A hundred more this hated island bears;
Like him, in caves they shut their wooly sheep;
Like him their herds on tops of mountains keep;
Like him, with mighty strides they stalk from steep to steep."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III
Scarcely had Achemenides finished his story when Polyphemus himself
appeared coming down from the mountain in the midst of his flocks. A
horrid monster he was, "huge, awful, hideous, ghastly, blind." In his
hand he carried the trunk of a pine tree to guide his steps, and
striding to the water's edge, he waded far into the sea, yet the waves
did not touch his sides.
The Trojans now quickly got to their vessels, taking Achemenides with
them, and they plied their oars with the utmost speed. Hearing the
voices of the rowers and the sweep of their oars, the blind giant
stretched out his hands in the direction of the sound, seeking to
seize his enemies, as he took them to be. But the Trojans had got
beyond his reach. Then in his rage and disappointment the monster
raised a mighty shout which echoed from the mountain sides and brought
forth his brethren from their woods and caves.
"To heaven he lifts a monstrous roar,
Which sends a shudder through the waves,
Shakes to its base the Italian shore,
And echoing runs through AEtna's caves.
From rocks and woods the Cyclop host
Rush startled forth, and crowd the coast.
There glaring fierce we see them stand
In idle rage, a hideous band,
The sons of AEtna, carrying high
Their towering summits to the sky."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
After thus escaping from the terrible Polyphemus, the Trojan wanderers
sailed along the coasts of Sicily, and coming to the north-west
extremity of the island, they put ashore at Drep'a-num. Here AEneas
met with a misfortune which none of the prophets had predicted. This
was the death of his venerable father Anchises.
"After endless labors (often tossed
By raging storms and driven on every coast),
My dear, dear father, spent with age, I lost--
Ease of my cares, and solace of my pain,
Saved through a thousand toils, but saved in vain!
The prophet, who my future woes revealed,
Yet this, the greatest and the worst, concealed,
And dire Celaeno, whose foreboding skill
Denounced all else, was silent of this ill."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK III.
III. A GREAT STORM--ARRIVAL IN CARTHAGE.
Thus far you have read the story of the Trojan exiles as it was told
by AEneas himself to Di'do, queen of Carthage, at whose court we shall
soon find him, after a dreadful storm which scattered his ships,
sinking one, and driving the rest upon the coast of Africa. The
narrative occupies the second and third books of the AEneid. In the
first book the poet begins by telling of Juno's unrelenting hate,
which was the chief cause of all the evils that befell the Trojans.
Arms and the man I sing, who, forced by fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.
Long labors, both by sea and land he bore.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
It was at Juno's request that AE'o-lus, god of the winds, raised the
great storm, just at the time when the wanderers, after leaving
Drepanum, were about to direct their course towards the destined
Hesperian land. For though AEneas and his companions, following the
advice of Helenus, had offered prayers and sacrifices to the haughty
goddess, still her anger was not appeased. She could not forget the
judgment of Paris, or the prophecy that through the Trojan race was to
come destruction on the city she loved. And so when she saw the ships
of AEneas sailing towards the Italian coast, she gave vent to her
anger in bitter words. "Must I then," said she, "desist from my
purpose? Am I, the queen of heaven, not able to prevent the
Trojans from establishing their kingdom in Italy? Who then will
hereafter worship Juno or offer sacrifices on her altars?" With such
thoughts inflaming her breast, the goddess hastened to AE-o'lia, the
home of storms where dwelt AEolus, king of the winds. AEolia was one
of the ancient names of the islands between Italy and Sicily, now
known as the Lipari Islands. In a vast cave, in one of those islands
king AEolus held the winds imprisoned and controlled their fury lest
they should destroy the world--
In a spacious cave of living stone,
The tyrant AEolus, from his airy throne,
With power imperial curbs the struggling winds,
And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds:
High in his hall the undaunted monarch stands,
And shakes his sceptre, and their rage commands:
Which did he not, their unresisted sway
Would sweep the world before them in their way;
Earth, air, and seas, through empty space would roll,
And heaven would fly before the driving soul.
