Nay, rather let us work
an enduring peace and a bridal compact.
an enduring peace and a bridal compact.
Virgil - Aeneid
' With these words she made the fire
of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let
honour slip away.
[56-90]First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to
altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to
Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage
bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and
pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state
to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her
gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take
counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers!
how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame
consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive.
Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an
arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a
shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware;
she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings
the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and
displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak,
and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the
repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium,
and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone
their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting
stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings
herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the
distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds
Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No
more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in
arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang
broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky.
So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and [91-124]madly
careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts
Venus thus:
'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that
boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have
vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of
our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what
shall be the end? or why all this contest now?
Nay, rather let us work
an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul
desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through
and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow
her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry
in thine hand. '
To her--for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the
Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya--Venus thus began in
answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try
the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune
follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will
that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the
mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy
prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow. '
Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what
means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in
brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her! ) are to go hunting
together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his
rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and
the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud
mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company
will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan
captain [125-159]shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there,
and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and
make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present. ' The Cytherean gave
ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention.
of love flame up in her spirit, put hope in her wavering soul, and let
honour slip away.
[56-90]First they visit the shrines, and desire grace from altar to
altar; they sacrifice sheep fitly chosen to Ceres the Lawgiver, to
Phoebus and lord Lyaeus, to Juno before all, guardian of the marriage
bond. Dido herself, excellent in beauty, holds the cup in her hand, and
pours libation between the horns of a milk-white cow, or moves in state
to the rich altars before the gods' presences, day by day renewing her
gifts, and gazing athirst into the breasts of cattle laid open to take
counsel from the throbbing entrails. Ah, witless souls of soothsayers!
how may vows or shrines help her madness? all the while the subtle flame
consumes her inly, and deep in her breast the wound is silent and alive.
Stung to misery, Dido wanders in frenzy all down the city, even as an
arrow-stricken deer, whom, far and heedless amid the Cretan woodland, a
shepherd archer hath pierced and left the flying steel in her unaware;
she ranges in flight the Dictaean forest lawns; fast in her side clings
the deadly reed. Now she leads Aeneas with her through the town, and
displays her Sidonian treasure and ordered city; she essays to speak,
and breaks off half-way in utterance. Now, as day wanes, she seeks the
repeated banquet, and again madly pleads to hear the agonies of Ilium,
and again hangs on the teller's lips. Thereafter, when all are gone
their ways, and the dim moon in turn quenches her light, and the setting
stars counsel to sleep, alone in the empty house she mourns, and flings
herself on the couch he left: distant she hears and sees him in the
distance; or enthralled by the look he has of his father, she holds
Ascanius on her lap, if so she may steal the love she may not utter. No
more do the unfinished towers rise, no more do the people exercise in
arms, nor work for safety in war on harbour or bastion; the works hang
broken off, vast looming walls and engines towering into the sky.
So soon as she perceives her thus fast in the toils, and [91-124]madly
careless of her name, Jove's beloved wife, daughter of Saturn, accosts
Venus thus:
'Noble indeed is the fame and splendid the spoils you win, thou and that
boy of thine, and mighty the renown of deity, if two gods have
vanquished one woman by treachery. Nor am I so blind to thy terror of
our town, thine old suspicion of the high house of Carthage. But what
shall be the end? or why all this contest now?
Nay, rather let us work
an enduring peace and a bridal compact. Thou hast what all thy soul
desired; Dido is on fire with love, and hath caught the madness through
and through. Then rule we this people jointly in equal lordship; allow
her to be a Phrygian husband's slave, and to lay her Tyrians for dowry
in thine hand. '
To her--for she knew the dissembled purpose of her words, to turn the
Teucrian kingdom away to the coasts of Libya--Venus thus began in
answer: 'Who so mad as to reject these terms, or choose rather to try
the fortune of war with thee? if only when done, as thou sayest, fortune
follow. But I move in uncertainty of Jove's ordinance, whether he will
that Tyrians and wanderers from Troy be one city, or approve the
mingling of peoples and the treaty of union. Thou art his wife, and thy
prayers may essay his soul. Go on; I will follow. '
Then Queen Juno thus rejoined: 'That task shall be mine. Now, by what
means the present need may be fulfilled, attend and I will explain in
brief. Aeneas and Dido (alas and woe for her! ) are to go hunting
together in the woodland when to-morrow's rising sun goes forth and his
rays unveil the world. On them, while the beaters run up and down, and
the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud
mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder. Their company
will scatter for shelter in the dim darkness; Dido and the Trojan
captain [125-159]shall take refuge in the same cavern. I will be there,
and if thy goodwill is assured me, I will unite them in wedlock, and
make her wholly his; here shall Hymen be present. ' The Cytherean gave
ready assent to her request, and laughed at the wily invention.
