All were attentive to the godlike man, When from his lofty couch he thus began:-- "Great queen, what you command me to relate, Renews the sad remembrance of our fate: An empire from its old foundations rent, And every woe the Trojans underwent; A peopled city made a desert place; All that I saw, and part of which I was; Not even the hardest of our foes could hear, Nor stern Ulysses tell, without a tear. And now the latter watch of wasting night, And setting stars, to kindly rest invite. But, since you take such interest in our woe, And Troy's disastrous end desire to know, I will restrain my tears, and briefly tell What in our last and fatal night befell. By destiny compelled, and in despair, The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war, And, by Minerva's aid, a fabric reared, Which like a steed of monstrous height appeared: The sides were planked with pine: they feigned it made For their return, and this the vow they paid. Thus they pretend, but in the hollow side, Selected numbers of their soldiers hide: With inward arms the dire machine they load, And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an isle (While Fortune did on Priam's empire smile) Renowned for wealth; but, since, a faithless bay, Where ships exposed to wind and weather lay. There was their fleet concealed. We thought, for Greece Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release. The Trojans, cooped within their walls so long, Unbar their gates, and issue in a throng, Like swarming bees, and with delight survey The camp deserted, where the Grecians lay: The quarters of the several chiefs they showed-- } Here Phœnix, here Achilles, made abode; } Here joined the battles; there the navy rode. } Part on the pile their wondering eyes employ-- The pile by Pallas raised to ruin Troy. Thymœtes first ('tis doubtful whether hired, Or so the Trojan destiny required) Moved, that the ramparts might be broken down, To lodge the monster fabric in the town. But Capys, and the rest of sounder mind, The fatal present to the flames designed, Or to the watery deep; at least to bore The hollow sides, and hidden frauds explore. The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide, With noise say nothing, and in parts divide. Laocoön, followed by a numerous crowd, Ran from the fort, and cried, from far, aloud:-- "O wretched countrymen! what fury reigns? What more than madness has possessed your brains? Think you the Grecians from your coasts are gone? And are Ulysses' arts no better known? This hollow fabric either must inclose, Within its blind recess, our secret foes; Or 'tis an engine raised above the town, To o'erlook the walls, and then to batter down. Somewhat is sure designed, by fraud or force-- Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse." Thus having said, against the steed he threw His forceful spear, which, hissing as it flew, Pierced through the yielding planks of jointed wood, And trembling in the hollow belly stood. The sides, transpierced, return a rattling sound, And groans of Greeks inclosed come issuing through the wound. And, had not heaven the fall of Troy designed, } Or had not men been fated to be blind, } Enough was said and done to inspire a better mind. } Then had our lances pierced the treacherous wood, And Ilian towers and Priam's empire stood. Meantime, with shouts, the Trojan shepherds bring A captive Greek in bands, before the king-- Taken, to take--who made himself their prey, To impose on their belief, and Troy betray; Fixed on his aim, and obstinately bent To die undaunted, or to circumvent. About the captive, tides of Trojans flow; All press to see, and some insult the foe. Now hear how well the Greeks their wiles disguised; Behold a nation in a man comprised. Trembling the miscreant stood; unarmed and bound, He stared, and rolled his hagard eyes around, Then said, "Alas! what earth remains, what sea Is open to receive unhappy me? What fate a wretched fugitive attends, Scorned by my foes, abandoned by my friends?" He said, and sighed, and cast a rueful eye; Our pity kindles, and our passions die. We cheer the youth to make his own defence, And freely tell us what he was, and whence: What news he could impart, we long to know, And what to credit from a captive foe. His fear at length dismissed, he said,--"Whate'er My fate ordains, my words shall be sincere: I neither can nor dare my birth disclaim; Greece is my country, Sinon is my name. Though plunged by Fortune's power in misery, 'Tis not in Fortune's power to make me lie.