Book 2 - The Fall of Troy

• The kingdom that will be mourned for ever
• Whether it was treachery that made him speak, or whether the Fates of Troy were already moving towards that end
• Do you imagine Greeks ever give gifts without some devious purpose? (Laocoon)
• ‘Do not trust the horse, Trojans’ (Laocoon)
• If divine Fate, if the minds of the gods had not been set against us, Laocoon would surely have forced us to tear open the hiding places of the Greeks with our swords, Troy would still be standing
• Listen now to this story of Greek treachery… learn the ways of a whole people
• ‘I am the sort of man who will confess the whole truth to you’ (Sinon)
• ‘Forget the Greeks whom you have lost. You will be one of us’ (Priam)
• These were the art of the liar Sinon, and we believed it all
• They said that Laocoon had been justly punished for his crime
• The engine of Fate mounted our walls, teeming with armed men
• This was the last day of a doomed people and we spent it adorning the shrines of the gods
• Sinon, preserved by the cruelty of the divine Fates, stealthily undid the pine bolts of the horse
• Hector suddenly appeared before my eyes in sleep
• He [Hector] had on his body all the wounds he had received
• ‘You must save yourself from these flames’ (Hector)
• ‘Look for a great city to establish for them’ (Hector)
• The treacherous scheming of the Greeks
• My heart was burning to gather comrades for battle and rush to citadel with them
• It seemed a noble thing to die in arms
• This is the hour they cannot escape. The Trojans are no more
• ‘All the gods on whom this empire once depended have left their shrines and their alters’ (Aeneas)
• Who could weep tears to match that suffering?
• Everywhere there was fear, and death in many forms
• No man can put trust in gods who are opposed to him
• We saw Mars, the irresistible God of War
• Deep into the house the hollow chambers rang with the wailing of women
• Pyrrhus pressed on with all the violence of his father Achilles
• Everything not claimed by fire was now held by Greeks
• Although he could achieve nothing, the old man buckled his armour
• ‘May they give you the reward you have deserved… for defiling a father’s face with the murder of his son’ (Priam)
• ‘Let him know about my wicked deeds’ (Pyrrhus)
• A corpse without a name [Priam]
• This Fury [Helen] sent to be the scourge both of Troy and of her native Greece
• I longed in my anger to avenge my country even as it fell
• ‘It is the gods, the cruelty of the gods’ (Venus)
• ‘Juno, cruellest of all’ (Venus)
• I seemed to see the whole of Ilium settling into the flames
• My first wish was to find my father
• ‘Your first duty is to guard this house’ (Creusa)