y deposited in the court of a great public edifice within the
city. The wall was then repaired, the day passed away, the night came
on, the gates were shut, and the curiosity and wonder of the people
within being gradually satisfied, they at length dispersed to their
several homes and retired to rest. At midnight the unconscious effigy
stood silent and alone where its worshipers had left it, while the
whole population of the city were sunk in slumber, except the
sentinels who had been stationed as usual to keep guard at the gates,
or to watch upon the towers and battlements above them.

In the mean time the Greek fleet, which had sailed away under pretense
of finally abandoning the country, had proceeded only to the island of
Tenedos, which was about a league from the shore, and there they had
concealed themselves during the day. As soon as night came on they
returned to the main land, and disembarking with the utmost silence
and secrecy, they made their way back again under cover of the
darkness, as near as they dared to come to the gates of the city. In
the mean time Sinon had arisen stealthily from the sleep which he had
feigned to deceive those to whose charge he had been committed, and
creeping cautiously through the streets he repaired to the place where
the wooden horse had been deposited, and there opened a secret door in
the side of the image, and liberated a band of armed and desperate men
who had been concealed within. These men, as soon as they had
descended to the ground and had adjusted their armor, rushed to the
city walls, surprised and killed the sentinels and watchmen, threw
open the gates, and gave the whole body of their comrades that were
lurking outside the walls, in the silence and darkness of the night,
an unobstructed admission.

AEneas was asleep in his house while these things were transpiring. The
house where he lived was in a retired and quiet situation, but he was
awakened from his sleep by distant outcries and din, and springing
from his couch, and hastily resuming his dress, he ascended to the
roof of the house to ascertain the cause of the alarm. He saw flames
ascending from various edifices in the quarter of the city where the
Greeks had come in. He listened. He could distinctly hear the shouts
of men, and the notes of trumpets sounding the alarm. He immediately
seized his armor and rushed forth into the streets, arousing the
inhabitants around him from their slumbers by his shouts, an