"A greater omen, and of worse portent,
Did our unwary minds with fear torment,
Concurring to produce the dire event.
Laocoon, Neptune's
priest by lot that year,
With
solemn pomp then sacrific'd a steer;
When,
dreadful to behold, from sea we spied
Two serpents, rank'd
abreast, the seas divide,
And
smoothly sweep along the swelling tide.
Their
flaming crests above the waves they show;
Their bellies seem to burn the seas below;
Their speckled tails advance to steer their course,
And on the sounding shore the flying billows force.
And now the strand, and now the plain they held;
Their
ardent eyes with
bloody streaks were fill'd;
Their
nimble tongues they brandish'd as they came,
And lick'd their hissing jaws, that sputter'd flame.
We fled amaz'd; their destin'd way they take,
And to Laocoon and his children make;
And first around the tender boys they wind,
Then with their sharpen'd fangs their limbs and bodies grind.
The
wretched father,
running to their aid
With pious haste, but vain, they next invade;
Twice round his waist their winding volumes roll'd;
And twice about his gasping
throat they fold.
The
priest thus
doubly chok'd, their crests divide,
And tow'ring o'er his head in
triumph ride.
With both his hands he labors at the knots;
His holy fillets the blue venom blots;
His roaring fills the flitting air around.
Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound,
He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies,
And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding skies.
Their tasks perform'd, the serpents quit their prey,
And to the tow'r of Pallas make their way:
Couch'd at her feet, they lie protected there
By her large buckler and protended spear.
Amazement seizes all; the gen'ral cry
Proclaims Laocoon
justly doom'd to die,
Whose hand the will of Pallas had withstood,
And dared to
violate the
sacred wood.
All vote t' admit the steed, that vows be paid
And
incense offer'd to th' offended maid.
A
spaciousbreach is made; the town lies bare;
Some hoisting-levers, some the wheels prepare
And
fasten to the horse's feet; the rest
With cables haul along th' unwieldly beast.
Each on his fellow for
assistance calls;
At length the fatal
fabric mounts the walls,
Big with
destruction. Boys with chaplets crown'd,
And choirs of
virgins, sing and dance around.
Thus rais'd aloft, and then descending down,
It enters o'er our heads, and threats the town.
O
sacred city, built by hands divine!
O
valiant heroes of the Trojan line!
Four times he struck: as oft the clashing sound
Of arms was heard, and
inward groans rebound.
Yet, mad with zeal, and blinded with our fate,
We haul along the horse in
solemn state;
Then place the dire portent within the tow'r.
Cassandra cried, and curs'd th'
unhappy hour;
Foretold our fate; but, by the god's decree,
All heard, and none believ'd the prophecy.
With branches we the fanes adorn, and waste,
In jollity, the day ordain'd to be the last.
Meantime the rapid heav'ns roll'd down the light,
And on the shaded ocean rush'd the night;
Our men, secure, nor guards nor sentries held,
But easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.
The Grecians had embark'd their naval pow'rs
From Tenedos, and sought our
well-known shores,
Safe under
covert of the silent night,
And guided by th'
imperial galley's light;
When Sinon, favor'd by the
partial gods,
Unlock'd the horse, and op'd his dark abodes;