Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem,
Quis deus incertum est, habitat deus: Arcades ipsum
Credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem
Aegida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret[575].
This belief imparts dignity to what from a merely human point of view seems grotesque rather than sublime, the reception by the Trojans of the ‘fatalis machina feta armis’ within their walls. The fatal error is committed under the conviction that the protection enjoyed under the old Palladium would be renewed under this new symbol. The construction of the unwieldy mass is attributed to Calchas, acting from the motive expressed in the lines—
Ne recipi portis aut duci in moenia possit,
Neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri[576].
This same belief of the dependence of cities on their indwelling deities pervades the whole description of the destruction of Troy. Thus the despair produced by the first discovery of the presence of the enemy within the town obtains utterance in the words—
Excessere omnis adytis arisque relictis
Di, quibus imperium hoc steterat[577].