And curs'd the direful author of my woes.-
'Twas told again, and hence my ruin rose.
I threaten'd, if indulgent heaven once more
Would land me safely on my native shore,
His death with double vengeance to restore.
This mov'd the murd'rer's hate, and soon ensu'd
Th' effects of malice from a man so proud.
Ambiguous rumours through the camp he spread,
And sought, by treason, my devoted head;
New crimes invented; left unturn'd no stone,
To make my guilt appear, and hide his own;
Till Calchas was by force and threat'ning
wrought-

But why-why dwell I on that anxious thought?
If on my nation just revenge you seek,
And 't is t' appear a foe t' appear a Greek;
Already you my name and country know:
Assuage your thirst of blood,and strike the blow:
My death will both the kingly brothers please
And set insatiate Ithacus at ease.
This fair unfinish'd tale, these broken starts,
Rais'd expectations in our longing hearts;
Unknowing as we were in Grecian arts.
His former trembling once again renew'd,
With acted fear, the villain thus pursu❜d:
"Long had the Grecians (tir'd with fruitless

care,

And wearied with an unsuccessful war)
Resolv'd to raise the siege and leave the town;
And, had the gods permitted, they had gone.
But oft the wintry seas, and southern winds,
Withstood their passage home, and chang'd
their minds

Portents and prodigies their souls amaz'd;
But most, when this stupendous pile was rais'd:
Then flaming meteors, hung in air, were seen,
And thunders rattled through a sky serene.
Dismay'd and fearful of some dire event,
Eurypylus, t' inquire their fate, was sent.
He from the gods this dreadful answer brought:
'O Grecians! when the Trojan shores you
sought,

Your passage with a virgin's blood was bought:
So must your safe return be bought again;
And Grecian blood once more atone the main.'
The spreading rumour round the people ran;
All fear'd, and each believ'd himself the man.
Ulysses took the advantage of their fright;
Call'd Calchas, and produc'd, in open sight,
Then bade him name the wretch, ordain'd by
fate

The public victim to redeem the state.
Already some presag'd the dire event,
And saw what sacrifice Ulysses meant.
For twice five days the good old seer withstood
Th' intended treason, and was dumb to blood;
Till, tir'd with endless clamours and pursuit
Of Ithacus, he stood no longer muté,

But, as it was agreed, pronounc'd that I
Was destin'd by the wrathful gods to die.
All prais'd the sentence; pleas'd the storm
should fall

On one alone, whose fury threaten'd all.
The dismal day was come, the priests prepare
Their leaven'd cakes, and fillets for my hair
I follow'd nature's laws, and must avow,
I broke my bonds, and fled the fatal blow.
Hid in a weedy lake, all night I lay,
Secure of safety when they sail'd away.
But now what further hopes for me remain,
To see my friends or native soil again;
My tender infants, or my careful sire,
Whom they returning will to death require;
Will perpetrate on them their first design,
And take the forfeit of their heads for mine
Which, O! if pity mortal minds can move,
If there be faith below, or gods above,
If innocence and truth can claim desert,
Ye Trojans, from an injur'd wretch avert."
False tears true pity move: the king com-

mands

To loose his fetters, and unbind his hands, Then adds these friendly words: "Dismiss

thy fears:

Forget the Greeks: be mine as thou wert theirs :
But truly tell, was it for force or guile,
Or some religious end, you rais'd the pile?"
Thus said the king: He, full of fraudful arts,
This well-invented tale for truth imparts:
"Ye lamps of heav'n!" he said, and lifted high
His hands, now free-" thou venerable sky!
Inviolable pow'rs, ador'd with dread!
Ye fatal fillets that once bound this head;
Ye sacred altars from whose flames I fled !
Be all of you adjur'd; and grant I may,
Without a crime, th' ungrateful Greeks betray,
Reveal the secrets of the guilty state,
And justly punish whom I justly hate!
But you, O king, preserve the faith you gave,
If I, to save myself, your empire save.
The Grecian hopes, and all th' attempts they
made,

Were only founded on Minerva's aid.
But from the time when impious Diomede
And false Ulysses, that inventive head,
Her fatal image from the temple drew,
The sleeping guardians of the castle slew,
Her virgin statue with their bloody hands
Polluted, and profan'd her holy bands;
From thence the tide of fortune left their shore,
And ebb'd much faster than it flow'd before:
Their courage languish'd, as their hopes de
cay'd;

And Pallas, now averse, refus'd her aid.
Nor did the goddess doubtfully declare
Her alter'd mind, and alienated care.

