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 I.

Enteræneas,1 with a paper in his hand, drawing the platform2 of the city, Achates, Sergestus, Cloanthus, and Ilioneus,

Æn.

• Triumph, my mates! our travels are at end
• Here will Æneas build a statelier Troy
• Than that which grim Atrides overthrew
• Carthage shall vaunt her petty walls no more;
• For I will grace them with a fairer frame,
• And clad her in a crystal livery,
• Wherein the day may evermore delight;
• From golden India Ganges will I fetch,
• Whose wealthy streams may wait upon her towers,
• And triple-wise entrench her round about;

  10

• The sun from Egypt shall rich odours bring,
• Wherewith his burning beams (like labouring bees
• That load their thighs with Hybla's honey-spoils)3
• Shall here unburden their exhaled sweets,
• And plant our pleasant suburbs with their1 fumes,
• Ach, What length or breadth shall this brave town contain?

Æn.

• Not past four thousand paces at the most.
• Ili But what shall it be call'd? Troy, as before?

Æn.

• That have I not determ'd with myself.

Clo.

• Let it be term'd Ænea, by your name.

  20

Strg.

• Rather Ascania, by your little son.

Æn.

• Nay, I will have it called AnchisÆon,
• Of my old father's name.
• EnterHermes with Ascanius

Her.

• Æneas, stay; Jove's herald bids thee stay.

Æn.

• Whom do I see? Jove's winged messenger!
• Welcome to Carthage new-erected town.
• Her, Why, cousin, stand you building cities here,
• And beautifying the empire of this queen,
• While Italy is clean out of thy mind?
• Too-too forgetful of thine own affairs,

  30

• Why wilt thou so betray thy son's good hap?
• The king of gods sent me from highest heaven,
• To sound this angry message in thine ears:
• Vain man, what monarchy expect'st thou here?
• Or with what thought sleep'st thou in Libya shore?
• If that all glory hath forsaken thee
• And thou despise the praise of such attempts,
• Yet think upon Ascanius' prophecy,
• And young lulus' more than thousand years,
• Whom I have brought from Ida, where he slept,

  40

• And bore young Cupid unto Cyprus' isle.

Æn.

• This was my mother that beguil'd the queen
• And made me take my brother for my son:
• No marvel, Dido, though thou be in love,
• That daily dandlest Cupid in the arms—
• Welcome, sweet child: where hast thou been this long?

Asc.

• Plating sweet comfits with Queen Dido's maid.
• Who ever since hath lull'd me in her arms.

Æn.

• Sergestus, bear him hence unto our ships,
• Lest Dido, spying him, keep him for a pledge.

  50

• [ExitSergestus with Ascanius.—
• Her, Spend'st thou thy time about this little boy,
• And giv'st not ear unto the charge I bring?
• I tell thee, thou must straight to Italy,
• Or else abide the wrath of frowning Jove.
• [Exit

Æn.

• How should I put into the raging deep.
• Who have no sails nor tackling for my ships?
• What? would the gods have me, Deucalion-like.
• Float up and down where'er the billows drive?
• Though she repair'd my fleet and gave me ships.
• Yet hath she ta'en away my oars and masts,

  60

• And left me neither sail nor stern1 aboard.
• EnterIarbas.

Iar.

• How now, Æneas! sad! what means these dumps?

Æn.

• Iarbas, I am clean besides myself;
• Jove hath heaped on me such a desperate charge,
• Which neither art nor reason may achieve,
• Nor I devise by what means to contrive.

Iar.

• As how, I pray? may I entreat you tell?

Æn.

• With speed he bids me sail to Italy,
• Whenas I want both rigging for my fleet,
• And also furniture for these my men.

  70

Iar.

• If that be all, then cheer thy drooping looks,
• For I will furnish thee with such supplies,
• Let some of those thy followers go with me,
• And they shall have what thing soe'er thou need'st.

Æn.

• Thanks, good Iarbas, for thy friendly aid:
• Achates and the rest shall wait on thee,
• Whilst I rest thankful for this courtesy.
• [Exeunt all except Æneas
• Now will I haste unto Lavinian shore,
• And raise a new foundation to old Troy.
• Witness the gods, and witness heaven and earth,

  80

• How loath I am to leave these Libyan bounds,
• But that eternal Jupiter commands!
• EnterDido.

Dido.

• I fear I saw Æneas' little son
• Led by Achates1 to the Trojan fleet.
• If it be so, his father means to fly:—
• But here he is; now, Dido, try thy wit—
• [Aside.
• Æneas, wherefore go thy men aboard?
• Why are thy ships new-rigged? or to what end,
• Launched from the haven, lie they in the road?
• Pardon me, though I ask; love makes me ask.

