And, on a chimney's top, or turret's height, With songs obscene, disturbs the silence of the night. Besides, old prophecies augment her fears; And stern Æneas in her dreams appears, Disdainful as by day: she seems, alone, To wander in her sleep, through ways unknown, Guideless and dark; or, in a desert plain, To seek her subjects, and to seek in vain-- Like Pentheus, when, distracted with his fear, He saw two suns, and double Thebes, appear; Or mad Orestes, when his mother's ghost Full in his face infernal torches tossed, And shook her snaky locks: he shuns the sight, } Flies o'er the stage, surprised with mortal fright; } The Furies guard the door, and intercept his flight. } Now, sinking underneath a load of grief, From death alone she seeks her last relief; The time and means resolved within her breast, She to her mournful sister thus addressed:-- (Dissembling hope, her cloudy front she clears, And a false vigour in her eyes appears.) "Rejoice!" she said. "Instructed from above, My lover I shall gain, or lose my love. Nigh rising Atlas, next the falling sun, Long tracts of Ethiopian climates run: There a Massylian priestess I have found, Honoured for age, for magic arts renowned: The Hesperian temple was her trusted care; 'Twas she supplied the wakeful dragon's fare. She poppy-seeds in honey taught to steep, Reclaimed his rage, and soothed him into sleep: She watched the golden fruit. Her charms unbind The chains of love, or fix them on the mind: She stops the torrents, leaves the channel dry, Repels the stars, and backward bears the sky. The yawning earth rebellows to her call, Pale ghosts ascend, and mountain ashes fall. Witness, ye gods, and thou my better part, How loth I am to try this impious art! Within the secret court, with silent care, Erect a lofty pile, exposed in air: Hang, on the topmost part, the Trojan vest, Spoils, arms, and presents, of my faithless guest. Next, under these, the bridal bed be placed, Where I my ruin in his arms embraced. All reliques of the wretch are doomed to fire; For so the priestess and her charms require." Thus far she said, and farther speech forbears. A mortal paleness in her face appears: Yet the mistrustless Anna could not find } The secret funeral, in these rites designed; } Nor thought so dire a rage possessed her mind. } Unknowing of a train concealed so well, She feared no worse than when Sichæus fell; Therefore obeys. The fatal pile they rear, Within the secret court, exposed in air. The cloven holms and pines are heaped on high, And garlands on the hollow spaces lie. Sad cypress, vervain, yew, compose the wreath, And every baleful green denoting death. The queen, determined to the fatal deed, } The spoils and sword he left, in order spread, }