The marriage being solemnized, and shipping from all parts got together,
the Trojans, in a fleet of no less than three hundred and twenty sail,
betook themselves to the sea. On the third day they arrived at a certain
island, which they found destitute of inhabitants, though there were
appearances of former habitation, and among the ruins a temple of Diana.
Brutus, here performing sacrifice at the shrine of the goddess, invoked
an oracle for his guidance, in these lines:
“Goddess of shades, and huntress, who at will
Walk’st on the rolling sphere, and through the deep;
On thy third realm, the earth, look now, and tell
What land, what seat of rest, thou bidd’st me seek;
What certain seat where I may worship thee
For aye, with temples vowed and virgin choirs.”
To whom, sleeping before the altar, Diana in a vision thus answered:
“Brutus! far to the west, in the ocean wide,
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,
Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt of old;
Now, void, it fits thy people: thither bend
Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat;
There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,
And kings be born of thee, whose dreaded might
Shall awe the world, and conquer nations bold.”
Brutus, guided now, as he thought, by divine direction, sped his course
towards the west, and, arriving at a place on the Tyrrhene sea, found
there the descendants of certain Trojans who, with Antenor, came into
Italy, of whom Corineus was the chief. These joined company, and the
ships pursued their way till they arrived at the mouth of the river
Loire, in France, where the expedition landed, with a view to a
settlement, but were so rudely assaulted by the inhabitants that they
put to sea again, and arrived at a part of the coast of Britain, now
called Devonshire, where Brutus felt convinced that he had found the
promised end of his voyage, landed his colony, and took possession.
The island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and
inhospitable, occupied only by a remnant of the giant race whose
excessive force and tyranny had destroyed the others. The Trojans
encountered these and extirpated them, Corineus, in particular,
signalizing himself by his exploits against them; from whom Cornwall
takes its name, for that region fell to his lot, and there the hugest
giants dwelt, lurking in rocks and caves, till Corineus rid the land of
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account