Alexander and Lysimachos at school

Lysimachos was a grizzly old friend of Olympias. He had lived in the country next door near her home in Epirot. He was quite an interesting old characcter who loved to fantasize about characters from literature, and thus, influenced his young protege wit his stories about Achilles. Achilles is an ancestor of Olympias and her family. Alexander was quite thrilled whenever Lysimachos would discuss the tales of Achille's valor and bravery. Achilles's blood ran through his own veins so he believed, and he reveled in the knowledge that he could be another like Achilles in future battles and wars. ******"You, my dear child, are destined to be an even greater personality than our old warrior hero Achilles of yore," he would say gently and loudly to the impressionable young boy. *****Alexander beamed. "Tell me more about Achilles. I never tire of hearing stories about him. Read me some of the lines from Homer's Iliad, please,Lysimachos. I want to memorize them as best that I can." *****"All right, my child. Listen carefully now, and I will ask you to repeat them back to me." Then Lysimachos would take up the worn papyrus upon which were written the very bold and dashing words that Homer had spun, luring his audiences into the story of the famous Trojan war. ******Lysimachos explained to Alexander that the Iliad began with a quarrel between King Agamemnon and Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, all because of women. Apollo had taken offense that King Agamemnon had taken as his prize Apollo's own favorite, Chryse, who Agamemnon acknowledged that he preferred to his own wife, Clytaimnestra, though both were equally pretty in all aspects of beauty, face, fingers, brains. But Apollo was so angry at the King that he attacked the ships, dogs, mules, and men until the dead bodies piled up so high that on the tenth day Achilles could stand it no more and therefore he stood up to the king and demanded to be told the cause for the god's anger.******Lysimachos told the story so fiercely that Alexander shuddered. King Agamemnon cursed the soothsayer who explained the cause of Apollo's anger. Achilles had promised that he would protect the soothsayer from harm if he explained why Apollo was fighting the troops of King Agamemnon. ******************Lysimachos shouted out the words that King Agamemnnon used loudly and savagely. Lysimachos became even more animated when he shouted," Oh Alexander, King Agamamenon was so angry at the soothsayer then. He ranted and railed at him. He shouted at him, " All you can do is blame me for everything." He screamed at him, " All right, We will send the prize home to Apollo. But I must have a prize of my own. I will take one from one of you," and he pointed to Achilles who stood up to him, and responded, " Where are we to get a prize for you? We have taken everything and divided it amongst us. Give the girl up to the god and we will repay you over and over again if Zeus ever has us attack Troy." But old mean King Agamemnon did not like that. He replied to Achilles, "Don't try to cheat me, Achilles. You may be a great man, but no matter how great you may be, if I want to take your prize or another's prize I will. You want to keep your own prize but tell me to give up mine. One of you will have to pacify Shootafar by making a sacrifice."******But Achilles did not like that. He frowned and said right back to King Agamemnon, " Ha! Greedyheart. How could anyone obey you shamelessnewss in royal dress? I didn't care about the Trojans at all. They had never done anything to me to deserve my coming here to fight them. I cam here because of YOU! I came here to defend your brother Menelaos, and you too, dogface! The Trojans had never stolen any of mhy animals, burned any of my fields, but no, I did it all for you, and now you want to rob me of my prize. I do all the work,and you try to get all the credit. Now you threaten to take my prize from me." *********************King Agamemnon was furious at Achille's words. He said terribly dreadful tings to Achilles in response. "Go home if you want. I have others who will help me. I hate you. You are always fighting and quarreling. I care nothing for you. I don't care if you are in a rage. I will take your prize for myself, and send Chryse home in a ship today. I will come to your place myself so that others will not stand up to me and say that you are better than I am." ***************Achilles was hurt to the heart, and had two choices to make. He could either take his sword and bring King Agamemnon down with a thrust to the thigh, or keep his temper in check. Just as he reached for his sword, Queen Hera sent Athena down to him who grabbed him by his long red hair, so that he turned around to see her and listened as she told him to stop, to put his sword back into his holster, and to stay calm. He protested, "Someday he well may die becaue of his highhandedness." But Athena replied, "The time will come when you will be paid back three times greater for this insult to you now. Tell King Agamemnon that the time will come when he will need your services again."**************Achilles was very smart and wise, said Lysimachos to A?lexander for he answered to Athena, "What the gods command me to do, I will do so that the gods will listen to me."******Alexander interrupted. 'I love that line. I will remember that always."****Lysimachos said, " Yes, my child, that is one of the most important lines in the poem. Achilles shows wisdom and strength when he is about to be robbed of his own prize just because King Agamemnon has admitted of his own hatred and jealousy.***************"Oh, I hope that I will always be as wise as Achilles," the young boy muttered softly, almost to himself. " Yes, Alexander. We will continue with more of the poem tomorrow. I am sure that you will always remember that to honor the gods is to gain the support of the gods as Achilles has so wisely said. Remember that if nothing else. It will always be your guiding light.'