utter consternation, at finding that his wife was gone.
He mourned and lamented this dreadful calamity with loud exclamations
of grief and despair; then reflecting that it was a time for action
and not for idle grief, he hastened to conceal his father and Ascanius
in a dark and winding valley behind the hill, and leaving them there
under the charge of his domestics, he hastened back to the city to
see if Creusa could be found.

He armed himself completely before he went, being in his desperation
determined to encounter every danger in his attempts to find and to
recover his beloved wife. He went directly to the gate from which he
had come out, and re-entering the city there, he began to retrace, as
well as he could, the way that he had taken in coming out of the
city--guiding himself as he went, by the light of the flames which
rose up here and there from the burning buildings.

He went on in this way in a desperate state of agitation and distress,
searching everywhere but seeing nothing of Creusa. At length he
thought it possible that she had concluded, when she found herself
separated from him, to go back to the house, as the safest place of
refuge for her, and he determined, accordingly, to go and seek her
there. This was his last hope, and most cruelly was it disappointed
when he came to the place of his dwelling.

He found his house, when he arrived near the spot, all in flames. The
surrounding buildings were burning too, and the streets in the
neighborhood were piled up with furniture and goods which the
wretched inmates of the dwellings had vainly endeavored to save. These
inmates themselves were standing around, distracted with grief and
terror, and gazing hopelessly upon the scene of devastation before
them.

AEneas saw all these things at a glance, and immediately, in a phrensy
of excitement, began to call out Creusa's name. He went to and fro
among the groups surrounding the fire, calling for her in a frantic
manner, and imploring all whom he saw to give him some tidings of her.
All was, however, in vain. She could not be found. AEneas then went
roaming about through other portions of the city, seeking her
everywhere, and inquiring for her of every person whom he met that had
the appearance of being a friend. His suspense, however, was
terminated at last by his suddenly coming upon an apparition of the
spirit of Creusa, which rose before him in a solitary part of the
city, and arrested his progress. The