Troy

by Homer

  She wept as she spoke and the vast crowd that was gathered round her joined in her lament. Then King Priam spoke to them saying, “Bring wood, O Trojans, to the city, and fear no cunning ambush of the Argives, for Achilles when he dismissed me from the ships gave me his word that they should not attack us until the morning of the twelfth day.”

  Forthwith they yoked their oxen and mules and gathered together before the city. Nine days long did they bring in great heaps of wood, and on the morning of the tenth day with many tears they took brave Hector forth, laid his dead body upon the summit of the pile, and set the fire thereto. Then when the child of morning, rosy-fingered dawn, appeared on the eleventh day, the people again assembled, round the pyre of mighty Hector. When they were got together, they first quenched the fire with wine wherever it was burning, and then his brothers and comrades with many a bitter tear gathered his white bones, wrapped them in soft robes of purple, and laid them in a golden urn, which they placed in a grave and covered over with large stones set close together. Then they built a barrow hurriedly over it keeping guard on every side lest the Achaeans should attack them before they had finished. When they had heaped up the barrow they went back again into the city, and being well assembled they held high feast in the house of Priam their king.

  Thus, then, did they celebrate the funeral of Hector tamer of horses.

  CLASSIC LITERATURE: WORDS AND PHRASES

  adapted from the Collins English Dictionary

  Accoucheur NOUN a male midwife or doctor I think my sister must have had some general idea that I was a young offender whom an Accoucheur Policemen had taken up (on my birthday) and delivered over to her (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  addled ADJ confused and unable to think properly But she counted and counted till she got that addled (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  admiration NOUN amazement or wonder lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  afeard ADJ afeard means afraid shake it–and don’t be afeard (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  affected VERB affected means to assume the appearance of Hadst thou affected sweet divinity (Doctor Faustus 5.2 by Christopher Marlowe)

  aground ADV when a boat runs aground, it touches the ground in a shallow part of the water and gets stuck what kep’ you?–boat get aground? (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  ague NOUN a fever in which the patient has alternate hot and cold shivering fits his exposure to the wet and cold had brought on fever and ague (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  alchemy ADJ false or worthless all wealth alchemy (The Sun Rising by John Donne)

  all alike PHRASE the same all the time Love, all alike (The Sun Rising by John Donne)

  alow and aloft PHRASE alow means in the lower part or bottom, and aloft means on the top, so alow and aloft means on the top and in the bottom or throughout Someone’s turned the chest out alow and aloft (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  ambuscade NOUN ambuscade is not a proper word. Tom means an ambush, which is when a group of people attack their enemies, after hiding and waiting for them and so we would lie in ambuscade, as he called it (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  amiable ADJ likeable or pleasant Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  amulet NOUN an amulet is a charm thought to drive away evil spirits. uttered phrases at once occult and familiar, like the amulet worn on the heart (Silas Marner by George Eliot)

  amusement NOUN here amusement means a strange and disturbing puzzle this was an amusement the other way (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)

  ancient NOUN an ancient was the flag displayed on a ship to show which country it belongs to. It is also called the ensign her ancient and pendants out (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)

  antic ADJ here antic means horrible or grotesque armed and dressed after a very antic manner (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  antics NOUN antics is an old word meaning clowns, or people who do silly things to make other people laugh And point like antics at his triple crown (Doctor Faustus 3.2 by Christopher Marlowe)

  appanage NOUN an appanage is a living allowance As if loveliness were not the special prerogative of woman–her legitimate appanage and heritage! (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë)

  appended VERB appended means attached or added to and these words appended (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  approver NOUN an approver is someone who gives evidence against someone he used to work with Mr. Noah Claypole: receiving a free pardon from the Crown in consequence of being admitted approver against Fagin (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  areas NOUN the areas is the space, below street level, in front of the basement of a house The Dodger had a vicious propensity, too, of pulling the caps from the heads of small boys and tossing them down areas (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  argument NOUN theme or important idea or subject which runs through a piece of writing Thrice needful to the argument which now (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  artificially ADV artfully or cleverly and he with a sharp flint sharpened very artificially (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  artist NOUN here artist means a skilled workman This man was a most ingenious artist (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  assizes NOUN assizes were regular court sessions which a visiting judge was in charge of you shall hang at the next assizes (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  attraction NOUN gravitation, or Newton’s theory of gravitation he predicted the same fate to attraction (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  aver VERB to aver is to claim something strongly for Jem Rodney, the mole catcher, averred that one evening as he was returning homeward (Silas Marner by George Eliot)

