And whether o'er the feas or earth he flies,
With rapid force they bear him down the skies.
But first he grafps, within his awful hand,
The mark of fovereign power, his magic wand: 355
With this he draws the ghofts from hollow graves,
With this he drives them down the Stygian waves;
With this he feals in fleep the wakeful fight;
And eyes, though clos'd in death, restores to light.
Thus arm'd, the god begins his airy race,
And drives the racking clouds along the liquid fpace.
Now fees the tops of Atlas, as he flies,
Whose brawny back supports the starry skies;
Atlas, whose head, with piny forests crown'd,
Is beaten by the winds, with foggy vapours bound. 365
Snows hide his fhoulders; from beneath his chin
The founts of rolling ftreams their race begin :
A beard of ice on his large breaft depends:
Here, pois'd upon his wings, the god defcends:
Then, refted thus, he from the towering height 370
Plung'd downward, with precipitated flight:
Lights on the feas, and fkims along the flood:
As water-fowl, who seek their fishy food,
Lefs, and yet lefs, to diftant profpect show,
By turns they dance aloft, and dive below:
Like thefe, the fteerage of his wings he plies,
And near the furface of the water flies :
Till, having pafs'd the feas, and crofs'd the fands,
He clos'd his wings, and ftoop'd on Libyan lands:
Where fhepherds once were hous'd in homely fheds, 380
Now towers within the clouds advance their heads.
Arriving there, he found the Trojan prince
New ramparts raifing for the town's defence:
A purple scarf, with gold embroider'd o'er
(Queen Dido's gift), about his waste he wore;
A fword with glittering gems diversify'd,
For ornament, not use, hung idly by his fide.
Then thus, with winged words, the god began
(Refuming his own shape): Degenerate man,
Thou woman's property, what mak'st thou here,
These foreign walls and Tyrian towers to rear?
Forgetful of thy own? All-powerful Jove,
Who fways the world below, and heaven above,
Has fent me down, with this fevere command:
What means thy lingering in the Libyan land?
If glory cannot move a mind fo mean,
Nor future praife, from flitting pleasure wean,
Regard the fortunes of thy rifing heir;
The promis'd crown let young Afcanius wear;
To whom th' Aufonian fceptre and the state
Of Rome's imperial name is ow'd by fate.
So fpoke the god; and speaking took his flight,
Involv'd in clouds; and vanish'd out of fight.
The pious prince was feiz'd with fudden fear; Mute was his tongue, and upright stood his hair; 405 Revolving in his mind the ftern command,
He longs to fly, and loaths the charming land.
What should he fay, or how fhould he begin,
What course, alas ! remains, to fteer between
Th' offended lover, and the powerful queen!
VOL. VI.
This way, and that, he turns his anxious mind,
And all expedients tries, and none can find:
Fix'd on the deed, but doubtful of the means;
After long thought, to this advice he leans :
Three chiefs he calls, commands them to repair 415
The fleet, and fhip their men with filent care :
Some plaufible pretence he bids them find,
To colour what in fecret he defign'd.
Himself, meantime, the fofteft hours would choofe,
Before the love-fick lady heard the news;
And move her tender mind, by flow degrees,
To fuffer what the fovereign power decrees :
Jove will infpire him, when, and what to say.
They hear with pleasure, and with hafte obey.
But foon the queen perceives the thin difguife: 425
(What arts can blind a jealous woman's eyes?)
She was the first to find the secret fraud,
Before the fatal news was blaz'd abroad,
Love, the first motions of the lover hears,
Quick to prefage, and ev'n in fafety fears.
Nor impious fame was wanting, to report
The fhips repair'd; the Trojans thick refort,
And purpofe to forfake the Tyrian court.
Frantic with fear, impatient of the wound,
And impotent of mind, the roves the city round: 435
Lefs wild the Bacchanalian dames appear,
When, from afar, their nightly god they hear,
And howl about the hills, and shake the wreathy spear.
At length fhe finds the dear perfidious man;
Prevents his form'd excufe, and thus began
Bafe and ungrateful, could you hope to fly,
And undifcover'd 'fcape a lover's eye?
Nor could my kindness your compaffion move,
Nor plighted vows, nor dearer bands of love?
Or is the death of a defpairing queen
Not worth preventing, though too well foreseen ?
Ev'n when the wintery winds command your stay,
You dare the tempeft, and defy the fea.
Falfe as you are, fuppofe you were not bound
To lands unknown, and foreign coafts to found; 450
Were Troy reftor'd, and Priam's happy reign,
Now durft you tempt, for Troy, the raging main?
See whom you fly; am I the foe you fhun?
Now, by thofe holy vows fo late begun,
By this right hand (fince I have nothing more
To challenge, but the faith you gave before),
I beg you by these tears too truly fhed,
By the new pleasures of our nuptial bed;
If ever Dido, when you most were kind,
Were pleasing in your eyes, or touch'd your mind; By these my prayers, if prayers may yet have place; Pity the fortunes of a falling race.
I have provok'd a tyrant's hate ;
Incens'd the Libyan and the Tyrian state;
For you alone I fuffer in my fame;
Bereft of honour, and expos'd to shame:
Whom have I now to trust? (ungrateful guest !
That only name remains of all the reft!)
What have I left, or whither can I fly;
Muft I attend Pygmalion's cruelty?
Or till Hiarbas fhall in triumph lead
A queen, that proudly fcorn'd his proffer'd bed?
Had you deferr'd, at leaft, your hafty flight,
And left behind fome pledge of our delight,
Some babe to blefs the mother's mournful fight;
Some young Æneas to supply your place;
Whofe features might exprefs his father's face;
I fhould not then complain, to live bereft
Of all my husband, or be wholly left!
Here paus'd the queen; unmov'd he holds his eyes,
By Jove's command; nor fuffer'd love to rise,
Though heaving in his heart; and thus at length
replies:
Fair queen, you never can enough repeat,
Your boundless favours, or I own my debt;
Nor can my mind forget Eliza's name,
While vital breath infpires this mortal frame.
This only let me speak in my defence;
I never hop'd a fecret flight from hence:
Much lefs pretended to the lawful claim
Of facred nuptials, or a husband's name.
For if indulgent heaven would leave me free,
And not fubmit my life to fate's decree,
My choice would lead me to the Trojan shore,
Those relics to review, their dust adore;
And Priam's ruin'd palace to restore.
But now the Delphian oracle commands,
And fate invites me to the Latian lands.
That is the promis'd place to which I steer,
And all my vows are terminated there.
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