Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
STORY OF AENEAS
BY
M. CLARKE
Author of "Story Of Troy," "Story Of Caesar"
1898
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION
I. VERGIL, THE PRINCE OP POETS
II. THE GODS AND GODDESSES
I. THE WOODEN HORSE
II. AENEAS LEAVES TROY--THE HARPIES--PROPHESY OF HELENUS-THE
GIANT POLYPHEMUS
III. A GREAT STORM--ARRIVAL IN CARTHAGE
IV. DIDO'S LOVE--THE FUNERAL GAMES--SHIPS BURNED BY THE WOMEN
V. THE SIBYL OF CUMAE--THE GOLDEN BOUGH--IN THE REGIONS OF THE
DEAD
VI. AENEAS ARRIVES IN LATIUM--WELCOMED BY KING LATINUS
VII. ALLIANCE WITH EVANDER--VULCAN MAKES ARMS FOR AENEAS--THE
FAMOUS SHIELD
VIII. TURNUS ATTACKS THE TROJAN CAMP--NISUS AND EURYALUS
IX. THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS--RETURN OF AENEAS--BATTLE ON THE
SHORE--DEATH OF PALLAS
X. FUNERAL OF PALLAS--AENEAS AND TURNUS FIGHT--TURNUS IS SLAIN
[Illustration: Map, captioned: "MAP SHOWING THE WANDERINGS OF AENEAS",
extending from 10 degrees to 30 degrees east longitude, and centered
on 40 degrees north latitude.]
INTRODUCTION.
I. VERGIL, THE PRINCE OF LATIN POETS.
The story of AE-ne'as, as related by the Roman poet Ver'gil in his
celebrated poem called the AE-ne'id, which we are to tell about in
this book, is one of the most interesting of the myths or legends that
have come down to us from ancient authors.
Vergil lived in the time of the Roman Emperor Au-gus'tus (63 B. C.--14
A. D.), grand-nephew and successor of Ju'li-us Cae'sar. Augustus and
his chief counsellor or minister Mae-ce'nas, gave great encouragement
to learning and learned men, and under their liberal patronage arose a
number of eminent writers to whose works has been given the name of
classics, as being of the highest rank or _class_. The period is known
as the Augustan Age, a phrase also used in reference to periods in the
history of other countries, in which literature reached its highest
perfection. Thus the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) is called the
Augustan age of English literature, because of the number of literary
men who flourished in England in that period, and the excellence of
their works.
Vergil was the greatest of the poets of ancient Rome, and with the
exception of Ho'mer, the greatest of the poets of antiquity. From a
very early period, almost from the age in which he lived, he was
called the Prince of Latin Poets. His full name was Pub'li-us
Ver-gil'i-us Ma'ro. He was born about seventy years before Christ,
in the village of An'des (now Pi-e'to-le), near the town of Man'tu-a
in the north of Italy. His father was the owner of a small estate,
which he farmed himself. Though of moderate means, he gave his son a
good education. Young Vergil spent his boyhood at school at Cre-mo'na
and Milan. He completed his studies at Naples, where he read the Greek
and Latin authors, and acquired a knowledge of mathematics, natural
philosophy, and medical science. He afterwards returned to Mantua, and
resided there for a few years, enjoying the quiet of country life at
the family homestead.
About this time the Emperor Augustus was engaged in a war against a
powerful party of his own countrymen, led by a famous Roman named
Bru'tus. In the year 42 B.C. he defeated Brutus in a great battle,
which put an end to the war. He afterwards rewarded many of his troops
by dividing among them lands in the neighborhood of Mantua, and in
other parts of Italy, dispossessing the owners for having sided with
his enemies. Though Vergil had taken no part in the struggle, his farm
was allotted to one of the imperial soldiers. But this was the
beginning of his greatness. Through the friendship of the governor of
Mantua, he was introduced to Maecenas, and afterwards to Augustus, who
gave orders that his property should be restored to him.
Thus Vergil became known to the first men of Rome. He expressed his
gratitude to the emperor in one of a series of poems called Pastorals
or Bu-col'ics, words which mean shepherds' songs, or songs descriptive
of life in the country. These poems, though among Vergil's earliest
productions, were highly applauded in Rome. They were so much esteemed
that portions of them were recited in the theatre in the author's
presence, and the audience were so delighted that they all rose to
their feet, an honor which it was customary to pay only to Augustus
himself. Vergil also wrote a poem called the Geor'gics, the subject of
which is agriculture, the breeding of cattle, and the culture of bees.
This is said to be the most perfect in finish of all Latin
compositions. The AEneid is, however, regarded as the greatest of
Vergil's works. The writing of it occupied the last eleven years of
the poet's life.
