The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Publisher's Notice
• To My Worthy Friend , Master Thomas Hammon, of Gray's Inn , &c.
• Persons Represented.
• The Jew of Malta.
• Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Edward the Second.
• Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• The Massacre At Paris.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Scene VII.
• Scene VIII.
• Scene IX.
• Scene X.
• Scene XI.
• Scene XII.
• Scene XIII.
• Scene XIV.
• Scene XV.
• Scene XVI.
• Scene XVII.
• Scene XVIII.
• Scene XIX.
• Scene XX.
• Scene XXI.
• Scene XXII.
• Scene XXIII.
• Scene XXIV.
• The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage.
• Act I.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Act II.
• Scene I.
• Act III.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act IV.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene Iii
• Scene IV.
• Scene V
• Act V.
• Scene I.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Enter1Achates, Cupid as Ascanius, Iarbas, and Anna.

Ach.

• Did ever men see such a sudden storm
• Or day so clear so suddenly o'ercast?

Iar.

• I think some fell enchantress dwelleth here,
• That can call them2 forth whenas she please,
• And dive into black tempest's treasury,

Anna.

• In all my life Ignever knew the like;
• It hailed, it snowed, it lightened all at once.

Ach.

• I think it was the devil revelling night,
• There was such hurly-burly in the heavens:

  10

• Doubtless Apollo's axle-tree is crack'd,
• Or aged Atlas' shoulder out of joint,
• The motion was so over-violent.

Iar.

• In all this coil, where have ye left the queen?

Asc.

• Nay, where's my warlike father, can you tell?

Anna.

• Behold, where both of them come forth the cave,

Iar.

• Come forth the cave! can heaven endure this sight?
• Iarbas curse that unrevenging Jove,
• Whose flinty dart slept in Typhœus'1 den,
• Whiles these adulterers surfeited with sin.

  20

• Nature, why mad'st me not some poisonous beast,
• That with the sharpness of my edged sting
• I might have staked them both unto the earth,
• Whilst they were sporting in this darksome cave!
• [Aside.
• Enter; from the cave, Æneas andDido.

Æn.

• The air is clear, and southern winds are whist.2
• Come, Dido, let us hasten to the town,
• Since gloomy Æolus doth cease to frown.

Dido.

• Achates and Ascanius, well met

Æn.

• Fair Anna, how escap'd you from the shower?

Anna.

• As others did, by running to the wood.

  30

Dido.

• But where were you, Iarbas, all this while?

Iar.

• Not with Æneas in the ugly cave.

Dido.

• I see, Æneas sticketh in your mind;
• But I will soon put by that stumbling-block,
• And quell those hopes that thus employ your cares.3
• [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter1Iarbas to sacrifice.

Iar.

• Come, servants, come; bring forth the sacrifice,
• That I may pacify that gloomy Jove,
• Whose empty altars have enlarg'd our ills.—
• [Servants bring in the sacrifice, and then exeunt.
• Eternal Jove, great master of the clouds,
• Father of gladness and all frolic thoughts,
• That with thy gloomy2 hand corrects the heaven,
• When airy creatures war amongst themselves;
• Hear, hear, O, hear Iarbas' plaining prayers,
• Whose hideous echoes make the welkin howl,
• And ail the woods Eliza3 to resound!

  10

• The woman that thou willed us entertain.
• Where, straying in our borders up and down,
• She crav'd a hide of ground to build a town,
• With whom we did divide both laws and land,
• And all the fruits that plenty else sends forth,
• Scorning our loves and royal marriage-rites,
• Yields up her beauty to a stranger's bed;
• Who, having wrought her shame, is straightway fled
• Now, if thou be'st a pitying god of power
• On whom ruth and compassion ever waits,

  20

• Redress these wrongs, and warn him to his ships,
• That now afflicts me with his flattering eyes.
• Enter Anna.

Anna.

• How now, Iarbas! at your prayers so hard?

Iar.

• Ay, Anna: is there aught you would with me?

