4. Vergil, Aeneis, 2.1-2.227, 2.424-2.430, 2.615-2.616 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •miletus, fall of miletus, by phrynichus Found in books: de Bakker, van den Berg, and Klooster, Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond (2022) 543, 544 2.1. Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant. 2.2. Inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: 2.3. Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, 2.4. Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnum 2.5. eruerint Danai; quaeque ipse miserrima vidi, 2.6. et quorum pars magna fui. Quis talia fando 2.7. Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixi 2.8. temperet a lacrimis? Et iam nox umida caelo 2.9. praecipitat, suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. 2.10. Sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros 2.11. et breviter Troiae supremum audire laborem, 2.12. quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit, 2.13. incipiam. 2.15. instar montis equum divina Palladis arte 2.19. includunt caeco lateri, penitusque cavernas 2.21. Est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima fama 2.22. insula, dives opum, Priami dum regna manebant, 2.23. nunc tantum sinus et statio male fida carinis: 2.24. huc se provecti deserto in litore condunt. 2.25. Nos abiisse rati et vento petiisse Mycenas: 2.26. ergo omnis longo solvit se Teucria luctu; 2.27. panduntur portae; iuvat ire et Dorica castra 2.28. desertosque videre locos litusque relictum. 2.29. Hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles; 2.30. classibus hic locus; hic acie certare solebant. 2.34. sive dolo, seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant. 2.35. At Capys, et quorum melior sententia menti, 2.36. aut pelago Danaum insidias suspectaque dona 2.37. praecipitare iubent, subiectisque urere flammis, 2.38. aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras. 2.39. Scinditur incertum studia in contraria volgus. 2.40. Primus ibi ante omnis, magna comitante caterva, 2.41. Laocoön ardens summa decurrit ab arce, 2.42. et procul: O miseri, quae tanta insania, cives? 2.43. Creditis avectos hostis? Aut ulla putatis 2.44. dona carere dolis Danaum? Sic notus Ulixes? 2.45. aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi, 2.46. aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros 2.47. inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi, 2.48. aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri. 2.49. Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis. 2.50. Sic fatus, validis ingentem viribus hastam 2.51. in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum 2.52. contorsit: stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso 2.53. insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae. 2.54. Et, si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset, 2.55. impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras, 2.56. Troiaque, nunc stares, Priamique arx alta, maneres. 2.57. Ecce, manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctum 2.58. pastores magno ad regem clamore trahebant 2.59. Dardanidae, qui se ignotum venientibus ultro, 2.60. hoc ipsum ut strueret Troiamque aperiret Achivis, 2.61. obtulerat, fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus, 2.62. seu versare dolos, seu certae occumbere morti. 2.63. Undique visendi studio Troiana iuventus 2.64. circumfusa ruit, certantque inludere capto. 2.65. Accipe nunc Danaum insidias, et crimine ab uno 2.66. disce omnes. 2.67. Namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermis 2.68. constitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit: 2.69. Heu, quae nunc tellus inquit quae me aequora possunt 2.70. accipere? Aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat, 2.71. cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi 2.72. Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt? 2.73. Quo gemitu conversi animi, compressus et omnis 2.74. impetus. Hortamur fari; quo sanguine cretus, 2.75. quidve ferat, memoret, quae sit fiducia capto. 2.76. | 2.1. A general silence fell; and all gave ear, 2.2. while, from his lofty station at the feast, 2.3. Father Aeneas with these words began :— 2.4. A grief unspeakable thy gracious word, 2.5. o sovereign lady, bids my heart live o'er: 2.6. how Asia 's glory and afflicted throne 2.7. the Greek flung down; which woeful scene I saw, 2.8. and bore great part in each event I tell. 2.9. But O! in telling, what Dolopian churl, 2.10. or Myrmidon, or gory follower 2.11. of grim Ulysses could the tears restrain? 2.12. 