Ach. Æneas, see, here come the citizens:
Leave to lament, lest they laugh at our fears.
Enter Cloanthus, Sergestus, Ilioneus, and others.[1]
Æn. Lords of this town, or whatsoever style
Belongs unto your name, vouchsafe of ruth
To tell us who inhabits this fair town,
What kind of people, and who governs them;
For we are strangers driven on this shore.
And scarcely know within what clime we are.
Ili. I hear Æneas' voice, but see him not,[2]
For none of these can be our general.
Ach. Like Ilioneus[3] speaks this nobleman,
But Ilioneus goes not in such robes.
Serg. You are Achates, or I [am] deceiv'd.
Ach. Æneas, see, Sergestus, or his ghost!
Ili. He names Æneas; let us kiss his feet.
Clo. It is our captain; see, Ascanius!
Serg. Live long Æneas and Ascanius!
Æn. Achates, speak, for I am overjoy'd.
Ach. O Ilioneus, art thou yet alive?
Ili. Blest be the time I see Achates' face!
Clo. Why turns Æneas from his trusty friends?
Æn. Sergestus, Ilioneus, and the rest,
Your sight amaz'd me. O, what destinies
Have brought my sweet companions in such plight?
O, tell me, for I long to be resolv'd![4]
Ili. Lovely Æneas, these are Carthage-walls;
And here Queen Dido wears th' imperial crown,
Who for Troy's sake hath entertain'd us all,
And clad us in these wealthy robes we wear.
Oft hath she ask'd us under whom we serv'd;
And, when we told her, she would weep for grief,
Thinking the sea had swallow'd up thy ships;
And, now she sees thee, how will she rejoice!
Serg. See, where her servitors pass through the hall,[5]
Bearing a banquet: Dido is not far.
Ili. Look, where she comes; Æneas, view[6] her well.
Æn. Well may I view her; but she sees not me.
Enter Dido, Anna, Iarbas, and train.
Dido. What stranger art thou, that dost eye me thus?
Æn. Sometime I was a Trojan, mighty queen;
But Troy is not:—what shall I say I am?
Ili. Renowmèd[7] Dido, 'tis our general,
Warlike Æneas.
Dido. Warlike Æneas, and in these base robes!—
Go fetch the garment which Sichæus ware.—
Brave prince, welcome to Carthage and to me,
Both happy that Æneas is our guest.
Sit in this chair, and banquet with a queen:
Æneas is Æneas, were he clad
In weeds as bad as ever Irus ware.
Æn. This is no seat for one that's comfortless:
May it please your grace to let Æneas wait;
For though my birth be great, my fortune's mean,
Too mean to be companion to a queen.
Dido. Thy fortune may be greater than thy birth:
Sit down, Æneas, sit in Dido's place;
And, if this be thy son, as I suppose,
Here let him sit.—Be merry, lovely child.
Æn. This place beseems me not; O, pardon me!
Dido. I'll have it so ; Æneas, be content.
Asc. Madam, you shall be my mother.
Dido. And so I will, sweet child.—Be merry, man:
Here's to thy better fortune and good stars.
Æn. In all humility, I thank your grace.
Dido. Remember who thou art; speak like thyself:
Humility belongs to common grooms.
Æn. And who so miserable as Æneas is?
Dido. Lies it in Dido's hands to make thee blest?
Then be assur'd thou art not miserable.
Æn. O Priamus, Troy, O Hecuba!
Dido. May I entreat thee to discourse at large,
And truly too, how Troy was overcome?
- ↑ and others] Not in old ed. (Æneas presently says,
"Sergestus, Ilioneus, and the rest,
Your sight amaz'd me.") - ↑ but see him not] i.e. but I cannot discover Æneas among persons so meanly clad: Dido afterwards (next col.) says,
(Virgil, as the reader will recollect, makes Venus cover Æneas and Achates with a cloud, which is not dissolved till they meet Dido.)"Warlike Æneas, and in these base robes!"
- ↑ Ilioneus] Is it necessary to observe that a wrong quantity is given to this name?
- ↑ resolv'd] i.e. satisfied, informed.
- ↑ See, where her servitors pass through the hall, &c.] Here, or at any rate, a little after, a change of scene is supposed,—to the hall of Dido's palace.
- ↑ view] Old ed. "viewed."
- ↑ Renowmèd] See note 5, p. 11.
