Enter DIDO and ANNA.
DIDO
O Anna, run unto the water side,
They say Aeneas’ men are going aboard;
It may be he will steal away with them.
Stay not to answer me! Run, Anna, run!
[Exit ANNA.]
O foolish Trojans that would steal from hence
And not let Dido understand their drift!
I would have given Achates store of gold,
And Ilioneus gum and Libyan spice;
The common soldiers rich embroidered coats
10 And silver whistles to control the winds,
Which Circe sent Sichaeus when he lived;
Unworthy are they of a queen’s reward.
See where they come; how might I do to chide?
Enter ANNA, with AENEAS, ACHATES, ILIONEUS, SERGESTUS [and ATTENDANTS].
ANNA
’Twas time to run. Aeneas had been gone;
The sails were hoising up and he aboard.
DIDO
Is this thy love to me?
AENEAS
O princely Dido, give me leave to speak;
I went to take my farewell of Achates.
DIDO
How haps Achates bid me not farewell?
ACHATES
20 Because I feared your grace would keep me here.
DIDO
To rid thee of that doubt, aboard again;
I charge thee put to sea and stay not here.
ACHATES
Then let Aeneas go aboard with us.
DIDO
Get you aboard, Aeneas means to stay.
AENEAS
The sea is rough, the winds blow to the shore.
DIDO
O false Aeneas, now the sea is rough,
But when you were aboard ’twas calm enough!
Thou and Achates meant to sail away.
AENEAS
Hath not the Carthage Queen mine only son?
30 Thinks Dido I will go and leave him here?
DIDO
Aeneas, pardon me, for I forgot
That young Ascanius lay with me this night.
Love made me jealous, but, to make amends,
Wear the imperial crown of Libya,
Sway thou the Punic sceptre in my stead,
And punish me, Aeneas, for this crime.
[DIDO gives AENEAS the crown and sceptre.]
AENEAS
This kiss shall be fair Dido’s punishment.
DIDO
O, how a crown becomes Aeneas’ head!
Stay here, Aeneas, and command as king.
AENEAS
40 How vain am I to wear this diadem
And bear this golden sceptre in my hand!
A burgonet of steel and not a crown,
A sword and not a sceptre fits Aeneas.
DIDO
O, keep them still, and let me gaze my fill.
Now looks Aeneas like immortal Jove;
O, where is Ganymede to hold his cup
And Mercury to fly for what he calls?
Ten thousand Cupids hover in the air
And fan it in Aeneas’ lovely face!
50 O that the clouds were here wherein thou fled’st,
That thou and I unseen might sport ourselves!
Heavens, envious of our joys, is waxen pale,
And when we whisper, then the stars fall down
To be partakers of our honey talk.
AENEAS
O Dido, patroness of all our lives,
When I leave thee, death be my punishment!
Swell, raging seas, frown, wayward Destinies;
Blow winds, threaten, ye rocks and sandy shelves!
This is the harbour that Aeneas seeks,
60 Let’s see what tempests can annoy me now.
DIDO
Not all the world can take thee from mine arms.
Aeneas may command as many Moors
As in the sea are little water drops.
And now, to make experience of my love,
Fair sister Anna, lead my lover forth
And, seated on my jennet, let him ride
As Dido’s husband through the Punic streets,
And will my guard, with Mauritanian darts,
To wait upon him as their sovereign lord.
ANNA
70 What if the citizens repine thereat?
DIDO
Those that dislike what Dido gives in charge,
Command my guard to slay for their offence.
Shall vulgar peasants storm at what I do?
The ground is mine that gives them sustenance,
The air wherein they breathe, the water, fire,
All that they have, their lands, their goods, their lives;
And I, the goddess of all these, command
Aeneas ride as Carthaginian king.
ACHATES
Aeneas, for his parentage, deserves
80 As large a kingdom as is Libya.
AENEAS
Ay, and unless the Destinies be false,
I shall be planted in as rich a land.
DIDO
Speak of no other land, this land is thine,
Dido is thine; henceforth I’ll call thee lord.
[To ANNA]
Do as I bid thee, sister, lead the way,
And from a turret I’ll behold my love.
AENEAS
Then here in me shall flourish Priam’s race,
And thou and I, Achates, for revenge
For Troy, for Priam, for his fifty sons,
90 Our kinsmen’s loves and thousand guiltless souls
Will lead an host against the hateful Greeks
And fire proud Lacedaemon o’er their heads.
Exit [AENEAS, with the TROJANS].
DIDO
Speaks not Aeneas like a conqueror?
O blessed tempests that did drive him in!
O happy sand that made him run aground!
Henceforth you shall be our Carthage gods.
Ay, but it may be he will leave my love
And seek a foreign land called Italy.
O that I had a charm to keep the winds
100 Within the closure of a golden ball,
Or that the Tyrrhene Sea were in mine arms
That he might suffer shipwrack on my breast
As oft as he attempts to hoist up sail!
