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 ev'ry woe the Trojans underwent;A peopled city made a desart place;
All that I saw, and part of which I was:
Not ev'n 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 int'rest 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 compell'd, and in despair, The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war, And by Minerva's aid a fabric rear'd, Which like a steed of monstrous height appear'd:
The sides were plank'd with pine; they feign'd 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)Renown'd for wealth; but, since, a faithless bay, Where ships expos'd to wind and weather lay.
There was their fleet conceal'd.We thought, for Greece Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release.
The Trojans, coop'd 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 sev'ral chiefs they show'd;Here Phoenix, here Achilles, made abode;
Here join'd the battles; there the navy rode.
Part on the pile their wond'ring eyes employ:
The pile by Pallas rais'd to ruin Troy.
Thymoetes first ('t is doubtful whether hir'd, Or so the Trojan destiny requir'd)Mov'd 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 wat'ry 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.
Laocoon, follow'd by a num'rous crowd, Ran from the fort, and cried, from far, aloud:
'O wretched countrymen! what fury reigns?
What more than madness has possess'd 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 't is an engine rais'd above the town, T' o'erlook the walls, and then to batter down.
Somewhat is sure design'd, 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 flew, Pierc'd thro' the yielding planks of jointed wood, And trembling in the hollow belly stood.
The sides, transpierc'd, return a rattling sound, And groans of Greeks inclos'd come issuing thro' the wound And, had not Heav'n the fall of Troy design'd, Or had not men been fated to be blind, Enough was said and done t'inspire a better mind.
Then had our lances pierc'd the treach'rous wood, And Ilian tow'rs 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, T' impose on their belief, and Troy betray;Fix'd 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 disguis'd;Behold a nation in a man compris'd.
Trembling the miscreant stood, unarm'd and bound;He star'd, and roll'd his haggard eyes around, Then said: 'Alas! what earth remains, what sea Is open to receive unhappy me?
What fate a wretched fugitive attends, Scorn'd by my foes, abandon'd by my friends?'
He said, and sigh'd, and cast a rueful eye:
Our pity kindles, and our passions die.
We cheer youth to make his own defense, 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 dismiss'd, 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.
Tho' plung'd by Fortune's pow'r in misery, 'T is not in Fortune's pow'r to make me lie.
If any chance has hither brought the name Of Palamedes, not unknown to fame, Who suffer'd from the malice of the times, Accus'd and sentenc'd for pretended crimes, Because these fatal wars he would prevent;Whose death the wretched Greeks too late lament-Me, then a boy, my father, poor and bare Of other means, committed to his care, His kinsman and companion in the war.
While Fortune favor'd, while his arms support The cause, and rul'd the counsels, of the court, I made some figure there; nor was my name Obscure, nor I without my share of fame.
But when Ulysses, with fallacious arts, Had made impression in the people's hearts, And forg'd a treason in my patron's name (I speak of things too far divulg'd by fame), My kinsman fell.Then I, without support, In private mourn'd his loss, and left the court.
Mad as I was, I could not bear his fate With silent grief, but loudly blam'd the state, And curs'd the direful author of my woes.
'T was told again; and hence my ruin rose.
I threaten'd, if indulgent Heav'n once more Would land me safely on my native shore, His death with double vengeance to restore.
This mov'd the murderer's hate; and soon ensued Th' effects of malice from a man so proud.
Ambiguous rumors thro' the camp he spread, And sought, by treason, my devoted head;New crimes invented; left unturn'd no stone, To make my guilt appear, and hide his own;Till Calchas was by force and threat'ning wrought-But why- why dwell I on that anxious thought?
If on my nation just revenge you seek, And 't is t' appear a foe, t' appear a Greek;Already you my name and country know;
