thbaal, was her great-grandfather.
She married her near relation Acerbas, called otherwise Sicharbas and
Sichaeus, an extremely rich prince, and Pygmalion, king of Tyre, was her
brother. This prince having put Sichaeus to death, in order that he might
have an opportunity of seizing his immense wealth, Dido eluded the cruel
avarice of her brother, by withdrawing secretly with all her dead
husband's treasures. After having long wandered, she at last landed on the
coast of the Mediterranean, in the gulf where Utica stood, and in the
country of Africa, properly so called, distant almost fifteen(570) miles
from Tunis, so famous at this time for its corsairs; and there settled
with her few followers, after having purchased some lands from the
inhabitants of the country.(571)

Many of the neighbouring people, invited by the prospect of lucre,
repaired thither to sell these new comers the necessaries of life; and
shortly after incorporated themselves with them. These inhabitants, who
had been thus gathered from different places, soon grew very numerous. The
citizens of Utica, considering them as their countrymen, and as descended
from the same common stock, deputed envoys with very considerable
presents, and exhorted them to build a city in the place where they had
first settled. The natives of the country, from the esteem and respect
frequently shown to strangers, did as much on their part. Thus all things
conspiring with Dido's views, she built her city, which was charged with
the payment of an annual tribute to the Africans for the ground it stood
upon; and called Carthada,(572) or Carthage, a name that, in the
Phoenician and Hebrew tongues, (which have a great affinity,) signifies
the New City. It is said, that when the foundations were dug, a horse's
head was found, which was thought a good omen, and a presage of the future
warlike genius of that people.(573)

This princess was afterwards courted by Iarbas king of Getulia, and
threatened with a war in case of refusal. Dido, who had bound herself by
an oath not to consent to a second marriage, being incapable of violating
the faith she had sworn to Sichaeus, desired time for deliberation, and for
appeasing the manes of her first husband by sacrifice. Having therefore
ordered a pile to be raised, she ascended it; and drawing out a dagger
which she had concealed under her robe, stabbed herself with it.(574)

Virgil has made a great alteration in this history, by supposing th