The principal burlesque epic in Greek, the Bactrachomyomachia, or
Battle of Frogs and Mice, is attributed to Homer, but only some 300
lines of this work remain, showing what it may have been.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: A detailed account of Oedipus, Heracles, the Argonauts,
and the "War of Troy" is given in the author's "Myths of Greece and
Rome."]




THE ILIAD


_Introduction._ Jupiter, king of the gods, refrained from an alliance
with Thetis, a sea divinity, because he was told her son would be
greater than his father. To console her, however, he decreed that all
the gods should attend her nuptials with Peleus, King of Thessaly. At
this wedding banquet the Goddess of Discord produced a golden apple,
inscribed "To the fairest," which Juno, Minerva, and Venus claimed.

Because the gods refused to act as umpires in this quarrel, Paris, son
of the King of Troy, was chosen. As an oracle had predicted before his
birth that he would cause the ruin of his city, Paris was abandoned on
a mountain to perish, but was rescued by kindly shepherds.

On hearing Juno offer him worldly power, Minerva boundless wisdom, and
Venus the most beautiful wife in the world, Paris bestowed the prize