Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 1 (Greek and Roman).djvu/620

306 Italy and the glories of the great nation into which the exiles were destined to grow. Pondering these things in his heart, Aeneas pursued his way back to earth.

From Cumae Aeneas sailed northward until he cast anchor in the mouth of the Tiber off the coast of Latium at a time when the king of this country was Latinus, the son of Faunus and a grandson of Saturn. Recognizing in Aeneas the man who, according to a prophecy, was to be the husband of his only daughter, Lavinia, he entered into a political alliance with him and promised to make him his son-in-law, thereby annulling Lavinia's betrothal to Turnus, the king of the neighbouring Rutulians. Through the interference of the implacable Iuno this led to a long war between Turnus and Latinus, but though the latter was killed in one of the early struggles, his forces, aided by Aeneas and his men, succeeded in winning a victory. Turnus, defeated but not discouraged, called to his assistance Mezentius, the Etruscan king, and to such an extent did he threaten the supremacy of the Trojans that the latter associated themselves with a band of Greek colonists who, under the leadership of Evander and his son Pallas, were living on the hills destined to be included in the city of Rome. In the conflicts that ensued, Pallas was slain by Turnus, and, later, Mezentius and Turnus fell at the hand of Aeneas, the Trojans achieving, through the death of this last foe, a victory which gave them undisputed possession of the land. At this point the narrative of the Aeneid ends, leaving the reader to infer that the nuptials of Aeneas and Lavinia were promptly con- summated. Events subsequent to those of the Aeneid. — After his mar- riage, Aeneas founded in Latium a hew city which he called Lavinium after his wife, and when he died a short time later, his subjects, regarding him as a god, gave him the title of luppiter Indiges. About thirty years subsequent to the found- ing of Lavinium, Ascanius, the son whom Lavinia bore to Aeneas, withdrew a portion of its population and established