And didst thou hope that thou couldst hide thy fell design, O faithless, and in silence steal away from this My land? Does not our love, and pledge of faith once given, Nor thought of Dido, doomed to die a cruel death, Detain thee? Can it be that under wintry skies Thou wouldest launch thy fleet and urge thy onward way 'Mid stormy blasts across the sea, O cruel one? But what if not a stranger's land and unknown homes Thou soughtest; what if Troy, thy city, still remained: Still wouldst thou fare to Troy along the wave-tossed sea? Is't I thou fleest? By these tears and thy right hand-- Since in my depth of crushing woe I've nothing left-- And by our marriage bond and sacred union joined, If ever aught of mercy I have earned of thee, If I have ever giv'n thee one sweet drop of joy, Have pity on my falling house, and change, I pray, Thy cruel purpose if there still is room for prayer. For thee the Libyan races hate me, and my lords Of Tyre; for thee my latest scruple was o'ercome; My fame, by which I was ascending to the stars, My kingdom, fates,--all these have I giv'n up for thee. And thou, for whom dost thou abandon me, O guest?-- Since from the name of husband this sole name remains. What wait I more? Is't till Pygmalion shall come, And lay my walls in ruins, or the desert prince, Iarbus, lead me captive home? O cruel fate! If only ere thou fledst some pledge had been conceived Of thee, if round my halls some son of thine might sport, To bear thy name and bring thine image back to me, Then truly should I seem not utterly bereft. Miller. Æneas is seemingly unmoved by this appeal. With the warnings of Jupiter still sounding in his ears, he dares not let his love answer a word to Dido's pleadings. And so he coldly answers her that he is but following the bidding of his fate, which is leading him to Italy, even as hers had led her to this land of Africa. Dido has stood during this reply with averted face and scornful look, and now turns upon him in a passion of grief and rage. No pleadings now, but scornful denunciation and curses.