Stay, gentle Venus, fly not from thy son!
Too cruel, why wilt thou forsake me thus,
Or in these shades § deceiv'st mine eyes so oft?
Why talk we not together hand in hand,
And tell our griefs in more familiar terms?
But thou art gone, and leav'st me here alone,
To dull the air with my discoursive moan. [Exeunt.

Enter IARBAS, followed by ILIONEUS, CLOANTHUS, SERGESTUS, and others.

ILI. Follow, ye Trojans, follow this brave lord, And plain* to him the sum of your distress.

IAR. Why, what are you, or wherefore do you
ILI. Wretches of Troy, envìed of the winds†,
That crave such favour at your honour's feet
As poor distressèd misery may plead:

sue

Save, save, oh, save our ships from cruel fire, That do complain the wounds of thousand waves, And spare our lives, whom every spite pursues! We come not, we, to wrong your Libyan gods,

?

suming the marks of divinity (Æn. 1. 405),—a description, of which our poet did not venture to borrow more, lest the audience should have smiled at its inappropriateness to the actor who" boy'd" the goddess.

§ shades] "Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis Ludis imaginibus?" Virgil,-Æn. 1. 407.

|| Enter Iarbas, &c.] Scene, within the walls of Carthage. Cloanthus] Old ed. here and elsewhere" Cloanthes." and others] Not in old ed.

* plain] i. e. complain, piteously set forth.

envied of the winds] i. e. hated, having ill-will borne them by the winds.

Or steal your household Lares from their shrines;
Our hands are not prepar'd to lawless spoil,
Nor armed to offend in any kind;

Such force is far from our unweapon'd thoughts,
Whose fading weal, of victory forsook,
Forbids all hope to harbour near our hearts.
IAR. But tell me, Trojans, Trojans if you be,
Unto what fruitful quarters were ye bound,
Before that Boreas buckled with your sails?
CLO. There is a place, Hesperia term'd by us,
An ancient empire, famousèd for arms,
And fertile in fair Ceres' furrow'd wealth,
Which now we call Italia, of his name

That in such peace long time did rule the same.
Thither made we;

When, suddenly, gloomy Orion rose,

And led our ships into the shallow sands,

Whereas the southern wind with brackish breath Dispers'd them all amongst the wrackful rocks: From thence a few of us escap'd to land;

The rest, we fear, are folded in the floods.

IAR. Brave men at arms, abandon fruitless fears,

Since Carthage knows to entertain distress.

SERG. Ay, but the barbarous sort§ do threat our ships,

And will not let us lodge upon the sands;
In multitudes they swarm unto the shore,
And from the first earth interdict our feet.

Whereas] i. e. Where.

sort] i. e. rabble.

IAR. Myself will see they shall not trouble ye: Your men and you shall banquet in our court, And every Trojan be as welcome here, As Jupiter to silly Baucis' house.

Come in with me; I'll bring you to my queen,

Who shall confirm my words with further deeds. SERG. Thanks, gentle lord, for such unlook'd-for grace:

Might we but once more see Æneas' face,

Then would we hope to quite ¶ such friendly turns, As shall surpass the wonder of our speech. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

Enter ENEAS, ACHATES, ASCANIUS, and others ↑. EN. Where am I now? these should be Carthage-walls.

AсH. Why stands my sweet Æneas thus amaz'd?
EN. Oh, my Achates, Theban Niobe,

Who for her sons' death wept out life and breath,
And, dry with grief, was turn'd into a stone,
Had not such passions in her head as I!

Baucis'] Old ed." Vausis."

¶ quite] i. e. requite.

* Enter Æneas, &c.] I cannot satisfy myself about the exact location which the poet intended to give this scene (according to Virgil, it should take place within the temple of Juno). Presently a change of scene is supposed; see p. 381, third

note.

+ and others] Not in old ed.

Methinks,

That town there should be Troy, yon Ida's hill,
There Xanthus' stream, because here's Priamus;
And when I know it is not, then I die.

ACH. And in this humour is Achates too;
I cannot choose but fall upon my knees,
And kiss his hand. Oh, where is Hecuba?
Here she was wont to sit; but, saving air,
Is nothing here; and what is this but stone†?
EN. Oh, yet this stone doth make Æneas weep!
And would my prayers (as Pygmalion's did)
Could give it life, that under his conduct
We might sail back to Troy, and be reveng'd
On these hard-hearted Grecians which rejoice
That nothing now is left of Priamus!

Oh, Priamus is left, and this is he!

Come, come aboard; pursue the hateful Greeks.
ACH. What means Æneas?

EN. Achates, though mine eyes say this is stone,
Yet thinks my mind that this is Priamus;
And when my grievèd heart sighs and says no,
Then would it leap out to give Priam life.—
Oh, were I not at all, so thou mightst be !—
Achates, see, King Priam wags his hand!
He is alive; Troy is not overcome!

ACH. Thy mind, Æneas, that would have it so, Deludes thy eye-sight; Priamus is dead.

† stone] i. e. (as plainly appears from what follows) a statue,-in opposition to Virgil, who makes Æneas see, in the temple of Juno built by Dido, a picture of Priam, &c.

EN. Ah, Troy is sack'd, and Priamus is dead! And why should poor Æneas be alive?

Asc. Sweet father, leave to weep; this is not he, For, were it Priam, he would smile on me.

АCH. Æneas, see, here come the citizens: Leave to lament, lest they laugh at our fears.

- Enter CLOANTHUS, SERGESTUS, ILIONEUS, and others*.

EN. Lords of this town, or whatsoever style
Belongs unto your name, vouchsafe of ruth
To tell us who inhabits this fair town,
What kind of people, and who governs them;
For we are strangers driven on this shore,
And scarcely know within what clime we are.
ILI. I hear Æneas' voice, but see him not‡,
For none of these can be our general.

ACH. Like Ilioneus § speaks this nobleman,
But Ilioneus goes not in such robes.

SERG. You are Achates, or I [am] deceiv'd.

and others] Not in old ed. (Æneas presently says,

66

Sergestus, Ilioneus, and the rest,
Your sight amaz'd me.")

but see him not] i. e. but I cannot discover Æneas among persons so meanly clad: Dido afterwards (p. 382) says,

"Warlike Æneas, and in these base robes!"

(Virgil, as the reader will recollect, makes Venus cover Æneas and Achates with a cloud, which is not dissolved till they meet Dido.)

§ Ilioneus] Is it necessary to observe that a wrong quantity is given to this name?