Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/125

Æn. I. One who contemn'd Divine and Humane Laws. Then Strife ensu'd, and cursed Gold the Cause. The Monarch, blinded with desire of Wealth; With Steel invades his Brother's life by stealth; Before the sacred Altar made him bleed, And long from her conceal'd the cruel deed: Some Tale, some new Pretence, he daily coin'd, To sooth his Sister, and delude her Mind. At length, in dead of Night, the Ghost appears Of her unhappy Lord: The Spectre stares, And with erected Eyes his bloody Bosom bares. The cruel Altars, and his Fate he tells, And the dire Secret of his House reveals. Then warns the Widow, with her household Gods, To seek a Refuge in remote abodes. Last, to support her, in so long a way, He shows her where his hidden Treasure lay. Admonish'd thus, and seiz'd with mortal fright, The Queen provides Companions of her flight: They meet; and all combine to leave the State, Who hate the Tyrant, or who fear his hate. They seize a Fleet, which ready rigg'd they find: Nor is Pigmalion's Treasure left behind. The Vessels, heavy laden, put to Sea With prosp'rous Winds; a Woman leads the way. I know not, if by stress of Weather driv'n, Or was their fatal Course dispos'd by Heav'n;