The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-06-01
STORY OF VERClL
ANDFALL OF TROY

The Fall of Troy, which is the CEN
trail theme in Homer's great epic, the
Had, serves merely as background
in Vergips poem, the Aeneid. Vergil
takes it for granted that his readers
are familiar with Homer's work, so
he refers only incidentally to many Of
the important events of the war. The
cause of the war, the stealing of the
most beautiful woman in the world,
Helen, wife of the king of Sparta, by
Paris, the son of King P-iam of Troy,
is considered as being so we1l-known
to the readers that no explanation is
necessary.
The story of the first ten years of
the war is almost entirely omitted.
From statements made by the char
acters in different parts of the story,
we learn of the death Of Hector,
noblest of Priam's sons and the hope
of the Trojan race, killed by the
mighty Greek chieftain Achilles. We
learn also of the death of Troilus,
boyish son of Priam, who fell while
trying to avenge the death of his
brother.
Vergil takes up the story at the
point which tells of the discourage
ment of the Greeks over their failure
to get within the walls of the city,
and their decision to resort to strate-
CIV to accomplish their purpose. He
tells of the building of the wooden
horse, and of the means by which it's
entrance into the city was secured.
Then from the lips of the hero Aeneas
we learn of the slaughter of that
dreadful night, when great numbers
of the TroJans fell in the vain en-
deavor to drive the Greeks out of the
city. Even the aged king Priam did
not escape, but was killed by the
enemy after being compelled to see
his son Politics suffer death at the
hands of Achilles son, Pyrrhus.
Aeneas, the son-in-law of the Tro-
ian king, and the real leader of the
Trojans after the death of Hector,
| carried on the hopeless struggle until
his mother Venus, the goddess of love,
appeared to him and told him to save
his wife, his little son Ascanius, his
father Anchises and as many of his
Trojan followers as be could gather
together. She told him it was use
| less for him to fight longer, as the
| gods had decreed that Troy should
fall, even Jupiter, the king of the
gods, having part in the destruc-
ton. She comforted him with the as
surance that many good things were
| in store for him and babe him go to
another land and establish a city and
| race which should some day be-
come very powerful. Aeneas obeyed
her commands and escaped from the
city, but his wife Creusa persisted in
the flight.
Not knowing definitely what was
| the place in which he should estab-
lish his people, he first went to
! Thrace, but he was told to leave that
land. Disaster followed his attempt
to establish city in Crete, but at
that time through the lipe of his
household gods, he learned that the
place referred to was Italy, known
to the Greeks as Hesperia. He at
once set sail, but Juno, queen of the
gods, who hated Aeneas because of
his mother Venus, and feared that
the new race which Aeneas was to
found might prove dangerous rival
to her own city, Carthage, caused a
mighty storm, which destroyed one of
Aeneas's twenty vessels, and drove
the others to the north coast of At
RIGA, near the site of Carthage, city
of Dido and the Phoenician exiles. 1t
was here that Aeneas met the beau
tiful Carthaginian queen and the
events of the love story of the Aeneid
took place.