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Tryphiodorus, The Taking of Ilion

§ 1  The long delayed end of the laborious war and the ambush, even thehorse fashioned ofArgiveAthena, straightway to me in my haste do thou tell, OCalliopeia, remitting copious speech; and the ancient strife of men, in that war now decided, do thou resolve with speedy song.

§ 6  Already the tenth year was rolling on and old had grown the strain of war, insatiate of blood, forTrojans andDanaans. With slaying of men the spears were weary, the menace of the swords died, quenched was the din of breastplate, rent and perishing the coiled fabric of shield-carrying baldricks; the shield endured no more to abide the hurtling of javelins, unstrung was the bent bow, the swift arrows decayed.

§ 14  And thehorse -- some apart at the idle manger, with heads bowed piteously, bewailed their fellowhorses, some mourned to miss their perished charioteers.

§ 17  Low lay the son ofPeleus and with him his comrade dead: over his young sonAntilochus oldNestor mourned:Aias with self-dealt wound had unstrung his mighty form, and bathed his foeman’s sword in the rain of frenzied blood. TheTrojans, lamenting over the shameful dragging ofHector, had not only their domestic pain, but groaning for the woes of men of alien speech they wept in turn for their many-tongued allies.

§ 25  TheLycians wept forSarpedon whom his mother, glorying in the bed ofZeus, had sent toTroy; howbeit he fell by the spear ofPatroclus, son ofMenoetius, and there was shed about him by his sire a mist that wept tears of blood. TheThracians wailed forRhesus that in the guileful night was fettered by an evil sleep. And for the fate ofMemnonEos, his mother, hung aloft a cloud in heaven and stole away the light of shamefast day.

§ 33  The women fromThermodon dear toAres, beating the unripe, unsucked circle of their breasts, mourned the warlike maidenPenthesileia, who came unto the dance of war, that war of many guests, and with her woman’s hand scattered the cloud of men back to their ships beside the sea; onlyAchilles withstood her with his ashen spear and slew and despoiled her and gave her funeral.

§ 40  And still allIlios stood, by reason of her god-built towers, established upon unshaken foundations, and at the tedious delay the people of theAchaeans chafed. And nowAthena, unwearying though she be, would have shrunk from her latest labour and all her sweat had been in vain, had not the seer turned from the bride-stealing lust ofDeiphobus, and come fromIlios as guest of theDanaans, and, as doing a favour toMenelaus in his travail, prophesied the late-fulfilled ruin of his own fatherland. And at the prophesying of jealousHelenus they straightway prepared an end of their long toil.

§ 51  FromScyros, too, leaving that city of fair maidens, came the son ofAchilles and augustDeidameia; who, albeit he mantled not yet on his goodly temples the down of manhood, showed the prowess of his sire, young warrior though he was. Came, too,Athena to theDanaans with her holy image; the prey of war but a helper to her friends.

§ 57  Now, too, by the counsel of the goddess her servantEpeius wrought the image that was the foe ofTroy, even the gianthorse. And wood was cut and came down to the plain fromIda, evenIda whence formerlyPhereclus built the ships forAlexander that were the beginning of woe. Fitted to broadest sides he made its hollow belly, in size as a curved ship which the carpenter turns true to the line. And the neck he fixed to carven breast and bespangled the purple-fringed mane with yellow gold; and the mane, waving aloft on the arched neck, was sealed on the head with crested band.

§ 69  In two circles he set the gem-like eyes of sea-green beryl and blood-red amethyst: and in the mingling of them a double colour flashed; the eyes were red and ringed with the green gems. In the jaws he set white rows of jagged teeth, eager to champ the ends of the well-twisted bit. And he opened secret paths in the mighty mouth to preserve the tide of breath for the men in hiding, and through the nostrils flowed the life-giving air.

§ 78  Ears were fixed on the top of its temples, pricked up, ever ready to await the sound of the trumpet. And back and flanks he fitted together and supple backbone, and joined hip-joint to smooth hip. Unto the heels of the feet trailed the flowing tail, even as vine weighed down with twisted tassels.

