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Acestes' sway, where Eryx reigned of yore,
| LXXVI . | "Else, would ye settle in this realm, the town I build is yours; draw up your ships to land. Trojan and Tyrian will I treat as one. Would that your king Æneas here could stand, Driven by the gale that drove you to this strand! Natheless, to scour the country, will I send Some trusty messengers, with strict command To search through Libya to the furthest end, | 676 | |
| Lest, cast ashore, through town or lonely wood he wend." | |||
| LXXVII . | Roused by these words, long since the sire of Troy Yearned, like his friend, their comrades to surprise And burst the cloud. Then first with eager joy "O Goddess-born," the bold Achates cries, "How now—what purpose doth thy mind devise? Lo! all are safe—ships, comrades brought again; One only fails us, who before our eyes Sank in the midst of the engulfing main. | 685 | |
| All else confirms the tale thy mother told thee plain." | |||
| LXXVIII . | Scarce had he said, when straight the ambient cloud Broke open, melting into day's clear light, And bathed in sunshine stood the chief, endowed With shape and features most divinely bright. For graceful tresses and the purple light Of youth did Venus in her child unfold, And sprightly lustre breathed upon his sight, Beauteous as ivory, or when artists mould | 694 | |
| Silver or Parian stone, enchased in yellow gold. | |||
| LXXIX . | Then to the queen, all wondering, he exclaimed, "Behold me, Troy's Æneas; I am here, The man ye seek, from Libyan waves reclaimed. Thou, who alone Troy's sorrows deign'st to hear, And us, the gleanings of the Danaan spear, Poor world-wide wanderers and in desperate case, Hast ta'en to share thy city and thy cheer, Meet thanks nor we, nor what of Dardan race | 703 | |
| Yet roams the earth, can give to recompense thy grace. | |||
| LXXX . | "The gods, if gods the good and just regard, And thy own conscience, that approves the right, Grant thee due guerdon and a fit reward. What happy ages did thy birth delight? What godlike parents bore a child so bright? While running rivers hasten to the main, While yon pure ether feeds the stars with light, While shadows round the hill-slopes wax and wane, | 712 | |
| Thy fame, where'er I go, thy praises shall remain." | |||
| LXXXI . | So saying Æneas with his left hand pressed Serestus, and Ilioneus with his right, Brave Gyas, brave Cloanthus and the rest. Then Dido, struck with wonder at the sight Of one so great and in so strange a plight, "O Goddess-born! what fate through dangers sore, What force to savage coasts compels thy flight? Art thou, then, that Æneas, whom of yore | 721 | |
| Venus on Simois' banks to old Anchises bore? | |||
| LXXXII . | "Ay, well I mind me how in days of yore To Sidon exiled Teucer crossed the main, To seek new kingdoms and the aid implore Of Belus. He, my father Belus, then Ruled Cyprus, victor of the wasted plain, Since then thy name and Ilion's fate are known, And all the princes of Pelasgia's reign. Himself, a foe, oft lauded Troy's renown, | 730 | |
| And claimed the Teucrian sires as kinsmen of his own. | |||
| LXXXIII . | "Welcome, then, heroes! Me hath Fortune willed Long tost, like you, through sufferings, here to rest And find at length a refuge. Not unskilled In woe, I learn to succour the distrest." So to the palace she escorts her guest, And calls for festal honours in the shrine. Then shoreward sends beeves twenty to the rest, A hundred boars, of broad and bristly chine, | 739 | |
| A hundred lambs and ewes and gladdening gifts of wine. | |||
| LXXXIV . | Meanwhile with regal splendour they arrayed The palace-hall, where feast and banquet high All in the centre of the space is laid, And forth they bring the broidered tapestry, With purple dyed and wrought full cunningly. The tables groan with silver; there are told The deeds of prowess for the gazer's eye, A long, long series, of their sires of old, | 748 | |
| Traced from the nation's birth, and graven in the gold. | |||
| LXXXV . | But good Æneas—for a father's care No rest allows him—to the ships sends down Achates, to Ascanius charged to bear The welcome news, and bring him to the town. The father's fondness centres on the son. Rich presents, too, he sends for, saved of old From Troy, a veil, whose saffron edges shone Fringed with acanthus, glorious to behold, | 757 | |
| A broidered mantle, stiff with figures wrought in gold. | |||
| LXXXVI . | Fair Helen's ornaments, from Argos brought, The gift of Leda, when the Trojan shore And lawless nuptials o'er the waves she sought. Therewith the royal sceptre, which of yore Ilione, Priam's eldest daughter, bore; Her shining necklace, strung with costly beads, And diadem, rimmed with gold and studded o'er With sparkling gems. Thus charged, Achates heeds, | 766 | |
| And towards the ships forthwith in eager haste proceeds. | |||
| LXXXVII . |
But crafty
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