My soul shall know, for such glad news would penetrate
The lowest depths of hell.—
She works herself up to a frenzy, and as she finishes she turns to leave him with queenly scorn, staggers, and falls. Her servants carry her from the scene, leaving Æneas in agony of soul, struggling between love and duty. Curtain.
Act IV
Act IV. Scene 1
Dido’s chamber as in Act II. Scene 1. Anna sits in the foreground, spinning. The old nurse, Barce, is bustling about, hanging up her mistress’ brilliant robes, which she has cast aside for her old mourning gown of simple white. Dido is seated at the latticed window watching the Trojans in the harbor below prepare for their departure. She is weeping.
Barce, coming cautiously to Anna so that Dido may not hear (416-418):
Behold, how eagerly the Trojans launch their ships.
In their mad zeal they hurry timbers from the woods,
Unhewn and rough, from which to shape their masts and oars,