THE SACK OF TROY.
But when night was now fully come, and the men of Troy lay asleep, lo!
from the ship of King Agamemnon there rose up a flame for a signal to
the Greeks; and these straightway manned their ships, and made across
the sea from Tenedos, there being a great calm, and the moon also
giving them light. Sinon likewise opened a secret door that was in the
great Horse, and the chiefs issued forth therefrom, and opened the
gates of the city, slaying those that kept watch.
Meanwhile there came a vision to Æneas, who now, Hector being dead,
was the chief hope and stay of the men of Troy. It was Hector's self
that he seemed to see, but not such as he had seen him coming back
rejoicing with the arms of Achilles, or setting fire to the ships, but
even as he lay after that Achilles dragged him at his chariot wheels,
covered with dust and blood, his feet swollen and pierced through with
thongs. To him said Æneas, not knowing what he said, "Why hast thou
tarried so long? Much have we suffered waiting for thee! And what
grief hath marked thy face? and whence these wounds?"
But to this the spirit answered nothing, but said, groaning the while,
"Fly, son of Venus, fly, and save thee from these flames. The enemy is
in the walls, and Troy hath utterly perished. If any hand could have
saved our city, this hand had done so. Thou art now the hope of Troy.
Take then her Gods, and flee with them for company, seeking the city
that thou shalt one day build across the sea."
And now the alarm of battle came nearer and nearer, and Æneas, waking
from sleep, climbed upon the roof, and looked on the city. As a
shepherd stands, and sees a fierce flame sweeping before the south
wind over the corn-fields or a flood rushing down from the mountains,
so he stood. And as he looked, the great palace of Deïphobus sank down
in the fire, and the house of Ucalegon, that was hard by, blazed
forth, till the sea by Sigeüm shone with the light. Then, scarce
knowing what he sought, he girded on his armour, thinking, perchance,
that he might yet win some place of vantage, or, at the least, might
avenge himself on the enemy, or find honour in his death. But as he
passed from out of his house there met him Panthus, the priest of
Apollo that was on the citadel, who cried to him, "O Æneas, the glory
is departed from Troy, and the Greeks have the mastery in the city;
for armed men are coming forth from the great Horse of wood, and
thousands also swarm in at the gates, which Sinon hath treacherously
opened." And as he spake others came up under the light of the moon,
as Hypanis, and Dymas, and young Corœbus, who had but newly come to
Troy, seeking Cassandra to be his wife. To whom Æneas spake: "If ye
are minded, my brethren, to follow me to the death, come on. For how
things fare this night ye see. The Gods who were the stay of this city
have departed from it; nor is aught remaining to which we may bring
succour. Yet can we die as brave men in battle. And haply he that
counts his life to be lost may yet save it." Then, even as ravening
wolves hasten through the mist seeking for prey, so they went through
the city, doing dreadful deeds. And for a while the men of Greece fled
before them.
First of all there met them Androgeos with a great company following
him, who, thinking them to be friends, said, "Haste, comrades, why are
ye so late? We are spoiling this city of Troy, and ye are but newly
come from the ships." But forthwith, for they answered him not as he
had looked for, he knew that he had fallen among enemies. Then even as
one who treads upon a snake unawares among thorns, and flies from it
when it rises angrily against him with swelling neck, so Androgeos
would have fled. But the men of Troy rushed on, and, seeing that they
knew all the place, and that great fear was upon the Greeks, slew many
men. Then said Corœbus, "We have good luck in this matter, my
friends. Come now, let us change our shields, and put upon us the
armour of these Greeks. For whether we deal with our enemy by craft or
by force, who will ask?" Then he took to himself the helmet and shield
of Androgeos, and also girded his sword upon him. In like manner did
the others, and thus going disguised among the Greeks slew many, so
that some again fled to the ships and some were fain to climb into the
Horse of wood. But lo! men came dragging by the hair from the temple
of Minerva the virgin Cassandra, whom when Corœbus beheld, and how
she lifted up her eyes to heaven (but as for her hands, they were
bound with iron), he endured not the sight, but threw himself upon
those that dragged her, the others following him. Then did a grievous
mischance befall them, for the men of Troy that stood upon the roof of
the temple cast spears against them, judging them to be enemies. The
Greeks also, being wroth that the virgin should be taken from them,
fought the more fiercely, and many who had before been put to flight
in the city came against them, and prevailed, being indeed many
against few. Then first of all fell Corœbus, being slain by Peneleus
the Bœotian, and Rhipeus also, the most righteous of all the sons of
Troy. But the Gods dealt not with him after his righteousness. Hypanis
also was slain and Dymas, and Panthus escaped not for all that more
than other men he feared the Gods and was also the priest of Apollo.
