Part of the Fourth Book of VIRGIL'S ENE IS Tranflated.
Beginning at V. 437.
**Talefque miferrima fletus
Fertque refertque foror.
Adnixi torquent fpumas, & cærula verrunt. V. 583.
LL this her weeping * fister does repeat
To the + ftern man, whom nothing could intreat; Loft were her pray'rs, and fruitless were her tears! Fate, and great Jove, had stop'd his gentle ears. As when loud winds a well-grown oak would rend Up by the roots, this way, and that, they bend His reeling trunk; and with a boift'rous found Scatter his leaves, and ftrew them on the ground: He fixed ftands; as deep his root doth lie Down to the centre, as his top is high: No less on ev'ry fide the Heroe prest, Feels love, and pity, shake his noble breast; And down his cheeks tho' fruitless tears do roul, Unmov'd remains the purpose of his foul. Then DIDO, urged with approaching fate, Begins the light of cruel heav'n to hate: Her refolution to dispatch, and die, Confirm'd by many a horrid prodigy! The water, confecrate for facrifice, Appears all black to her amazed eyes:
The wine to putrid blood converted flows,
Which from her none, not her own fifter, knows,
Befides, there ftood, as facred to her * Lord,
A marble temple which the much ador'd;
With fnowy fleeces, and fresh garlands, crown'd:
Hence ev'ry night proceeds a dreadful found;
Her husband's voice invites her to his tomb:
And difmal owls prefage the ills to come.
Befides, the prophefies of wizards old
Increas'd her terror, and her fall foretold:
Scorn'd, and deferted, to herself she seems;
And finds ENE AS cruel in her dreams.
So, to mad PEN THE US, double THE BE S appears;
And Furies howl in his diftemper'd ears.
ORESTES fo, with like distraction toft,
Is made to fly his mother's angry ghoft.
Now grief, and fury, to their height arrive;
Death fhe decrees, and thus does it contrive.
Her grieved fifter, with a chearful grace,
(Hope well-diffembled fhining in her face)
She thus deceives. Dear fifter! let us prove
The cure I have invented for my love.
Beyond the land of ETHIOPIA, lies
The place where ATLAS does fupport the skies:
Hence came an old magician that did keep
Th' HESPERIAN fruit, and made the dragon fleep:
Her potent charms do troubled fouls relieve,
And, where she lifts, makes calmeft minds to grieve:
The course of rivers, and of heav'n, can stop,
And call trees down from th' airy mountain's
Witness, ye Gods! and thou, my dearest part!
How loth I am to tempt this guilty art.
* Sichaus.
Erect a pile, and on it let us place
That bed, where I my ruin did embrace:
With all the reliques of our impious gueft,
Arms, fpoils, and prefents, let the pile be dreft;
(The knowing-woman thus prefcribes) that we
May rafe the man out of our memory.
Thus fpeaks the Queen, but hides the fatal end
For which she doth thefe facred rites pretend.
Nor worse effects of grief her fifter thought
Would follow, than SICHEUS' murder wrought;
Therefore obeys her: and now, heaped high
The cloven oaks, and lofty pines, do lie;
Hung all with wreaths, and flow'ry garlands round;
So by herself was her own fun'ral crown'd!
Upon the top the TRO JAN's image lies,
And his sharp fword, wherewith anon fhe dies.
They by the altar ftand, while with loose hair
The magic prophetess begins her pray'r:
On CHAOS, EREBUS, and all the Gods,
Which in th' infernal fhades have their abodes,
She loudly calls; befprinkling all the room
With drops, fuppos'd from LETHE's lake to come.
She feeks the knot which on the forehead grows
Of new-foal'd colts, and herbs by moon-light mows.
A cake of leaven in her pious hands
Holds the devoted Queen, and barefoot ftands:
One tender foot was bare, the other fhod,
Her robe ungirt, invoking ev'ry God,
And ev'ry Pow'r; if any be above,
Which takes regard of ill-requited love!
Now was the time, when weary mortals steep
Their careful temples in the dew of SLEEP:
On feas, on earth, and all that in them dwell,
A death-like quiet, and deep filence fell:
But not on DIDO! whofe untamed mind
Refus'd to be by facred night confin'd:
A double paffion in her breast does move,
Love, and fierce anger for neglected love.
Thus the afflicts her foul: What fhall I do?
With fate inverted, fhall I humbly woo?
And fome proud Prince, in wild NUMIDIA born,
Pray to accept me, and forget my scorn?
Or, fhall I with th' ungrateful TRO JAN go,
Quit all my state, and wait upon my foe?
Is not enough, by fad experience! known
The perjur'd race of falfe LAO MEDON?
SIDONIANS fhall I give them chafe, Bands hardly forced from their native place? No,dye! and let this fword thy fury tame; Nought but thy blood can quench this guilty flame. Ah fifter! vanquish'd with my paffion, thou Betray'dft me firft, difpenfing with my vow. Had I been conftant to SICHEUS ftill, And fingle liv'd, I had not known this ill! Such thoughts torment the Queen's inraged breast, While the DARDANIAN does fecurely rest In his tall ship, for fudden flight prepar'd; To whom once more the fon of JOVE appear'd; Thus feems to speak the youthful Deity, Voice, hair, and color, all like MERCURY. Fair VENUS' feed! can't thou indulge thy fleep, Nor better guard in fuch great danger keep? Mad, by neglect to lose fo fair a wind!
If here thy ships the purple morning find,
Thou shalt behold this hoftile harbour fhine
With a new fleet, and fires, to ruin thine;
She meditates revenge, refolv'd to dye;
Weigh anchor quickly, and her fury fly.
This faid, the God in fhades of night retir'd.
Amaz'd ENEAS, with the warning fir'd,
Shakes off dull fleep, and rouzing up his Men,
Behold! the Gods command our flight again:
Fall to your oars, and all your canvas spread:
What God foe'er that thus vouchfaf'ft to lead,
We follow gladly, and thy will obey,
Affift us ftill smoothing our happy way,
And make the reft propitious!With that word,
He cuts the cable with his fhining fword:
Thro' all the navy doth like ardor reign,
They quit the fhore, and rufh into the main:
Plac'd on their banks, the lufty TROJAN S fweep
NEPTUNE'S fmooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
On the PICTURE of a Fair Youth, taken after he was Dead.
S gather'd flowers, while their wounds are new, Look gay, and fresh, as on the stalk they grew ; Torn from the root that nourish'd them, a while (Not taking notice of their fate) they fmile; And, in the hand which rudely pluck'd them, fhow Fairer than those that to their autumn grow: So love, and beauty, ftill that vifage grace; Death cannot fright them from their wonted place.
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