72So speaking, he veils his temples with his mother's myrtle; 73so does Elymus, so Acestes, ripe in years, so the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the young men follow them. 75He went from the assembly with many thousands to the tomb, in the midst of a great attending throng. 77Here, pouring a libation in due form, he spills on the ground two bowls of unmixed wine, two of fresh milk, two of sacred blood, and scatters bright flowers, and speaks thus: 'Hail, holy father: hail again, ashes rescued in vain, and soul and shade of my father. 82It was not granted me to seek with you the borders of Italy and the fated fields, nor Ausonian Tiber, whatever it may be.' 84He had said this, when from the depths of the shrine a gliding snake drew out seven huge coils, seven twisting folds, calmly embracing the tomb and slipping among the altars; its back was marked with blue, and a spotted sheen of gold set its scales alight, as a rainbow in the clouds casts a thousand varied colours when the sun faces it.
90Aeneas was struck dumb at the sight. 90The snake, winding at last in a long train among the bowls and polished cups, tasted the offerings, and again, harmless, withdrew into the depths of the tomb and left the altars where it had fed. 94All the more for this he renews the rites he had begun for his father, unsure whether to think it the genius of the place or his father's attendant: he slaughters two sheep according to custom, as many swine, and as many bullocks with black backs; 98and he was pouring wine from the bowls and calling on the soul of great Anchises and his shade released from Acheron.
100His comrades too, gladly, each as his means allow, bring gifts, load the altars and slaughter bullocks; 102others set out the bronze cauldrons in order, and, stretched over the grass, put embers under the spits and roast the flesh.