Original subtitles

Three thousand years ago in the plain that stretches between the Tiber River, the Alban Hills and the Tyrrhenian Sea

lived a small people which a little later would be called Latin.

They were an Indo-European people who descended like many others

at the end of the Bronze Age, from Central Europe.

Tradition has it that the political and religious center of the Latins was a city called Laurento

No sure traces remained.

It was probably here, about twenty kilometers south of present-day Rome.

Here, where these ancient altars have recently been excavated, to be exact 13

lined up next to each other

destined for an unknown cult, all oriented to the east

The altars are from different times.

Rome was not yet born,

but the legendary event which is at the origin of the great Roman history had already occurred.

The arrival in Lazio of Trojan refugees and the grafting of an Asian civilization on the Latin trunk

This statuette is the oldest testimony from the Trojan legend

It depicts Aeneas carrying his father Anchises on his shoulders.

It was found in Veii and dates back to the end of the fifth century BC

Rome was therefore about 100 years old

and already remembered with veneration the fathers who came from the sea.

When Virgil wrote the Aeneid the protagonists of that legend already belonged to the state religion.

The names inscribed on the bases of the statues such as those of Lavinia and Silvio, the posthumous son of Aeneas

Their human image was long gone, perhaps lost.

Virgilio tried to recreate it.

Thousands of years have passed.

The Tiber lazily approaches the sea as it did then

not much changed in certain sections since Virgilio contemplated it

imagining the protagonists of the poem on the wooded banks.

The hero he was to celebrate was Aeneas,

but the poet's heart bent with brotherly attention on the defeated ones,

the ancient Latin fathers destined to generate with pain and blood the future civilization.

Virgilio imagined that they lived in peace, isolated

nevertheless predicting the events that would have upset their existence.

He saw them immersed in nature, whose forces and forms they honored.

God Tiber, god of the river

save this life that is entrusted to you

let it be long, prosperous and happy

A man named Latino ruled those fields in peace, for a long time.

Look, an abandoned honeycomb.

There's honey in it.

It is not abandoned if there is honey inside.

The bees were out, you took their home away.

The house they built for themselves, as Jupiter himself taught to their condition.

And if they live there in common, they raise their children in common,

they live there according to their laws and respect them better than people.

They think about the future by piling up food in the summer for the following winter

in the morning they swarm

and in the evening they are warned by dusk that it is time to return.

Latino had given the name of Laurento to the city he had founded.

The chosen place was near the sea

on the edge of a vast swamp.

Lavinia was Latino's only heir.

He also had a son, but he had been dead for many years.

Lavinia was therefore the only hope of the house.

Amata, something strange has happened!

The bees who had their nest here

What happened? This morning they swarmed

There is no trace of them around here.

The honeycomb is empty.

Maybe a new queen is born. The old one leaves.

No, it's a prodigy.

Why a prodigy?

Amata, Latino's wife was very devoted

to the gods who populated the woods and waters of his land,

the nymphs, the spirits of the place.

It is a fact that never happened.

Bees do not swarm this season of the year.

It is a prodigy or at least a sign.

A sign of a new queen.

And he saw Lavinia sitting on the throne for the first time.

The flames seemed to separate him from his daughter.

Thus, Latino took his daughter to the oracle to know her fate.

There was a great sacred spring that spread through the trees

near the Albunea cliff, opaque sulphurous water.

Here lived Fauno, father of Latino

Through his mouth spoke the oracle of the place

Fauno

Father

What do you want?

This is my daughter,Lavinia.

Do you remember her? I know her.

I have seen wonders happening around her.

What meaning do they have, father?

Wait for the night.

Kill and skin a sheep and lie down with your daughter on the bloody skin.

The night came and finally the oracle spoke with the voice of Fauno.

Never look for a spouse for Lavinia among us, italics.

fate destined her to a foreigner.

I see this, a foreigner.

A foreigner who will come from a city destroyed by war and fire.

a stranger..

A foreigner who will come from a city destroyed by a war and a fire.

who will arrive on this earth after a very long journey.

It will disturb you and shed Latin blood.

My sons!

Palinuro, my father, my father's ship!

He pushed us away in the wave, I don't know, you can't see it

Palinuro, but how did it happen?

For so many years at sea I had never seen such a thing!

They are destroying my ships!

