Townsmen

Few townsmen know which sacred day is which.

Immediately upon their arrival at home they called an assembly of their fellow townsmen, and entreated them to take up arms to avenge the treatment they had received; concealing the real truth of the matter for fear of being laughed at for having been so soundly beaten by a few shepherds.

"Thus while they waver and, perplex with doubt, / urge diverse counsels, and in parts divide, / lo, from the citadel, foremost of a rout, / breathless Laocoon runs, and from afar cries out: / 'Ah! wretched townsmen! do ye think the foe / gone, or that guileless are their gifts? O blind / with madness! Thus Ulysses do ye know?'"