excutior somno et summi fastigia tectiascensu supero atque arrectis auribus asto:in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus Austrisincidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrens sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque laborespraecipitisque trahit silvas; stupet inscius altoaccipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor.tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescuntinsidiae. iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinamVolcano superante domus, iam proximus ardetUcalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent.exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum.Virgil displays Aeneas' shock first through imagery and simile and then through direct description of what is happening in Troy. He opens the passage with a violent verb excutior to describe how Aeneas wakes up; this evokes Aeneas' confusion at learning Troy has been invaded and is also reminiscent of shaking off enemy intruders. He follows this with a twofold analogy of fire destroying a field of crops and a river wrecking the hard work of a farmer, a nightmarish scene that may have made Aeneas wonder if he were still dreaming. The fire imagery is obviously pertinent because, as we learn in the second part of the passage, Troy itself is currently on fire, but the much longer analogy evokes more creatively the flood of Greek soldiers pouring into the city and despoiling the majesty of Troy described in Book 1 of the Aeneid and earlier in book 2. The subject of the simile pastor, is postponed till the very end of the sentence, giving the reader time to appreciate the sheer scale of destruction in the simile before revealing how personally devastating this moment is to Aeneas, who is often described in the Aeneid and Iliad as 'shepherd of his people'.Virgil follows this extended simile with a string of short factual sentences designed to shock the reader. The houses of key Trojan heroes are reported as destroyed, and these lines like the preceding ones are narrated in the historic present to give a sense of vividness and urgency. Again, the short final sentence of the passage describing a typical scene of war provides a shocking contrast to the celebrations of peace from earlier in Aenied 2, a disorientating turn of events for both Aeneas and the reader. Although the Trojan War has been long and arduous, it is suddenly being concluded not as the result of a fierce battle but an abrupt invasion in the middle of the night that is almost over before the Trojans realise it has started. Both the simile and the vivid historic narrative convey the disorientation and shock of such a sudden and disastrous development.