The Æneids of Virgil, Done into English Verse. Virgil

his right hand sought

       His very friend Ilioneus, his left Serestus caught,

       And then the others, Gyas strong, Cloanthus strong in fight.

      Sidonian Dido marvelled much, first at the hero's sight,

       Then marvelled at the haps he had, and so such word doth say:

      "O Goddess-born, what fate is this that ever dogs thy way

       With such great perils? What hath yoked thy life to this wild shore?

       And art thou that Æneas then, whom holy Venus bore

       Unto Anchises, Dardan lord, by Phrygian Simoïs' wave?

       Of Teucer unto Sidon come a memory yet I have,

       Who, driven from out his fatherland, was seeking new abode620

       By Belus' help: but Belus then, my father, over-rode

       Cyprus the rich, and held the same as very conquering lord:

       So from that tide I knew of Troy and bitter Fate's award,

       I knew of those Pelasgian kings—yea, and I knew thy name.

       He then, a foeman, added praise to swell the Teucrian fame,

       And oft was glad to deem himself of ancient Teucer's line.

       So hasten now to enter in 'neath roofs of me and mine.

       Me too a fortune such as yours, me tossed by many a toil,

       Hath pleased to give abiding-place at last upon this soil,

       Learned in illhaps full wise am I unhappy men to aid."630

      Such tale she told, and therewith led to house full kingly made

       Æneas, bidding therewithal the Gods with gifts to grace;

       Nor yet their fellows she forgat upon the sea-beat place,

       But sendeth them a twenty bulls, an hundred bristling backs

       Of swine, an hundred fatted lambs, whereof his ewe none lacks,

       And gifts and gladness of the God.

       Meanwhile the gleaming house within with kingly pomp is dight,

       And in the midmost of the hall a banquet they prepare:

       Cloths laboured o'er with handicraft, and purple proud is there;

       Great is the silver on the board, and carven out of gold640

       The mighty deeds of father-folk, a long-drawn tale, is told,

       Brought down through many and many an one from when their race began.

      Æneas, through whose father's heart unquiet love there ran,

       Sent on the swift Achates now unto the ships to speed,

       To bear Ascanius all these haps, and townward him to lead;

       For on Ascanius well beloved was all his father's thought:

       And therewithal gifts good to give from Ilium's ruin caught

       He bade him bring: a cope all stiff with golden imagery;

       With saffron soft acanthus twine a veil made fair to see;

       The Argive Helen's braveries, brought from Mycenæ erst,650

       When she was seeking Pergamos and wedding all accursed:

       Her mother Leda gave her these and marvellous they were.

       A sceptre too that Ilione in days agone did bear,

       The eldest-born of Priam's maids; a neckchain pearl bestrown,

       And, doubly wrought with gold and gems, a kingly-fashioned crown.

       So to the ships Achates went these matters forth to speed.

      But Cytherea in her heart turned over new-wrought rede,

       New craft; how, face and fashion changed, her son the very Love

       For sweet Ascanius should come forth, and, gift-giving, should move

       The Queen to madness, make her bones the yoke-fellows of flame.660

       Forsooth the doubtful house she dreads, the two-tongued Tyrian name;

       And bitter Juno burneth her, and care the night doth wake:

       Now therefore to the winged Love such words as this she spake:

      "O son, my might, my only might, who fearest nought at all

       How his, the highest Father's bolts, Typhœus' bane, may fall,

       To thee I flee, and suppliant so thy godhead's power beseech:

       Thy brother, e'en Æneas, tossed on every sea-side beach

       Thou knowest; all the fashioning of wrongful Juno's hate

       Thou knowest; oft upon my grief with sorrow wouldst thou wait.

       Him now Phœnician Dido holds, and with kind words enow670

       Delays him there, but unto what Junonian welcomes grow

       I fear me: will she hold her hand when thus the hinge is dight?

       Now therefore am I compassing to catch their craft in flight,

       To ring the Queen about with flame that her no power may turn,

       That she may cling to me and sore for mine Æneas yearn.

       Now hearken how I counsel thee to bring about my will:

       The kingly boy his father calls, he whom I cherish still,

       To that Sidonian city now is ready dight to fare,

       And gifts, the gleanings of the sea and flames of Troy, doth bear,

       Whom soaked in sleep forthwith will I in high Cythera hide,680

       Or in Idalium's holy place where I am wont to bide,

       Lest any one the guile should know and thrust themselves between:

       But thou with craft his fashion feign, and with his face be seen

       Well known of all, for no more space than one night's wearing by;

       And so, when Dido, gladdest grown, shall take thee up to lie

       Upon her breast 'twixt queenly board and great Lyæus' wave,

       And thou the winding of her arms and kisses sweet shalt have,

       Then breathe the hidden flame in her and forge thy venomed guile."

      His lovesome mother Love obeyed, and doffed his wings awhile,

       And as Iulus goeth now rejoicing on his way.690

       But Venus all Ascanius' limbs in quiet rest doth lay,

       And cherished in her goddess' breast unto Idalian groves

       She bears him, where the marjoram still soft about him moves

       And breatheth sweet from scented shade and blossoms on the air.

       Love wrought her will, and bearing now those royal gifts and rare,

       Unto the Tyrians joyous went, e'en as Achates led.

       But when he came into the house, there on her golden bed

       With hangings proud Queen Dido lay amidmost of the place:

       The father then, Æneas, then the youth of Trojan race,

       There gather, and their bodies cast on purple spread abroad.700

       Folk serve them water for their hands, and speed the baskets stored

       With Ceres, and the towels soft of close-clipped nap they bear.

       Within were fifty serving-maids, whose long array had care

       To furnish forth the meat and drink, and feed the house-gods' flame;

       An hundred more, and youths withal of age and tale the same,

       Set on the meat upon the board and lay the cups about.

       And now through that wide