When first ner fatal image touch'd the ground,
She sternly cast her glaring eyes around,
That sparkled as they roll'd, and seem'd to
threat:

Her heav'nly limbs distill'd a briny sweat. Thrice from the ground she leap'd, was seen to wield

Her brandish'd lance, and shake her horrid shield.

Then Calchas bade our host for flight prepare,
And hope no conquest from the tedious war,
Till first they sail'd for Greece: with pray'rs
besought

Her injur'd pow'r, and better omens brought.
And, now their navy ploughs the wat'ry main;
Yet soon expect it on your shores again,
With Pallas pleas'd; as Calchas did ordain.
But first, to reconcile the blue-ey'd maid
For her stol'n statue and her tow'r betray'd,
Warn'd by the seer, to her offended name
We rais'd and dedicate this wond'rous frame,
So softy, lest through your forbidden gates
It pass, and intercept our better fates:
For, once admitted there, our hopes are lost;
And Troy may then a new palladium boast:
For so religion and the gods ordain,
That, if you violate with hands profane
Minerva's gift, your town in flames shall burn,
(Which omen, O ye gods, on Græcia turn!)
But if it climb, with your assisting hands,
The Trojan walls, and in the city stands;
Then Troy shall Argos and Mycane burn,
And the reverse of fate on us return."

With such deceits he gain'd their easy hearts,
Too prone to credit his perfidious arts.
What Diomede nor Thetis, greater son,
A thousand ships, nor ten years' siege had
done-

False tears and fawning words the city won.
A greater omen, and of worse portent
Did our unweary minds with fear torment,
Concurring to produce the dire event.
Laocoon, Neptune's priest by lot that year,
With solemn pomp then sacrific'd a steer;
When (dreadful to behold!) from sea we spied
Two serpents, rank'd abreast, the seas divide,
And smoothly sweep along the swelling tide.
Their flaming crests above the waves they
show:

Their bellies seem to burn the seas below: Their speckled tails advance to steer their course,

And on the sounding shore the flying billows force.

And now the strand, and now the plain, they held,

Their ardent eyes with bloody streaks were fill'd:

And twice about his gasping throat they told. The priest thus doubly chok'd-their crests divide,

And tow'ring o'er his head in triumph ride.
With both his hands he labours at the knots;
His holy fillets the blue venom blots;
His roaring fills the flitting air around.
Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound,
He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies,
And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding
skies
[prey,

Their tasks perform'd, the serpents quit their
And to the tow'r of Pallas make their way:
Couch'd at her feet, they lie protected there,
By her large buckler, and pretended spear.
Amazement seizes all; the gen'ral cry
Proclaims Laocoōnjustly doom'd to die,
Whose hand the will of Pallas had withstood,
And dar'd to violate the sacred wood.

All vote t' admit the steed, that vows be paid,
And incense offer'd to th' offended maid.
A spacious breach is made: the town lies bare:
Some hoisting-levers, some the wheels prepare,
And fasten to the horse's feet: the rest
With cables haul along th' unwieldy beast.
Each on his fellow for assistance calls:
At length the fatal fabric mounts the walls,
Big with destruction. Boys with chaplets
crown 'd,

And choirs of virgins, sing and dance around.
Thus rais'd aloft, and then descending down,
It enters o'er our heads and threats the town.
A sacred city, built by hands divine!
O valiant heroes of the Trojan line!
Four times he struck: as oft the clashing sound
Of arms was heard, and inward groans rebound.
Yet, mad with zeal, and blinded with our fate,
We haul along the horse in solemn state;
Then place the dire portent within the tow'r.
Cassandra cried, and curs'd th' unhappy hour;
Foretold our fate : but, by the gods' decreo
All heard, and none believ'd the prophecy.
With branches we the fanes adorn, and waste,
In jollity, the day ordain'd to be the last. [light,
Meantime the rapid heavens roll'd down the
And on the shaded ocean rush'd the night:

Our men secure, nor guards nor sentries held;
But easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.
The Grecians had embark'd their naval pow'rs
From Tenedos, and sought our well-known
shores.

