A general silence fell; and all gave ear,while, from his lofty station at the feast,Father Aeneas with these words began:—A grief unspeakable thy gracious word,o sovereign lady, bids my heart live o'er:how Asia's glory and afflicted thronethe Greek flung down; which woeful scene I saw,and bore great part in each event I tell.But O! in telling, what Dolopian churl,or Myrmidon, or gory followerof grim Ulysses could the tears restrain?'T is evening; lo! the dews of night beginto fall from heaven, and yonder sinking starsinvite to slumber. But if thy heart yearnto hear in brief of all our evil daysand Troy's last throes, although the memorymakes my soul shudder and recoil in pain,I will essay it. Wearied of the war,and by ill-fortune crushed, year after year,the kings of Greece, by Pallas' skill divine,build a huge horse, a thing of mountain size,with timbered ribs of fir. They falsely sayit has been vowed to Heaven for safe return,and spread this lie abroad. Then they concealchoice bands of warriors in the deep, dark side,and fill the caverns of that monstrous wombwith arms and soldiery.
Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant.Inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto:Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem,Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnumeruerint Danai; quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,et quorum pars magna fui. Quis talia fandoMyrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixitemperet a lacrimis? Et iam nox umida caelopraecipitat, suadentque cadentia sidera somnos.Sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostroset breviter Troiae supremum audire laborem,quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit,incipiam.Fracti bello fatisque repulsiductores Danaum, tot iam labentibus annis,instar montis equum divina Palladis arteaedificant, sectaque intexunt abiete costas:votum pro reditu simulant; ea fama vagatur.Huc delecta virum sortiti corpora furtimincludunt caeco lateri, penitusque cavernasingentis uterumque armato milite complent.
In sight of Troylies Tenedos, an island widely famedand opulent, ere Priam's kingdom fell,but a poor haven now, with anchoragenot half secure; 't was thitherward they sailed,and lurked unseen by that abandoned shore.We deemed them launched away and sailing far,bound homeward for Mycenae. Teucria thenthrew off her grief inveterate; all her gatesswung wide; exultant went we forth, and sawthe Dorian camp untenanted, the siegeabandoned, and the shore without a keel.“Here!” cried we, “the Dolopian pitched; the hostof fierce Achilles here; here lay the fleet;and here the battling lines to conflict ran.”Others, all wonder, scan the gift of doomby virgin Pallas given, and view with awethat horse which loomed so large. Thymoetes thenbade lead it through the gates, and set on highwithin our citadel,—or traitor he,or tool of fate in Troy's predestined fall.But Capys, as did all of wiser heart,bade hurl into the sea the false Greek gift,or underneath it thrust a kindling flameor pierce the hollow ambush of its wombwith probing spear. Yet did the multitudeveer round from voice to voice and doubt of all.
Est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima famainsula, dives opum, Priami dum regna manebant,nunc tantum sinus et statio male fida carinis:huc se provecti deserto in litore condunt.Nos abiisse rati et vento petiisse Mycenas:ergo omnis longo solvit se Teucria luctu;panduntur portae; iuvat ire et Dorica castradesertosque videre locos litusque relictum.Hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles;classibus hic locus; hic acie certare solebant.Pars stupet innuptae donum exitiale Minervae,et molem mirantur equi; primusque Thymoetesduci intra muros hortatur et arce locari,sive dolo, seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant.At Capys, et quorum melior sententia menti,aut pelago Danaum insidias suspectaque donapraecipitare iubent, subiectisque urere flammis,aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras.Scinditur incertum studia in contraria volgus.
Then from the citadel, conspicuous,Laocoon, with all his following choir,hurried indignant down; and from afarthus hailed the people: “O unhappy men!What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled?Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile?Have ye not known Ulysses? The Achaeanhides, caged in yonder beams; or this is rearedfor engin'ry on our proud battlements,to spy upon our roof-tops, or descendin ruin on the city. 'T is a snare.Trust not this horse, O Troy, whate'er it bode!I fear the Greeks, though gift on gift they bear.”So saying, he whirled with ponderous javelina sturdy stroke straight at the rounded sideof the great, jointed beast. A tremor struckits towering form, and through the cavernous wombrolled loud, reverberate rumbling, deep and long.If heaven's decree, if our own wills, that hour,had not been fixed on woe, his spear had broughta bloody slaughter on our ambushed foe,and Troy were standing on the earth this day!O Priam's towers, ye were unfallen still!
Primus ibi ante omnis, magna comitante caterva,Laocoön ardens summa decurrit ab arce,et procul: “O miseri, quae tanta insania, cives?”“Creditis avectos hostis? Aut ulla putatis”“dona carere dolis Danaum? Sic notus Ulixes?”“aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi,”“aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros”“inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi,”“aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri.”“Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis.”Sic fatus, validis ingentem viribus hastamin latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvumcontorsit: stetit illa tremens, uteroque recussoinsonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae.Et, si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset,impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras,Troiaque, nunc stares, Priamique arx alta, maneres.
