Aeneid II.105-198

Sinon continues his tale of false woe, and the trap is set.

Then indeed we were on fire to ask, and seek the cause,

ignorant of such wickedness and Pelasgian¹ trickery.

Trembling with fictitious feelings he continued, saying:

“The Greeks, weary with the long war, often longed

to leave Troy and execute a retreat: if only they had!

Often a fierce storm from the sea land-locked them,

and the gale terrified them from leaving:

once that horse, made of maple-beams, stood there,

especially then, storm-clouds thundered in the sky.

Anxious, we send Eurypylus to consult Phoebus’s oracle²,

and he brings back these dark words from the sanctuary:

‘With blood, and a virgin sacrifice, you calmed the winds,

O Greeks, when you first came to these Trojan shores; seek your

return in blood, and the well-omened sacrifice of an Argive life.’³

When this reached the ears of the crowd, their minds were stunned,

and an icy shudder ran to their deepest marrow:

who readies this fate, whom does Apollo choose?

At this the Ithacan thrust the seer, Calchas, into their midst,

demanding to know what the god’s will might be,

among the uproar. Many were already cruelly prophesying

that ingenious man’s wickedness towards me, and silently saw

what was coming. For ten days the seer kept silence, refusing

to reveal the secret by his words, or condemn anyone to death.

But at last, urged on by Ulysses’s loud clamour, he broke

into speech as agreed and doomed me to the altar.

All acclaimed it, and what each feared himself, they endured

when directed, alas, towards one man’s destruction.

Now the terrible day arrived, the rites were being prepared

for me, the salted grain, and the headbands for my forehead.

I confess I saved myself from death, burst my bonds,

and all that night hid by a muddy lake among the reeds,

till they set sail, if as it happened they did.

And now I’ve no hope of seeing my old country again,

or my sweet children or the father I long for:

perhaps they’ll seek to punish them for my flight,

and avenge my crime through the death of these unfortunates.

But I beg you, by the gods, by divine power that knows the truth,

by whatever honour anywhere remains pure among men, have pity

on such troubles, pity the soul that endures undeserved suffering.”

With these tears we grant him his life, and also pity him.

Priam himself is the first to order his manacles and tight bonds

removed, and speaks these words of kindness to him:

“From now on, whoever you are, forget the Greeks, lost to you:

you’ll be one of us. And explain to me truly what I ask:

Why have they built this huge hulk of a horse? Who created it?

What do they aim at? What religious object or war machine is it?”

He spoke: the other, schooled in Pelasgian art and trickery,

raised his unbound palms towards the stars, saying:

“You, eternal fires, in your invulnerable power, be witness,

you altars and impious swords I escaped,

you sacrificial ribbons of the gods that I wore as victim:

with right I break the Greeks’ solemn oaths,

with right I hate them, and if things are hidden

bring them to light: I’m bound by no laws of their country.

Only, Troy, maintain your assurances, if I speak truth, if I repay

you handsomely: kept intact yourself, keep your promises intact.

All the hopes of the Greeks and their confidence to begin the war

always depended on Pallas’s⁴ aid. But from that moment

when the impious son of Tydeus, Diomede, and Ulysses

inventor of wickedness, approached the fateful Palladium⁵ to snatch

it from its sacred temple, killing the guards on the citadel’s heights,

and dared to seize the holy statue and touch the sacred ribbons

of the goddess with blood-soaked hands: from that moment

the hopes of the Greeks receded and, slipping backwards, ebbed:

their power fragmented, and the mind of the goddess opposed them.

Pallas gave sign of this, and not with dubious portents,

for scarcely was the statue set up in camp, when glittering flames

shone from the upturned eyes, a salt sweat ran over its limbs,

and (wonderful to tell) she herself darted from the ground

with shield on her arm, and spear quivering.

Calchas immediately proclaimed that the flight by sea must be

attempted, and that Troy cannot be uprooted by Argive weapons,

unless they renew the omens at Argos and take the goddess home,

whom they have indeed taken by sea in their curved ships.

And now they are heading for their native Mycenae with the wind,

obtaining weapons and the friendship of the gods, re-crossing

the sea to arrive unexpectedly; so Calchas reads the omens.

Warned by him, they’ve set up this statue of a horse

for the wounded goddess, instead of the Palladium,

to atone severely for their sin. And Calchas ordered them

to raise the huge mass of woven timbers, raised to the sky,

so the gates would not take it, nor could it be dragged

inside the walls or watch over the people in their ancient rites.

Since if your hands violated Minerva’s gift,

then utter ruin (may the gods first turn that prediction

on themselves!) would come to Priam and the Trojans:

yet if it ascended into your citadel, dragged by your hands,

Asia would come to the very walls of Pelops⁶, in mighty war,

and a like fate would await our children.”

Through these tricks and the skill of perjured Sinon, the thing was

credited, and we were trapped by his wiliness and false tears,

we, who were not conquered by Diomede, or Larissan⁷ Achilles,

nor by the ten years of war, nor those thousand ships.