  baby NOUN here baby means doll, which is a child’s toy that looks like a small person and skilful dressing her baby (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  bagatelle NOUN bagatelle is a game rather like billiards and pool Breakfast had been ordered at a pleasant little tavern, a mile or so away upon the rising ground beyond the green; and there was a bagatelle board in the room, in case we should desire to unbend our minds after the solemnity. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  bah EXCLAM Bah is an exclamation of frustration or anger “Bah,” said Scrooge. (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

  bairn NOUN a northern word for child Who has taught you those fine words, my bairn? (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  bait VERB to bait means to stop on a journey to take refreshment So, when they stopped to bait the horse, and ate and drank and enjoyed themselves, I could touch nothing that they touched, but kept my fast unbroken. (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)

  balustrade NOUN a balustrade is a row of vertical columns that form railings but I mean to say you might have got a hearse up that staircase, and taken it broadwise, with the splinter-bar towards the wall, and the door towards the balustrades: and done it easy (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

  bandbox NOUN a large lightweight box for carrying bonnets or hats I am glad I bought my bonnet, if it is only for the fun of having another bandbox (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  barren NOUN a barren here is a stretch or expanse of barren land a line of upright stones, continued the length of the barren (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  basin NOUN a basin was a cup without a handle who is drinking his tea out of a basin (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  battalia NOUN the order of battle till I saw part of his army in battalia (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  battery NOUN a Battery is a fort or a place where guns are positioned You bring the lot to me, at that old Battery over yonder (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  battledore and shuttlecock NOUN The game battledore and shuttlecock was an early version of the game now known a
s badminton. The aim of the early game was simply to keep the shuttlecock from hitting the ground. Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game vhen you an’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores, in which case it gets too excitin’ to be pleasant (Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens)

  beadle NOUN a beadle was a local official who had power over the poor But these impertinences were speedily checked by the evidence of the surgeon, and the testimony of the beadle (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  bearings NOUN the bearings of a place are the measurements or directions that are used to find or locate it the bearings of the island (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  beaufet NOUN a beaufet was a sideboard and sweet-cake from the beaufet (Emma by Jane Austen)

  beck NOUN a beck is a small stream a beck which follows the bend of the glen (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  bedight VERB decorated and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

  Bedlam NOUN Bedlam was a lunatic asylum in London which had statues carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber at its entrance Bedlam, and those carved maniacs at the gates (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  beeves NOUN oxen or castrated bulls which are animals used for pulling vehicles or carrying things to deliver in every morning six beeves (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  begot VERB created or caused Begot in thee (On His Mistress by John Donne)

  behoof NOUN behoof means benefit “Yes, young man,” said he, releasing the handle of the article in question, retiring a step or two from my table, and speaking for the behoof of the landlord and waiter at the door (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  berth NOUN a berth is a bed on a boat this is the berth for me (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  bevers NOUN a bever was a snack, or small portion of food, eaten between main meals that buys me thirty meals a day and ten bevers (Doctor Faustus 2.1 by Christopher Marlowe)

  bilge water NOUN the bilge is the widest part of a ship’s bottom, and the bilge water is the dirty water that collects there no gush of bilge-water had turned it to fetid puddle (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë)

  bills NOUN bills is an old term meaning prescription. A prescription is the piece of paper on which your doctor writes an order for medicine and which you give to a chemist to get the medicine Are not thy bills hung up as monuments (Doctor Faustus 1.1 by Christopher Marlowe)

  black cap NOUN a judge wore a black cap when he was about to sentence a prisoner to death The judge assumed the black cap, and the prisoner still stood with the same air and gesture. (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  boot-jack NOUN a wooden device to help take boots off The speaker appeared to throw a boot-jack, or some such article, at the person he addressed (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  booty NOUN booty means treasure or prizes would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead man’s debts (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  Bow Street runner PHRASE Bow Street runners were the first British police force, set up by the author Henry Fielding in the eighteenth century as would have convinced a judge or a Bow Street runner (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  brawn NOUN brawn is a dish of meat which is set in jelly Heaped up upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, suckling-pigs (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

