Page 143 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

tion for thy escape, Wherefore, by (be gods above?, pity a soul that
suffers what it does not deserve."
WTe granted him ins life and pitied his tears. " Whoever you are,
from this tune forward forget the Greeks; you .shall be ours. Since
this is so, explain to what end have they set tip this hor.se: of enormous
hulk?"
By means of the deceptions of the perjured Si non, with one voice,
the people c r y : “ The image must be drawn to its temple and the
goddess entreated." And threatening it slides into the heart of the
O
vJ
city.
Meanwhile, tlie sphere of heaven moves round, and night rushes
up from the ocean, wrapping in her universal shade both earth and sky,
and the craft of the myrmidons. The Xropns are stretched in silent
rest throughout the tow it ; sleep clasps tlieir weary limbs. And now,
the Argive host was advancing in naval array from Tencdos, making
for the well-known shores amid the friendly silence of the moon, when
the royal ship suddenly shot forth the signal-fiatne, and Sin on,
protected by the partial gloom unbolts the bars of pine, and sets free the
Greeks imprisoned in the body of the horse. They assault the city
buried in sleep and wine ; the guards arc slain, and, throwing open the
gates, they admit all their comrades.
The town is idled with tumultuous woe ; and, although the mansion
of my father, Aiichises, is retired from view by its secluded situation
and its shadowing trees, still louder and louder grow the sounds, and
the terror of battle comes close upon us. Startled from sleep, I mount
to the highest point of the sloping roof, and take my stand, with keenly
listening ears. Then, indeed, the truth is evident, and the stratagem
o f the G reek s reveal ed. A [ rea d y tl le in a n s:on of 1) ei p hoh us has fal lea
into ruins, as the god of fire prevails; the house of my neighbor,
Ue a lego n, is burning; far and wide the Sigean channel gleams with
tlie blaze. There arises tlie cry of men and the clang of trumpets.
Distractedly I take my arms, and yearn to muster a troop for battle,
and to hasten to the citadel; frenzy and rage give me reckless resolu­
tion, and 1. think it were glorious to fall fighting.