Vergil died at Brun-di'si-um, in south Italy, in the fifty-first year
of his age. He was buried near Naples, by the side of the public road,
a few miles outside that city, where what is said to be his tomb is
still to be seen. Of his character as a man we are enabled to form an
agreeable idea from all that is known about him. He was modest, gentle
and of a remarkable sweetness of disposition. Although living in the
highest society while in Rome, he never forgot his old friends. He was
a dutiful and affectionate son, and liberally shared his good fortune
with his aged parents.
As a poet, Vergil was not only the greatest that Rome produced, but
the most popular. His poems, particularly the AEneid, were the
favorite reading of his countrymen. They became a text-book in the
Roman schools. The "little Romans," we are told, studied the AEneid
from their master's dictation, and wrote compositions upon its heroes.
And not alone in Italy but throughout the world wherever learning
extended, the AEneid became popular, and has retained its popularity
down to our own time, being still a text-book in every school where
Latin is taught.
There are many excellent translations of the AEneid into English. In
this book we make numerous quotations from the translation by the
English poet Dryden, and from the later work by the eminent Latin
scholar Conington.
SPELLING OF THE POET'S NAME.
The spelling of the poet's name adopted in this book is now believed
to be preferable to the form V_i_rgil which has for a long time been
in common use. Many of the best Latin scholars are of opinion that the
proper spelling is V_e_rgil from the Latin V_e_rgilius, as the poet
himself wrote it. "As to the fact," says Professor Frieze, "that the
poet called himself Vergilius, scholars are now universally agreed. It
is the form found in all the earliest manuscripts and inscriptions. In
England and America the corrected Latin form is used by all the best
authorities."
II. THE GODS AND GODDESSES.
It is said that Vergil wrote the AEneid at the request of the Emperor
Augustus, whose family--the Ju'li-i--claimed the honor of being
descended from AEneas, through his son I-u'lus or Ju'lus. All the
Romans, indeed, were fond of claiming descent from the heroes whom
tradition told of as having landed in Italy with AEneas after escaping
from the ruins of Troy. The city of Troy, or Il'i-um, so celebrated in
ancient song and story, was situated on the coast of Asia Minor, not
far from the entrance to what is now the Sea of Mar'mo-ra. It was
besieged for ten years by a vast army of the Greeks (natives of Greece
or Hel'las) under one of their kings called Ag-a-mem'non. Homer, the
greatest of the ancient poets, tells about this siege in his famous
poem, the Il'i-ad. We shall see later on how the siege was brought to
an end by the capture and destruction of the city, as well as how
AEneas escaped, and what afterwards happened to him and his
companions.
Meanwhile we must learn something about the gods and goddesses who
play so important a part in the story. At almost every stage of the
adventures of AEneas, as of the adventures of all ancient heroes, we
find a god or a goddess controlling or directing affairs, or in some
way mixed up with the course of events.
According to the religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans there were
a great many gods. They believed that all parts of the universe--the
heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the seas and rivers, and
storms--were ruled by different gods. Those beings it was supposed,
were in some respects like men and women. They needed food and drink
and sleep; they married and had children; and like poor mortals they
often had quarrels among themselves. Their food was am-bro'si-a, which
gave them immortality and perpetual youth, and their drink was a
delicious wine called nectar.
The gods often visited men and even accepted their hospitality.
Sometimes they married human beings, and the sons of such marriages
were the demigods or heroes of antiquity. AEneas was one of those
heroes, his mother being the goddess Ve'nus, of whom we shall hear
much in the course of our Story.
Though the gods never died, being immortal, they might be wounded and
suffer bodily pain like men. They often took part in the quarrels and
wars of people on earth, and they had weapons and armor, after the
manner of earthly warriors. But they were vastly superior to men in
strength and power. They could travel through the skies, or upon land
or ocean, with the speed of lightning, and they could change
themselves into any form, or make themselves visible or invisible at
pleasure.
The usual residence of the principal gods was on the top of Mount
O-lym'pus, in Greece. Here they had golden palaces and a chamber where
they held grand banquets at which celestial music was rendered by
A-pol'lo, the god of minstrelsy, and the Muses, who were the
divinities of poetry and song.
Splendid temples were erected to the gods in all the chief cities,
where they were worshiped with many ceremonies. Valuable gifts in gold
and silver were presented at their shrines, and at their altars
animals were killed and portions of the flesh burned as sacrifices.
Such offerings were thought to be very pleasing to the gods.
The head or king of the gods was Ju'pi-ter, also called Jove or Zeus.
He was the great Thunderer, at whose word the heavens trembled.
He, whose all conscious eyes the world behold,
The eternal Thunderer sat enthroned in gold.
High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes,
And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes.
HOMER, _Iliad_, BOOK VIII.
The wife of Jupiter, and the queen of heaven, was Ju'no, who, as we
shall see, persecuted the hero AEneas with "unrelenting hate."
Nep'tune, represented as bearing in his hand a trident, or three-
pronged fork, was the god of the sea.
Neptune, the mighty marine god,
Earth's mover, and the fruitless ocean's king.
