Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Virgil -- Adaptations
And first of all she went to Prince Iarbas, who himself had sought
Dido in marriage. And Iarbas was very wroth when he heard it, and,
coming to the temple of Jupiter, spread his grief before the god, how
that he had given a place on his coasts to this Dido, and would have
taken her to wife, but that she had married a stranger from Phrygia,
another Paris, whose dress and adornments were of a woman rather than
of a man.
And Jupiter saw that this was so, and he said to Mercury, who was his
messenger, "Go speak to Æneas these words: 'Thus saith the King of
Gods and men. Is this what thy mother promised of thee, twice saving
thee from the spear of the Greeks? Art thou he that shall rule Italy
and its mighty men of war, and spread thy dominion to the ends of the
world? If thou thyself forgettest these things, dost thou grudge to
thy son the citadels of Rome? What doest thou here? Why lookest thou
not to Italy? Depart and tarry not.'"
Then Mercury fitted the winged sandals to his feet, and took the wand
with which he driveth the spirits of the dead, and came right soon to
Mount Atlas, which standeth bearing the heaven on his head, and having
always clouds about his top, and snow upon his shoulders, and a beard
that is stiff with ice. There Mercury stood awhile; then, as a bird
which seeks its prey in the sea, shot headlong down, and came to Æneas
where he stood, with a yellow jasper in his sword-hilt, and a cloak of
purple shot with gold about his shoulders, and spake: "Buildest thou
Carthage, forgetting thine own work? The almighty Father saith to
thee, 'What meanest thou? Why tarriest thou here? If thou carest not
for thyself, yet think of thy son, and that the Fates have given to
him Italy and Rome.'"
And Æneas saw him no more. And he stood stricken with fear and doubt.
Fain would he obey the voice, and go as the Gods commanded. But how
should he tell this purpose to the queen? But at the last it seemed
good to him to call certain of the chiefs, as Mnestheus, and
Sergestus, and Antheus, and bid them make ready the ships in silence,
and gather together the people, but dissemble the cause, and he
himself would watch a fitting time to speak and unfold the matter to
the queen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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