Accordingly they set out again full of hope, and passed in and out again among the gleaming islands of the AEgean, till at last they came to Crete.  There they disembarked, and began to build a city.  The houses were rising, the citadel was almost ready, the fields were planted and sown, and the young men were seeking wives, when suddenly the crops were stricken by a blight and the men by a pestilence.  Surely, they thought, this could not be the home promised them by Apollo.  In this distress Anchises bade his son return to Delos and implore the gods to vouchsafe further counsel.

At night AEneas lay down to rest, troubled by many anxieties, when suddenly he was roused by the moonlight streaming through the window and illuminating the images of the Trojan gods.  It seemed as though they opened their lips and spoke to him.  “All that Apollo would have told you at Delos, we may declare to you here, for he has given us a message to you.  We followed your arms after the burning of Troy, and traversed the ocean under your guidance, and we shall raise your descendants to the stars and give dominion to their city.  But do not seek it here.  These are not the shores that Apollo assigns you, nor may Crete be your abiding place.  Far to the west lies the land which the Greeks called Hesperia, but which now bears the name of Italy.  There is our destined home; thence came Dardanus, our great ancestor and the father of our race.”

Amazed at this vision, AEneas sprang up and lifted his hands to heaven in prayer.  Then he hastened to tell Anchises of this strange event.  They resolved to tarry no longer, but turning their backs on the rising walls they drew their ships down to the sea again, and once more set forth in search of a new country.

Now they sailed towards the west, and rounded the south of Greece into the Ionian Sea.  But a storm drove them out of their course, and the darkness was so thick that they could not tell night from day, and the helmsman, Palinurus, knew not whither he was steering.  Thus they were tossed about aimlessly for three days and nights, till at last they saw land ahead and, lowering their sails, rowed safely into a quiet harbor.  Not a human being was in sight, but herds of cattle grazed on the pastures, and goats sported untended on the rocks.  Here was even food in plenty for hungry men.  They killed oxen and goats, and made ready a feast for themselves, and a sacrifice for the gods.  The repast was prepared, and AEneas and his comrades were about to enjoy it, when a sound of rustling wings was heard all round them.  Horrible creatures, half birds, half women, with long talons and cruel beaks, swooped down on the tables and carried off the food before the eyes of the terrified banqueters.  These were the Harpies, who had once been sent to plague King Phineus, and when they were driven away by two of the Argonauts, Zetes and Calais, took refuge in these islands.  In vain the Trojans attacked