§ 84  And the feet that moved with the dappled knees -- even as if they were about to set them to the winged race, so were they eager, yet constraint bade them bide. Not without bronze were the hooves that stood below the legs, but they were bound with spirals of shining tortoise and hardly touched the ground with the strong-hoofed bronze.

§ 90  Also he set therein a barred door and a fashioned ladder: the one that unseen, fitted to the sides, it might carry theAchaean company of the famoushorse this way and that; the other that, unfolded and firmly put together, it might be for them a path whereby to speed upward or downward. And he girt thehorse about on white neck and cheeks with purple-flowered straps and coiling spirals of compelling bridle inlaid with ivory and silver-flashing bronze. And when he had wrought all the warlikehorse, he set a well-spoked wheel under each of its feet that when dragged over the plain it might be obedient to the rein, and not travel a difficult path under stress of hands.

§ 103  So thehorse flashed with terror and great beauty, wide and high; not evenAres, lord ofhorses, would have refused to drive it, had he found it alive. And a great wall was driven about it, lest any of theAchaeans should behold it beforehand and fire the snare revealed. And beside the ship ofAgamemnon fromMycenae the kings of theAchaeans gathered to council, avoiding the din and tumult of the stirring hosts.

§ 111  Then impetuousAthena took the likeness of a clear-voiced herald and stood byOdysseus to counsel him, daubing a man’s voice with honeyed nectar. And, revolving his mind in godlike counsels, at first he stood like a man of empty wits fixing on the ground the gaze of his unturning eye; but suddenly he opened his lips and delivered him of everflowing speech and thundered terribly, and poured, as from an airy spring, a great torrent of honey-dropping snow.

§ 120  "O friends, now is the secret ambush prepared, by human hands but by the counsels ofAthena. Do ye which have most trust in the might of your hands, heartily follow me with valiant mind and enduring soul; for it is not seemly that we should abide here a long time labouring and growing old without accomplishment or profit. Rather should we, while yet we live, do some deed worthy to be sung, or by bloody death escape the shameful reproach of cowardice. We have better comfort than they -- if ye have not forgotten the sparrow and the ancientserpent and the fair plane-tree and the mother devoured with her swiftly perishing young, and her tender nestlings.

§ 132  "And if oldCalchas in his soothsaying deferred the day of fulfilment, yet even so the prophecies ofHelenus, the alien seer, call us to a right speedy victory. Therefore hearken ye to me and let us hasten with good courage in to the belly of thehorse, that theTrojans may lead up intoIlios the guileful craft of the dauntless goddess, a self-taken woe, embracing their own doom.

§ 139  "And do ye others loose the stern cables of the ships and yourselves cast fire upon the plaited tents, and leaving desolate the shore of the land ofIlios, sail ye all together on your pretended homeward way, until the hour that to you, gathered on the neighbouring beach, a beacon at eventide, stretched from a fair-anchoring place of outlook, shall give the signal to sail back again. And then let there be no hesitation of hurrying oarsmen nor other cloud of fear, such as the nights bring to men to terrify the mobile soul. But let each clan respect its former valour, and let no man put to shame his fame, so that each may win a recompense for chivalry worthy of his toils.”

§ 152  So he spake, leading them in counsel. And first godlikeNeoptolemus followed his advising, even as a colt hastening over the dewy plain, which glories in his trappings of new harness and outruns both the lash and the threat of his driver.

§ 157  And afterNeoptolemus rose upDiomedes, the son ofTydeus, marvelling for that even such aforetime wasAchilles. Followed alsoCyanippus, whomComaetho, daughter of a goodly sire, evenTydeus, in brief wedlock bare to shield-bearingAegialeus whose doom was swift. Rose, too,Menelaus; he was driven by a fierce impulse to strife withDeiphobus, and his stern heart boiled with eagerness to find him who a second time stole away his bride.

§ 165  After him roseLocrianAias, the swift son ofOileus, still prudent of mind and not filled with lawless passion for women. And he roused up another, evenIdomeneus, the grizzled king of theCretans. And with these went the son ofNestor, strongThrasymedes, andTeucer went, the archer son ofTelamon.

§ 171  After them rose up the son ofAdmetus, evenEumelus of manyhorses. And after him hasted the seerCalchas, well knowing that accomplishing their difficult labour theAchaeans should now at last ride down the city ofTroy.

