"So, moved at length to pity by his tears, We spare him.

Priam bids the cords unbind, And thus with friendly words the captive cheers; 'Whoe'er thou art, henceforward blot from mind The Greeks, and leave thy miseries behind.
Ours shalt thou be; but mark, and tell me now, What means this monster, for what use designed?
Some warlike engine?
or religious vow?
Who planned the steed, and why?
Come, quick, the truth avow.' XXI.

"Then schooled in cunning and Pelasgian sleights, His hands unshackled to the stars he spread; 'Ye powers inviolate, ever-burning lights! Ye ruthless swords and altars, which I fled, Ye sacred fillets, that adorned my head! Freed is my oath, and I am free to lay Their secrets bare, and wish the Danaans dead.
Thou, Troy, preserved, to Sinon faithful stay, If true the tale I tell, if large the price I pay.
XXII.

"'All hopes on Pallas, since the war begun, All trust was stayed.

But when Ulysses, fain To weave new crimes, with Tydeus' impious son Dragged the Palladium from her sacred fane, And, on the citadel the warders slain, Upon the virgin's image dared to lay Red hands of slaughter, and her wreaths profane, Hope ebbed and failed them from that fatal day, The Danaans' strength grew weak, the goddess turned away.
XXIII.