675

On thee, dear wife, in deserts all alone,
He call'd, sigh'd, sung: his griefs with day begun,
Nor were they finish'd with the setting sun.
E'en to the dark dominions of the night
He took his way, through forests void of light,
And dared amidst the trembling ghosts to sing,
And stood before th' inexorable king.
Th' infernal troops like passing shadows glide, 679
And, listening, crowd the sweet musician's side-
(Not flocks of birds, when driven by storms or night,
Stretch to the forests with so thick a flight)-
Men, matrons, children, and th' unmarry'd maid,
The mighty hero's more majestic shade, [laid. 681
And youths, on funeral piles before their parents
All these Cocytus bounds with squalid reeds,
With muddy ditches, and with deadly weeds;
And baleful Styx encompasses around, [ground,
With nine slow circling streams, th' unhappy
Even from the depths of hell the damn'd ad-
vance ;
690

Th' infernal mansions, nodding, seem to dance;
The gaping three-mouth'd dog forgets to snarl;
The Furies hearken, and their snakes uncurl!
Ixion seems no more his pain to feel,
But leans attentive on his standing wheel.
All dangers pass'd, at length the lovely bride
In safety goes, with her melodious guide,
Longing the common light again to share,
And draw the vital breath of upper air-

705

He first; and close bebind him followed she; 700
For such was Proserpine's severe decree-
When strong desires th' impatient youth invade,
By little caution and much love betray'd:
A fault, which easy pardon might receive,
Were lovers judges, or could hell forgive;
For, near the confines of ethereal light,
And longing for the glimmering of a sight,
Th' unwary lover cast his eyes behind,
Forgetful of the law, nor master of his mind.
Straight all his hopes exhaled in empty smoke; 710
And his long toils were forfeit for a look.
Three flashes of blue lightning gave the sign
Of covenants broke; three peals of thunder joir.
Then thus the bride: What fury seized on thee,
Unhappy man! to lose thyself and me?

Trees bent their heads to hear him sing his wrongs: Fierce tigers couch'd around, and loll'd their fawn ing tongues.

So, close in poplar shades, her children gone,
The mother-nightingale laments alone,"

Whose nest some prying churl had found, and thence,

By stealth convey'd th' unfeather'd innocence. 745
But she supplies the night with mournful strains;
And melancholy music fills the plains.
Sad Orpheus thus his tedious hours employs,
Averse from Venus, and from nuptial joys.
Alone he tempts the frozen floods, alone

750

Th' unhappy climes, where spring was never known:

He mourn'd his wretched wife, in vain restored,
And Pluto's unavailing boon deplored.
The Thracian matrons-who the youth accused
Of love disdain'd, and marriage-rites refused- 755
With furies and nocturnal orgies fired,
At length against his sacred life conspired.
Whom even the savage beasts had spared, they
kill'd,

And strew'd his mangled limbs about the field. 760
Then, when his head, from his fair shoulders
Wash'd by the waters, was on Hebrus borne, [torn,
Even then his trembling tongue invoked his bride;
With his last voice, Eurydice,' he cried,

Eurydice,' the rocks and river-banks replied." This answer Proteus gave; nor more he said, 765 But in the billows plunged his hoary head: And where he leap'd, the waves in circles widely

spread.

The nymph return'd her drooping son to cheer, And bade him banish his superfluous fear: "For now," said she, "the cause is known, from whence 770

pease:

Thy wo succeeded, and for what offence
The nymphs, companions of th' unhappy maid,
This punishment upon thy crimes have laid;
And sent a plague among thy thriving bees.-
With vows and suppliant prayers their powers ap-

695

775

715

Dragg'd back again by cruel destinies,

An iron slumber shuts my swimming eyes.

