Of ancient love, their plighted hands they join. Then to the temple of the god I went, And thus, before the shrine, my vows present:-- "Give, O Thymbræus! give a resting place To the sad reliques of the Trojan race; A seat secure, a region of their own, A lasting empire, and a happier town. Where shall we fix? where shall our labours end? Whom shall we follow, and what fate attend? Let not my prayers a doubtful answer find; But in clear auguries unveil thy mind." Scarce had I said: he shook the holy ground, } The laurels, and the lofty hills around; } And from the tripos rushed a bellowing sound. } Prostrate we fell; confessed the present god, Who gave this answer from his dark abode:-- "Undaunted youths! go, seek that mother earth From which your ancestors derive their birth. The soil that sent you forth, her ancient race, In her old bosom, shall again embrace. Through the wide world the Æneian house shall reign, And children's children shall the crown sustain." Thus Phœbus did our future fates disclose: A mighty tumult, mixed with joy, arose. All are concerned to know what place the god Assigned, and where determined our abode. My father, long revolving in his mind The race and lineage of the Trojan kind, Thus answered their demands:--"Ye princes, hear Your pleasing fortune, and dispel your fear. The fruitful isle of Crete, well known to fame, Sacred of old to Jove's imperial name, In the mid ocean lies, with large command, And on its plains a hundred cities stand. Another Ida rises there, and we From thence derive our Trojan ancestry. From thence, as 'tis divulged by certain fame, To the Rhœtean shores old Teucer came; There fixed, and there the seat of empire chose, Ere Ilium and the Trojan towers arose. In humble vales they built their soft abodes, } Till Cybele, the mother of the gods, } With tinkling cymbals charmed the Idæan woods. } She secret rites and ceremonies taught, And to the yoke the savage lions brought. Let us the land, which heaven appoints, explore; Appease the winds, and seek the Gnosian shore. If Jove assists the passage of our fleet, The third propitious dawn discovers Crete." Thus having said, the sacrifices, laid On smoking altars, to the gods he paid-- 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. Ere this, a flying rumour had been spread, That fierce Idomeneus from Crete was fled, Expelled and exiled; that the coast was free From foreign or domestic enemy. We leave the Delian ports, and put to sea; By Naxos, famed for vintage, make our way; Then green Donysa pass; and sail in sight Of Paros' isle, with marble quarries white. We pass the scattered isles of Cyclades,