Story of Aeneas Part 4

The Trojan chief appeared in open sight August in visage, and serenely bright.

His mother-G.o.ddess, with her hands divine, Had formed his curling locks, and made his temples shine, And given his rolling eyes a sparkling grace, And breathed a youthful vigor on his face.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.

AEneas now made himself known to the queen and thanked her for her kindness to his people. Dido was astonished at the sudden appearance of the hero, of whom she had already heard much. Her father, Belus, she said, had told her of the fall of Troy and of the name of AEneas, and having herself suffered many misfortunes, she had learned to have pity for the distressed.

"For I myself, like you, have been distressed; Till heaven afforded me this place of rest; Like you, an alien in a land unknown, I learn to pity woes so like my own."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.

Then she invited the hero into the royal apartments where a grand banquet was prepared in his honor. She also caused a supply of provisions to be taken to his people on the sh.o.r.e--twenty oxen, a hundred swine, and a hundred fat lambs. Meanwhile AEneas sent Achates to bring his son Ascanius to the city, bidding him at the same time to take with him presents for the queen, costly and beautiful things that had been saved from the ruins of Troy--a mantle embroidered with gold, a scepter which had belonged to I-li'o-ne, King Priam's daughter, and a necklace strung with pearls.

At the banquet Queen Dido sat on a golden couch, surrounded by the Trojan chiefs and her Tyrian lords. By her side was seated the handsome youth whom Achates had brought from the ships as the son of AEneas. Dido admired the beautiful boy and fondled him in her arms little thinking that it was Cupid, the G.o.d of love, whom Venus had sent to the banquet under the appearance of Iulus.

Unhappy Dido little thought what guest, How dire a G.o.d she drew so near her breast.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.

The real Ascanius meantime lay in peaceful slumber in a sacred grove in the island of Cyprus, to which Venus had borne him away.

Lulled in her lap, amidst a train of Loves, She gently bears him to her blissful groves; Then with a wreath of myrtle crowns his head, And softly lays him on a flowery bed.

DRYDEN, AEneid BOOK 1.

And so Queen Dido entertained the chiefs of Troy and of Carthage, with the G.o.d of love seated beside her on her golden couch. A hundred maids and as many pages attended upon the guests. After the viands were removed, I-o'pas, the Tyrian minstrel and poet, played upon his gilded lyre, and sang about the wondrous things in the heavens and on earth.

The various labors of the wandering moon, And whence proceed the eclipses of the sun; The original of men and beasts; and whence The rains arise, and fires their warmth dispense; What shakes the solid earth; what cause delays The summer nights, and shortens winter days.

DRYDEN, AEneid. BOOK I.

The song of Iopas was applauded by the entire a.s.semblage. Then Queen Dido after asking Aeneas many questions about Priam and Hector, and Achilles, and Memnon, and Diomede and other heroes of the Trojan war, begged him to tell the whole story from the beginning. "Come, my guest," said she, "relate to us from the very first the stratagems of the Greeks, the adventures of your friends, and your own wanderings."

It was in compliance with this request that Aeneas, as has been said, recounted the history (already given) of the ruin of Troy, and of his own misfortunes, commencing with the artifice of the wooden horse, and ending with the storm which drove his ships upon the Carthaginian coast. The events of the story extended over a period of seven years, for it was now that length of time since the fatal "peace offering"

brought destruction on the city of Priam.

IV. DIDO'S LOVE--THE FUNERAL GAMES--SHIPS BURNED BY THE WOMEN.

Queen Dido was much interested in the story told by Aeneas, but more so in the hero himself. His many virtues, the honors and glories of his race, made a strong impression on her mind; his looks and words were imprinted on her heart. In short, the Carthaginian queen was in love with the Trojan prince. She confided her secret to her sister Anna, and she said that if she had not vowed, on the death of her dear husband Sichaeus, never again to unite with any one in the bond of marriage, she might think of giving her hand to her n.o.ble guest.

Sister Anna knew that such a marriage would be a great advantage to Carthage, which might need brave defenders like the Trojans, since there were many warlike princes in that part of Africa, who might some time attack the new city. And if the Trojan arms were joined to those of Carthage, both would be strong enough to resist the most powerful enemy, and the new kingdom would become great and flourishing. "Let us therefore," said she, "pray to the G.o.ds for help and at the same time endeavor by all means to detain our Trojan guests as long as possible upon our sh.o.r.e."

The queen listened to her sister's advice with pleasure, more especially as it was in accord with her own feelings. Her scruples about a second marriage soon vanished, and so she continued to entertain the Trojans and their chief with princely hospitality.

And now she leads the Trojan chief along The lofty walls, amidst the busy throng; Displays her Tyrian wealth, and rising town, Which love, without his labor makes his own.

This pomp she shows, to tempt her wandering guest: Her faltering tongue forbids to speak the rest.

When day declines and feasts renew the night, Still on his face she feeds her famished sight; She longs again to hear the prince relate His own adventures, and the Trojan fate.

He tells it o'er and o'er; but still in vain; For still she begs to hear it once again.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV

Meanwhile the G.o.ddess Juno, watching the course of events, also saw the advantage, to her favorite city, of a union with the Trojan chief.

If he and his people, she thought, could be persuaded to settle in Carthage, that city and not the long talked of Rome, would come to be the center of power and the ruler of the world. She therefore proposed to Venus a treaty of "eternal peace" on the condition of a marriage between Aeneas and Dido.