The soft Napaan race will soon repent
Their anger, and remit the punishment.
The secret in an easy method lies;
Select four brawny bulls for sacrifice,
Which on Lycæus graze without a guide;
Add four fair heifers yet in yoke untry'd,
For these, four altars in their temple rear,
And then adore the woodland powers with prayer.
From the slain victims pour the streaming blood,
And leave their bodies in the shady wood:
Nine mornings thence, Lethæan poppy bring,
T' appease the manes of the poet's king:
And, to propitiate his offended bride,
A fatted calf and a black ewe provide:
This finish'd, to the former woods repair."
His mother's precepts he performs with care;
The temple visits, and adores with prayer;
Four altars raises; from his herd he culls,
For slaughter, four the fairest of his bulls:
Four heifers from his female store he took,
All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke,
Nine mornings thence, with sacrifice and prayers,

780

785

790

795

And now farewell! involved in shades of night,

For ever I am ravish'd from thy sight.

The powers atoned, he to the grove repairs. Behold a prodigy! for, from within

In vain I reach my feeble hands, to join
In sweet embraces-ah! no longer thine!
She said; and from his eyes the fleeting fair
Retired like subtle smoke dissolved in air,
And left the hopeless lover in despair.
In vain, with folding arms, the youth essay'd
To stop her flight, and strain the flying shade:
He prays; he raves; all means in vain he tries,
With rage inflamed, astonish'd with surprise:
But she return'd no more, to bless his longing eyes.
Nor would th' infernal ferry-man once more
Be bribed to waft him to the farther shore.
What should he do, who twice had lost his love?
What notes invent? what new petitions move?
Her soul already was consign'd to Fate,
And shivering in the leaky sculler sate.
For seven continued months, if Fame say true,
The wretched swains his sorrows did renew:
By Strymon's freezing streams he sate alone:
The rocks were moved to pity with his moan: 739

720

725

The broken bowels and the bloated skin,
A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms;
Straight issue through the sides assembling swarms.
Dark as a cloud, they make a wheeling flight,
Then on a neighbouring tree, descending, light:
Like a large cluster of black grapes they show, 805
And make a large dependance from the bough.

800

750

735

Thus have I sung of fields, and flocks, and trees, And of the waxen work of labouring bees; While mighty Cæsar, thundering from afar, Seeks on Euphrates' banks the spoils of war; With conquering arts asserts his country's cause, With arts of peace the willing people draws; On the glad earth the golden age renews, And his great father's path to heaven pursues; While I at Naples pass my peaceful days, Affecting studies of less noisy praise; And, bold through youth, beneath the beechen shade [play'd.

810

815

The lays of shepherds, and their loves, have

ARGUMENT.

The Trojans, after a seven years' voyage, set sail for Italy, but are overtaken by a dreadful storm, which olus raises at Juno's request. The tempest sinks one, and scatters the rest. Neptune drives off the winds, and calms the sea. Eneas, with his own ship and six more, arrives safe at an African port. Venus complains to Jupiter of her son's misfortunes. Jupiter comforts her, and sends Mercury to procure him a kind reception among the Carthaginians. Eneas, going out to discover the country, meets his mother in the shape of a huntress, who conveys him in a cloud to Carthage, where he sees his friends whom he thought lost, and receives a kind entertainment from the queen. Dido, by a device of Venus, begins to have a passion for him, and, after some discourse with him, desires the history of his adventures since the siege of Troy, which is the subject of the two following books.

55

60

Now scarce the Trojan fleet, with sails and oars, Had left behind the fair Sicilian shores, Entering with cheerful shouts the watery reign, And ploughing frothy furrows in the main ; When, labouring still with endless discontent, The queen of heaven did thus her fury vent "Then am I vanquish'd? must I yield?" said she: "And must the Trojans reign in Italy? So Fate will have it; and Jove adds his force; Nor can my power divert their happy course. Could angry Pallas, with revengeful spleen, The Grecian navy burn, and drown the men? She, for the fault of one offending foe, The bolts of Jove himself presumed to throw : With whirlwinds from beneath she toss'd the ship, And bare exposed the bosom of the deep: Then-as an eagle gripes the trembling gameThe wretch, yet hissing with her father's flame, She strongly seized, and, with a burning wound Transfix'd, and naked, on a rock she bound. But I, who walk in awful state above, The majesty of heaven, the sister-wife of Jove, For length of years my fruitless force employ Against the thin remains of ruin'd Troy! What nations now to Juno's power will pray, Or offerings on my slighted altars lay ?""

