the prisoner to be released, and promised to give him protection in
Troy. "But tell me," said the king, "why did they make this horse? Was
it for a religious purpose or as an engine of war?" The treacherous
Sinon answered that the horse was intended as a peace offering to the
gods; that it had been built on the advice of Calchas, who had
directed that it should be made of immense size so that the Trojans
should not be able to drag it within their walls, "for," said he, "if
the men of Troy do any injury to the gift, evil will come upon the
kingdom of Priam, but if they bring it into their city, all Asia will
make war against Greece, arid on our children will come the
destruction which we would have brought upon Troy."

The Trojans believed this story also, and their belief was
strengthened by the terrible fate which just then befell Laocoon, who
a little before had pierced the side of the horse with his spear.
While the priest and his two sons were offering a sacrifice to Neptune
on the shore, two enormous serpents suddenly issued from the sea and
seized and crushed them to death in sight of the people. The Trojans
were filled with fear and astonishment at this spectacle, and they
regarded the event as a punishment from the gods upon Laocoon.

Who dared to harm with impious steel
Those planks of consecrated deal.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.

Then a cry arose that the "peace offering" should be conveyed into the
city, and accordingly a great breach was made in the walls that for
ten years had resisted all the assaults of the Greeks, and by means of
rollers attached to its feet, and ropes tied around its limbs, the
horse was dragged into the citadel, the young men and maidens singing