Grant she or no, Æneas must away;
Whose golden fortunes, clogg'd with courtly ease,
Cannot ascend to Fame's immortal house,
Or banquet in bright Honour's burnish'd hall,
Till he hath furrow'd Neptune's glassy fields,
And cut a passage through his topless hills.—
Achates, come forth! Sergestus, Ilioneus,
Cloanthus, haste away! Æneas calls.
Enter Achates, Cloanthus, Sergestus, and Ilioneus.
Ach. What wills our lord, or wherefore did he call?
Æn. The dream,[1] brave mates, that did beset my bed,
When sleep but newly had embrac'd the night,
Commands me leave these unrenowmèd[2] realms,[3]
Whereas[4] nobility abhors to stay
And none but base Æneas will abide.
Aboard, aboard! since Fates do bid aboard,
And slice the sea with sable-colour'd ships,
On whom the nimble winds may all day wait,
And follow them, as footmen, through the deep.
Yet Dido casts her eyes, like anchors, out,
To stay my fleet from loosing forth the bay:
"Come back, come back," I hear her cry a-far,
"And let me link thy[5] body to my lips,
That, tied together by the striving tongues,
We may, as one, sail into[6] Italy."
Ach. Banish that ticing dame from forth your mouth,
And follow your fore-seeing stars in all:
This is no life for men-at-arms to live,
Where dalliance doth consume a soldier's strength,
And wanton motions of alluring eyes
Effeminate our minds, inur'd to war.
Ili. Why, let us build a city of our own,
And not stand lingering here for amorous looks.
Will Dido raise old Priam forth his grave,
And build the town again the Greeks did burn?
No, no; she cares not how we sink or swim,
So she may have Æneas in her arms.
Clo. To Italy, sweet friends, to Italy!
We will not stay a minute longer here.
Æn. Trojans, aboard, and I will follow you.[Exeunt all except Æneas.
I fain would go, yet beauty calls me back:
To leave her so, and not once say farewell,
Were to transgress against all laws of lave.
But, if I use such ceremonious thanks
As parting friends accustom on the shore,
Her silver arms will coll[7] me round about,
And tears of pearl cry, "Stay, Æneas, stay!"
Each word she says will then contain a crown,
And every speech be ended with a kiss:
I may not dure this female drudgery:
To sea, Æneas! find out Italy![Exit.
Enter Dido[8] and Anna.
Dido. O Anna, run unto the water-side!
They say Æneas' men are going aboard;
It may be, he will steal away with them:
Stay not to answer me; run, Anna, run![Exit Anna.
O foolish Trojans, that would steal from hence,
And not let Dido understand their drift!
I would have given Achates store of gold,
And Ilioneus gum and Libyan spice;
The common soldiers rich embroider'd coats,
And silver whistles to control the winds,
Which Circe[9] sent Sichæus when he liv'd:
Unworthy are they of a queen's reward.
See, where they come: how might I do to chide?
Re-enter Anna, with Æneas, Achates, Cloanthus, Sergestus, and Carthaginian Lords.
Anna. 'Twas time to run; Æneas had been gone;
The sails were hoising up, and he aboard.
Dido. Is this thy love to me?
Æn. O princely Dido, give me leave to speak!
I went to take my farewell of Achates.
Dido. How haps Achates bid me not farewell?
Acha. Because I fear'd your grace would keep me here.
Dido. To rid thee of that doubt, aboard again:
I charge thee put to sea, and stay not here.
Ach. Then let Æneas go aboard with us.
Dido. Get you aboard; Æneas means to stay.
Æn. The sea is rough, the winds blow to the shore.
Dido. O false Æneas! now the sea is rough;
But, when you were aboard, 'twas calm enough:
Thou and Achates meant to sail away.
Æn. Hath not the Carthage queen mine only son?
Thinks Dido I will go and leave him here?
- ↑ dream] Old ed. "dreames."
- ↑ unrenowmèd] i.e. unrenowned. See note 5, pg. 11.
- ↑ realms] Old ed. "beames,"—a mistake for "reames"—realmes: see note 4, p. 170.
- ↑ Whereas] i.e. Where.
- ↑ thy] Old ed. "my."
- ↑ into] i.e. unto. See note 2, p. 15.
- ↑ coll] i.e. embrace (properly, round the neck).
- ↑ Enter Dido, &c.] Another apartment in Dido's palace.
- ↑ Circe] Old ed. "Circes": see note 1, p. 190.
