Re-enter First Lord, with Attendants carrying tackling, &c.
First Lord. Your nurse is gone with young Ascanius: And here's Æneas' tackling, oars, and sails.
Dido. Are these the sails that, in despite of me, Pack'd [531] with the winds to bear Æneas hence? I'll hang ye in the chamber where I lie; Drive, if you can, my house to Italy: I'll set the casement open, that the winds130 May enter in, and once again conspire Against the life of me, poor Carthage queen: But, though ye [532] go, he stays in Carthage still; And let rich Carthage fleet [533] upon the seas, So I may have Æneas in mine arms. Is this the wood that grew in Carthage plains, And would be toiling in the watery billows, To rob their mistress of her Trojan guest? O cursèd tree, hadst thou but wit or sense, To measure how I prize Æneas' love,140 Thou wouldst have leapt from out the sailors' hands, And told me that Æneas meant to go! And yet I blame thee not; thou art but wood. The water, which our poets term a nymph, [534] Why did it suffer thee to touch her breast, And shrunk not back, knowing my love was there? The water is an element, no nymph. Why should I blame Æneas for his flight? O Dido, blame not him, but break his oars! These were the instruments that launched him forth.150 There's not so much as this base tackling too, But dares to heap up sorrow to my heart: Was it not you that hoisèd up these sails? Why burst you not, and they fell in the seas? For this will Dido tie ye full of knots, And shear ye all asunder with her hands: Now serve to chastise shipboys for their faults; Ye shall no more offend the Carthage queen. Now, let him hang my favours on his masts, And see if those will serve instead of sails;160 For tackling, let him take the chains of gold, Which I bestow'd upon his followers; Instead of oars, let him use his hands, And swim to Italy. I'll keep these sure.— Come, bear them in. [Exeunt.
SCENE V.
Enter [535] Nurse, with Cupid as Ascanius.
Nurse. My Lord Ascanius, you must go with me.
Cup. Whither must I go? I'll stay with my mother.
Nurse. No, thou shall go with me unto my house. I have an orchard that hath store of plums, Brown almonds, services, ripe figs, and dates, Dewberries, apples, yellow oranges; A garden where are bee-hives full of honey, Musk-roses, and a thousand sort of flowers; And in the midst doth run a silver stream, Where thou shalt see the red-gill'd fishes leap,10 White swans, and many lovely water-fowls. Now speak, Ascanius, will you go or no?
Cup. Come, come, I'll go. How far hence is your house?