  90

Æn.

• O, pardon me, if I resolve thee why!
• Æneas will not feign with his dear love.
• I must from hence: this day, swift Mercury.
• When I was laying a platform1 for these walls,
• Sent from his father Jove, appear'd to me,
• And in his name rebuk'd me bitterly

Dido.

• But yet Æneas will not leave his love.

Æn.

• I am commanded by immortal Jove
• To leave this town and pass to Italy;

  100

• And therefore must of force.

Dido.

• These words proceed not from Æneas' heart.

Æn.

• Not from my heart, for I can hardly go;
• And yet I may not stay. Dido, farewell.

Dido.

• Farewell! is this the 'mends for Dido's love?
• Do Trojans use to quit2 their lovers thus?
• Fare well may Dido, so Æneas stay;
• I die, if my Æneas say farewell.

Æn.

• Then let me go, and never say farewell:
• Let me go; farewell:3 I must from hence.

  110

Dido.

• These words are poison to poor Dido's soul:
• O, speak like my Æneas, like my love!
• Why look'st thou toward the sea? the time hath been
• When Dido's beauty chain'd1 thine eyes to her.
• Am I less fair than when thou saw'st me first?
• O, then, Æneas, 'tis for grief of thee!
• Say thou wilt stay in Carthage with thy2 queen,
• And Dido's beauty will return again.
• Æneas, say, how can'st thou take thy leave?
• Wilt thou kiss Dido? O, thy lips have sworn

  120

• To stay with Dido! canst thou take her hand?
• Thy hand and mine have plighted mutual faith:
• Therefore, unkind Æneas, must thou say,
• “Then let me go, and never say farewell?”

Æn.

• O queen of Carthage, wert thou ugly-black,
• Æneas could not choose but hold thee dear!

Dido.

• The gods! what gods be those that seek my
• death?
• Wherein have I offended Jupiter,
• That he should take Æneas from mine arms?

  130

• O no! the gods weigh not what lovers do:
• It is Æneas calls Æneas hence;
• And woful Dido, by these blubber'd3 cheeks,
• By this right hand, and by our spousal rites,
• Desires Æneas to remain with her;
• Si4 bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quidquam
• Dulce meum, miserere domus labentis, et istam,
• Oro, si quis adhuc1 precibus locus, exue mentem.

Æn.

• Desine2 meque tuis incendere teque querelis,
• Italiam non sponte sequor.

  140

Dido.

• Hast thou forgot how many neighbour kings
• Were up in arms, for making thee my love?
• How Carthage did rebel, Iarbas storm,
• And all the world calls me a second Helen.
• For being entangled by a stranger's looks?
• So thou wouldst prove as true as Paris did,
• Would, as fair Troy was, Carthage might be sack'd,
• And I be called a second Helena!
• Had I a son by thee, the grief were less,
• That I might see Æneas in his face:

  150

• Now if thou go'st, what canst thou leave behind,
• But rather will augment than ease my woe?

AEn.

• In vain, my love, thou spend'st thy fainting
• breath:
• If words might move me, I were overcome.

Dido.

• And wilt thou not be mov'd with Dido's words?
• Thy3 mother was no goddess, perjured man,
• Nor Dardanus the author of thy stock;
• But thou art sprung from Scythian Caucasus.
• And tigers of Hyrcania gave thee suck.—
• Ah, foolish Dido, to forbear this long!—

  160

• Wast thou not wrecked upon this Libyan shore,
• And cam'st to Dido like a fisher swain?
• Repaired not I thy ships, made thee a king,
• And all thy needy followers noblemen?
• O serpent, that came creeping from the shore,
• And I for pity harbour'd in my bosom,
• Wilt thou now slay me with thy venomed sting,
• And hiss at Dido for preserving thee?
• Go, go, and spare not; seek out Italy:
• I hope that that which love forbids me do,

  170

• The rocks and sea-gulfs will perform at large,
• And thou shalt perish in the billows' ways
• To whom poor Dido doth bequeath revenge:
• Ay, traitor! and the waves shall cast thee up,
• Where thou and false Achates first set foot;
• Which if it chance, I'll give ye burial,
• And weep upon your lifeless carcasses,
• Though thou nor he will pity me a whit.
• Why starest thou in my face? If thou wilt stay,
• Leap in mine arms; mine arms are open wide;

  180

• If not, turn from me, and I'll turn from thee;
• For though thou hast the heart to say farewell,
• I have not power to stay thee.
• [Exitæneas
• Is he gone?
• Ay, but he'll come again; he cannot go;
• He loves me too-too well to serve me so:
• Yet he that in my sight would not relent,
• Will, being absent, be obdurate1 still.
• By this, is he got to the water-side;
• And, see, the sailors take him by the hand;
• But he shrinks back; and now remembering me,

  190

• Returns amain: welcome, welcome, my love!
• But where's Æneas? ah, he's gone, he's gone!
• EnterAnna.

