This gives Cloanthus, the captain of the next ship, to squeeze in between Gyas and the rock, making a sharper turn that puts him in the lead for the homestretch.

He keeps telling his pilot (the guy who mans the tiller) to come in close around the rock, but Menoetes (that's the guy's name) is afraid of crashing, and makes a wide turn.

On the way out, the ship commanded by a man called Gyas is in the lead.

The idea is for the competitors – teams of rowers in long galleys – to sail out to sea, round a certain half-submerged rock designated as the turning post, and then be the first to make it back to shore. Both Trojans and local Sicilians are competing.

When the ninth day after that rolls around, it is time for some athletic contests.

Aeneas wonders if the snake is a local god, or if it is the spirit of his father.

Then it slithers around all the ritual objects, eats off the altar, and then heads back under the tomb.

Then, while Aeneas is making ritual offerings to his father, something weird happens: a giant snake crawls out of the Anchises's burial mound and curls up around it.

He also says that in nine days they will hold athletic contests in the man's honor.

Aeneas decrees a feast day and ritual commemoration of his father.

This is in the region of Sicily ruled by Acestes, another exile from Troy. They land in Sicily, coincidentally, at exactly the spot where they buried Anchises – coincidentally again, exactly one year before.Shortly afterward – as seems to happen whenever the Trojans set out anywhere – a storm comes up, and they decide to head for shore.

As they are sailing away, the Trojans see a huge fire burning on the shore.

The aeneid books