LX. "There, roof and pinnacle the Dardans tear-- Death standing near--and hurl them on the foe, Last arms of need, the weapons of despair; And gilded beams and rafters down they throw, Ancestral ornaments of days ago. These, stationed at the gates, with naked glaive, Shoulder to shoulder, guard the pass below. Hearts leap afresh the royal halls to save, And cheer our vanquished friends and reinspire the brave. LXI. "Behind the palace, unobserved and free, There stood a door, a secret thoroughfare Through Priam's halls. Here poor Andromache While Priam's kingdom flourished and was fair, To greet her husband's parents would repair Alone, or carrying with tendance fain To Hector's father Hector's son and heir. By this I reached the roof-top, whence in vain The luckless Teucrians hurled their unavailing rain. LXII. "Sheer o'er the highest roof-top to the sky, Skirting the parapet, a watch-tower rose, Whence camp and fleet and city met the eye. Here plying levers, where the flooring shows Weak joists, we heave it over. Down it goes With sudden crash upon the Danaan train, Dealing wide ruin. But anon new foes Come swarming up, while ever and again Fast fall the showers of stones, and thick the javelins rain. LXIII. "Just on the threshold of the porch, behold Fierce Pyrrhus stands, in glittering brass bedight: As when a snake, that through the winter's cold Lay swoln and hidden in the ground from sight, Gorged with rank herbs, forth issues to the light, And sleek with shining youth and newly drest, Wreathing its slippery volumes, towers upright And, glorying, to the sunbeam rears its breast, And darts a three-forked tongue, and points a flaming crest. LXIV. "With him, Achilles' charioteer and squire, Automedon, huge Periphas and all The Scyrian youth rush up, and flaming fire Hurl to the roof, and thunder at the wall. He in the forefront, tallest of the tall, Poleaxe in hand, unhinging at a stroke The brazen portals, made the doorway fall, And wide-mouthed as a window, through the oak, A panelled plank hewn out, a yawning rent he broke. LXV. "Bared stands the inmost palace, and behold, The stately chambers and the courts appear Of Priam and the Trojan Kings of old, And warders at the door with shield and spear. Moaning and tumult in the house we hear, Wailings of misery, and shouts that smite The golden stars, and women's shrieks of fear, And trembling matrons, hurrying left and right, Cling to and kiss the doors, made frantic by affright.