Hey you! What do you want to do with that rudder?

I want a fire to warm me up. You're crazy!

leave me

For seven years we have defied the judgment of heaven

And heaven took its revenge.

One winter day the storm pushed a group of shipwrecked people to the coast of Africa

I walked along the beach for hours

There is no trace of Aeneas' ship.

If Aeneas had died, the seed of our people would be extinct.

We are no longer a people, we are just a bunch of dispersed people...

Achemenide!

... now that the seed to replant has been lost.

He was on Aeneas' ship!

Yes.

And the others? I found only him.

He says he saw them all drowning

Ceresto is missing ..

Aeneas is missing

The gods have taken them from us, too.

Here is what remains of a city that was the master of Asia:

a bunch of missing people with the only hope of dying without much suffering.

The fact has turned you off too, Aeneas.

For seven long years, you and your father Anchises have taken us through wild and deserted places.

away from men and all routes

keeping hidden your every thought

keeping secret all your plans

so our blood was extinguished drop by drop

and this land will welcome only ours remains..

He spent a night and more than half of another day

The sea had dragged Aeneas very far from his companions

along with the wrecks of his ship

Mother, why are you deceiving me all the time?

Why do you always manifest yourself in different forms?

Why can't I touch your hand

look you once in the eye?

Stranger, don't suffer anymore

your life is safe and your clothes are dry

Do you dream?

Why do not you answer?

Don't you feel that mine are words?

Get up and come with me.

There is a country beyond these rocks

A mountain hides it from your eyes

The land beyond the mountain is inhabited by phoenician people.

Go! you will find shelter there

despite the customs of that people, and I will be your guide.

Follow in the footsteps of this woman, son

I, your mother, hide behind her appearance

and don't blame me for never showing myself to you.

A mortal eye is not allowed to contemplate a goddess

Lucky are those who see the houses of their city born

this is your thought, son

Don't be afraid to get mixed with these people

no one will see you, no one will ask you questions.

When you arrive at the temple, ask for hospitality in the name of the gods.

Two days had passed

Dido, queen of Carthage, I have established this for the wedding:

The bride will come to the temple where the bridegroom is waiting for her.

the bride will be accompanied by her own mother or by the oldest woman in the house.

The bride will be alone the moment she passes the threshold of the temple.

The other relatives of the bride will wait in the temple along with the relatives of the bridegroom.

Your law Sicheo, enlightened the people when you were alive.

and now you are dead, you guide my will.

The bride separates from the bridegroom and prays each one for himself

and may his lips be pure.

The queen is my sister, her name is Didone.

and you are her guest, stranger.

Don't you want to confide in her at least ?

And why you insist on staying here as a beggar?

You called me "mother"

yet it seems you don't even see me

You haven't said your name yet

My name is Anna

You didn't say where you came from.

You just asked me why I took you to the temple

but it wasn't me

I only saw you when you entered.

He didn't answer anything.

Because you don't want me to tell him about the shipwrecked ones

our soldiers found yesterday at dawn on the shore?

They said they were Trojans

Hearing this name, perhaps he'll remember the name of the homeland from which he comes.

Why don't you want to be told, sister?

Then Venus heard the voice of Jupiter

"Do not fear daughter" said the father of gods and men

the facts do not change:

Aeneas whom you generated by uniting with a mortal

and who is so dear to you, will be salved.

We will go to a distant country where long paths do not mark the earth

where the woods do not go on the currents

and no one opens the sails to the winds

the horses are free and the houses have no nailed doors

and there are no stones in the fields to mark the boundaries

There is no hatred, there are no armies, there are no wars.

Ascanio will always be with me and with you, Creusa.

Who is Creusa? Your woman?

Where the woods do not go on the currents

My Ascanio smiles, dreaming.

And the horses are free to run and there are no stones in the fields ...

These words are not mine

You uttered them in the depths of your dream

or maybe I read them in your thoughts.

Sometimes I happen to read other people's minds.

Sweet husband, you have been looking for me for three days

and hidden in deserted houses

you listened to the voices of the Achaeans to hear if they spoke my name

No, rest assured, I won't see their superb homes

Your Creusa will not have to suffer the outrage of their violence.

she will not go to serve their women as a slave

But I can't go with you.

You have to resign yourself

If I'm lost, it's not your fault.

