The Fall of Troy [93]
man thereby they spied, Sinon; and this one, that one questioned him Touching the Danaans, as in a great ring They compassed him, and with unangry words First questioned, then with terrible threatenings. Then tortured they that man of guileful soul Long time unceasing. Firm as a rock abode The unquivering limbs, the unconquerable will. His ears, his nose, at last they shore away In every wise tormenting him, until He should declare the truth, whither were gone The Danaans in their ships, what thing the Horse Concealed within it. He had armed his mind With resolution, and of outrage foul Recked not; his soul endured their cruel stripes, Yea, and the bitter torment of the fire; For strong endurance into him Hera breathed; And still he told them the same guileful tale: "The Argives in their ships flee oversea Weary of tribulation of endless war. This horse by Calchas' counsel fashioned they For wise Athena, to propitiate Her stern wrath for that guardian image stol'n From Troy. And by Odysseus' prompting I Was marked for slaughter, to be sacrificed To the sea-powers, beside the moaning waves, To win them safe return. But their intent I marked; and ere they spilt the drops of wine, And sprinkled hallowed meal upon mine head, Swiftly I fled, and, by the help of Heaven, I flung me down, clasping the Horse's feet; And they, sore loth, perforce must leave me there Dreading great Zeus's daughter mighty-souled."
In subtlety so he spake, his soul untamed By pain; for a brave man's part is to endure To the uttermost. And of the Trojans some Believed him, others for a wily knave Held him, of whose mind was Laocoon. Wisely he spake: "A deadly fraud is this," He said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!" And cried to all straightway to burn the Horse, And know if aught within its timbers lurked.
Yea, and they had obeyed him, and had 'scaped Destruction; but Athena, fiercely wroth With him, the Trojans, and their city, shook Earth's deep foundations 'neath Laocoon's feet. Straight terror fell on him, and trembling bowed The knees of the presumptuous: round his head Horror of darkness poured; a sharp pang thrilled His eyelids; swam his eyes beneath his brows; His eyeballs, stabbed with bitter anguish, throbbed Even from the roots, and rolled in frenzy of pain. Clear through his brain the bitter torment pierced Even to the filmy inner veil thereof; Now bloodshot were his eyes, now ghastly green; Anon with rheum they ran, as pours a stream Down from a rugged crag, with thawing snow Made turbid. As a man distraught he seemed: All things he saw showed double, and he groaned Fearfully; yet he ceased not to exhort The men of Troy, and recked not of his pain. Then did the Goddess strike him utterly blind. Stared his fixed eyeballs white from pits of blood; And all folk groaned for pity of their friend, And dread of the Prey-giver, lest he had sinned In folly against her, and his mind was thus Warped to destruction yea, lest on themselves Like judgment should be visited, to avenge The outrage done to hapless Sinon's flesh, Whereby they hoped to wring the truth from him. So led they him in friendly wise to Troy, Pitying him at the last. Then gathered all, And o'er that huge Horse hastily cast a rope, And made it fast above; for under its feet Smooth wooden rollers had Epeius laid, That, dragged by Trojan hands, it might glide on Into their fortress. One and all they haled With multitudinous tug and strain, as when Down to the sea young men sore-labouring drag A ship; hard-crushed the stubborn rollers groan, As, sliding with weird shrieks, the keel descends Into the sea-surge; so that host with toil Dragged up unto their city their own doom, Epeius' work. With great festoons of flowers They hung it, and their own heads did they wreathe, While answering each other pealed the flutes. Grimly Enyo laughed, seeing the end Of that dire war; Hera rejoiced on high; Glad was Athena. When the Trojans came Unto their city, brake they down the walls, Their city's coronal, that the Horse of Death Might be led in. Troy's daughters greeted it With shouts
In subtlety so he spake, his soul untamed By pain; for a brave man's part is to endure To the uttermost. And of the Trojans some Believed him, others for a wily knave Held him, of whose mind was Laocoon. Wisely he spake: "A deadly fraud is this," He said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!" And cried to all straightway to burn the Horse, And know if aught within its timbers lurked.
Yea, and they had obeyed him, and had 'scaped Destruction; but Athena, fiercely wroth With him, the Trojans, and their city, shook Earth's deep foundations 'neath Laocoon's feet. Straight terror fell on him, and trembling bowed The knees of the presumptuous: round his head Horror of darkness poured; a sharp pang thrilled His eyelids; swam his eyes beneath his brows; His eyeballs, stabbed with bitter anguish, throbbed Even from the roots, and rolled in frenzy of pain. Clear through his brain the bitter torment pierced Even to the filmy inner veil thereof; Now bloodshot were his eyes, now ghastly green; Anon with rheum they ran, as pours a stream Down from a rugged crag, with thawing snow Made turbid. As a man distraught he seemed: All things he saw showed double, and he groaned Fearfully; yet he ceased not to exhort The men of Troy, and recked not of his pain. Then did the Goddess strike him utterly blind. Stared his fixed eyeballs white from pits of blood; And all folk groaned for pity of their friend, And dread of the Prey-giver, lest he had sinned In folly against her, and his mind was thus Warped to destruction yea, lest on themselves Like judgment should be visited, to avenge The outrage done to hapless Sinon's flesh, Whereby they hoped to wring the truth from him. So led they him in friendly wise to Troy, Pitying him at the last. Then gathered all, And o'er that huge Horse hastily cast a rope, And made it fast above; for under its feet Smooth wooden rollers had Epeius laid, That, dragged by Trojan hands, it might glide on Into their fortress. One and all they haled With multitudinous tug and strain, as when Down to the sea young men sore-labouring drag A ship; hard-crushed the stubborn rollers groan, As, sliding with weird shrieks, the keel descends Into the sea-surge; so that host with toil Dragged up unto their city their own doom, Epeius' work. With great festoons of flowers They hung it, and their own heads did they wreathe, While answering each other pealed the flutes. Grimly Enyo laughed, seeing the end Of that dire war; Hera rejoiced on high; Glad was Athena. When the Trojans came Unto their city, brake they down the walls, Their city's coronal, that the Horse of Death Might be led in. Troy's daughters greeted it With shouts