HOMER
Mars was the god of war, and Plu'to, often called Dis or Ha'des, was
the god of the lower or "infernal" regions, and hence also the god of
the dead. One of the most glorious and beautiful of the gods was
Apollo, god of the sun, of medicine, music, poetry, and all fine arts.
Bright-hair'd Apollo!--thou who ever art
A blessing to the world--whose mighty heart
Forever pours out love, and light, and life;
Thou, at whose glance, all things of earth are rife
With happiness.
PIKE.
[Illustration: A ROMAN AUGUR.]
Another of the famous divinities of the ancients was Venus, the
goddess of beauty and love. According to some of the myths she was the
daughter of Jupiter. Others say that she sprang from the foam of the
sea.
These and countless other imaginary beings were believed in as deities
under the religious system of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and every
unusual or striking event was thought to be caused by some god or
goddess.
The will of the gods, it was supposed, was made known to men in
different ways--by dreams, by the flight of birds, or by a direct
message from Olympus. Very often it was learned by consulting seers,
augurs or soothsayers. These were persons believed to have the power
of prophecy. There was a famous temple of Apollo at Delphi, in Greece,
where a priestess called Pyth'i-a gave answers, or oracles, to those
who came to consult her. The name oracle was also applied to the place
where such answers were received. There were a great many oracles in
ancient times, but that at Delphi was the most celebrated.
STORY OF AENEAS.
I. THE WOODEN HORSE,
The gods, of course, had much to do with the siege and fall of Troy,
as well as with the sufferings of Aeneas, which Vergil describes in
the AEneid. There were gods and goddesses on both sides in the great
conflict. Some were for the Tro'jans, others for the Greeks, and some
had their favorites among the heroes and warriors who fought on one
side or the other. Two very powerful goddesses, Juno and Mi-ner'va
(the goddess of wisdom, also called Pallas), hated the Trojans because
of the famous "judgment of Pa'ris," which came about in this way--.
A king of Athens named Pe'leus married a beautiful sea-nymph named
The'tis. All the gods and goddesses were present at the wedding feast
except E'ris, the goddess of discord. She was not invited, and being
angry on that account, she resolved to cause dissension among the
guests. With this object she threw into the midst of the assembly a
golden apple bearing the inscription, "For the most beautiful."
Immediately a dispute arose as to which of the goddesses was entitled
to the prize, but at last all gave up their claim except Juno, Venus,
and Minerva, and they agreed to leave the settlement of the question
to Paris, son of Pri'am, King of Troy, a young prince who was noted
for the wisdom of his judgments upon several occasions.
The three goddesses soon afterwards appeared before Paris, and each
endeavored by the offer of tempting bribes, to induce him to decide in
her favor. Juno promised him great power and wealth.
She to Paris made
Proffer of royal power, ample rule
Unquestion'd.
TENNYSON.
Minerva offered military glory, and Venus promised that she would give
him the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife. After hearing
their claims and promises, Paris gave the apple to Venus. This award
or judgment brought upon him and his family, and all the Trojans, the
hatred of the two other goddesses, particularly of Juno, who, being
the queen of heaven, had expected that the preference, as a matter of
course would be given to her.
But besides the judgment of Paris, there was another cause of Juno's
anger against Troy. She had heard of a decree of the Fates that a race
descended from the Trojans was one day to destroy Carthage, a city in
which she was worshipped with much honor, and which she regarded with
great affection. She therefore hated Aeneas, through whom, as the
ancestor of the founders of Rome, the destruction of her beloved city
was to be brought about.
On account of this hatred of the Trojans, Juno persuaded her royal
husband, Jupiter, to consent to the downfall of Troy, and so the valor
of all its heroic defenders, of whom Aeneas was one, could not save it
from its fate, decreed by the king of the gods. Many famous warriors
fell during the long siege. Hec'tor, son of Priam, the greatest of the
Trojan champions, was slain by A-chil'les, the most valiant of the
Greeks, and Achilles was himself slain by Paris. After losing their
bravest leader the Greeks despaired of being able to take the city by
force, and so they resorted to stratagem. By the advice of Minerva
they erected a huge horse of wood on the plain in front of the walls,
and within its body they placed a chosen band of their boldest
warriors. Then pretending that they had given up the struggle, they
withdrew to their ships, and set sail, as if with the purpose of
returning to Greece. But they went no further than Ten'e-dos, an
island opposite Troy, a few miles from the coast.
"There was their fleet concealed. We thought for Greece
Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release.
The Trojans, cooped within their walls so long,
Unbar their gates and issue in a throng
Like swarming bees, and with delight survey
The camp deserted, where the Grecians lay:
The quarters of the several chiefs they showed:
Here Phoe'nix, here Achilles, made abode;
Here joined the battles; there the navy rode.
Part on the pile their wandering eyes employ--
The pile by Pallas raised to ruin Troy."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
The Trojans when they saw the big horse, could not think what it
meant, or what should be done with it. Various opinions were given.
