XVI. 'Twas all; the sally, as we heard it, sealed
Our toils. Æneas caught it, as it flew,
And hushed them, marvelling at the sign revealed.
"Hail! land," he cries, "long destined for our due.
Hail, household deities, to Troy still true!
Here lies our home. Thus, thus, I mind the hour,
[Anchises brought Fate's hidden things to view:]
'My son, when famine on an unknown shore		136
Shall make thee, failing food, the very boards devour,
XVII. "'Then, worn and wearied, look to find a home,
And build thy walls, and bank them with a mound.'
This was that famine; this the last to come
Of all our woes, the woful term to bound.
Come then, at daybreak search the land around
(Each from the harbour separate let us fare)
And see what folk, and where their town, be found,
Now pour to Jove libations, and with prayer		145
Invoke Anchises' shade, and back the wine-cups bear."

XVIII. So saying, his brows he garlands, and with prayer
Invokes the Genius whom the place doth own,
And Earth, first Goddess, and the Nymphs who there
Inhabit, and the rivers yet unknown,
Night and the stars that glitter in her zone
He calls to aid him, and Idæan Jove,
And [Phrygia's Mother] on her heavenly throne,
And last, his parent deities to move,		154
Invokes his sire below and mother queen above.
XIX. Thrice Jove omnipotent from Heaven's blue height
Thunders aloud, and flashes in the skies
A cloud ablaze with rays of golden light.
'Tis come—so Rumour through the Trojans flies—
The day to bid their promised walls arise.
Cheered by the mighty omen and the sign,
They spread the feast, and each with other vies
To range the goblets and to wreath the wine,		163
And gladdening hearts rejoice to greet the day divine.

XX. Soon as the morrow bathed the world once more
In dawning light, by separate ways they fare
To search the town, the frontiers and the shore.
Here is Numicius' fountain, Tiber there,
Here dwell the Latins. Then Anchises' heir
Choice spokesmen to the monarch's city sends,
Five score, their peaceful errand to declare,
And royal presents to their charge commends,		172
And bids them claim of right the welcome due to friends.
XXI. At once the heralds hearken and obey,
And each and all, with rapid steps, and crowned
With Pallas' olive, hasten on their way.
Himself with shallow trench marks out the ground,
And, camp-like, girds with bastions and a mound
The new-formed settlement. Meanwhile the train
Of delegates their journey's end have found,
And greet with joy, uprising o'er the plain,		181
The Latin towers and homes, and now the walls attain.
XXII. Before the city, boys and youths contend
On horseback. Through the whirling dust they steer
Their chariots and the practised steeds, or bend
The tight-strung bow, or aim the limber spear,
Or urge fist-combat or the foot's career.
Now to their king a message quick has flown;
Tall men and strange, in foreign garb are here.
Latinus summons them within: anon,		190
Amidmost of his court he mounts the ancestral throne.
XXIII. Raised on a hundred columns, vast and tall,
Above the city reared its reverend head
A stately fabric, once the palace-hall
Of Picus. Dark woods shrouded, and the dread
Of ages filled, the precinct. Here, 'tis said,
Kings took the sceptre and the axe of fate,
Their senate house this temple; here were spread
The tables for the sacred feast, where sate,		199
What time the ram was slain, the elders of the State.