Those gods wanted me

they wanted me to stay in this desolate city

Get up, go away

away from this world of blood

where you saw my father Priam, dying,

Where before closing his eyes the old king was forced to see his son dying slaughtered

Take our son Ascanio away

as far away as possible

in places where the law of victory does not require that children should be taken away from their mothers and murdered.

Forget the crazy face of Cassandra and Andromache.

You dared to save Trojans

to take them outside the walls.

They are waiting for you.

You must have the courage not to look for me anymore

I will be beside you in memory and in the folds of sleep.

like now, that this foreign woman heard you.

The queen wants you to attend this dance

The story that these movements tell is the story of a brotherly affection that becomes hatred.

The affection between two brothers.

Two princes who ruled over a city far from here

The brother was called Pygmalion. The sister was called Elissa.

The first argument is the arrival of a bridegroom from far away.

An immensely rich daring navigator has arrived in the city.

Elissa loves him as soon as she sees him.

The wedding is soon celebrated.

The groom's name is Sicheo.

And this is the lie that comes from far from the sea.

It is the second argument.

Pygmalion, Elisa's brother comes from a journey he made with Sicheo

He announces to his sister and to the people that Sicheo died during a storm.

The lie appears in his words.

At that news Elissa falls ill with pain and fear

The brother does not leave his bed.

He looked after her with jealous love as if he were her husband.

The people do not approve.

One day Elissa, unbeknownst to her brother, questions the people

and discovers the truth that fame has brought right into the city walls.

The truth that turns out is this:

Pygmalion killed Sicheo, killed him because he was jealous of his sister.

Then Elissa raises the people and suggests that everyone leave that place cursed by hatred.

Many follow her, elect her as their queen and flee far away by sea.

Elissa...

that woman is you.

Your sister calls you Didone

Didone means "the fugitive"

You wanted me to know your story.

Why?

I fled, too from a city that was destroyed.

I led, too, my people through a long exile.

Seeing your house, I saw mine again in my memory.

My brother wanted to get hold of this gold when he killed my husband Sicheo.

But I managed to get it on the ships and save it escaping

with the help of those who had placed all their hope in me.

But you saved your people.

You built a city for them.

No not yet.

This rock-cut city wasn't built by us.

We found it as you saw it, but abandoned

We will make it a powerful city and its fame on earth will be great.

This is the pact I made with the gods.

I want its doors to be opened to those whom fate unjustly pursues.

I want it to be the place for those who feel able to start a new existence.

Your thoughts are far away.

Maybe you weren't expecting my confidence.

It was born from a long silence.

I know your name is Aeneas.

You must leave this temple

And forget this stop.

Your companions are waiting for you on the beach, not all of them are dead.

Forgive me if I didn't tell you before.

I'll show you the way to the beach, son.

The first thing Aeneas saw was an altar erected on the seashore.

Father! Ascanio!

Are there many that are missing?

"Everyone on your ship, except Achaemenides"

answered Ascanio and both remained silent, suffocating the pain in the heart.

"You must leave this temple and forget this stop"

The embrace of old Ilioneo who had been a priest at Priam's court welcomed him

Ilioneo told him that the Phoenician queen had come to visit them.

Didone asked me if I was your son.

I told her I was the son of Aeneas, a Trojan prince

and that only after your return we would go to ask for hospitality.

He saw them weak, frightened, unable to resume the sea.

The ships were nearly destroyed.

It was necessary to stay long in that land.

For this, he led some of them to the queen.

I entrust the others to Palinuro.

Electra had a son from Jupiter and was Dardano.

that generated Assaraco that generated Capi that generated Anchises

Anchises with divine marriage generated Aeneas.

This is the origin that we Trojans recognize to our leader Aeneas who guided us here.

We thank you for returning him to us, it is in his name, queen, that we ask you to accept this gift.

He was saved from escape and shipwreck

It belonged to Elena who took it with her when she followed Paris to our city.

Elena's wedding veil which she wore for her wedding with Paris!

For me..

The queen thanks you and welcomes you as a people brother to us by fate

and allows you to stay here for as long as you want.

The sun divides the seasons and the clear day changes into the deep ebony night

Powerful its rays stop the planets

and slow their wandering course

The moon makes the shores move forward and backward, according to its phases.

Food was brought

The singer Yopa entertained the guests.

