Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Virgil -- Adaptations
After this they heard a great wailing of infants, even the voices of
such as are taken away before they have had lot or part in life. And
near to these were such as have died by false accusation; yet lack
they not justice, for Minos trieth their cause. And yet beyond, they
that, being guiltless, have laid hands upon themselves. Fain would
they now endure hardships, being yet alive, but may not, for the river
keeps them in with its unlovely stream as in a prison. Not far from
these are the Mourning Fields, where dwell the souls of those that
have died of love, as Procris, whom Cephalus slew in error, and
Laodamia, who died of grief for her husband. And among these was Dido,
fresh from the wound wherewith she slew herself. And when Æneas saw
her darkly through the shadows, even as one who sees, or thinketh
that he sees, the new moon lately risen, he wept, and said, "O Dido,
it was truth, then, that they told me, saying that thou hadst slain
thyself with the sword. Tell me, Was I the cause of thy death? Loath
was I, O Queen--I swear it by all that is most holy in heaven or
hell--to leave thy land. But the Gods, at whose bidding I come hither
this day, constrained me; nor did I think that thou wouldst take such
sorrow from my departure. But stay; depart not; for never again may I
speak to thee but this once only."
So he spake, and would fain have appeased her wrath. But she cast her
eyes to the ground, and her heart was hard against him, even as a
rock. And she departed into a grove that was hard by, wherein was her
first husband, Sichæus, who loved her even as he was loved. After this
they came to the land where the heroes dwell. And there they saw
Tydeus, who died before Thebes; and Adrastus, and also many men of
Troy, as the three sons of Antenor, and Idæus, who was the
armour-bearer of King Priam, and bare the arms and drave the chariot
yet. All these gathered about him, and would fain know wherefore he
had come. But when the hosts of Agamemnon saw his shining arms through
the darkness, they fled, as in old days they had fled to the ships;
and some would have cried aloud, but could not, so thin are the voices
of the dead.
[Illustration: ÆNEAS AND THE SHADE OF DIDO.]
Among these he saw Deïphobus, son of Priam. Cruelly mangled was he,
for his hands had been cut off, and his ears and his nostrils
likewise. Scarce did Æneas know him, and he himself in shame would
have hidden his wounds; but the son of Anchises spake to him, saying,
"Who hath dealt so foully with thee, great Deïphobus? Men told me that
on the last night of Troy thou didst fall dead on a heap of Greeks
whom thou hadst slain. Wherefore I built thee a tomb by the sea, and
thrice called aloud thy name. But thee I found not, that I might lay
thee therein."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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