"Go, Barce, call my sister. Let her care
The
solemn rites of sacrifice prepare;
The sheep, and all th' atoning off'rings bring,
Sprinkling her body from the
crystal spring
With living drops; then let her come, and thou
With
sacred fillets bind thy hoary brow.
Thus will I pay my vows to Stygian Jove,
And end the cares of my
disastrous love;
Then cast the Trojan image on the fire,
And, as that burns, my passions shall expire."
The nurse moves
onward, with officious care,
And all the speed her aged limbs can bear.
But
furious Dido, with dark thoughts involv'd,
Shook at the
mightymischief she resolv'd.
With livid spots distinguish'd was her face;
Red were her rolling eyes, and discompos'd her pace;
Ghastly she gaz'd, with pain she drew her breath,
And nature shiver'd at approaching death.
Then
swiftly to the fatal place she pass'd,
And mounts the fun'ral pile with
furious haste;
Unsheathes the sword the Trojan left behind
(Not for so dire an
enterprise design'd).
But when she view'd the garments
loosely spread,
Which once he wore, and saw the
conscious bed,
She paus'd, and with a sigh the robes embrac'd;
Then on the couch her trembling body cast,
Repress'd the ready tears, and spoke her last:
"Dear pledges of my love, while Heav'n so pleas'd,
Receive a soul, of
mortalanguish eas'd:
My fatal course is finish'd; and I go,
A
glorious name, among the ghosts below.
A lofty city by my hands is rais'd,
Pygmalion punish'd, and my lord appeas'd.
What could my fortune have afforded more,
Had the false Trojan never touch'd my shore!"
Then kiss'd the couch; and, "Must I die," she said,
"And unreveng'd? 'T is
doubly to be dead!
Yet ev'n this death with pleasure I receive:
On any terms, 't is better than to live.
These flames, from far, may the false Trojan view;
These boding omens his base
flight pursue!"
She said, and struck; deep enter'd in her side
The
piercing steel, with reeking
purple dyed:
Clogg'd in the wound the cruel
weapon stands;
The spouting blood came streaming on her hands.
Her sad attendants saw the
deadly stroke,
And with loud cries the sounding palace shook.
Distracted, from the fatal sight they fled,
And thro' the town the
dismal rumor spread.
First from the frighted court the yell began;
Redoubled,
thence from house to house it ran:
The groans of men, with shrieks, laments, and cries
Of mixing women, mount the vaulted skies.
Not less the clamor, than if- ancient Tyre,
Or the new Carthage, set by foes on fire-
The rolling ruin, with their lov'd abodes,
Involv'd the blazing temples of their gods.
Her sister hears; and,
furious with despair,
She beats her breast, and rends her yellow hair,
And,
calling on Eliza's name aloud,
Runs
breathless to the place, and breaks the crowd.
"Was all that pomp of woe for this prepar'd;
These fires, this fun'ral pile, these altars rear'd?
Was all this train of plots contriv'd," said she,
"All only to
deceiveunhappy me?
Which is the worst? Didst thou in death pretend
To scorn thy sister, or delude thy friend?
Thy summon'd sister, and thy friend, had come;
One sword had serv'd us both, one common tomb:
Was I to raise the pile, the pow'rs invoke,
Not to be present at the fatal stroke?
At once thou hast destroy'd thyself and me,
Thy town, thy
senate, and thy colony!
Bring water; bathe the wound; while I in death
Lay close my lips to hers, and catch the flying breath."
This said, she mounts the pile with eager haste,
And in her arms the gasping queen embrac'd;
Her temples chaf'd; and her own garments tore,
To stanch the streaming blood, and
cleanse the gore.
Thrice Dido tried to raise her drooping head,
And, fainting
thrice, fell grov'ling on the bed;
Thrice op'd her heavy eyes, and sought the light,
But, having found it, sicken'd at the sight,
And clos'd her lids at last in endless night.
Then Juno, grieving that she should sustain
A death so ling'ring, and so full of pain,
Sent Iris down, to free her from the strife
Of lab'ring nature, and
dissolve her life.
