Story of Aeneas

g with them the images of their household gods and of the "great gods" of their nation. The first land they touched was the coast of Thrace, not far from Tr

the top of which was a grove of myrtle, bristling with thick-clustering, spear-like shoots. Wishing to have some of those plants to decorate his altars, AEneas pulled one up from the ground, whereupon he beheld drops of blood oozing from the torn roots. Though horrified at th

ur pious hands. It is from no tree- trunk that the blood comes. Quit this barbarous land with all speed.

ans might be defeated, had sent him for protection to the court of the king of Thrace. At the same time he sent the greater part of his treasures, including a large sum of money, to be tak

ivine and

oins the conq

us hands o

y force the

gold! abhor

men to slake

, AEneid,

om a land polluted by so black a crime. But first they performed funeral rites on the grave of Polydorus, erecti

offerings, and AEneas prayed to the god to tell them in what country they might find a resting place and a home. Scarcely had the prayer been finished when the temple and the earth itself seemed to quake, whereupon the Trojans prostrated themselves in lowly reverence upon the ground, and pre

ing in his mind the legends of the men of old," remembered having heard that one of his ancestors, Teu'cer, (the father-in-law of Dardanus), had come from the island of Crete. Believing, therefore, that

eptune, an

l to bright

e, the western

lack, to calm

AEneid,

ich AEneas called Per'ga-mus, the name of the famous citadel or fort of Troy. But here a new misfortune came upo

man's fe

d skies a s

crops a poi

pestilence

, AEneid,

in which the household gods whose images he had carried with him from Troy, appeared to him, and told him that Crete was not the land

is, Hesperia

ruitful, and t

ns held it once

'li-a, from the

re, and Darda

came, and thith

re with these gl

for Jove denie

AEneid,

the Land of the West. But scarcely had they lost sight of the shore when a terrible storm arose which drove them out of their course, and for three days and nights the light of heave

. When the Trojans landed they saw herds of oxen and flocks of goats grazing in the fields. They killed some of them and prepared a feast upon the shore, and having first, in accordance with their invariable custom, made offerings to the gods, they proceeded "to banq

tain-tops wit

wings, the hung

meat, defilin

ave a loathsome

AEneid,

roof against wounds. One of them, however, remained behind, and perching on a rock, cried out in words of anger against the intruders. "Do you dare, base Trojans," said she, "to make war upon us after killing our oxen? Do you dare to drive the Harpies from the place which is their own? Listen then to what I h

l enemy of their country, AEneas and his companions sailed past, and they continued their voyage until they reached the rocky island of Leu-ca'di-a on the coast of E-pi'rus, where there was another temple of Apollo. Here they landed, rejoicing that they had steered safely by so many cities of their enemies, for since leaving Crete their rout

S WON FROM THE C

y towards the city, impatient to greet his kindred and to know how they had come to be there. It happened that just then Andromache was offering sacrifice on a tomb which she had erected outside the walls to the memory of Hector. Seeing AEneas approach she at once recognized him, but she was so overcome with surprise that for some time she was unable to utter a wor

ing their stay. Helenus, besides being a king and the son of a king, was a famous soothsayer, so AEneas begged him to exercise his powers of prophecy on behalf of himself and his people. Helenus readily complied with the request. After offering the usual sacrifices to the go

ady shelte

margin of a

hold a sow up

cking young en

fspring white a

ity shall thei

l end thy labo

AEneid,

rned his countrymen to shun the strait between Italy and Sicily, where on one side was the frightful monster Scyl'la, with the face of a woman and the tail of a dolphin, and on the other was the dangerous whirlpool Cha-ryb'dis

aves had to be taken up very carefully and quickly, for if they were scattered about by the wind, it would be impossible to put them in order again, so as to read them or understand their meaning. Helenus, therefore, directed AEneas to re

chises of valuable things in gold and silver, and he sent pilots to the ships, and horses and a

country being inhabited by Greeks, they made haste to depart, and taking their course southward, they passed by the Bay of Ta-ren'tum and down the coast until they came to the entrance of the strait now called Messina. This was a point of danger, for the loud roaring of the sea warned them that they were not far from the terrible Charybdis. Quickly Palinurus turned his ship to the left, and, all the others following, made

ey say, trans

imbs came tumb

ll, the avengi

hill, and on

he turns his

d isle, and smoke,

AEneid,

g after their arrival, the Trojans were surprised to see a stranger running forth from the woods, and with arms outstretched imploring their protection. Being asked who he was, he said he was a Greek, and that his name was Ach-e-men'ides. He had been at Troy with Ulysses

things to go unpunished, for when the giant lay asleep, gorged with food, and made drunk with wine, (which Ulysses had given him) we, having prayed to the gods, and arranged by lo

months he lived on berries in the woods. He now warned the Trojans to depart from the island with all speed, fo

vast as Poly

e this hated

ves they shut t

herds on tops o

y strides they stalk

AEneid,

his flocks. A horrid monster he was, "huge, awful, hideous, ghastly, blind." In his hand he carried the trunk of a pine t

of their oars, the blind giant stretched out his hands in the direction of the sound, seeking to seize his enemies, as he took them to be. But the Trojans had got beyond hi

e lifts a mo

shudder thro

s base the I

uns through A

nd woods the

forth, and c

g fierce we

age, a hi

f AEtna, c

ing summits

, AEneid,

and coming to the north-west extremity of the island, they put ashore at Drep'a-num. Here AEneas met with

ess labors

ms and driven

ather, spent wi

res, and sola

thousand toils,

who my future

eatest and the w

eno, whose fo

else, was sile

AEneid,