But, lo! with hands fast bound behind, a youthby clamorous Dardan shepherds haled along,was brought before our king,—to this sole enda self-surrendered captive, that he might,although a nameless stranger, cunninglydeliver to the Greek the gates of Troy.His firm-set mind flinched not from either goal,—success in crime, or on swift death to fall.The thronging Trojan youth made haste his wayfrom every side, all eager to see closetheir captive's face, and clout with emulous scorn.Hear now what Greek deception is, and learnfrom one dark wickedness the whole. For he,a mark for every eye, defenceless, dazed,stood staring at our Phrygian hosts, and cried:“Woe worth the day! What ocean or what shorewill have me now? What desperate path remainsfor miserable me? Now have I lostall foothold with the Greeks, and o'er my headTroy's furious sons call bloody vengeance down.”Such groans and anguish turned all rage awayand stayed our lifted hands. We bade him tellhis birth, his errand, and from whence might besuch hope of mercy for a foe in chains.Then fearing us no more, this speech he dared:
Ecce, manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctumpastores magno ad regem clamore trahebantDardanidae, qui se ignotum venientibus ultro,hoc ipsum ut strueret Troiamque aperiret Achivis,obtulerat, fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus,seu versare dolos, seu certae occumbere morti.Undique visendi studio Troiana iuventuscircumfusa ruit, certantque inludere capto.Accipe nunc Danaum insidias, et crimine ab unodisce omnes.Namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermisconstitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit:“Heu, quae nunc tellus” inquit “quae me aequora possunt”“accipere? Aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat,”“cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi”“Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt?”Quo gemitu conversi animi, compressus et omnisimpetus. Hortamur fari; quo sanguine cretus,quidve ferat, memoret, quae sit fiducia capto.[Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur:]
“O King! I will confess, whate'er befall,the whole unvarnished truth. I will not hidemy Grecian birth. Yea, thus will I begin.For Fortune has brought wretched Sinon low;but never shall her cruelty impairhis honor and his truth. Perchance the nameof Palamedes, Belus' glorious son,has come by rumor to your listening ears;whom by false witness and conspiracy,because his counsel was not for this war,the Greeks condemned, though guiltless, to his death,and now make much lament for him they slew.I, his companion, of his kith and kin,sent hither by my humble sire's command,followed his arms and fortunes from my youth.Long as his throne endured, and while he throvein conclave with his kingly peers, we twainsome name and lustre bore; but afterward,because that cheat Ulysses envied him(Ye know the deed), he from this world withdrew,and I in gloom and tribulation sorelived miserably on, lamenting loudmy lost friend's blameless fall. A fool was Ithat kept not these lips closed; but I had vowedthat if a conqueror home to Greece I came,I would avenge. Such words moved wrath, and werethe first shock of my ruin; from that hour,Ulysses whispered slander and alarm;breathed doubt and malice into all men's ears,and darkly plotted how to strike his blow.Nor rest had he, till Calchas, as his tool,-but why unfold this useless, cruel story?Why make delay? Ye count all sons of Greecearrayed as one; and to have heard thus farsuffices you. Take now your ripe revenge!Ulysses smiles and Atreus' royal sonswith liberal price your deed of blood repay.”
“Cuncta equidem tibi, Rex, fuerit quodcumque, fatebor”“vera, inquit; neque me Argolica de gente negabo:”“hoc primum; nec, si miserum Fortuna Sinonem”“finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget.”“Fando aliquod si forte tuas pervenit ad auris”“Belidae nomen Palamedis et incluta fama”“gloria, quem falsa sub proditione Pelasgi”“insontem infando indicio, quia bella vetabat,”“demisere neci, nunc cassum lumine lugent.”“Illi me comitem et consanguinitate propinquum”“pauper in arma pater primis huc misit ab annis,”“dum stabat regno incolumis regumque vigebat”“consiliis, et nos aliquod nomenque decusque”“gessimus. Invidia postquam pellacis Ulixi—”“haud ignota loquor—superis concessit ab oris,”“adflictus vitam in tenebris luctuque trahebam,”“et casum insontis mecum indignabar amici.”“Nec tacui demens, et me, fors si qua tulisset,”“si patrios umquam remeassem victor ad Argos,”“promisi ultorem, et verbis odia aspera movi.”“Hinc mihi prima mali labes, hinc semper Ulixes”“criminibus terrere novis, hinc spargere voces”“in volgum ambiguas, et quaerere conscius arma.”“Nec requievit enim, donec, Calchante ministro—”“sed quid ego haec autem nequiquam ingrata revolvo?”“Quidve moror, si omnis uno ordine habetis Achivos,”“idque audire sat est? Iamdudum sumite poenas,”“hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridae.”
