Of Trojans some by Argos' sons were slain, Some by their own roofs crashing down in fire, Giving at once in death and tomb to them: Some in their own throats plunged the steel, when foes And fire were in the porch together seen: Some slew their wives and children, and flung themselves Dead on them, when despair had done its work Of horror. One, who deemed the foe afar, Caught up a vase, and, fain to quench the flame, Hasted for water. Leapt unmarked on him An Argive, and his spirit, heavy with wine, Was thrust forth from the body by the spear. Clashed the void vase above him, as he fell Backward within the house. As through his hall Another fled, the burning roof-beam crashed Down on his head, and swift death came with it. And many women, as in frenzied flight They rushed forth, suddenly remembered babes Left in their beds beneath those burning roofs: With wild feet sped they back--the house fell in Upon them, and they perished, mother and child. Horses and dogs in panic through the town Fled from the flames, trampling beneath their feet The dead, and dashing into living men To their sore hurt. Shrieks rang through all the town. In through his blazing porchway rushed a man To rescue wife and child. Through smoke and flame Blindly he groped, and perished while he cried Their names, and pitiless doom slew those within. The fire-glow upward mounted to the sky, The red glare o'er the firmament spread its wings, And all the tribes of folk that dwelt around Beheld it, far as Ida's mountain-crests, And sea-girt Tenedos, and Thracian Samos. And men that voyaged on the deep sea cried: "The Argives have achieved their mighty task After long toil for star-eyed Helen's sake. All Troy, the once queen-city, burns in fire: For all their prayers, no God defends them now; For strong Fate oversees all works of men, And the renownless and obscure to fame She raises, and brings low the exalted ones. Oft out of good is evil brought, and good From evil, mid the travail and change of life."