65

70

75

Thus raged the goddess; and, with fury fraught, The restless regions of the storms she sought, Where, in a spacious cave of living stone, The tyrant Eolus, from his airy throne, With power imperial curbs the struggling winds, And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds. 81 This way, and that, th' impatient captives tend, And, pressing for release, the mountains rend. High in his hall th' undaunted monarch stands, And shakes his sceptre, and their rage commands; Which did he not, their unresisted sway Would sweep the world before them in their way; Earth, air, and seas, through empty space would

86

20

roll,

Stout for the war, and studious of their trade: Carthage the name-beloved by Juno more Than her own Argos, or the Samian shore.

24

Here stood her chariot; here, if heaven were kind,
The seat of awful empire she design'd.
Yet she had heard an ancient rumour fly,
(Long cited by the people of the sky)
That times to come should see the Trojan race
Her Carthage ruin, and her towers deface;
Nor thus confined, the yoke of sovereign sway
Should on the necks of all the nations lay.
She ponder'd this, and fear'd it was in fate;
Nor could forget the war she waged of late,
For conquering Greece, against the Trojan state.
Besides, long causes working in her mind,
And secret seeds of envy, lay behind:
Deep graven in her heart, the doom remain'd
Of partial Paris, and her form disdain'd;
The grace bestow'd on ravish'd Ganymed,
Electra's glories, and her injured bed.
Each was a cause alone; and all combined
To kindle vengeance in her haughty mind.
For this, far distant from the Latian coast,
She drove the remnants of the Trojan host:
And seven long years th' unhappy wandering train
Were toss'd by storms, and scatter'd through the

30

36

40

45

And heaven would fly before the driving soul.
In fear of this, the father of the gods
Confined their fury to those dark abodes,

And lock'd them safe within, oppress'd with mountain loads;

99

Imposed a king, with arbitrary sway,
To loose their fetters, or their force allay;
To whom the suppliant queen her prayers address'd,
And thus the tenour of her suit express'd:
"O Eolus!-for to thee the king of heaven
The power of tempests and of winds has given :
Thy force alone their fury can restrain,
And smoothe the waves, or swell the troubled main--
A race of wandering slaves, abhorr'd by me,
With prosperous passage cut the Tuscan sea:
To fruitful Italy their course they steer, [there.
And, for their vanquish'd gods design new temples,
Raise all thy winds; with night involve the skies;
Sink or disperse my fatal eneinies.
Twice seven, the charming daughters of the main,
Around my person wait, and bear my train :'
Succeed my wish, and second my design,
The fairest, Deiopeia, shall be thine,
And make thee father of a happy line."

90

94

110

119

Raise tempests at your pleasure, or subdue;
Dispose of empire, which I hold from you."
He said, and hurl'd against the mountain-side
His quivering spear, and all the god applied.
The raging winds rush through the hollow wound,
And dance aloft in air, and skim along the ground;
Then settling on the sea, the surges sweep,
Raise liquid mountains, and disclose the deep. 125
South, East, and West, with mix'd confusion roar,
And roll the foaming billows to the shore.
The cables crack; the sailors' fearful cries
Ascend; and sable night involves the skies;
And heaven itself is ravish'd from their eyes.
Loud peals of thunder from the poles ensue;
Then flashing fires the transient light renew;
The face of things a frightful image bears;
And present death in various forms appears.
Struck with unusual fright, the Trojan chief,
With lifted hands and eyes, invokes relief;
And "Thrice and four times happy those," he
cried,
[died!
"That under Ilian walls, before their parents,
Tydides, bravest of the Grecian train!

