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At the close of the Trojan war,1 AEneas retired with a company of Trojans, whoescaped from the city with him, and, after a great variety of adventures, whichVirgil has related, he landed and settled in Italy. Here, in process of time, he had agrandson named Silvius, who had a son named Brutus, Brutus being thus AEneas'sgreat-grandson.One day, while Brutus was hunting in the forests, he accidentally killed his fatherwith an arrow. His father was at that time King of Alba-a region of Italy near thespot on which Rome was subsequently built-and the accident brought Brutusunder such suspicions, and exposed him to such dangers, that he fled from thecountry. After various wanderings he at last reached Greece, where he collected anumber of Trojan followers, whom he found roaming about the country, andformed them into an army. With this half-savage force he attacked a king of thecountry named Pandrasus. Brutus was successful in the war, and Pandrasus wastaken prisoner. This compelled Pandrasus to sue for peace, and peace wasconcluded on the following very extraordinary terms: Pandrasus was to give Brutus his daughter Imogena for a wife, and a fleet of shipsas her dowry. Brutus, on the other hand, was to take his wife and all his followerson board of his fleet, and sail away and seek a home in some other quarter of theglobe. This plan of a monarch’s purchasing his own ransom and peace for his realmfrom a band of roaming robbers, by offering the leader of them his daughter for awife, however strange to our ideas, was very characteristic of the times. Imogenamust have found it a hard alternative to choose between such a husband and sucha father.Brutus, with his fleet and his bride, betook themselves to sea, and within a shorttime landed on a deserted island, where they found the ruins of a city. Here therewas an ancient temple of Diana, and an image of the goddess, which image wasendued with the power of uttering oracular responses to those who consulted itwith proper ceremonies and forms. Brutus consulted this oracle on the question inwhat land he should find a place of final settlement.
