more, spent the rest of the day in feasting and
rejoicing.
But in the dead of the night, when they were all sunk in sleep, the
Greek fleet sailed back from Tenedos, and on King Agamemnon's ship
a bright light was shown, which was the signal to the false Sinon to
complete his work of treachery. Quickly he "unlocked the horse" and
forth from their hiding place came the armed Greek warriors. Among
them were the famous U-lys'ses, and Ne-op-tol'e-mus, son of the brave
Achilles, and Men-e-la'us, husband of the celebrated Hel'en whom
Paris, son of Priam, had carried off from Greece, which was the cause
of the war. Ulysses and his companions then rushed to the walls, and
after slaying the sentinels, threw open the gates of the city to the main
body of the Greeks who had by this time landed from their ships. Thus
Troy was taken.
And the long baffled legions, bursting in Through gate and bastion,
blunted sword and spear With unresisted slaughter. LEWIS MORRIS.
Meanwhile AEneas, sleeping in the house of his father, An-chi'ses, had
a dream in which the ghost of Hector appeared to him, shedding
abundant tears, and disfigured with wounds as when he had been
dragged around the walls of Troy behind the chariot of the victorious
Achilles. In a mournful voice, AEneas, seeming to forget that Hector
was dead, inquired why he had been so long absent from the defense of
his native city, and from what distant shores he had now returned. But
the spirit answered only by a solemn warning to AEneas, the "goddess-
born" (being the son of Venus) to save himself by immediate flight.
"O goddess-born! escape by timely flight, The flames and horrors of
this fatal night. The foes already have possessed 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, 'twas 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." DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK I.
Awaking from his sleep, AEneas was startled by the clash of arms and
by cries of battle, which he now heard on all sides. Rushing to the roof
of the house and gazing around, he saw the palaces of many of the
Trojan princes in flames, and he heard the shouts of the victorious
Greeks, and the blaring of their trumpets. Notwithstanding the warning
of Hector, he ran for his weapons.
Resolved on death, resolved to die in arms, But first to gather friends,
with them to oppose (If fortune favored) and repel the foes. DRYDEN,
AEneid, BOOK II.
At the door, as he was going forth to join the combat, he met the Trojan
Pan'thus, a priest of Apollo, who had just escaped by flight from the
swords of the Greeks. In reply to the questions of AEneas, the priest
told him, in words of grief and despair, that Troy's last day had come.
"'Tis come, our fated day of death. We have been Trojans; Troy has
been; She sat, but sits no more, a queen; Stern Jove an Argive rule
proclaims; Greece holds a city wrapt in flames. There in the bosom of
the town The tall horse rains invasion down, And Sinon, with a
conqueror's pride, Deals fiery havoc far and wide. Some keep the gates,
as vast a host As ever left Myce'nae's coast; Some block the narrows of
the street, With weapons threatening all they meet; The stark sword
stretches o'er the way, Quick-glancing, ready drawn to slay, While
scarce our sentinels resist, And battle in the flickering mist."
CONINGTON, AEneid, BOOK II.
As Panthus ceased speaking, several Trojan chiefs came up, and
eagerly joined AEneas in resolving to make a last desperate attempt to
save their native city. Together they rushed into the thick of the fight.
Some were slain, and some with Aeneas succeeded in forcing their way
to the palace of King Priam, where a fierce struggle was then raging.
Entering by a secret door, AEneas climbed to the roof, from which he
and the other brave defenders of the palace hurled stones and beams of
wood upon the enemy below. But all their heroic efforts were in vain.
In front of the principal gate, battering upon it with his huge battle-axe,
stood Neoptolemus (also called Pyr'rhus) the son of Achilles. Soon its
posts, though plated with bronze, gave way before his mighty strokes,
and a great breach was made, through which the Greeks poured into the
stately halls of the Trojan king. Then there was a scene of wild
confusion
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