Safe under covert of the silent night,
And guided by th' imperial galley's light;
When Sinon, favour'd by the partial gods,
Unlock'd the horse, and op'd his dark abodes;
Restor❜d to vital air our hidden foes,
Who joyful from their tong confinement rose,
Thessander bold, and Sthenelus their guide,
And dire Ulysses down the cable slide:
Then Thoas, Athamas, and Pyrrhus, haste;
Nor was the Podalirian hero last,
Nor injur'd Menelaus, nor the fam'd
Epeus who the fatal engine fram'd.

A nameless crowd succeed; their forces join
T' invade the town, oppress'd with sleep and
wine.

Those few they find awake first meet their fate; Then to their fellows they unbar the gate. 'T was in the dead of night, when sleep repairs [cares, Our bodies worn with toils, our minds with When Hector's ghost before my sight appears; A bloody shroud he seem'd, and bath'd in tears; Such as he was, when by Pelides slain Thessalian coursers dragg'd him o'er the plain. Swoln were his feet, as when the thongs were thrust

Through the bor'd holes; his body black with dust;

Unlike that Hector, who return'd from toils
Of war, triumphant in Æacian spoils,
Or him, who made the fainting Greeks retire,
And launch'd against their navy Phrygian fire.
His hair and beard stood stiffen'd with his gore;
And all the wounds he for his country bore
Now stream'd afresh, and with new purple ran.
I wept to see the visionary man,

And while my trance continu'd, thus began:
"O light of Trojans, and support of Troy,
Thy father's champion, and thy country's joy!
O, long expected by thy friends! from whence
Art thou so late return'd for our defence?
Do we behold thee, wearied as we are,
With length of labours, and with toils of war!
After so many fun'rals of thy own,
Art thou restor❜d to thy declining town?
But say, what wounds are these? what new dis-
grace

Deforms the manly features of thy face?"
To this the spectre no reply did frame,
But answer'd to the cause for which he came,
And, groaning from the bottom of his breast,
This warning, in these mournful words ex-
press'd:

"O goddess born! escape, by timely flight,
The flames and horrors of this fatal night.
The foes already have possess'd the wall:
Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall.
Enough is paid to Priam's royal name,
More than enough to duty and to fame.
If by a mortal hand my father's throne
Could be defended, 't was by mine alone.
Now Troy to thee commends her future state,
And gives her gods companions of thy fate:
From their assistance happier walls expect,
Which, wand'ring long, at last thou shalt erect."
He said, and brought me from their blest abodes,
The venerable statues of the gods,

With ancient Vesta from the sacred choir,
The wreaths and relics of th' immortal fire.
Now peals of shouts come thund'ring from

afar,
[war:
Cries, threats, and loud laments, and mingled
The noise approaches, though our palace stood
Aloof from streets, encompass'd with a wood.
Louder, and yet more loud, I hear th' alarms
Of human cries distinct, and clashing arms.
Fear broke my slumbers; I no longer stay,
But mount the terrace, thence the town survey,
And hearken what the frightful sounds convey.
Thus when a flood of fire by wind is borne,
Crackling it rolls, and mows the standing corn,
Or deluges, descending on the plains,
Sweep o'er the yellow year, destroy the pains
Of labouring oxen and the peasant's gains;
Unroot the forest oaks, and bear away
Flocks, folds, and trees, an undistinguish'd prey;
The shepherd climbs the cliff, and sees from far
The wasteful ravage of the wat'ry war.
Then Hector's faith was manifestly clear'd
And Grecian frauds in open light appear'd.
The palace of Deiphobus ascends

In smoky flames, and catches on his friends.
Ucalegon burns next: the seas are bright
With splendour not their own, and shine with
Trojan light.