Some thought it was a peace offering, and one chief proposed that it
should be dragged within the walls and placed in the citadel. Others
advised that it should be cast into the sea, or set on fire, or at
least that they ought to burst it open to find whether anything were
concealed within. While they were thus discussing the matter, some
urging one course, some another, the priest La-oc'o-on rushed out from
the city followed by a great crowd and he exclaimed in a loud voice:
"Unhappy fellow-countrymen, what madness is this? Are you so foolish
as to suppose that the enemy are gone, or that any offering of theirs
can be free from deception? Either Greeks are hidden in this horse, or
it is an engine designed for some evil to our city. Put no faith in
it, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they tender
gifts." Thus speaking, Laocoon hurled his spear into the horse's side.
His mighty spear he cast:
Quivering it stood: the sharp rebound
Shook the huge monster: and a sound
Through all its caverns passed.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
But at this point the attention of the multitude was attracted by the
appearance of a group of Trojan shepherds dragging along a prisoner
with his hands bound behind his back, who, they said, had delivered
himself up to them of his own accord. Being taken before King Priam,
and questioned as to who he was and whence he came, the stranger told
an artful story. He was a Greek, he said, and his name was Si'non. His
countrymen had long been weary of the war, and had often resolved to
return home, but were hindered by storms from making the attempt. And
when the wooden horse was built, the tempests raged and the thunder
rolled more than ever.
"Chiefly when completed stood
This horse, compact of maple wood,
Fierce thunders, pealing in our ears,
Proclaimed the turmoil of the spheres."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
Then the Greeks sent a messenger to the shrine of Apollo to inquire
how they might obtain a safe passage to their country. The answer was
that the life of a Greek must be sacrificed on the altar of the god.
All were horror-stricken by this announcement, for each feared that
the doom might fall upon himself.
"Through every heart a shudder ran,
'Apollo's victim--who the man?'"
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
The selection of the person to be the victim was left to Cal'chas, the
soothsayer, who fixed upon Sinon, and preparations were accordingly
made to sacrifice him on the altar of Apollo, but he contrived to
escape and conceal himself until the Grecian fleet had sailed.
"I fled, I own it, from the knife,
I broke my bands and ran for life,
And in a marsh lay that night
While they should sail, if sail they might."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
This was Sinon's story. The Trojans believed it and King Priam ordered
the prisoner to be released, and promised to give him protection in
Troy. "But tell me," said the king, "why did they make this horse? Was
it for a religious purpose or as an engine of war?" The treacherous
Sinon answered that the horse was intended as a peace offering to the
gods; that it had been built on the advice of Calchas, who had
directed that it should be made of immense size so that the Trojans
should not be able to drag it within their walls, "for," said he, "if
the men of Troy do any injury to the gift, evil will come upon the
kingdom of Priam, but if they bring it into their city, all Asia will
make war against Greece, arid on our children will come the
destruction which we would have brought upon Troy."
The Trojans believed this story also, and their belief was
strengthened by the terrible fate which just then befell Laocoon, who
a little before had pierced the side of the horse with his spear.
While the priest and his two sons were offering a sacrifice to Neptune
on the shore, two enormous serpents suddenly issued from the sea and
seized and crushed them to death in sight of the people. The Trojans
were filled with fear and astonishment at this spectacle, and they
regarded the event as a punishment from the gods upon Laocoon.
Who dared to harm with impious steel
Those planks of consecrated deal.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
Then a cry arose that the "peace offering" should be conveyed into the
city, and accordingly a great breach was made in the walls that for
ten years had resisted all the assaults of the Greeks, and by means of
rollers attached to its feet, and ropes tied around its limbs, the
horse was dragged into the citadel, the young men and maidens singing
songs of triumph. But in the midst of the rejoicing there were
portents of the approaching evil. Four times the huge figure halted on
the threshold of the gate, and four times it gave forth a sound from
within, as if of the clash of arms.
"Four times 'twas on the threshold stayed:
Four times the armor clashed and brayed.
Yet on we press with passion blind,
All forethought blotted from our mind,
Till the dread monster we install
Within the temple's tower-built wall."
CONINGTON. _AEneid_, BOOK II.
The prophetess Cas-san'dra, too, the daughter of King Priam, had
warned her countrymen of the doom that was certain to fall upon the
city if the horse were admitted. Her warning was, however,
disregarded. The fateful gift of the Greeks was placed in the citadel,
and the Trojans, thinking that their troubles were now over, and that
the enemy had departed to return no more, spent the rest of the day in
feasting and rejoicing.
But in the dead of the night, when they were all sunk in sleep, the
Greek fleet sailed back from Tenedos, and on King Agamemnon's ship a
bright light was shown, which was the signal to the false Sinon to
complete his work of treachery. Quickly he "unlocked the horse" and
forth from their hiding place came the armed Greek warriors. Among
them were the famous U-lys'ses, and Ne-op-tol'e-mus, son of the brave
Achilles, and Men-e-la'us, husband of the celebrated Hel'en whom
Paris, son of Priam, had carried off from Greece, which was the cause
of the war. Ulysses and his companions then rushed to the walls, and
after slaying the sentinels, threw open the gates of the city to the
main body of the Greeks who had by this time landed from their ships.
