turn of the expression is due to that euphemism which refrained from using any words of direct ill omen.
"The father of the gods," says Panthus, "has transferred all our glory to Argos." There was a story (alluded to in one of the lost tragedies of Sophocles, of which we have but a fragment) that on the night of the capture of Troy the tutelary deities departed in a body, taking their images with them. It is a singular parallel to the well-known tradition, that before the fall of Jerusalem supernatural voices were heard in the night exclaiming, "Let us depart hence!" The Romans had a regular formula for the evocation of the gods from an enemy's city, and inviting them, with promises of all due honours and sacrifices, to transfer their seat to Rome; and to attack any city without these solemn preliminaries was held to bring a curse on the besiegers.[1]
Æneas is anxious to assure his fair listener that, in spite of Hector's adjuration to fly, he did all that man might do in defence of his king and his countrymen. He had rallied a band of brave men, and for a while made head against the enemy. They were favoured by the mistake made by a party of Greeks, who took them for friends in the darkness, and whom they cut to pieces, and having arrayed themselves in their armour, dealt destruction in the enemy's very ranks. But all resistance was in vain. The appearance of Neoptolemus—Pyrrhus—the "Red-haired"—and the comparison of the young warrior in his strength and beauty to
- ↑ For this reason, says Macrobius, the real name of Rome and of its guardian deity was always kept a secret.