We ply him then with passionate appealand question all his cause: of guilt so direor such Greek guile we harbored not the thought.So on he prates, with well-feigned grief and fear,and from his Iying heart thus told his tale:“Full oft the Greeks had fain achieved their flight,and raised the Trojan siege, and sailed awaywar-wearied quite. O, would it had been so!Full oft the wintry tumult of the seasdid wall them round, and many a swollen stormtheir embarcation stayed. But chiefly when,all fitly built of beams of maple fair,this horse stood forth,— what thunders filled the skies!With anxious fears we sent Eurypylusto ask Apollo's word; and from the shrinehe brings the sorrowful commandment home:‘By flowing blood and by a virgin slainthe wild winds were appeased, when first ye came,ye sons of Greece, to Ilium's distant shore.Through blood ye must return. Let some Greek lifeyour expiation be.’ The popular earthe saying caught, all spirits were dimmed o'er;cold doubt and horror through each bosom ran,asking what fate would do, and on what wretchApollo's choice would fall. Ulysses, then,amid the people's tumult and acclaim,thrust Calchas forth, some prophecy to tellto all the throng: he asked him o'er and o'erwhat Heaven desired. Already not a fewforetold the murderous plot, and silentlywatched the dark doom upon my life impend.Twice five long days the seer his lips did seal,and hid himself, refusing to bring forthHis word of guile, and name what wretch should die.At last, reluctant, and all loudly urgedBy false Ulysses, he fulfils their plot,and, lifting up his voice oracular,points out myself the victim to be slain.Nor did one voice oppose. The mortal strokehorribly hanging o'er each coward headwas changed to one man's ruin, and their heartsendured it well. Soon rose th' accursed morn;the bloody ritual was ready; saltwas sprinkled on the sacred loaf; my browswere bound with fillets for the offering.But I escaped that death—yes! I deny not!I cast my fetters off, and darkling layconcealed all night in lake-side sedge and mire,awaiting their departure, if perchancethey should in truth set sail. But nevermoreshall my dear, native country greet these eyes.No more my father or my tender babesshall I behold. Nay, haply their own livesare forfeit, when my foemen take revengefor my escape, and slay those helpless ones,in expiation of my guilty deed.O, by yon powers in heaven which witness truth,by aught in this dark world remaining nowof spotless human faith and innocence,I do implore thee look with pitying eyeon these long sufferings my heart hath borne.O, pity! I deserve not what I bear.”
Tum vero ardemus scitari et quaerere causas,ignari scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasgae.Prosequitur pavitans, et ficto pectore fatur:“Saepe fugam Danai Troia cupiere relicta”“moliri, et longo fessi discedere bello;”“fecissentque utinam! Saepe illos aspera ponti”“interclusit hiemps, et terruit Auster euntis.”“Praecipue, cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis”“staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi.”“Suspensi Eurypylum scitantem oracula Phoebi”“mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat:”“‘Sanguine placastis ventos et virgine caesa,’”“‘cum primum Iliacas, Danai, venistis ad oras;’”“‘sanguine quaerendi reditus, animaque litandum’”“‘Argolica.’ Volgi quae vox ut venit ad auris,”“obstipuere animi, gelidusque per ima cucurrit”“ossa tremor, cui fata parent, quem poscat Apollo.”“Hic Ithacus vatem magno Calchanta tumultu”“protrahit in medios; quae sint ea numina divom,”“flagitat; et mihi iam multi crudele canebant”“artificis scelus, et taciti ventura videbant.”“Bis quinos silet ille dies, tectusque recusat”“prodere voce sua quemquam aut opponere morti.”“Vix tandem, magnis Ithaci clamoribus actus,”“composito rumpit vocem, et me destinat arae.”“Adsensere omnes, et, quae sibi quisque timebat,”“unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.”“Iamque dies infanda aderat; mihi sacra parari,”“et salsae fruges, et circum tempora vittae:”“eripui, fateor, leto me, et vincula rupi,”“limosoque lacu per noctem obscurus in ulva”“delitui, dum vela darent, si forte dedissent.”“Nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi,”“nec dulcis natos exoptatumque parentem;”“quos illi fors et poenas ob nostra reposcent”“effugia, et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt.”“Quod te per superos et conscia numina veri,”“per si qua est quae restet adhuc mortalibus usquam”“intemerata fides, oro, miserere laborum”“tantorum, miserere animi non digna ferentis.”
