A Trojan Horse at Ft. Hood

Everyone knows the story of Trojan Horse, but because not everyone recognizes that it is told in Book II of Vergil's Aeneid, they do not know all the details. Interestingly, we read that a priest of Neptune named Laocoon early suspected treachery.

Laocoon is the first of all to run down from the high citadel with a great crowd pressing around him and from far off he shouts, "What great insanity has you, miserable fellow-citizens of mine? Do you believe that the enemy has sailed away? Do you think that any gifts of the Greeks lack trickery? Was this what Ulysses was known for? There are either Greeks shut up in hiding within the wood of the horse or it is machine that has been made to threaten our walls, to spy into our homes and to come down into our city. Either that, or there is some other treachery hiding there. Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even those bringing gifts. (Aeneid II. 40-49, translation mine)

Okay, so maybe that was just the ranting of a crazy priest, right? Hindsight makes all prophecy seem true. But then Laocoon threw a spear against the horse, and what happened?

The hollows of struck belly resounded and the cavernous spaces gave forth a groan. (Aeneid II. 53-53)

All the Trojans within earshot could tell that the horse was hollow, and this at least made plausible Laocoon's suggestion that it could be hiding Greeks. But did they check for trouble, or did they follow the advice of Capys, who earlier had "ordered this trick of the Greeks, this suspicious gift, be hurled into the sea and set on fire or at least that the hollows of its belly be tested and tried" (Aeneid II. 36-39)? They did not.

Of course, these were just two cranks who could not be open and accepting of that which was different, right?

And then what happens? In frightening detail Vergil tells in lines 199-224 how twin sea serpents attack the shore and devour Laocoon and his sons. It is the imagery, however, that is worth noting. The serpents come from the direction of Tenedos, the island behind which the Greeks ships are actually hiding. Treachery from the direction where real treachery lies. Get it? Apparently the Trojans didn't. Furthermore, the serpents have red crests. Who else has red crests? Soldiers do. And how do they attack Laocoon? In line 212 Vergil uses the phrase agmine certo, in a fixed battle line.

So let's recap...serpents, a symbol of treachery, looking like soldiers with red crests and moving in a fashion remniscent of an army on the march attack from the direction of Tenedos where actual Greek ships are hiding. Does this cause anyone to stand up and take notice? Not one.

In fact, groups of young men and women dance and sing as the Trojans try to take the horse into the city. They have interpreted these horrific events as what Laocoon had coming to him. Here he was, an old curmudgeon unwilling to accept with an open mind this gift to the gods, so he got his thanks to the serpents.

Nevertheless, there is one more chance by which the Trojans could have averted this tragedy. Actually, there were four chances. In lines 242-243, Vergil writes, "Four times the horse stops at the very edge of the gate, four times the weapons gave forth a sound from the belly."

Yes, that's right, the Trojans actually heard the sounds of the Greeks and their weapons inside the horse, yet paid no attention and took the horse into the city.

As we are now finding out, the murderer at Ft. Hood had ties with a radical imam at the same mosque attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers. We had already found out, some months ago it would seem, that he had spoken openly anti-American sentiments and had posted online about the virtue of suicide bombing. This article quotes Sen. Joe Liberman (I-Conn.) Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security committee, as telling Fox News Sunday that “there are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act.”

Selwyn Duke at American Thinker says this. "If there were an officer of Japanese descent in our military during WWII, he wouldn't have lasted til the next day's rising sun if he had expressed pro-Imperial Japanese sentiments."

So what has happened? There are many analyses going on right now about leftist this or politically correct that, and no doubt some of these thoughts are accurate. But I think Aeneas, speaking the words of Vergil, sums up our situation as he summed up the fate of the Trojans.

Instamus tamen immemores caecique furore. (Aeneid II.243)

We pressed on, nevertheless, paying no attention and blinded by madness.