Thus saying, Laocoon hurled his spear against the side of the horse, and
it sent forth a hollow sound like a deep groan. But at this moment a
stranger, having the appearance of a Greek, was brought before the king.
Some Trojan shepherds, finding him loitering on the river bank, had made
him prisoner. Being asked who he was and why he was there, he told an
artful story. His name, he said, was Si'non, and he was a Greek. His
countrymen, having decided to give up the war, resolved to offer one of
themselves as a sacrifice to the gods, that they might get fair winds to
return home, and they selected him to be the victim. To escape that
terrible fate he concealed himself among the reeds by the side of the
Scamander until the fleet departed. This was Sinon's account of
himself. The Trojans believed it, and the prisoner was set free. But the
king asked him to tell them about the wooden horse,--why it had been
made, and left there upon the plain.
Then Sinon told another false story. He said that the horse was a peace
offering to Minerva, who had been angry because the Palladium was taken
from Troy. For that insult to her, the goddess commanded the Greeks to
return to their own country, and Calchas ordered them to build the horse
as an atonement for their crime. He also told them to make it so large
that the Trojans might not be able to drag it within their gates; for if
it were brought into the city, it would be a protection to Troy, but if
any harm were done to it, ruin would come on the kingdom of Priam.
"We raised and dedicate this wondrous frame,
So lofty, lest through your forbidden gates
It pass, and intercept our better fates;
For, once admitted there, our hopes are lost;
And Troy may then a new Palladium boast
For so religion and the gods ordain,
That, if you violate with hands profane
Minerva's gift, your town in flames shall burn;
(Which omen, O ye gods, on Græcia turn!)
But if it climb, with your assisting hands,
The Trojan walls, and in the city stands;
Then Troy shall Argos and Mycenæ burn,
And the reverse of fate on us return."