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.
En. Trojans, aboard, and I will follow you.

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[Exeunt all except ENEAS.

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 love.
But, if I use such ceremonious thanks
As parting friends accustom on the shore,
Her silver arms will coll1 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!

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[Exit.

SCENE IV.

Enter 2 DIDO 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:

1 "Coll"=cling round the neck.
2 Scene: a room in Dido's palace.

[Exit ANNA.

Stay not to answer me; run, Anna, run !
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 Circe1 sent Sichæus when he lived:
Unworthy are they of a queen's reward.

See where they come: how might I do to chide?

1Ο

Re-enter ANNA, with ENEAS, ACHATES, CLOANTHUS, ILIONEUS, 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?

En. O princely Dido, give me leave to speak!

I went to take my farewell of Achates.

Dido. How haps Achates bid me not farewell?

Ach. Because I feared 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;

20

1 Old ed. "Circes."

But, when you were aboard, 'twas calm enough:
Thou and Achates meant to sail away.

En. Hath not the Carthage queen mine only son? Thinks Dido I will go and leave him here?

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,

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[Giving him her crown and sceptre. Sway thou the Punic sceptre in my stead, And punish me, Æneas, for this crime.

En. This kiss shall be fair Dido's punishment.
Dido. O, how a crown becomes Æneas' head!
Stay here, Æneas, and command as king.

En. How vain am I to wear this diadem,
And bear this golden sceptre in my hand!
A burgonet 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,1
That thou and I unseen might sport ourselves!
Heaven,2 envious of our joys, is waxen pale ;

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50

1 It is related in the fifth book of the Iliad how Aphrodite shrouded Eneas in a cloud when he was hard-pressed by Diomed.-Old ed."fleest."

2 Old ed. "Heavens."

And when we whisper, then the stars fall down,
To be partakers of our honey talk.

En. 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.

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Dido. Not all the world can take thee from mine arms.

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 my guard, with Mauritanian darts

1

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 lands, 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.

1 Desire, order.

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80

En. I, and, unless the Destinies be false,

I shall be planted in as rich a land.

Dido. Speak of no other land; this land is thine; Dido is thine, henceforth I'll thee lord.—

Do as I bid thee, sister; lead the way;

And from a turret I'll behold my love.

En. 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 lives1 and thousand guiltless souls,
Will lead an host against the hateful Greeks,
And fire proud Lacedæmon o'er their heads.

90

[Exeunt all except DIDO and Carthaginian Lords.
Dido. Speaks not Æneas like a conqueror ?
O blessed tempests that did drive him in !
O happy sand that made him run aground!
Henceforth you shall be [of] our Carthage gods.
I, but it may be, he will leave my love,
And seek a foreign land called 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;

1 Old ed. "'loues."

100