Polydore, here murdered with many arrows, from which a bush has grown, nourished with my blood.”  These words recalled to the recollection of Aeneas that Polydore was a young prince of Troy, whom his father had sent with ample treasures to the neighboring land of Thrace, to be there brought up, at a distance from the horrors of war.  The king to whom he was sent had murdered him and seized his treasures.  Aeneas and his companions, considering the land accursed by the stain of such a crime, hastened away.

They next landed on the island of Delos, which was once a floating island, till Jupiter fastened it by adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea.  Apollo and Diana were born there, and the island was sacred to Apollo.  Here Aeneas consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received an answer, ambiguous as usual,—­“Seek your ancient mother; there the race of Aeneas shall dwell, and reduce all other nations to their sway.”  The Trojans heard with joy and immediately began to ask one another, “Where is the spot intended by the oracle?” Anchises remembered that there was a tradition that their forefathers came from Crete and thither they resolved to steer.  They arrived at Crete and began to build their city, but sickness broke out among them, and the fields that they had planted failed to yield a crop.  In this gloomy aspect of affairs Aeneas was warned in a dream to leave the country and seek a western land, called Hesperia, whence Dardanus, the true founder of the Trojan race, had originally migrated.  To Hesperia, now called Italy, therefore, they directed their future course, and not till after many adventures and the lapse of time sufficient to carry a modern navigator several times round the world, did they arrive there.

Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies.  These were disgusting birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and faces pale with hunger.  They were sent by the gods to torment a certain Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight, in punishment of his cruelty; and whenever a meal was placed before him the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off.  They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, and took refuge in the island where Aeneas now found them.

When they entered the port the Trojans saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain.  They slew as many as they wished and prepared for a feast.  But no sooner had they seated themselves at the table than a horrible clamor was heard in the air, and a flock of these odious harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and flying away with it.  Aeneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose, for they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and their feathers were like armor impenetrable to steel.  One of them, perched on a neighboring cliff, screamed out, “Is it thus, Trojans, you treat us innocent