BOOK IV.

In the Fourth Book, Queen Dido becomes deeply enamoured of Æneas, to whom she proffers her hand and her crown; but, on finding him determined, in obedience to the command of the gods, to leave Carthage, rage and despair took possession of the unhappy queen. At last, the sudden departure of Æneas led to the fatal catastrophe of her death, by her own hand, on the funeral pile which she had erected.

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BUT the queen, long since pierced with painful care, feeds the wound in her veins, and is consumed by unseen flames. The many virtues of the hero, the many honours of his race, recur to her thoughts: his looks and words dwell fixed in her soul: nor does care allow calm rest to her limbs. Returning Aurora now illuminated the earth with the lamp of Phoebus, and had chased away the dewy shades from the sky, when she, halffrenzied, thus addresses her sympathizing sister: Sister Anna, what dreams terrify and distract my mind! What think of this wondrous guest who has come to our abodes? In mien how graceful he appears! in manly fortitude and warlike deeds how great! I am fully persuaded (nor is my belief groundless) that he is the offspring of the gods. Fear argues a degenerate mind. Ah! by what fatal disasters has he been tossed! what toils of war he sang, endured to the last !3 Had I not been fixed and stedfast in my resolution, never to join myself to any in the bonds of wedlock, since my first love by death mocked and disappointed me; had I not been thoroughly tired of the marriage-bed and nuptial torch, to this one frailty I might perhaps give way. Anna, (for I will own it,) since the decease of my unhappy spouse Sichæus, and since the household gods were stained with his blood shed by a brother, this [stranger] alone has warped my inclinations, and interested my wavering mind: I recognise the symptoms of my former flame. But sooner may earth from her lowest depths yawn for me, or the almighty Sire hurl me by his thunder to the shades, the pale shades of Erebus and deep night, than I violate thee, modesty, or break thy laws. He who first linked

1 Cf. Aristenet. Εp. ii. 5, ἐκβόσκεται γὰρ μέ τις ἀνερμήνευτος ὀδύνη. Β. • Davidson has better expressed the force of this Greek construction than Anthon. Cf. Soph. Ant. 7; El. 328; Æsch. Ch. 8. B. Literally, "drained to the dregs." Cf. Æn. x. 57.

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affection; may he possess

This said, she filled her

me to himself hath borne away my it still, and retain it in his grave. bosom with trickling tears. Anna replies: O dearer to your sister than the light, will you thus in mournful solitude waste your bloom of youth, nor know the dear delights of children, and rewards of love? Think you that ashes and the buried dead care for that? What though no lovers moved you before, when your sorrows were green, either in Libya, or before in Tyre? what though Iarbas was slighted, and other princes whom Afric, fertile in triumphs, maintains? Will you also resist a flame which you approve? Will you not reflect in whose country you now reside? Here the Getulian 6 cities, a race invincible in war, unrestrained Numidians, and inhospitable quicksands, enclose you round; there, a region by thirst turned into a desert, and the wide-raging Barcæans. Why should I mention the kindling wars from Tyre, and the menaces of your brother? It was surely, I think, under the auspices of the gods, and by the favour of Juno, that the Trojan ships steered their course to this our coast. O sister, how flourishing shall you see this city, how potent your kingdom rise from such a match! By what high exploits shall the Carthaginian glory be advanced, when the Trojan's arms join them! Do thou but supplicate the favour of the gods, and, having performed propitiating rites, indulge in hospitality, and devise one pretence after another for detaining [your guest], while winter's fury rages on the sea, and Orion charged with rain; while his ships are shattered, and the sky is inclement.

By this speech she fanned the fire of love kindled in Dido's breast, buoyed up her wavering mind with hope, and banished her scruples. First to the temples they repair, and by sacrifice the peace of heaven implore: to Ceres the lawgiver, to Phoebus, and to father Bacchus, they offer ewes of the age of two years, according to custom; above all to Juno, whose province is the nuptial tie. Dido herself, in all her beauty,

Petron. § iii. "Id cineres, aut manes credis sepultos sentire?

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5 Iarbas, a son of Jupiter and Garamantis, and king of Getulia, from whom Dido bought land to build Carthage. He was a lover of the queen at the time Æneas came to Carthage.

• Getulians, Numidians, &c., the inhabitants of countries in Northern Africa, now Algiers, Barbary, &c.

holding in her right hand the cup, pours it between the horns of a white heifer; or before the images of the gods in solemn pomp around the rich-loaded altars walks, renews one offering after another all the day long, and, gaping over the disclosed breasts of the victims, consults their panting entrails. Alas! how ignorant the minds of seers! what can prayers, what can temples, avail a raging lover? The gentle flame preys all the while upon her vitals, and the secret wound rankles in her breast. Unhappy Dido burns, and frantic roves over all the town; like a wounded deer, whom, off her guard, a shepherd pursuing with his darts has pierced at a distance among the Cretan woods, and unknowingly [in the wound] hath left the winged steel: she flying bounds over the Dictaan woods and glades: the fatal shaft sticks in her side. Now she conducts Æneas through the midst of her fortifications; shows him both the treasures brought from Tyre, and her new city: she begins to speak, and stops short in the middle of a word. When day declines, she longs to have the same banquets renewed; and, fond even to madness, begs again to hear the Trojan disasters, and again hangs on the speaker's lips. Now, when they had severally retired, while the fading moon in her alternate course withdraws her light, and the setting stars invite sleep, she mourns alone in the desert hall, presses the couch which he had left, and in fancy hears and sees the absent hero; or, captivated with the father's image, hugs Ascanius in her bosom, if possibly she may divert her unutterable love. The towers which were begun cease to rise; her youth practise not their warlike exercises, nor prepare ports and bulwarks for war; the works and the huge battlements on the walls, and the engines that mate the skies, are discontinued.

