Aeneid
Virgil
Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
- Aurora's first young beams to earth were pouring
- as from Tithonus' saffron bed she sprang;
- while from her battlements the wakeful Queen
- watched the sky brighten, saw the mated sails
- push forth to sea, till all her port and strand
- held not an oar or keel. Thrice and four times
- she smote her lovely breast with wrathful hand,
- and tore her golden hair. “Great Jove,” she cries,
- “Shall that departing fugitive make mock
- of me, a queen? Will not my men-at-arms
- draw sword, give chase, from all my city thronging?
- Down from the docks, my ships! Out, out! Begone!
- Take fire and sword! Bend to your oars, ye slaves!
- What have I said? Where am I? What mad thoughts
- delude this ruined mind? Woe unto thee,
- thou wretched Dido, now thy impious deeds
- strike back upon thee. Wherefore struck they not,
- as was most fit, when thou didst fling away
- thy sceptre from thy hand? O Iying oaths!
- O faith forsworn! of him who brings, they boast,
- his father's gods along, and bowed his back
- to lift an age-worn sire! Why dared I not
- seize on him, rend his body limb from limb,
- and hurl him piecemeal on the rolling sea?
- Or put his troop of followers to the sword,
- ascanius too, and set his flesh before
- that father for a feast? Such fearful war
- had been of doubtful issue. Be it so!
- What fears a woman dying? Would I had
- attacked their camp with torches, kindled flame
- from ship to ship, until that son and sire,
- with that whole tribe, were unto ashes burned
- in one huge holocaust—myself its crown!
- Great orb of light whose holy beam surveys
- all earthly deeds! Great Juno, patroness
- of conjugal distress, who knowest all!
- Pale Hecate, whose name the witches cry
- at midnight crossways! O avenging furies!
- O gods that guard Queen Dido's dying breath!
- Give ear, and to my guiltless misery
- extend your power. Hear me what I pray!
- If it be fated that yon creature curst
- drift to the shore and happy haven find,
- if Father Iove's irrevocable word
- such goal decree—there may he be assailed
- by peoples fierce and bold. A banished man,
- from his Iulus' kisses sundered far,
- may his own eyes see miserably slain
- his kin and kind, and sue for alien arms.
- nor when he basely bows him to receive
- terms of unequal peace, shall he be blest
- with sceptre or with life; but perish there
- before his time, and lie without a grave
- upon the barren sand. For this I pray.
- This dying word is flowing from my heart
- with my spilt blood. And—O ye Tyrians! I
- sting with your hatred all his seed and tribe
- forevermore. This is the offering
- my ashes ask. Betwixt our nations twain,
- No Iove! No truce or amity! Arise,
- Out of my dust, unknown Avenger, rise!
- To harry and lay waste with sword and flame
- those Dardan settlers, and to vex them sore,
- to-day, to-morrow, and as long as power
- is thine to use! My dying curse arrays
- shore against shore and the opposing seas
- in shock of arms with arms. May living foes
- pass down from sire to son insatiate war!”
- She said. From point to point her purpose flew,
- seeking without delay to quench the flame
- of her loathed life. Brief bidding she addressed
- to Barce then, Sichaeus' nurse (her own
- lay dust and ashes in a lonely grave
- beside the Tyrian shore), “Go, nurse, and call
- my sister Anna! Bid her quickly bathe
- her limbs in living water, and procure
- due victims for our expiating fires.
- bid her make haste. Go, bind on thy own brow
- the sacred fillet. For to Stygian Jove
- it is my purpose now to consummate
- the sacrifice ordained, ending my woe,
- and touch with flame the Trojan's funeral pyre.”
