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oracle commands,
And fate invites me to the Latian lands.
That is the promisā€™d place to which I steer,
And all my vows are terminated there.
If you, a Tyrian, and a stranger born,
With walls and towā€™rs a Libyan town adorn,
Why may not we, like you, a foreign race,
Like you, seek shelter in a foreign place?
As often as the night obscures the skies
With humid shades, or twinkling stars arise,
Anchisesā€™ angry ghost in dreams appears,
Chides my delay, and fills my soul with fears;
And young Ascanius justly may complain
Of his defrauded and destinā€™d reign.
Evā€™n now the herald of the gods appearā€™d:
Waking I saw him, and his message heard.
From Jove he came commissionā€™d, heavā€™nly bright
With radiant beams, and manifest to sight
(The sender and the sent I both attest):
These walls he enterā€™d, and those words expressā€™d.
Fair queen, oppose not what the gods command;
Forcā€™d by my fate, I leave your happy land.ā€

Thus while he spoke, already she began,
With sparkling eyes, to view the guilty man;
From head to foot surveyā€™d his person oā€™er,
Nor longer these outrageous threats forebore:
ā€œFalse as thou art, and, more than false, forsworn!
Not sprung from noble blood, nor goddess-born,
But hewn from hardenā€™d entrails of a rock!
And rough Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck!
Why should I fawn? what have I worse to fear?
Did he once look, or lent a listā€™ning ear,
Sighā€™d when I sobbā€™d, or shed one kindly tear?ā ā€”
All symptoms of a base ungrateful mind,
So foul, that, which is worse, ā€™tis hard to find.
Of manā€™s injustice why should I complain?
The gods, and Jove himself, behold in vain
Triumphant treason; yet no thunder flies,
Nor Juno views my wrongs with equal eyes;
Faithless is earth, and faithless are the skies!
Justice is fled, and Truth is now no more!
I savā€™d the shipwreckā€™d exile on my shore;
With needful food his hungry Trojans fed;
I took the traitor to my throne and bed:
Fool that I wasā ā€”ā€™tis little to repeat
The restā ā€”I storā€™d and riggā€™d his ruinā€™d fleet.
I rave, I rave! A godā€™s command he pleads,
And makes Heavā€™n accessary to his deeds.
Now Lycian lots, and now the Delian god,
Now Hermes is employā€™d from Joveā€™s abode,
To warn him hence; as if the peaceful state
Of heavā€™nly powā€™rs were touchā€™d with human fate!
But go! thy flight no longer I detainā ā€”
Go seek thy promisā€™d kingdom throā€™ the main!
Yet, if the heavā€™ns will hear my pious vow,
The faithless waves, not half so false as thou,
Or secret sands, shall sepulchers afford
To thy proud vessels, and their perjurā€™d lord.
Then shalt thou call on injurā€™d Didoā€™s name:
Dido shall come in a black sulphā€™ry flame,
When death has once dissolvā€™d her mortal frame;
Shall smile to see the traitor vainly weep:
Her angry ghost, arising from the deep,
Shall haunt thee waking, and disturb thy sleep.
At least my shade thy punishment shall know,
And Fame shall spread the pleasing news below.ā€

Abruptly here she stops; then turns away
Her loathing eyes, and shuns the sight of day.
Amazā€™d he stood, revolving in his mind
What speech to frame, and what excuse to find.
Her fearful maids their fainting mistress led,
And softly laid her on her ivory bed.

But good Aeneas, thoā€™ he much desirā€™d
To give that pity which her grief requirā€™d;
Thoā€™ much he mournā€™d, and labourā€™d with his love,
Resolvā€™d at length, obeys the will of Jove;
Reviews his forces: they with early care
Unmoor their vessels, and for sea prepare.
The fleet is soon afloat, in all its pride,
And well-calkā€™d galleys in the harbour ride.
Then oaks for oars they fellā€™d; or, as they stood,
Of its green arms despoilā€™d the growing wood,
Studious of flight. The beach is coverā€™d oā€™er
With Trojan bands, that blacken all the shore:
On evā€™ry side are seen, descending down,
Thick swarms of soldiers, loaden from the town.
Thus, in battalia, march embodied ants,
Fearful of winter, and of future wants,
Tā€™ invade the corn, and to their cells convey
The plunderā€™d forage of their yellow prey.
The sable troops, along the narrow tracks,
Scarce bear the weighty burthen on their backs:
Some set their shoulders to the pondā€™rous grain;
Some guard the spoil; some lash the lagging train;
All ply their sevā€™ral tasks, and equal toil sustain.

What pangs the tender breast of Dido tore,
When, from the towā€™r, she saw the coverā€™d shore,
And heard the shouts of sailors from afar,
Mixā€™d with the murmurs of the watā€™ry war!
All-powā€™rful Love! what changes canst thou cause
In human hearts, subjected to thy laws!
Once more her haughty soul the tyrant bends:
To prayā€™rs and mean submissions she descends.
No female arts or aids she left untried,
Nor counsels unexplorā€™d, before she died.
ā€œLook, Anna! look! the Trojans crowd to sea;
They spread their canvas, and their anchors weigh.
The shouting crew their ships with garlands bind,
Invoke the sea gods, and invite the wind.
Could I have thought this threatā€™ning blow so near,
My tender soul had been forewarnā€™d to bear.
But do not you my last request deny;
With yon perfidious man your intā€™rest try,
And bring me news, if I must live or die.
You are his favā€™rite; you alone can find
The dark recesses of his inmost mind:
In all his trusted secrets you have part,
And know the soft approaches to his heart.
Haste then, and humbly seek my haughty foe;
Tell him, I did not with the Grecians go,
Nor did my fleet against his friends employ,
Nor swore the ruin of unhappy Troy,
Nor movā€™d with hands profane his fatherā€™s dust:
Why should he then reject a suit so just!
Whom does he shun, and whither would he fly!
Can he this last, this only prayā€™r deny!
Let him at least his dangā€™rous flight delay,
Wait better winds, and hope a calmer sea.
The nuptials he disclaims I urge no more:
Let him pursue the promisā€™d Latian shore.
A short delay is all I ask him now;
A pause of grief, an interval from woe,
Till my soft soul be temperā€™d to sustain
Accustomā€™d sorrows, and inurā€™d to pain.
If you in pity grant this one request,
My death shall glut the hatred of his breast.ā€
This mournful message pious Anna bears,
And seconds with her own her sisterā€™s tears:
But all her arts are still employā€™d in vain;
Again she comes, and is refusā€™d again.
His hardenā€™d heart nor prayā€™rs nor threatā€™nings move;
Fate, and the god, had stoppā€™d his ears to love.

As, when the winds their airy quarrel try,
Justling from evā€™ry quarter of the sky,
This way and that the mountain oak they bend,
His boughs they shatter, and his

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