THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN

DIANA PROPHESIES TO BRUTUS

BY

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH

1127 C.E.

They came to a deserted city and there they found a temple of Diana. In the city there was a statue of the goddess, which gave answers if by chance it was questioned by anyone. In the end they returned to there ships, loaded with the game which they had discovered, and they described the city and the lay of the land to there comrades.  They suggested to their leader that he should go to the temple and that, when he had offered sacrifices, he should inquire of the deity of the place what land she would grand them as a safe and permanent dwelling‑ place.  By the common consent of all, Brutus took with him the Augaur Gero and twelve of the older men and set out for a sacrifice.  When they reached the place, they wrapped fillets rounded their brows and, according to the age‑old rite, they set up three sacrificial hearths to the three god: to Jupiter, Mercury and to Diana.  To each in turn poured a libation. Brutes stood before the alter of the goddess, holding in his right hand a vessel full of sacrificial wine mixed with the blood of the white hind, and with his face upturned towards the statue of the godhead he broke the silence with these words: "O powerful Goddess, terror of the forest glades, yet hope of the wild woodlands, you who have the power to go in the orbit through the airy heavens and the halls of hell, pronounce a judgement which concerns the earth. Tell me which lands you wish us to inhabit.  Tell me of a safe dwelling‑place where I am to worship you down the ages, and where to the chanting of maidens, I shall dedicate temples to you.  "This he said nine times; four times he proceeded round the altar, pouring the wine which he held upon the sacrificial hearth; then he lay down upon the skin of a hind which he had stretched before the alter.  Having sought for slumber, he at length fell asleep.  It was then about the third hour of the night, when mortal beings succumb to the sweetest rest.  It seemed to him that the goddess stood before him and spoke these words to him: "Brutus, beyond the setting of the sea, once occupied by giants.  Now it's empty and ready for your folk.  Down the years this will prove an abode suited to you and to your people; and for your descendants it will be a second Troy.  A race of king will be born there from your stock and the round circle of the whole earth will be subject to them.  "When he awoke from this vision, the leader remained in doubt as to whether it had been a dream which he had experienced or whether the living goddess really had prophesied the land to which he should travel. In the end he called his comrades together and told him them in a full detail what had happened to him in his sleep.  They were delighted and advised him to turn back to the ships and to travel westward under full sail in search of what the goddess had promised them, while the wind still blew fair.  Without wasting time they turned their back to their friends and put to sea.