In fear of this, the father of the gods
Confined their fury to those dark abodes,
And locked them safe within, oppressed with mountain loads;
Imposed a king with arbitrary sway,
To loose their fetters, or their force allay.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
To this great king Juno appealed, begging him to send forth his storms
against the ships of AEneas, and she promised to reward him by giving
him in marriage the fair De-i-o-pe'a, most beautiful of all the nymphs
or maids in her heavenly train of attendants. AEolus promptly replied
saying that he was ready to obey the queen of heaven. "'Tis for you,
O queen, to command and for me to execute your will."
Then AEolus struck the side of the cavern with his mighty scepter,
whereupon the rock flew open and the winds rushed furiously forth. In
an instant a terrific hurricane swept over land and sea. The lightning
flashed, the thunder pealed, and the waves rolled mountain high around
the Trojan fleet.
All in a moment sun and skies
Are blotted from the Trojans' eyes;
Black night is brooding o'er the deep,
Sharp thunder peals, live lightnings leap;
The stoutest warrior holds his breath,
And looks as on the face of death.
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Filled with terror, AEneas bewailed his unhappy fate, and lamented
that it had not been his lot to fall with those
Who died at Troy like valiant men
E'en in their parents' view.
But the storm increased in fury. Three of his ships were dashed
against hidden rocks, while before his eyes one went down with all its
crew.
And here and there above the waves were seen
Arms, pictures, precious goods and floating men.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Meantime the roaring of wind and waves had reached the ears of
Neptune, in his coral palace beneath the sea. Neptune was one of the
gods who were friendly to AEneas, and so when he raised his head above
the waters, and beheld the ships scattered about and the hero himself
in deep distress, the ocean king was very angry. Instantly he summoned
the winds before him, and sternly rebuked them for daring to cause
such disturbance in his dominions without his authority. Then he
ordered them to depart forthwith to their caverns, and tell their
master that not to him belonged the kingdom of the sea.
"Back to your master instant flee,
And tell him, not to him but me
The imperial trident of the sea
Fell by the lot's award."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
It was by lot that the empire of the universe had been divided among
the three brothers Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, the kingdom of the
ocean falling to Neptune, the heavens to Jupiter and the "lower
regions" or regions of the dead to Pluto. Neptune, therefore, had full
power within his own dominion, and so the winds had to retire at his
command. Then immediately the sea became calm and still, and AEneas
with seven ships--all that he could find of his fleet--sailed for the
African coast, which was the nearest land, the storm having driven
them far out of their course. Soon discovering a suitable harbor, deep
in a bay, with high rocks on each side at the entrance, the tempest-
tossed Trojans gladly put ashore, and lighting a fire on the beach,
they prepared a meal of parched corn, which they ground with stones.
Meanwhile AEneas climbed a rock and looked out over the sea hoping to
catch sight of some of the lost vessels. He was accompanied by his
armor-bearer A-cha'tes, who was so devoted to his chief that the name
is often used to signify a very faithful friend. But they could see
none of the missing ships and so they returned to their companions.
Then AEneas delivered an address to his people, bidding them be of
good cheer, and reminding them of the decree of heaven that they
should have a peaceful settlement in La'ti-um--that fair Italian land,
to which the gods would surely guide them in due time.
"Comrades and friends! for ours is strength
Has brooked the test of woes;
O worse-scarred hearts! these wounds at length
The gods will heal, like those.
You that have seen grim Scylla rave,
And heard her monsters yell,
You that have looked upon the cave
Where savage Cyclops dwell,
Come, cheer your souls, your fears forget;
This suffering will yield us yet
A pleasant tale to tell.
Through chance, through peril lies our way
To Latium, where the fates display
A mansion of abiding stay;
There Troy her fallen realm shall raise;
Bear up and live for happier days."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
It is not to be supposed that all this time the goddess Venus was
forgetful of the sufferings of her son. Even while AEneas was thus
speaking to his fellow wanderers she was pleading his cause before
the throne of Jupiter himself on the top of Mount Olympus. "What
offence, O king of heaven," said she, "has my AEneas committed? How
have the Trojans offended? What is to be the end of their sufferings?
Are they to be forever persecuted on account of the anger of one
goddess?"