I must prevent him, wishing will not serve.
Go, bid my nurse take young Ascanius
And bear him in the country to her house;
Aeneas will not go without his son.
Yet, lest he should, for I am full of fear,
Bring me his oars, his tackling, and his sails.
[Exeunt ATTENDANTS.]
110 What if I sink his ships? O, he’ll frown!
Better he frown than I should die for grief.
I cannot see him frown, it may not be.
Armies of foes resolved to win this town,
Or impious traitors vowed to have my life,
Affright me not: only Aeneas’ frown
Is that which terrifies poor Dido’s heart.
Not bloody spears, appearing in the air,
Presage the downfall of my empery,
Nor blazing comets threatens Dido’s death:
120 It is Aeneas’ frown that ends my days.
If he forsake me not, I never die,
For in his looks I see eternity,
And he’ll make me immortal with a kiss.
Enter a LORD [with ATTENDANTS carrying oars, tackling and sails].
LORD
Your nurse is gone with young Ascanius,
And here’s Aeneas’ tackling, oars, and sails.
DIDO
Are these the sails that, in despite of me,
Packed with the winds to bear Aeneas hence?
I’ll hang ye in the chamber where I lie.
Drive, if you can, my house to Italy:
130 I’ll set the casement open, that the winds
May ent
er in and once again conspire
Against the life of me, poor Carthage queen;
But, though he go, he stays in Carthage still,
And let rich Carthage fleet upon the seas,
So I may have Aeneas in mine arms.
Is this the wood that grew in Carthage plains,
And would be toiling in the watery billows
To rob their mistress of her Trojan guest?
O cursèd tree, hadst thou but wit or sense
140 To measure how I prize Aeneas’ love,
Thou wouldst have leapt from out the sailors’ hands
And told me that Aeneas meant to go!
And yet I blame thee not, thou art but wood.
The water, which our poets term a nymph,
Why did it suffer thee to touch her breast
And shrunk not back, knowing my love was there?
The water is an element, no nymph.
Why should I blame Aeneas for his flight?
O Dido, blame not him, but break his oars,
150 These were the instruments that launched him forth.
There’s not so much as this base tackling too
But dares to heap up sorrow to my heart.
Was it not you that hoisèd up these sails?
Why burst you not and they fell in the seas?
For this will Dido tie ye full of knots,
And shear ye all asunder with her hands.
Now serve to chastise shipboys for their faults,
Ye shall no more offend the Carthage queen.
Now let him hang my favours on his masts
160 And see if those will serve instead of sails;
For tackling, let him take the chains of gold
Which I bestowed upon his followers;
Instead of oars, let him use his hands
And swim to Italy. I’ll keep these sure;
Come, bear them in.
Exeunt.
Scene 5
Enter the NURSE, with CUPID for ASCANIUS.
NURSE
My Lord Ascanius, ye must go with me.
CUPID
Whither must I go? I’ll stay with my mother.
NURSE
No, thou shalt go with me unto my house.
I have an orchard that hath store of plums,
Brown almonds, services, ripe figs, and dates,
Dewberries, apples, yellow oranges;
A garden where are bee-hives full of honey,
Musk-roses and a thousand sort of flowers,
And in the midst doth run a silver stream,
10 Where thou shalt see the red-gilled fishes leap,
White swans, and many lovely water-fowls.
Now speak, Ascanius, will ye go or no?
CUPID
Come, come, I’ll go; how far hence is your house?
NURSE
But hereby, child; we shall get thither straight.
CUPID
Nurse, I am weary; will you carry me?
NURSE
Ay, so you’ll dwell with me and call me mother.
CUPID
So you’ll love me, I care not if I do.
NURSE
That I might live to see this boy a man!
How prettily he laughs! Go, ye wag,
20 You’ll be a twigger when you come to age.
Say Dido what she will, I am not old;
I’ll be no more a widow, I am young;
I’ll have a husband, or else a lover.
CUPID A husband, and no teeth?
NURSE
O what mean I to have such foolish thoughts!
Foolish is love, a toy. O sacred love,
If there be any heaven in earth, ’tis love,
Especially in women of our years.
Blush, blush for shame, why shouldst thou think of love?
30 A grave and not a lover fits thy age.
A grave? Why? I may live a hundred years:
Fourscore is but a girl’s age, love is sweet.
My veins are withered and my sinews dry,
Why do I think of love, now I should die?
CUPID Come, nurse.
NURSE
Well, if he come a-wooing, he shall speed:
O how unwise was I to say him nay!
Exeunt.
ACT 5
Scene 1
Enter AENEAS, with a paper in his hand, drawing the platform of the city; with him ACHATES, CLOANTHUS, [SERGESTUS] and ILIONEUS.
AENEAS
Triumph, my mates, our travels are at end.
Here will Aeneas build a statelier Troy
Than that which grim Atrides overthrew.
