῇ διαφέροντα πάντων; ἀλλ' ἡ σὴ προπέτεια ἀπώλεσέ σε. ὁ δὲ Ἀχιλλεὺς εἶπε, ∆όλῳ εἰργάσαντό με Πάρις καὶ ∆ηίφοβος διὰ Πολυξένην. καὶ ἐτελεύτησε. νεκρὸν δὲ γενόμενον, βαστάσαντος αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐμοῦ ἀδελφοῦ Αἴαντος ἐπ' ὤμων, φέρουσιν εἰς τὰς σκηνάς. ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ Τρῶες ἐξέρχον 132 ται, ἵνα ἁρπάσαντες αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα αἰκίσωνται. ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ Ἕλληνες ἰδόντες τὸ γενόμενον ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ πολλῇ ἐγενόμεθα· καὶ τεφροῦμεν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ βαλόντες ἐν ὑδρίᾳ θάπτομεν σιγῇ. Ὁ δὲ Πύῤῥος ἀκούσας ἐστέναξε πικρῶς· καὶ προσεσχηκὼς ὁ Τεῦκρος ἐπαινῶν αὐτὸν ἔφη, Τίς δυνατός ἐστι τὰς σὰς ἀρετὰς ἐξειπεῖν; ἐκ πατρὸς αἷμα φέρεις Πηλέως βασιλέως πόλεως μὲν Φθίας, χώρας δὲ Θετταλίας, ἐκ μητρὸς δὲ αἷμα φέρεις Λυκομήδους, βασιλέως τῶν Σκυρίων. εἰς ἐκδίκησιν δὲ πατρὸς ἅπαν τὸ Ἴλιον καὶ τὴν Τροίαν ἀπώλεσας. καὶ ἀναστὰς περιεπλάκη τῷ Πύῤῥῳ ὁ Τεῦκρος, καὶ ᾔτησεν αὐτὸν τοὺς τοῦ Αἴαντος, τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, λαβεῖν υἱούς, τὸν Αἰαντίδην τὸν ἀπὸ Γλαύκης, τῆς προτέρας γυναικὸς Αἴαντος, καὶ τὸν Εὐρυσάκην τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Τεκμήσσης, καὶ αὐτὴν Τέκμησσαν· καὶ παρέσχεν αὐτῷ ὁ Πύῤῥος. καὶ λαβὼν ὁ Τεῦκρος εὐθὺς ἀπέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Πύῤῥος λαβὼν τὸν ἴδιον στόλον ἀπέπλευσε, καὶ πᾶς ὁ Ἀχαϊκὸς στρατὸς καὶ οἱ ἥρωες ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας. ταῦτα δὲ Σίσυφος ὁ Κῷος συνεγράψατο ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ὑπάρχων σὺν τῷ Τεύκρῳ· ἥντινα συγγραφὴν εὑρηκὼς Ὅμηρος ὁ ποιητὴς τὴν Ἰλιάδα ἐξέθετο, καὶ Βεργίλλιος τὰ λοιπά. ἅτινα καὶ ἐν ταῖς τοῦ ∆ίκτυος ἐμφέρεται συγγραφαῖς, 133 ὅπερ πόνημα μετὰ πολλὰ ἔτη Ὁμήρου καὶ Βεργιλλίου ηὑρέθη ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου Νέρωνος βασιλέως ἐν κιβωτίῳ. Ἡ δὲ Κλυταιμνήστρα, ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος, πρῴην ἀκούσασα διὰ τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἄνδρα ὅτι τὴν Κασάνδραν φιλεῖ, καὶ ἀφορμὴν εὑρηκυῖα, δέδωκεν ἑαυτὴν εἰς μοιχείαν τῷ Αἰγίσθῳ τῷ συγκλητικῷ, υἱῷ τοῦ Θυέστου. καὶ ἀκούσασα τὴν τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος μέλλουσαν ἐπὶ τὴν Μυκηναίων παρουσίαν, ἐβουλεύσατο μετὰ τοῦ Αἰγίσθου πῶς ὀφείλει δόλῳ φονευθῆναι ἐρχόμενος ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων ὑπὸ τοῦ Αἰγίσθου. καὶ καταφθάσαντος τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐν τῇ Μυκηναίων πόλει, καὶ δεχθέντος ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου καὶ τοῦ Αἰγίσθου, εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον παλάτιον ἐσφάγη. καὶ ἐποίησεν εὐθέως ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ βασιλέα τὸν Αἴγισθον, καὶ ἐγαμήθη αὐτῷ νόμῳ. καὶ ἔσχεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα, ἣν ἐκάλεσεν Ἐνιγόνην· ἥτις μετὰ θάνατον τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς φοβηθεῖσα τὸν Ὀρέστην ἑαυτὴν ἀγχόνῃ ἀναιρεῖ. ἡ δὲ σύγκλητος καὶ ἡ πόλις καὶ ὁ στρατὸς ἐμίσει τὸν Αἴγισθον· ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ὀρέστης, ὁ τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος υἱός, τὴν τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς ἐπὶ τὴν Μυκηναίων πόλιν παρουσίαν, ἦλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Σχοινέως, ᾧτινι ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν μέλλων ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἐλθεῖν ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων ἀνατραφῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ παιδευθῆναι. καὶ λαβοῦσα αὐτὸν ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτοῦ κρύφα ἐξεῖπεν αὐτῷ ὅτι βουλεύεται ὁ Αἴγισθος ἀνελεῖν αὐτόν. καὶ βουλευομένου τοῦ Ὀρέστου τί δεῖ αὐτὸν πρᾶξαι, ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ παραγίνεται 134 ὁ Στρόφιος εἰς τὴν Μυκήνην, ἐκ γένους ὑπάρχων τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος, ἅμα τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Πυλάδῃ τῷ συνανεγνωκότι. καὶ μαθὼν ὁ Στρόφιος τὰ συμβάντα τῷ Ἀγαμέμνονι, συνεβουλεύετο τῷ