He is Saturn's power of frost and snow

Mars rules the winds and hurls lightning at random

Powerful its rays stop the planets and slow their wandering course.

Maybe you didn't listen to me, Aeneas.

Maybe you think we have to listen to you.

Of course, fame has brought the fate of your country to us.

but no one told us that many of your people had escaped death.

What the cantor wants to express is just a prayer that you tell your story.

it's the use of guests to tell their own story for better or for worse.

I think your comrades await your words like us.

You ask me, queen

that I renew an inexpressible pain

but if it is true that you are waiting for my words as Dido said

It is right for you to tell what happened to me.

From the day before our downfall, a day of joy of exultation.

Creusa!

The Greeks embarked tonight, they left.

That day it was all of you like me who disarmed the soul from the passions of war.

and to forget as suddenly.

The first was certainly our King Priam

When he saw all his people united around him, remember what he said:

those words have never left me in so many years.

You say Achilles' tomb has been found.

Yes, it's a mound standing on the beach.

He had his youngest daughter, Cassandra, beside him.

That grave must not be violated. Indeed honor it.

Contains the remains of a great enemy.

If Peleus' son were still alive today we would not be here celebrating peace.

And remember, son, Achilles the exterminator took pity on me

and give me the body of your brother Ettore, the last son who killed me

It had been lying in the dust for 12 days, but it was uncorrupted.

so Andromache, the gods took care of your husband because they loved him.

Do not desecrate the grave of an enemy who was able to cry in the face of a father's pain.

The gods who have done us justice by making our enemies flee await mercy from us.

These were the words of Priam, queen.

Remember how no one understood the horse's trick

and, no matter how hard I tried, I didn't understand to understand the secret of that gift left by the Greeks, too.

Father, listen to the voice of your people!

The voice of all the young people of Troy

Let's take that horse inside the walls

And certainly it is a statue dedicated to the gods

that the Greeks could not embark on their ships because it was too big

Don't listen to these words, father!

It will be the pride of the Trojan fortress

It will look at the sea from above

and it will tell all the sailors that Troy resisted the Greeks for 10 years and that it was not won.

The day passed, the transport was heavy

When night fell, tiredness, joy had overcome all those of you who believed in peace.

Silence is so sweet tonight.

The city is now asleep.

What's preventing you from sleeping?

After ten years of massacre, it seems impossible to me that the Greeks left so suddenly.

The divine will shows itself in many ways

One thing you expected then does not happen.

It 's just what you do not expect instead come true

Sleep, sleep now.

The enemies are gone, they have left.

Everything else is in the hands of the gods.

We fell asleep forgetting all anxiety.

Just then in the middle of the night the belly of the horse we had brought to town

resounded with the weapons of the Greek warriors imprisoned there.

And the Greek ships that seemed to have departed had returned to the shore of Troy

Didone followed the story.

He asked if the city had fallen without a fight or if there had been a battle.

And how Aeneas had found an escape from death

So, drinking his words prolonged the night.

Aeneas had only confused memories to offer to the queen.

He said of how at the head of a group of young people he had ambushed the enemies by now winners and masters.

He wanted to exchange Trojan robes and weapons with Greek weapon robes to better strike a surprise.

He told her of women reduced to slavery

of their despair

He said of Elena hiding in the temple of Vesta

Lord, have mercy, since you are Greek, don't kill me

I've been waiting for this moment since I was kidnapped

and against my will I was forced to marry a Trojan.

Elena was begging him, believing him to be a Greek

Enea!

But he didn't want to kill anymore, he just wanted to die in battle.

"Why did the gods spare me?" he said

Why I was just wandering aimlessly in the looted city?

The city that no longer needed me.

The king and the princes had been killed.

Perhaps some of the leaders had managed to escape,

gathered the scattered ones and bring them to salvation

Saving what could be saved is my task-I thought.

I saw boys stowed in a pit like animals

who cried waiting for their fate

What are you doing?

Leave them, they are prey to divide.

Aceste! Someone escaped.

Come too, resist is useless.

Get these guys to safety! And you, what are you going to do?

I go to look for Ascanio and Creusa.

Via!

Go to the mountain, go!

The flames had not yet reached my home

Don't worry, I'm Aeneas!

They managed to escape towards the oak, Anchises, Ascanio, everyone!

