Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
Accordingly he held a council, and directed messengers to all the shores
of Greece, to get ships together; which done, he delivered them to the
Trojans, to the number of three hundred and twenty-four, laden with all
kinds of provision, and married his daughter to Brutus. He made also a
present of gold and silver to each man according to his quality. When
everything was performed the king was set at liberty; and the Trojans,
now released from his power, set sail with a fair wind. But Ignoge,
standing upon the stern of the ship, swooned away several times in
Brutus's arms, and with many sighs and tears lamented the leaving her
parents and country, nor ever turned her eyes from the shore while it
was in sight. Brutus, meanwhile, endeavoured to assuage her grief by
kind words and embraces intermixed with kisses, and ceased not from
these blandishments till she grew weary of crying and fell asleep.
During these and other accidents, the winds continued fair for two days
and a night together, when at length they arrived at a certain island
called Leogecia, which had been formerly wasted by the incursions of
pirates, and was then uninhabited. Brutus, not knowing this, sent three
hundred armed men ashore to see who inhabited it; but they finding
nobody, killed several kinds of wild beasts which they met with in the
groves and woods, and came to a desolate city, in which they found a
temple of Diana, and in it a statue of that goddess which gave answers
to those that came to consult her. At last, loading themselves with the
prey which they had taken in hunting, they return to their ships, and
give their companions an account of this country and city. Then they
advised their leader to go to the city, and after offering sacrifices,
to inquire of the deity of the place, what country was allotted them for
their place of settlement. To this proposal all assented; so that
Brutus, attended with Gerion, the augur, and twelve of the oldest men,
set forward to the temple, with all things necessary for the sacrifice.
Being arrived at the place, and presenting themselves before the shrine
with garlands about their temples, as the ancient rites required, they
made three fires to the three deities, Jupiter, Mercury, and Diana, and
offered sacrifices to each of them. Brutus himself, holding before the
altar of the goddess a consecrated vessel filled with wine, and the
blood of a white hart, with his face looking up to the image, broke
silence in these words:--
"Diva potens nemorum, terror sylvestribus apris;
Cui licet amfractus ire per æthereos,
Infernasque domos; terrestria jura resolve,
Et dic quas terras nos habitare velis?
Dic certam sedem qua te venerabor in ævum,
Qua tibi virgineis templa dicabo choris?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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