XLVIII. "Then fury spurred their courage, and behold, As ravening wolves, when darkness hides the day, Stung with mad fire of famine uncontrolled, Prowl from their dens, and leave the whelps to stay, With jaws athirst and gaping for the prey. So to sure death, amid the darkness there, Where swords, and spears, and foemen bar the way, Into the centre of the town we fare. Night with her shadowy cone broods o'er the vaulted air. XLIX. "Oh, who hath tears to match our grief withal? What tongue that night of havoc can make known An ancient city totters to her fall, Time-honoured empress and of old renown; And senseless corpses, through the city strown, Choke house and temple. Nor hath vengeance found None save the Trojans; there the victors groan, And valour fires the vanquished. All around Wailings, and wild affright and shapes of death abound. L. "First of the Greeks approaches, with a crowd, Androgeus; friends he deems us unaware, And thus, with friendly summons, cries aloud: 'Haste, comrades, forward; from the fleet ye fare With lagging steps but now, while yonder glare Troy's towers, and others sack and share the spoils?' Then straight--for doubtful was our answer there-- He knew him taken in the foemen's toils; Shuddering, he checks his voice, and back his foot recoils. LI. "As one who, in a tangled brake apart, On some lithe snake, unheeded in the briar, Hath trodden heavily, and with backward start Flies, trembling at the head uplift in ire And blue neck, swoln in many a glittering spire. So slinks Androgeus, shuddering with dismay; We, massed in onset, make the foe retire, And slay them, wildered, weetless of the way. Fortune, with favouring smile, assists our first essay. LII. "Flushed with success and eager for the fray, 'Friends,' cries Coroebus, 'forward; let us go Where Fortune newly smiling, points the way. Take we the Danaans' bucklers; with a foe Who asks, if craft or courage guide the blow? Themselves shall arm us.'--Then he takes the crest, The shield and dagger of Androgeus; so Doth Rhipeus, so brave Dymas and the rest; All in the new-won spoils their eager limbs invest. LIII. "Thus we, elate, but not with Heaven our friend, March on and mingle with the Greeks in fight, And many a Danaan to the shades we send, And many a battle in the blinding night We join with those that meet us. Some in flight Rush diverse to the ships and trusty tide; Some, craven-hearted, in ignoble fright, Make for the horse and, clambering up the side, Deep in the treacherous womb, their well-known refuge, hide.