Aeneas prays at Delos, in the temple of Apollo, asking where to found his city.

The prayer consists almost entirely of questions, three in a row: "Whom do we follow? Where do you bid us go? Where are we to set our home?" The petitioner has given up formulating a request and is asking for directions.

And this is perhaps Virgil's finest passage on how an oracle works. Apollo will answer — "seek out your ancient mother" — but the Trojans will misread it, sail to Crete, and be driven from it by plague. The prayer is heard, the answer given, and it is useless without correct interpretation. The god does not deceive: he says exactly as much as he says.