In The Aeneid , Aeneas and a group of Trojans escape Troy, wandering through the Mediterranean in hopes of coming across the land promised to them. At many places they stop and start to build new homes, only to be told that is not the ending place. Eventually they acquire a prophecy, telling them to return to the land of their forefathers. However, a plague strikes and decimates their population and crops for a year not too long after their arrival. The infestation is the gods’ way of trying to hurry the Trojans along. Anchises possibly knew something was not right when the plague hits, for he declares, “Double back on the sea lanes, back to Delos now, Apollo’s oracle! … Pray for the god’s good will and ask him there: where will they end, our backbreaking labors? Where can we turn from help for our toil? What new course do we set” (108)? If Crete is supposed to be the end of the Trojans’ journey, why are they still afflicted? Their hardships are supposed to be over! The plague is ...