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.
Dido. Æneas, I'll repair thy Trojan ships, Conditionally that thou wilt stay with me, And let Achates sail to Italy: I'll give thee tackling made of rivelled [483] gold, Wound on the barks of odoriferous trees; [484] Oars of massy ivory, full of holes, Through which the water shall delight to play; Thy anchors shall be hewed from crystal rocks, Which, if thou lose, shall shine above the waves;120 The masts, whereon thy swelling sails shall hang, Hollow pyramides of silver plate; The sails of folded lawn, where shall be wrought The wars of Troy,—but not Troy's overthrow; For ballace, [485] empty Dido's treasury: Take what ye will, but leave Æneas here. Achates, thou shalt be so seemly [486] clad, As sea-born nymphs shall swarm about thy ships, And wanton mermaids court thee with sweet songs, Flinging in favours of more sovereign worth130 Than Thetis hangs about Apollo's neck, So that Æneas may but stay with me.
Æn. Wherefore would Dido have Æneas stay?
Dido. To war against my bordering enemies. Æneas, think not Dido is in love; For, if that any man could conquer me, I had been wedded ere Æneas came: See, where the pictures of my suitors hang; And are not these as fair as fair may be?
Ach. I saw this man at Troy, ere Troy was sack'd.140
Æn. [487] I this in Greece, when Paris stole fair Helen.
Ili. This man and I were at Olympia's [488] games,