Spy on our houses and come down upon the city from above Or else it is an engine built to overtop our walls, No, either Greeks are hidden in this wooden frame, Is Ulysses well known for kindnesses like this? Is any gift the Greeks bequeath untouched by treachery? “Are you raving mad, you poor deluded citizens? Just then the priest Laocoön, ahead of an enormous crowd,Ĭame rushing in a passion from the citadel, and shouted from a distance: The crowd, uncertain, split into two factions. Or pierce the belly of the beast and probe its hiding place. Headlong into the sea or light a fire underneath That either we should hurl this suspect Grecian gift Was he a traitor? Or did Troy’s fate incline that way? Inside the walls and place it in the citadel. Thymoetes first proposed that we should drag the thing Some, stupefied at chaste Athena’s fatal gift, The fleet was anchored there and there, the battlefield. Here the Dolopians had mustered here merciless Achilles pitched his tent The people flooded out to view the Greeks’ abandoned camp, The gates were opened wide and with what joy The land of Teucer was released from its long misery! We thought they’d gone that they were heading for Mycenae on the wind. The Greeks sailed there, and hid along its barren shore. In Priam’s time it was a wealthy place,īut now there’s just a bay. The belly of the beast they crammed their soldiers, armed.įrom Troy there is a view across to Tenedos. Secreted their crack troops, and deep inside Within the gloom of its great flanks, they furtively So they pretended and the rumour got about. It was a votive offering for their safe return to Greece, Within its belly, rows and rows of planks made out of deal. But now their generals,ĭivinely aided by Athena’s art, constructed an enormous wooden horse: The Greeks were broken by the war, frustrated by the fates. Recoils in horror from the task, I will begin. If in few words you wish to hear the final agony of Troy,Īlthough I shudder to remember, and my mind The setting stars are telling us it’s time to sleep.īut if you really want to know about our downfall Look now: how swiftly dewy night is draining from the sky Or some foot soldier in the ranks of brutal UlyssesĬould not hold back their tears in speaking of such things. I saw those piteous sights myself, and played no little part in them. All eyes were on Aeneas.ĭestroyed Troy’s wealth and brought doom on the kingdom. After a sumptuous banquet, Dido asks Aeneas to recount the tragic story of the sack of Troy, and of the Trojans’ wanderings since. Aeneas and his followers have been welcomed to Carthage by Dido, the city’s queen.
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