  bray VERB when a donkey brays, it makes a loud, harsh sound and she doesn’t bray like a jackass (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  break VERB in order to train a horse you first have to break it “If a high-mettled creature like this,” said he, “can’t be broken by fair means, she will never be good for anything” (Black Beauty by Anna Sewell)

  bullyragging VERB bullyragging is an old word which means bullying. To bullyrag someone is to threaten or force someone to do something they don’t want to do and a lot of loafers bullyragging him for sport (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  but PREP except for (this) but this, all pleasures fancies be (The Good-Morrow by John Donne)

  by hand PHRASE by hand was a common expression of the time meaning that baby had been fed either using a spoon or a bottle rather than by breast-feeding My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself … because she had bought me up “by hand” (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  bye-spots NOUN bye-spots are lonely places and bye-spots of tales rich with indigenous produce (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  calico NOUN calico is plain white fabric made from cotton There was two old dirty calico dresses (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  camp-fever NOUN camp-fever was another word for the disease typhus during a severe camp-fever (Emma by Jane Austen)

  cant NOUN cant is insincere or empty talk “Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is.” (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

  canty ADJ canty means lively, full of life My mother lived til eighty, a canty dame to the last (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  canvas VERB to canvas is to discuss We think so very differently on this point Mr Knightley, that there can be no use in canvassing it (Emma by Jane Austen)

  capital ADJ capital means excellent or extremely good for it’s capital, so shady, light, and big (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

  capstan NOUN a capstan is a device used on a ship to lift sails and anchors capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea creatures roaring curses over the bulwarks at respondent lightermen (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  case-bottle NOUN a square bottle designed to fit with others into a case The spirit being set before him in a huge case-bottle, which had originally come out of some ship’s locker (The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens)

  casement NOUN casement is a word meaning window. The teacher in Nicholas Nickleby misspells window showing what a bad teacher he is W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement. (Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens)

  cataleptic ADJ a cataleptic fit is one in which the victim goes into a trancelike state and remains still for a long time It was at this point in their history that Silas’s cataleptic fit occurred during the prayer-meeting (Silas Marner by George Eliot)

  cauldron NOUN a cauldron is a large cooking pot made of metal stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)

  cephalic ADJ cephalic means to do with the head with ink composed of a cephalic tincture (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  chaise and four NOUN a closed four-wheel carriage pulled by four horses he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  chamberlain NOUN the main servant in a household In those times a bed was always to be got there at any hour of the night, and the chamberlain, letting me in at his ready wicket, lighted the candle next in order on his shelf (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  characters NOUN distinguishing marks Impressed upon all forms the characters (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  chary ADJ cautious I should have been chary of discussing my guardian too freely even with her (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  cherishes VERB here cherishes means cheers or brightens some philosophic song of Truth that cherishes our daily life (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  chickens’ meat PHRASE chickens’ meat is an old term which means chickens’ feed or food I had shook a bag of chickens’ meat out in that place (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)

  chimeras NOUN a chimera is an unrealistic idea or a wish which is unlikely to be fulfilled with many other wild impossible chimeras (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  chines NOUN chine is a cut of meat that includes par
t or all of the backbone of the animal and they found hams and chines uncut (Silas Marner by George Eliot)

  chits NOUN chits is a slang word which means girls I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits! (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

  chopped VERB chopped means come suddenly or accidentally if I had chopped upon them (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)

  chute NOUN a narrow channel One morning about day-break, I found a canoe and crossed over a chute to the main shore (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  circumspection NOUN careful observation of events and circumstances; caution I honour your circumspection (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  clambered VERB clambered means to climb somewhere with difficulty, usually using your hands and your feet he clambered up and down stairs (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  clime NOUN climate no season knows nor clime (The Sun Rising by John Donne)

  clinched VERB clenched the tops whereof I could but just reach with my fist clinched (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  close chair NOUN a close chair is a sedan chair, which is an covered chair which has room for one person. The sedan chair is carried on two poles by two men, one in front and one behind persuaded even the Empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  clown NOUN clown here means peasant or person who lives off the land In ancient days by emperor and clown (Ode on a Nightingale by John Keats)

  coalheaver NOUN a coalheaver loaded coal onto ships using a spade Good, strong, wholesome medicine, as was given with great success to two Irish labourers and a coalheaver (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  coal-whippers NOUN men who worked at docks using machines to load coal onto ships here, were colliers by the score and score, with the coal-whippers plunging off stages on deck (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)