'T is evening; lo! the dews of night begin 2.13. to fall from heaven, and yonder sinking stars 2.15. to hear in brief of all our evil days 2.19. and by ill-fortune crushed, year after year, 2.21. build a huge horse, a thing of mountain size, 2.22. with timbered ribs of fir. They falsely say 2.23. it has been vowed to Heaven for safe return, 2.24. and spread this lie abroad. Then they conceal 2.25. choice bands of warriors in the deep, dark side, 2.26. and fill the caverns of that monstrous womb 2.27. with arms and soldiery. In sight of Troy 2.28. lies Tenedos, an island widely famed 2.29. and opulent, ere Priam's kingdom fell, 2.30. but a poor haven now, with anchorage 2.34. bound homeward for Mycenae . Teucria then 2.35. threw off her grief inveterate; all her gates 2.36. wung wide; exultant went we forth, and saw 2.37. the Dorian camp unteted, the siege 2.38. abandoned, and the shore without a keel. 2.39. “Here!” cried we, “the Dolopian pitched; the host 2.40. of fierce Achilles here; here lay the fleet; 2.41. and here the battling lines to conflict ran.” 2.42. Others, all wonder, scan the gift of doom 2.43. by virgin Pallas given, and view with awe 2.44. that horse which loomed so large. Thymoetes then 2.45. bade lead it through the gates, and set on high 2.46. within our citadel,—or traitor he, 2.47. or tool of fate in Troy 's predestined fall. 2.48. But Capys, as did all of wiser heart, 2.49. bade hurl into the sea the false Greek gift, 2.50. or underneath it thrust a kindling flame 2.51. or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb 2.52. with probing spear. Yet did the multitude 2.54. Then from the citadel, conspicuous, 2.55. Laocoon, with all his following choir, 2.56. hurried indigt down; and from afar 2.57. thus hailed the people: “O unhappy men! 2.58. What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? 2.59. Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? 2.60. Have ye not known Ulysses? The Achaean 2.61. hides, caged in yonder beams; or this is reared 2.62. for engin'ry on our proud battlements, 2.63. to spy upon our roof-tops, or descend 2.64. in ruin on the city. 'T is a snare. 2.65. Trust not this horse, O Troy, whate'er it bode! 2.66. I fear the Greeks, though gift on gift they bear.” 2.67. So saying, he whirled with ponderous javelin 2.68. a sturdy stroke straight at the rounded side 2.69. of the great, jointed beast. A tremor struck 2.70. its towering form, and through the cavernous womb 2.71. rolled loud, reverberate rumbling, deep and long. 2.72. If heaven's decree, if our own wills, that hour, 2.73. had not been fixed on woe, his spear had brought 2.74. a bloody slaughter on our ambushed foe, 2.75. and Troy were standing on the earth this day! 2.77. But, lo! with hands fast bound behind, a youth 2.78. by clamorous Dardan shepherds haled along, 2.79. was brought before our king,—to this sole end 2.80. a self-surrendered captive, that he might, 2.81. although a nameless stranger, cunningly 2.82. deliver to the Greek the gates of Troy . 2.83. His firm-set mind flinched not from either goal,— 2.84. uccess in crime, or on swift death to fall. 2.85. The thronging Trojan youth made haste his way 2.86. from every side, all eager to see close 2.87. their captive's face, and clout with emulous scorn. 2.88. Hear now what Greek deception is, and learn 2.89. from one dark wickedness the whole. For he, 2.90. a mark for every eye, defenceless, dazed, 2.91. tood staring at our Phrygian hosts, and cried: 2.92. “Woe worth the day! What ocean or what shore 2.93. will have me now? What desperate path remains 2.94. for miserable me? Now have I lost 2.95. all foothold with the Greeks, and o'er my head 2.96. Troy 's furious sons call bloody vengeance down.” 2.97. Such groans and anguish turned all rage away 2.98. and stayed our lifted hands. We bade him tell 2.99. his birth, his errand, and from whence might be 2.100. uch hope of mercy for a foe in chains. 2.102. “O King! I will confess, whate'er befall, 2.103. the whole unvarnished truth. I will not hide 2.104. my Grecian birth. Yea, thus will I begin. 2.105. For Fortune has brought wretched Sinon low; 2.106. but never shall her cruelty impair 2.107. his honor and his truth. Perchance the name 2.108. of Palamedes, Belus' glorious son, 2.109. has come by rumor to your listening ears; 2.110. whom by false witness and conspiracy, 2.111. because his counsel was not for this war, 2.112. the Greeks condemned, though guiltless, to his death, 2.113. and now make much lament for him they slew. 2.114. I, his companion, of his kith and kin, 2.115. ent hither by my humble sire's command, 2.116. followed his arms and fortunes from my youth. 2.117. Long as his throne endured, and while he throve 2.118. in conclave with his kingly peers, we twain 2.119. ome name and lustre bore; but afterward, 2.120. because that cheat Ulysses envied him 2.121. (Ye know the deed), he from this world withdrew, 2.122. and I in gloom and tribulation sore 2.123. lived miserably on, lamenting loud 2.124. my lost friend's blameless fall. A fool was I 2.125. that kept not these lips closed; but I had vowed 2.126. that if a conqueror home to Greece I came, 2.127. I would avenge. Such words moved wrath, and were 2.128. the first shock of my ruin; from that hour, 2.129. Ulysses whispered slander and alarm; 2.130. breathed doubt and malice into all men's ears, 2.131. and darkly plotted how to strike his blow. 2.132. Nor rest had he, till Calchas, as his tool,- 2.133. but why unfold this useless, cruel story? 