Anna.

• Nay, no such weighty business of import
• But may be slacked until another time:
• Yet, if you would partake with me the cause
• Of this devotion that detaineth you,

Iar.

• Anna, against this Trojan do I pray,

  30

• Who seeks to rob me of thy sister's love,
• And dive into her heart by colour'd looks.

Anna.

• Alas, poor king, that labours so in vain
• For her that so delighteth in thy pain!
• Be rul'd by me, and seek some other love,
• Whose yielding heart may yield thee more relief.

Æn.

• Mine eye is fixed where fancy cannot start:
• O, leave me, leave me to my silent thoughts,
• That register the numbers of my ruth,
• And I will either move the thoughtless flint,

  40

• Or drop out both mine eyes in drizzling tears,
• Before my sorrow's tide have any stint!

Anna.

• I will not leave Iarbas, whom I love,
• In this delight of dying pensiveness.
• Away with Dido! Anna be thy song;
• Anna, that doth admire thee more than heaven.

Iar.

• I may nor will list to such loathsome change,
• That intercepts the course of my desire.—
• Servants, come fetch these empty vessels here;
• For I will fly from these alluring eyes,

  50

• That do pursue my peace where'er it goes.
• [Exit.-Servants re-enter, and carry out the vessels, &c.

Anna.

• Iarbas, stay, loving Iarbas, stay!
• For I have honey to present thee with.
• Hard-hearted, wilt not deign to hear me speak?
• I'll follow thee with outcries ne'ertheless
• And strew thy walks with my dishevell'd hair.
• [Exit

SCENE III

Enter Æneas.1

Æn.

• Carthage, my friendly host, adieu!
• Since Destiny doth call me from thy2 shore:
• Hermes this night, descending in a dream,
• Hath summoned me to fruitful Italy;
• Jove wills it so; my mother wills it so:
• Let my Phœnissa grant, and then I go.
• Grant she or no, Æneas must away;
• Whose golden fortunes, clogg'd with courtly ease,
• Cannot ascend to fame's immortal house,
• Or banquet in bright Honour's burnished hall,

  10

• Till he hath furrowed Neptune's glassy fields,
• And cut a passage through his topless3 hills.—
• Achates, come forth! Sergestus, Ilioneus,
• Cloanthus, haste away! Ænezs calls.
• Enter Achates, Cloanthus, Sergestus, and Ilioneus.

Ach.

• What wills our lord, or wherefore did he call?

Æn.

• The dreams, brave mates, that did beset my bed.
• When sleep but newly had embrac'd the night
• Commands me leave these unrenowmed realms,1
• Whereas nobility abhors to stay,
• And none but base Æneas will abide.

  20

• Aboard, aboard! since Fates do bid aboard
• And slice the sea with sable-colour'd ships,
• On whom the nimble winds may all day wait,
• And follow them, as footmen, through the deep
• Yet Dido casts her eyes, like anchors, out,
• To stay my fleet from loosing forth the bay: “Come back, come back,”
• I hear her cry a-far,
• “And let me link thy2 body to my lips.
• That, tied together by the striving tongues,
• We may, as one, sail into Italy.”

  30

Ach.

• Banish that ticing dame from forth your mouth
• And follow your fore-seeing stars in all:
• This is no life for men-at-arms to live.
• Where dalliance doth consume a soldier's strength,
• And wanton motions of alluring eyes
• Effeminate our minds, inur'd to war
• Ili Why, let us build a city of our own,
• And not stand lingering here for amorous looks.
• Will Dido raise old Priam forth his grave,
• And build the town again the Greeks did burn?

  40

• No, no; she cares not how we sink or swim,
• So she may have Æneas in her arms,

Clo.

• To Italy, sweet friends, to Italy!
• We will not stay a minute longer here.

Æn.

