The Wooden Horse. Part 12. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.
From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden
Now peals of shouts come thund'ring from afar,
Cries, threats, and loud laments, and mingled war:
The noise approaches, tho' our palace stood
Aloof from streets, encompass'd with a wood.
Louder, and yet more loud, I hear th' alarms
Of human cries distinct, and clashing arms.
Fear broke my slumbers; I no longer stay,
But mount the terrace, thence the town survey,
And hearken what the frightful sounds convey.
tum : tum, as we have already seen, is an adverb meaning ‘then’.
reliqui Graeci : reliquus Graecus, as we have also already seen, means ‘left over Greek’. We last met the reliqui Graeci (those who did not board the horse) when they sailed off to Tenedos. Now they have returned to be the plural nominative subjects of this sentence.
urbem : urbs is a feminine noun meaning ‘city’. Here it is in its singular (there is but one Troy) accusative form. It is the object of the verb.
Troiam : Troia is the Latin name for the city Troy. It is in the accusative case so that, along with urbem, it can be the object of the verb. It is interesting to note that, where English would say ‘the city of Troy’, Latin prefers ‘the city Troy’, although we can understand it either way.
expugnant : expugnare is a verb that means ‘to storm’ or ‘to conquer’. Here it is in the present tense, despite describing a past action, to create a sense of excitement. It is third person plural as its subject, reliqui Graeci, requires this. Its object is urbem Troiam.
Translation: Then the other Greeks storm the city of Troy.