Pity and pardon to his tears we gave,and spared his life. King Priam bade unbindthe fettered hands and loose those heavy chainsthat pressed him sore; then with benignant mienaddressed him thus: “Whate'er thy place or name,forget the people thou hast Iost, and behenceforth our countryman. But tell me true!What means the monstrous fabric of this horse?Who made it? Why? What offering to Heaven,or engin'ry of conquest may it be?”He spake; and in reply, with skilful guile,Greek that he was! the other lifted uphis hands, now freed and chainless, to the skies:“O ever-burning and inviolate fires,witness my word! O altars and sharp steel,whose curse I fled, O fillets of the gods,which bound a victim's helpless forehead, hear!'T is lawful now to break the oath that gavemy troth to Greece. To execrate her kingsis now my solemn duty. Their whole plotI publish to the world. No fatherlandand no allegiance binds me any more.O Troy, whom I have saved, I bid thee keepthe pledge of safety by good Priam given,for my true tale shall my rich ransom be.The Greeks' one hope, since first they opened war,was Pallas, grace and power. But from the daywhen Diomed, bold scorner of the gods,and false Ulysses, author of all guile,rose up and violently bore awayPalladium, her holy shrine, hewed downthe sentinels of her acropolis,and with polluted, gory hands dared touchthe goddess, virgin fillets, white and pure,—thenceforth, I say, the courage of the Greeksebbed utterly away; their strength was Iost,and favoring Pallas all her grace withdrew.No dubious sign she gave. Scarce had they sether statue in our camp, when glittering flameflashed from the staring eyes; from all its limbssalt sweat ran forth; three times (O wondrous tale!)it gave a sudden skyward leap, and madeprodigious trembling of her lance and shield.The prophet Calchas bade us straightway takeswift flight across the sea; for fate had willedthe Trojan citadel should never fallby Grecian arm, till once more they obtainnew oracles at Argos, and restorethat god the round ships hurried o'er the sea.Now in Mycenae, whither they are fled,new help of heaven they find, and forge anewthe means of war. Back hither o'er the wavesthey suddenly will come. So Calchas gavethe meaning of the god. Warned thus, they rearedin place of Pallas, desecrated shrineyon image of the horse, to expiatethe woeful sacrilege. Calchas ordainedthat they should build a thing of monstrous sizeof jointed beams, and rear it heavenward,so might it never pass your gates, nor comeinside your walls, nor anywise restoreunto the Trojans their lost help divine.For had your hands Minerva's gift profaned,a ruin horrible—O, may the godsbring it on Calchas rather!—would have comeon Priam's throne and all the Phrygian power.But if your hands should lift the holy thingto your own citadel, then Asia's hostwould hurl aggression upon Pelops' land,and all that curse on our own nation fall.”
His lacrimis vitam damus, et miserescimus ultro.Ipse viro primus manicas atque arta levarivincla iubet Priamus, dictisque ita fatur amicis:“Quisquis es, amissos hinc iam obliviscere Graios;”“noster eris, mihique haec edissere vera roganti:”“Quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere? Quis auctor?”“Quidve petunt? Quae religio, aut quae machina belli?”Dixerat. Ille, dolis instructus et arte Pelasga,sustulit exutas vinclis ad sidera palmas:“Vos, aeterni ignes, et non violabile vestrum”“testor numen” ait “vos arae ensesque nefandi,”“quos fugi, vittaeque deum, quas hostia gessi:”“fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resolvere iura,”“fas odisse viros, atque omnia ferre sub auras,”“si qua tegunt; teneor patriae nec legibus ullis.”“Tu modo promissis maneas, servataque serves”“Troia fidem, si vera feram, si magna rependam.”“Omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli”“Palladis auxiliis semper stetit. Impius ex quo”“Tydides sed enim scelerumque inventor Ulixes,”“fatale adgressi sacrato avellere templo”“Palladium, caesis summae custodibus arcis,”“corripuere sacram effigiem, manibusque cruentis”“virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas;”“ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri”“spes Danaum, fractae vires, aversa deae mens.”“Nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris.”“Vix positum castris simulacrum, arsere coruscae”“luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus”“sudor iit, terque ipsa solo—mirabile dictu—”“emicuit, parmamque ferens hastamque trementem.”“Extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas,”“nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis,”“omina ni repetant Argis, numenque reducant,”“quod pelago et curvis secum avexere carinis.”“Et nunc, quod patrias vento petiere Mycenas,”“arma deosque parant comites, pelagoque remenso”“improvisi aderunt: ita digerit omina Calchas.”“Hanc pro Palladio moniti, pro numine laeso”“effigiem statuere, nefas quae triste piaret.”“Hanc tamen immensam Calchas attollere molem”“roboribus textis caeloque educere iussit,”“ne recipi portis, aut duci in moenia possit,”“neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri.”“Nam si vestra manus violasset dona Minervae,”“tum magnum exitium (quod di prius omen in ipsum”“convertant!) Priami imperio Phrygibusque futurum;”“sin manibus vestris vestram ascendisset in urbem,”“ultro Asiam magno Pelopea ad moenia bello”“venturam, et nostros ea fata manere nepotes.”
