The Aeneid -- Book II -- "Ilium Was"

Was reading through book two in preparation for my test on Thursday and I came across this passage again:

…gemitu cum talia reddit:

'uenit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus

Dardaniae. fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens

gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Iuppiter Argos

transtulit; incensa Danai dominantur in urbe.

…when with a groan he replied:

‘The highest day and inescapable time has come

To the Dardanians. We have been Trojans, Ilium was, and the great

Glory of Troy; fierce Jupiter has transferred all to the

Greeks; burning Greeks hold sway in the city.

(Bk. II.323-327)

There is something about the line:

“We have been Trojans, Ilium was, and the great glory of Troy”

I’m not sure what it is that is so arresting about this line, maybe its the concept of finiteness. That so great a power, a people, can in a moment be wiped away. And yet, they never really died, at least not in thought since they are still remembered and supposedly carried their line into Rome.