Then was Æneas severed from the rest, having with him two only,
Iphitus and Pelias, Iphitus being an old man and Pelias sorely wounded
by Ulysses. And these, hearing a great shouting, hastened to the
palace of King Priam, where the battle was fiercer than in any place
beside. For some of the Greeks were seeking to climb the walls, laying
ladders thereto, whereon they stood, holding forth their shields with
their left hands, and with their right grasping the roofs. And the men
of Troy, on the other hand, being in the last extremity, tore down the
battlements and the gilded beams wherewith the men of old had adorned
the palace. Then Æneas, knowing of a secret door whereby the unhappy
Andromaché in past days had been wont to enter, bringing her son
Astyanax to his grandfather, climbed on to the roof, and joined
himself to those that fought therefrom. Now upon this roof there was a
tower, whence all Troy could be seen, and the camp of the Greeks and
the ships. This the men of Troy loosened from its foundations with
bars of iron, and thrust it over, so that it fell upon the enemy,
slaying many of them. But not the less did others press forward,
casting the while stones and javelins and all that came to their
hands.
Meanwhile others sought to break down the gates of the palace,
Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, being foremost among them, clad in shining
armour of bronze. Like to a serpent was he, which sleeps indeed during
the winter, but in the spring comes forth into the light, full fed on
evil herbs, and, having cast his skin and renewed his youth, lifts his
head into the light of the sun and hisses with forked tongue. And with
Pyrrhus were tall Periphas, and Automedon, who had been armour-bearer
to his father Achilles, and following them the youth of Scyros, which
was the kingdom of his grandfather Lycomedes. With a great battle-axe
he hewed through the doors, breaking down also the door-posts, though
they were plated with bronze, making, as it were, a great window,
through which a man might see the palace within, the hall of King
Priam, and of the kings who had reigned aforetime in Troy. But when
they that were within perceived it, there arose a great cry of women
wailing aloud and clinging to the doors and kissing them. But ever
Pyrrhus pressed on, fierce and strong as ever was his father Achilles,
nor could aught stand against him, either the doors or they that
guarded them. Then, as a river bursts its banks and overflows the
plain, so did the sons of Greece rush into the palace.
But old Priam, when he saw the enemy in his hall, girded on him his
armour, which now by reason of old age he had long laid aside, and
took a spear in his hand, and would have gone against the adversary,
only Queen Hecuba called to him from where she sat. For she and her
daughters had fled to the great altar of the household Gods, and sat
crowded about it like unto doves that are driven by a storm. Now the
altar stood in an open court that was in the midst of the palace, with
a great bay-tree above it. So when she saw Priam, how he had girded
himself with armour as a youth, she cried to him and said, "What hath
bewitched thee, that thou girdest thyself with armour? It is not the
sword that shall help us this day; no, not though my own Hector were
here, but rather the Gods and their altars. Come hither to us, for
here thou wilt be safe, or at the least wilt die with us."
So she made the old man sit down in the midst. But lo! there came
flying through the palace, Polites, his son, wounded to death by the
spear of Pyrrhus, and Pyrrhus close behind him. And he, even as he
came into the sight of his father and his mother, fell dead upon the
ground. But when King Priam saw it he contained not himself, but cried
aloud, "Now may the gods, if there be any justice in heaven,
recompense thee for this wickedness, seeing that thou hast not spared
to slay the son before his father's eyes. Great Achilles, whom thou
falsely callest thy sire, did not thus to Priam, though he was an
enemy, but reverenced right and truth, and gave the body of Hector for
burial, and sent me back to my city."
And as he spake the old man cast a spear, but aimless and without
force, and that pierced not even the boss of the shield. Then said the
son of Achilles, "Go thou and tell my father of his unworthy son and
all these evil deeds. And that thou mayest tell him, die!" And as he
spake he caught in his left hand the old man's white hair, and dragged
him, slipping the while in the blood of his own son, to the altar, and
then, lifting his sword high for a blow, drave it to the hilt in the
old man's side. So King Priam, who had ruled mightily over many
peoples and countries in the land of Asia, was slain that night,
having first seen Troy burning about him, and his citadel laid even
with the ground. So was his carcass cast out upon the earth, headless,
and without a name.