Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/60

36 And with compacted beams of pine

The texture of its ribs entwine.

A vow for their return they feign

So runs the tale, and spreads amain.

There in the monster's cavernous side

Huge frames of chosen chiefs they hide,

And steel-clad soldiery finds room

Within that death-producing womb.

An isle there lies in Ilium's sight,

And Tenedos its name,

While Priam's fortune yet was bright,

Known for its wealth to fame:

Now all has dwindled to a bay,

Where ships in treacherous shelter stay.

Thither they sail, and hide their host

Along its desolated coast.

We thought them to Mycenæ flown,

And rescued Troy forgets to groan.

Wide stand the gates: what joy to go

The Dorian camp to see,

The land disburthened of the foe,

The shore from vessels free!

There pitched the Trojan squadron, there

Achilles' tent was set:

There, drawn on land, their navies were,

And there the battle met.

Some on Minerva's offering gaze,

And view its bulk with strange amaze:

And first Thymœtes loudly calls

To drag the steed within our walls,

Or by suggestion from the foe,

Or Troy's ill fate had willed it so.

But Capys and the wiser kind

Surmised the snare that lurked behind: