osing, from the armor and the plumes which they wore, that
they were enemies. They saw the royal palace besieged, and the
_tortoise_ formed for scaling the walls of it. The tumult and din, and
the frightful glare of lurid flames by which the city was illuminated,
a scene of inconceivable confusion and terror.

[Illustration: THE TORTOISE.]

AEneas watched the progress of the assault upon the palace from the top
of certain lofty roofs, to which he ascended for the purpose. Here
there was a slender tower, which had been built for a watch-tower, and
had been carried up to such a height that, from the summit of it, the
watchmen stationed there could survey all the environs of the city,
and on one side look off to some distance over the sea. This tower
AEneas and the Trojans who were with him contrived to cut off at its
base, and throw over upon the throngs of Grecians that were thundering
at the palace gates below. Great numbers were killed by the falling
ruins, and the tortoise was broken down. The Greeks, however, soon
formed another tortoise, by means of which some of the soldiers scaled
the walls, while others broke down the gates with battering rams and
engines; and thus the palace, the sacred and last remaining stronghold
of the city, was thrown open to the ferocious and frantic horde of its
assailants.

The sacking of the palace presented an awful spectacle to the view of
AEneas and his companions, as they looked down upon it from the roofs
and battlements around. As the walls, one after another, fell in under
the resistless blows dealt by the engines that were brought against
them, the interior halls, and the most retired and private apartments,
were thrown open to view--all illuminated by the glare of the
surrounding conflagrations.

Shrieks and wailing, and every other species of outcry that comes from
grief, terror, and despair, arose from within; and such spectators as
had the heart to look continuously upon the spectacle, could see
wretched men running to and fro, and virgins clinging to altars for
protection, and frantic mothers vainly endeavoring to find
hiding-places for themselves and their helpless children.

Priam the king, who was at this time old and infirm, was aroused from
his slumbers by the dreadful din, and immediately began to seize his
armor, and to prepare himself for rushing into the fight. His wife,
however, Hecuba, begged and entreated him to desist. She saw that all
was lost, and that