§ 175  Nor remained behind, turning from the fray,Eurypylus, son ofEuaemon, and goodlyLeonteus, andDemophoon andAcamas, the two sons ofTheseus, andAnticlus, son of Ortyx -- who died there and theAchaeans wept for him and buried him in thehorse; andPeneleus andMeges and valiantAntiphates, andIphidamas andEurydamas, offspring ofPelias, andAmphidamas, armed with a bow. LastEpeius of glorious craft set foot in the thing he had himself contrived.

§ 184  Then they prayed unto the grey-eyed daughter ofZeus and hasted into their vessel of thehorse. AndAthena mixed ambrosia and brought them the food of the gods to eat, that in their ambush all day long they might not be afflicted and their knees weighed down by unpleasant hunger. And as when with the frosts of the storm-footed clouds the snow freezes the air and besprinkles the fields and melting sends forth a great stream; and the wild beasts, cowering from the din of the mountain-cradled river, as it leaps swiftly down from a rock in headlong tumult, withdraw beneath the shelter of their hollow lair and abide there silently with shivering flanks, and, bitterly ahungered, by grievous constraint patiently await the ceasing of the rain:

§ 198  even so the unweariedAchaeans leapt through the carven wood and supported travail beyond enduring. And for themOdysseus, the faithful warder of the unguessed snare, closed the door of the pregnanthorse, and sat himself in the head as scout; and both his yearning eyes escaped the notice of those without. And the son ofAtreus bade theAchaean servants undo with well-bent mattocks the fence of stone wherewith thehorse was hidden. He wished to let it be uncovered that, shining afar, it might send the message of its beauty unto all men. And at the bidding of their king they dug it up.

§ 209  But when the sun, drawing on shadowy night for men, turned far-shooting dawn to the dusky-footed setting, then spread abroad the voice of the heralds, telling the people to flee and launch in the hollow sea their fair-peaked ships and loose the cables. Then raising the rush of pinewood fire and burning the fences of their well-established tents they sailed away in their ships from theRhoeteian shore to a haven over the sea in fair-crownedTenedos, ploughing the grey waters ofHelle, daughter ofAthamas. OnlySinon remained behind, the son ofAesimus, his limbs voluntarily scarred with stripes, a deceitful hero, concealing a hidden snare and sorrow for theTrojans.

§ 222  And even as when hunter men cast a net about the stakes and set a meshed ambush for the wild beasts that roam the hills, and one chosen apart from the others secretly creeps beneath the thick branches, a hidden scout of the hunt to watch the nets: even so, his marred limbs marked about with stripes, he devised grievous destruction forTroy; and the streaming blood flowed over his shoulders from wounds purposely made. All night long the flame raged about the tents, belching forth smoke that curled in wandering eddy, and loud-roaringHephaestus urged it on. Yea, andHera herself, that gives light to men, the mother of immortal fire, breathed thereon and stirred up all manner of gusts.

§ 235  And now in the shadowy dawn there came toTrojans and to the women ofIlios a rumour spoken by many tongues, announcing the flight of the foe by signal of smoke. Straightway they flung open the bars of the gates and rushed forth, foot andhorse, and poured into the plain, seeking whether this were some fresh guile of theDanaans. And yoking swift mules to wagons there came down from the city with KingPriam the other elders of the people; and most light of heart were they, being comforted for their children whom bloodyAres had spared, and boding of an old age of freedom: but not long were they to rejoice, since the counsel ofZeus willed it so. And when they saw the flashing form of the skilfully fashionedhorse, they thronged about it marvelling, even as chattering jackdaws scream about when they see the valianteagle. And confused and uncertain counsel fell among them.