• Trojans, aboard, and I will follow you.
• [Exeunt all except Æneas.
• I fain would go, yet beauty calls me back:
• To leave her so, and not once say farewell,
• Were to transgress against all laws of love.
• But, if I use such ceremonious thanks
• As parting friends accustom on the shore,

  50

• Her silver arms will coll1 me round about,
• And tears of pearl cry, “Stay, Æneas, stay!”
• Each word she says will then contain a crown,
• And every speech be ended with a kiss:
• I may not dure this female drudgery:
• To sea, Æneas! find out Italy!
• [Exit.

SCENE IV.

Enter2Dido and Anna.

Dido.

• O Anna, run unto the water-side!
• They say Æneas' men are going aboard:
• It may be, he will steal away with them:
• Stay not to answer me: run, Anna, run!
• [Exit Anna.
• O foolish Trojans, that would steal from hence,
• And not let Dido understand their drift!
• I would have given Achates store of gold
• And Ilioneus gum and Libyan spice;
• The common soldiers rich embroider' coats,
• And silver whistles to control the winds,

  10

• Which Circe1 sent Sichseus when he lived
• Unworthy are they of a queen's reward.
• See where they come: how might I do to chide?
• Re-enter Anna, with æneas, Achates, Cloanthus, Ilioneus, Sergestus, and Carthaginian Lords.

Anna.

• “Twas time to run; Æneas had been gone;
• The sails were hoising up, and he aboard.

Dido.

• Is this thy love to me?

Æn.

• O princely Dido, give me leave to speak'
• I went to take my farewell of Achates.

Dido.

• How haps Achates bid me not farewell?
• Ach, Because I feared your grace would keep me here.

  20

Dido.

• To rid thee of that doubt, aboard again:
• I charge thee put to sea, and stay not here.
• Ach, Then let Æneas go aboard with us.
• Dido, Get you aboard; Æneas means to stay.
• Æn. The sea is rough, the winds blow to the shore.

Dido.

• O false Æneas! now the sea is rough;
• But, when you were aboard, 'twas calm enough:
• Thou and Achates meant to sail away.

Æn.

• Hath not the Carthage queen mine only son?
• Tnmks Dido I will go and leave him here?

  30

Dido.

• Æneas, pardon me; for I forgot
• That young Ascanius lay with me this night;
• Love made me jealous: but, to make amends,
• Wear the imperial crown of Libya,
• [Giving him her crown and sceptre.
• Sway thou the Punic sceptre in my stead.
• And punish me, Æneas, for this crime.

Æn.

• This kiss shall be fair Dido's punishment.

Dido.

• O, how a crown becomes Æneas' head!
• Stay here, Æneas, and command as king.

Æn.

• How vain am I to wear this diadem,

  40

• And bear this golden sceptre in my hand!
• A burgonet of steel, and not a crown,
• A sword, and not a sceptre, fits Æneas.

Dido.

• O, keep them still, and let me gaze my fill!
• Now looks Æneas like immortal Jove:
• O, where is Ganymede, to hold his cup,
• And Mercury, to fly for what he calls?
• Ten thousand Cupids hover in the air,
• And fan it is Æneas' lovely face!
• O, that the clouds were here wherein thou fled'st,1

  50

• That thou and I unseen might sport ourselves!
• Heaven,2 envious of our joys, is waxen pale;
• And when we whisper then the stars fall down,
• To be partakers of our honey talk.

Æn.

• O Dido, patroness of all our lives,
• When I leave thee, death be my punishment!
• Swell, raging seas! frown, wayward Destinies!
• Blow, winds! threaten, ye rocks and sandy shelves!
• This is the harbour that Æneas seeks:
• Let's see what tempests can annoy me now.

  60

• Dido. Not all the world can take thee from mine arms.

Æn.

• may command as many Moors
• As in the sea are little water-drops;
• And now, to make experience of my love,-
• Fair sister Anna, lead my lover forth,
• And, seated on my jennet, let him ride,
• As Dido's husband, through the Punic streets;
• And will1 my guard, with Mauntanian darts
• To wait upon him as their sovereign lord.

Anna.

• What if the citizens repine thereat?