- The aged crone to do her bidding ran
- with trembling zeal. But Dido (horror-struck
- at her own dread design, unstrung with fear,
- her bloodshot eyes wide-rolling, and her cheek
- twitching and fever-spotted, her cold brow
- blanched with approaching death)—sped past the doors
- into the palace garden; there she leaped,
- a frenzied creature, on the lofty pyre
- and drew the Trojan's sword; a gift not asked
- for use like this! When now she saw the garb
- of Ilian fashion, and the nuptial couch
- she knew too well, she lingered yet awhile
- for memory and tears, and, falling prone
- on that cold bed, outpoured a last farewell:
- “Sweet relics! Ever dear when Fate and Heaven
- upon me smiled, receive my parting breath,
- and from my woe set free! My life is done.
- I have accomplished what my lot allowed;
- and now my spirit to the world of death
- in royal honor goes. The founder I
- of yonder noble city, I have seen
- walls at my bidding rise. I was avenged
- for my slain husband: I chastised the crimes
- of our injurious brother. Woe is me!
- Blest had I been, beyond deserving blest,
- if but the Trojan galleys ne'er had moored
- upon my kingdom's bound!”So saying, she pressed
- one last kiss on the couch. “Though for my death
- no vengeance fall, O, give me death!” she cried.
- “O thus! O thus! it is my will to take
- the journey to the dark. From yonder sea
- may his cold Trojan eyes discern the flames
- that make me ashes! Be this cruel death
- his omen as he sails!” She spoke no more.
- But almost ere she ceased, her maidens all
- thronged to obey her cry, and found their Queen
- prone fallen on the sword, the reeking steel
- still in her bloody hands. Shrill clamor flew
- along the lofty halls; wild rumor spread
- through the whole smitten city: Ioud lament,
- groans and the wail of women echoed on
- from roof to roof, and to the dome of air
- the noise of mourning rose. Such were the cry
- if a besieging host should break the walls
- of Carthage or old Tyre, and wrathful flames
- o'er towers of kings and worshipped altars roll.
- Her sister heard. Half in a swoon, she ran
- with trembling steps, where thickest was the throng,
- beating her breast, while with a desperate hand
- she tore at her own face, and called aloud
- upon the dying Queen. “Was it for this
- my own true sister used me with such guile?
- O, was this horrid deed the dire intent
- of altars, Iofty couch, and funeral fires?
- What shall I tell for chiefest of my woes?
- Lost that I am! Why, though in death, cast off
- thy sister from thy heart? Why not invite
- one mortal stroke for both, a single sword,
- one agony together? But these hands
- built up thy pyre; and my voice implored
- the blessing of our gods, who granted me
- that thou shouldst perish thus—and I not know!
- In thy self-slaughter, sister, thou hast slain
- myself, thy people, the grave counsellors
- of Sidon, and yon city thou didst build
- to be thy throne!—Go, fetch me water, there!
- That I may bathe those gashes! If there be
- one hovering breath that stays, let my fond lips
- discover and receive!” So saying, she sprang up
- from stair to stair, and, clasping to her breast
- her sister's dying form, moaned grievously,
- and staunched the dark blood with her garment's fold.
- Vainly would Dido lift her sinking eyes,
- but backward fell, while at her heart the wound
- opened afresh; three times with straining arm
- she rose; three times dropped helpless, her dimmed eyes
- turned skyward, seeking the sweet light of day, —
- which when she saw, she groaned. Great Juno then
- looked down in mercy on that lingering pain
- and labor to depart: from realms divine
- she sent the goddess of the rainbow wing,
- Iris, to set the struggling spirit free
- and loose its fleshly coil. For since the end
- came not by destiny, nor was the doom
- of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight
- to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die,
- therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn
- the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned
- that soul to Stygian dark. So Iris came
- on dewy, saffron pinions down from heaven,
- a thousand colors on her radiant way,
- from the opposing sun. She stayed her flight
- above that pallid brow: “I come with power
- to make this gift to Death. I set thee free
- from thy frail body's bound.” With her right hand
- she cut the tress: then through its every limb
- the sinking form grew cold; the vital breath
- fled forth, departing on the viewless air.