And Creusa? She wanted to run into town to follow you.

I looked for her for three days first among the living and then among the dead ones

then came the resignation.

I joined the others who were waiting for me hidden in the woods on the slopes of Mount Ida

Ascanio!

Wake up, we have to leave.

Ascanio!

Let's go, father.

There's nothing more we can do here.

My father said nothing and I understood that he accepted my will without approving it.

You too have kept silent but I was able to give birth to hope from your pain, so ...

so you followed me

They were by now - said Aeneas - many, many days away from their destroyed city.

My father had shown us the goal of our journey.

We went towards a semi-desert land

and the internal expanses of the Trace, far from the sea now dominated by the Greeks

a wild place where King Polinestore, the ancient ally of Troy had his remote city

We will have a new home, Ascanio.

We have to get to a great river

Beyond the river there is a king, our ally Polinestore

He is not a powerful king, but a generous one.

Priam sent Polidoro, your cousin, to guard

You cannot remember it, Ascanio.

When Priam saw that the city was in grave danger of being taken

I send some younger sons to distant allies

to save themselves if Troy fell.

Together with them he also sent many riches

for himself and for his people if they were forced into exile, do you understand?

No one seemed to feel the weariness of the journey anymore.

the desire for a friendly home was the reason that kept us alive.

So we raised the tents on the banks of the Thracian river but with adverse fate

Let's send an embassy to Polinestore across the river

I better go ahead and look for trouble.

it's easier for a single man to go unnoticed.

It is true but I don't think there is any danger.

Don't carry weapons, do as a guest.

There will be time to drop your guns, father.

I was not calm, knowing the inconstancy of men towards those who have fallen from grace.

and some of the companions had understood it.

I found some rocks on which one could enter almost half of the river.

It was by chance that, in order not to fall, I tore a branch from a bush.

From that branch he glued a juice as thick as blood

I felt a sharp pain inside me,

a pain that was already screaming without me clinging to words

And finally I heard a voice.

I've never told you this.

I didn't tell anyone because I still think it was the voice of anguish that I kept inside.

But I really heard that voice

a painful voice of a boy and I remember the words one by one.

"Why are you tearing the flesh of an unhappy one?" he said

"I am Polidoro that you are looking for as a guest." "Revealed by arrows I lie buried below"

"Polinestore killed me, greedy for gold."

"when he learned of our defeat and the death of Priam, my father."

"Do not cross this bloody river"

"Flee from a land of traitors"

I told you only that I had found traces of Polidoro

We dug under the bush

We found the remains of his body

He had been killed by many arrows

Mourning his remains - only one thing we could do.

Beyond that river was a hostile land and Priam's gold was lost.

We had nothing left.

Polidoro!

And suddenly I felt far from that place

as if there was an unbridgeable distance between you and me.

I couldn't call Polidoro's name with you, to greet him for the last time.

Instead, I looked at the bush from which his voice had come

and I was wondering "why me and noone else heard that voice?"

Why did his shadow keep that thread of life for me?

Why me and not others?

And so we set off again.

There was no longer the next destination

We couldn't go back

Hope ran out within us.

I don't know what country is behind those mountains anymore.

Do you know which is our direction?

No, I don't know either

We are looking for a passage to the north.

Why not towards the sea?

How far will we go?

It is difficult to predict up to which country the winners will extend their domain

but it is certain that no matter where there is an Achaean to promise covenant and ask tribute

there is no chance of life for us.

I was unable then to explain my thoughts better

I only knew that the sea had to be reached in the west.

For many days we find no trace of people, no fields or pastures for herds.

Aeneas we do not want to oppose your commands

and we also approve your desire to avoid the lands ruled by the Greeks

but we would like to know what guides you?

What do you look at in the sky that pushes you towards the harshest part of the mountains?

The one they call the Sunset Star.

Walking in the direction of that star one day the mountains appeared insurmountable to us.

But I was sure that reaching the sea to the west

it meant going beyond the world known to us and our enemies.

That world from which I wanted to take away me and my people

as there was no refuge in it as free men,

even if the western sea was so far away and the weariness harder every day.

The herbs you don't know, never eat them.

I saw a spring half a day's walk from here with animal tracks.

Thank to Gods!

After a day's walk there are trees and a worked field. I have not seen people.

Don't ask me when we can finally stop.

