Hesperian shore, where Lydian Tiber flows softly through a good land and a fertile.  There shalt thou have great prosperity, and take to thyself a wife of royal race.  Weep not, then, for Creusa, whom thou lovest, nor think that I shall be carried away to be a bond-slave to some Grecian woman.  Such fate befits not a daughter of Dardanus and daughter-in-law of Venus.  The mighty mother of the Gods keepeth me in this land to serve her.  And now, farewell, and love the young Ascanius, even thy son and mine.”

[Illustration:  AND AS HE SPAKE HE PUT A CLOAK OF LION’S SKIN UPON HIS SHOULDERS, AND THE OLD MAN SAT THEREON.  ASCANIUS ALSO LAID HOLD OF HIS HAND, AND CREUSA FOLLOWED BEHIND.  SO HE WENT IN MUCH DREAD AND TREMBLING, FOR INDEED BEFORE SWORD AND SPEAR OF THE ENEMY HE HAD NOT FEARED, BUT NOW HE FEARED MUCH FOR THEM THAT WERE WITH HIM]

So spake the spirit, and when AEneas wept and would have spoken, vanished out of his sight.  Thrice he would have cast his arms about her neck, and thrice the image mocked him, being thin as air and fleeting as a dream.  Then, the night being now spent, he sought his comrades, and found with much joy and wonder that a great company of men and women were gathered together, and were willing, all of them, to follow him whithersoever he went.  And now the morning star rose over Mount Ida, and AEneas, seeing that the Greeks held the city, and that there was no longer any hope of succor, went his way to the mountains, taking with him his father.

AENEAS’S ADVENTURE WITH THE HARPIES

By Charles Henry Hanson

    [For three days the vessels of AEneas were tossed about by terrible
    storm winds.]

At last, on the fourth day, the fury of the storm abated, and they came in sight of land,—­at first lofty mountains, and afterwards, as they drew nearer, rich grassy plains, on which the wanderers saw herds of cattle and flocks of goats grazing without a keeper.  As soon as the storm-beaten vessels could be brought to the shore, the Trojans hastened to land, and slaughtered some of the cattle, preparing a luxurious banquet.  But this they were not destined to enjoy in peace; for scarcely had they stretched themselves on the couches they had hurriedly prepared beside the food when there was a sudden rushing of wings, and three ghastly creatures swooped down upon the feast, devoured a large part of it, and so defiled the rest with their loathsome touch that very little was eatable.  These were the Harpies, and by their appearance AEneas knew that he and his companions had arrived at the Strophades, two islands in the Ionian Sea which for many years had been given up to the monsters.  They were fearful of aspect:  down to the breast they resembled women, with scanty black hair and glaring red-rimmed eyes, and on their faces ever a famine-stricken look; but they had wings instead of arms, and their bodies and lower limbs were those