For since she died, not doom'd by Heav'n's decree,
Or her own crime, but human casualty,
And rage of love, that plung'd her in despair,
The Sisters had not cut the topmost hair,
Which Proserpine and they can only know;
Nor made her
sacred to the shades below.
Downward the various
goddess took her
flight,
And drew a thousand colors from the light;
Then stood above the dying lover's head,
And said: "I thus devote thee to the dead.
This off'ring to th'
infernal gods I bear."
Thus while she spoke, she cut the fatal hair:
The struggling soul was loos'd, and life dissolv'd in air.
BOOK V
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,
What secret springs their eager passions move,
How
capable of death for injur'd love.
Dire auguries from hence the Trojans draw;
Till neither fires nor shining shores they saw.
Now seas and skies their
prospect only bound;
An empty space above, a floating field around.
But soon the heav'ns with shadows were o'erspread;
A swelling cloud hung hov'ring o'er their head:
Livid it look'd, the threat'ning of a storm:
Then night and
horror ocean's face deform.
The pilot, Palinurus, cried aloud:
"What gusts of weather from that gath'ring cloud
My thoughts presage! Ere yet the
tempest roars,
Stand to your
tackle, mates, and stretch your oars;
Contract your swelling sails, and luff to wind."
The frighted crew perform the task assign'd.
Then, to his
fearless chief: "Not Heav'n," said he,
"Tho' Jove himself should promise Italy,
Can stem the
torrent of this raging sea.
Mark how the shifting winds from west arise,
And what collected night involves the skies!
Nor can our
shaken vessels live at sea,
Much less against the
tempest force their way.
'T is fate diverts our course, and fate we must obey.
Not far from hence, if I observ'd aright
The southing of the stars, and polar light,
Sicilia lies, whose
hospitable shores
In safety we may reach with struggling oars."
Aeneas then replied: "Too sure I find
We
strive in vain against the seas and wind:
Now shift your sails; what place can please me more
Than what you promise, the Sicilian shore,
Whose hallow'd earth Anchises' bones contains,
And where a
prince of Trojan lineage reigns?"
The course resolv'd, before the
western wind
They scud amain, and make the port assign'd.
Meantime Acestes, from a lofty stand,
Beheld the fleet descending on the land;
And, not unmindful of his ancient race,
Down from the cliff he ran with eager pace,
And held the hero in a
strict embrace.
Of a rough Libyan bear the spoils he wore,
And either hand a
pointed jav'lin bore.
His mother was a dame of Dardan blood;
His sire Crinisus, a Sicilian flood.
He welcomes his returning friends ashore
With plenteous country cates and
homely store.
Now, when the following morn had chas'd away
The flying stars, and light restor'd the day,
Aeneas call'd the Trojan troops around,
And thus bespoke them from a rising ground:
"Offspring of heav'n,
divine Dardanian race!
The sun, revolving thro' th'
ethereal space,
The shining
circle of the year has fill'd,
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 Gaetulia'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,
Which hide Anchises and his blest remains,
Let us with joy perform his honors due,
And pray for prosp'rous winds, our
voyage to renew;
Pray, that in towns and temples of our own,
The name of great Anchises may be known,
And
yearly games may spread the gods' renown.
Our sports Acestes, of the Trojan race,
With royal gifts ordain'd, is pleas'd to grace:
Two steers on ev'ry ship the king bestows;
His gods and ours shall share your equal vows.
Besides, if, nine days hence, the rosy morn
Shall with unclouded light the skies adorn,
That day with
solemn sports I mean to grace:
Light galleys on the seas shall run a wat'ry race;
Some shall in
swiftness for the goal contend,
And others try the twanging bow to bend;
The strong, with iron gauntlets arm'd, shall stand
Oppos'd in
combat on the yellow sand.
Let all be present at the games prepar'd,
And
joyful victors wait the just reward.
But now
assist the rites, with garlands crown'd."
He said, and first his brows with
myrtle bound.
Then Helymus, by his example led,
And old Acestes, each adorn'd his head;
Thus young Ascanius, with a
sprightly grace,
His temples tied, and all the Trojan race.
Aeneas then advanc'd
amidst the train,
By thousands follow'd thro' the flow'ry plain,