Hence he sailed to Eubea, thence to Lesbos, where Agrippina was delivered
of Julia, who proved her last birth; then he kept the coast of Asia and
visited Perinthus and Byzantium, cities of Thrace, and entered the straits
of Propontis, and the mouth of the Euxine; fond of beholding ancient
places long celebrated by fame: he relieved at the same time, the
provinces wherever distracted with intestine factions, or aggrieved with
the oppressions of their magistrates. In his return he strove to see the
religious rites of the Samothracians, but by the violence of the north
wind was repulsed from the shore. As he passed, he saw Troy and her
remains, venerable for the vicissitude of her fate, and for the birth of
Rome: regaining the coast of Asia, he put in at Colophon, to consult there
the oracle of the Clarian Apollo: it is no Pythoness that represents the
God here, as at Delphos, but a Priest, one chosen from certain families,
chiefly of Miletus; neither requires he more than just to hear the names
and numbers of the querists, and then descends into the oracular cave;
where, after a draught of water from a secret spring, though ignorant for
the most part of letters and poetry, he yet utters his answers in verse,
which has for its subject the conceptions and wishes of each consultant.
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