Now in what arms Aurora's offspring came,
Of Diomede's horses and Achilles' fame.
"Tell me," she says, "thy wanderings; stranger, come,
Thy friends' mishaps and Danaan wiles proclaim;
For seven long summers now have seen thee roam
O'er every land and sea, far from thy native home."




BOOK TWO


ARGUMENT

AEneas' story.--The Greeks, baffled in battle, built a wooden horse,
in which their leaders took ambush. Their fleet sailed to Tenedos.
The Trojans, but for Capys and Laocoon, had dragged the horse
forthwith as a trophy into Troy (1-72). Sinon, a Greek, brought
before Priam, feigns righteous indignation against Greece. The
Trojans sympathise and believe his story of wrongs done him by
Ulysses (73-126). "When Greek plans of flight had often," says Sinon,
"been foiled by storms, oracles foretold that only a human sacrifice
could purchase their escape." Chosen for victim, Sinon had fled. He
solemnly declares the horse to be an offering to Pallas. "Destroy
it, and you are lost. Preserve it in your citadel, your revenge is
assured" (127-222). Treachery triumphs. Laocoon's cruel fate is
ascribed to his sacrilegious attack upon the horse, which is brought
with rejoicing into Troy, despite a last warning, from Cassandra
(223-288). While Troy sleeps, the fleet returns, and Sinon releases