Thus Sinon's guile and practiced perjuryour doubt dispelled. His stratagems and tearswrought victory where neither Tydeus' son,nor mountain-bred Achilles could prevail,nor ten years' war, nor fleets a thousand strong.But now a vaster spectacle of fearburst over us, to vex our startled souls.Laocoon, that day by cast of lotpriest unto Neptune, was in act to slaya huge bull at the god's appointed fane.Lo! o'er the tranquil deep from Tenedosappeared a pair (I shudder as I tell)of vastly coiling serpents, side by side,stretching along the waves, and to the shoretaking swift course; their necks were lifted high,their gory dragon-crests o'ertopped the waves;all else, half seen, trailed low along the sea;while with loud cleavage of the foaming brinetheir monstrous backs wound forward fold on fold.Soon they made land; the furious bright eyesglowed with ensanguined fire; their quivering tongueslapped hungrily the hissing, gruesome jaws.All terror-pale we fled. Unswerving thenthe monsters to Laocoon made way.First round the tender limbs of his two sonseach dragon coiled, and on the shrinking fleshfixed fast and fed. Then seized they on the sire,who flew to aid, a javelin in his hand,embracing close in bondage serpentinetwice round the waist; and twice in scaly grasparound his neck, and o'er him grimly peeredwith lifted head and crest; he, all the while,his holy fillet fouled with venomous blood,tore at his fetters with a desperate hand,and lifted up such agonizing voice,as when a bull, death-wounded, seeks to fleethe sacrificial altar, and thrusts backfrom his doomed head the ill-aimed, glancing blade.then swiftly writhed the dragon-pair awayunto the templed height, and in the shrineof cruel Pallas sure asylum foundbeneath the goddess' feet and orbed shield.Such trembling horror as we ne'er had knownseized now on every heart. “Of his vast guiltLaocoon,” they say, “receives reward;for he with most abominable speardid strike and violate that blessed wood.Yon statue to the temple! Ask the graceof glorious Pallas!” So the people criedin general acclaim.
Talibus insidiis periurique arte Sinoniscredita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis,quos neque Tydides, nec Larisaeus Achilles,non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae.Hic aliud maius miseris multoque tremendumobicitur magis, atque improvida pectora turbat.Laocoön, ductus Neptuno sorte sacerdos,sollemnis taurum ingentem mactabat ad aras.Ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta—horresco referens—immensis orbibus anguesincumbunt pelago, pariterque ad litora tendunt;pectora quorum inter fluctus arrecta iubaequesanguineae superant undas; pars cetera pontumpone legit, sinuatque immensa volumine terga.Fit sonitus spumante salo; iamque arva tenebant,ardentisque oculos suffecti sanguine et igni,sibila lambebant linguis vibrantibus ora.Diffugimus visu exsangues: illi agmine certoLaocoönta petunt; et primum parva duorumcorpora natorum serpens amplexus uterqueimplicat, et miseros morsu depascitur artus;post ipsum auxilio subeuntem ac tela ferentemcorripiunt, spirisque ligant ingentibus; et iambis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circumterga dati, superant capite et cervicibus altis.Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos,perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit:quales mugitus, fugit cum saucius aramtaurus, et incertam excussit cervice securim.At gemini lapsu delubra ad summa draconeseffugiunt saevaeque petunt Tritonidis arcem,sub pedibusque deae clipeique sub orbe teguntur.Tum vero tremefacta novus per pectora cunctisinsinuat pavor, et scelus expendisse merentemLaocoönta ferunt, sacrum qui cuspide roburlaeserit, et tergo sceleratam intorserit hastam.Ducendum ad sedes simulacrum orandaque divaenumina conclamant.
Ourselves did makea breach within our walls and opened widethe ramparts of our city. One and allwere girded for the task. Smooth-gliding wheelswere 'neath its feet; great ropes stretched round its neck,till o'er our walls the fatal engine climbed,pregnant with men-at-arms. On every sidefair youths and maidens made a festal song,and hauled the ropes with merry heart and gay.So on and up it rolled, a tower of doom,and in proud menace through our Forum moved.O Ilium, my country, where abodethe gods of all my sires! O glorious wallsof Dardan's sons! before your gates it passed,four times it stopped and dreadful clash of armsfour times from its vast concave loudly rang.Yet frantic pressed we on, our hearts all blind,and in the consecrated citadelset up the hateful thing. Cassandra thenfrom heaven-instructed heart our doom foretold;but doomed to unbelief were Ilium's sons.Our hapless nation on its dying dayflung free o'er streets and shrines the votive flowers.
