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CHAPTER V.

THE FUNERAL GAMES.

Far off at sea, Æneas and his crew see the flames go up from Dido's palace.

"What cause has lit so fierce a flame
They know not; but the pangs of shame
From great love wronged, and what despair
Will make a baffled woman dare,—
All this they know; and knowing tread
The paths of presage vague and dread."

Not yet is their course clear for Italy. A storm comes on, and they make for refuge towards the friendly coast of Sicily, and run their vessels into a sheltered bay under Mount Eryx. Their return is gladly welcomed by their late host, Acestes, who receives the wanderers, as before, with princely hospitality, still mindful of his own Trojan blood. It chances that the morrow is the anniversary of the burial of Anchises; and Æneas, summoning an open-air council of his crews, announces to them his intention of commemorating his father by a solemn public