All from their arms at once, and troubles run
To view the horse, and left th' unguarded town
So over-joy'd they wept: Thus even fears
When joy surprizes, melt away in tears.
Enrag'd Laocoon, with prophetick beat,
Prest thro' the crowd, that on his humour wait;
And with a javelin pierc'd the fatal horse,
But fate retards the blow, and stopt its force:
The spear jumpt back upon the priest, so nigh,
It gave new credit to the treachery.
Yet to confirm how weak was the attempt
'Gainst what the gods will have, his javelin sent,
Resum'd with double fury, thro' his side,
And the large concave of the machine try'd:
When from within the captive Grecians roar;
And the beast trembles with another's fear.
Yet to the town the present they convey,
Thus a new stragem does Troy betray;
While to the taken, she becomes a prey.
But other monsters there enform our eyes,
What mighty seas from Teuedos arise!
The frighted Neptune seems to seek the shore,
With such a noise, with such a dreadful roar:
As in a silent night, when, from afar,
The dismal sound of wrecks invades the ear:
When rolling on the waves two mighty snakes,
Unhappy Troy descry'd; whose circling stroaks,
Had drove the swelling surges on the rocks.
Like lofty ships they on the billows ride,
And with rais'd breasts the foaming flood divide:
Their crests they brandish and red eye-balls raise,
That all around dispence a sulphurous blaze.
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