Thus Troy was taken.
And the long baffled legions, bursting in
Through gate and bastion, blunted sword and spear
With unresisted slaughter.
LEWIS MORRIS.
Meanwhile AEneas, sleeping in the house of his father, An-chi'ses, had
a dream in which the ghost of Hector appeared to him, shedding
abundant tears, and disfigured with wounds as when he had been dragged
around the walls of Troy behind the chariot of the victorious
Achilles. In a mournful voice, AEneas, seeming to forget that Hector
was dead, inquired why he had been so long absent from the defense of
his native city, and from what distant shores he had now returned. But
the spirit answered only by a solemn warning to AEneas, the "goddess-
born" (being the son of Venus) to save himself by immediate flight.
"O goddess-born! escape by timely flight,
The flames and horrors of this fatal night.
The foes already have possessed the wall;
Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall.
Enough is paid to Priam's royal name,
More than enough to duty and to fame.
If by a mortal hand my father's throne
Could be defended, 'twas by mine alone.
Now Troy to thee commends her future state,
And gives her gods companions of thy fate;
From their assistance, happier walls expect,
Which, wand'ring long, at last thou shalt erect."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Awaking from his sleep, AEneas was startled by the clash of arms and
by cries of battle, which he now heard on all sides. Rushing to the
roof of the house and gazing around, he saw the palaces of many of the
Trojan princes in flames, and he heard the shouts of the victorious
Greeks, and the blaring of their trumpets. Notwithstanding the warning
of Hector, he ran for his weapons.
Resolved on death, resolved to die in arms,
But first to gather friends, with them to oppose
(If fortune favored) and repel the foes.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
At the door, as he was going forth to join the combat, he met the
Trojan Pan'thus, a priest of Apollo, who had just escaped by flight
from the swords of the Greeks. In reply to the questions of AEneas,
the priest told him, in words of grief and despair, that Troy's last
day had come.
"'Tis come, our fated day of death.
We have been Trojans; Troy has been;
She sat, but sits no more, a queen;
Stern Jove an Argive rule proclaims;
Greece holds a city wrapt in flames.
There in the bosom of the town
The tall horse rains invasion down,
And Sinon, with a conqueror's pride,
Deals fiery havoc far and wide.
Some keep the gates, as vast a host
As ever left Myce'nae's coast;
Some block the narrows of the street,
With weapons threatening all they meet;
The stark sword stretches o'er the way,
Quick-glancing, ready drawn to slay,
While scarce our sentinels resist,
And battle in the flickering mist."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
As Panthus ceased speaking, several Trojan chiefs came up, and eagerly
joined AEneas in resolving to make a last desperate attempt to save
their native city. Together they rushed into the thick of the fight.
Some were slain, and some with Aeneas succeeded in forcing their way
to the palace of King Priam, where a fierce struggle was then raging.
Entering by a secret door, AEneas climbed to the roof, from which he
and the other brave defenders of the palace hurled stones and beams of
wood upon the enemy below. But all their heroic efforts were in vain.
In front of the principal gate, battering upon it with his huge
battle-axe, stood Neoptolemus (also called Pyr'rhus) the son of
Achilles. Soon its posts, though plated with bronze, gave way before
his mighty strokes, and a great breach was made, through which the
Greeks poured into the stately halls of the Trojan king. Then there
was a scene of wild confusion and terror.
The house is filled with loud laments and cries
And shrieks of women rend the vaulted skies.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_ BOOK II.
The aged king when he saw that the enemy was beneath his roof, put on
his armor "long disused," and was about to rush forth to meet the foe,
but Hec'u-ba, his queen, persuaded him to take refuge with her in a
court of the palace in which were placed the altars of their gods.
Here he was shortly afterwards cruelly slain by Pyrrhus.
Thus Priam fell, and shared one common fate
With Troy in ashes, and his ruined state;
He, who the scepter of all Asia swayed,
Whom monarchs like domestic slaves obeyed.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
There being now no hope to save the city, the thoughts of AEneas
turned to his own home where he had left his father Anchises, his wife
Cre-u'sa (daughter of King Priam) and his son Iulus (also named
As-ca'ni-us). Making his way thither with the purpose of providing for
their safety, he espied Helen, the "common scourge of Greece and
Troy," sitting in the porch of the temple of the goddess Ves'ta.
Enraged at the sight of the woman who had been the cause of so many
woes to his country, AEneas was about to slay her on the spot, but at
that moment his mother Venus appeared to him in the midst of a bright
light.
Great in her charms, as when on gods above
She looks, and breathes herself into their love.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK II.