  70

Dido.

• Those that dislike what Dido gives in charge
• Command my guard to slay for their offence.
• Shall vulgar peasants storm at what I do?
• The ground is mine that gives them sustenance,
• The air wherein they breathe, the water, fire,
• All that they have, their lands, their goods, their lives!
• And I, the goddess of all these, command
• Æneas ride as Carthaginian king.

Ach.

• Æneas, for his parentage, deserves
• As large a kingdom as is Libya.

  80

Æn.

• Ay, and, unless the Destinies be false,
• I shall be planted in as rich a land.
• Dido, Speak of no other land; this land is thine;
• Dido is thine, henceforth I'll call thee lord.—
• Do as I bid thee, sister; lead the way;
• And from a turret I'll behold my love.

Æn.

• Then here in me shall flourish Priam's race
• And thou and I, Achates, for revenge
• For Troy, for Priam, for his fifty sons,
• Our kinsmen's lives1 and thousand guiltless souls,

  90

• Will lead an host against the hateful Greeks,
• And fire proud LacedÆmon o'er their heads.
• [Exeunt all except Dido and Carthaginian Lords

Dido.

• Speaks not Æneas like a conqueror?
• O blessed tempests that did drive him in!
• O happy sand that made him run aground!
• Henceforth you shall be [of] our Carthage gods.
• Ay, but it may be, he will leave my love,
• And seek a foreign land called Italy:
• O, that I had a charm to keep the winds

  100

• Within the closure of a golden ball;
• Or that the Tyrrhene sea were in mine arms,
• That he might suffer shipwreck on my breast,
• As oft as he attempts to hoist up sail!
• I must prevent him; wishing will not serve.—
• Go bid my nurse take young Ascanius,
• And bear him in the country to her house;
• Æneas will not go without his son;
• Yet, lest he should, for I am full of fear,
• Bring me his oars, his tackling, and his sails.

  110

• [Exit First Lord.
• What if I sink his ships? O, he will frown!
• Better he frown than I should die for grief.
• I cannot see him frown; it may not be:
• Armies of foes resolv'd to win this town,
• Or impious traitors vow'd to have my life,
• Affright me not; only Æneas' frown
• Is that which terrifies poor Dido's heart;
• Not bloody spears, appearing in the air,
• Presage the downfall of my empery,
• Nor blazing comets threaten Dido's death;

  120

• It is Æneas' frown that ends my days.
• If he forsake me not, I never die;
• For in his looks I see eternity,
• And he'll make me immortal1 with a kiss.
• Re-enter First Lord, with Attendants carrying tackling, &c.

First Lord.

• Your nurse is gone with young Ascanius:
• And here's Æneas' tackling, oars, and sails.

Dido.

• Are these the sails that, in despite of me,
• Pack'd2 with the winds to bear Æneas hence?
• I'll hang ye in the chamber where I lie;
• Drive, if you can, my house to Italy:

  130

• I'll set the casement open, that the winds
• May enter in, and once again conspire
• Against the life of me, poor Carthage queen:
• But, though ye1 go, he stays in Carthage still;
• And let rich Carthage fleet2 upon the seas,
• So I may have Æneas in mine arms.
• Is this the wood that grew in Carthage plains,
• And would be toiling in the watery billows,
• To rob their mistress of her Trojan guest?
• O cursed tree, hadst thou but wit or sense,

  140

• To measure how I prize Æneas' love,
• Thou wouldst have leapt from out the sailors' hands,
• And told me that Æneas meant to go!
• And yet I blame thee not; thou art but wood.
• The water, which our poets term a nymph,3
• Why did it suffer thee to touch her breast,
• And shrunk not back, knowing my love was there?
• The water is an element, no nymph.
• Why should I blame Æneas for his flight?
• O Dido, blame not him, but break his oars!