130

135

Why could not I by that strong arm be slain, 140 And lie by noble Hector on the plain,

150

Or great Sarpedon, in those bloody fields,
Where Simoïs rolls the bodies and the shields
Of heroes, whose dismember'd hands yet bear
The dart aloft, and clench the pointed spear?" 145
Thus while the pious prince his fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails,
And rent the sheets: the raging billows rise,
And mount the tossing vessel to the skies:
Nor can the shivering oars sustain the blow;
The galley gives her side, and turns her prow;
While those astern, descending down the steep,
Through gaping waves behold the boiling deep.
Three ships were hurried by the southern blast,
And on the secret shelves with fury cast.
Those hidden rocks th' Ausonian sailors knew:.
They call'd them Altars, when they rose in view,
And show'd their spacious backs above the flood.
Three more fierce Eurus, in his angry mood,
Dash'd on the shallows of the moving sand,
And in mid ocean left them moor'd a-land.
Orontes' bark, that bore the Lycian crew,
(A horrid sight) even in the hero's view,
From stem to stern by waves was overborne:
The trembling pilot, from his rudder torn,
Was headlong hurl'd: thrice round the ship was
toss'd,

155

160

165

Meantime imperial Neptune heard the sound Of raging billows breaking on the ground.

180

[whence 190

Displeased, and fearing for his watery reign,
He rear'd his awful head above the main,
Serene in majesty,-then roll'd his eyes
Around the space of earth, and seas, and skies.
He saw the Trojan fleet dispersed, distress'd,
By stormy winds and wintry heaven oppress'd.
Full well the god his sister's envy knew,
And what her aims and what her arts pursue. 185
He summon'd Eurus and the Western blast,
And first an angry glance on both he cast,
Then thus rebuked-" Audacious winds! from
This bold attempt, this rebel insolence?
Is it for you to ravage seas and land,
Unauthorized by my supreme command?
To raise such mountains on the troubled main ?
Whom I-but first 'tis fit the billows to restrain:
And then you shall be taught obedience to my reign.
Hence! to your lord my royal mandate bear- 195
The realms of ocean and the fields of air
Are mine, not his. By fatal lot to me
The liquid empire fell, and trident of the sea.
His power to hollow caverns is confined:
There let him reign, the jailor of the wind,
With hoarse commands his breathing subjects call,
And boast and bluster in his empty hall."
He spoke and, while he spoke, he smooth'd the
Dispell'd the darkness, and restored the day. [ea,
Cymothoë, Triton, and the sea-green train 205
Of beauteous nymphs, the daughters of the main,

200

Clear from the rocks the vessels with their hands: The god himself with ready trident stands, And opes the deep, and spreads the moving sands; Then heaves them off the shoals.-Where'er he guides 211

215

220

226

His finny coursers, and in triumph rides,
The waves unruffle, and the sea subsides.
As, when in tumults rise th' ignoble crowd,
Mad are their motions, and their tongues are loud;
And stones and brands in rattling vollies fly,
And all the rustic arms that fury can supply:
If then some grave and pious man appear,
They hush their noise, and lend a listening ear:
He soothes with sober words their angry mood,
And quenches their innate desire of blood:
So, when the father of the flood appears,
And o'er the seas his sovereign trident rears,
Their fury falls: he skims the liquid plains,
High on his chariot, and, with loosen'd reins,
Majestic moves along, and awful peace maintains.
The weary Trojans ply their shatter'd oars
To nearest land, and make the Libyan shores.
Within a long recess there lies a bay :
An island shades it from the rolling sea,
And forms a port secure for ships to ride:
Broke by the jutting land, on either side,
In double streams the briny waters glide,
Betwixt two rows of rocks: a siivan scene
Appears above, and groves for ever green:
A grot is form'd beneath, with mossy seats,
To rest the Nereïds, and exclude the heats.
Down through the crannies of the living walls,
The crystal streams descend in murmuring falls.
No halsers need to bind the vessels here,
Nor bearded anchors; for no storms they fear. 240
Seven ships within this happy harbour meet,
The thin remainders of the scatter'd fleet,
The Trojans, worn with toils, and spent with woes,
Leap on the welcome land, and seek their wish'd

repose.

