The Fourth Book of Virgils Aeneid and the Ninth Book of Voltaires Henriad | Page 6

form beguil'd,
Deludes
her flame, and clasps the lovely child.
115 Each other care her
burning thoughts refuse,
In arms no more her Tyrian youth she views;
No spreading moles the
boistrous tide command;
The tow'rs, the forts, begun, unfinish'd stand:

The mighty structure threat'ning from on high
120 Hangs
interrupted--all inactive lie
Unbrac'd,--the vast machines that thro' the air,
Lab'ring, the pond'rous
mass, aloft, suspended bear.
When Juno view'd the tumult in her breast,
That Fame with Passion
could no more contest,
She sought the Cyprian queen, «What praise,
what fame» 126 She cried, «what glorious triumph you may claim,
What high renown, for you and for your son!
Two mighty gods--one
woman have undone!
I'm not deceiv'd, I know what jealous hate

130 Our rising walls and Punic pow'r create;
To what extreme, what purpose will it tend?
Why may not peace and
nuptial union end
This dire debate?----You've gain'd your utmost aim;

Thro' every fibre Dido feels the flame;
135 She doats, she
burns;--then let the nuptial rite,
At once the people, and the chiefs, unite,
And both the nations be
alike our care;
The sceptre let the Phrygian husband bear,
And take
my Tyrians for the nuptial dow'r».
140 Venus who saw how much the Latian pow'r;

The promised empire in the Trojan line
Alarm'd the goddess, felt her
false design,
But smiling said, «Who madly would refuse
Such
offers--and eternal warfare choose?
145 Would Fortune friendly on
our project wait.
But doubts within my mind arise, if Fate
And Jove allow, that, with
the sons of Troy,
The Tyrian race one empire should enjoy,
The
people mingled, and their rites combin'd.
150 'Tis yours; his queen, to
try the thund'rer's mind;
Mine to obey»--«Be that my care,» replied
Jove's sister
Queen--«Now hear what I provide:
To-morrow, when the rising lamp
of day
Shoots o'er the humid orb its golden ray,
155 Unhappy Dido
and her guest of Troy
Together in the woods the chase enjoy,
When ev'ry mind is on the
sport intent,
From gather'd clouds with livid light'ning rent,
Of rain
and pelting hail, a horrid show'r,
160 With peals of thunder on their
heads I'll poor:
All fly the storm, and in one dark retreat,
The Trojan hero, and the
Queen shall meet;
There will I be; there if unchang'd your mind,

Shall Hymen's chain at once the lovers bind».
165 The Queen of love perceiv'd her false intent,
Smil'd at the smooth deceit, and bow'd assent.
Aurora now her wat'ry couch forsakes,
The chosen youth her earliest
beam awakes,
The bounding steed, the highly scented hound,
170
Nets, toils, and spears, the palace court surround.
A favour'd band within the royal gate,
The Queen who still delay'd,
respectful wait.
In purple trapping, burnish'd gold array'd,
Proud on
the foaming bit, her courser play'd;
175 She comes; the court her
graceful steps surround;

Her Tyrian vest, embroider'd fringes bound;
Her quiver gold, with
gold her hair enlac'd,
A golden clasp her flowing mantle brac'd.

Next with his Phrygian youth Iulus came
180 On wings of joy; but
charms divine proclaim
Cythereas offspring as he join'd the train.
Thus when young Phoebus leaves the wintry plain,
From Lycia and
the Xanthian flood, retires
To native Delos, and his sacred choirs;

185 Mingled in carols loud around his shrine,
Cretans and Greeks, and painted Scythians join.
Graceful on high the
god o'er Cynthio glides,
His wanton locks with pliant gold divides,

With tender foliage crowns his radiant hair;
190 Wide sounds the dart
bu spreading shoulders bear.
Æneas moves not with inferior grace,
Such heav'nly beauty beam'd
upon his face.
O'er hills and rocks, and thro' the pathless wood,

From their old haunts they rouse the savage brood;
195 Here
downward springs the shaggy goat, and here,
From the steep cliff down rush the bounding deep,
Dart from the hills,
in panting herds unite,
Stretch o'er the plain and spread their dusty
flight. As thro' the vale Iulus winds his steed,
200 Leads on the chase,
and passes all in speed,
A nobler prey his youthful vows implore,
The tawny lion or the
foaming boar.
But murky clouds are gath'ring round the pole-,
In hollow murmur
distant thunders roll;
205 The hail, the rain a mingled tempest pour,
Whole rivers swelling down the mountain roar,
The trembling youths
of Troy, the Tyrian train,
Cytherea's grandson, scatter'd o'er the plain,

All fly the storm, and in one dark retreat
210 The Tyrian Queen
and Trojan Hero meet.

Strait nuptial Juno, gives the fatal sign;
Pale flames the torch, and
trembling Earth the shrine: Night spread the veil;--and to the vow they
swore
The murmuring air, ill omen'd witness bore.
215 The frighted
Nymphs along the mountain height,
In doleful cries proclaim the genial rite.
That hour her death and all
her sorrows wrought;
Then fame and honor vanish'd from her thought;

No more she struggles with a secret flame,
220 The crime is veil'd
in wedlock's specious name.
Soon thro' the Lybian towns, Fame blew the deed;
Fame, that
outstrips all other ills in speed,
That feeds on motion, strengthens as
she flies,
225 Weak, timid first, but soon of monstrous size,
Her feet on earth, amid the clouds her head.
With Heav'n incens'd, her mother Earth 'tis said,
This