After they set sail, the south wind again blew softly,
carrying them on to the place they sought. As they went, they passed
by the island where Circe lived. She used to sit all day and weave on
her loom. As she sat, she sang with a very sweet voice. If any traveler
went in to see who it was that sang so sweetly, she would give him a
cup of wine. But this wine was poisoned, and when the man had drunk
it, Circe would wave a wand over his head, and he became a beast: a
lion, a bear, a wolf, or a pig. The Trojans, as they sailed by, heard
these creatures growling and roaring. But Neptune made the wind blow
more strongly, so that they passed very quickly by, for he was afraid
that they might come to some harm.
After a time, they came to a place where there was a great woods along the shore, and in the midst of the woods, a river called Tiber. Here they brought their ships to land. Aeneas, his son Ascanius, and some of the Trojans got out on to the shore and sat down under one of the trees to have their dinner. They made plates of dough, and on these they put such fruits as they could find. It was but a scanty meal, and when they had eaten all the fruits they were still hungry. Then they began to break up their platters of dough and to eat them. Ascanius began to laugh. "What are we doing? Do we even eat our tables?"
When Aeneas heard these words, he was very glad, and he caught his son in his arms and kissed him, saying, "Now this is a good word that you have said! Long ago that dreadful creature, the Harpy, said that some day we should be so pressed by hunger that we would eat our tables. My father also prophesied that when we did this, we might know that we had indeed come to the land where we were to have a home. And now, this has come to pass. This is our home, and as for the hunger which I feared, lo! We have endured it, and are yet alive!"
The country to which they had come was called Latium,
and the name of the king was Latinus. Latinus was the great-grandson of
the god, Saturn. Saturn was the king of gods and men until his son, Jupiter,
turned him out. Saturn then fled to Italy where he set up a kingdom and
reigned in peace and happiness.
King Latinus had no son. He only had a daughter, named Lavinia, who was
now of age to be married. Many chiefs of Italy wanted to marry her, but
her mother, the queen, liked a certain young man, Turnus, the best. He
was a good soldier and also the son of a king. King Latinus almost consented
to have Turnus for a son-in-law, but the wise men, the priests and the
prophets told Latinus that the gods did not wish for Turnus to marry Lavinia.
They predicted that one day strangers would come to his land and that
their king would marry his daughter.
Aeneas learned of these predictions when he questioned people of the country upon his arrival. “I will send an embassy to this King Latinus, and beg of him that there be peace between his people and my people. But lest by chance either he or any one of the princes hereabouts should seek to do us harm, I will provide a place of defense.” So he chose a hundred men who should be ambassadors for him, and put crowns of olive on their heads, and sent them with gifts in their hands to the king. When these had set out, he marked out a place for a camp, and he commanded the people to work as hard as they could, making it strong with a mound and a ditch.
The ambassadors, going on their way to the city, came to a great plain where the young men of the place were amusing themselves with contests and games. As soon as the Trojans were seen, one of the horsemen rode as fast as he could to the city, and told the king, “Some men in strange clothes have come, desiring to see you.” Latinus said: “Bring them before me.” And he put on his king’s robes, and sat on his throne.
King Latinus said, "Men of Troy, tell me why you have come to this land."
The chief of the ambassadors answered, "O king, we have not wondered out of our way, nor have storms driven us to this coast. We have come here on purpose. I doubt, not, O king, that you know how we were driven out of our own country. Who, indeed, is there on the whole face of the earth who does not know what a great destroying storm came out from the land of Greece and laid the great city of Troy even with the ground? What we ask of you, O king, is a parcel of ground on which we may build a city to dwell in; also that we may breathe the air and drink the water of this land. Be sure, O king, that we shall do no harm to this country, and that you will not be sorry for having received us. Of truth, many nations have desired for us to join them. But the gods laid a command upon us that we should come to this land of Italy. We pray you, O king, to receive these gifts which our lord Aeneas sends by our hands. This is the scepter which King Priam used to hold in his hand when he did justice among his people. These garments the ladies of Troy worked with their own hands."
The king replied, “May the gods grant peace and friendship between us and you. We grant, men of Troy, the things for which you ask – a parcel of ground, and air and water. We also thank your king for his gifts. As for your king, Aeneas, if he wishes to be our friend, let him come and look upon us, face to face. Take also this message to him: ‘I have a daughter, whom the gods forbid me to marry to any prince of this land. For they say that there shall come a stranger from over the sea to be my son-in-law, and that from him shall come a race which shall raise the name of Italy even to the stars of heaven.’”
Then Latinus said to his people, “Bring forth horses for these men.” Now there stood in the king’s stable three hundred horses, the swiftest of their kind: of these the servants brought forth a hundred, one for every Trojan. All of them had trappings of purple and bits of gold. To Aeneas himself the king sent a chariot drawn by two horses, which were of the breed of the horses of the Sun. So the ambassadors went back to the camp with noble gifts and a message of peace.
When Juno saw that the Trojans were come to the land of
Italy, and that they were building houses in which to dwell, and that
King Latinus was showing them no little kindness, she said to herself,
“So this wicked race has vanquished me. The flames of the burning
city of Troy did not destroy them, nor did the sea swallow them up. They
have come unharmed to the river Tiber, to the very place which they desired.
Ah, but there is something I can do. The gods of heaven will not help
me, so I shall go to the powers of hell. I shall see that he buys his
kingdom at a great price – the blood of Italy and the blood of Troy.”
Juno went down to the lower parts of the earth, and called to her Alecto,
one of the Furies, who loved anger and war and treachery, and all evil
and hateful things. Juno said to her, “Daughter of Night, I have
suffered a wrong and disgrace. A man whom I hate, Aeneas, desires to have
a kingdom in Italy. Keep him from it. He wishes to have Lavinia, the daughter
of King Latinus. See that he does not. Break this peace that the Latins
and Trojans are making.”
Alecto went to the palace of Latinus. She found the queen, Amata, in great anger. She did not wish to have Aeneas for her son-in-law. She wanted her daughter to marry Prince Turnus. The Fury thought, “The queen hates Aeneas already. I will turn her hatred into madness.” So she took a snake out of her hair and thrust it upon the queen. The evil beast crept about her so the poison got into her heart, then changed itself into a collar of gold around her neck, poisoning her very breath.
