The Fall of Troy [101]
flames licked up Fair chambers of the sons' sons of a king; And all the city sank down into hell.
Of Trojans some by Argos' sons were slain, Some by their own roofs crashing down in fire, Giving at once in death and tomb to them: Some in their own throats plunged the steel, when foes And fire were in the porch together seen: Some slew their wives and children, and flung themselves Dead on them, when despair had done its work Of horror. One, who deemed the foe afar, Caught up a vase, and, fain to quench the flame, Hasted for water. Leapt unmarked on him An Argive, and his spirit, heavy with wine, Was thrust forth from the body by the spear. Clashed the void vase above him, as he fell Backward within the house. As through his hall Another fled, the burning roof-beam crashed Down on his head, and swift death came with it. And many women, as in frenzied flight They rushed forth, suddenly remembered babes Left in their beds beneath those burning roofs: With wild feet sped they back -- the house fell in Upon them, and they perished, mother and child. Horses and dogs in panic through the town Fled from the flames, trampling beneath their feet The dead, and dashing into living men To their sore hurt. Shrieks rang through all the town. In through his blazing porchway rushed a man To rescue wife and child. Through smoke and flame Blindly he groped, and perished while he cried Their names, and pitiless doom slew those within.
The fire-glow upward mounted to the sky, The red glare o'er the firmament spread its wings, And all the tribes of folk that dwelt around Beheld it, far as Ida's mountain-crests, And sea-girt Tenedos, and Thracian Samos. And men that voyaged on the deep sea cried: "The Argives have achieved their mighty task After long toil for star-eyed Helen's sake. All Troy, the once queen-city, burns in fire: For all their prayers, no God defends them now; For strong Fate oversees all works of men, And the renownless and obscure to fame She raises, and brings low the exalted ones. Oft out of good is evil brought, and good From evil, mid the travail and change of life."
So spake they, who from far beheld the glare Of Troy's great burning. Compassed were her folk With wailing misery: through her streets the foe Exulted, as when madding blasts turmoil The boundless sea, what time the Altar ascends To heaven's star-pavement, turned to the misty south Overagainst Arcturus tempest-breathed, And with its rising leap the wild winds forth, And ships full many are whelmed 'neath ravening seas; Wild as those stormy winds Achaea's sons Ravaged steep Ilium while she burned in flame. As when a mountain clothed with shaggy woods Burns swiftly in a fire-blast winged with winds, And from her tall peaks goeth up a roar, And all the forest-children this way and that Rush through the wood, tormented by the flame; So were the Trojans perishing: there was none To save, of all the Gods. Round these were staked The nets of Fate, which no man can escape.
Then were Demophoon and Acamas By mighty Theseus' mother Aethra met. Yearning to see them was she guided on To meet them by some Blessed One, the while 'Wildered from war and fire she fled. They saw In that red glare a woman royal-tall, Imperial-moulded, and they weened that this Was Priam's queen, and with swift eagerness Laid hands on her, to lead her captive thence To the Danaans; but piteously she moaned: "Ah, do not, noble sons of warrior Greeks, To your ships hale me, as I were a foe! I am not of Trojan birth: of Danaans came My princely blood renowned. In Troezen's halls Pittheus begat me, Aegeus wedded me, And of my womb sprang Theseus glory-crowned. For great Zeus' sake, for your dear parents' sake, I pray you, if the seed of Theseus came Hither with Atreus' sons, O bring ye me Unto their yearning eyes. I trow they be Young men like you. My soul shall be refreshed If living I behold those chieftains twain."
Hearkening to her they called their sire to mind, His deeds for Helen's sake, and how the sons Of Zeus the Thunderer in the old time smote Aphidnae, when, because
Of Trojans some by Argos' sons were slain, Some by their own roofs crashing down in fire, Giving at once in death and tomb to them: Some in their own throats plunged the steel, when foes And fire were in the porch together seen: Some slew their wives and children, and flung themselves Dead on them, when despair had done its work Of horror. One, who deemed the foe afar, Caught up a vase, and, fain to quench the flame, Hasted for water. Leapt unmarked on him An Argive, and his spirit, heavy with wine, Was thrust forth from the body by the spear. Clashed the void vase above him, as he fell Backward within the house. As through his hall Another fled, the burning roof-beam crashed Down on his head, and swift death came with it. And many women, as in frenzied flight They rushed forth, suddenly remembered babes Left in their beds beneath those burning roofs: With wild feet sped they back -- the house fell in Upon them, and they perished, mother and child. Horses and dogs in panic through the town Fled from the flames, trampling beneath their feet The dead, and dashing into living men To their sore hurt. Shrieks rang through all the town. In through his blazing porchway rushed a man To rescue wife and child. Through smoke and flame Blindly he groped, and perished while he cried Their names, and pitiless doom slew those within.
The fire-glow upward mounted to the sky, The red glare o'er the firmament spread its wings, And all the tribes of folk that dwelt around Beheld it, far as Ida's mountain-crests, And sea-girt Tenedos, and Thracian Samos. And men that voyaged on the deep sea cried: "The Argives have achieved their mighty task After long toil for star-eyed Helen's sake. All Troy, the once queen-city, burns in fire: For all their prayers, no God defends them now; For strong Fate oversees all works of men, And the renownless and obscure to fame She raises, and brings low the exalted ones. Oft out of good is evil brought, and good From evil, mid the travail and change of life."
So spake they, who from far beheld the glare Of Troy's great burning. Compassed were her folk With wailing misery: through her streets the foe Exulted, as when madding blasts turmoil The boundless sea, what time the Altar ascends To heaven's star-pavement, turned to the misty south Overagainst Arcturus tempest-breathed, And with its rising leap the wild winds forth, And ships full many are whelmed 'neath ravening seas; Wild as those stormy winds Achaea's sons Ravaged steep Ilium while she burned in flame. As when a mountain clothed with shaggy woods Burns swiftly in a fire-blast winged with winds, And from her tall peaks goeth up a roar, And all the forest-children this way and that Rush through the wood, tormented by the flame; So were the Trojans perishing: there was none To save, of all the Gods. Round these were staked The nets of Fate, which no man can escape.
Then were Demophoon and Acamas By mighty Theseus' mother Aethra met. Yearning to see them was she guided on To meet them by some Blessed One, the while 'Wildered from war and fire she fled. They saw In that red glare a woman royal-tall, Imperial-moulded, and they weened that this Was Priam's queen, and with swift eagerness Laid hands on her, to lead her captive thence To the Danaans; but piteously she moaned: "Ah, do not, noble sons of warrior Greeks, To your ships hale me, as I were a foe! I am not of Trojan birth: of Danaans came My princely blood renowned. In Troezen's halls Pittheus begat me, Aegeus wedded me, And of my womb sprang Theseus glory-crowned. For great Zeus' sake, for your dear parents' sake, I pray you, if the seed of Theseus came Hither with Atreus' sons, O bring ye me Unto their yearning eyes. I trow they be Young men like you. My soul shall be refreshed If living I behold those chieftains twain."
Hearkening to her they called their sire to mind, His deeds for Helen's sake, and how the sons Of Zeus the Thunderer in the old time smote Aphidnae, when, because