See! wide around, wast Lybia’s Bounds appear,
Whose swarthy Sons are terrible in War.
From her fierce Brother’s Vengeance, o’er the Main, 455
From Tyre, fled Dido, and enjoys the Reign:
The Tale is intricate, perplex’d, and long;
Hear then, in short, the Story of her Wrong.
Sichaeus was her Lord, beyond the Rest
Of the Phœnician Race, with Riches blest; 460
Much lov’d by Dido, whom her Father led
Pure, and a Virgin, to his nuptial Bed.
Her Brother, fierce Pygmalion, fill’d the Throne
Of Tyre, in Vice superior and alone.
Ev’n at the sacred Altar in a Strife, 465
By stealth, the Tyrant shed his Brother’s Life;
Blind with the Charms of Gold, his Faulchion drove,
Stern, and regardless of his Sister’s Love.
Then, with fond Hopes, deceiv’d her for a Time,
And forg'd Pretences to conceal the Crime. 470
But