“A youth full-armed, by none excelled In beauty’s manly grace.” In answer to the inquiry of Æneas, Anchises tells his son that this youth is “our own Marcellus,” and eulogizes his virtues. Thus Virgil immortalized the name of a Roman prince of great promise, son of Octavia, the emperor’s sister, whose premature death had filled the Roman world with sorrow. When, at the request of Augustus, the poet read this portion of his epic before the royal family, all were moved to tears, and the bereaved mother fainted. She afterward showed her appreciation of Virgil’s genius by presenting him about $400 for each of the twenty-seven lines. The passage is well worth repeating here:— VIRGIL’S TRIBUTE TO MARCELLUS. “Seek not to know (the ghost replied with tears) The sorrows of thy sons in future years. This youth (the blissful vision of a day) Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away. The gods too high had raised the Roman state, Were but their gifts as permanent as great. What groans of men shall fill the Martian field! How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield! What funeral pomp shall floating Tiber see, When rising from his bed, he views the sad solemnity! No youth shall equal hopes of glory give, No youth afford so great a cause to grieve. The Trojan honor, and the Roman boast, Admired when living, and adored when lost! Mirror of ancient faith in early youth! Undaunted worth, inviolable truth! No foe, unpunished, in the fighting field Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield! Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force, When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse. Ah! couldst thou break through Fate’s severe decree, A new Marcellus shall arise in thee! Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring, Mixed with the purple roses of the spring: Let me with funeral flowers his body strow; This gift which parents to their children owe, This unavailing gift, at least I may bestow!”—DRYDEN. From Cumæ the Trojan chief sails to Latium, the land of his destiny, and there he receives from King Lati’nus the promise of his daughter Lavinia’s hand. But this provokes a war with Turnus, a neighboring prince, to whom Lavinia had been secretly plighted by the queen-mother. Not until he had subdued Turnus and his Latin allies did Æneas make Lavinia his own and rule as king of Latium. The poem ends with the fall of Turnus in a duel between the rival chiefs. To finish the story, Alba Longa was built by Æneas’ son Iulus, from whose royal line in later ages sprung Romulus, founder of Rome, the _Julian_ family, and their great hero _Julius_ Caesar. The passion of Dido, as portrayed in the fourth book of the Æneid, is the most masterly piece of Virgil’s handiwork. We present below the closing scenes that sealed her sad fate. THE DEATH OF DIDO.