A recurring and important image throughout Virgil's Aeneid is that of the serpent, which appears both realistically and metaphorically. The snake icon is an omen of death and a symbol of deception. These two elements represented by the serpent are important for the entire epic, but it is even more so for Book II because it describes how the Greeks, to finally conquer Troy, used deception to gain access to the city. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Despite powerful Greek heroes like Achilles and Ajax and the huge numbers of their army and navy, in the end it was the serpent-like cunning of Sinon combined with an omen of death embodied in twin serpents that proved to be the fall of Troy. Aeneas relates: "This fraud of Sinon, his accomplished lie, has conquered us; a high story and false tears had captured us, which neither Diomedes, nor Achilles Larisaus conquered, nor ten long years, nor all their thousand ships." (II:268-272) Virgil does not directly use the image of the serpent in the character of Sinon, but emphasizes the concepts of lying and deception, which are associated with the metaphor of the serpent. Speaking lying, Sinone takes on the characteristics of Virgil's serpent images. While Sinon's acting was very convincing in favor of bringing the horse within the city walls, two real sea serpents serve to complete the ruse and convince the Trojans to accept the horse. Even though Laocon was the only man whose understanding of the horse's true nature was correct, the twin serpents kill him and his two sons. "Laocon had paid... For the desecration of the sacred carcass." (II:308-310) Because he had hurled a spear at the horse in contempt before being attacked, the Trojans assumed that the horse was a divine object protected by the gods, and so felt obliged to drag it into the city. The men become so blinded by Sinon's lies and the deceitful behavior of the serpents, that they fail to notice "four times when the arms/ In the belly thrown together made a sound," (II:325-6) each time the horse stops. Unbeknownst to these men was the fact that these serpents were an omen representing the total destruction of their city. In describing the death of Laocon and his sons, Virgil prepares the reader for the serpent that will mark the death of Troy itself. The serpent that destroys the city is not a real serpent, but the wooden horse, which Virgil endows with serpent-like qualities. He describes its movement: “Deadly, pregnant with foes, the horse / Crawled upward towards the breach.” (II: 317-318) Like a poisonous serpent loaded with deadly offspring, the deceptive device moves in the heart of the city of Troy. The horse has taken on the role of the twin serpents, while Troy, whose destruction is imminent, takes on the role of Laocon and his sons. Virgil uses the serpent image one last time in Book II lending serpentine qualities to the Danaan Pyrrhus, who appears to Aeneas, "Like a serpent, hidden, swelling beneath the earth... Renewed and shining, rolling slippery coils, With the raised belly rearing towards the sun And the trembling triple tongue." (II:614-619) This description of Pyrrhus foreshadows future death as it is this same Greek who becomes the downfall of Priam and his son Polits, "That was the end of the age of Priam, the fate that took him away ." (II: 722-723) Virgil subtly prepares the reader to expect the worst from Pyrrhus' actions because up until that point, every serpent image encountered by the reader has been followed by death and destruction. Sinon's lies, the sea serpents, the wooden horse, and Pyrrhus all reflect the.