a rope. They rush through the city, as it lies buried in sleep. They put the sentinels to death, and throwing open the city gates, they let in their comrades. It is at the time when the first slumber of the night 5 comes to tired men, and lo! as I slept I had a dream. Hector, the bravest of the Trojans, who had been killed in battle, seemed to be standing at my side. He looked at me in deep sorrow, as he said, "Fly, Æneas! and escape the flames! The walls are already held by the enemy. 10 Troy is falling from its high place into ruin. You have done your duty. Take now the images of your country's gods and seek out a place for a mighty city which you shall one day build, when you have wandered over all the sea." Meanwhile Troy is filled with noise and disorder. The 15 sounds grow louder and louder, and the clash of arms comes nearer. I leap from my bed and rush out into the night. One of the palaces is in flames and the walls are falling in. The house of my nearest neighbor is on fire. The sea glitters in the light of the blaze. Men are shout20 ing; trumpets are blowing. I seize my arms and try to get together a band of Trojan soldiers. Fury and rage take possession of me; but there is little use. Just then, lo! Panthus, the priest of Phoebus, having escaped the Greek spears, rushes to my door, leading his little grandson with 25 one hand, while in the other he carries an image of the god. "How goes the battle, Panthus ?" I ask. The words are scarcely out of my mouth when with a groan he replies: "Our final day has come. Troy is no more, and the glory of the Trojans has departed. The city is burning. The Greeks have conquered. A stream of armed men have poured out of the body of the wooden horse, and thousands more have entered at the opened gates. 5 They are blocking the streets with their swords. The city guards are no longer trying to resist them. Nothing is left for us but flight." [Æneas and his band fight the Greeks and are for a time successful, but at last they are driven back, King 10 Priam's palace is destroyed, and Priam is slain. Æneas then goes to his home, takes his old father on his shoulders and his little son by the hand and, followed by his wife, flees through the burning city. In the excitement his wife becomes separated from him and is lost. He 15 looks for her in vain. At last her spirit appears to him and tells him to waste no more time, for the gods are not willing that she should live and go with him. At that, he flees with a large company of Trojans, builds a fleet of ships, and begins his wanderings.] QUESTIONS AND HELPS 1. Write or tell the story of Vergil's life. 2. What does the "Eneid" tell about? What other poem describes the wanderings of a hero? 3. Who is supposed to be telling the story of the Wooden Horse? To whom is he telling it and where? 20 20 4. Describe the Wooden Horse. For what purpose did the Greeks say it was built? For what was it really built? 5. Who was Laocoön? What did he do to the horse? What did he and Capys and some others advise the Trojans to do with it? 6. Why did the Trojans wish to take it into the city? 7. Who was Sinon? What story did he tell the Trojans ? 8. Do you think he had any right to tell such a story? 9. Tell the story of Laocoön and the serpents. What did the Trojans think was the reason for the serpents' attack? How did this make them feel toward the Wooden Horse? 10. Describe how they drew the horse into the city. 11. Tell about the signal from the Greek ships and how it was answered. 12. Tell the dream of Æneas. How was the prophecy in this dream carried out? 13. Write a description of the burning of Troy. 14. Whom do you like better, Æneas or Odysseus? Why? The story of the fall of Troy and the wanderings of Æneas are told in A. J. Church's "The Æneid for Boys and Girls." Vergil (Ver'gil): also spelled Virgil. Cremona (Crê mo'na): a city in Italy. Romulus (Rom't lus): the legendary founder of Rome. Dido (Di'dō): a queen of Carthage. the west coast of Asia Minor. bravest of the Greek warriors. CHANTICLEER AND THE FOX FROM "CANTERBURY TALES" GEOFFREY CHAUCER [The first great story-teller who wrote in English was Geoffrey Chaucer. He was born about 1340, when Edward III was king of England, and when the English language was just beginning to be used for books. Before his time books were written generally in Latin 5 or in French, though there were several fine old poems in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, telling of the deeds of heroes, and of fabulous monsters, and of the lives of wandering minstrels. "Beowulf," the greatest of these poems, you read about in Book Five. But Chaucer wrote of the life of his own times, and told old stories and fables in everyday language. The English which he used was not such English as we speak to-day, but perhaps if you heard it, you could catch enough words to understand. 10 15 For instance, Chaucer wishes to tell us that it happened one day in the spring season that he was at the Tabard Inn at Southwark, ready to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury with a devout or prayerful heart, and that at night there came to that hotel a company of twenty- 20 nine people of various sorts, all pilgrims, who had fallen by chance into comradeship. This is the way he tells it: 5 Bifel that, in that seson on a day, In felawshipe, and pilgrims were they alle. Those were rude old days. People traveled on horse10 back, for the roads were too narrow and too muddy for carriages; and they seldom traveled alone, but in companies, for fear of thieves. Houses were cold and walls were bare, except that on some of those belonging to the rich was hung, here and there, a piece of tapestry, 15 or curtain, with figures worked upon it. Floors were covered in winter with rushes or straw to keep the feet warm. Chairs were wooden benches. Tables were boards laid upon racks or horses, and were taken down when not in use. There were no knives or forks; people ate 20 with their fingers, and were none too nice about it. Chaucer tells us, as if it were quite remarkable, that a certain lady let no morsel fall from her lips in eating, nor dipped her fingers too deeply into the sauce, and that she could so carry her food that no drop of it fell 25 upon her breast. Clothes, in those days, were of gay colors, and the clothes of the rich were often elegantly embroidered and |