ong
till they sight Mount AEtna (578-666). After a description of the
rescue of Achemenides and the escape from Polyphemus, the voyage and
the story end with the death of Anchises at Drepanum (667-819).

I. "When now the Gods have made proud Ilion fall,
And Asia's power and Priam's race renowned
O'erwhelmed in ruin undeserved, and all
Neptunian Troy lies smouldering on the ground,
In desert lands, to diverse exile bound,
Celestial portents bid us forth to fare;
Where Ida's heights above Antandros frowned,
A fleet we build, and gather crews, unware
Which way the Fates will lead, what home is ours and where.

II. "Scarce now the summer had begun, when straight
My father, old Anchises, gave command
To spread our canvas and to trust to Fate.
Weeping, I leave my native port, the land,
The fields where once the Trojan towers did stand,
And, homeless, launch upon the boundless brine,
Heart-broken outcast, with an exiled band,
Comrades, and son, and household gods divine,
And the great Gods of Troy, the guardians of our line.

III. "Far off there lies, with many a spacious plain,
The land of Mars, by Thracians tilled and sown,
Where stern Lycurgus whilom held his reign;
A hospitable shore, to Troy well-known,
Her home-gods leagued in union with our own,
While Fortune smiled. Hither, with fates malign,
I steer, and landing for our purposed town
The walls along the winding shore design,
And coin for them a name 'AEneadae' from mine.

IV. "Due rites to Venus and the gods I bore,
The work to favour, and a sleek, white steer
To Heaven's high King was slaughtering on the shore.
With cornel shrubs and many a prickly spear
Of myrtle crowned, it chanced a mound was near.
Thither I drew, and strove with eager hold
A green-leaved sapling from the soil to tear,
To shade with boughs the altars, when behold
A portent, weird to see and wondrous to unfold!

V. "Scarce the first stem uprooted, from the wood
Black drops distilled, and stained the earth with gore.
Cold horror shook me, in my veins the blood
Was chilled, and curdled with affright. Once more
A limber sapling from the soil I tore;
Once more, persisting, I resolved in mind
With inmost search the causes to explore
And probe the mystery that lurked behind;
Dark drops of blood once more come trickling from the rind.

VI. "Much-