Untitled - QueenDido.org

SILIUS ITALICUS
sed medio finem bello excidiumque vicissim
molitae gentes, propiusque fuere periclo,
quis superare datum : reseravit Dardanus arces
ductor Agenoreas, obsessa Palatia vallo 15
Poenorum, ac muris defendit Roma salutem.
Tantarum causas irarum odiumque perenni
servatum studio et mandata nepotibus arma
fas aperire mihi superasque recludere mentes.
iamque adeo magni repetam primordia motus. 20
Pygmalioneis quondam per caerula terris
pollutum fugiens fraterno crimine regnum
fatali Dido Libyes appellitur orae.
turn pretio mercata locos nova moenia ponit,
cingere qua secto permissum litora tauro. 25
hie luno ante Argos (sic credidit alta vetustas)
ante Agamemnoniam, gratissima tecta, Mycenen
optavit profugis aeternam condere gentem.
verum ubi magnanimis Romam caput urbibus alte
exerere ac missas etiam trans aequora classes 30
totum signa videt victricia ferre per orbem,
iam propius metuens bellandi corda furore
Phoenicum extimulat. sed enim conanime primae
contuso pugnae fractisque in gurgite coeptis
Sicanio Libycis, iterum instaurata capessens 35
" There were three Punic wars : the second of these is
the subject of the poem.
" Scipio Africanus, in 202 b.c. Silius often uses Dardanus
as equivalent to Romanus, because the Romans were
descendants of Aeneas, an exile from Troy.
* Pygmalion, king of Tyre, treacherously murdered
Sychaeus, his brother-in-law and Dido's husband, for the
sake of his wealth ; but Dido managed to carry the treasure
off to Africa.
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