And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for
me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples.
me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples.
Virgil - Aeneid
Nay, nor did he rest, till by Calchas' service--but
yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in
delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is
enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the
Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom. "
'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of
wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted
one pursues his speech:
'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind,
and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as
often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened
them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with
beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we
send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from
the sanctuary these words of terror: _With blood of a slain maiden, O
Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian
coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the
accepted sacrifice. _ When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd,
their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost
sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the
Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst
them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an
one [125-158]foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently
saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and
will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death.
Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into
speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and
each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction.
And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for
me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke
away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night
darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their
sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing
my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them
will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this
crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee,
the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that
is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving
sufferer. "
'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam
himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and
thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth
dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth
to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse?
who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what
engine of war is this? " He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous
craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting
fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O
altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as
victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate
them and bring all to light that they [159-191]conceal; nor am I bound
by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and
preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my
recompense great.
'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began,
ever centred in Pallas' aid.
yet why do I vainly unroll the unavailing tale, or why hold you in
delay, if all Achaeans are ranked together in your mind, and it is
enough that I bear the name? Take the vengeance deferred; this the
Ithacan would desire, and the sons of Atreus buy at a great ransom. "
'Then indeed we press on to ask and inquire the cause, witless of
wickedness so great and Pelasgian craft. Tremblingly the false-hearted
one pursues his speech:
'"Often would the Grecians have taken to flight, leaving Troy behind,
and disbanded in weariness of the long war: and would God they had! as
often the fierce sea-tempest barred their way, and the gale frightened
them from going. Most of all when this horse already stood framed with
beams of maple, storm clouds roared over all the sky. In perplexity we
send Eurypylus to inquire of Phoebus' oracle; and he brings back from
the sanctuary these words of terror: _With blood of a slain maiden, O
Grecians, you appeased the winds when first you came to the Ilian
coasts; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life be the
accepted sacrifice. _ When that utterance reached the ears of the crowd,
their hearts stood still, and a cold shudder ran through their inmost
sense: for whom is doom purposed? who is claimed of Apollo? At this the
Ithacan with loud clamour drags Calchas the soothsayer forth amidst
them, and demands of him what is this the gods signify. And now many an
one [125-158]foretold me the villain's craft and cruelty, and silently
saw what was to come. Twice five days he is speechless in his tent, and
will not have any one denounced by his lips, or given up to death.
Scarcely at last, at the loud urgence of the Ithacan, he breaks into
speech as was planned, and appoints me for the altar. All consented; and
each one's particular fear was turned, ah me! to my single destruction.
And now the dreadful day was at hand; the rites were being ordered for
me, the salted corn, and the chaplets to wreathe my temples. I broke
away, I confess it, from death; I burst my bonds, and lurked all night
darkling in the sedge of the marshy pool, till they might set their
sails, if haply they should set them. Nor have I any hope more of seeing
my old home nor my sweet children and the father whom I desire. Of them
will they even haply claim vengeance for my flight, and wash away this
crime in their wretched death. By the heavenly powers I beseech thee,
the deities to whom truth is known, by all the faith yet unsullied that
is anywhere left among mortals; pity woes so great; pity an undeserving
sufferer. "
'At these his tears we grant him life, and accord our pity. Priam
himself at once commands his shackles and strait bonds to be undone, and
thus speaks with kindly words: "Whoso thou art, now and henceforth
dismiss and forget the Greeks: thou shalt be ours. And unfold the truth
to this my question: wherefore have they reared this vast size of horse?
who is their counsellor? or what their aim? what propitiation, or what
engine of war is this? " He ended; the other, stored with the treacherous
craft of Pelasgia, lifts to heaven his freed hands. "You, everlasting
fires," he cries, "and your inviolable sanctity be my witness; you, O
altars and accursed swords I fled, and chaplets of the gods I wore as
victim! unblamed may I break the oath of Greek allegiance, unblamed hate
them and bring all to light that they [159-191]conceal; nor am I bound
by any laws of country. Do thou only keep by thy promise, O Troy, and
preserve faith with thy preserver, as my news shall be true, as my
recompense great.
'"All the hope of Greece, and the confidence in which the war began,
ever centred in Pallas' aid.
