The Aeneid: Book 2 Flashcards
After some initial hesitation, ________ begins to tell the story of ________’s downfall. Everything that follows in this book is told by Aeneas, and so reflects his perspective.
Aeneas, Troy
Aeneas begins by telling how the Greeks, unable to defeat the _______ in battle, sail away from Troy. On the beach, they leave behind a giant wooden horse, with ______ warriors hidden inside it – though the Trojans don’t know that yet.
Trojans, Greek
Something else the Trojans don’t know is that the Greeks didn’t actually sail home. Instead, they made their way to the nearby island of _________, and parked their _____ behind it.
Tenedos, navy
The Trojans are amazed at the ______ and come out of their city to have a better look at it. Some argue in favor of taking it inside the city. Others say it should be ________.
horse, destroyed
_________, a priest, comes down from the city to have a look. He says not to trust anything having to do with the Greeks. He even guesses that there are Greeks hiding inside it, and throws his _______ at the horse. It echoes, revealing that it is hollow.
Laocoön, spear
The Trojans would have followed __________’s lead and destroyed the horse, but they are interrupted by a commotion. It turns out that all the ruckus is coming from some shepherds, who step forward with a ________ – a Greek!
Laocoön, prisoner
The captive’s name is ______, and he has a story to tell.
Sinon claims to be related to _______, a Greek hero who came to oppose the Trojan War. As a result of this, Palamedes was executed on a trumped-up charge, as a result of _________’s trickery.
Sinon, Palamedes, Ulysses
_______ says that because he complained about this injustice, ________ had it in for him. He also says that the Greeks tried several times to sail home, but, every time, they were held back by bad ________. He says that their problems only got worse after the ______ was built.
Sinon, Ulysses, weather, horse
Finally, they sent a guy called _______ to ask the oracle of _______ what they should do. The oracle told Eurypylus that a ______ sacrifice was required for them to get home, just as a human sacrifice was required for them to get to _____.
Eurypylus, Apollo, human, Troy
(Huh? The oracle is referring to the fact that, on the way to Troy the Greek king ________ had to sacrifice his daughter, _________, to convince the winds to blow the right way.)
Agamemnon, Iphigeneia
As you can imagine, this made everyone pretty nervous. _________ asked ________, the soothsayer, to interpret the true will of the gods.
Ulysses, Calchas
______ kept silent for ten days, but finally caved in to _______’s pestering, and named _____ as the victim. Everyone else was cool with that.
Calchas, Ulysses, Sinon
When the day of the sacrifice rolled around, however, _______ managed to escape. In the end, the _______ sailed off without finding him.
Sinon, Greeks
So ends ______’s story. In concluding, he begs the _______, in the name of the gods, to spare his life.
Sinon, Trojans
The _______ feel pity for _______, and _______ orders them to remove his chains.
Trojans, Sinon, Priam
At this point, ______ thinks it’s time to ask ______ about the elephant in the room – that is, the ______ on the beach.
Priam, Sinon, horse
Sinon first swears that he is no longer loyal to the ________. Then he explains how the Greeks’ troubles started when _______ and _________ stole a statuette of _______ from the Trojan citadel.
Greeks, Ulysses, Diomedes, Minerva
After they brought the ________ back to camp, however, wacky stuff started happening. The statuette started sweating, flaming, and moving its eyes. Oh yeah, and the _______ herself kept appearing out of the ground amid flashes of lightening.
statuette, goddess
______, the seer, interpreted these events to mean that ______ could not be captured. They would have to sail home and wait for another sign from the gods before making war on it again.
Calchas, Troy
According to _______, it was on Calchas’s orders that they constructed the _______ – as a replacement for what they had stolen. He says that the reason they made it so big was so that the _______ wouldn’t be able to take it inside their city.
Sinon, horse, Trojans
______ tells the Trojans that if any of them damage the horse, it will bring destruction on all of ______. On the other hand, if they take it inside the city, it will bring destruction on all the ________ (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Here ends Sinon’s second story.
Sinon, Troy, Greeks
At this point, ________, the priest guy who threw the spear at the side of the horse, starts making a sacrifice to __________, the god of the sea.
Laocoön, Neptune
All of a sudden, two giant ________ slither out of the sea, crawl up to ________, and strangle him and his two sons to death. Then the serpents make their way into _____, head to ________’s citadel, and curl up behind the statue’s shield.
serpents, Laocoön, Troy, Minerva
The Trojans interpret this as punishment from the ______ for spearing the _______. They decide to take the horse inside the city. They actually have to knock a hole in the wall to bring it in.
gods, horse
Everyone is celebrating. ______ times the horse jars on its way into the city, and _______ times the weapons of the ________ inside clatter. No one notices.
4, 4, Greeks
The Trojan princess ________, who has the gift of ______, tries to prevent them from taking the horse inside the city. Unfortunately, the gods have cursed her so that her predictions will not be believed. As indeed they aren’t.
Cassandra, prophesy
Night comes. The Greek fleet sails back from ________. ______ lets the Greeks out of the horse. They kill the Trojan ________ and open the city gates for their friends who are just arriving at the city.
