"A gentle ear; I wish that he may find "A happy passage and a prosp'rous wind: "That contract I not plead which he betray'd, 130 "Nor that his promis'd conquest be delay'd; "All that I ask is but a short reprieve, "Till I forget to love, and learn to grieve: "Some pause and respite only I require, 135 Till with my tears I shall have quench'd my fire, "If thy address can but obtain one day "Or two, my death that service shall repay." Thus she entreats; such messages with tears Condoling Anne to him, and from him, bears : But him no pray'rs, no arguments, can move; 140 The Fates resist; his ears are stopp'd by Jove. As when fierce northern blasts from th' Alps descend, From his firm roots with struggling gusts to rend An aged sturdy oak, the rattling sound Grows loud, with leaves and scatter'd arms the ground Is overlaid, yet he stands fix'd; as high 146 As his proud head is rais'd towards the sky, So low t'wards hell his roots descend. With pray'rs And tears the hero thus assail'd, great cares He smothers in his breast, yet keeps his post, 150 All their addresses and their labour lost. Then she deceives her sister with a smile: "Anne, in the inner court erect a pile ; "Thereon his arms and once-lov'd portrait lay: " "Thither our fatal marriage-bed convey; 155 "All cursed monuments of him with fire Aurora now had left Tithonus' bed, 160 And o'er the world her blushing rays did spread. 171 Thrice with her hand her naked breast she knocks, And from her forehead tears her golden locks. 166 "O Jove!" she cry'd, " and shall he thus delude "Me and my realm? why is he not pursu'd? "Arm, arm,"she cry'd," and let our Tyrians board "With ours his fleet, and carry fire and sword; "Leave nothing unattempted to destroy "That perjur'd race, then let us die with joy. "What if th' event of war uncertain were ? "Nor death nor danger can the desp'rate fear. "But, oh, too late! this thing I should have done "When first I plac'd the traitor on my throne. 176 "Behold the faith of him who sav'd from fire "His honour'd household gods! his aged sire "His pious shoulders from Troy's fames did bear. 66 Why did I not his carcass piece-meal tear, 180 "And cast it in the sea? why not destroy "All his companions, and beloved boy "Ascanius? and his tender limbs have drest, "And made the father on the son to feast? "Thou Sun! whose lustre all things here below Surveys, and Juno! conscious of my woe, 186 Revengeful Furies! and Queen Hecate ! "Receive and grant my pray'r! If he the sea "Must needs escape, and reach th` Ausonian land, "If Jove decree it, Jove's decree must stand. 190 "When landed may he be with arms opprest By his rebelling people, be distrest "By exile from his country, be divorc'd "From young Ascanius sight, and be enforc'd "To implore foreign aids, and lose his friends "By violent and undeserved ends! "When to conditions of unequal peace "He shall subinit, then may he not possess Kingdom nor life, and find his funeral 196 "I' th' sands when he before his day shall fall 200 "And ye, oh Tyrians I with immortal hate "Pursue this race; this service dedicate To my deplored ashes: let there be "Twixt us and them no league nor amity. May from my bones a new Achilles rise "That shail infest the Trojan colonies "With fire, and sword, and famine; when at length 205 or great attempts contributes strength; ir shores, our armies, theirs oppose, children be for ever foes!" 210 220 A ghastly paleness death's approach portends, Then trembling she the fatal pile ascends. Viewing the Trojan relics, she unsheath’d Æneas' sword, not for that use bequeath'd; Then on the guilty bed she gently lays Herself, and softly thus lamenting prays : "Dear relics! whilst that Gods and Fates give leave, "Free me from care, and my glad soul receive. "That date which Fortune gave I now must end, "And to the shades a noble ghost descend. "Sichæus' blood, by his false brother spilt, "I have reveng'd, and a proud city built. "Happy, alas! too happy, I had liv'd, "Had not the Trojan on my coast arriv'd. "But shall I die without revenge? yet die “Thus, thus with joy to thy Sichæus fly. "My conscious foe my fun'ral fire shall view "From sea, and may that omen him pursue!" Her fainting hand let fall the sword besmear'd 229 With blood, and then the mortal wound appear'd. Thro' all the court the fright and clamours rise, Which the whole city fills with fears and cries As loud as if her Carthage or old Tyre The foe had enter'd, and had set on fire. Amazed Anne with speed ascends the stairs, 235 And in her arms her dying sister rears : "Did you for this yourself and me beguile? For such an end did I erect this pile? 225 And Eurus on his winged coursers borne, 410 Ill fate could save. My country's fun'ral flame, By feeble age, the other by a wound. And all the rest secure from foes or fear: 420 425 The Greeks the gates approach'd, their targets cast Over their heads; some scaling ladders plac'd |