The fall of Troy

Aeneas, at Dido's table, walks the reader directly into the night Homer left out. The Greeks have given up the siege and sailed away — or appear to. They leave a great wooden horse on the beach with an inscription claiming it is an offering to Athena. The priest Laocoön throws his spear into its side and warns the city against trusting Greek gifts; two enormous serpents rise out of the sea, kill him and his sons in front of everyone, and disappear into the temple of Athena. The Trojans take this as confirmation and drag the horse inside the walls.

That night the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse's belly open the gates. The army, returned secretly from behind Tenedos, pours in. Aeneas wakes from a dream of the dead Hector — bloody, dragged in the dust — warning him to flee. The city is already burning. He fights through the streets and reaches Priam's palace just as the old king is murdered at his own altar by Achilles's son Pyrrhus. Aeneas sees Helen hiding in a corner and is ready to kill her in his rage. His mother Venus appears, stays his hand, and reveals to him the gods themselves dismantling the walls of Troy. The war is over. He must save what he can.

He goes home. His father Anchises, old and stubborn, refuses to leave; an omen of flame around the head of young Ascanius finally moves him. Aeneas lifts his father onto his shoulders, takes his small son by the hand, tells his wife Creusa to follow, and goes out through the smoke. He reaches the rendezvous and finds Creusa gone. He runs back into the burning city alone, calling her name. Her ghost appears at last — she is held by the gods, he must go on, find a kingdom in the west, find a new wife. She vanishes three times as he tries to embrace her. He gathers the survivors at Mount Ida and begins building a fleet.