Taking the hero by the hand as he was in the act of raising his sword
to strike Helen, the goddess thus rebuked him: "What is it that
excites your anger now, my son? Where is your regard for me? Have you
forgotten your father Anchises and your wife and little son? They
would have been killed by the Greeks if I had not cared for them and
saved them. It is not Helen or Paris that has laid low this great city
of Troy, but the wrath of the gods. See now, for I will take away the
mist that covers your mortal eyes; see how Neptune with his trident is
overthrowing the walls and rooting up the city from its foundations;
and how Juno stands with spear and shield in the Scae'an Gate, and
calls fresh hosts from the ships; and how Pallas sits on the height
with the storm-cloud about her; and how Father Jupiter himself stirs
up the enemy against Troy. Fly, therefore, my son. I myself will guard
you till you stand before your father's door."
The goddess then disappeared and AEneas quickly proceeded to obey her
command. Hastening home he resolved to take his aged father to a place
of safety in the hills beyond the city, but the old man refused to go.
"You, who are young and strong," said he, "may go, but I shall remain
here, for if it had been the will of the gods that I should live, they
would have preserved my home."
"Now leave me: be your farewell said
To this my corpse, and count me dead."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK II
Nor could all the entreaties of his son and wife move him from his
resolution. Then AEneas, in grief and despair, was about to rush back
to the battle, which still raged in the city, preferring to die rather
than to go and leave his father behind. But at this moment a bright
flame as if of fire was seen to play around the head of the boy Iulus,
and send forth beams of light. Alarmed as well as surprised at the
spectacle, AEneas was about to extinguish the flames by water, when
Anchises cried out that it was a sign from heaven that he should
accompany his family in their flight from the city.
This pretty story, it is said, was meant by Vergil as a compliment to
Augustus, the idea intended to be conveyed being that the seal of
sovereign power was thus early set upon the founder of the great house
of Julius.
[Illustration: AEneas carrying his father out of Troy. (Drawn by
Varian.)]
The gods seeming thus to ordain the immediate departure of the hero
and his family, they all speedily set forth, AEneas carrying his
father on his shoulders, while Iulus walked by his side, and Creusa
followed at some distance. They had arranged to meet at a ruined
temple outside the city, where they were to be joined by their
servants, but when they reached the place, it was discovered that
Creusa had disappeared. Great was the grief of Aeneas. In agony he
hastened back to the city in search of his wife. Coming to his
father's palace, he found it already in flames. Then he hurried on
through the streets, in his distress calling aloud the name of Creusa.
Suddenly her figure started up before him, larger than when in life,
for it was her spirit he saw. Appalled at the sight, Aeneas stood in
silence gazing at the apparition while it thus spoke:
"Beloved husband, why do you give way to grief? What has happened is
by the decree of heaven. It was not the will of the gods that I should
accompany you. You have a long journey to make, and a wide extent of
sea to cross, before you reach the shores of Hes-pe'ri-a, where the
Ti'ber flows in gentle course through the rich fields of a warlike
race. There prosperity awaits you, and you shall take to yourself a
wife of a royal line. Weep not for me. The mother of the gods keeps me
in this land to serve her. And now farewell, and fail not to love and
watch over our son."
Then the form of Creusa melted into air, and the sorrowing husband
returned to the place where his father and son awaited him. There he
found a number of his fellow-citizens prepared to follow him into
exile. They first took refuge in the forests of Mount I'da, not far
from the ruined city. In this place they spent the winter, and they
built a fleet of ships at An-tan'dros, a coast town at the foot of the
mountain.
"Near old Antandros, and at Ida's foot,
The timber of the sacred groves we cut,
And build our fleet-uncertain yet to find
What place the gods for our repose assigned."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
It is remarkable that Vergil does not tell how Creusa came by her
death. Apparently we are left to infer that she was killed by the
Greeks.
II. AENEAS LEAVES TROY--THE HARPIES--PROPHECY OF HELENUS-THE GIANT
POLYPHEMUS.
In the early days of summer--the fleet being ready and all
preparations complete--Anchises gave the order for departure, and so
they set sail, piously carrying 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 Troy. AEneas
thought he would build a city and make a settlement here, as the
country had been, from early times, connected by ties of friendship
with his own. To obtain the blessing of heaven on an undertaking of
such importance, he set about performing religious services in honor
of his mother Venus and the other gods, sacrificing a snow-white bull
as an offering to Jupiter. Close by the place there happened to be a
little hill, on 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 the sight he plucked another bough, and again blood oozed
out as before. Then praying to the gods to save himself and his people
from whatever evil there might be in the omen, he proceeded to tear up
a third shoot, when from out the earth at his feet a voice uttered
these words:
"O, AEneas! why do you tear an unhappy wretch? Spare me, now that I am
in my grave; forbear to pollute your pious hands. It is from no tree-
trunk that the blood comes. Quit this barbarous land with all speed.
