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Have you ever noticed that, if something really frightening happens, no matter how long ago, you can remember every detail as if it happened yesterday? That\'s the way Aeneas remembers the last day of Troy before the Greeks destroyed it. Aeneas\' story in Book II falls into three basic parts. First, he describes how the Greeks tricked the Trojans into letting them into the city. Second, he describes the desperate final battle to save Troy. Finally, he tells how he escapes from the burning city with his family. An important thing to remember about this Book (and Book III) is that the story is told from Aeneas\' point of view. You are about to experience that last dreadful day as though you were there--inside Aeneas\' head.
First here is some background. The Trojan War started because Paris, a Trojan, seduced Helen, who was married to a Greek named Menelaus, and took her back to Troy. The Greeks then attacked the Trojans. When Aeneas begins his story, both sides are exhausted. The Greeks have been camped outside the Trojan walls for ten years, unable to get inside. But the Trojans can\'t drive the Greeks away, either. The result is a stalemate.
Then one morning the Trojans look over their walls and the Greeks are gone! In their place they\'ve left a giant wooden horse. The Trojans throw open the gates and rush out, wild with joy.
In fact, the Greeks aren\'t gone at all. Some of them are hiding on a nearby island, Tenedos, where they\'ve hidden their ships. The rest are hiding in the hollow belly of the huge horse--waiting.
An ironic twist in the story is that one of the Trojans, Laocoon, warns that the Greeks are probably hiding inside the horse, but no one listens to him. Instead, the Trojans believe the story of a Greek named Sinon, who deliberately allowed himself to be \"captured.\" Sinon tells them that if they destroy the horse, the gods will be furious and Troy will be destroyed. If, on the other hand, they bring the horse inside the city walls, Troy will conquer the Greeks.
We believed him, we
Whom neither Diomede nor great Achilles
Had taken, nor ten years, nor that armada,
A thousand ships of war. But Sinon did it
By perjury and guile.
(II. 195-98)
Aeneas points out here that lies and tricks can do what the greatest Greek warriors and ten years of war could not. Deceit and treachery are important themes in Book II.
Another thing that convinces the Trojans to bring the horse into the city is that Laocoon, who warned them not to do this, is strangled horribly by two giant snakes that come rushing over the sea from Tenedos (just as the Greeks will attack later on). The snakes\' eyes are burning with blood and fire as they choke Laocoon. The Trojans correctly decide that Laocoon is being punished, but they don\'t realize that he\'s being punished for telling the truth about the horse. The gods side with the Greeks, and they don\'t want anyone to save Troy.
NOTE: Snakes are an important image in this Book. They symbolize evil and deception and whenever they appear, destruction is not far behind. Fire is also a symbol of destruction. As you read Book II you will see many images of snakes and fire.
The Trojans put the horse on wheels and slowly drag it inside the city. As they do, they can hear clanking inside it. What\'s the matter with the Trojans? Are they stupid? Perhaps. Or did the gods blind them to the obvious danger? But the gods could have destroyed Troy if they had wanted to. Why do they make the Trojans cooperate in their own downfall? Perhaps Virgil is saying that the division between human beings and the gods and fate is not so simple. Perhaps what happens to you depends, in part, on the kind of person you are. The Trojans were tired of war and wanted to believe it was over. Perhaps their wishful thinking brought their downfall. Have you ever taken a big risk that you knew wasn\'t a good idea, but you just kept your fingers crossed and hoped that it would work out anyway?
The Trojans celebrate their false victory with a wild festival that night, and then they all collapse into their beds in a drunken sleep. in the dark and quiet of night, the Greeks sail back. Sinon undoes the bolts on the belly of the horse and the Greeks pour out. They start to murder everyone in their path.
While Aeneas sleeps, Hector appears to him in a dream. (Hector was a great Trojan warrior who was killed by the Greek Achilles.)
Alas, O goddess-born! Take flight,
Escape these flames! The enemy has the walls,
Troy topples from her lofty height; enough
Has been paid out to Priam and to country.
