Thrice from the ground she leaped, was seen to wield Her brandished lance, and shake her horrid shield. Then Calchas bade our host for flight prepare, And hope no conquest from the tedious war, Till first they sailed for Greece; with prayers besought Her injured power, and better omens brought. And now their navy ploughs the watery main, } Yet soon expect it on your shores again, } With Pallas pleased; as Calchas did ordain. } But first, to reconcile the blue-eyed maid For her stolen statue and her tower betrayed, Warned by the seer, to her offended name We raised and dedicate this wonderous frame, So lofty, lest through your forbidden gates It pass, and intercept our better fates: For, once admitted there, our hopes are lost; And Troy may then a new Palladium boast; For so religion and the gods ordain, That, if you violate with hands profane Minerva's gift, your town in flames shall burn, (Which omen, O ye gods, on Græcia turn!) But if it climb, with your assisting hands, The Trojan walls, and in the city stands; Then Troy shall Argos and Mycenæ burn, And the reverse of fate on us return." With such deceits he gained their easy hearts, Too prone to credit his perfidious arts. What Diomede, nor Thetis' greater son, } A thousand ships, nor ten years' siege, had done-- } False tears and fawning words the city won. } A greater omen, and of worse portent, } Did our unwary minds with fear torment, } Concurring to produce the dire event. } Laocoön, Neptune's priest by lot that year, With solemn pomp then sacrificed a steer; When (dreadful to behold!) from sea we spied } Two serpents, ranked abreast, the seas divide, } And smoothly sweep along the swelling tide. } Their flaming crests above the waves they show; Their bellies seem to burn the seas below; Their speckled tails advance to steer their course, And on the sounding shore the flying billows force. And now the strand, and now the plain, they held. Their ardent eyes with bloody streaks were filled; Their nimble tongues they brandished as they came, And licked their hissing jaws, that sputtered flame. We fled amazed; their destined way they take, And to Laocoön and his children make; And first around the tender boys they wind, Then with their sharpened fangs their limbs and bodies grind. The wretched father, running to their aid With pious haste, but vain, they next invade; Twice round his waist their winding volumes rolled; And twice about his gasping throat they fold. The priest thus doubly choked--their crests divide, And towering o'er his head in triumph ride. With both his hands he labours at the knots; His holy fillets the blue venom blots;