2.134. Why make delay? Ye count all sons of Greece 2.135. arrayed as one; and to have heard thus far 2.136. uffices you. Take now your ripe revenge! 2.137. Ulysses smiles and Atreus' royal sons 2.139. We ply him then with passionate appeal 2.140. and question all his cause: of guilt so dire 2.141. or such Greek guile we harbored not the thought. 2.142. So on he prates, with well-feigned grief and fear, 2.143. and from his Iying heart thus told his tale: 2.144. “Full oft the Greeks had fain achieved their flight, 2.145. and raised the Trojan siege, and sailed away 2.146. war-wearied quite. O, would it had been so! 2.147. Full oft the wintry tumult of the seas 2.148. did wall them round, and many a swollen storm 2.149. their embarcation stayed. But chiefly when, 2.150. all fitly built of beams of maple fair, 2.151. this horse stood forth,— what thunders filled the skies! 2.152. With anxious fears we sent Eurypylus 2.153. to ask Apollo's word; and from the shrine 2.154. he brings the sorrowful commandment home: 2.155. ‘By flowing blood and by a virgin slain 2.156. the wild winds were appeased, when first ye came, 2.157. ye sons of Greece, to Ilium 's distant shore. 2.158. Through blood ye must return. Let some Greek life 2.159. your expiation be.’ The popular ear 2.160. the saying caught, all spirits were dimmed o'er; 2.161. cold doubt and horror through each bosom ran, 2.162. asking what fate would do, and on what wretch 2.163. Apollo's choice would fall. Ulysses, then, 2.164. amid the people's tumult and acclaim, 2.165. thrust Calchas forth, some prophecy to tell 2.166. to all the throng: he asked him o'er and o'er 2.167. what Heaven desired. Already not a few 2.168. foretold the murderous plot, and silently 2.169. watched the dark doom upon my life impend. 2.170. Twice five long days the seer his lips did seal, 2.171. and hid himself, refusing to bring forth 2.172. His word of guile, and name what wretch should die. 2.173. At last, reluctant, and all loudly urged 2.174. By false Ulysses, he fulfils their plot, 2.175. and, lifting up his voice oracular, 2.176. points out myself the victim to be slain. 2.177. Nor did one voice oppose. The mortal stroke 2.178. horribly hanging o'er each coward head 2.179. was changed to one man's ruin, and their hearts 2.180. endured it well. Soon rose th' accursed morn; 2.181. the bloody ritual was ready; salt 2.182. was sprinkled on the sacred loaf; my brows 2.183. were bound with fillets for the offering. 2.184. But I escaped that death—yes! I deny not! 2.185. I cast my fetters off, and darkling lay 2.186. concealed all night in lake-side sedge and mire, 2.187. awaiting their departure, if perchance 2.188. they should in truth set sail. But nevermore 2.189. hall my dear, native country greet these eyes. 2.190. No more my father or my tender babes 2.191. hall I behold. Nay, haply their own lives 2.192. are forfeit, when my foemen take revenge 2.193. for my escape, and slay those helpless ones, 2.194. in expiation of my guilty deed. 2.195. O, by yon powers in heaven which witness truth, 2.196. by aught in this dark world remaining now 2.197. of spotless human faith and innocence, 2.198. I do implore thee look with pitying eye 2.199. on these long sufferings my heart hath borne. 2.201. Pity and pardon to his tears we gave, 2.202. and spared his life. King Priam bade unbind 2.203. the fettered hands and loose those heavy chains 2.204. that pressed him sore; then with benigt mien 2.205. addressed him thus: “ Whate'er thy place or name, 2.206. forget the people thou hast Iost, and be 2.207. henceforth our countryman. But tell me true! 2.208. What means the monstrous fabric of this horse? 2.209. Who made it? Why? What offering to Heaven, 2.210. or engin'ry of conquest may it be?” 2.211. He spake; and in reply, with skilful guile, 2.212. Greek that he was! the other lifted up 2.213. his hands, now freed and chainless, to the skies: 2.214. “O ever-burning and inviolate fires, 2.215. witness my word! O altars and sharp steel, 2.216. whose curse I fled, O fillets of the gods, 2.217. which bound a victim's helpless forehead, hear! 2.218. 'T is lawful now to break the oath that gave 2.219. my troth to Greece . To execrate her kings 2.220. is now my solemn duty. Their whole plot 2.221. I publish to the world. No fatherland 2.222. and no allegiance binds me any more. 2.223. O Troy, whom I have saved, I bid thee keep 2.224. the pledge of safety by good Priam given, 2.225. for my true tale shall my rich ransom be. 2.226. The Greeks' one hope, since first they opened war, 2.227. was Pallas, grace and power. But from the day 2.424. Shrill trumpets rang; Ioud shouting voices roared; 2.425. wildly I armed me (when the battle calls, 2.426. how dimly reason shines!); I burned to join 2.427. the rally of my peers, and to the heights 2.428. defensive gather. Frenzy and vast rage 2.429. eized on my soul. I only sought what way 2.615. reared skyward from the roof-top, giving view 2.616. of Troy 's wide walls and full reconnaissance | |
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