We all follow Aeneas.

Aeneas is inspired by the sky as a sailor who knows the stars.

I hadn't talked to my father or my son for a long time.

There's nothing left to eat.

Not far from here we found an inhabited village

It is time to pray to the gods.

We hope these people are friends with us.

Otherwise we will have to attack them.

I ask for your consent, father.

One day we meet some unknown knights.

We were unable to take a single step towards the men that came to meet us

and no one understood that those men were announcing salvation.

We did not come with hostile intentions.

We are Trojans.

I don't know your country but anyone can stay with us if they come in peace.

I had managed to bring my people to safety

We would have lived free alongside free people

and that day it seemed to me that my duty was done.

that I could erase the memory of the suffered pain.

How long do you want to stay?

I don't know.

I want to be honest with you.

No one has ever paid for the right to live here.

I prefer to pay. And how will you live?

We are a people of fishermen

We were warriors or merchants

but we have wheat and cows with us.

We will learn to work the land.

The land here belongs to the community

Nobody can sell it but you can use as much as you need.

Gods keep our covenant.

Time passed.

One day when I was on the seashore with my son I heard a familiar voice calling me

Aeneas! I came to buy wine. I recognized you

No, don't force your memory you can't know who I am.

But I live with a person you certainly remember well.

Come with me, I'll show you. Come too, Ascanio.

He had started to walk without waiting for an answer.

I arrived in this country before you.

But I live inland and your father never leaves the coast

that's why we have never met.

I followed him at a distance with a strange embarrassment.

We arrived at the stone gate which reminded the main gate of the city of Troy

Are you Aeneas? Is it your face that I see?

How can you be here, Aeneas?

You are dead, dead like everyone else.

But if you are dead, where is my husband Ettore?

She was Andromache, Hector's wife.

Suddenly I saw Hector dead in her arms

the way I saw him in Troy when Achilles returned his body.

In that mound he venerates Hector's body

It is an empty tomb,

she's lying herself.

The pain made her lose her mind

You saw Aeneas, we rebuilt Troy!

Look at the gates, the Scamander River

the fortress of Priam

Does your father Anchises still live?

yes...

You can come and live here with us

The city is already big and powerful

The city is already big!

We are no longer afraid of the Greeks!

I stayed with them until the evening.

I wanted to take Andromache away

but I understood that it wouldn't be right to deprive her of her ghosts.

Are you Ascanio? That's my name.

You must be the same age as my son Astianatte

I don't know where is my son

I haven't seen him for a long time.

He's an orphan, you know, his father was killed by Achilles.

He no longer remembers that his son was killed. He doesn't remember anything from then

and she no longer hates.

Go away, resume your journey.

The land you are looking for is not this one.

Convince your father.

Eleino, who appeared so humble to me, was a magician, a sage.

He saw inside me what I couldn't see

That day I didn't even want to listen to him

and you do not report to anyone, nor to my father, nor to you, the strange encounter.

Ascanio forget him immediately.

I would have remembered Eleino's words only many years later.

My son had grown big and strong

and my father was much older

They were always together

My father hardly spoke to me anymore.

Why do you keep hidden these pictures ?

I don't keep them hidden, I guard them

because they are sacred and after I'm gone your father will keep them

and after your father it will be your duty, Ascanio.

They represent the spirit of our ancestors

Laomedonte was Priam's father

he build the first city walls

That shows Teucer, he came from Crete

the oldest of our family remembered him

We are all descended from him, from Teucer.

My father opposed to building a city.

Only a gate was made on the seashore

I had chosen the place to build it

and now I know why: the sun was setting exactly in front of it

Tie it to a rock, please

Look, behind those stones there is a jar full of water.

Take it.

I had never seen that man

yet I immediately seem to have a familiar face

I have water deposits in many places on the coast.

otherwise how could I live in the sea?

We treated each other as if we knew each other

Thank you, foreigner.

Why do you call me a foreigner?

Yes, I know you don't consider yourself a foreigner

You have been here for seven years.

My name is Palinuro.

Everyone on the coast knows me.

I travel, I deliver messages. I have news for you too.

News about your city

Troy has been rebuilt

The traffic that dominated on the way to the East has started again

The caravans set out again from the Scee gates

but the city was rebuilt by the Greeks

It is a Greek colony

There is nothing Trojan anymore, only the slaves.

