The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3)Marlowe, Christopher
General
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Marlowe, Christopher
English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
_Dido._ Name not Iarbas: but, sweet Anna, say,
Is not Æneas worthy Dido's love?
_Anna._ O sister, were you empress of the world,
Æneas well deserves to be your love!
So lovely is he, that, where'er he goes, 70
The people swarm to gaze him in the face.
_Dido._ But tell them, none shall gaze on him but I,
Lest their gross eye-beams taint my lover's cheeks.
Anna, good sister Anna, go for him,
Lest with these sweet thoughts I melt clean away.
_Anna._ Then, sister, you'll abjure Iarbas' love?
_Dido._ Yet must I hear that loathsome name again?
Run for Æneas, or I'll fly to him. [_Exit_ ANNA.
_Cup._ You shall not hurt my father when he comes.
_Dido._ No; for thy sake I'll love thy father well.-- 80
O dull-conceited Dido, that till now
Didst never think Æneas beautiful!
But now, for quittance of this oversight,
I'll make me bracelets of his golden hair;
His glistering eyes shall be my looking-glass;
His lips an altar, where I'll offer up[482]
As many kisses as the sea hath sands;
Instead of music I will hear him speak;
His looks shall be my only library;
And thou, Æneas, Dido's treasury, 90
In whose fair bosom I will lock more wealth
Than twenty thousand Indias can afford.
O, here he comes! Love, love, give Dido leave
To be more modest than her thoughts admit,
Lest I be made a wonder to the world.
_Enter_ ÆNEAS, ACHATES, SERGESTUS, ILIONEUS, _and_ CLOANTHUS.
Achates, how doth Carthage please your lord?
_Ach._ That will Æneas show your majesty.
_Dido._ Æneas, art thou there?
_Æn._ I understand your highness sent for me.
_Dido._ No; but, now thou art here, tell me, in sooth, 100
In what might Dido highly pleasure thee.
_Æn._ So much have I receiv'd at Dido's hands,
As, without blushing, I can ask no more:
Yet, queen of Afric, are my ships unrigg'd,
My sails all rent in sunder with the wind,
My oars broken, and my tackling lost,
Yea, all my navy split with rocks and shelves;
Nor stern nor anchor have our maimèd fleet;
Our masts the furious winds struck overboard:
Which piteous wants if Dido will supply, 110
We will account her author of our lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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