Carthage shall vaunt her petty walls no more,
For I will grace them with a fairer frame
And clad her in a crystal livery
Wherein the day may evermore delight;
From golden India Ganges will I fetch,
Whose wealthy streams may wait upon her towers,
10 And triple-wise entrench her round about;
The sun from Egypt shall rich odours bring,
Wherewith his burning beams, like labouring bees
That load their thighs with Hybla’s honey’s spoils,
Shall here unburden their exhaled sweets,
And plant our pleasant suburbs with her fumes.
ACHATES
What length or breadth shall this brave town contain?
AENEAS
Not past four thousand paces at the most.
ILIONEUS
But what shall it be called? ‘Troy’, as before?
AENEAS
That have I not determined with myself.
CLOANTHUS
20 Let it be termed ‘Aenea’, by your name.
SERGESTUS
Rather ‘Ascania’, by your little son.
AENEAS
Nay, I will have it called ‘Anchisaeon’,
Of my old father’s name.
Enter HERMES with ASCANIUS.
HERMES
Aeneas, stay, Jove’s herald bids thee stay.
AENEAS
Whom do I see? Jove’s wingèd messenger?
Welcome to Carthage new-erected town.
HERMES
Why, cousin, stand you building cities here
And beautifying the empire of this queen
While Italy is clean out of thy mind?
30 Too too forgetful of thine own affairs,
Why wilt thou so betray thy son’s good hap?
The king of gods sent me from highest heaven
To sound this angry message in thine ears:
Vain man, what monarchy expect’st thou here?
Or with what thought sleep’st thou in Libya shore?
If that all glory hath forsaken thee
And thou despise the praise of such attempts,
Yet think upon Ascanius’ prophecy,
And young lulus’ more than thousand years,
40 Whom I have brought from Ida where he slept
And bore young Cupid unto Cyprus isle.
AENEAS
This was my mother that beguiled the queen
And made me take my brother for my son.
No marvel, Dido, though thou be in love,
That daily dandiest Cupid in thy arms!
Welcome, sweet child, where hast thou been this long?
ASCANIUS
Eating sweet comfits with Queen Dido’s maid,
Who ever since hath lulled me in her arms.
AENEAS
Sergestus, bear him hence unto our ships,
50 Lest Dido, spying him, keep him for a pledge.
[Exit SERGESTUS with ASCANIUS.]
HERMES
Spend’st thou thy time about this little boy
And giv’st not ear unto the charge I bring?
I tell thee thou must straight to Italy,
Or else abide the wrath of frowning Jove.
[Exit.]
AENEAS
How should I put into the raging deep,
Who have no sails nor tackling for my ships?
What, would the gods have me, Deucalion-like,
Float up and down where’er the billows drive?
Though she repaired my fleet and gave me ships,
60 Yet hath she ta’en away my oars and masts
And left me neither sail nor stern aboard.
Enter to them IARBAS.
IARBAS
How now, Aeneas, sad? What means these dumps?
AENEAS
Iarbas, I am clean besides myself.
Jove hath heaped on me such a desperate charge,
Which neither art nor reason may achieve,
Nor I devise by what means to contrive.
IARBAS
As how, I pray? May I entreat you tell?
AENEAS
With speed he bids me sail to Italy,
Whenas I want both rigging for my fleet
70 And also furniture for these my men.
IARBAS
If that be all, then cheer thy drooping looks,
For I will furnish thee with such supplies.
Let some of those thy followers go with me
And they shall have what thing soe’er thou need’st.
AENEAS
Thanks, good Iarbas, for thy friendly aid;
Achates and the rest shall wait on thee
Whilst I rest thankful for this courtesy.
Exit IARBAS and AENEAS’ train.
Now will I haste unto Lavinian shore,
And raise a new foundation to old Troy.
Witness the gods, and witness heaven and earth,
80 How loath I am to leave these Libyan bounds,
But that eternal Jupiter commands!
Enter DIDO to AENEAS.
DIDO [aside]
I fear I saw Aeneas’ little son
Led by Achates to the Trojan fleet;
If it be so, his father means to fly.
But here he is; now, Dido, try thy wit.
Aeneas, wherefore go thy men aboard?
Why are thy ships new-rigged? Or to what end,
Launched from the haven, lie they in the road?
90 Pardon me, though I ask; love makes me ask.
AENEAS
O pardon me if I resolve thee why!
Aeneas will not feign with his dear love.
I must from hence; this day, swift Mercury,
When I was laying a platform for these walls,
Sent from his father Jove, appeared to me,
And in his name rebuked me bitterly
For lingering here, neglecting Italy.
DIDO
But yet Aeneas will not leave his love.
AENEAS
I am commanded by immortal Jove
100 To leave this town and pass to Italy,
And therefore must of force.
DIDO
These words proceed not from Aeneas’ heart.
AENEAS
Not from my heart, for I can hardly go.
And yet I may not stay. Dido, farewell!
DIDO
Farewell? Is this the mends for Dido’s love?
The Complete Plays Page 9