Dividimus muros et moenia pandimus urbis.Accingunt omnes operi, pedibusque rotarumsubiciunt lapsus, et stuppea vincula collointendunt: scandit fatalis machina muros,feta armis. Pueri circum innuptaeque puellaesacra canunt, funemque manu contingere gaudent.Illa subit, mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi.O patria, O divom domus Ilium, et incluta bellomoenia Dardanidum, quater ipso in limine portaesubstitit, atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere:instamus tamen inmemores caecique furore,et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce.Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futurisora, dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris.Nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus essetille dies, festa velamus fronde per urbem.
The skies rolled on; and o'er the ocean fellthe veil of night, till utmost earth and heavenand all their Myrmidonian stratagemswere mantled darkly o'er. In silent sleepthe Trojan city lay; dull slumber chainedits weary life. But now the Greek arrayof ordered ships moved on from Tenedos,their only light the silent, favoring moon,on to the well-known strand. The King displayedtorch from his own ship, and Sinon then,whom wrathful Heaven defended in that hour,let the imprisoned band of Greeks go freefrom that huge womb of wood; the open horserestored them to the light; and joyfullyemerging from the darkness, one by one,princely Thessander, Sthenelus, and direUlysses glided down the swinging cord.Closely upon them Neoptolemus,the son of Peleus, came, and Acamas,King Menelaus, Thoas and Machaon,and last, Epeus, who the fabric wrought.Upon the town they fell, for deep in sleepand drowsed with wine it lay; the sentinelsthey slaughtered, and through gates now opened widelet in their fellows, and arrayed for warth' auxiliar legions of the dark design.
Vertitur interea caelum et ruit oceano nox,involvens umbra magna terramque polumqueMyrmidonumque dolos; fusi per moenia Teucriconticuere, sopor fessos complectitur artus:et iam Argiva phalanx instructis navibus ibata Tenedo tacitae per amica silentia lunaelitora nota petens, flammas cum regia puppisextulerat, fatisque deum defensus iniquisinclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtimlaxat claustra Sinon. Illos patefactus ad aurasreddit equus, laetique cavo se robore promuntThessandrus Sthenelusque duces, et dirus Ulixes,demissum lapsi per funem, Acamasque, Thoasque,Pelidesque Neoptolemus, primusque Machaon,et Menelaus, et ipse doli fabricator Epeos.Invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam;caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnisaccipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt.
That hour it was when heaven's first gift of sleepon weary hearts of men most sweetly steals.O, then my slumbering senses seemed to seeHector, with woeful face and streaming eyes;I seemed to see him from the chariot trailing,foul with dark dust and gore, his swollen feetpierced with a cruel thong. Ah me! what changefrom glorious Hector when he homeward borethe spoils of fierce Achilles; or hurled farthat shower of torches on the ships of Greece!Unkempt his beard, his tresses thick with blood,and all those wounds in sight which he did takedefending Troy. Then, weeping as I spoke,I seemed on that heroic shape to callwith mournful utterance: “O star of Troy!O surest hope and stay of all her sons!Why tarriest thou so Iong? What region sendsthe long-expected Hector home once more?These weary eyes that look on thee have seenhosts of thy kindred die, and fateful changeupon thy people and thy city fall.O, say what dire occasion has defiledthy tranquil brows? What mean those bleeding wounds?”Silent he stood, nor anywise would staymy vain lament; but groaned, and answered thus:“Haste, goddess-born, and out of yonder flamesachieve thy flight. Our foes have scaled the wall;exalted Troy is falling. Fatherlandand Priam ask no more. If human armcould profit Troy, my own had kept her free.Her Lares and her people to thy handsTroy here commends. Companions let them beof all thy fortunes. Let them share thy questof that wide realm, which, after wandering far,thou shalt achieve, at last, beyond the sea.”He spoke: and from our holy hearth brought forththe solemn fillet, the ancestral shrines,and Vesta's ever-bright, inviolate fire.
Tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegrisincipit, et dono divom gratissima serpit.In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hectorvisus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus,raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruentopulvere, perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.Ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illoHectore, qui redit exuvias indutus Achilli,vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis,squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinisvolneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima murosaccepit patrios. Ultro flens ipse videbarCompellare virum et maestas expromere voces:“O lux Dardaniae, spes O fidissima Teucrum,”“quae tantae tenuere morae? Quibus Hector ab oris”“exspectate venis? Ut te post multa tuorum”“funera, post varios hominumque urbisque labores”“defessi aspicimus! Quae causa indigna serenos”“foedavit voltus? Aut cur haec volnera cerno?”Ille nihil, nec me quaerentem vana moratur,sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens,“Heu fuge, nate dea, teque his, ait, eripe flammis.”“Hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia.”“Sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra”“defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.”“Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis:”“hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere”“magna, pererrato statues quae denique ponto.”Sic ait, et manibus vittas Vestamque potentemaeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem.