To this appeal the king of the gods answered assuring Venus that the
promises made to the Trojan exiles should all be fulfilled. AEneas, he
said, should make war against fierce tribes in Italy, and conquer
them, and rule in La-vin'i-um. After him his son Iulus should reign
for thirty years, and build a city to be called Alba Longa, where his
descendants would hold sovereign power for three hundred years. Then
from the same race should come Rom'u-lus, who would found the city
Rome, which would in time conquer Greece and rule the world.
"The people Romans call, the city Rome
To them no bounds of empire I assign,
Nor term of years to their immortal line,
E'en haughty Juno, who, with endless broils,
Earth, seas, and heaven, and Jove himself turmoils,
At length atoned, her friendly power shall join,
To cherish and advance the Trojan line.
An age is ripening in revolving fate,
When Troy shall overturn the Grecian state,
And sweet revenge her conquering sons shall call
To crush the people that conspired her fall,
Then Caesar from the Julian stock shall rise,
Whose empire ocean, and whose fame the skies
Alone shall bound."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Thus did the king of heaven prophesy the future greatness and power of
the Julian line. Then he sent Mercury, the messenger of the gods, down
to earth to bid the queen of Carthage and her people give a hospitable
reception to the Trojans, for it was near that city, on the Li'by-an
shore, that they had landed after the storm. Venus herself, too, came
down from Olympus, and, in the garb of a huntress, appeared to her son
and the faithful Achates, as they were exploring the coast to find out
what land it was, and by what people possessed. She did not make
herself known to them, but inquired if they had seen one of her
sisters who had strayed away from her. AEneas answered: "None of your
sisters have we seen, O virgin, or shall we call you goddess, for such
you seem to be? Whoever you are, graciously relieve our anxiety by
informing us what country this is into which unkind fortune has driven
us.
"Instruct us 'neath what sky at last,
Upon what shore our lot is cast;
We wander here by tempest blown,
The people and the place unknown."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
To these inquiries Venus, still maintaining her disguise, replied by
telling the Trojan heroes the story of Carthage and Queen Dido. This
famous woman was the daughter of Be'lus, king of Tyre, a city of
Phoe-nic'i-a, in Asia Minor. She married a wealthy Tyrian lord named
Si-chae'us. On her father's death, her brother Pyg-ma'li-on became
king of Tyre. He was a cruel and avaricious tyrant, and in order to
get possession of his brother-in-law's riches, he had him put to death,
concealing the crime from his sister by many false tales. But in a
dream the ghost of Sichaeus appeared to Dido and told her of the
wicked deed of Pygmalion. He at the same time advised her to fly from
the country with all speed, and he informed her of the place where he
had hidden his treasures--a large sum in gold and silver, which he
bade her take to help her in her flight.
Dido therefore got together a number of ships, and put to sea
accompanied by a number of her countrymen who hated the cruel tyrant.
They sailed to the coast of Africa and landed in Libya, where they
purchased from the inhabitants as much ground as could be encompassed
by a bull's hide cut into thongs. Then they commenced to build a city
which they called Carthage, and even now they were engaged in raising
its walls.
Such was the story of Dido which Venus related to AEneas and Achates.
Having concluded, she inquired in her turn who they were, from what
country they had come, and whither they were going. In reply AEneas
gave a brief account of his wanderings since the fall of Troy. Then
the goddess directed him to go into the city and present himself
before the queen, and she pointed to an augury in the sky--twelve
swans flying above their heads--which, she said, was a sign that the
ships they had supposed to be lost were at that moment sailing into
the harbor.
So saying Venus turned to leave them, when suddenly a marvelous change
took place in her dress and appearance, so that AEneas knew she was
his mother, and he cried to her to permit him to touch her hand and
speak with her as her son. The goddess, however, made no answer, but
she cast over Aeneas and his companion a thick veil of cloud so that
no one might see or molest them on their way. Thus rendered invisible,
they went towards the city. When they reached it they found a great
many men at work, some finishing the walls, others erecting great
buildings of various kinds. In the center of the town was a
magnificent temple of Juno.
Enriched with gifts, and with a golden shrine;
But more the goddess made the place divine.
On brazen steps the marble threshold rose,
And brazen plates the cedar beams enclose;
The rafters are with brazen coverings crowned;
The lofty doors on brazen hinges sound.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Entering this temple, AEneas was astonished to find the walls covered
with paintings representing scenes of the Trojan war.
