Chapter 24 - Page 2

aspect of affairs, AEneas was warned in a dream to leave
the country, and seek a western land, called Hesperia, whence
Dardanus, the true founder of the Trojan race, had originally
migrated. To Hesperia, now called Italy, therefore, they
directed their future course, and not till after many adventures
and the lapse of time sufficient to carry a modern navigator
several times round the world, did they arrive there. Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies: "__________The daughters of the earth and sea,
The dreadful snatchers, who like women were
Down to the breast, with scanty coarse black hair
About their heads, and dim eyes ringed with red,
And bestial mouths set round with lips of lead,
But from their gnarled necks there began to spring
Half hair, half feathers, and a sweeping wing
Grew out instead of arm on either side,
And thick plumes underneath the breast did hide
The place where joined the fearful natures twain.
Gray-feathered were they else, with many a stain
Of blood thereon, and on birds' claws they went.
Morris: Life and Death of Jason The Harpies had been sent by the gods to torment a certain
Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight in punishment of
his cruelty; and whenever a meal was placed before him, the
Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were
driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic
expedition, and took refuge in the island where AEneas now found
them. When they entered the port the Trojans saw herds of cattle
roaming over the plain. They slew as many as they wished, and
prepared for a feast. But no sooner had they seated themselves
at the table, than a horrible clamor was heard in the air, and a
flock of odious Harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in
their talons the meat from the dishes, and flying away with it.
AEneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous
blows among the monsters, but to no purpose, for they were so
nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and their feathers
were like armor impenetrable to steel. One of them, perched on a
neighboring cliff, screamed out, "Is it thus, Trojans, you treat
us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle, and then make war
on ourselves?" She then predicted dire sufferings to them in
their future course, and having vented her wrath flew away. The
Trojans made haste to leave the country, and next found
themselves coasting along the shore of Epirus. Here they landed,
and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who
had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers of the
country. Andromache, the widow of Hector, became the wife of one
of the victorious Grecian chiefs, to whom she bore a son. Her
husband dying, she