Dido the
Sidonian
stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at
his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips:
'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways?
his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips:
'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways?
Virgil - Aeneid
But I will send messengers along the coast, and bid them trace
Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town. '
Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned
to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born,
what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet
and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw
whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words. '
Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts
into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light,
like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her
son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the
lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's
hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. [594-625]Then
breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen:
'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the
Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou
who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every
suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share
thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O
Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our
Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn
any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of
soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue
birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move
across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever
shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands
that summon me. ' With these words he advances his right hand to dear
Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave
Cloanthus.
Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at
his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips:
'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what
violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom
Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian
Simois? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from
his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father
even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway.
From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy
name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians
with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch [626-661]of the
ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me
too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to
find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the
afflicted. '
With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders
sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on
the shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an
hundred fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's
gladness. . . . But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal
state, and a banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are
curiously wrought in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and
deeds of ancestral valour graven in gold, all the long course of history
drawn through many a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity.
Libya to its limits, if haply he strays shipwrecked in forest or town. '
Stirred by these words brave Achates and lord Aeneas both ere now burned
to break through the cloud. Achates first accosts Aeneas: 'Goddess-born,
what purpose now rises in thy spirit? Thou seest all is safe, our fleet
and comrades are restored. One only is wanting, whom our eyes saw
whelmed amid the waves; all else is answerable to thy mother's words. '
Scarce had he spoken when the encircling cloud suddenly parts and melts
into clear air. Aeneas stood discovered in sheen of brilliant light,
like a god in face and shoulders; for his mother's self had shed on her
son the grace of clustered locks, the radiant light of youth, and the
lustre of joyous eyes; as when ivory takes beauty under the artist's
hand, or when silver or Parian stone is inlaid in gold. [594-625]Then
breaking in on all with unexpected speech he thus addresses the queen:
'I whom you seek am here before you, Aeneas of Troy, snatched from the
Libyan waves. O thou who alone hast pitied Troy's untold agonies, thou
who with us the remnant of the Grecian foe, worn out ere now by every
suffering land and sea can bring, with us in our utter want dost share
thy city and home! to render meet recompense is not possible for us, O
Dido, nor for all who scattered over the wide world are left of our
Dardanian race. The gods grant thee worthy reward, if their deity turn
any regard on goodness, if aught avails justice and conscious purity of
soul. What happy ages bore thee? what mighty parents gave thy virtue
birth? While rivers run into the sea, while the mountain shadows move
across their slopes, while the stars have pasturage in heaven, ever
shall thine honour, thy name and praises endure in the unknown lands
that summon me. ' With these words he advances his right hand to dear
Ilioneus, his left to Serestus; then to the rest, brave Gyas and brave
Cloanthus.
Dido the Sidonian stood astonished, first at the sight of him, then at
his strange fortunes; and these words left her lips:
'What fate follows thee, goddess-born, through perilous ways? what
violence lands thee on this monstrous coast? Art thou that Aeneas whom
Venus the bountiful bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian
Simois? And well I remember how Teucer came to Sidon, when exiled from
his native land he sought Belus' aid to gain new realms; Belus my father
even then ravaged rich Cyprus and held it under his conquering sway.
From that time forth have I known the fall of the Trojan city, known thy
name and the Pelasgian princes. Their very foe would extol the Teucrians
with highest praises, and boasted himself a branch [626-661]of the
ancient Teucrian stem. Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me
too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to
find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the
afflicted. '
With such speech she leads Aeneas into the royal house, and orders
sacrifice in the gods' temples. Therewith she sends his company on
the shore twenty bulls, an hundred great bristly-backed swine, an
hundred fat lambs and their mothers with them, gifts of the day's
gladness. . . . But the palace within is decked with splendour of royal
state, and a banquet made ready amid the halls. The coverings are
curiously wrought in splendid purple; on the tables is massy silver and
deeds of ancestral valour graven in gold, all the long course of history
drawn through many a heroic name from the nation's primal antiquity.
