Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II LECCE UP TO NORMAN TIMES (TO A.D. IOig) The Beginnings Of Lecce It is very difficult, in fact almost impossible, to say when history begins and where we take leave of legendary lore. It is almost equally difficult to fix any date for the earliest remains of the human race, such as confront us far below the present level of the ground in so ancient a city as Lecce. For tradition connects some of the heroes of mythology with the place, heroes whose lives are told to us by Homer and Virgil in their great epics of the Trojan War--Idomeneus, for instance, who was king of Crete, son of Deucalion, and grandson of Minos II. He was one of Helen's numerous suitors, and had often visited Menelaus's palace at Troy. When the war broke out he led the Cretan troops to the siege of Troy, and also a fleet which did great things, covering itself with glory. When the town fell Idomeneus, laden with booty, set back for Crete, but on the way was caught in a storm so violent that he despaired of his ships ever seeing port again. In an agony of fear he vowed to Neptune, the seagod, that the first object which should meet his eyes on reaching his kingdom should be sacrificed as a thank-offering for his safety. The cowed sailors around him, the hardy troops who had just earned their laurels at Troy town, stood in silent groups waiting for some reply to their sovereign's prayer. The wind abated, the waves became less dangerous, and the fleet approached the harbour of his native city. Those who had heard the vow stood apprehensive on the deck to see who would be the luckless victim, and as they drew sufficiently near the shore to be able to distinguish faces the eager figure of the king's own son, anxiously awaiting his royal parent's arrival, was...