Summary

Chapter 1, "Calliope", introduces us to Calliope, the goddess of poetry. She is being entreated by a poet, an old man wearing a “beautiful gold brooch”, to give him her divine inspiration (2). She is weary of poets, their demands upon her, and their countless, repetitive stories of war and woe: she is ‘not in the mood to be a muse today’ (1). Even so, she reluctantly agrees to help him. But at a price: "I will give him his words when he gives me that brooch" (2).

Chapter 2, "Creusa", drops us right into the heart of the sack of Troy. Creusa wakes up to a "deafening crack" (3). Looking around her house, she discovers that her husband, the Trojan hero Aeneas, and their son Euryleon have disappeared. She realizes that the city is on fire. Frightened and alone, Creusa questions where her husband could be. Has he...