§ 251  Some wearied with dolorous war and hating thehorse, because it was the work of theAchaeans, wished either to dash it on the long precipices or to break it up with two-edged hatchets. But others, trusting in the new polished work of art, bade dedicate the warlikehorse to the immortals, to be in after days a memorial of theArgive war. And as they debated, there appeared unto them, dragging his motley limbs over the plain, a naked man in sorry case.His weals laden with unseemly blood showed the ruinous track of the swift lash. Straightway he grovelled before the feet ofPriam, and touched his ancient knees with suppliant hands; and entreating the old man he uttered his craftily woven tale:

§ 265  “Sceptred King, son ofDardanus, behold me the fellow voyager of theArgives, if thou pitiest me, and deliverer of theTrojans and their city, if thou wilt save me, and lastly foe of theAchaeans: behold how they evilly entreated me who had done no wrong, heeding not the regard of the gods, evil and unkind always. Even so they snatched away his reward fromAchilles, son ofPeleus, and even so they leftPhiloctetes, fettered by the bite of the watersnake, and slew in wrathPalamedes himself. And behold now what they have done to me in their wicked folly, for that I would not flee with them, but bade my comrades stay. Overcome by frenzied foolishness they stripped me of my raiment and wounded all my body with unseemly stripes and left me on an alien shore. But, blessed one, do thou have regard unto the majesty ofZeus, the god of suppliants. For I shall be a joy to theArgives, if thou lettest a suppliant and a stranger perish at the hands of theTrojans. But I shall be surety unto all of you that ye no more dread returning war of theAchaeans.”

§ 283  So he spake, and the old man comforted him with gentle voice: “Stranger, it befits thee not to be afraid any more since thou hast mingled with theTrojans; for thou hast escaped the unkindly violence of theAchaeans. Evermore thou shalt be our friend nor shall sweet desire seize thee for thy fatherland or for thy halls of many possessions. But come, declare thou to me what marvel is this, thehorse, a portent of unappeasable terror. And declare thy name and lineage and whence the ships brought thee.”

§ 291  Then the hero of many devices took heart and said: “These things also will I declare: thou biddest me who am myself willing.Argos is my city and the name give to me isSinon, and my grey-haired sire they callAesimus; and the famoushorse was invented for theArgives byEpeius. If you allow it to abide here in its place, it is decreed that the spear of theAchaeans shall captureTroy; but ifAthena receive it a holy offering in her shrine, they shall flee away with their task unaccomplished. But come, cast it about with entwining chains and draw to the great acropolis thehorse of golden reins, andAthena, guardian of the city, be our guide, eager to win the carven offering, even she!”

§ 304  So he spake, and the king bade him take and don on a cloak and a tunic. And they bound thehorse with chains of oxhide and drew it with well-plaited ropes over the plain, mounted on its swift wheels and filled with chieftains; and before it flutes and lyres made shrill minstrelsy together. Wretched generation of heedless mortals! for whom a mist which they cannot pierce enwraps the future. By reason of empty joy many men many times stumble unwittingly on destruction: even as at that time ruinous doom for theTrojans rioted on its own way into the city, and none knew that it was fierce sorrow unforgettable that they drew. And gathering flowers from the dewy river they wreathed the tresses on the neck of their slayer.

§ 318  The earth torn about the brazen wheels moaned terribly, and the axles of iron, grinding in them, groaned with harsh noise. The joining of knit ropes creaked and all the taut coiling chain sent up a fiery smoke. And as they haled, loud rose the din and the vaunting. Groaned shadyIda together with her nymph-haunted oaks: the eddying waters of the river Xanthus shrieked, and the mouth ofSimois rang aloud: and in the heaven the trumpet ofZeus prophesied of the war they drew.

§ 328  But they haled forward; and the long way waxed heavy, torn with rivers and not like plain lands. And the flashinghorse followed them unto the altars dear toAres, glorying exceedingly; andAthena set her might thereto, laying her heavy hands on the newly carven thighs of thehorse. So it sped beyond overtaking, and ran on swifter than an arrow, following theTrojans with lightly prancing feet, until it reached theDardan gates. And for its coming the folding doors were straitened. ButHera set it free once more to run its course, withdrawing the doors before it, while from the towersPoseidon with his trident drave back the posts of the opening gates.

