Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

Her refolution to dispatch and die,
Confirm'd by many a horrid prodigy!
The water confecrate for facrifice,

Appears all black to her amazed eyes;

The wine to putrid blood converted flows,

Which from her none, not her own fifter, knows.
Befides there ftood, as facred to her lord*,

20

A marble temple which the much ador'd,
With snowy fleeces and fresh garlands crown'd; 25
Hence ev'ry night proceeds a dreadful sound;
Her husband's voice invites her to his tomb,
And difmal owls prefage the ills to come.
Besides, the prophecies of wizards old

Increas'd her terrour, and her fall foretold:

30

Scorn'd and deferted to herself she seems,

And finds Æneas cruel in her dreams.

So to mad Pentheus double Thebes appears,

And furies howl in his diftemper'd ears.
Oreftes fo, with like distraction toft,
Is made to fly his mother's angry ghost.

35

Now grief and fury to their height arrive: Death she decrees, and thus does it contrive. Her grieved fifter, with a cheerful grace, (Hope well diffembled shining in her face) She thus deceives. Dear Sifter! let us prove The cure I have invented for my love. * Sichæus.

40

42

Beyond the land of Ethiopia lies

45

The place where Atlas does fupport the skies ;
Hence came an old magician, that did keep
Th' Hefperian fruit, and made the dragon fleep :
Her potent charms do troubled fouls relieve,
And, where the lifts, makes calmeft minds to grieve:
The course of rivers, and of heav'n, can stop,
And call trees down from th'airy mountain's top. 50
Witnefs, ye Gods! and thou, my dearest part!
How leath I am to tempt this guilty art.
Erect a pile, and on it let us place
That bed where I my ruin did embrace:
With all the reliques of our impious guest,
Arms, spoils, and presents, let the pile be drest;
(The knowing woman thus prefcribes) that we
May rafe the man out of our memory.

35

Thus fpeaks the Queen, but hides the fatal end
For which the doth those facred rights pretend. 60
Nor worse effects of grief her sister thought
Would follow, than Sichæus' murder wrought ;
Therefore obeys her : and now, heaped high
The cloven oaks and lofty pines do lie;

Hung all with wreaths and flow'ry garlands round, 65
So by herself was her own fun'ral crown'd!
Upon the top the Trojan's image lies,

And his fharp fword, wherewith anon she dies.
They by the altar ftand, while with loose hair
The magick prophetess begins her pray'r :

70

On Chaos; Erebus, and all the gods,

Which in th' infernal fhades have their abodes,
She loudly calls, befprinkling all the room

With drops, fuppos'd from Lethe's lake to come.
She feeks the knot which on the forehead grows 75
Of new foal'd colts, and herbs by moonlight mows,
A cake of leaven in her pious hands

Holds the devoted Queen, and barefoot stands:
One tender foot was bare, the other fhod,

Her robe ungirt, invoking ev'ry god,

80

And ev'ry pow'r, if any be above,

Which takes regard of ill-requited love!

Now was the time when weary mortals steep
Their careful temples in the dew of fleep:

On feas, on earth, and all that in them dwell,
A death-like quiet and deep filence fell;
But not on Dido! whofe untamed mind
Refus'd to be by facred night confin'd:
A double paffion in her breast does move,
Love, and fierce anger for neglected love.
Thus fhe afflicts her foul: What shall i do?
With fate inverted fhall I humbly woo?
And fome proud prince, in wild Numidia born,
Pray to accept me, and forget my scorn?
Or fhall I with th' ungrateful Trojan go,
Quit all my state, and wait upon my foe?
Is not enough, by fad experience, known
The perjur'd race of falfe Laomedon?

85

90

95

ICO

With my Sidonians fhall I give them chase,
Bands hardly forced from their native place!
No;-die! and let this sword thy fury tame;
Nought but thy blood can quench this guilty flame.
Ah, Sifter! vanquifh'd with my paffion, thou
Betray'dit me first, dispensing with my vow.
Had I been conftant to Sichæus ftill,

And fingle liv'd, I had not known this ill!

105

Such thoughts torment the Queen'senraged breaft, While the Dardanian does fecurely rest

In his tall fhip, for fudden flight prepar'd;

To whom once more the son of Jove appear'd; 110 Thus feems to fpeak the youthful deity,

Voice, hair, and colour, all like Mercury.

Fair Venus' feed! canft thou indulge thy fleep,
Nor better guard in such great danger keep?
Mad, by neglect to lose so fair a wind!
If here thy fhips the purple morning find,
Thou shalt behold this hoftile harbour fhine
With a new fleet, and fires, to ruin thine :
She meditates revenge, refolv'd to die ;
Weigh anchor quickly, and her fury fly.

115

120

This faid, the god in fhades of night retir'd. Amaz'd Æneas, with the warning fir'd, Shakes off dull fleep, and roufing up his men, Behold! the gods command our flight again. Fall to your oars, and all your canvass spread: 125 What god foe'er that thus vouchsafes to lead,

130

We follow gladly, and thy will obey;
Affift us ftill, fmoothing our happy way,
And make the reft propitious!With that word
He cuts the cable with his shining fword:
Thro' all the navy doth like ardour reign,
They quit the fhore, and rufh into the main :
Plac'd on their banks, the lufty Trojans sweep
Neptune'sfmoothface,andelea vetheyieldingdeep. 134

XLVII.

ON THE

PICTURE OF A FAIR YOUTH,

TAKEN AFTER HE WAS DEAD.

As gather'd flowers, while their wounds are new,
Look gay and fresh, as on the ftalk they grew,
Torn from the root that nourish'd them awhile
(Not taking notice of their fate) they smile,
And in the hand which rudely pluck'd them show 5
Fairer than those that to their autumn grow;
So love and Beauty ftill that visage grace;

Death cannot fright them from their wonted place.
Alive the hand of crooked Age had marr'd

Thofe lovely features which cold Death has fpar'd. 10
No wonder then he sped in love so well,

When his high paffion he had breath to tell;

1

« EdellinenJatka »