Dido. Æneas, pardon me; for I forgot
That young Ascanius lay with me this night;
Love made me jealous: but, to make amends,
Wear the imperial crown of Libya, [Giving him her crown and sceptre.
Sway thou the Punic sceptre in my stead,
And punish me, Æneas, for this crime.
Æn. This kiss shall be fair Dido's punishment.
Dido. O, how a crown becomes Æneas' head!
Stay here, Æneas, and command as king.
Æn. How vain am I to wear this diadem,
And bear this golden sceptre in my hand!
A burgonet[1] of steel, and not a crown,
A sword, and not a sceptre, fits Æneas.
Dido. O, keep them still, and let me gaze my fill!
Now looks Æneas like immortal Jove:
O, where is Ganymede, to hold his cup,
And Mercury, to fly for what he calls?
Ten thousand Cupids hover in the air,
And fan it in Æneas' lovely face!
O, that the clouds were here wherein thou fled'st,[2]
That thou and I unseen might sport ourselves!
Heaven,[3] envious of our joys, is waxen pale;
And when we whisper, then the stars fall down,
To be partakers of our honey talk.
Æn. O Dido, patroness of all our lives,
When I leave thee, death be my punishment!
Swell, raging seas! frown, wayward Destinies!
Blow, winds! threaten, ye rocks and sandy shelves!
This is the harbour that Æneas seeks:
Let's see what tempests can annoy me now.
Dido. Not all the world can take thee from mine arm?
Æneas may command as many Moors
As in the sea are little water-drops:
And now, to make experience of my love,—
Fair sister Anna, lead my lover forth,
And, seated on my jennet, let him ride,
As Dido's husband, through the Punic streets;
And will[4] my guard, with Mauritanian darts
To wait upon him as their sovereign lord.
Anna. What if the citizens repine thereat?
Dido. Those that dislike what Dido gives in charge,
Command my guard to slay for their offence.
Shall vulgar peasants storm at what I do?
The ground is mine that gives them sustenance,
The air wherein they breathe, the water, fire,
All that they have, their lauds, their goods, their lives;
And I, the goddess of all these, command
Æneas ride as Carthaginian king.
Ach. Æneas, for his parentage, deserves
As large a kingdom as is Libya.
Æn. Ay, and, unless the Destinies be false,
I shall be planted in as rich a laud.
Dido. Speak of no other land; this land is thine;
Dido is thine, henceforth I'll call thee lord.—
Do as I bid thee, sister; lead the way;
And from a turret I'll behold my love.
Æn. Then here in me shall flourish Priam's race;
And thou and I, Achates, for revenge
For Troy, for Priam, for his fifty sons,
Our kinsmen's lives[5] and thousand guiltless souls,
Will lead an host against the hateful Greeks,
And fire proud Lacedæmon o'er their heads. [Exeunt all except Dido and Carthaginian Lords.
Dido. Speaks not Æneas like a conqueror?
O blessèd tempests that did drive him in!
O happy sand that made him run aground!
Henceforth you shall be our[6] Carthage gods.
Ay, but it may be, he will leave my love,
And seek a foreign land call'd Italy:
O, that I had a charm to keep the winds
Within the closure of a golden ball;
Or that the Tyrrhene sea were in mine arms,
That he might suffer shipwreck on my breast,
As oft as he attempts to hoist up sail!
I must prevent him; wishing will not serve.—
Go bid my nurse take young Ascanius,
And bear him in the country to her house;
Æneas will not go without his son;
Yet, lest he should, for I am full of fear,
Bring me his oars, his tackling, and his sails. [Exit First Lord.
What if I sink his ships? O, he will frown!
Better he frown than I should die for grief.
I cannot see him frown; it may not be:
Armies of foes resolv'd to win this town,
Or impious traitors vow'd to have my life,
- ↑ burgonet] i.e. helmet.
- ↑ fled'st] Old ed. "fleest."—An allusion, I suppose, to the incident mentioned in the fifth book of the Iliad: when Venus, having carried off Æneas from the fury of Diomede, was pursued and wounded by the latter,—
"She, shrieking, from her arms cast down her son,
And Phœbus, in impenetrable clouds
Him hiding, lest the spear of some bravo Greek
Should piece his bosom, caught him far away."
Cowper's Translation. - ↑ Heaven] Old ed. "Heauens."
- ↑ will] i.e. desire.
- ↑ lives] Old ed. "loues."
- ↑ be our] Qy. "be 'mong our?
