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BOOK II

him;

ALL were hushed, and held their gaze bent upon then from his lofty couch father Aeneas thus began : 3 Beyond all words, O queen, is the grief thou bidst me revive, how the Greeks overthrew Troy's wealth and woeful realm-the sights most piteous that I myself saw and whereof I was no small part. What Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of stern Ulysses, could in telling such a tale refrain from tears? Now, too, dewy night is speeding from the sky1 and the setting stars invite to sleep. Yet if thou hast such longing to learn our disasters, and in few words to hear of Troy's last agony, though my mind shudders to remember, and has recoiled in grief, I will begin.

13" Broken in war and thrust back by the fates, the Danaan chiefs, now that so many years were gliding by, build by Pallas' divine art a horse of mountainous bulk, and interweave its ribs with planks of fir. They feign it as a votive offering; this rumour goes abroad. Here, within its dark sides, they stealthily enclose the choicest of their stalwart men and deep in the paunch fill the huge cavern with armed soldiery.

21 There lies in sight Tenedos, an island well known to fame-rich in wealth while Priam's kingdom stood, now but a bay and unsafe anchorage for ships.

1 i.e. into the ocean. The night is far spent. cf. II. 250.

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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 castra desertosque 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 Thymoetes duci 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 dona praecipitare iubent subiectisque urere flammis, aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras. scinditur incertum studia in contraria volgus. "Primus ibi ante omnis, magna comitante caterva,

Laocoon ardens summa decurrit ab arce

et procul: ́o miseri, quae tanta insania, cives? creditis avectos hostis? aut ulla putatis

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dona carere dolis Danaum? sic notus Ulixes? aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi,

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aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros,
inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi,
aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri.
quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis.'
sic fatus validis ingentem viribus hastam
in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum
contorsit. stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso
insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae.

37 iubet P2, Nonius. subiectisve known to Servius.
38 utero P1.

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Hither they sail and hide themselves on the barren shore. We thought they had gone and before the wind were bound for Mycenae. So all the Teucrian land frees itself from her long sorrow. The gates are opened; it is a joy to go and see the Doric camp, the deserted stations and forsaken shore. Here the Dolopian bands encamped, here cruel Achilles; here lay the fleet; here they used to meet us in battle. Some are amazed at maiden Minerva's gift of death, and marvel at the massive horse: and first Thymoetes urges that it be drawn within our walls and Todged in the citadel, whether in treachery or that now the doom of Troy was thus setting. But Capys, and they whose minds were wiser in counsel, bid us either hurl headlong into the sea this guile of the Greeks, this distrusted gift, or fire it with flames heaped beneath; or else pierce and probe the hollow hidingplace of the womb. The wavering crowd is torn into opposing factions.

40 Then, foremost of all and with a great throng following, Laocoön in hot haste runs down from the citadel's height, and cries from afar: 'Oh, wretched citizens, what wild frenzy is this? Do ye believe the foe has sailed away? or think ye any gifts of the Greeks are free from treachery? Is it thus ye know Ulysses? Either enclosed in this frame there lurk Achaeans, or this has been built as an engine of war against our walls, to spy into our homes and come down upon the city from above; or some trickery lurks therein. Trust not the horse, ye Trojans. Whatever it be, I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts.' So saying, with mighty force he hurled his great spear at the beast's side and the arched frame of the belly. The spear stood quivering and with the womb's reverberation the vaults rang hollow, sending forth a moan.

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et si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset, impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras, Troiaque nunc staret, Priamique arx alta maneres. "Ecce manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctum pastores magno ad regem clamore trahebant Dardanidae, 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 iuventus circumfusa ruit certantque inludere capto. accipe nunc Danaum insidias et crimine ab uno disce omnis.

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namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermis, constitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit, 'heu! quae nunc tellus,' inquit, 'quae me aequora possunt

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accipere? aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat, 70 cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt?' quo gemitu conversi animi, compressus et omnis impetus. hortamur fari, quo sanguine cretus, quidve ferat; memoret, quae sit fiducia capto. ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur.

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"Cuneta equidem tibi, rex, fuerit quodcumque, fatebor

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vera,' inquit: neque me Argolica de gente negabo: hoc primum; nec si miserum Fortuna Sinonem [MPV finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget. 80 fando aliquod si forte tuas pervenit ad auris Belidae nomen Palamedis et incluta fama gloria, quem falsa sub proditione Pelasgi

59 quis preferred by Servius.

56 stares PR. maneret M2.
62 certe MP2. occurrere Pi
69 nunc ] me Quintilian, IX. II. 9.
76 omitted P: at foot of page M.

77 fuerint quaecunque P1.

And had the gods' decrees, had our mind not been perverse, he had driven us to befoul with steel the Argive den, and Troy would now be standing, and thou, lofty citadel of Priam, wouldst still abide!

57 "Meanwhile, lo! some Dardan shepherds with loud shouts were haling to the king a youth whose hands were bound behind his back. To compass this very end and open Troy to the Achaeans, stranger though he was, he had of free will placed himself in the way of their coming, confident in spirit and ready for either event, whether to ply his crafty wiles or to meet certain death From all sides, in eagerness to see, the Trojan youth run streaming in and vie in mocking the captive. Hear now the treachery of the Greeks and from one learn the wickedness of all. For as he stood amid the gazing crowd, dismayed, unarmed, and cast his eyes about the Phrygian bands, Alas!' he cried, what land now, what seas may receive me? or what fate at the last yet awaits my misery? No place at all have I among the Greeks, and the Trojans themselves, too, wildly clamour for vengeance and my life.' At that wail our mood was changed and all violence checked. We urge him to say from what blood he is sprung or what tidings he brings. Tell us,' we cry, 'on what thou reliest as prisoner.' He, when at length

he has laid aside his fear, thus speaks :

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Surely, O king,' he says, 'whatever befalls, I will tell thee all truly, nor will I deny that I am of Argive birth. This first I own; nor, if Fortune has moulded Sinon for misery, will she also in her spite mould him as false and lying. If haply in speech there has reached your ears some rumour of Palamedes, son of Belus, and the glory of his famewhom under false evidence, by wicked witnessing,

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