Know that I am Pol-y-do'rus. Here I was slain by many arrows, which
have taken root and grown into a tree."
Deep was the horror of AEneas while he listened to this dreadful
story, for he knew that Polydorus was one of the younger sons of
Priam. Early in the war, his father, fearing that the Trojans 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 taken care of by the king till
the war should be over. But as soon as the Thracian monarch heard of
the fall of Troy he treacherously slew the young prince and seized all
his father's treasure.
False to divine and human laws,
The traitor joins the conqueror's cause,
Lays impious hands on Polydore,
And grasps by force the golden store.
Fell lust of gold! abhorred, accurst!
What will not men to slake such thirst?
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
When AEneas related this story to his father and the other Trojan
chiefs, they all agreed to depart forthwith from a land polluted by so
black a crime. But first they performed funeral rites on the grave of
Polydorus, erecting two altars which they decked with cypress wreaths,
the emblem of mourning, and offering sacrifices to the gods.
Soon afterwards, the winds being favorable, they set sail, and in a
few days reached De'los, one of the isles of Greece, where there was a
famous temple of Apollo. A'ni-us, the king of the island, and a priest
of Apollo, gave them a hospitable reception. In the great temple they
made suitable 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 presently they heard a voice saying:
"Brave sons of Dar'da-nus, the land which gave birth to your ancestors
shall again receive your race in its fertile bosom. Seek out your
ancient mother. There the house of AEneas shall rule over every coast,
and his children's children and their descendants."
The answers or oracles of the gods were often given in mysterious
words, as in the present case. AEneas and his companions did not know
what land was meant by the "ancient mother," but Anchises, "revolving
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 that was
the land referred to in the words of the oracle, they set sail, having
first sacrificed to Apollo, to Neptune, god of the ocean, and to the
god of storms, that their voyage might be favorable.
A bull to Neptune, an oblation due,
Another bull to bright Apollo slew;
A milk-white ewe, the western winds to please
And one coal-black, to calm the stormy seas.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
They arrived safely at Crete (now known as Can'di-a) where they
remained a considerable time and built a city which AEneas called
Per'ga-mus, the name of the famous citadel or fort of Troy. But here a
new misfortune came upon the exiles in the shape of a plague, which
threatened destruction to man and beast and the fruits of the field.
Sudden on man's feeble frame
From tainted skies a sickness came,
On trees and crops a poisonous breath,
A year of pestilence and death.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
Anchises now proposed that they should return to Delos, and again seek
the counsel and aid of Apollo, but that night AEneas had a dream 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
destined by the gods for him and his people. They also told him where
that Hesperia was, of which he had heard from the shade of Creusa.
"A land there is, Hesperia called of old,
(The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold--
The OE-no'tri-ans held it once,) by later fame
Now called I-ta'li-a, from the leader's name.
I-a'si-us there, and Dardanus, were born:
From thence we came, and thither must return.
Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet:
Search Italy: for Jove denies thee Crete."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
AEneas made haste to tell this dream to his father, whereupon the old
man advised that they should at once depart. So they quickly got their
ships in order and set sail for Hesperia--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 heaven was shut from their view. Even the great
Pal-i-nu'rus, the pilot of the ship of AEneas, "could not distinguish
night from day, or remember his true course in the midst of the wave."
On the fourth day, however, the storm ceased and soon the Trojans
sighted land in the distance. It was one of the islands of the Ionian
sea, called the Stroph'a-des. Here dwelt the Har'pies, monsters having
faces like women, and bodies, wings, and claws like vultures. 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 banquet on the rich
viands." But they had hardly begun their meal when the Harpies, with
noisy flapping of wings and fearful cries, swooped down upon them,
snatched off a great portion of the meat, and so spoiled the rest
with their unclean touch that it was unfit to eat.
From the mountain-tops with hideous cry,
And clattering wings, the hungry Harpies fly:
And snatch the meat, defiling all they find,
And parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
The Trojans got ready another meal and again sat down to eat, but the
Harpies again came down upon them as before, and did in like manner.
AEneas and his companions then resolved to fight, so they took their
swords and drove the foul monsters off, though they could not kill any
of them, for their skins were proof 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 have
to tell you, which the father of the gods revealed to Phoe'bus Apollo,
and Apollo revealed to me. Italy is the land you seek, and Italy you
shall reach; but you shall not build the walls of your city until dire
famine, visiting you because you have injured us, shall compel you to
devour even your tables."
This Harpy was named Ce-lae'no. When the Trojans heard her awful words
they prayed to the gods for protection, and then hastening to their
ships, they put to sea. They soon came near Ith'a-ca, the island
kingdom of Ulysses, the most skilful in stratagem of all the Greek
chiefs at the Trojan war. Cursing the land which gave birth to that
cruel 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 route
had been mostly along the Grecian coast. They spent the winter in
Leucadia, passing their leisure in games of wrestling and other
athletic exercises, which were the sports of warriors in those ancient
times. AEneas fastened to the door of the temple a shield of bronze--a
trophy he had carried away from Troy--and upon it he put the
inscription:
THIS ARMOR AENEAS WON FROM THE CONQUERING GREEKS.