He saw, in order painted on the wall,
Whatever did unhappy Troy befall;
The wars that fame around the world had blown,
All to the life, and every leader known.
He stopped, and weeping said: "O friend! e'en here!
The monuments of Trojan woes appear!"
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Amongst the pictures, AEneas recognized one of himself performing
deeds of valor in the thick of the fight. While he and his companion,
both still invisible, were gazing with admiration upon those scenes
Queen Dido came into the temple, attended by a numerous train of
warriors, and took her seat upon a high-raised throne. Presently there
appeared a number of Trojans advancing towards the queen, and AEneas
rejoiced to see that they were some of his own people belonging to the
ships that had been separated from him during the storm. They had been
cast ashore on a different part of the coast, and not hearing of the
safe arrival of AEneas, they were now come to beg the help and
protection of Dido. Having heard their story, which Il-i'o-neus, one
of their number, briefly related, the queen bade them dismiss their
fears, promising that she would give them whatever assistance they
needed, and send out messengers to search the Libyan coasts for their
leader AEneas. But at this point the mist that encompassed AEneas and
his companion suddenly vanished and the hero stood forth, beheld by
all, his face resembling that of a god.
The Trojan chief appeared in open sight
August in visage, and serenely bright.
His mother-goddess, with her hands divine,
Had formed his curling locks, and made his temples shine,
And given his rolling eyes a sparkling grace,
And breathed a youthful vigor on his face.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
AEneas now made himself known to the queen and thanked her for her
kindness to his people. Dido was astonished at the sudden appearance
of the hero, of whom she had already heard much. Her father, Belus,
she said, had told her of the fall of Troy and of the name of AEneas,
and having herself suffered many misfortunes, she had learned to
have pity for the distressed.
"For I myself, like you, have been distressed;
Till heaven afforded me this place of rest;
Like you, an alien in a land unknown,
I learn to pity woes so like my own."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
Then she invited the hero into the royal apartments where a grand
banquet was prepared in his honor. She also caused a supply of
provisions to be taken to his people on the shore--twenty oxen, a
hundred swine, and a hundred fat lambs. Meanwhile AEneas sent Achates
to bring his son Ascanius to the city, bidding him at the same time to
take with him presents for the queen, costly and beautiful things that
had been saved from the ruins of Troy--a mantle embroidered with gold,
a scepter which had belonged to I-li'o-ne, King Priam's daughter, and
a necklace strung with pearls.
At the banquet Queen Dido sat on a golden couch, surrounded by the
Trojan chiefs and her Tyrian lords. By her side was seated the
handsome youth whom Achates had brought from the ships as the son of
AEneas. Dido admired the beautiful boy and fondled him in her arms
little thinking that it was Cupid, the god of love, whom Venus had
sent to the banquet under the appearance of Iulus.
Unhappy Dido little thought what guest,
How dire a god she drew so near her breast.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK I.
The real Ascanius meantime lay in peaceful slumber in a sacred grove
in the island of Cyprus, to which Venus had borne him away.
Lulled in her lap, amidst a train of Loves,
She gently bears him to her blissful groves;
Then with a wreath of myrtle crowns his head,
And softly lays him on a flowery bed.
DRYDEN, AEneid BOOK 1.
And so Queen Dido entertained the chiefs of Troy and of Carthage, with
the god of love seated beside her on her golden couch. A hundred maids
and as many pages attended upon the guests. After the viands were
removed, I-o'pas, the Tyrian minstrel and poet, played upon his gilded
lyre, and sang about the wondrous things in the heavens and on earth.
The various labors of the wandering moon,
And whence proceed the eclipses of the sun;
The original of men and beasts; and whence
The rains arise, and fires their warmth dispense;
What shakes the solid earth; what cause delays
The summer nights, and shortens winter days.
DRYDEN, AEneid. BOOK I.
The song of Iopas was applauded by the entire assemblage. Then Queen
Dido after asking Aeneas many questions about Priam and Hector, and
Achilles, and Memnon, and Diomede and other heroes of the Trojan war,
begged him to tell the whole story from the beginning. "Come, my
guest," said she, "relate to us from the very first the stratagems of
the Greeks, the adventures of your friends, and your own wanderings."
