Middletown transcript., 1874-05-16

site Gone Of Priam's young sons) escaped
from the slaughter q ths walls, ran
through the dark rscsss Of the palace
closely pursusd By Pyrrhus. He ran
his fathers side be fell dead. pierced By :
spear thrown By his enemy. When Pri-
am saw his dead boy weltsring ID his blood,
be could not restrain himself, b6 poured
out upon the muderer torrent Of rage,
and ended BY throwing his spear At bis foe
with all his strength. But the poor old
man was 30 weak from age and other in
6rmaties that the weapon fell harmless to
tt ground. Pyrrhus maddensd by the
c6Ilhict and tho old man's words rushed
forward and caught him by his gray hair.
and dragged him to the very altar,
through the blood Of his son, and sheathed
his sword 10 bis heart. Thus ended the
life of Priam. This scene is very beauti-
fully described by Virgil. and is deeply
interesting. This tragic end Of Troy's
last king is theme we'll worthy the pen
Of a poet. Eneas witnessed this murder,
and said, when l saw king Priam slain, |
thought Of my aged father, and Of his
present danger. l resolved to return, and
looked around to see what force had.
Alas they wero oil gone. As | was
making my way down, saw the " Gre
clan Helen sndeavoring to hide herself,
for she now feared both the Trojans and
tho Greeks. When l saw her lurking
thus in dark nooks and corners, felt an
irresistible desire to take her life. For
was it not through her that Troy was the
ruined city which then sawY Was it
not through her that nearly all my friends
were lying cold in death Thus working
myself into q passion, | won't forward,
determined to carry out my unmanly de-
sign, when 10, my mother, the goddess
Venus, appeared to me, and opened my
eyes, 80 that could see all the gods en-
gagged in the conflict. Every one was in
favor Of the Greeks being victorious. My
mother bade me go home, and take care
of my own family. She guided me
through the flames and the foe upharmed.
At length | reached home and prepared
overy thing for our departure, for was
determined to fee. When all was ready
went for my father, but he refused. He
said he would not suffer exile from his
native country. but would stay and take
his fate with the burning city. Prayers
and cntreaties were alike unavailing to
move him from his purpose. determin-
ed to go into the fight again. but my wife,
Creusa, imploTed me to stay and defend
them (and of course he had to stay and
do what his wife said, as men do in the
present age). She held up my son,
julius, and behold . light was seen to
play around his forehead. We tried to
extinguish the flames but to no purpose
When my father saw this, he joyfully
started up, and exclaimed that he wa:
willing to 60 anywhere, for that light wa,
a token that the boy would one day b'
great. prepared to &c lput my father
ON my shoulders and took my son by thu
hand bade my wife to follow behint
at some distance, but to keep me in sight
| told my servants Of an old temple be
yoDd the city, where we would meet ant
they all went in different directions
When we arrived at the old temple,
found all except my wife, who though
was directly behind me. ! hid my com
1panions in the valley, and then returned
to the city in search of my wife. fol
lowed the same track by which | ha,
come cut. When reached the city ant
saw no traces of her l thought perhap
she had returned to the house, and pro
cecded thither. When l arrived foun'
that the Greeks had taken possession O
my home, and after removing every thin
that was of any value had fred the house
then went to the palace of the king, an
saw body of men guarding in the TEN
pie of Juno the spoils taken. Troja
mothers and children were sadly standing
there in long line to be carried into cap
tivity by the Greeks. AS l was thu
calling and looking about for MY wife. he
ghost appeared to me. My.hair stood o
end and my tongue stuck to my mouth
Gas suppose ours would do under simila
circumstances. She spoke and quiete
my fears, and said. you shall wande
about long time on the sea and settle ,
: last on the river Tiber, and be very pro'
porous. She then vanished. l returne
to my companions. and found that man
more of the citizens had come in durin
my absence, waiting to do my bidding :
And now it began to grow light. IT
morning star was rising over the top
mount Ida. l saw that all hope of saviu
$ the city was over. so went up into Il
I. mountain with my companions.
Here ends the second book of Virgi
0 The scenes are beautifully described. al
some of the comparisons are very goo,
!. The poet makes his hero look rather sma
I, when he attempted to kill Helen, but
: truly think that be had sorrow and troub
: enough through her fundamentally
seek revenge.