Anna.

• What means my sister, thus to rave and cry?

Dido.

• O Anna, my Æneas is aboard,
• And, leaving me, will sail to Italy!
• Once didst thou go, and he came back again:
• Now bring him back, and thou shalt be a queen,
• And I will live a private life with him.

Anna.

• Wicked Æneas!

Dido.

• Call him not wicked, sister: speak him fair,

  200

• And look upon him with a mermaid's eye,
• Tell him, I never vow'd at Aulis' gulf
• The desolation of his native Troy,
• Nor sent a thousand ships unto the walls,
• Nor ever violated faith to him;
• Request him gently, Anna, to return:
• I crave but this,—he stay a tide or two,
• That I may learn to bear it patiently;
• If he depart thus suddenly, I die.
• Run, Anna, run; stay not to answer me.

  210

Anna.

• I go, fair sister: heavens grant good success!
• [Exit
• Enter Nurse.

Nurse.

• O Dido, your little son Ascanius
• Is gone! he lay with me last night,
• And in the morning he was stoln from me:
• I think some fairies have beguilèd me.

Dido.

• O cursèd hag and false dissembling wretch,
• That slay'st me with thy harsh and hellish tale!
• Thou for some petty gift hast let him go,
• And I am thus deluded of my boy.—
• Away with her to prison presently,

  220

• Enter Attendants.
• Trait'ress too kenned1 and cursèd sorceress!

Nurse.

• I know not what you mean by treason, I;
• I am as true as any one of yours.

Dido.

• Away with her! suffer her not to speak,
• [Exit Nurse with Attendants.
• My sister comes: I like not her sad looks.
• Re-enterAnna.

Anna.

• Before I came, Æneas was aboard,
• And, spying me, hoist up the sails amain;
• But I cried out, “Æneas, false Æneas, stay!”
• Then gan he wag his hand, which, yet held up,
• Made me suppose he would have heard me speak;

  230

• Then gan they drive into the ocean:
• Which when I view'd, I cried, “Æneas, stay!
• Dido, fair Dido wills Æneas stay!”
• Yet he, whose heart['s] of adamant or flint,
• My tears nor plaints could mollify a whit.
• Then carelessly I rent my hair for grief:
• Which seen to all, though he beheld me not,
• They gan to move him to redress my ruth,
• And stay a while to hear what I could say;
• But he, clapp'd under hatches, sail'd away.

  240

Dido.

• O Anna, Anna, I will follow him!

Anna.

• How can you go, when he hath all your fleet?

Dido.

• I'll frame me wings of wax, like Icarus,
• And, o'er his ships, will soar unto the sun,
• That they may melt, and I fall in his arms;
• Or else I'll make a prayer unto the waves,
• That I may swim to him, like Triton's niece.
• O Anna, [Anna,1 ] fetch Arion's2 harp,
• That I may tice a dolphin to the shore,
• And ride upon his back unto my love!

  250

• Look, sister, look! lovely Æneas' ships!
• See, see, the billows heave him3 up to heaven,
• And now down falls the keels into the deep!
• O sister, sister, take away the rocks!
• They'll break his ships. O Proteus, Neptune, Jove,
• Save, save Æneas, Dido's liefest4 love!
• Now is he come on shore, safe without hurt:
• But, see, Achates wills him put to sea,
• And all the sailors merry-make for joy;
• But he, remembering me, shrinks back again:

  260

• See, where he comes! welcome, welcome, my love!

Anna.

• Ah, sister, leave these idle fantasies!
• Sweet sister, cease; remember who you are.

Dido.

• Dido I am, unless I be deceiv'd:
• And must I rave thus for a runagate?
• Must I make ships for him to sail away?
• Nothing can bear me to him but a ship,
• And he hath all my1 fleet.—What shall I do,
• But die in fury of this oversight?
• Ay; I must be the murderer of my self:

  270

• No, but I am not; yet I will be straight —
• [Aside.
• Anna, be glad; now have I found a mean
• To rid me from these thoughts of lunacy
• Not far from hence
• There is a woman famousèd for arts,
• Daughter2 unto the nymphs Hesperides,
• Who will'd me sacrifice his ticing relics:
• Go, Anna, bid my servants bring me fire.
• [ExitAnna
• EnterIarbas.

Iar.

