Nor sent a thousand ships unto the walls,
Nor ever violated faith to him;
Request him gently, Anna, to return:
I crave but this, he stay a tide or two,
That I may learn to bear it patiently:
If he depart thus suddenly, I die.
Run, Anna, run! stay not to answer me.
ANNA. I go, fair sister! heaven grant good suc-
[Exit.
cess!
Enter the NURSE.
NURSE. O Dido! your little son Ascanius
Is gone! He lay with me last night,
And in the morning he was stol'n from me:
I think, some fairies have beguiled me.
DIDO. O cursed hag! and false dissembling wretch!
That slay'st me with thy harsh and hellish tale,
Thou, for some petty gift, hast let him go,
And I am thus deluded of my boy:
Away with her to prison presently!
Trait'ress too keen! and cursed sorceress !
NURSE. I know not what you mean by treason, I, I am as true as any one of yours.
[Exit.
DIDO. Away with her! Suffer her not to speak! My sister comes; I like not her sad looks.
Re-enter ANNA.
ANNA. Before I came, Eneas was aboard,
And spying me, hoist up the sails amain;
But I cry'd out, Eneas! false Æneas! stay!'
Then 'gan he wag his hand, which, yet held up,
"
Made me suppose, he would have heard me speak;
Then 'gan they drive into the ocean;
Which, when I view'd, I cry'd, Æneas, stay!
Dido, fair Dido wills Eneas' stay!'
6
Yet he, whose heart's of adamant or flint,
My tears nor plaints could mollify a whit.
Then carelessly I rent my hair for grief;
Which seen to all, though he beheld me not,
They 'gan to move him to redress my ruth,
And stay awhile to hear what I could say ;
But he, clapp'd under hatches, sail'd away.
DIDO. O Anna! Anna! I will follow him.
ANNA. How can ye go, when he hath all your fleet?
DIDO. I'll frame me wings of wax, like Icarus,
And, o'er his ship, will soar unto the sun,
That they may melt, and I fall in his arms;
Or else, I'll make a prayer unto the waves,
That I may swim to him, like Triton's niece:
O Anna! fetch Orion's harp,
That I may 'tice a dolphin to the shore,
And ride upon his back unto my love!
Look, sister, look! lovely Eneas' ships;
See! see! the billows heave him up to heaven,
And now down fall the keels into the deep:
O sister, sister! take away the rocks;
They'll break his ships. O Proteus ! Neptune! Jove!
Save, save Eneas; Dido's liefest love!
Now is he come on shore safe, without hurt;
But, see! Achates wills him put to sea,
And all the sailors merry make for joy;
But he, rememb'ring me, shrinks back again :
See where he comes; welcome! welcome, my love!
ANNA. Ah, sister, leave these idle fantasies:
Sweet sister! cease; remember who you are.
DIDO. Dido I am, unless I be deceiv'd;
And must I rave thus for a runagate?
Must I make ships for him to sail away?
Nothing can bear me to him but a ship,
And he hath all my fleet. What shall I do,
But die in fury of this oversight?
Aye, I must be the murd'rer of myself;
No, but I am not; yet I will be straight.
Anna, be glad; now have I found a mean
To rid me from these thoughts of lunacy:
Not far from hence there is a woman famous'd for arts,
Daughter unto the nymphs Hesperides,
Who will'd me sacrifice his 'ticing reliques :
Go, Anna, bid my servants bring me fire. [Exit Anna.
Enter IARBAS.
IAR. How long will Dido mourn a stranger's flight
That hath dishonour'd her and Carthage both?
How long shall I with grief consume my days,
And reap no guerdon for my truest love?
DIDO. Iarbas, talk not of Eneas; let him go;
Lay to thy hands, and help me make a fire,
That shall consume all that this stranger left;
For I intend a private sacrifice,
To cure my mind, that melts for unkind love.
IAR. But, afterwards, will Dido grant me love? DIDO. Aye, aye, Iarbas, after this is done,
None in the world shall have my love but thou;
[They make a fire.
So, leave me now; let none approach this place.
[Exit Iarbas.
Now, Dido, with these reliques burn thyself,
And make Æneas famous through the world
For perjury and slaughter of a queen.
Here lies the sword that in the darksome cave
He drew, and swore by, to be true to me:
Thou shalt burn first; thy crime is worse than his.
Here lies the garment which cloth'd him in
When first he came on shore; perish thou too!
These letters, lines, and perjur'd papers, all
Shall burn to cinders in this precious flame.
And now, ye gods, that guide the starry frame,
And order all things at your high dispose,
Grant, though the traitors land in Italy,
They may be still tormented with unrest;
And, from mine ashes, let a conqueror rise,.
That may revenge this treason to a queen,
By ploughing up his countries with the sword.
Betwixt this land and that be never league,
Littora littoribus contraria, fluctibus undas
Imprecor: arma armis: pugnent ipsique nepotes :*
Live, false Æneas! truest Dido dies!
Sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras.
[She casts herself into the fire.
• Virgil.
Enter ANNA.
ANNA. O help, Iarbas! Dido, in these flames,
Hath burnt herself! ah, me! unhappy me!
Enter IARBAS, running.
IAR. Cursed Iarbas ! die to expiate
The grief that tires upon thine inward soul:
Dido, I come to thee. Ah, me, Æneas!
[Kills himself.
ANNA. What can my tears or cries prevail me now? Dido is dead, Iarbas slain; Iarbas, my dear love! O sweet Iarbas! Anna's sole delight;
What fatal destiny envies me thus,
To see my sweet Iarbas slay himself?
But Anna now shall honour thee in death,
And mix her blood with thine; this shall I do,
That gods and men may pity this my death,
And rue our ends, senseless of life or breath:
Now, sweet Iarbas, stay! I come to thee.
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