The _Iliad_ deals with the Trojan War (see introductory note to _Death of Hector_), while the _Aeneid_ deals with the wanderings of a Trojan hero after the fall of his city. Aeneas, from whom the _Aeneid_ takes its name, was the son of Anchises and Venus, goddess of love, and was one of the bravest of the Trojan heroes; indeed, he was second only to Hector. When Troy was taken by the stratagem which Aeneas describes in this selection, he set sail with numerous followers for Italy, where fate had ordained that he should found a great nation. Juno, however, who hated the Trojans, drove the hero from his course, and brought upon him many sufferings. At last in his wanderings he came to the northern shore of Africa, where he found a great city, Carthage. Dido, queen of the Carthaginians, received Aeneas hospitably, and had prepared for him a great feast, at the conclusion of which she besought him to relate to her the story of the fall of Troy. Aeneas objected at first, as he feared he could not endure the pain which the recital would give him, but in the end he complied with her request. The following selection gives the account of the stratagem by which the Greeks, after thirteen years' siege, finally took Troy. Torn down by wars, Long beating 'gainst Fate's dungeon-bars, As year kept chasing year,* The Danaan* chiefs, with cunning given. By Pallas,* mountain-high to heaven A giant horse uprear, 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. *[Footnote: The Greeks besieged Troy, or Ilium, for nine years without making much head against it, and in the tenth year succeeded in taking the city only by fraud, which Aeneas here describes.] *[Footnote: _Danaans_ is a poetical name for the Greeks.] *[Footnote: Pallas was Minerva, daughter of Jupiter, and one of the most powerful of the goddesses. She favored the Greeks, and longed to take their part against the Trojans, but was forbidden by Jupiter to aid them in any way except by advising them.] 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. [Illustration: THE WOODEN HORSE]