Gives sleep and takes it from the drowsy brain, And seals up eyes with death. He doth repel

By power of this the heav'ns which part in twain, And through the watery cloud he sails as through a main.

He soaring the lank sides and crown disclos'd
Of craggy Atlas, whose neck props the sky,
Atlas, whose piney head to storms expos'd
Is bound about with clouds continually.
Thick on his aged back the snow doth lie,
And down his dravel'd chin pour plenteous springs,
His beard in icicles grows horribly.

Here lights the god pois'd on his hovering wings, Towards the sea from hence his body headlong flings.

Like to a bird, which round the shores doth glide
And fishy rocks, skimming along the bay;
So flies 'tween earth and heaven, and doth divide
The wind and sandy coast of Libya,

Leaving his mother's sire, the son of May.
Who landing where the sheep-cotes lately were,
Sees how Aeneas doth the works survey,

Here building towers, and alt'ring turrets there, He by his side a sword all starr'd with gems did wear.

Upon his shoulder to the air display'd

A robe of Tyrian purple seemed to flame,

Which Dido with her own fair hands had made And edg'd the seams with gold. Here do you frame,'

Said Hermes, hind'ring your own crown and fame,

ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet :

ipse haec ferre iubet celeris mandata per auras: 270 quid struis? aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris? si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum

nec super ipse tua moliris laude laborem, Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli

respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus

275

debetur.' tali Cyllenius ore locutus

mortalis visus medio sermone reliquit

et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

At vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens, arrectaeque horrore comae et vox faucibus haesit. ardet abire fuga dulcisque relinquere terras,

attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.

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heu quid agat? quo nunc reginam ambire furentem audeat adfatu? quae prima exordia sumat? atque animum nunc huc celerem nunc dividit

284

illuc

in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat. haec alternanti potior sententia visa est :

Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum, classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant,

arma parent, et quae rebus sit causa novandis

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High towers of Carthage, and, uxorious, raise Fair walls whereof another bears the name? Mark now what Jove himself, whom Heav'n obeys And Earth, by his wing'd messenger unto you says.

What make you here loit'ring in Libya?

If glory of great actions fire not you,

Nor your own interest nor fame you weigh;
Seek your heir's good, Iulus' hopes pursue,

To whom the Latian crown and Rome is due.'
This having said, Cyllenius vanish'd quite
From mortal eyes, and back to Heaven flew.
Aeneas at the vision shakes with fright,

His tongue cleaves to his jaws, his hair stands bolt upright.

He is on fire to go, and fly that land

Of sweet enchantments, being scar'd away
By no less warning than the gods' command.
But, ah, what shall he do? How dare t' assay
With words the amorous queen? What should

he say

For introduction? His swift-beating thought

In doubtful balance thousand things did lay,

And this way cast them, and then that way wrought; At last this seem'd the best when all ways he had sought.

He call'd Sergestus, Mnestheus, and the stout
Cloanthus, bids them fit immediately

Their fleet, and draw their companies about
The port, their arms prepar'd, not telling why;

Mazzochi

dissimulent; sese interea, quando optima Dido nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores, temptaturum aditus et quae mollissima fandi tempora, quis rebus dexter modus. ocius omnes imperio laeti parent et iussa facessunt.

At regina dolos (quis fallere possit amantem ?) praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros, omnia tuta timens. eadem impia Fama furenti detulit armari classem cursumque parari.

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305

saevit inops animi totamque incensa per urbem 300
bacchatur, qualis commotis excita sacris
Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho
orgia nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron.
tandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro:
'dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum
posse nefas tacitusque mea decedere terra?
nec te noster amor nec te data dextera quondam
nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?
quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem,
et mediis properas Aquilonibus ire per altum,
crudelis? quid, si non arva aliena domosque
ignotas peteres, et Troia antiqua maneret,
Troia per undosum peteretur classibus aequor?
mene fugis? per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam

te

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quando aliud mihi iam miserae nihil ipsa reliqui— per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos,

Meanwhile himself (when no least jealousy To the good queen should thought of breach betray In so great loves) an entrance would espy, The season of soft speech, and dextrous way. With readiness and joy they do him all obey.

But Dido found their plot-what's hid from lovers? Herself, who doubts even safe things, first doth see 't:

And the same tattling Fame to her discovers
That Trojans are departing with their fleet.
She's mad, stark mad, and runs through every
street,

Like Bacchus' she-priests, when the god is in,
And they to do him furious homage meet,
Cithaeron yelling with their midnight din:
Then thus t' Aeneas speaks, nor stays till he begin.
'Didst thou hope too by stealth to leave my land,
And that such treason could be unbetray'd?
Nor should my love, nor thy late plighted hand,
Nor Dido, who would die, thy flight have stay'd?
Must too this voyage be in winter made?
Through storms? O, cruel to thyself and me,
Didst thou not hunt strange lands and sceptres
sway'd

By others, if old Troy reviv'd should be,

Should Troy itself be sought through a tempestuous sea?

Me fly'st thou ? By these tears and thy right hand (Since this is all's now left to wretched me),

By marriage's new joys, and sacred band,