230

235

245

255

First, good Achates, with repeated strokes
Of clashing flints, their hidden fire provokes:
Short flame succeeds: a bed of wither'd leaves
The dying sparkles in their fall receives:
Caught into life, in fiery fumes they rise,
And, fed with stronger food, invade the skies. 250
The Trojans, dropping wet, or stand around
The cheerful blaze, or lie along the ground.
Some dry their corn infected with the brine,
Then grind with marbles, and prepare to dine.
Eneas climbs the mountain's airy brow,
And takes a prospect of the seas below,
If Capys thence, or Antheus, he could spy,
Or see the streamers of Cafcus fly.
No vessels were in view but, on the plain,
Three beamy stags cominand a lordly train
Of branching heads; the more ignoble throng
Attend their stately steps, and slowly graze along.
He stood; and, while secure they fed below,
He took the quiver and the trusty bow
Achates used to bear: the leaders first
He laid along, and then the vulgar pierced;
Nor ceased his arrows, till the shady plain
Seven mighty bodies with their blood distain.
For the seven ships he made an equal share,
And to the port return'd triumphant from the

The jars of generous wine (Acestes' gift,
When his Trinacrian shores the navy left)
He set abroach, and for the feast prepared,
In equal portions with the ven'son shared.
Thus, while he dealt it round, the pious chief 275
With cheerful words allay'd the common grief:-
"Endure, and conquer! Jove will soon dispose,
To future good, our past and present woes.
With me, the rocks of Scylla you have tried;
Th' inhuman Cyclops, and his den defied.
What greater ills hereafter can you bear?
Resume your courage, and dismiss your care.
An hour will come, with pleasure to relate
Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate.
Through various hazards and events, we move 285
To Latium, and the realms foredoom'd by Jove.
Call'd to the seat (the promise of the skies)
Where Trojan kingdoms once again may rise,
Endure the hardships of your present state;
Live, and reserve yourselves for better fate."
These words he spoke, but spoke not from his
heart;

His outward smiles conceal'd his inward smart.
The jolly crew, unmindful of the past,
The quarry share, their plenteous dinner haste.

290

Some strip the skin; some portion out the spoil;
The limbs, yet trembling, in the caldrons boil; 296
Some on the fire the reeking entrails broil.
Stretch'd on the grassy turf, at ease they dine,
Restore their strength with meat, and cheer their
souls with wine.

Their hunger thus appeased, their care attends 300
The doubtful fortune of their absent friends:
Alternate hopes and fears their minds possess,
Whether to deem them dead, or in distress.
Above the rest, Eneas mourns the fate
Of brave Orontes, and th' uncertain state
Of Gyas, Lycus, and of Amycus.-
The day, but not their sorrows, ended thus;
When, from aloft, almighty Jove surveys
Earth, air, and shores, and navigable seas:

305

At length on Libyan realms he fix'd his eyes 310
Whom, pondering thus on human miseries,
When Venus saw, she with a lowly look,
Not free from tears, her heavenly sire bespoke:-
"O king of gods and men! whose awful hand
Disperses thunder on the seas and land;
Disposes all with absolute command:

How could my pious son thy power incense?
Or what, alas! is vanish'd Troy's offence?
Our hope of Italy not only lost,

319

But shut from every shore, and harr'd from every

At length atoned, her friendly power shall join,
To cherish and advance the Trojan line.
The subject world shall Rome's dominion own, 384
And, prostrate, shall adore the nation of the gown.
An age is ripening in revolving fate,
When Troy shall overturn the Grecian state,
And sweet revenge her conquering sons shall call,
To crush the people that conspired her fall.
Then Cæsar from the Julian stock shall rise,
Whose empire ocean, and whose fame the skies,
Alone shall bound; whom, fraught with eastern
spoils,

Our heaven, the just reward of human toils,
Securely shall repay with rites divine;

390

394

And incense shall ascend before his sacred shrine.
Then dire debate, and impious war, shall cease,
And the stern age be softened into peace :
Then banish'd Faith shall once again return,

315

On various seas by various tempests toss'd,

[coast.

