Virgil, Aeneid 6.456-466
Aeneas meets Dido for the final time
Read by George Sharpley
Aeneas to Dido
‘īnfēlīx Dīdō, vērus mihi nuntius ergō
vēnerat exstinctam, ferrōque extrēma secūtam?
fūneris heu tibi causa fuī? per sīdera iūrō,
per superōs, et sī qua fidēs tellūre sub īmā est,
invītus, rēgīna, tuō dē lītore cessī.
sed mē iussa deum, quae nunc hās īre per umbrās,
per loca senta sitū cōgunt noctemque profundam,
imperiīs ēgēre suīs; nec crēdere quīvī
hunc tantum tibi mē discessū ferre dolōrem.
siste gradum, tēque aspectū nē subtrahe nostrō.
quem fugis? extrēmum fātō quod tē adloquor hoc est.’
Unlucky Dido! So it was true the report of your death which reached me, that you had taken your life with a sword? Oh no! Was I the cause of your death? I swear by the stars, by the gods above — if good faith has any place in the world below — unwillingly, Queen, did I depart from your shore. But the commands of the gods, which now compel me to go through this darkness, through the depths of night, through places rank with decay, drove me by their authority. I could not believe that my departure brought you such grief as this … Stay! Do not take yourself from my sight. Whom do you flee? This is fated to be the final time I speak to you.