§ 340  And theTrojan women throughout the city, some here, some there, brides and maidens unwed and mothers experienced ofEileithyia circled about the image with song and dance. Others culling the fresh bounty of the rain strewed a rosy carpet for the wooden trail. Others undid the spun girdles of sea-purple about their breasts and with woven garlands wreathed thehorse. Some broaching theseal of a great jar poured forth wine mixed with golden saffron and made the piled earth odorous with fragrant mud. With the shouting of men was mingled the cry of women, the huzza of boys was joined with the voice of age. And even as the denizens of rich Ocean, the attendants of winter, the ranks of the cranes crying in air, align the circle of their wandering dance, uttering their notes abhorred by the ploughmen who labour the earth: even so with crying and with tumult they led to the acropolis thehorse laden within.

§ 358  And the god-driven daughter ofPriam would not abide any more to her chamber. Tearing apart the bars she ran, like restless heifer whom the sting of theox-tormenting gadfly has smitten and stung to frenzy: which looks no more to the herd nor obeys the herdsman nor yearns for the pasture, but whetted by the sharp dart she passes beyond the range ofoxen: in such wise, her heart distraught by the pricking of the shafts of prophecy, the maiden shook the holy laurel wreath and cried everywhere throughout the city. She heeded nor parents nor friends, and maiden shame forsook her. Not so doth the pleasant flute ofDionysus raging on the hills strike the Thracian woman amid the thickets: who, smitten by the god, strains a wild eye and shakes her naked head dark-garlanded with ivy. SoCassandra, starting from her winged wits, raged god-maddened; and, beating ever and again hair and breast, she cried with frenzied voice:

§ 376  "O wretched men! why rage ye possessed, dragging this unfriendlyhorse, hasting to your last night and the end of war and the sleep that knows no waking? This warlike rout comes from the foemen. Surely now the travail of the dreams of poorHecabe bears fruit. The long deferred year comes to an end with the resolving of the war.

§ 382  Such a company of chieftains comes, whom the mightyhorse shall bring forth in the darkest night, flashing in their armour for battle; now shall warriors most perfect leap to earth and rush to the fray.

§ 386  For not women shall deliver the labouring steed in its travail and attend the birth of men, but she that wrought it shall herself be its Lady of Deliverance;Athena, sacker of cities, midwife of a dolorous birth, shall herself undo the pregnant belly and utter her cry. Lo! now there is rolled within the towers a purple sea of blood outpoured, a wave of death; about the hands of women, sharing the common doom, the bonds of bridal are twined: beneath the wooden planks lurks hidden fire. Alas! for my woes, alas! for thee, city of my fathers, soon shalt thou be fine dust: gone is the handiwork of the immortals, gone utterly the foundations ofLaomedon.

§ 398  "And for thee, my father, and for thee, my mother, I weep to think what manner of things ye both shall suffer. Thou, my father, piteously fallen shalt lie beside the altar of mightyZeus of the Court [Herkeios]. Mother of the best of children, thee from human shape the gods shall turn into ahound maddened over thy children.

§ 403  FairPolyxena, for thee lying low near to thy fatherland I shall weep but little: would that someone of theArgives had slain me too with thy lamented fate! For what profit have I in life any more, if life but keep me for a most pitiful death, and an alien soil shall cover me? Such things for me and such a doom for KingAgamemnon himself doth my mistress weave, his reward for all his labours.

§ 410  But now take ye heed -- in suffering shall ye learn the truth of my words -- and put away, my friends, the cloud of infatuate folly. Let the body of the capacioushorse be rent with hatchets or burnt with fire. And hiding crafty persons as it does, let it perish and be greatly regretted by theDanaans. And then feast ye and array you for the dance, setting up mixing-bowls in honour of dear liberty.”

§ 416  So she spake; but no one hearkened to her; forApollo made her at once a good prophet and unbelieved. And her father spake and rebuked her: "What spirit of ill name hath brought thee again, prophetess of evil, bolddog-fly? Vainly dost thou try to stay us with thy barking.

§ 422  Is thy mind not yet weary of its plague of madness, and hast thou not had thy fill of ill-omened ravings, but thou hast come in vexation at our mirth, whenZeus, the son ofCronus, hath lighted for us all the day of freedom and scattered the ships of theAchaeans? And no longer are the long spears brandished, no longer are the bows drawn, no longer flash the swords, the arrows are silent. But dances and honey-breathing music is ours and no more strife: no more wails the mother over the child, nor doth the wife send her husband to the fray and weep, a widow, over his corpse.

