Chapter II: Preface: To the Second Edition

The first edition of this volume, containing only the _Dido: An Epic Tragedy_, a dramatization of the love story of Æneas and Dido, was published in 1900, and met with a gratifying success. Teachers of Vergil have found the book an interesting supplement to their study and presentation of the text; and in numerous instances high-school and college classes have staged the play with most excellent results.

The book has been out of print for several years; but the continued demand from teachers who desire to use it has made a second edition desirable. This is accordingly offered in the present volume, under a new title, and containing a second dramatization from Vergil—this from the second _Æneid_, the story of the Fall of Troy.

F. J. M.

CHICAGO, 1908

I
Dido—The Phœnician Queen

THE ARGUMENT

_For ten years the Greeks had besieged Troy, and on the tenth they took and utterly destroyed that ancient city. The inhabitants who had escaped captivity and the sword, wandered in exile to many quarters of the earth. Now the chief band of exiles was led by Æneas, son of Venus and Anchises, and son-in-law of Priam, king of Troy._

_After many adventures on land and sea, Æneas came, in the sixth year, to Sicily, where he was kindly entertained by Acestes, king of that land, and where his aged father died and was buried. Thence setting sail in the summer of the seventh year, he approached the shores of Africa. Here a violent storm arose which scattered and all but destroyed the Trojan ships. Æneas, with a number of his companions, was cast upon a desert coast, where they passed the night in gloomy forebodings. In the early morning, Æneas and Achates set forth to explore the land, and came to the newly founded city of Carthage._

_Now Phœnician Dido, also, with a band of exiles, had fled from her native Tyre, to escape the persecutions of her brother, Pygmalion, who had already slain Sychæus, her husband. And to the land of Africa had she come, and built her a city, even the city of Carthage._

_And so these two, Æneas, prince of Troy, and Dido, fugitive from Tyre, now meet in distant Africa and live the tragedy which fate has held in store._

THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA

ÆNEAS, prince of Troy, and leader of the Trojan exiles.
ACHATES, confidential friend of Æneas.
ILIONEUS, a Trojan noble.
DIDO, the queen of Carthage.
ANNA, sister of Dido.
BARCE, nurse of Dido.
IOPAS, a Carthaginian minstrel.
IARBAS, a Moorish prince, suitor for the hand of Dido.
JUNO, queen of Jupiter and protectress of the Carthaginians, hostile
to Troy.
VENUS, the goddess of love, mother of Æneas, and protectress of the
Trojans.
CUPID, son of Venus, god of love.
MERCURY, the messenger of Jupiter.
Maidens, Courtiers, Soldiers, Attendants, Servants, etc., in Dido’s
train.
Nobles, Sailors, etc., in the band of Æneas.

THE PRELUDE

[For music, see p. 57]

Arma virumque cano, Troiæ qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit
Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
Vi superum, sævæ memorem Iunonis ob iram,
Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,
Inferretque deos Latio: genus unde Latinum
Albanique patres atque altæ mœnia Romæ.
Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine læso,
Quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus
Insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores
Impulerit. Tantæne animis cælestibus iræ?

ACT I

Dido—The Phœnician Queen