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What guide to follow? what our goal?
Speak, father, and inspire our soul.'
Scarce had I said, a trembling takes
The sacred courts, the bays divine,
The mountain to its centre shakes,
The tripod echoes from the shrine:
Prone as we fall with reverent fear,
A heavenly utterance strikes our ear:
'Stout Dardan hearts, the realm of earth
Where first your nation sprang to birth,
That realm shall now receive you back:
Go, seek your ancient mother's track.
There shall Æneas' house, renewed
For ages, rule a world subdued.'
Thus Phœbus: and bewildered joy
Ran murmuring through the ranks of Troy,
Each asking, what the city walls
Whereto the God his wanderers calls.
At this my sire, revolving o'er
The bygone memories of yore,
'Hear, noble chiefs, and learn,' cries he,
'The place of your expectancy.
In ocean lies Jove's island, Crete,
Where Ida stands, our nation's seat.
A hundred cities crown the isle,
And the broad fields with plenty smile.
Thence Teucer, our great sire, of yore
Took ship for the Rhœtean shore,
If right I mind my tale,
And chose his kingdom: Ilium then
Not yet had risen: the tribes of men
Dwelt in the lowly vale.
Thence Cybele's majestic dame
And Corybantian cymbals came,
Thence Ida's grove, and mystic awe,
And lions, trained her car to draw.