his name and told why he had come. Achilles, for it was he, gladly
agreed to take part with his countrymen in their great expedition, and
he immediately returned to Phthiʹa, the capital of his father's kingdom
of Thessaly. There he lost no time in making all necessary preparations.
Soon afterwards he sailed for Aulis with the brave Myrʹmi-dons, as his
soldiers were called, accompanied also by his devoted friend and
constant companion, Pa-troʹclus.

Full fifty ships beneath Achilles' care,
The Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear;
Thessalians all, though various in their name;
The same their nation, and their chief the same.

POPE, _Iliad_, Book II.

Agamemnon, the commander in chief of the great host, sailed with a
hundred ships from his kingdom of Mycenæ, and his brother Menelaus,
eager for vengeance upon the Trojans, sailed with sixty ships and a
strong force of brave Spartans.

Great Agamemnon rules the numerous band,
A hundred vessels in long order stand,
And crowded nations wait his dread command.
High on the deck the king of men appears,
And his refulgent arms in triumph wears;
Proud of his host, unrivall'd in his reign,
In silent pomp he moves along the main.
His brother follows, and to vengeance warms,
The hardy Spartans, exercised in arms:
. . . . . .