Some of them wonder where is Aeneas, son of Anchises.

Someone knows but does not speak.

Can I get on your boat?

Won't you even tell me your name first?

Are you afraid of taking a stranger on board?

Come, I'll take you wherever you want ...

... Aeneas son of Anchises.

We travel one night a day and another night.

we are about to arrive at the island of Delos.

I don't see land in front of us. You will see it suddenly.

You don't know the history of this island.

One day Juno discovered that Jupiter, her husband, was cheating on her with another goddess, Latona.

When Juno realized that Latona was about to give birth

he ordered the earth not to give hospitality to his rival anywhere

Then Jupiter asked for help from Neptune who drew this island from the sea

Thus were born Apollo and Diana.

and the island is said to disappear and reappear.

But don't be afraid, I know the route.

I brought others peple like you who wanted to consult the oracle.

And so, I arrived in Delos.

I set out only by repeating within myself the question I had been preparing for some time

"Tell me, oracle, if this anxiety that torments me is right or wrong

Oracle of Apollo, God of the streets

tell me if it is true that the setting sun points me to a land

where the meeting with men different from us will give the fruits that I want.

Oracle of Apollo

tell me where will be fulfilled our destiny.

The oracle said: return Trojans

he said come back Trojans, look for the land from which you originate

ancient mother is ready to welcome you

Come back, look for the ancient mother- he said.

I know what the oracle meant with those words

Crete, the sacred island to Jupiter.

Crete is the ancient mother

Crete - land of many peoples of large cities

rich in pastures and blondes, it was from which Teucro moved

This has always been said

It's sure a god inspired my son to get into the sea

Do you want us to leave?

To go as far as Delos

I know what the oracle meant with those words

Crete is the ancient mother. There are no subjects or tyrants here

neither masters nor servants

Each man, each woman will decide according to his own reason and conscience

Comrades let 's appease the events Let's go to the kingdoms of Cnossos

Let's go back to our ancestors

My father wanted to rekindle in the people the desire to return to the womb of that civilization

from which the defeat had separated us.

In Crete there are enemies, so we go to seek slavery and persecution

Everyone has already said what they think

this land is ours, here we are free

We have worked hard now we want to reap the benefits.

Palinuro had not left and told me

"remember what you revealed to me at sea"

"don't decide, don't bend the oracle to your wishes"

Consider the needs of your people and the will of your father

You must understand them, father, they have never crossed the sea

They lived here for many years. Here they can live, this their homeland for them.

Is it for you too, Aeneas?

No, it's not possible.

If you consulted the oracle it's because you also know

that a nation cannot live as we are living, in the absence of a destiny.

So what do you doubt?

That he didn't tell you the truth?

that Crete isn't the homeland we are looking for?

And in fact Crete is not.

Crete is only the place where we will revive our power

That's what the oracle meant

The ancient mother will restore us our lost strength and one day I will be dead

one day you will leave Crete again, you will besiege, you will destroy

that cursed colony that was Troy and you will regain the ancient glory of Troy!

That's not why I went to the oracle!

Not for give my people a future of hatred and violence!

These are the words of a coward!

You don't want a country, you just want revenge!

Justice, not revenge.

Which of my votes did you go to dissolve in Delos?

Which enemy god did you pray for your life on the night of Troy ?

Forgive me, son.

All right father, we will go to Crete as you want.

We gave in exchange for a few ships everything we had grown,

the fruit of so many years of work.

The journey was long but under the most favorable auspices

The companions, even those who had the greatest difficulty had been persuaded to leave.

They seemed calmed by the quiet sweetness of the sky and the sea

They have'n seen yet the hideous vision that awaited them in Crete.

It seems they died of the plague

I wanted to ascertain the cause of those deaths

I wanted to know what disease contaminated the island of Crete

Is this Crete, the promised homeland?

Is this Crete, the first cradle of our people?

This is the happy island, the island of great city inhabited by many peoples

The island of a thousand sources rich in fields and pastures!

This says Anchises about the homeland from which came father Teucer!

On the high rock of the island, a large fortress seemed for years to have fallen into complete ruin.

The place seemed uninhabited

but there was someone who felt my presence.

Who are you?

Did you come to see me die?

Idomeneo, king of Crete, son of Deucalion, grandson of Minos, does not die!

