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.

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,

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• 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.

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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,

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• 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

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• 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,

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• 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

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• 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:

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• 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!

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• 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,

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• 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.

[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.