• How long will Dido mourn a stranger's flight
• That hath dishonoured her and Carthage both?

  280

• How long shall I with grief consume my days,
• And reap no guerdon for my truest love?
• Enter Attendants with wood and torches.

Dido.

• Iarbas, talk not of Æneas; let him go:
• Lay to thy hands, and help me make a fire,
• That shall consume all that this stranger left;
• For I intend a private sacrifice,
• To cure my mind, that melts for unkind love.

Iar.

• But afterwards, will Dido grant me love?

Dido.

• Ay, ay, Iarbas; after this is done,
• None in the world shall have my love but thou.

  290

• [They make a fire.
• So leave me now; let none approach this place.
• [ExeuntIarbasand Attendants.
• Now, Dido, with these relics burn thyself.
• And make Æneas famous through the world
• For perjury and slaughter of a queen.
• Here he1 the sword that in the darksome cave
• He drew, and swore by, to be true to me:
• Thou shalt burn first; thy crime is worse than his.
• Here lie the garment which I cloth'd him in
• When first he came on shore; perish thou too.
• These letters, lines, and perjur'd papers, all

  300

• Shall burn to cinders in this precious flame.
• And now, ye gods, that guide the starry frame.
• And order all things at your high dispose,
• Grant, though the traitors land in Italy,
• They may be still tormented with unrest;
• And from mine ashes let a conqueror rise,
• That may revenge this treason to a queen
• By ploughing up his countries with the sword!
• Betwixt this land and that be never league:
• Litora2 litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas

  310

• Imprecor, arma armis, pugnent ipsique nepotes!3
• Live, false Æneas; truest Dido dies;
• Sic,1 sic juvat ire sub umbras.
• [Throws herself into the flames.
• Re-enterAnna.

Anna.

• O, help, Iarbas! Dido in these flames
• Hath burnt herself! ay me, unhappy me!
• Re-enterIarbas, running.

Iar.

• Cursèd Iarbas, die to expiate
• The grief that tires2 upon thine inward soul!—
• Dido, I come to thee.—Ay me, Æneas!
• [Stabs himself, and dies.

Anna.

• What can my tears or cries prevail3 me now
• Dido is dead!

  320

• Iarbas slain, Iarbas my dear love!
• O sweet Iarbas, Anna's sole delight!
• What fatal destiny envìes me thus,
• To see my sweet Iarbas slay himself?
• But Anna now shall honour thee in death,
• And mix her blood with thine; this shall I do,
• That gods and men may pity this my death,
• And rue our ends, senseless of life or breath:
• Now, sweet Iarbas, stay! I come to thee.
• [Stabs herself, and dies.

END OF VOL. II.

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

[2]Plan.

[3]Old ed. “honeys spoyles.”

[1]Old ed. “her.” In the Athenaum for 10th May 1884, Dr. Karl Eke makes the plausible emendation, “And scent our pleasant suburbs with perfumes”

[1]Rudder Cf. 1 Henry. VI, 1. 1 —

• “The king from Eirham I intend to send, And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.”

[1]At 1 50 the stage-direction was “Exit Sergestus with Ascanus.”

[1]Plan.

[2]Requite.

[3]A word which it is not easy to supply has been omitted. Dyce's “farewell [none]” and Cunningham's “Let me go is farewell” are equally unsatisfactory.

[1]Old ed. “chaunged.”

[2]Old ed. “my.”

[3]Cf. iTamburlaine, v. i, 1. 21.

[4]Virgil, Æn, iv. 317.

[1]Old ed. “ad hæc.”

[2]Virgil, Æn. iv. 360.

[3]Cf. Virgil, Æn. iv 365-7:—

• “Nee tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, Perfide; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus, Hycanæque admorunt ubera tigres”

[1]Old ed. “abdurate.”

[1]Old ed. “keend.” If “kenned” is the right reading, we must suppose the meaning to be “too clearly perceived.”

[1]I have repeated “Anna” for the sake of the metre. Cf. 1. 241.

[2]Old ed. “Orions.”

[3]Dyce's correction “'em” seems unnecessary.

[4]Dearest. Cf. 2 Henry VI., III. I —

• “And with your best endeavours have stirred up My liefest hege to be mine enemy.”

[1]Old ed. “thy.”

[2]“Daughter” is nonsense. Should we read “Guardian to” (or “unto”)? Cf Virg. Æn. iv. 484:—

• “Hesperidum templi custos.”

[1]Here and in 1, 298 Dyce needlessly reads “hes.”

[2]“Virg Æn. iv. 628.

[3]The best editions of Virgil read “ipsique nepotesque.”

[1]Virg. Æn. iv. 660.

[2]Preys.

[3]Avail.