Now shrieks and loud confusion swept the town;and though my father's dwelling stood apartembowered deep in trees, th' increasing dindrew nearer, and the battle-thunder swelled.I woke on sudden, and up-starting scaledthe roof, the tower, then stood with listening ear:'t was like an harvest burning, when wild windsuprouse the flames; 't was like a mountain streamthat bursts in flood and ruinously whelmssweet fields and farms and all the ploughman's toil,whirling whole groves along; while dumb with fear,from some far cliff the shepherd hears the sound.Now their Greek plot was plain, the stratagemat last laid bare. Deiphobus' great housesank vanquished in the fire. Ucalegon'shard by was blazing, while the waters widearound Sigeum gave an answering glow.Shrill trumpets rang; Ioud shouting voices roared;wildly I armed me (when the battle calls,how dimly reason shines!); I burned to jointhe rally of my peers, and to the heightsdefensive gather. Frenzy and vast rageseized on my soul. I only sought what waywith sword in hand some noble death to die.
Diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu,et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentisAnchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit,clarescunt sonitus, armorumque ingruit horror.Excutior somno, et summi fastigia tectiascensu supero, atque arrectis auribus adsto:in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus austrisincidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrenssternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores,praecipitisque trahit silvas, stupet inscius altoaccipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor.Tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescuntinsidiae. Iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinamVolcano superante domus; iam proxumus ardetUcalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent.Exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum.Arma amens capio; nec sat rationis in armis,sed glomerare manum bello et concurrere in arcemcum sociis ardent animi; furor iraque mentempraecipitant, pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis.
When Panthus met me, who had scarce escapedthe Grecian spears,—Panthus of Othrys' line,Apollo's priest within our citadel;his holy emblems, his defeated gods,and his small grandson in his arms he bore,while toward the gates with wild, swift steps he flew.“How fares the kingdom, Panthus? What strong placeis still our own?” But scarcely could I askwhen thus, with many a groan, he made reply:—“Dardania's death and doom are come to-day,implacable. There is no Ilium now;our Trojan name is gone, the Teucrian throneQuite fallen. For the wrathful power of Jovehas given to Argos all our boast and pride.The Greek is Iord of all yon blazing towers.yon horse uplifted on our city's heartdisgorges men-at-arms. False Sinon now,with scorn exultant, heaps up flame on flame.Others throw wide the gates. The whole vast hordethat out of proud Mycenae hither sailedis at us. With confronting spears they throngeach narrow passage. Every steel-bright bladeis flashing naked, making haste for blood.Our sentries helpless meet the invading shockand give back blind and unavailing war.”By Panthus' word and by some god impelled,I flew to battle, where the flames leaped high,where grim Bellona called, and all the airresounded high as heaven with shouts of war.Rhipeus and Epytus of doughty armwere at my side, Dymas and Hypanis,seen by a pale moon, join our little band;and young Coroebus, Mygdon's princely son,who was in Troy that hour because he lovedCassandra madly, and had made a leagueas Priam's kinsman with our Phrygian arms:ill-starred, to heed not what the virgin raved!
Ecce autem telis Panthus elapsus Achivom,Panthus Othryades, arcis Phoebique sacerdos,sacra manu victosque deos parvumque nepotemipse trahit, cursuque amens ad limina tendit.“Quo res summa, loco, Panthu? Quam prendimus arcem?”Vix ea fatus eram, gemitu cum talia reddit:“Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus”“Dardaniae: fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens”“gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Iuppiter Argos”“transtulit; incensa Danai dominantur in urbe.”“Arduus armatos mediis in moenibus adstans”“fundit equus, victorque Sinon incendia miscet”“insultans; portis alii bipatentibus adsunt,”“milia quot magnis umquam venere Mycenis;”“obsedere alii telis angusta viarum”“oppositi; stat ferri acies mucrone corusco”“stricta, parata neci; vix primi proelia temptant”“portarum vigiles, et caeco Marte resistunt.”Talibus Othryadae dictis et numine divomin flammas et in arma feror, quo tristis Erinys,quo fremitus vocat et sublatus ad aethera clamor.Addunt se socios Rhipeus et maximus armisEpytus oblati per lunam Hypanisque Dymasque,et lateri adglomerant nostro, iuvenisque Coroebus,Mygdonides: illis ad Troiam forte diebusvenerat, insano Cassandrae incensus amore,et gener auxilium Priamo Phrygibusque ferebat,infelix, qui non sponsae praecepta furentisaudierit.