New clamours and new clangours now arise,
The sound of trumpets mix'd with fighting cries.
With frenzy seiz'd, I run to meet th' alarms,
Resolv'd on death, resolv'd to die in arms.
But first to gather friends, with them to oppose
(If fortune favour'd) and repel the foes-
Spurr'd by my courage, by my country fir'd,
With sense of honour and revenge inspir'd.

Panthus, Apollo's priest, a sacred name, Had 'scap'd the Grecian swords, and pass'd the flame :

With relics loaden, to my doors he fled, And by the hand his tender grandson led. "What hope, O Panthus! whither can we run? Where make a stand? and what may yet bo done?"

Scarco had I said, when Panthus, with a groan,
"Troy is no more, and Ilium was a town!
The fatal day, th' appointed hour, is come,
When wrathful Jove's irrevocable doom
Transfers the Trojan state to Grecian hands.
The fire consumes the town, the foe commands;
And armed hosts, and unexpected force,
Break from the bowels of the fatal horse.
Within the gates, proud Sinon throws about
The flames; and foes, for entrance, press with-
out,

With thousand others, whom I fear to name,
More than from Argos or Mycenae came.
To sev'ral posts their parties they divide :
Some block the narrow streets, some scour the
wide;

The bold they kill, th' unwary they surprise: Who fights finds death, and death finds him who flies.

The warders of the gates but scarce maintain Th' unequal combat, and resist in vain."

I heard and heav'n, that well-born souls inspires, [fires, Prompts me, through lifted swords and rising To run where clashing arms and clamour calls, And rush undaunted to defend the walls. Ripheus and Iphitus by my side engage, For valour one renown'd, and one for age: Dymas and Hypanis by moonlight knew My motions and my mien, and to my party drew;

With young Chorobus, who by love was led To win renown, and fair Cassandra's bed; And lately brought his troops to Priam's aid, Forewarn'd in vain by the prophetic maid: Whom when I saw resolv'd in arms to fall, And that one spirit animated all,

We leave the narrow lanes behind, and dare
Th' unequal combat in the public square:
Night was our friend; our leader was despai
What tongue can tell the slaughter of that nigh
What eyes can weep the sorrows and affright
An ancient and imperial city falls :
The streets are fill'd with frequent funerals:
Houses and holy temples float in blood;
And hostile nations make a common flood.
Not only Trojans fall; but in their turn,
The vanquish'd triumph, and the victors mourn.
Ours take new courage from despair and night;
Confus'd the fortune is, confus'd the fight.
All parts resound with tumults, plaints, and
fears;

And grisly Death in sundry shapes appears.
Androgeos fell among us, with his band,
Who thought us Grecians newly come to land.
"From whence," said he, "my friends, this
long delay?

You loiter while the spoils are borne away:
Our ships are laden with the Trojan store;
And you, like truants, come too late ashore."
He said, but soon corrected his mistake,
Found, by the doubtful answers which we
make.

Amaz'd, he would have shunn'd th' unequal

fight;

vain

Come, finish what our cruel fates ordain. You see the desp'rate state of our affairs;

Chorobus then, with youthful hopes beguil'd, Swoln with success, and of a daring mind, This new invention fatally design'd.

pray'rs.

The passive gods behold the Greeks defile
Their temples, and abandon to the spoil
Their own abodes: we, feeble few, conspire
To save a sinking town, involv'd in fire.
Then let us fall, but fall amidst our foes:
Despair of life the means of living shows."
So bold a speech encourag'd their desire
Of death, and added fuel to their fire.

