Page:An Essay on Virgil's Æneid.djvu/33

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
VIRGIL’s Æneid.
29

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