They say the plague is my fault.

Do you know what I did?

My sacrifice?

Do you know how I managed to keep the wealth and glory I won in Troy?

Do you know the great feat that made me immortal?

I clearly understood that I had climbed the mountain of Crete

just to meet that man

While I was returning from Troy a storm hit the ships

I should have thrown all the booty, the gold, the slaves into the sea.

But I prayed to the gods I took a vow

to sacrifice the first human being I met upon my arrival.

And when I landed, the first to come to meet me was my son

And I sacrificed him, I killed my son!

I honored the gods.

It was only me who honored the gods!

He ordered not to go ashore

We have to wait for him.

But something may have happened to him

We can not help him under any circumstances.

I've been inland, the plague is everywhere.

The unfortunate inhabitants descended into the sea to purify the body in brackish water.

fearing the contagion of the corrupted area

Thus, disappeared from our eyes the island that Father Anchises had indicated as the destination,

as the land of the oracle.

Palinuro had put himself on the edge of the currents while waiting to choose a route,

Nobody spoke on the ships

I was reading in that silence the same question as when we leave the land of Polidoro.

What was our direction?

Where are the currents taking us?

They drag us towards the south

but soon we will be able to govern better. The wind is coming.

And where will it push us?

Keeping the wind to the pupa we will go west

it's all I know.

I have never sailed this sea and there is no sign of land anywhere.

Are you able to take us back to the east?

Just say it, Aeneas.

For me it's just a matter of keeping at aft the sunset star.

Father...

we sail without direction

My son, perhaps I misinterpreted the words of the oracle

or perhaps the land of the fathers

it is forbidden to us forever by the will of a hostile god.

Let's go back to where we came from.

Let's resign ourselves, that dark exile will be our sentence

I was alone in deciding

To the east the return, to the west the unknown.

Let's go west.

Each stroke of the oars when proceeding on an unknown path costs effort and pain.

The anguish of getting away from what is known

and the impatience mixed with the terror of discovering the mystery that the horizon covers..

Palinuro finally finds a nearby land sign

It was little more than a rock, there was no trace of human life

Who could have lived there, we thought?

Please don't leave me here, kill me instead!

I am Greek, my name is Achaemenides.

I was with Ulysses in Troy.

on the way back, how many sufferings on the sea!

We were all destined to die

when we arrived on this island I hid and they left without me

But I, who hardly listened to Achaemenides

I watched my father approaching

I was wondering why he had landed, he, who was now struggling to stand up.

I saw how he looked at you and I saw in his eyes the desire to take your place

to be abandoned on that rock.

Do you remember Achaemenides, how quickly we decided to take you with us even though we were enemies?

And how hastily I gave the order to leave?

My father's agony began on a calm day

We have to warn Aeneas.

Carridi and on the left and Scilla on the right

He'll meet them. We will get through them.

Aeneas will have to be very careful of these dangers.

He's not himself anymore, he's delirious.

but a little while ago he said "don't let me die in the sea"

The wind picked up against the prows

we proceeded to the strength of the oars with great difficulty

My father was getting weaker and weaker

We had to found land.

We changed course.

All of us were terrified of not being able to bury Anchises.

In the evening the wind dropped again

We were still in the grip of the currents

It was the last time my father spoke

yes..

Yes, now I see a green lawn.

Four horses graze

They are white as snow

But the hospitable land wants to bring war to us

and for the war they are arming the horses

or maybe not...

the horses wants to play

and this means peace

Aeneas ... Tell me, father.

The earth flees from you.

You will never reach it.

When I saw my father's remains move away towards the setting sun and get lost in the boundless sea

I thought I had made him suffer uselessly and I had deprived him of a grave.

His shadow would have had no pale stillness of Hades for a hundred years.

He would end with more and more pain all the time prescribed by the gods for those who are not buried

We resumed navigation and my father's words tormented me for a long time.

"The earth flees before you, you will never reach it"

I suddenly understood that in the clarity of death he had read my most secret thoughts

The land of which he had denied me every hope, was my land

The one that I had built in my imagination,

without confessing it to anyone, day by day,

rich in water, forests of free space, crossed by a large river.

When the storm broke,

the storm that drove us to these beaches

it seems to everyone an unfair punishment

and for me it was confirmed by his words:

the land of sunset

doesn't exist.