The good man’s days to Sibyl’s books compare,
The price still rising as in number less.”
THETIS BEARING THE ARMOR OF ACHILLES.
From painting by François Gerard.
CIRCE AND THE FRIENDS OF ULYSSES.
From painting by Briton Rivière.
CHAPTER XXXIII
CAMILLA—EVANDER—NISUS AND EURYALUS—MEZENTIUS—TURNUS
Æneas, having parted from the Sibyl and rejoined his fleet, coasted along the shores of Italy and cast anchor in the mouth of the Tiber. The poet, having brought his hero to this spot, the destined termination of his wanderings, invokes his Muse to tell him the situation of things at that eventful moment. Latinus, third in descent from Saturn, ruled the country. He was now old and had no male descendant, but had one charming daughter, Lavinia, who was sought in marriage by many neighboring chiefs, one of whom, Turnus, king of the Rutulians, was favored by the wishes of her parents. But Latinus had been warned in a dream by his father Faunus, that the destined husband of Lavinia should come from a foreign land. From that union should spring a race destined to subdue the world.