---

Tum vero ardemus scitari et quaerere causas,               105

ignari scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasgae.

prosequitur pavitans et ficto pectore fatur:

'Saepe fugam Danai Troia cupiere relicta

moliri et longo fessi discedere bello;

fecissentque utinam! saepe illos aspera ponti               110

interclusit hiems et terruit Auster euntis.

praecipue cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis

staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi.

suspensi Eurypylum scitatum oracula Phoebi

mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat:               115

"sanguine placastis ventos et virgine caesa,

cum primum Iliacas, Danai, venistis ad oras;

sanguine quaerendi reditus animaque litandum

Argolica." vulgi quae uox ut venit ad auris,

obstipuere animi gelidusque per ima cucurrit                120

ossa tremor, cui fata parent, quem poscat Apollo.

hic Ithacus vatem magno Calchanta tumultu

protrahit in medios; quae sint ea numina divum

flagitat. et mihi iam multi crudele canebant

artificis scelus, et taciti ventura videbant.               125

bis quinos silet ille dies tectusque recusat

prodere voce sua quemquam aut opponere morti.

vix tandem, magnis Ithaci clamoribus actus,

composito rumpit vocem et me destinat arae.

adsensere omnes et, quae sibi quisque timebat,               130

unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.

iamque dies infanda aderat; mihi sacra parari

et salsae fruges et circum tempora vittae.

eripui, fateor, leto me et vincula rupi,

limosoque lacu per noctem obscurus in ulva               135

delitui dum vela darent, si forte dedissent.

nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi

nec dulcis natos exoptatumque parentem,

quos illi fors et poenas ob nostra reposcent

effugia, et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt.               140

quod te per superos et conscia numina veri,

per si qua est quae restet adhuc mortalibus usquam

intemerata fides, oro, miserere laborum

tantorum, miserere animi non digna ferentis.'

His lacrimis vitam damus et miserescimus ultro.               145

ipse viro primus manicas atque arta levari

vincla iubet Priamus dictisque ita fatur amicis:

'quisquis es, amissos hinc iam obliviscere Graios

(noster eris) mihique haec edissere vera roganti:

quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere? quis auctor?               150

quidve petunt? quae religio? aut quae machina belli?'

dixerat. ille dolis instructus et arte Pelasga

sustulit exutas vinclis ad sidera palmas:

'vos, aeterni ignes, et non violabile vestrum

testor numen,' ait, 'vos arae ensesque nefandi,               155

quos fugi, vittaeque deum, quas hostia gessi:

fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resolvere iura,

fas odisse viros atque omnia ferre sub auras,

si qua tegunt, teneor patriae nec legibus ullis.

tu modo promissis maneas servataque serves               160

Troia fidem, si vera feram, si magna rependam.

omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli

Palladis auxiliis semper stetit. impius ex quo

Tydides sed enim scelerumque inventor Ulixes,

fatale adgressi sacrato avellere templo               165

Palladium caesis summae custodibus arcis,

corripuere sacram effigiem manibusque cruentis

virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas,

ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri

spes Danaum, fractae vires, aversa deae mens.               170

nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris.

vix positum castris simulacrum: arsere coruscae

luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus

sudor iit, terque ipsa solo (mirabile dictu)

emicuit parmamque ferens hastamque trementem.               175

extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas,

nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis

omina ni repetant Argis numenque reducant

quod pelago et curvis secum auexere carinis.

et nunc quod patrias vento petiere Mycenas,               180

arma deosque parant comites pelagoque remenso

improvisi aderunt; ita digerit omina Calchas.

hanc pro Palladio moniti, pro numine laeso

effigiem statuere, nefas quae triste piaret.

hanc tamen immensam Calchas attollere molem               185

roboribus textis caeloque educere iussit,

ne recipi portis aut duci in moenia posset,

neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri.

nam si vestra manus violasset dona Minervae,

tum magnum exitium (quod di prius omen in ipsum               190

convertant!) Priami imperio Phrygibusque futurum;

sin manibus vestris vestram ascendisset in urbem,

ultro Asiam magno Pelopea ad moenia bello

venturam, et nostros ea fata manere nepotes.'

Talibus insidiis periurique arte Sinonis               195

credita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis

quos neque Tydides nec Larisaeus Achilles,

non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae.

---

Find the glossary for Aeneid Daily here; subscribe to receive daily posts.

1. Here, another word for Greek.

2. The Oracle of Delphi, a prophetess of Phoebus Apollo.

3. Referencing the death of Iphigenia, daughter of Greek leader Agamemnon. The most common version of the story is that Agamemnon caused offense to the goddess Artemis, who retaliated by stranding the Greek ships windless and unable to move at the port town of Aulius, at the beginning of the Trojan war. To bring back the wind so the troops might reach Troy (and so the army might head off the disease, famine, and mutiny likely to come with their detainment), Agamemnon was told to sacrifice his virgin daughter to Artemis.

4. Minerva’s.

5. The Palladium was a statue of Minerva said to protect Troy, which could not fall until it was stolen from the city. Odysseus/Ulysses and Diomedes, famously bastardous, decided they could get that done. This story might have been told in the “Little Iliad,” a lost epic about the fall of Troy.

6. A Greek king, ancestor of Menelaus.

7. Possibly the origin/hometown of Achilles.