§ 432  Athena, guardian of the city, welcomes thehorse which is drawn along. But thou, bold maiden, rushing before the house with false prophecies and wild raving, labourest to no purpose and pollutest the holy city. Go to! but our care is dance and mirth. For no longer is terror left under the walls ofTroy, and no longer have we need of thy prophetic voice.”

§ 439  So he spake, and bade lead away the frenzied maiden, hiding her in her chamber. And hardly and against her will she obeyed her parent, and throwing herself upon her maiden bed she wept, knowing her own doom: already she beheld the fire raging on the walls of her burning fatherland. But the others at the temple of the goddessAthena, guardian of the city set up thehorse on well-polished pedestal, and burned fair offerings on savoury altars; but the immortals refused their vain hecatombs. And there was festival in the town and infinite lust, lust uplifting the drunkenness of wine that unmans. And all the city was filled with foolishness and gaped with heedlessness, and few warders watched the gates; for now the light of day was sinking and fateful night wrapped steepIlios for destruction.

§ 454  AndAphrodite of many counsels, putting on the likeness of hoary age, came toArgiveHelen with crafty intent and called her forth and spake to her with persuasive voice: "Dear lady, thy valiant husbandMenelaus calls thee. He is hidden in the woodenhorse, and round him lie ambushed the leaders of theAchaeans, wooers of war in thy cause. But come and heed no longer ancientPriam nor the otherTrojans norDeiphobus himself. For now I give thee to much enduringMenelaus.”

§ 463  So spake the goddess and ran away again, ButHelen, her heart beguiled by craft, left her fragrant chamber, and her husbandDeiphobus followed her. And as she went, theTrojan women of trailing tunics gazed upon her. And when she came to the high-roofed shrine ofAthena, she stood and scanned the form of the well-mannedhorse. Three times she walked round it and provoked theArgives, naming all the fair-tressed wives of theAchaeans with her clear voice. And their hearts were torn within them with grief and they restrained their pent up tears in silence.

§ 473  GroanedMenelaus when he heard the daughter ofTyndareus: wept the son ofTydeus rememberingAegialeia: the name ofPenelope stirred the heart ofOdysseus:

§ 476  but onlyAnticlus, stung by the name ofLaodameia, opened his lips and essayed answering speech. ButOdysseus leapt upon him and fell about him with both his hands and restrained him while he strove to open his lips, and, seizing his mouth in escapeless fetters unbreakable, held him masterfully. And he writhed under the pressure of his hands, essaying to escape the giant bonds of murderous silence. And breath that gives men life forsook him; and the otherAchaeans wept for him with secret tears and hid him away in the hollow flank of thehorse, and cast a coverlet over his chilly limbs.

§ 487  And now would the crafty woman have beguiled another of theAchaeans, had not fierce-eyedPallas met her from the sky and threatened her and led her forth from her dear temple, appearing unto her alone, and sent her away with stern voice: “Wretch, how far shall thy sinfulness carry thee and thy passion for alien wedlock and the infatuation ofCypris? And thou hast never any pity for thy former husband nor any yearning for thy daughterHermione, but helpest still theTrojans? Withdraw and go up into thy upper room in the house and with kindly fire welcome the ships of theAchaeans.”

§ 497  So she spake and shattered the woman’s empty deceit. AndHelen passed to her chamber, while they ceased from the dance, filled with weariness, and fell on sleep. The lyre rested, the weary flute lay beside the mixing-bowl, and many a cup fell from the drooping hand and flowed of itself.Peace, the companion of night, browsed about the city; and no baying ofdogs was heard but perfect silence reigned, inviting slaughter-breathing battle.

§ 506  And nowZeus, dispenser of war, weighed the Balance of destruction for theTrojans, and hardly and at last rallied theAchaeans.PhoebusApollo withdrew fromIlios to his rich shrine inLycia, grieving over his mighty walls. And straightway beside the tomb ofAchillesSinon showed his message to theArgives with his shining brand. And all night long fairHelen herself also displayed from her chamber to her friends her golden torch.

