Danaans

"But Capys and the rest, of sounder mind, / urge us to tumble in the rolling tide / the doubtful gift, for treachery designed, / or burn with fire, or pierce the hollow side, / and probe the caverns where the Danaans hide."

"Mark now the Danaans' cunning; from one wrong / learn all."

"And falteringly the traitor plays his part. / 'Oft, wearied by the war, the Danaans planned / to leave – and oh! had they but left – the land.'"

"No hope have I my ancient fatherland, / or darling boys, or long-lost sire to see, / whom now perchance, the Danaans will demand, / poor souls! for vengeance, and their death decree, / to purge my crime, in daring to be free."

"Freed is my oath, and I am free to lay / their secrets bare, and wish the Danaans dead."

"But when Ulysses, fain / to weave new crimes, with Tydeus' impious son / dragged the Palladium from her sacred fane, / and, on the citadel the warders slain, / upon the virgin's image dared to lay / red hands of slaughter, and her wreaths profane, / hope ebbed and failed them from that fatal day, / the Danaans' strength grew weak, the goddess turned away. / No dubious signs Tritonia's wrath declared."

Sighing, he replies "'Tis here, / the final end of all the Dardan power, / the last, sad day has come, the inevitable hour. / Troy was, and we were Trojans, now, alas! / no more, for perished is the Dardan fame. / Fierce Jove to Argos biddeth all to pass, / and Danaans rule a city wrapt in flame."

"Take we the Danaans' bucklers; with a foe / who asks, if craft or courage guide the blow? / Themselves shall arm us."

Now too, with shouts of fury and disdain / to see the maiden rescued, here and there / the Danaans gathering round us, charge amain; / fierce-hearted Ajax, the Atridan pair, / and all Thessalia's host our scanty band o'erbear.

Those fifty bridal chambers I behold / (so fair the promise of a future reign) / and spoil-deckt pillars of barbaric gold, / a wreck; where fails the flame, its place the Danaans hold.