And thee, unwillingly I seek the magic art.
Do thou within the palace rear a lofty pyre,
And place upon its top the faithless hero’s arms
Which in his flight he left within our halls, yea all
That he has left, and then our wedding couch, my cause
Of woe, my heart is set to banish every trace
Of that perfidious one, and this the priestess bids.
Anna assents to her plan and hurries away to execute it. Dido quickly takes the sword from its hiding-place and in tremulous haste hangs it again upon the wall. Barce enters. Dido turns, fearing detection, but seeing that the old nurse has not suspected her, she takes the cup in her trembling fingers and drains it. Curtain.
Act IV. Scene 3
Dido’s chamber, night. Dido is seated in the moonlight that streams through the open casement. A band of maidens, clad in white, are singing softly to her.