§ 514  And even as when the moon, full with grey fire, gilds with her face the gleaming heaven: not when, sharpening her pointed horns, she first shines, rising in the shadowless dusk of the month, but when, orbing the rounded radiance of her eye, she draws to herself the reflected rays of the sun: even so did the lady ofTherapne on that night in her radiance lift up her wine-hued arm, directing the friendly fire.

§ 522  And when they beheld the gleam of the beacon on high, theArgives speedily set back their ships on the path of return, and every mariner made haste, seeking to find an end of the long war. They were at once sailors and stout warriors and called each on the other to row. So the ships, swifter than the speedy winds, with obedient rush sailed untoIlios by the help ofPoseidon. And there the foot soldiers went in front, while the horsemen fell behind, in order that thehorses might not rouse the people ofTroy by their loud neighing.

§ 533  And those others poured from the carven belly of thehorse, armed princes, even asbees from an oak: which when they have laboured within the capacious hive, weaving the sweet honeycomb with cunning art, pour from their vaulted nest to the pasture and vex the passing wayfarers with their stings:

§ 539  even so theDanaans undid the bolts of their secret ambush and leapt upon theTrojans and, while they still slept, shrouded them in evil dreams of brazen death. The earth swam with blood, and a cry unceasing arose from the fleeingTrojans, and sacredIlios was straitened with falling corpses, while those others with murderous tumult raged this way and that, like madlions, bridging the streets with new-slain bodies.

§ 547  And theTrojan women heard from their roofs and some, still thirsting for beloved liberty, submitted their necks to their wretched husbands for slaughter: mothers over their dear children, like light swallows, made lament: and many a young bride wept for her young husband quivering in his death struggle and was fain to die herself, and willed not to follow in the chains of captivity, but roused to anger her unwilling slayer and won to share the death-bed that was owing to her spouse. And many who bare within them breathless children whose months were not yet fulfilled, shed untimely the travail of the womb and died a chilly death, themselves too, with their children.

§ 559  AndEnyo, revelling in the drunkenness of unmixed blood, danced all night throughout the city, like a hurricane, turbulent with the waves of surging war. And therewithalStrife lifted her head high as heaven and stirred up theArgives; since even bloodyAres, late but even so, came and brought to theDanaans the changeful victory in war and his help that is now for these and anon for those.

§ 566  And on the acropolis grey-eyedAthena uttered her voice and shook her aegis, the shield ofZeus; and the sky trembled asHera bestirred her, and the heavy earth rang as it was shaken by the three-toothed spear ofPoseidon. AndHades shuddered and looked forth from his seat under earth, afraid lest in the great anger ofZeusHermes, conductor of souls, should bring down all the race of men.

§ 573  And all things were confounded together and there was slaughter without discretion. For some in flight they slew standing by theScaean gates: one leapt from this bed and, seeking his arms, fell upon a darkling spear; one hidden in his shadowy house invited as his guest one whom he deemed to be a friend: fool! no friendly man was he to meet but got hateful gifts of his hospitality; another over his roof, while yet he looked not, fell by the swift arrow.

§ 582  And some, their hearts weighed down with grievous wine, in terror at the din, hasting to come down, forgot the ladder and fell unwitting from the lofty roofs and luxed and brake the bones of their necks, and therewith spewed forth wine. And many gathered together in one place were slain as they fought and many, as they were pursued, fell from the towers into the house ofHades, leaping their latest leap.

§ 590  And a few through a narrow hollow, like thieves, escaped unnoticed from the storm of their perishing fatherland. Others within, in the surge of war and darkness, like to men gone rather than to men fleeing, fell one above the other. And the city could not contain the filth, desolate of men but over-full of dead.

§ 596  And there was no sparing. Driven by the frenzied lash of sleepless turmoil they had no regard even to the gods, but with most lawless onset they defiled with blood the innocent altars of the immortals. And old men most piteous were slain in most unworthy slaughter: slain not on their feet, but, stretching on the ground their suppliant limbs, they had their grey heads laid low. And many infant children were snatched from the mother’s breast that had suckled them but a little while and, understanding not, paid for the sins of their parents, while she that nursed it, offered the child the breast in vain, and brought offering of milk it might not suck. And birds anddogs, here and there throughout the city, the fowls of air and the beasts that walk the earth, feasted in company and drank the black blood and made a savage meal. The crying of the birds breathed slaughter, while the barkingdogs bayed wildly over torn corpses of men, pitiless and heeding not that they were rending their own masters.

