Practice your readings using the links below. You should be able to read through these at speed to be prepared for tests and quizzes.
- The Trojan priest Lacoön warns his countrymen that the horse must be a trick and then hurls his spear into its womb
- Suddenly two huge serpents appear out of the sea, assualt Laocoön and his two sons, and glide to Minerva’s shrine on the citadel
- The Trojans, terror-stricken and assuming Laocoön had been punished for desecrating the horse and offending Minerva, throw open their gates and admit the doomsday machine—pregnant with war—into the very heart of the city
- The ghost of Hector appears to Aeneas in a dream, warning him that Troy is lost and that flight is his only recourse
- The assault on the royal family reminds Aeneas at last of his own aged father Anchises, his wife Creusa, and their young son Iulus
- Aeneas, his comrades gone, suddenly sees Helen and in a fit of rage considers killing her and avenging his countrymen
- Venus suddenly appears to Aeneas, reminds him of his duty to rescue his family, and miraculously reveals to his vision the gods themselves, directly assisting the Greeks in Troy’s complete and inevitable annihilation