FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  
d with orient ray Sprinkled the earth. Forth looks the Queen in dread, And from her watch-tower marks the twilight grey Glow with the shimmering whiteness of the day, The harbour shipless and the shore all bare, The fleet with full-squared canvas under weigh. Then thrice and four times, frantic with despair, She beats her beauteous breast, and rends her golden hair. LXXVII. "Ah! Jove, shall he escape me? Shall he mock My queenship? He, an alien, flout my sway? Will no one arm and chase them, or undock The ships? Bring fire; get weapons, quick! Away! Swing out the oars! Ah me! what do I say? Where am I? O, what madness turns my brain? Poor Dido, hath thy folly found its prey? Thy sins, alas! they sting thee, but in vain. They should have done so then, when yielding him thy reign. LXXVIII. "Lo, there his honour and the faith he swore, Who takes Troy's gods the partners of his flight, And erst from Troy his aged parent bore. O, had I torn him piecemeal, as I might, And strewn him on the waves, and slain outright His friends, and for the father's banquet spread The murdered boy! But doubtful were the fight. Grant that it had been, whom should Dido dread, What fear had death for me, self-destined to be dead? LXXIX. "These hands the firebrands at his feet had cast, And filled with flames his hatches. Sire and son And all their race had perished with the past, And I, too, perished with them. O great Sun, Whose torch reveals whate'er on Earth is done, Juno, who know'st the passion that devours Poor Dido; Hecate, where crossways run Night-howled in cities; ye avenging Powers, Friends, Furies, Gods that guard Elissa's dying hours! LXXX. "Mark this, compassionate these woes, and bow To supplication. If the Fates demand-- Curst be his head!--that he escape me now, And touch his haven, and float up to land. If so Jove wills, and fixt his edicts stand, Then, scourged with warfare by a daring race, In vain for succour let him stretch his hand, And see his people perish with disgrace, An exile, torn from home and from his son's embrace. LXXXI. "And when hard peace the traitor stoops to buy, No realm be his, nor happy days in store. Cut off in prime of manhood let him die, And rot unburied on the sandy shore. This dying curse, this utterance I pour, The latest,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

escape

 

perished

 

Friends

 

crossways

 
Hecate
 

passion

 

devours

 

avenging

 

Powers

 

destined


howled

 

cities

 

reveals

 
hatches
 
flames
 
firebrands
 

filled

 

traitor

 

stoops

 

embrace


perish

 

people

 

disgrace

 
unburied
 

utterance

 

latest

 
manhood
 
stretch
 

supplication

 
demand

Elissa
 

compassionate

 
warfare
 

scourged

 
daring
 

succour

 

edicts

 
Furies
 

queenship

 

LXXVII


beauteous

 
breast
 

golden

 

undock

 
weapons
 

despair

 

frantic

 

twilight

 
orient
 

Sprinkled