Venus gazed down upon her son from her throne in Mt. Olympus and uttered a motherly, heartfelt sigh. She then addressed her father, Jove (Jupiter).

"O King of Gods and Men,whose awful hand
disperses thunder on the seas and land.
How could my pious son thy power incense?
Or what, alas, is vanished Troy's offense?
Our hope of Italy not only is lost,
on various seas by various tempests tossed,
but shut are the Trojans from every shore.
My earthly son is barred from every coast.
Oh father, you promised once a progeny divine
of Romans, rising from the Trojan line.
But now, what can I hope?
What worse can still succeed?
What end of labors has your will decreed?"

Jove bent down and lightly kissed his daughter's head. "No councils have reversed my firm decree,"
he quietly began.

"I have searched the mystic rolls of Fate.
Thy son (nor is the appointed time far)
in Italy shall wage successful war.
He shall tame fierce nations in the bloody field
and sovereign laws impose, and cities build.
From Aeneas' line shall come a fair priestess and a queen.
She shall, along with Mars, give birth to twins. This, and more I deem.
The royal babes a tawny wolf shall drain.
Then Romulus his grandfather's throne shall gain.
A military power the founder shall become.
The people will be called Romans, and their city, Rome.
To them no bounds of empire I assign,
nor term of years to their immortal line.
An age is ripening in revolving fate
when Troy shall overturn the Grecian state.
Sweet revenge her conquering sons shall call,
to crush the people that conspired Troy's fall.
Then Caesar from the Julian stock shall rise,
whose empire will swell across the tide,
and whose fame the skies alone shall bound."

 

Meanwhile, Aeneas, cast upon the north African shore, tossed and turned, unable to sleep. When the sun finally restored the cheerful day, he rose, and, taking along his good friend Achates, he purveyed the coast, eager to discover where they had landed.

Suddenly, out of the woods emerged a beautiful woman, dressed as a maid. Her long, brown hair hung loosely around her shoulders. In her hand she held a bow. Her quiver hung behind.

"Ho!" Aeneas called out to her.
"Fair maid, could you tell a stranger, long in tempests tossed,
what land we tread, and who commands the coast?"

Unknown to Aeneas, the fair maid was Venus, his mother, in disguise.

"Know, gentle youth," the maid began,
"in Libyan lands you reside.
The rising city, which from far you see,
is Carthage, and a Tyrian colony.
The Phoenician, Queen, Dido, rules the growing state,
who fled from Tyre, to dodge her brother's hate.
No more advice is needful;
but pursue the path before you, and the town in view."

Shrouded in a mist that was a parting gift from Venus, Aeneas and Achates took the path she had shown them. Unseen, the two Trojans entered the Carthaginian city. In the center of the town loomed a temple dedicated to the goddess, Juno, protector of Carthage. These words they saw in order, painted on the outer wall:

"Whatever did unhappily to Troy befall?
What happened to that city
whose fame around the world has blown -
the lives of every leader known?"

Aeneas wept as he read these words. "Even here," he said to Achates, "The woes of Troy are known!" They continued to scan the scene. To their left they saw an image of Achilles sculptured into the side of the temple. It showed Achilles riding in his chariot, driving over the bodies of the slain Trojans. Suddenly, behind them, a commotion filled the air. Beauteous Queen Dido, with numerous guards, ascended a sacred outdoor throne. She began to take petitions from the citizens and to hear their cases.

Aeneas saw the mist around them lift and they now appeared in open sight. The guards gathered around the queen's throne as the citizens stepped back. Aeneas approached Dido's throne and knelt on one knee.

"Before you kneels a prince who owes his life to you alone," Aeneas began.
"Fair majesty, receive the shipwrecked on your friendly shore, I plead.
With hospitable rites receive us, and in your palace entertain.
What thanks can we wretched fugitives return, who,
scattered throughout the world, in exile mourn?
Behold. Before you kneels Aeneas of Troy."

The crowd gasped. Dido rose from her throne.

"Can, can it be?" she haltingly began. "Enter, my noble guest,
and you shall find, if not a costly welcome, yet a kind one at best.
For I myself, like you, have been distressed,
until heaven afforded me this place of rest.
Like you, an alien in a land unknown,
I have learned to pity those with woes so like my own."

Having said this, she led Aeneas and Achates to the palace. There she offered incense, and proclaimed a feast. She ordered servants to deliver twenty fat oxen to Aeneas' men waiting on the shore, along with a hundred boars, lambs and jars of wine.

Aeneas asked Achates to accompany the servants to the ships. He instructed his friend to return to the palace with precious gifts from the Trojan ships that he would offer to Dido, in return for her hospitality. "When you return to the palace," Aeneas instructed, "also bring my son, Ascanius, with you." Achates nodded and left.

Venus frowned on this turn of events. She knew that Juno watched over the city of Carthage. Venus also knew and feared Dido's double-tongue. She called upon her son, the god Cupid, for help.

"You know, my son, how Jove's revengeful wife,
by force and fraud, attempts thy half-brother Aeneas' life.
How often you have mourned with me his pains -
he whom Dido now,with flattery, detains.
I, however, do not trust this town where Juno reigns."

"Young Ascanius," Venus informed Cupid,
"has been asked by Aeneas, his father,
to come with presents from the port
in order to gratify the queen, and gain favor with the court.
However, I will plunge the boy, Ascanius, into a pleasing sleep,
and you, taking on his form, will maintain a sweet deceit.
When the queen draws you close, and with a kiss constrains,
you will then your venom of love infuse in her veins."

Cupid obeyed his mother and took on the form of Aeneas' son, Ascanius. When Ascanius and Achates returned to Dido's palace laden with gifts from the ships, Dido gratefully received the gifts and gave Ascanius a queenly kiss. Cupid seized the moment and filled her with love's toxin. Suddenly, only thoughts of the Trojan leader, Aeneas, filled her mind.