Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/213

A Seat secure, a Region of their own,
A lasting Empire, and a happier Town.
Where shall we fix, where shall our Labours end,
Whom shall we follow, and what Fate attend?
Let not my Pray'rs a doubtful Answer find, 120
But in clear Auguries unveil thy Mind.
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$Scarce had I said, He shook the Holy Ground:
The Lawrels, and the lofty Hills around:
And from the Tripos rush'd a bellowing Sound.
Prostrate we fell; confess'd the present God, 125
Who gave this Answer from his dark Abode.
Undaunted Youths, go seek that Mother Earth
From which your Ancestors derive their Birth.
The Soil that sent you forth, her Ancient Race,
In her old Bosom, shall again embrace. 130
Through the wide World th' Æneian House shall reign,
And Childrens Children shall the Crown sustain.
Thus Phœbus did our future Fates disclose;
A mighty Tumult, mix'd with Joy, arose.
All are concern'd to know what place the God 135
Assign'd, and where determin'd our abode.
My Father, long revolving in his Mind,
The Race and Lineage of the Trojan Kind,
Thus aswer'd their demands: Ye Princes, hear
Your pleasing Fortune; and dispel your fear. 140
The fruitful Isle of Crete well known to Fame,
Sacred of old to Jove's Imperial Name,