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POLYDORUS

Volume 17 · 140 words · 1815 Edition

a son of Priam by Hecuba, or, according to others, by Laodice, the daughter of Altes, king of Pedaus. Being young and inexperienced when Troy was besieged by the Greeks, his father removed him to the court of Polymnestor, king of Thrace, to whose care he entrusted the greatest part of his treasures, till his country should be freed from foreign invasion. On the death of Priam, Polymnestor made himself master of the riches which were in his possession; and to ensure them the better, he murdered the young prince, and threw his body into the sea, where it was found by Hecuba. According to Virgil, his body was buried near the shore by his afflatus; and there grew on his grave a myrtle, whose boughs dropped blood, when Æneas going to Italy, attempted to tear them from the tree.