When these I saw close-gathered for the fight,I thus addressed them: “Warriors, vainly brave,if ye indeed desire to follow onewho dares the uttermost brave men may do,our evil plight ye see: the gods are fledfrom every altar and protecting fire,which were the kingdom's stay. Ye offer aidunto your country's ashes. Let us fightunto the death! To arms, my men, to arms!The single hope and stay of desperate menis their despair.” Thus did I rouse their souls.Then like the ravening wolves, some night of cloud,when cruel hunger in an empty mawdrives them forth furious, and their whelps behindwait famine-throated; so through foemen's steelwe flew to surest death, and kept our waystraight through the midmost town. The wings of nightbrooded above us in vast vault of shade.But who the bloodshed of that night can tell?What tongue its deaths shall number, or what eyesfind meed of tears to equal all its woe?The ancient City fell, whose throne had stoodage after age. Along her streets were strewnthe unresisting dead; at household shrinesand by the temples of the gods they lay.Yet not alone was Teucrian blood required:oft out of vanquished hearts fresh valor flamed,and the Greek victor fell. Anguish and woewere everywhere; pale terrors ranged abroad,and multitudinous death met every eye.
Quos ubi confertos audere in proelia vidi,incipio super his: “Iuvenes, fortissima frustra”“pectora, si vobis audentem extrema cupido”“certa sequi, quae sit rebus fortuna videtis:”“excessere omnes, adytis arisque relictis,”“di, quibus imperium hoc steterat; succurritis urbi”“incensae; moriamur et in media arma ruamus.”“Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem.”Sic animis iuvenum furor additus: inde, lupi ceuraptores atra in nebula, quos improba ventrisexegit caecos rabies, catulique relictifaucibus exspectant siccis, per tela, per hostisvadimus haud dubiam in mortem, mediaeque tenemusurbis iter; nox atra cava circumvolat umbra.Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fandoexplicet, aut possit lacrimis aequare labores?Urbs antiqua ruit, multos dominata per annos;plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passimcorpora, perque domos et religiosa deorumlimina. Nec soli poenas dant sanguine Teucri;quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia virtusvictoresque cadunt Danai: crudelis ubiqueluctus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago.
Androgeos, followed by a thronging bandof Greeks, first met us on our desperate way;but heedless, and confounding friend with foe,thus, all unchallenged, hailed us as his own:“Haste, heroes! Are ye laggards at this hour?Others bear off the captives and the spoilof burning Troy. Just from the galleys ye?”He spoke; but straightway, when no safe replyreturned, he knew himself entrapped, and falleninto a foeman's snare; struck dumb was heand stopped both word and motion; as one steps,when blindly treading a thick path of thorns,upon a snake, and sick with fear would fleethat lifted wrath and swollen gorge of green:so trembling did Androgeos backward fall.At them we flew and closed them round with war;and since they could not know the ground, and fearhad whelmed them quite, we swiftly laid them low.Thus Fortune on our first achievement smiled;and, flushed with victory, Cormbus cried:“Come, friends, and follow Fortune's finger, whereshe beckons us what path deliverance lies.Change we our shields, and these Greek emblems wear.'Twixt guile and valor who will nicely weighWhen foes are met? These dead shall find us arms.”With this, he dons Androgeos' crested helmand beauteous, blazoned shield; and to his sidegirds on a Grecian blade. Young Rhipeus next,with Dymas and the other soldiery,repeat the deed, exulting, and arraytheir valor in fresh trophies from the slain.Now intermingled with our foes we moved,and alien emblems wore; the long, black nightbrought many a grapple, and a host of Greeksdown to the dark we hurled. Some fled away,seeking their safe ships and the friendly shore.Some cowards foul went clambering back againto that vast horse and hid them in its maw.
Primus se, Danaum magna comitante caterva,Androgeos offert nobis, socia agmina credensinscius, atque ultro verbis compellat amicis:“Festinate, viri: nam quae tam sera moratur”“segnities? Alii rapiunt incensa feruntque”“Pergama; vos celsis nunc primum a navibus itis.”Dixit, et extemplo, neque enim responsa dabanturfida satis, sensit medios delapsus in hostis.Obstipuit, retroque pedem cum voce repressit:inprovisum aspris veluti qui sentibus anguempressit humi nitens, trepidusque repente refugitattollentem iras et caerula colla tumentem;haud secus Androgeos visu tremefactus abibat.Inruimus, densis et circumfundimur armis,ignarosque loci passim et formidine captossternimus: adspirat primo fortuna labori.Atque hic successu exsultans animisque Coroebus,“O socii, qua prima” inquit “fortuna salutis”“monstrat iter, quoque ostendit se dextra, sequamur”“mutemus clipeos, Danaumque insignia nobis”“aptemus: dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?”“Arma dabunt ipsi.” Sic fatus, deinde comantemAndrogei galeam clipeique insigne decoruminduitur, laterique Argivum accommodat ensem.Hoc Rhipeus, hoc ipse Dymas omnisque iuventuslaeta facit; spoliis se quisque recentibus armat.Vadimus immixti Danais haud numine nostro,multaque per caecam congressi proelia noctemconserimus, multos Danaum demittimus Orco.Diffugiunt alii ad navis, et litora cursufida petunt: pars ingentem formidine turpiscandunt rursus equum et nota conduntur in alvo.