Aeneid Bibliomancy Reading

This oracle points to a randomly selected line from The Aeneid. The surrounding passages are provided for context.

 

Your passage is from BOOK III: MONSTERS, OMENS AND SIGNS.

 

For Context:

BOOK III: MONSTERS, OMENS AND SIGNS

Those isles are compass’d by th’ Ionian main,
The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,

Forc’d by the winged warriors to repair
To their old homes, and leave their costly fare.

Monsters more fierce offended Heav’n ne’er sent
From hell’s abyss, for human punishment:

With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,
Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;
With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.

“We landed at the port, and soon beheld
Fat herds of oxen graze the flow’ry field,

And wanton goats without a keeper stray’d.
With weapons we the welcome prey invade,

Then call the gods for partners of our feast,
And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.

We spread the tables on the greensward ground;
We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;

When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry,
And clatt’ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;

They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,
And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.

Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,
New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,