§ 613  AndOdysseus andMenelaus of the goodly hair set out for the house of woman-madDeiphobus, like untowolves of jagged teeth, which in a stormy night, lusting for blood, go to attack unshepherded flocks and waste the labour of the herdsmen. There, though they were but two, they engaged foemen beyond numbering. And a new battle arose, as these attacked and those from a chamber overhead hurled stones and arrows which bring speedy death.

§ 622  Yet even so, fencing their giant heads with helmets unbreakable and encircling themselves with shields, they leapt into the great house. AndOdysseus drave and slaughtered the crowd that opposed him, even as wild beasts affrighted. And the son ofAtreus on the other hand pursuedDeiphobus who skulked away, and overtook and smote him in the midst of the belly and poured forth his liver and slippery guts. So he lay there and forgot his chivalry. And withMenelaus followed, trembling, his spear-won spouse, now rejoicing in the end of dire woes, and now ashamed, and then again, though late, as in a dream, secretly groaning, she remembered her dear fatherland.

§ 634  ButNeoptolemus, scion ofAeacus, slew beside the altar ofZeusHerkeios (of the Court-yard) the aged king out-worn with woe. He put from him such pity as his father had shown, and hearkened not to his prayers, nor had compassion when he looked on his hair grey even as the hair ofPeleus: the hair at which of oldAchilles softened his heart and, despite his grievous anger, spared the old man. Hard of heart! verily a like fate was destined afterward to come to him by the altar of truthfulApollo, when, as he sought to harm the divine shrine, aDelphian man smote and slew him with a holy knife.

§ 644  AndAndromache bewailed short-livedAstyanax whom she saw dive headlong from the airy towers, hurled to death by the hand ofOdysseus. SwiftAias, son ofOileus, assaultedCassandra when she took shelter at the knees of the stainless goddessPallas; and the goddess rejected his violence, and, helper though she had been aforetime, for one man’s sakeAthena was angered against all theArgives.Aeneias andAnchises didAphrodite steal away, taking pity on the old man and his son, and far from their fatherland established them in Ausonia.

§ 653  So the counsel of the gods was fulfilled with approval ofZeus, so that imperishable sovereignty should be the lot of the children and the grandchildren ofAphrodite dear toAres. The children and race of godlikeAntenor, that hospitable old man, the son ofAtreus saved, in gratitude for his former kindness and that table wherewith his gentle wifeTheano had welcomed him.

§ 660  PoorLaodice! thee by thy native land the enfolding earth took to her yawning bosom, and neitherAcamas, son ofTheseus, nor any other of theAchaeans led thee captive, but thou didst perish with thy fatherland.

§ 664  All the multitude of strife and the sorrows of that night I could not sing, distinguishing each event. This is theMuses’ task; and I shall drive, as it were ahorse, a song which, wheeling about, grazes the turning-post.

§ 668  Dawn in her car was just speeding back from Ocean in the East and marking great space of sky with slowly brightening light, dispelling slaughterous night; and they, exulting in their proud victory in war, looked everywhere throughout the city to find if any others were concealed and avoiding the murderous warfare that embraced all the people.

§ 674  But they were overcome by the all-capturing net of death, as fishes poured forth on the shores of the sea. And theArgives carried from the halls their new bravery to deck their ships and many treasured heirlooms did they seize from the desolate chambers. And with them they carried off by force captive wives and children together unto the ships. And having arrayed city-sacking fire against the walls, in one flame they confounded all the works ofPoseidon. And even there was smokingIlios made a great monument to her dear citizens. AndXanthus, beholding the fiery doom of the city, wept with seaward flowing fountain of lamentation, and, terrified by the anger ofHera, yielded toHephaestus.

§ 686  TheAchaeans poured the blood ofPolyxena over the tomb of deadAchilles to propitiate his wrath, and took each his lot ofTrojan women and divided all their other spoil, both gold and silver: wherewith they loaded their deep ships and through the booming sea set sail fromTroy, having made an end of war.