Whom when Jove's beloved wife perceived to be thus possessed with the blighting passion, and that even sense of honour could not resist its rage, Saturnia thus artfully addresses Venus: Distinguished praise, no doubt, and ample spoils, you and your boy carry off, high and signal renown, if one woman is overcome by the wiles of two deities. Nor am I quite ignorant, that you apprehend danger from our walls, and view the structures of lofty Carthage with a jealous eye. But where will all this end? or what do we now propose by such hot contention? Why do not we rather promote an eternal peace, and nuptial contract? You have your whole soul's de

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sire; Dido burns with love, and has sucked the fury into her very bones. Let us therefore rule this people in common, and under equal sway: let Dido be at liberty to bind herself in wedlock to a Trojan lord, and into thy hand deliver over the Tyrians by way of dowry.

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To whom Venus (for she perceived that she spoke with au insincere mind, with a design to transfer the seat of empire from Italy to the Libyan coasts) thus in her turn began: Who can be so mad as to reject these terms, and rather choose to engage in war with you, would fortune but concur with the scheme which you mention? But I am driven to an uncertainty by the Fates, [not knowing] whether it be the will of Jupiter that the Tyrians and Trojans should dwell in one city, or if he will approve the union of the two nations, and the joining of alliance. You are his consort: to you it belongs by entreaty to work upon his mind. Lead you the way; will follow. Then imperial Juno thus replied: That task be mine: meanwhile (mark my words) I will briefly show by what means our present design may be accomplished. Æneas and most unhappy Dido are preparing to hunt together in the forest, soon as to-morrow's sun shall have brought forth the early dawn, and enlightened the world with his beams. While the [bright-hued] plumage flutters, and they enclose the thickets with toils, I will pour on them from above a blackening storm of rain with mingled hail, and with peals of thunder make heaven's whole frame to shake. Their retinue shall fly different ways, and be covered with a dark night [of clouds]. Dido and the Trojan prince shall repair to the same cave: there will I be present, and, if I have your firm consent, I will join them in the lasting bonds of wedlock, and consecrate her to be his for ever. The god of marriage shall be there. Venus, without any opposition, agreed to her proposal, and smiled at the fraud she discovered.

Meanwhile Aurora rising left the ocean. Soon as the beams

This is the proper meaning of "alæ." Cf. Ovid. Met. i. 106. In aunting, nets were drawn around a considerable space, within which the beasts were driven. In order to scare them thither, a number of brightcoloured feathers were hung to strings at a little distance, called the "formido." It was chiefly employed in hunting deer. Cf. Ulit. on Gratius Cyneg. 77 and 85. B.

Hymen, the god of marriage, was the son of Bacchus and Venus, or, according to others, of Apollo and one of the Muses.

of day shot forth, the chosen youth issue through the gates: the fine nets, the toils, the broad-pointed hunting spears, the Massylian horsemen, and a pack of quick-scented hounds, pour forth together. Before the palace-gate the Carthaginian nobles await the queen lingering in her alcove: her steed, richly caparisoned with purple and gold, ready stands, and fiercely champs the foaming bit. At length she comes attended by a numerous retinue, attired in a Sidonian chlamys with embroidered border: she has a quiver of gold; her tresses are tied in a golden knot; a golden buckle binds up her purple robe. The Trojan youth, too, and sprightly Iülus, accompany the procession. Eneas himself, distinguished in beauty above all the rest, mingles with the retinue, and adds his train to hers: as when Apollo, leaving Lycia, 10 his winter seat, and the streams of Xanthus, revisits his mother's island Delos, and renews the dances: the Cretans, Dryopes,11 and painted Agathyrsi, 12 mingle their acclamations around his altars he himself moves majestic on Cynthus' top, and adjusting his waving hair, crowns it with a soft wreath, and enfolds it in gold; his arrows rattle on his shoulders. With no less active grace Æneas moved: such comeliness shines forth in his matchless mien. Soon as they reached the high mountains, and pathless lairs, lo! from the summit of the craggy cliff the wild goats dislodged skip down the rocks: on the other side the stags scour along the open plains, and gather together in flight their dust-covered squadrons, and forsake the mountains. Now the boy Ascanius delights in his sprightly courser through the enclosed vales; and now these,

The Massylians, a warlike people of Mauritania in Africa, near Mount Atlas when they went on horseback, they never used saddles or bridles, but only sticks.

10 As Dido is before compared to Diana, Æn. i. 498, so Æneas here to Apollo, the brother of Diana. It was a common opinion, that the gods at certain times of the year changed their places of residence; and Servius says it was firmly believed, that Apollo gave responses at Patara, a city of Lycia, during the six months of winter, and at Delos in the summer months. Hence Apollo is called Delius and Patareus. Hor. Carm. iii. 4, 62.

qui Lycia tenet

Dumeta, natalemque silvam,

Delius et Patareus Apollo.

"Dryopes, a people of Greece, in the vicinity of Mount Eta and Parnassus.

12 Agathyrsi, an effeminate nation of Scythia.