As hungry wolves, with raging app tite, Scour through the fields, nor fear the stormy night

Their welps at home expect the promis'd food, And long to temper their dry chaps in bloodSo rush'd we forth at once. Resolv'd to die, Resolv'd in death the last extremes to try,

Unknown assaulting whom we blindly meet,
And strew with Grecian carcasses the street.
Thus, while their straggling parties we defeat,
Some to the shore and safer ships retreat;
And some, oppress'd with more ignoble fear,
Remount the hollow horse, and pant in secret
there.

But ah! what use of valour can be made, When heav'n's propitious pow'rs refuse their aid?

Behold the royal prophetess, the fair
Cassandra, dragg'd by her dishevell❜d hair,
Whom not Minerva's shrine, nor sacred bands,
In safety could protect from sacrilegious hands:
On heav'n she cast her eyes, she sigh'd, she
cried-
[tied.

"T was all she could-her tender arms were
So sad a sight Chorobus could not bear;
But fir'd with rage, distracted with despair,
Amid the barb'rous ravishers he flew.
Our leader's rash example we pursue:

But storms of stones, from the proud temple's height,

Pour down, and on our batter'd helms alight:
We from our friends receiv'd this fatal blow,
Who thought us Grecians, as we seem'd in
show.

They aim at the mistaken crests, from high;
And ours beneath the pond'rous ruin lie.
Then mov'd with anger and disdain, to see
Their troops dispers'd, the royal virgin free,
The Grecians rally, and their pow'rs unite,
With fury charge us, and renew the fight.
The brother kings with Ajax join their force,
And the whole squadron of Thessalian horse.
Thus when the rival winds their quarrel try,
Contending for the kingdom of the sky,
South, East, and West, on airy coursers
borne-
[torn:
The whirlwind gathers, and the woods are
Then Nereus strikes the deep: the billows rise,
And, mix'd with ooze and sand, pollute the
skies.

The troops we squander'd first again appear
From sev'ral quarters, and enclose the rear.
They first observe, and to the rest betray,
Our diff'rent speech; our bon ow'd arms sur-

What I perform'd and what I suffer'd there,
No sword avoiding in the fatal strife,
Expos'd to death, and prodigal of life.
Witness, ye heavens! I live not by my fault;
I strove to have deserv'd the death I sought.
But when I could not fight, and would have
died,

Borne off to distance by the growing tide,
Old Iphitus and I were hurried thence,
With Pelias wounded, and without defence.
New clamours from th' invested palace ring:
We run to die, or disengage the king.
So hot th' assault, so high the tumult rose,
While ours defend, and while the Greeks op-
As all the Dardan and Argolic race [pose,
Had been contracted in that narrow space;
Or as all Ilium else were void of fear,
And tumult, war, and slaughter, only there.
Their targets in a tortoise cast, their foes,
Secure advancing, to the turrets rose: [bold,
Some mount the scaling ladders; some, more
Swerve upwards, and by posts and pillars hold:
Their left hand gripes their bucklers in th' as-

cent,

While with the right they sei-e the battlement. From the demolish'd tow'rs the Trojans throw Huge heaps of stones, that, Falling, crush the

foe:

And heavy beams and rafters from the sides,
(Such arms their last necessity provides!)
And gilded roofs come tumbling from on high,
The marks of state and ancient royalty.
The guards below, fix'd in the pass, attend
The charge undaunted, and the gate defend.
Renew'd in courage, with recover'd breath,
A second time we ran to tempt our death,
To clear the palace from the foe, succeed
The weary living, and revenge the dead.

A postern door yet unobserv'd, and free,
Join'd by the length of a blind gallery,
To the king's closet led-a way well known
To Hector's wife, while Priam held the
throne-

Through which she brought Astyanax, unseen, To cheer his grandshire, and his grandsire's

queen.

Through this we pass, and mount the tow'r,
from whence
[fence.
With unavailing arms the Trojans make de
From this the trembling king had oft descried
The Grecian camp, and saw their navy ride.
Beams from its lofty height with swords we hew
Then, wrenching with our hands, th' assault

renew;

And, where the rafters on the columns meet, We push them headlong with our arms and feet, The lightning flies not swifter than the fall; Nor thunder louder than the ruin'd wall: