Story of Aeneas | Page 7

and terror.
The house is filled with loud laments and cries And shrieks of women
rend the vaulted skies. DRYDEN, AEneid BOOK II.
The aged king when he saw that the enemy was beneath his roof, put on
his armor "long disused," and was about to rush forth to meet the foe,

but Hec'u-ba, his queen, persuaded him to take refuge with her in a
court of the palace in which were placed the altars of their gods. Here
he was shortly afterwards cruelly slain by Pyrrhus.
Thus Priam fell, and shared one common fate With Troy in ashes, and
his ruined state; He, who the scepter of all Asia swayed, Whom
monarchs like domestic slaves obeyed. DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK II.
There being now no hope to save the city, the thoughts of AEneas
turned to his own home where he had left his father Anchises, his wife
Cre-u'sa (daughter of King Priam) and his son Iulus (also named
As-ca'ni-us). Making his way thither with the purpose of providing for
their safety, he espied Helen, the "common scourge of Greece and
Troy," sitting in the porch of the temple of the goddess Ves'ta. Enraged
at the sight of the woman who had been the cause of so many woes to
his country, AEneas was about to slay her on the spot, but at that
moment his mother Venus appeared to him in the midst of a bright
light.
Great in her charms, as when on gods above She looks, and breathes
herself into their love. DRYDEN, AEneid, BOOK II.
Taking the hero by the hand as he was in the act of raising his sword to
strike Helen, the goddess thus rebuked him: "What is it that excites
your anger now, my son? Where is your regard for me? Have you
forgotten your father Anchises and your wife and little son? They
would have been killed by the Greeks if I had not cared for them and
saved them. It is not Helen or Paris that has laid low this great city of
Troy, but the wrath of the gods. See now, for I will take away the mist
that covers your mortal eyes; see how Neptune with his trident is
overthrowing the walls and rooting up the city from its foundations;
and how Juno stands with spear and shield in the Scae'an Gate, and
calls fresh hosts from the ships; and how Pallas sits on the height with
the storm-cloud about her; and how Father Jupiter himself stirs up the
enemy against Troy. Fly, therefore, my son. I myself will guard you till
you stand before your father's door."
The goddess then disappeared and AEneas quickly proceeded to obey
her command. Hastening home he resolved to take his aged father to a
place of safety in the hills beyond the city, but the old man refused to
go. "You, who are young and strong," said he, "may go, but I shall
remain here, for if it had been the will of the gods that I should live,

they would have preserved my home."
"Now leave me: be your farewell said To this my corpse, and count me
dead." CONINGTON, AEneid, BOOK II
Nor could all the entreaties of his son and wife move him from his
resolution. Then AEneas, in grief and despair, was about to rush back
to the battle, which still raged in the city, preferring to die rather than to
go and leave his father behind. But at this moment a bright flame as if
of fire was seen to play around the head of the boy Iulus, and send forth
beams of light. Alarmed as well as surprised at the spectacle, AEneas
was about to extinguish the flames by water, when Anchises cried out
that it was a sign from heaven that he should accompany his family in
their flight from the city.
This pretty story, it is said, was meant by Vergil as a compliment to
Augustus, the idea intended to be conveyed being that the seal of
sovereign power was thus early set upon the founder of the great house
of Julius.
[Illustration: AEneas carrying his father out of Troy. (Drawn by
Varian.)]
The gods seeming thus to ordain the immediate departure of the hero
and his family, they all speedily set forth, AEneas carrying his father on
his shoulders, while Iulus walked by his side, and Creusa followed at
some distance. They had arranged to meet at a ruined temple outside
the city, where they were to be joined by their servants, but when they
reached the place, it was discovered that Creusa had disappeared. Great
was the grief of Aeneas. In agony he hastened back to the city in search
of his wife. Coming to his father's palace, he found it already in