Thither they sail, and hide their host Along its desolated coast. We thought them to Mycenae* flown And rescued Troy forgets to groan. Wide stand the gates: what joy to go The Dorian camp to see, The land disburthened of the foe, The shore from vessels free! There pitched Thessalia's squadron, there Achilles' tent was set: There, drawn on land, their navies were, And there the battle met. Some on Minerva's offering gaze, And view its bulk with strange amaze: And first Thymoetes loudly calls To drag the steed within our walls, Or by suggestion from the foe, Or Troy's ill fate had willed it so. But Capys and the wiser kind Surmised the snare that lurked behind: To drown it in the whelming tide, Or set the fire-brand to its side, Their sentence is: or else to bore Its caverns, and their depths explore. In wild confusion sways the crowd: Each takes his side and all are loud. *[Footnote: Mycenae was the capital city of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War.] Girt with a throng of Ilium's sons, Down from the tower Laocoön runs, And, "Wretched countrymen," he cries, "What monstrous madness blinds your eyes? Think you your enemies removed? Come presents without wrong From Danaans? have you thus approved Ulysses,* known so long? Perchance--who knows?--the bulk we see Conceals a Grecian enemy, Or 'tis a pile to o'erlook the town, And pour from high invaders down, Or fraud lurks somewhere to destroy: Mistrust, mistrust it, men of Troy! Whate'er it be, a Greek I fear, Though presents in his hand he bear." He spoke, and with his arm's full force Straight at the belly of the horse His mighty spear he cast: Quivering it stood: the sharp rebound Shook the huge monster; and a sound Through all its caverns passed. And then, had fate our weal designed Nor given us a perverted mind, Then had he moved us to deface The Greeks' accursed lurking-place, And Troy had been abiding still, And Priam's tower yet crowned the hill. *[Footnote: Ulysses was the craftiest of the Greeks, the man to whom they appealed when in need of wise advice.]