Æn. And mought[1] I live to see him sack rich Thebes,
And load his spear with Grecian princes' heads,
Then would I wish me with Anchises' tomb,
And dead to honour that hath brought me up.
Iar. And might I live to see thee shipp'd away,
And hoist aloft on Neptune's hideous hills,
Then would I wish me in fair Dido's arms,
And dead to scorn that hath pursu'd me so.[Aside.
Æn. Stout friend Achates, dost thou know this wood?
Ach. As I remember, here you shot the deer
That sav'd your famish'd soldiers' lives from death,
When first you set your foot upon the shore;
And here we met fair Venus, virgin-like,
Bearing her bow and quiver at her back.
Æn. O, how these irksome labours now delight,
And overjoy my thoughts with their escape!
Who would not undergo all kind of toil,
To be well stor'd with such a winter's tale?
Dido. Æneas, leave these dumps, and let's away,
Some to the mountains, some unto the soil,[2]
You to the valleys,—thou unto the house.[Exeunt all except Iarbas.
Iar. Ay, this it is which wounds me to the death,
To see a Phrygian, far-fet o'er[3] the sea,
Preferr'd before a man of majesty.
O love! O hate! O cruel women’s hearts,
That imitate the moon in every change,
And, like the planets, ever love to range!
What shall I do, thus wrongèd with disdain?
Revenge me on Æneas or on her?
On her! fond[4] man, that were to war 'gainst heaven,
And with one shaft provoke ten thousand darts.
This Trojan's end will be thy envy's aim,
Whose blood will reconcile thee to content,
And make love drunken with thy sweet desire.
But Dido, that now holdeth him so dear,
Will die with very tidings of his death:
But time will discontinue her content,
And mould her mind unto new fancy's shapes.[5]
O God of heaven, turn the hand of Fate
Unto that happy day of my delight!
And then—what then? Iarbas shall but love:
So doth he now, though not with equal gain;
That resteth in the rival of thy pain,
Who ne'er will cease to soar till he be slain.[Exeunt.
The storm. Enter Æneas,[6] and Dido in the cave, at several times.
Dido. Æneas!
Æn. Dido!
Dido. Tell me, dear love, how found you out this cave?
Æn. By chance, sweet queen, as Mars and Venus met,
Dido. Why, that was in a net, where[7] we are loose;
And yet I am not free,—O, would I were!
Æn. Why, what is it that Dido may desire
And not obtain, be it in human power?
Dido. The thing that I will die before I ask,
And yet desire to have before I die.
Æn. It is not aught Æneas may achieve?
Dido. Æneas! no; although his eyes do pierce.
Æn. What, hath Iarbas anger'd her in aught?
And will she be avengèd on his life?
Dido. Not anger'd me, except in angering thee.
Æn. Who, then, of all so cruel may he be
That should detain thy eye in his defects?
Dido. The man that I do eye where'er I am;
Whose amorous face, like Pæan, sparkles fire,
Whenas[8] he butts his beams on Flora's bed.
Prometheus[9] hath put on Cupid's shape,
And I must perish in his burning arms:
Æneas, O Æneas, quench these flames!
- ↑ mought] i.e. might.
- ↑ the soil] i.e. the water.—To take soil was a very common hunting-term applied to a deer, and meaning to take refuge in the water. Cotgrave (who has also "Souil de sanglier. The soile of a wild Boare; the slough or mire wherein he hath wallowed", and "Se souiller, Of a swine, to take soyle, or wallow int he mire") gives "Batre les eaux. A Deere to take soyle." Sylvester renders the lines of Du Bartas,—
"He Dieu! quel plaisir c'est de voir tout un tropeau
De cerfs au pieds venteux s'esbatre dessus l'eau,"—
by
"O! what a sport, to see a heard of them
Take soyl in summer in some spacious stream!"p. 50, ed. 1641
And Petowe, in his Second Part of Hero and Leander, &c. (see Appendix iii. to the present volume), has,—
"The chased deere hath soile to coole his heate."
- ↑ far-fet o'er] Old ed. "far fet to:" fet, i.e. fetched. In our author's translation of The first Book of Lucan we have "far-fet story."
- ↑ fond] i.e. foolish
- ↑ new fancy's shapes] i.e. new shapes of love.
- ↑ The storm. Enter Æneas, &c.] So the old ed.
- ↑ where] i.e. whereas.
- ↑ Whenas] i.e. when.
- ↑ Prometheus] A quadrisyllable here.