(II. 289-91)
Hector then tells Aeneas to take the household gods of Troy (small figures that symbolized the gods that protected a home), and to build a new city after a long sea voyage. Hector\'s speech is more than just a warning. This is the first time that Aeneas hears of his destiny to lead his people to a new city. Hector also tells Aeneas that he no longer has a soldier\'s duty to fight for his king, Priam, or his country. Why is this important? Aeneas might think it was cowardly to run away, but Hector is trying to tell him that it\'s the only sensible thing to do.
Aeneas jumps out of bed and sees that the Greeks are already swarming all over Troy and that most of the buildings are in flames. But Aeneas doesn\'t seem to have understood Hector\'s message very well. Instead of fleeing, he stays and fights, although even he realizes there\'s no hope. Why does he risk his life? One reason is that he simply gets carried away when he sees his city being destroyed. But there may be more to it. Sometimes it\'s easier to keep fighting for a lost cause than to admit defeat and start something completely new. As we\'ll see later on, Aeneas isn\'t very eager to start a new life somewhere else.
In the second part of Book II, Aeneas and his men struggle in vain to save Troy. The battle is fought at night, so the only light comes from the burning ruins of Troy. In this flickering light no one is sure who anyone is. The Trojans kill some Greeks and take their armor. Disguised like this, they score some victories--until their fellow Trojans, trying to defend the walls, also mistake them for Greeks and start to hurl weapons at their heads.
Finally, Aeneas manages to reach King Priam\'s castle. The battle for the ramparts rages here, and Aeneas sees the most horrible scene of all. A Greek warrior, Pyrrhus, who is \"sleek as a serpent,\" murders Priam\'s son right before his father\'s eyes. Then he kills the old and feeble king on the altar dedicated to the gods. In this sad scene, we see the horror of uncontrolled rage and the total collapse of the old heroic ideals of fair play and respect for one\'s enemies. The serpents, like Pyrrhus, are winning this war.
Suddenly Aeneas spots Helen hiding. He\'s about to kill her, in revenge for the war she helped to cause, when Venus bursts upon the scene and stops him. She reminds him to take care of his family instead of seeking pointless revenge. Then she gives Aeneas a moment of divine vision, so that he can see that it\'s not only the Greeks who are destroying Troy. He sees that the gods, themselves, are smashing the walls. At last Aeneas understands that there\'s no point in fighting anymore, and he hurries off to find his family. Here we see that with Venus\' help, Aeneas helps to save lives, instead of being purely destructive like Pyrrhus.
When Aeneas reaches his father\'s house, he runs into still another roadblock to leaving. His father, Anchises, won\'t budge. He\'s old and tired; he doesn\'t see the point in leaving. Just then a flame appears over the head of Aeneas\' son, Iulus. Before they can recover from their surprise, a comet streaks across the sky. After these signs, even Anchises believes that the gods are with Aeneas and his son and that they have a special mission.
They leave. Aeneas carries his old father on his back and holds his little son by the hand. His wife, Creusa, follows. Aeneas has literally shouldered the burden of saving his family and their future. Somehow, in the dark and confusion, Creusa becomes separated from them. Aeneas is frantic and returns to the burning city trying to find her. Suddenly her ghost appears and tells him to stop looking. She explains that he has a great journey ahead and that he will find a happier land in the west. She also tells him that he will find a new wife of royal blood.
Aeneas is miserable with grief and reaches out for her shadow but it flits away. Why is Creusa left behind and why does she tell Aeneas to go on? Her death symbolizes the end of his old life in Troy. Aeneas must leave her and start a new life. An important theme in the Aeneid is that Aeneas must suffer many deep personal losses in order to fulfil his destiny. He doesn\'t accept those losses easily. He reaches out for Creusa three times, and three times she fades away, before he accepts the fact that she is dead.
Finally, he rejoins his father and son. They have been joined by a band of other Trojans who have escaped the city. Together they climb into the hills.
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