"Your Trojan with my Tyrian let us join; So Dido shall be yours, AEneas mine-- One common kingdom, one united line."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

Venus was not at all deceived by this plausible speech. She well understood the motive and purpose of Juno to secure future power and glory for Carthage and divert from Rome the empire of the world, nevertheless she answered in mild words saying, "Who could be so foolish as to reject such an alliance, and prefer to be at war with the queen of heaven? Yet there is a difficulty. I do not know whether it is the pleasure of Jupiter that the Tyrians and Trojans should dwell together in one city. Will he approve the union of the two nations? Perhaps, however, you, who are his wife, may be able to induce him to do so. It is for you, then, to lead the way, and where you lead I shall follow."

But another obstacle stood in the way of Juno's proposed alliance.

There was at that time a certain African king named I-ar'bas, a very important personage, for he was a son of Jupiter. It was from him that Dido when she first came to Libya had bought the ground to build her city. Now Iarbas wished to have Dido for his wife, and he had asked her to marry him, but she had refused. Great was his anger, therefore, when he heard that the Trojan chief had been received and honored in Carthage and that a marriage between him and the queen was talked of as a certain thing. So he went to the temple of his father Jupiter, and complained bitterly of the conduct of Dido in rejecting himself and taking a foreign prince into her kingdom to be its ruler. The king of heaven, naturally enough sympathising with his son, gave ear to his complaint and he forthwith dispatched Mercury with a message to AEneas, bidding him to depart instantly from Carthage. This command the swift-winged G.o.d, having sped down from Olympus, and sought out the Trojan hero, delivered in impressive words.

"All powerful Jove Who sways the world below and heaven above, Has sent me down with this severe command: What means thy lingering in the Libyan land?

If glory cannot move a mind so mean, Nor future praise from flitting pleasure wean, Regard the fortunes of thy rising heir: The promised crown let young Ascanius wear, To whom the Ausonian sceptre, and the state Of Rome's imperial name, is owed by fate."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

The command filled AEneas with astonishment and fear. He knew that he must obey, but how could he break the intelligence to Dido, or what excuse could he offer for so sudden a departure?

What should he say, or how should he begin?

What course alas! remains, to steer between The offended lover and the powerful queen.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

There being, however, no middle course, Aeneas directed his chiefs to get ready the ships, call together the crews, and prepare their arms, and to do all as quietly and secretly as possible. Meanwhile he himself would watch for a favorable opportunity of obtaining the queen's consent to their departure.

Himself, meantime, the softest hours would choose, Before the love-sick lady heard the news, And move her tender mind, by slow degrees To suffer what the sovereign power decrees.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

But Dido soon discovered what the Trojans were about, and she sent for AEneas and reproached him in angry words for his deception and ingrat.i.tude. Then her anger gave way to grief and tears, and she implored him to alter his resolution, declaring that if he would thus suddenly leave her she must surely die. AEneas was in deep distress at the spectacle of the sorrowing queen, yet he dared not yield to her entreaties, since it was the decree of the fates and the command of Jupiter that he should remain no longer in Carthage.

The Trojans therefore hastened their preparations and were soon ready to set sail; but there came another warning conveyed to them by the G.o.d Mercury, who, while AEneas was asleep in his ship, appeared to him in a dream, bidding him to speed away that very night, for if he waited until morning he would find the harbor filled with queen Dido's fleet to prevent his departure. Starting from his couch AEneas quickly roused his companions and gave the order for instantly putting to sea.

"Haste to your oars! your crooked anchors weigh, And speed your flying sails, and stand to sea!

A G.o.d commands! he stood before my sight, And urged me once again to speedy flight."

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

Promptly the order of the chief was obeyed, and soon the Trojan vessels were sailing away from the city of Dido. And at dawn of morning the unhappy queen, looking forth from her watch tower, beheld them far out at sea. Then she prayed that there might be eternal enmity between the descendants of AEneas and the people of Carthage, and that a man would come of her nation who would persecute the Trojan race with fire and sword.

"These are my prayers, and this my dying will; And you, my Tyrians, every curse fulfill: Perpetual hate and mortal wars proclaim Against the prince, the people, and the name.

These grateful offerings on my grave bestow; Nor league, nor love, the hostile nations know!

Now and from hence in every future age, When rage excites your arms, and strength supplies the rage, Rise some avenger of our Libyan blood; With fire and sword pursue the perjured brood: Our arms, our seas, our sh.o.r.es, opposed to theirs; And the same hate descend on all our heirs!"

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

Vergil thus makes Dido prophesy the long conflict between Rome and Carthage, (known as the Punic wars) and the achievements of the famous Carthaginian general, Han'ni-bal, who carried the war into the heart of Italy (218 B. C.) and defeated the Romans in several great battles.

In her grief at the departure of AEneas, the unhappy queen resolved to put an end to her life. She bade her servants erect in the inner court yard of her palace a lofty pile of wood, called a funeral pyre, and upon it to place an image of AEneas as well as the arms he had left behind him. Then mounting the pyre, to which flaming torches had been applied, she stabbed herself with her false lover's sword, and so died.

The Trojans from their ships, saw the smoke and flame ascending from the palace of Dido. They knew not the cause, yet AEneas, suspecting what had happened, deeply lamented the fate of the unhappy queen.

The cause unknown; yet his presaging mind The fate of Dido from the fire divined.

Dire auguries from hence the Trojans draw; Till neither fires nor shining sh.o.r.es they saw.

DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.

The fleet was no sooner out of sight of the Libyan coast than the pilot Palinurus observed signs of a storm. He proposed, therefore, that they should make for the Sicilian sh.o.r.e, which was not far distant. AEneas gladly consented, for he wished to stand again upon the spot where his father's bones were laid. Moreover the good king A-ces'tes, who ruled in that part of the island, was a Trojan by descent, and he had hospitably received the wanderers on their former visit. They, therefore, turned the prows of their galleys towards Sicily, and soon reached Drepanum, where they were met and welcomed by Acestes, who from a hill top had seen their vessels approaching the sh.o.r.e.