Chapter 2 - Page 2

the sons of captives, went in pursuit of them, with such forces
as he could gather, and met them on the banks of the Achelous, where
Brutus got the advantage, and took the king captive. The result was,
that the terms demanded by the Trojans were granted; the king gave his
daughter Imogen in marriage to Brutus, and furnished shipping,
money, and fit provision for them all to depart from the land.
The marriage being solemnized, and shipping from all parts got
together, the Trojans, in a fleet of no less than three hundred and
twenty sail, betook themselves to the sea. On the third day they
arrived at a certain island, which they found destitute of
inhabitants, though there were appearances of former habitation, and
among the ruins a temple of Diana. Brutus, here performing sacrifice
at the shrine of the goddess, invoked an oracle for his guidance, in
these lines:- "Goddess of shades, and huntress, who at will
Walk'st on the rolling sphere, and through the deep;
On thy third realm, the earth, look now and tell
What land, what seat of rest, thou bidd'st me seek;
What certain seat where I may worship thee
For aye, with temples vowed and virgin choirs." To whom, sleeping before the altar, Diana, in a vision thus
answered:- "Brutus! far to the west, in the ocean wide,
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,
Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt of old;
Now, void, it fits thy people: thither bend
Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat;
There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,
And kings be born of thee, whose dreaded might
Shall save the world, and conquer nations bold." Brutus, guided now, as he thought, by Divine direction, sped his
course towards the west, and, arriving at a place on the Tyrrhene sea,
found there the descendants of certain Trojans who with Antenor came
into Italy, of whom Corineus was the chief. These joined company,
and the ships pursued their way till they arrived at the mouth of
the river Loire, in France, where the expedition landed, with a view
to a settlement, but were so rudely assaulted by the inhabitants
that they put to sea again, and arrived at a part of the coast of
Britain now called Devonshire, where Brutus felt convinced that he had
found the promised end of his voyage, landed his colony, and took
possession.
The island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert
and inhospitable, occupied only by a remnant of the giant race whose
excessive force and tyranny had destroyed the others. The Trojans
encountered these and extirpated them, Corineus in particular
signalizing himself by his exploits against them; from whom Cornwall
takes its name, for that region fell to his lot, and there the
hugest giants dwelt, lurking in rocks and caves, till