of the most ancient supers****ions respecting prayer, and one founded as much in nature as in tradition. 207 It must be recollected, that the war at Troy was not a settled siege, and that many of the chieftains busied themselves in piratical expeditions about its neighborhood. Such a one was that of which Achilles now speaks. From the following verses, it is evident that fruits of these maraudings went to the common support of the expedition, and not to the successful plunderer. 208 --_Pthia,_ the capital of Achilles' Thessalian domains. 209 --_Orchomenian town._ The topography of Orchomenus, in Boeotia, "situated," as it was, "on the northern bank of the lake Ćpais, which receives not only the river Cephisus from the valleys of Phocis, but also other rivers from Parn****us and Helicon" (Grote, vol. p. 181), was a sufficient reason for its prosperity and decay. "As long as the channels of these waters wer