  150

• These were the instruments that launched him forth.
• There's not so much as this base tackling too,
• But dares to heap up sorrow to my heart:
• Was it not you that hoised up these sails?
• Why burst you not, and they fell in the seas?
• For this will Dido tie ye full of knots,
• And shear ye all asunder with her hands
• Now serve to chastise shipboys for their faults,
• Ye shall no more offend the Carthage queen.
• Now, let him hang my favours on his masts,

  160

• And see if those will serve instead of sails;
• For tackling, let him take the chains of gold,
• Which I bestowed upon his followers;
• Instead of oars, let him use his hands,
• And swim to Italy. I'll keep these sure.—
• Come, bear them in.
• [Exeunt.

SCENE V

Enter1 Nurse, withCupid as Ascanius.

Nurse.

• My Lord Ascanius, you must go with me.
• Cup Whither must I go? I'll stay with my mother,

Nurse.

• No, thou shalt go with me unto my house.
• I have an orchard that hath store of plums,
• Brown almonds, services, ripe figs, and dates,
• Dewberries, apples, yellow oranges;
• A garden where are bee-hives full of honey,
• Musk-roses, and a thousand sort of flowers;
• And in the midst doth run a silver stream,
• Where thou shalt see the red-gilld fishes leap,

  10

• White swans, and many lovely water-fowls.
• Now speak, Ascanius, will you go or no?

Cup.

• Come, come, I'll go. How far hence is your house?

Nurse.

• But hereby, child; we shall get thither straight.

Cup.

• Nurse, I am weary; will you carry me?

Nurse.

• Ay, so you'll dwell with me, and call me mother.

Cup.

• So you'll love me, I care not if I do,

Nurse.

• That I might live to see this boy a man!
• How prettily he laughs! Go [to], ye wag!1
• You'll be a twigger2 when you come to age.—

  20

• Say Dido what she will, I am not old;
• I'll be no more a widow: I am young;
• I'll have a husband, or else a lover.

Cup.

• A husband, and no teeth!

Nurse.

• O, what mean I to have such foolish thoughts?
• Foolish is love, a toy.—O sacred love!
• If there be any heaven in earth, 'tis love,
• Especially in women of your years.—
• Blush, blush for shame! why shouldst thou think of love?
• A grave, and not a lover, fits thy age.—

  30

• A grave! why, I may live a hundred years;
• Fourscore is but a girl's age: love is sweet—
• My veins are withered, and my sinews dry:

Cup.

• Come, nurse

Nurse.

• Well, if he come a-wooing, he shall speed:
• O, how unwise was I to say him nay!
• [Exeunt.

[1]Scene: before the cave.

[2]The line is unrhythmical and corrupt. Qy, “That can call forth the winds”?

[1]Old ed. “Tiphous.”

[2]Still, hushed.

[3]Old ed. “eares.”

[1]Scene; a room in Iarbas' house.

[2]The epithet “gloomy,” here and in 1. 2, contrasts oddly with “Father of gladness and all frolic thoughts,”

[3]Elissa (Dido).

[1]Scene: a room in Dido's palace,

[2]Old ed. “the.”

[3]Cf. Faustus, scene xiv.—” And burnt the topless towers of Itn.”

[1]Old ed. “beames,”-a mistake, as Dyce observed, for “reames” (a common form of “realms”

[2]Old ed. “my”

[1]“Coll” = cling round the neck.

[2]Scene: a room in Dido's palace.

[1]Old ed. “Circes.”

[1]It is related in the fifth book of the Iliad how Aphrodite snrouded Æneas in a cloud when he was hard pressed by Diomed. -Old ed. “fleest”

[2]Old ed. “Heavens.”

[1]Desire, order.

[1]Old ed. “loues.”

[1]Cf. Faustus—

• “Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.”

[2]Intrigued.

[1]Old ed. “he.”

[2]Float.

[3]Lat. lympha is the same word as Nympha.

[1]Scene' the open country near Carthage.

[1]The reader will be reminded of Juliet's Nurse. The word to is inserted at the suggestion of a critic in the Athenum (No. 2977).

[2]Wencher.