And Vestal fires in hallow'd temples burn;
And Remus with Quirinus shall sustain
The righteous laws, and fraud and force restrain.
Janus himself before his fane shall wait,
And keep the dreadful issues of his gate,
With bolts and iron bars: within remains
Imprison'd Fury, bound in brazen chains:
High on a trophy raised, of useless arms,
He sits, and threats the world with vain alarms."
He said, and sent Cyllenius with command

400

405

You promised once a progeny divine,

Of Romans, rising from the Trojan line,

In after-times should hold the world in awe, And to the land and ocean give the law.

To free the ports, and ope the Punic land.
To Trojan guests; lest, ignorant of fate,
The queen might force them from her town and

410

325

How is your doom reversed, which eased my care
When Troy was ruin'd in that cruel war?
Then fates to fates I could oppose: but now,
When Fortune still pursues her former blow,
What can I hope? What worse can still succeed?
What end of labours has your will decreed?
Antenor, from the midst of Grecian hosts,
Could pass secure, and pierce th' Illyrian coasts,
Where rolling down the steep, Timavus raves,
And through nine channels disembogues his waves.
At length he founded Padua's happy seat,
336
And gave his Trojans a secure retreat;

With which he drives the clouds and clears the skies,

First gave a holy kiss; then thus replies-
"Daughter, dismiss thy fears: to thy desire, 350
The fates of thine are fix'd, and stand entire.
Thou shalt behold thy wish'd Lavinian walls;
And, ripe for heaven, when Fate Eneas calls,
Then shalt thou bear him up, sublime, to me:
No counsels have reversed my firm decree.
And, lest new fears disturb thy happy state,
Know, I have search'd the mystic rolls of Fate:
Thy son (nor is th' appointed season far)
In Italy shall wage successful war.

, 355

state.

Down from the steep of heaven Cyllenius flies,
And cleaves with all his wings the yielding skies.
Soon on the Libyan shore descends the god,
Performs his message, and displays his rod.
The surly murmurs of the people cease;
And, as the fates required, they give the peace.
The queen herself suspends the rigid laws,
The Trojans pities, and protects their cause.
Meantime, in shades of night Eneas lies:
Care seized his soul, and sleep forsook his eyes.
But, when the sun restored the cheerful day,
He rose, the coast and country to survey,
Anxious and eager to discover more.-
It look'd a wild uncultivated shore:
But, whether human kind, or beasts alone,
Possess'd the new-found region, was unknown.
Beneath a ledge of rocks his fleet he hides:
Tall trees surround the mountain's shady sides:
The bending brow above a safe retreat provides.
Arm'd with two pointed darts, he leaves his
friends:

425

431

435

And true Archates on his steps attends.
Lo! in the deep recesses of the wood,
Before his eyes his goddess mother stood-
A huntress in her habit and her mien :
Her dress a maid, her air confess'd a queen.
Bare were her knees, and knots her garments
bind;

Loose was her hair, and wanton'd in the wind:
Her hand sustain'd a bow; her quiver hung be-
hind.

440 [flood.

She seem'd a virgin of the Spartan blood;
With such array Harpalyce bestrode
Her Thracian courser, and outstripp'd the rapid
"Ho! strangers! have you lately seen," she said,
"One of my sisters, like myself array'd.

Who cross'd the lawn, or in the forest stray'd? 445
A painted quiver at her back she bore;
Varied with spots, a lynx's hide she wore;
And at full cry pursued the tusky boar."

Thus Venus; thus her son replied again;
"None of your sisters have we heard or seen, 450
O virgin or what other name you bear
Above that style-O more than mortal fair!
Your voice and mien celestial birth betray!

