Robbing the mother's love. The destin'd

queen

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Observes, assisting at the rites obscene;
A leaven'd cake in her devoted hands
She holds, and next the highest altar stands:
One tender foot was shod, her other bare;
Girt was her gather'd gown, and loose her
hair.

Thus dress'd, she summon'd, with her dying breath,

The heav'ns and planets conscious of her death,

And ev'ry pow'r, if any rules above, Who minds, or who revenges, injur'd love. 'T was dead of night, when weary bodies close

Their eyes in balmy sleep and soft repose: The winds no longer whisper thro' the woods,

Nor murm'ring tides disturb the gentle floods.

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find? Become a suppliant to Hyarba's pride, And take my turn, to court and be denied? Shall I with this ungrateful Trojan go, Forsake an empire, and attend a foe? Himself I refug'd, and his train reliev'd 'Tis true but am I sure to be receiv'd? Can gratitude in Trojan souls have place! Laomedon still lives in all his race! 782 Then, shall I seek alone the churlish crew, Or with my fleet their flying sails pursue? What force have I but those whom scarce before

Aloft in air unseen, and mix'd with night. Twice warn'd by the celestial messenger, The pious prince arose with hasty fear;

This hate, this rage, had been more timely shown.

See now the promis'd faith, the vaunted

name,

The pious man, who, rushing thro' the flame,

Preserv'd his gods, and to the Phrygian shore

The burthen of his feeble father bore! 860 I should have torn him piecemeal; strow'd in floods

His scatter'd limbs, or left expos'd in woods; Destroy'd his friends and son; and, from the fire,

Have set the reeking boy before the sire. Events are doubtful, which on battles wait: Yet where's the doubt, to souls secure of

fate?

My Tyrians, at their injur'd queen's command,

Had toss'd their fires amid the Trojan band; At once extinguish'd all the faithless

name;

And I myself, in vengeance of my shame, Had fall'n upon the pile, to mend the fun'ral flame.

871 Thou Sun, who view'st at once the world below;

Thou Juno, guardian of the nuptial vow; Thou Hecate, hearken from thy dark abodes!

Ye Furies, fiends, and violated gods,

All pow'rs invok'd with Dido's dying breath, Attend her curses and avenge her death! If so the Fates ordain, and Jove commands, Th' ungrateful wretch should find the Latian lands,

Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes, His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose:

881

Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal

These are my pray'rs, and this my dying will;

And you, my Tyrians, ev'ry curse fulfil. Perpetual hate and mortal wars proclaim, Against the prince, the people, and the

name.

These grateful off'rings on my grave bestow;

Nor league, nor love, the hostile nations know!

Now, and from hence, in ev'ry future age, When rage excites your arms, and strength supplies the rage,

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Rise some avenger of our Libyan blood, With fire and sword pursue the perjur'd brood;

Our arms, our seas, our shores, oppos'd to theirs;

And the same hate descend on all our heirs!"

This said, within her anxious mind she weighs

The means of cutting short her odious days. Then to Sichæus' nurse she briefly said (For, when she left her country, hers was dead):

"Go, Barce, call my sister. Let her care The solemn rites of sacrifice prepare; The sheep, and all th' atoning off'rings,

bring,

910

Of mixing women, mount the vaulted skies. Not less the clamor, than if — ancient Tyre,

Or the new Carthage, set by foes on fire

Eneas, setting sail from Afric, is driven by a storm on the coasts of Sicily, where he is hospitably receiv'd by his friend Acestes, king of part of the island, and born of Trojan parentage. He applies himself to celebrate the memory of his father with divine honors, and accordingly institutes funeral games, and appoints prizes for those who should conquer in them. While the ceremonies were performing, Juno sends Iris to persuade the Trojan women to burn the ships, who, upon her instigation, set fire to them; which burnt four, and would have consum'd the rest, had not Jupiter, by a miraculous shower, extinguish'd it. Upon this, Æneas, by the advice of one of his generals, and a vision of his father, builds a city for the women, old men, and others, who were either unfit for war, or weary of the voyage, and sails for Italy. Venus procures of Neptune a safe voyage for him and all his men, excepting only his pilot Palinurus, who is unfortunately lost. MEANTIME the Trojan cuts his wat'ry way, Fix'd on his voyage, thro' the curling sea; Then, casting back his eyes, with dire

amaze,

Sees on the Punic shore the mounting blaze. The cause unknown; yet his presaging

mind

The fate of Dido from the fire divin'd; He knew the stormy souls of womankind,

ground:

"Offspring of heav'n, divine Dardanian race!
The sun, revolving thro' th' ethereal space,
The shining circle of the year has fill'd, 61
Since first this isle my father's ashes held:
And now the rising day renews the year;
A day for ever sad, for ever dear.
This would I celebrate with annual games,
With gifts on altars pil'd, and holy flames,
Tho' banish'd to Getulia's barren sands,
Caught on the Grecian seas, or hostile lands:
But since this happy storm our fleet has
driv'n

(Not, as I deem, without the will of Heav'n) Upon these friendly shores and flow'ry

plains,

71