Tenedos, Sinon, sentries
Meanwhile, in the city, _______ is asleep. The Trojan warrior _______ appears to him in his dream, all covered in blood and dirt as he was on the day he was killed by the Greek hero _________.
Aeneas, Hector, Achilles
_______ tells Aeneas that ______ is about to be captured. He tells him to gather up his household gods and go found a new city for them.
Hector, Troy
Aeneas wakes up and climbs up to his _____. From there, he hears a terrible clamor, and can see numerous houses burning.
roof
His first thought is to arm himself for battle. Then, at his door appears ________, the priest of _______, who is carrying some images of the gods, and leading his grandson.
Pantheus, Apollo
Aeneas asks _______ where they should take their stand to defend _____, but Pantheus tells him that the city is done for.
Pantheus, Troy
All the same, ______ rushes into the fight, and gathers up some companions. Together, they fight with suicidal courage.
Aeneas
They kill some _____ and take their equipment. With these disguises, they are able to join the ranks of other Greeks and kill them through ______.
Greeks, trickery
But then _________, one of Aeneas’s comrades, who also happens to be the husband of ________, sees his wife being dragged out of ________’s temple by some Greek warriors. Like a madman, he rushes into the fight, and everyone else follows.
Coroebus, Cassandra, Minerva
In the chaos, they are hit by a bunch of missiles thrown by _______ hiding out of top of the temple – they mistook ________ and company for Greeks because of their stolen armor.
Trojan, Aeneas
Realizing the Trojans’ deception, the Greeks rally, and a furious battle breaks out in front of the ________. Many Trojans are killed, including ________.
temple, Coroebus
But then the Trojans are distracted when they realize that ______’s palace is being besieged. Aeneas and some other men sneak in a back entrance to help out.
Priam
They make their way to the _____, where they knock a ______ off onto the Greeks below. But there are too many of them, and they keep coming on.
roof, tower
The most fearsome of the Greeks is ________, the son of _______.
Neoptolemus, Achilles
Meanwhile, ______ puts on his armor and prepares to face down the _______, old and decrepit as he is.
Priam, Greeks
When his wife ______ sees him, however, she tells him to stop being such a fool. She makes him come over with her and some women who are clinging to an _____ for safety. (They are assuming that the Greeks will not violate the holiness of the place.)
Hecuba, altar
Just then, ______, one of ______’s sons, rushes in, wounded, with __________ in pursuit. Neoptolemus catches up to him and kills him.
Polites, Priam, Neoptolemus
Enraged, ______ prepares to attack ________. Priam reminds Neoptolemus about how his father, ______, once had pity on him when he gave _______’s body back for burial. (This scene is described in Book 23 of Homer’s Iliad.) Priam tells Neoptolemus that his horrible behavior makes it seem as if he isn’t a true son of Achilles.
Priam, Neoptolemus, Achilles, Hector
_____ feebly attacks his younger foe, but does not succeed in wounding him. Instead, __________ drags Priam through the blood of his son to the altar, and kills him there.
Priam, Neoptolemus
______, who has been watching this whole scene, suddenly thinks of his own father, ________.
On his way home, he runs into _______. She is trying to hide, afraid of both the Trojans and the Greeks.
Aeneas, Anchises, Helen
_______ is about to kill her, when his mother, _______, appears and tells him not to blame her. She says that what is happening to Troy is not _______’s fault; it is the will of the gods.
Aeneas, Venus, Helen
______ takes the mist away from _______’s sight so he can see various gods at work destroying the city.
Then Aeneas runs home, finds his ______, and tells him to get ready: they’re going to head for the hills!
Venus, Aeneas, father
But ________ refuses. He says that he has lived and suffered long enough.
_______, Aeneas’s wife, and _______, his son, try to bring Anchises around, but he keeps refusing.
Anchises, Creusa, Ascanius
Finally, Aeneas gathers his weapons in order to go out and die fighting. ________ tells him to take her and ________ along with him.
Creusa, Ascanius
Just then, flames burst out of _______’s head, but do not burn him. ________ prays for a sign from the gods, and suddenly a shooting star flashes overhead.
Ascanius, Anchises
________ accepts the sign and decides to go with Aeneas.
Now thinking of survival instead of suicide, Aeneas takes his father on his shoulders. He gives his father the images of the household gods to carry. Then he takes ________ by the hand.
Anchises, Ascanius
After Aeneas tells some servants that they will meet up at a certain ________ tree by an inland gate of the city, they head off, with Creusa following behind. In a moment of confusion, however, Aeneas ducks down some alleyways, and ______ gets lost. Aeneas doesn’t realize this until they get to the cypress tree.
cypress, Creusa
He goes back alone through the flaming city, looking for her, but does not find her. Suddenly, her ghost appears and tells him that it is too late. She tells him to go to where the _____ river flows (i.e., in Italy). There he will get a new ________ – and a new wife.
Tiber, kingdom
Aeneas accepts ______’s words and heads back to the ______ tree, where many refugees have now gathered. Together, they set out on their voyage.
Creusa, cypress