Shall tame fierce nations in the bloody field,
And sovereign laws impose, and cities build,
Till, after every foe subdued, the sun
Thrice through the signs his annual race
This is his time prefix'd. Ascanius then,
Now call'd Iülus, shall begin his reign.
He thirty rolling years the crown shall wear,
Then from Lavinium shall the seat transfer,
And with hard labour, Alba-longa build.-
The throne with his succession shall be fill'd,
Three hundred circuits more; then shall be seen
Ilia the fair, a priestess and a queen,
Who, full of Mars, in time, with kindly throes,
Shall at a birth two goodly boys disclose.
The royal babes a tawny wolf shall drain:

If, as you seem, the sister of the day,
Or one at least of chaste Diana's train,
Let not an humble suppliant sue in vain :
But tell a stranger, long in tempests toss'd, [coast?
What earth we tread, and who commands the
Then on your name shall wretched mortals call,
And offer'd victims at your altars fall."-
"I dare not," she reply'd," assume the name
Of goddess, or celestial honours claim:
For Tyrian virgins bows and quivers bear,
And purple buskins o'er their ankles wear.
Know, gentle youth, in Libyan lands you are- 465
A people rude in peace, and rough in war.
The rising city, which from far you see,
Is Carthage, and a Tyrian colony.

455

460

475

Phoenician Dido rules the growing state,
Who fled from Tyre to shun her brother's hate. 470
Great were her wrongs, her story full of fate;
Which I will sum in short. Sichæus, known
For wealth, and brother to the punic throne,
Possess'd fair Dido's bed; and either heart
At once was wounded with an equal dart.
Her father gave her, yet a spotless maid;
Pygmalion then the Tyrian sceptre sway'd-
One who contemn'd divine and human laws.
Then strife ensued, and cursed gold the cause.
The monarch, blinded with desire of wealth, 480
With steel invades his brother's life by stealth;
Before the sacred altar made him bleed,
And long from her conceal'd the cruel deed.
Some tale, some new pretence, he daily coin'd,
To soothe his sister, and delude her mind.

485

At length, in dead of night, the ghost appears
Of her unhappy lord: the spectre stares,
And, with erected eyes, his bloody bosom bares.
The cruel altars, and his fate, he tells,
And the dire secret of his house reveals,
Then warns the widow, and her household gods,
To seek a refuge in remote abodes.
Last, to support her in so long a way,

490

500

He shows her where his hidden treasure lay.
Admonish'd thus, and seiz'd with mortal fright,
The queen provides companions of her flight: 496
They meet, and all combine to leave the state,
Who hate the tyrant, or who fear his hate.
They seize a fleet, which ready rigg'd they find;
Nor is Pygmalion's treasure left behind.
The vessels, heavy laden, put to sea
With prosp'rous winds: a woman leads the way.
I know not, if by stress of weather driven,
Or was their fatal course disposed by heaven;
At last they landed, where from far your eyes 505
May view the turrets of new Carthage rise;
There bought a space of ground," which (Byrsa
call'd

From the bull's hide) they first enclosed and wall'd. But whence are you? what country claims your birth? 509

520

What seek you, strangers, on our Libyan earth?"
To whom, with sorrow streaming from his eyes,
And deeply sighing, thus her son replies:
"Could you with patience hear, or I relate,
O nymph! the tedious annals of our fate,
Through such a train of woes if I should run, 515
The day would sooner, than the tale, be done.
From ancient Troy, by force, expell'd, we came-
If you by chance have heard the Trojan name.
On various seas by various tempests toss'd,
At length we landed on your Libyan coast.
The good neas am I call'd-a name,
While Fortune favour'd, not unknown to fame.
My household gods, companions of my woes,
With pious care I rescued from our foes.
To fruitful Italy my course was bent;
And from the king of heaven is my descent.
With twice ten sail I cross'd the Phrygian sea;
Fate and my mother goddess led my way.
Scarce seven, the thin remainders of my fleet, 529
From storms preserved, within your harbour meet.
Myself distress'd, an exile, and unknown,

Debarr'd from Europe, and from Asia thrown,
In Libyan deserts wander thus alone."

