Act III. _Æneas_ is sleeping in his tent. A distant sound of strife

awakens him. _Hector's Ghost_ appears to him. Troy is lost; far away, to Italy, must _Æneas_ go, there to found a new kingdom. The _Ghost_ disappears. The priest, _Pantheus_, rushes in, bleeding from wounds. He announces that Greeks have come out of the belly of the horse and have opened the gates of the city to the Greek army. Troy is in flames. _Æneas_ goes forth to place himself at the head of his men.

The scene changes to the vestal sanctuary in _Priam's_ palace. To the women gathered in prayer _Cassandra_ announces that _Æneas_ has succeeded in saving the treasure and covering a retreat to Mount Ida. But her _Choroebus_ has fallen and she desires to live no longer. Shall she become the slave of a Greek? She paints the fate of the captive woman in such lurid colours that they decide to go to death with her. Just as the Greeks rush in, the women stab themselves, and grief overcomes even the hardened warriors.