ll of hope, and passed in and out
again among the gleaming islands of the AEgean, till at last they
came to Crete. There they disembarked, and began to build a city.
The houses were rising, the citadel was almost ready, the fields were
planted and sown, and the young men were seeking wives, when suddenly
the crops were stricken by a blight and the men by a pestilence.
Surely, they thought, this could not be the home promised them by
Apollo. In this distress Anchises bade his son return to Delos and
implore the gods to vouchsafe further counsel.
At night AEneas lay down to rest, troubled by many anxieties, when
suddenly he was roused by the moonlight streaming through the window
and illuminating the images of the Trojan gods. It seemed as though
they opened their lips and spoke to him. "All that Apollo would have
told you at Delos, we may declare to you here, for he has given us a
message to you. We followed your arms after the burning of Troy,
and traversed the ocean under your guidance, and we shall raise your
descendants to the stars and give dominion to their city. But do not
seek it here. These are not the shores that Apollo assigns you, nor
may Crete be your abiding place. Far to the west lies the land which
the Greeks called Hesperia, but which now bears the name of Italy.
There is our destined home; thence came Dardanus, our great ancestor
and the father of our race."
Amazed at this vision, AEneas sprang up and lifted his hands to heaven
in prayer. Then he hastened to tell Anchises of this strange event.
They resolved to tarry no longer, but turning their backs on the
rising walls they drew their ships down to the sea again, and once
more set forth in search of a new country.
Now they sailed towards the west, and rounded the south of Greece into
the Ionian Sea. But a storm drove them out of their course, and the
darkness was so thick that they could not tell night from day, and the
helmsman, Palinurus, knew not whither he was steering. Thus they were
tossed about aimlessly for three days and nights, till at last they
saw land ahead and, lowering their sails, rowed safely into a quiet
harbor. Not a human being was in sight, but herds of cattle grazed on
the pastures, and goats sported untended on the rocks. Here was even
food in plenty for hungry men. They killed oxen and goats, and made
ready a feast for themselves, and a sacrifice for the gods. The repast
was prepared, and AEneas and his comrades were abou
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