525

535

540

His tender parent could no longer bear, But, interposing sought to soothe his care. "Whoe'er you are not unbeloved by heaven, Since on our friendly shore your ships are drivenHave courage: to the gods permit the rest, And to the queen expose your just request. Now take this earnest of success for more: Your scatter'd fleet is join'd upon the shore; The winds are changed, your friends from danger Or I renounce my skill in augury. [free; Twelve swans behold in beauteous order move, And stoop with closing pinions from above; 545 Whom late the bird of Jove had driven along, And through the clouds pursued the scattering throng:

Now all united in a goodly team,

They skim the ground, and seek the quiet stream:
As they, with joy returning, clap their wings: 550
And ride the circuit of the skies in rings;
Not otherwise your ships, and every friend,
Already hold the port, or with swift sails descend.
No more advice is needful; but pursue
The path before you, and the town in view."
Thus having said, she turn'd, and made appear
Her neck refulgent, and dishevell'd hair,

555

The prince pursued the parting deity

With words like these: "Ah! whither do you fly?
Unkind and cruel! to deceive your son

In borrow'd shapes, and his embrace to shun; 565
Never to bless my sight, but thus unknown;
And still to speak in accents not your own."
Against the goddess these complaints he made,
But took the path, and her commands obey'd. 569
They march obscure; for Venus kindly shrouds,
With mists, their persons, and involves in clouds,
That, thus unseen, their passage none might stay,
Or force to tell the causes of their way.
This part perform'd, the goddess flies sublime,
To visit Paphos, and her native clime,
Where garlands, ever green and ever fair,
With vows are offer'd, and with solemn prayer:
A hundred altars in her temple smoke:
A thousand bleeding hearts her power invoke.
They climb the next ascent, and, looking down,
Now at a nearer distance view the town.
The prince with wonder sees the stately towers,
(Which late were huts, and shepherds' homely
bowers)

575

581

589

595

The gates and streets; and hears, from every part,
The noise and busy concourse of the mart. 585
The toiling Tyrians on each other call,
To ply their labour: some extend the wall;
Some build the citadel; the brawny throng
Or dig, or push unwieldy stones along.
Some for their dwellings choose a spot of ground,
Which, first design'd, with ditches they surround.
Some laws ordain; and some attend the choice
Of holy senates, and elect by voice.
Here some design a mole, while others there
Lay deep foundations for a theatre,
From marble quarries mighty columns hew,
For ornaments of scenes, and future view.
Such is their toil, and such their busy pains,
As exercise the bees in flowery plains,
When winter past, and summer scarce begun, 600
Invites them forth to labour in the sun:
Some lead their youth abroad, while some condense
Their liquid store, and some in cells dispense:
Some at the gates stand ready to receive
The golden burden, and their friends relieve: 605
All, with united force, combine to drive
The lazy drones from the laborious hive:
With envy stung, they view each other's deeds;
The fragrant work with diligence proceeds.
"Thrice happy you, whose walls already rise!" 610
Æneas said, and view'd, with lifted eyes,
Their lofty towers: then entering at the gate,
Conceal'd in clouds, (prodigious to relate)
He mix'd, unmark'd, among the busy throng,
Borne by the tide, and pass'd unseen along.
Full in the centre of the town there stood,
Thick set with trees, a venerable wood:
The Tyrians, landing near this holy ground,
And digging here, a prosperous omen found:
From under earth a courser's head they drew, 620
Their growth and future fortune to foreshew:
This fated sign their foundress Juno gave,
Of a soil fruitful, and a people brave."
Sidonian Dido here with solemn state
Did Juno's temple build, and consecrate,
Enrich'd with gifts, and with a golden shrine;
But more the goddess made the place divine.
On brazen steps the marble threshold rose,
And brazen plates the cedar beams enclose:
The rafters are with brazen cov'rings crown'd; 630
The lofty doors on brazen hinges sound.
What first Æneas in this place beheld,
Revived his courage, and his fear expell'd.
For-while, expecting there the queen, he raised
His wondering eyes, and round the temple gazed,
Admired the fortune of the rising town,
The striving artists, and their arts' renown-
He saw, in order painted on the wall,
Whatever did unhappy Troy befall-
The wars that fame around the world had blown,
All to the life, and every leader known.
There Agamemnon, Priam here he spies,
And fierce Achilles, who both kings defies.
He stopp'd, and weeping said, "O friend!
here

The monuments of Trojan woes appear!

615

625

636

641

even 645