Aeneas, I'll repair thy Trojan ships,
Conditionally that thou wilt stay with me
And let Achates sail to Italy.
I'll give thee tackling made of rivelled gold,
Wound on the barks of odoriferous trees,
Oars of massy ivory, full of holes
Through which the water shall delight to play.
Thy anchors shall be hewed from crystal rocks
Which, if thou lose, shall shine above the waves;
The masts whereon thy swelling sails shall hang,
Hollow pyramids of silver plate;
The sails of folded lawn, where shall be wrought
The wars of Troy, but not Troy's overthrow.
For ballast, empty Dido's treasury.
Take what ye will, but leave Aeneas here.
Achates, thou shalt be so meanly clad
As sea-borne nymphs shall swarm about thy ships
And wanton mermaids court thee with sweet songs,
Flinging in favours of more sovereign worth
Than Thetis hangs about Apollo's neck,
So that Aeneas may but stay with me.
AENEAS. Wherefore would Dido have Aeneas stay?
DIDO. To war against my bordering enemies.
Aeneas, think not Dido is in love,
For if that any man could conquer me,
I had been wedded ere Aeneas came.
See where the pictures of my suitors hang;
And are not these as fair as fair may be?
ACHATES. I saw this man at Troy, ere Troy was sacked.
AENEAS. I this in Greece when Paris stole fair Helen.
ILIONEUS. This man and I were at Olympus' games.
SERGESTUS. I know this face. He is a Persian born.
I traveled with him to Aetolia.
CLOANTHUS. And I in Athens with this gentleman,
Unless I be deceived, disputed once.
DIDO. But speak, Aeneas; know you none of these?
AENEAS. No, madam, but it seems that these are kings.
DIDO. All these and others which I never saw
Have been most urgent suitors for my love.
Some came in person; others sent their legates;
Yet none obtained me; I am free from all,
And yet, God knows, entangled unto one.
This was an orator and thought by words
To compass me, but yet he was deceived;
And this a Spartan courtier, vain and wild,
But his fantastic humours pleased not me.
This was Alcion, a musician,
But played he ne'er so sweet, I let him go.
This was the wealthy king of Thessaly,
But I had gold enough and cast him off;
This Meleager's son, a warlike prince,
But weapons 'gree not with my tender years.
The rest are such as all the world well knows,
Yet now I swear, by heaven and him I love,
I was as far from love as they from hate.
AENEAS. O, happy shall he be whom Dido loves.
DIDO. Then never say that thou art miserable,
Because it may be thou shalt be my love.
Yet boast not of it, for I love thee not.
And yet I hate thee not. O, if I speak,
I shall betray myself. Aeneas speak.
We two will go ahunting in the woods,
But not so much for thee - thou art but one -
As for Achates and his followers.
Exeunt.
ACT THREE, SCENE TWO
Enter Juno to Ascanius, asleep.
JUNO. Here lies my hate, Aeneas' cursed brat,
The boy wherein false destiny delights,
The heir of Fame, the favourite of the Fates,
That ugly imp that shall outwear my wrath
And wrong my deity with high disgrace.
But I will take another order now
And raze th' eternal register of time.
Troy shall no more call him her second hope,
Nor Venus triumph in his tender youth,
For here, in spite of heaven, I'll murder him
And feed infection with his let out life.
Say, Paris, now shall Venus have the ball?
Say, vengeance, now shall her Ascanius die?
O, no! God wot, I cannot watch my time,
Nor quit good turns with double fee down told.
Tut, I am simple, without mind to hurt,
And have no gall at all to grieve my foe,
But lustful Jove and his adulterous child
Shall find it written on confusion's front,
That only Juno rules in Rhamnus' town.