Tales of Troy and Greece

Long ago, in a little island called Ithaca, on the west coast of Greece, there lived a king namedLaertes. His kingdom was small and mountainous. People used to say that Ithaca 'lay like a shieldupon the sea,' which sounds as if it were a flat country. But in those times shields were very large,and rose at the middle into two peaks with a hollow between them, so that Ithaca, seen far off in thesea, with her two chief mountain peaks, and a cloven valley between them, looked exactly like...
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Long ago, in a little island called Ithaca, on the west coast of Greece, there lived a king namedLaertes. His kingdom was small and mountainous. People used to say that Ithaca 'lay like a shieldupon the sea,' which sounds as if it were a flat country. But in those times shields were very large,and rose at the middle into two peaks with a hollow between them, so that Ithaca, seen far off in thesea, with her two chief mountain peaks, and a cloven valley between them, looked exactly like ashield. The country was so rough that men kept no horses, for, at that time, people drove, standingup in little light chariots with two horses; they never rode, and there was no cavalry in battle: menfought from chariots. When Ulysses, the son of Laertes, King of Ithaca grew up, he never foughtfrom a chariot, for he had none, but always on foot.If there were no horses in Ithaca, there was plenty of cattle. The father of Ulysses had flocks ofsheep, and herds of swine, and wild goats, deer, and hares lived in the hills and in the plains. The seawas full of fish of many sorts, which men caught with nets, and with rod and line and hook.Thus Ithaca was a good island to live in. The summer was long, and there was hardly any winter;only a few cold weeks, and then the swallows came back, and the plains were like a garden, allcovered with wild flowers--violets, lilies, narcissus, and roses. With the blue sky and the blue sea,the island was beautiful. White temples stood on the shores; and the Nymphs, a sort of fairies, hadtheir little shrines built of stone, with wild rose-bushes hanging over them.