In spring the wanderers again took to their ships, and sailing
northwards, close to the coast, they came to Bu-thro'tum in Epirus,
where they were surprised to learn that Hel'e-nus, son of Priam, was
king of the country and that his wife was Androm'-a-che, who had
formerly been wife of the famous Hector. AEneas having heard this upon
landing, proceeded without delay 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 word. As soon as
she recovered strength to speak she told AEneas that she had been
carried off from Troy by Pyrrhus, and that Pyrrhus had given her to
Helenus, after he himself had married Her-mi'o-ne, the daughter of the
famous Helen. She also told that on the death of Pyrrhus who had been
slain by O-res'tes, son of Agamemnon, part of his kingdom was given to
Helenus.
Meanwhile king Helenus having heard of the arrival of the Trojans came
out from the city to meet them, accompanied by a numerous train of
attendants. He affectionately greeted AEneas and his companions, and
invited them to his palace, where he hospitably entertained them during
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 gods, he told the Trojan chief that he had yet a long voyage to
make before reaching his destination, that the place in which he
should found his new kingdom was on the banks of a river, and that he
would know it by finding there a white sow, with a litter of thirty
young ones.
"In the shady shelter of a wood,
And near the margin of a gentle flood,
Thou shalt behold a sow upon the ground,
With thirty sucking young encompassed round
(The dam and offspring white as falling snow);
These on thy city shall their name bestow;
And there shall end thy labors and thy woe."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
As to the Harpy's dreadful prophecy that the Trojans would have to eat
their tables, Helenus bade AEneas not to be troubled about it, for
"the fates would find a way," and Apollo would be present to aid. Then
the soothsayer warned 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. But more important than all other
things, they must offer sacrifices and prayers to Juno, that her anger
might be turned away from them, for she it was who had hitherto
opposed all their efforts to reach their promised land.
Helenus also told them that on arriving in Italy they must seek out
and consult the famous Sib'yl of Cu'mas. This was a prophetess who
usually wrote her prophecies on leaves of trees, which she placed at
the entrance to her cave. These leaves 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
request the Sibyl to give her answers by word of mouth. She would do
so, he said, and tell him all that was to happen to him and his people
in Italy--the wars they would have to encounter, the dangers they were
to meet, and how to avoid them.
Thus Helenus prophesied and gave counsel to his kinsmen. Then he made
presents to AEneas and Anchises of valuable things in gold and silver,
and he sent pilots to the ships, and horses and arms for the men. And
Andromache gave embroidered robes to Ascanius and a cloak wrought in
gold.
Soon afterwards the wanderers bade farewell to their friends, and set
sail. Next day they came in sight of Italy, which they hailed with
loud shouts of rejoicing. It was the south-eastern point of the
peninsula, and as the Trojans approached it, they saw a harbor into
which they ran their ships. Here they went ashore and offered
sacrifices to Minerva, and also to Juno, remembering the advice of
Helenus. But that part of the 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 straight for the Sicilian
shore. Here they landed almost at the foot of AEtna, famous then as in
our own times as a volcano or burning mountain. Under this mountain,
according to an old legend, Jupiter imprisoned En-cel'a-dus, one of
the giants who had dared to make war against heaven, and as often as
the giant turned his weary sides, all Sicily trembled and the mountain
sent forth flames of fire and streams of molten lava.
Enceladus, they say, transfixed by Jove,
With blasted limbs came tumbling from above;
And when he fell, the avenging father drew
This flaming hill, and on his body threw.
As often as he turns his weary sides,
He shakes the solid isle, and smoke, the heavens hides.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
But beside the horrors of the "flaming hill" there was another danger
to which the Trojans were now exposed. Sicily was the land of the
terrible Cy'clops. These were fierce giants of immense size, with one
eye, huge and round, in the middle of their foreheads. The morning
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,
and was one of the companions of that famous warrior in his adventures
after the siege. In their wanderings they had come to Sicily and had
been in the very cave of Pol-y-phe'-mus, the largest and fiercest of
the Cyclops, who had killed several of the unfortunate Greeks.
"I myself," said Achemenides, "saw him seize two of our number and
break their bodies against a rock. I saw their limbs quivering between
his teeth. But Ulysses did not suffer such 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 lot what part each should perform, crowded around him and
with a sharp weapon bored out his eye, which was as large as the orb
of the sun, and so we avenged the death of our comrades."
But in their flight from the cave, after punishing Polyphemus, the
Greeks left Achemenides behind, and for three months he lived on
berries in the woods. He now warned the Trojans to depart from the
island with all speed, for, he said, a hundred other Cyclops, huge
and savage, dwelt on those shores, tending their flocks among the
hills.