Ah, me! the stars surpris'd, like Rhesus' steeds,
Are drawn by darkness forth Astræa's tents.
What shall I do to save thee, my sweet boy?
When as the waves do threat our chrystal world,
And Proteus, raising hills of floods on high,
Intends, ere long, to sport him in the sky.
False Jupiter! reward'st thou virtue so?
What! is not piety exempt from woe?
Then die, Encas, in thy innocence,
Since that religion hath no recompence.
JUP. Content thee, Cytherea, in thy care,
Since thy Æneas' wand'ring fate is firm,
Whose weary limbs shall shortly make repose
In those fair walls I promis'd him of yore:
But first in blood must his good fortune bud,
Before he be the lord of Turnus' town,
Or force her smile, that hitherto hath frown'd:
Three winters shall he with the Rutiles war,
And, in the end, subdue them with his sword;
And full three summers likewise shall he waste,
In managing those fierce barbarian minds;
Which once perform'd, poor Troy, so long sup-
press'd,
From forth her ashes shall advance her head,
And flourish once again, that erst was dead:
But bright Ascanius' beauties better work,
Who with the sun divides one radiant shape,
Shall build his throne amidst those starry towers,
That earth-born Atlas, groaning, underprops:
No bounds, but heaven, shall bound his empery,
Whose azur'd gates, enchased with his name,
Shall make the morning haste her grey uprise,
To feed her eyes with his engraven fame.
Thus, in stout Hector's race, three hundred years
The Roman sceptre royal shall remain,
Till that a princess, priest-conceiv'd by Mars,
Shall yield to dignity a double birth,
Who will eternise Troy in their attempts.
VEN. How may I credit these thy flattering terms, When yet both sea and sand beset their ships, And Phoebus, as in Stygian pools, refrains To taint his tresses in the Tyrrhene main?
JUP. I will take order for that presently :Hermes, awake! and haste to Neptune's realm; Whereas the wind-god, warring now with fate, Besiege the offspring of our kingly loins, Charge him from me to turn his stormy powers, And fetter them in Vulcan's sturdy brass,
That durst thus proudly wrong our kinsman's peace. Venus, farewell! thy son shall be our care;
Come, Ganymede, we must about this gear.
[Exeunt Jupiter and Ganymede. VEN. Disquiet seas, lay down your swelling looks, And court Æneas with your calmy cheer,
Whose beauteous burden well might make you proud,
Had not the heavens, conceiv'd with hell-born clouds,
Veil'd his resplendent glory from your view;
For my sake, pity him, Oceanus,
That erst-while issued from thy wat❜ry loins,
And had my being from thy bubbling froth:
Triton, I know, hath fill'd his trump with Troy,
And, therefore, will take pity on his toil,
And call both Thetis and Cymodoce,
To succour him in this extremity.
Enter ENEAS, ASCANIUS, ACHATES, and one or
What! do I see my son now come on shore?
Venus, how art thou compass'd with content,
The while thine eyes attract their sought-for joys:
Great Jupiter! still honour'd may'st thou be,
For this so friendly aid in time of need!
Here in this bush disguised will I stand,
Whiles my Æneas spends himself in plaints,
And heaven and earth with his unrest acquaints.
EN. You sons of care, companions of my course,
Priam's misfortune follows us by sea,
And Helen's rape doth haunt us at the heels.
How many dangers have we overpast?
Both barking Scylla, and the sounding rocks,
The Cyclops' shelves, and grim Ceraunia's seat,
Have you o'ergone, and yet remain alive.
Pluck up your hearts, since fate still rests our friend,
And changing heavens may those good days return,
Which Pergama did vaunt in all her pride.
ACHA. Brave Prince of Troy, thou only art our god,
That, by thy virtues, free'st us from annoy,
And mak'st our hopes survive to cunning joys!
Do thou but smile, and cloudy heaven will clear,
Whose night and day descendeth from thy brows:
Though we be now in extreme misery,
And rest the map of weather-beaten woe,
Yet shall the aged sun shed forth his air,
To make us live unto our former heat,
And every beast the forest doth send forth,
Bequeath her young ones to our scanted food.
ASCA. Father, I faint; good father, give me
EN. Alas! sweet boy, thou must be still awhile, Till we have fire to dress the meat we kill'd; Gentle Achates, reach the tinder-box,
That we may make a fire to warm us with,
And roast our new found victuals on this shore.
VEN. See what strange arts necessity finds out;
How near, my sweet Æneas, art thou driven.
EN. Hold; take this candle, and go light a fire;
You shall have leaves and windfall boughs enow
Near to these woods, to roast your meat withal:
Ascanius, go and dry thy drenched limbs,
While I with my Achates roam abroad,
To know what coast the wind hath driven us on,
Or whether men or beasts inhabit it.
ACHA. The air is pleasant, and the soil most fit For cities, and society's supports;
Yet much I marvel that I cannot find
No steps of men imprinted in the earth.
VEN.
Now is the time for me to play my part:
Ho, young men ! saw you, as you came,
Any of all my sisters wand'ring here,
Having a quiver girded to her side,
And clothed in a spotted leopard's skin?
EN. I neither saw nor heard of any such ; But what may I, fair virgin, call your name? Whose looks set forth no mortal form to view, Nor speech bewrays ought human in thy birth; Thou art a goddess that delud'st our eyes, And shroud'st thy beauty in this borrow'd shape; But whether thou the sun's bright sister be, Or one of chaste Diana's fellow nymphs, Live happy in the height of all content, And lighten our extremes with this one boon, As to instruct us under what good heaven We breathe as now, and what this world is call'd On which, by tempests' fury, we are cast? Tell us, O tell us, that are ignorant; And this right hand shall make thy altars crack With mountain heaps of milk-white sacrifice.
VEN. Such honour, stranger, do I not affect;
It is the use for Tyrian maids to wear
Their bow and quiver in this modest sort,
And suit themselves in purple for the nonce,
That they may trip more lightly o'er the lawns,
And overtake the tusked boar in chase.
But for the land whereof thou dost enquire,
It is the Punick kingdom, rich and strong,
Adjoining on Agenor's stately town,
The kingly seat of Southern Lybia,
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