possession of the government, they seized all the farms about Mantua and gave them to their soldiers, because some of the people of Mantua had helped the defeated army of the republic. Vergil had taken no part in the war, 5 but he lost his farm. He went to Rome to see Octavian about it, and Octavian promised that he should have his farm back. When Vergil tried to take it, however, the rough soldier to whom it had been given had no notion of giving it up, but chased him with a sword, and Vergil had 10 to swim a river to escape. Afterwards, when Octavian became the first of the Roman emperors, under the name of Augustus, he gave Vergil a much more beautiful farm near Naples. In Rome, Vergil became a friend of the rich and gener15 ous Mæcenas, who loved poetry, and who had a charming garden where he was fond of entertaining literary people. Vergil spent much time at the home of Macenas, and Mæcenas gave him money and lands, making him rich. 20 ९९ In Rome and at his farm near Naples, Vergil wrote the Eneid," a long poem which tells how Æneas, a prince of Troy, fled when the Greeks had burned his city, and how with a band of Trojans he sailed over the sea and, after many adventures, settled in Italy. The son of 25 Æneas became the founder and first king of Alba Longa in Italy, and was the ancestor of that Romulus who, the old legends say, built Rome. When Vergil was fifty-one years old he left his farm and made a journey to Greece and Asia, where he expected to spend several years working upon the "Eneid," making it still better. But in Greece he met the emperor Augustus, who was returning to Rome. Augustus asked 5 Vergil to go back with him. Vergil consented. It was always safest to do what a Roman emperor asked. The weather was hot and Vergil was taken ill. He did not live to reach Rome, but died soon after they had landed on the Italian shore. Vergil was a large man, with dark hair and eyes. He was kind, gentle, and very modest. It is said that when a person would point him out to another on the street, saying, "That is the great poet Vergil," Vergil would always slip into a shop or a doorway to hide. 10 15 As I have already said, the "Eneid" tells how the Greeks destroyed Troy and how Æneas and the Trojans fled over the sea. The Trojans sailed in twenty ships and made several attempts to land and build a city, but each time they were unsuccessful. In the sixth year of their 20 wanderings, a great storm arose, which scattered their ships and drove them to the coast of Africa near the ancient city of Carthage. Dido, queen of Carthage, was kind to them and made them a splendid feast. At this feast she asked Æneas to tell the story of their wander- 25 ings and he began by telling how they were driven out of Troy. The selection which we are now to read is translated from this story of Æneas, in the second book of the "Eneid," and has been somewhat shortened. The first seven lines are in the same form of verse used in the Latin.] 5 Then did the chiefs of the Greeks, sick of this wearisome warfare, Build, with the help of Pallas, a horse from the wood of the fir tree. High was the horse and large, so large that inside of its body Room was found for a band of chosen and well-armed soldiers, Hid in its hollow sides and filling each cranny and corner. 10 It was a gift, they pretended, to gain them the favor of Pallas, Since they were starting for home, and wished for a prosperous journey. In sight of Troy lies the island of Tenedos, once rich and famous, but now deserted. Thither went the Greeks and hid themselves. We Trojans thought they had sailed 15 away, with a favoring wind, to their own country. So all Troy shook off its long grief. The gates were thrown open and the Trojans went out with joy to look at the Greek camp and the deserted battle-grounds and the lonely beach. When we saw the horse some of us stood 20 astonished and wondered at its size. Thymoetes was the first to suggest that it be dragged inside the walls and placed within the citadel. But Capys and the men of better judgment advised us to throw the suspicious gift of the Greeks headlong into the sea, or 5 to build a fire under it and burn it up, or to make a hole in its hollow body and see what was inside. The crowd, uncertain what to do, was divided between the two opposite opinions. Then came Laocoön toward us, running eagerly down 10 from the citadel, with a great number of Trojans following him; and he cried from afar: "Unhappy countrymen, what madness has seized you? Do you think that the enemy has sailed away, or that any gift of the Greeks is without trickery? Is that all you know of Odysseus? 15 Either the Greeks are shut up in this horse, or it is some machine to spy into our houses and come down upon the city from above, or there is some other trick about it. Trust not this horse, ye men of Troy. I fear the Greeks when they bring gifts." 20 So he spoke, and with all his force he hurled his mighty spear against the side of the wooden horse. The spear stuck fast and quivered, and a hollow sound came forth. If it had been the will of the gods and if we had had good sense, he would have prevailed upon us to carry 25 sword and destruction into the Greeks' hiding place, and Troy and the lofty citadel of Priam would still be standing. |