It was in compliance with this request that Aeneas, as has been said,
recounted the history (already given) of the ruin of Troy, and of his
own misfortunes, commencing with the artifice of the wooden horse, and
ending with the storm which drove his ships upon the Carthaginian
coast. The events of the story extended over a period of seven years,
for it was now that length of time since the fatal "peace offering"
brought destruction on the city of Priam.
IV. DIDO'S LOVE--THE FUNERAL GAMES--SHIPS BURNED BY THE WOMEN.
Queen Dido was much interested in the story told by Aeneas, but more
so in the hero himself. His many virtues, the honors and glories of
his race, made a strong impression on her mind; his looks and words
were imprinted on her heart. In short, the Carthaginian queen was in
love with the Trojan prince. She confided her secret to her sister
Anna, and she said that if she had not vowed, on the death of her dear
husband Sichaeus, never again to unite with any one in the bond of
marriage, she might think of giving her hand to her noble guest.
Sister Anna knew that such a marriage would be a great advantage to
Carthage, which might need brave defenders like the Trojans, since
there were many warlike princes in that part of Africa, who might some
time attack the new city. And if the Trojan arms were joined to those
of Carthage, both would be strong enough to resist the most powerful
enemy, and the new kingdom would become great and flourishing. "Let us
therefore," said she, "pray to the gods for help and at the same time
endeavor by all means to detain our Trojan guests as long as possible
upon our shore."
The queen listened to her sister's advice with pleasure, more
especially as it was in accord with her own feelings. Her scruples
about a second marriage soon vanished, and so she continued to
entertain the Trojans and their chief with princely hospitality.
And now she leads the Trojan chief along
The lofty walls, amidst the busy throng;
Displays her Tyrian wealth, and rising town,
Which love, without his labor makes his own.
This pomp she shows, to tempt her wandering guest:
Her faltering tongue forbids to speak the rest.
When day declines and feasts renew the night,
Still on his face she feeds her famished sight;
She longs again to hear the prince relate
His own adventures, and the Trojan fate.
He tells it o'er and o'er; but still in vain;
For still she begs to hear it once again.
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV
Meanwhile the goddess Juno, watching the course of events, also saw
the advantage, to her favorite city, of a union with the Trojan chief.
If he and his people, she thought, could be persuaded to settle in
Carthage, that city and not the long talked of Rome, would come to be
the center of power and the ruler of the world. She therefore proposed
to Venus a treaty of "eternal peace" on the condition of a marriage
between Aeneas and Dido.
"Your Trojan with my Tyrian let us join;
So Dido shall be yours, AEneas mine--
One common kingdom, one united line."
DRYDEN, _AEneid_, BOOK IV.
Venus was not at all deceived by this plausible speech. She well
understood the motive and purpose of Juno to secure future power and
glory for Carthage and divert from Rome the empire of the world,
nevertheless she answered in mild words saying, "Who could be so
foolish as to reject such an alliance, and prefer to be at war with
the queen of heaven? Yet there is a difficulty. I do not know whether
it is the pleasure of Jupiter that the Tyrians and Trojans should
dwell together in one city. Will he approve the union of the two
nations? Perhaps, however, you, who are his wife, may be able to
induce him to do so. It is for you, then, to lead the way, and where
you lead I shall follow."
But another obstacle stood in the way of Juno's proposed alliance.
There was at that time a certain African king named I-ar'bas, a very
important personage, for he was a son of Jupiter. It was from him that
Dido when she first came to Libya had bought the ground to build her
city. Now Iarbas wished to have Dido for his wife, and he had asked
her to marry him, but she had refused. Great was his anger, therefore,
when he heard that the Trojan chief had been received and honored
in Carthage and that a marriage between him and the queen was talked
of as a certain thing. So he went to the temple of his father Jupiter,
and complained bitterly of the conduct of Dido in rejecting himself
and taking a foreign prince into her kingdom to be its ruler. The king
of heaven, naturally enough sympathising with his son, gave ear to his
complaint and he forthwith dispatched Mercury with a message to
AEneas, bidding him to depart instantly from Carthage. This command
the swift-winged god, having sped down from Olympus, and sought out
the Trojan hero, delivered in impressive words.