People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1895 — OLD-TIME ROMANCE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD-TIME ROMANCE.

ELUS, king of Tyre, was dead, and Pygmalion, his son, had succeeded to the throne. A new king is sometimes a blessing to a people, and sometimes he is not. This was one of the times when he was not, for Pygmalion had all the quali-

ties that make a sovereign detested, and none that make him loved. He had a sister, the Princess Dido, who was married to a man of Immense wealth, a worthy nobleman of Tyre, named Sichaeus. You might think that a king would be glad to have the friendship and support of a man of that kind, especially In that far-away time, when thrones rested, at best, upon somewhat shaky foundations, but Pygmalion was so puffed up with is own importance and so confident of his power, that he sometimes “lost his head.” He had one passion that subordinated everything else in his ‘nature—the love of gold, and he was in the habit of overriding anything that might stand in the way of acquiring it. In spite, therefore, of his close relationship to Sichaeus, of the love that he should have felt, but did not, for his beautiful sister, the Princess Dido, he determined to become possessed of the wealth of Sichaeus, and to that end he had him put to death. But the widowed Dido managed to outwit the avaricious king, her brother, and, knowing quite well that she would follow her husband to the land of shades if she did not put herself beyond the king’s reach, she secretly organized a band of followers, men and women, and fled from Tyre, taking with her the riches that Sichaeus had left. She and her followers sailed away in ships. Dido had all the spirit and ambition of a royal race, and her purpose was to found a city in some new country where she might reign as became the daughter of Belus. Committing herself and her companions, therefore, to the care and protection of the gods, she had her ships pointed toward the distant coast of Africa, and after a prosperous voyage landed at a point opposite to Sicily. The natives received her with many manifestations of friendship, and when she asked them for only so much ground as might be inclosed with a bull’s hide, they readHy gave their consent. Their amusement, however, turned to dismay, and then to downright admiration, when they saw how the shrewd princess had interpreted her own proposition. I don’t know who suggested the idea to Dido; perhaps she evolved it out of her own head; but when the natives had consented to her request for as much ground as might be inclosed with a bull’s hide, she had the hide cut into very fine strips, and then tied together into a very long string. With this string she and her followers managed to inclose a pretty good-sized piece of ground, upon which they at once built a citadel as the nucleus of a town. And that is how the great and powerful city of Carthage was founded, a city that afterward produced Hamilcar and Hannibal, two of the greatest soldiers and chieftains of those times; a city that rivaled Rome itself in greatness and power. One day a great storm swept pver the sea off Carthage, and in the midst of it the people could see several vessels struggling with wind and wave. They were some from shore, but their tempest-driven course showed that they must soon be wrecked upbn the rocks that lay just outside the harbor. Word of their condition ■was brought to Queen Dido in her palace, and she gave immediate orders that her people should do what they could to aid the mariners if they should be wrecked. But suddenly, as if by some supernatural power, the winds subsided, the waves laid their foaming crests down upon the surface of the sea, the face of heaven was swept clear of the dark clouds that had obscured it, and the vessels sailed quietly into port. The people received the strangers with generous hospitality, and the queen sent a messenger to the leader of the expedition, requesting him to appear before her in the palace. Con-

1 ducted by the messenger, the leader set forth at once to obey the royal command. ' “Welcome, noble stranger,” said Dido, as the leader came into her presence. “I know not w’hence you came, but it is enough that you and your people have been storm-driven; all Carthage is subject to your will until such time as you shall have repaired the injury you have sustained. I, myself, am not unacquainted with sorrow, and I have learned to succor the unfortunate. Welcome, therefore, to this good city of Carthage, of which I am queen.” "Most noble queen,” said the stranger, a man of heroic form and bearing, “I thank you for your hospitable greeting; may the gods forever bless you and your generous people. “Know, Queen Dido, that I am Aeneas, one of the chieftains of Troy. That fair city, after ten years of heroic struggle against the valor and strategy of the besieging Greeks, has fallen, and Its good people—all except those that came here with me in my ships—have suffered death by spear and sword at the hands of our victorious enemy. “Yes queen, Troy is no more; its palaces and its temples are in ashes, and its people are dead. We are the only survivors of the dire oestamity, and we seek a spot where, under the good- , will and protection of the gods, we may religbllitata ourselves and, mayhap, found a newtalty and a new race.’’ “Noble Aeneas.” said Dlds. “it grieves

me to hear that Troy is no more. But right worthily did her gallant sons bear themselves in her defense. As long as the world endures shall their praises be sung and their names be honored. “You say that you and your followers are seeking a new home; rest here! Carthage welcomes all gallant men within her walls! Here there shall be no . distinction between Carthaginian and Trojan. Your people shall be my people, and my people shall be yours. Abide in Carthage and find here the fulfillment of your ambition!” And then the queen ordered a great feast prepared in honor of Her guests; but before the feast there were athletic games, such as the people of that age indulged in, at which the men of Carthage and the followers of Aeneas contended on equal terms. The whole city gave Itself up to festivity, and the storm-beaten Trojans were led to forget their distress. In the evening the feast was spread in the great hall of the palace, and Queen Dido made Aeneas sit beside her on her throne. Then, while the festivities went on around them, she bade him tell her the story of his escape from Troy and his adventures before the storm drove him to Carthage. “This, most noble queen.” said Aeneas, “is how it happened. For ten years had the Greeks, led by Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles and the rest, sought in vain to capture Troy. Many a great and glorious struggle had taken place upon the plains before the city, and many a brilliant deed of arms had been done by warriors on both sides. “But strategy accomplished what valor had failed to do, and when our people hauled within the gates a great wooden horse that the Greeks had left upon the plain our doom was sealed. That wooden horse was filled with some of the bravest of our enemies, and at night a traitor opened Its side and turned the warriors loose upon our unsuspecting people. “Straightway these warriors opened the city gates to their soldiers and Troy was taken. Then followed all the horrors of fire, pillage and massacre, in the midst of which I managed to find my way out of the city, bearing my father, Anchises, upon my shoulders, and leading my little son by the hand. Close after me followed my wife, but she, alas! was soon swept away in the confusion and utterly lost. “Some others escaped, also, and when I encountered them some distance ffom the city, they placed themselves under my guidance and command. The fugitives, as you see, were men, women and children, and I determined to seek a new country and establish a colony, perhaps build a city that might rival fair Troy.

“In time we secured ships and set sail, meeting wi,th various adventures on our way. We first landed on the shores of Thrace, but the gods sent me a warning, and we took ship again. Then sighting Delos, I sailed into its harbor, and having gone ashore, I consulted the oracle of Apollo for guidance. “The oracle answered me in ambiguous phrase, as oracles always do: ‘Seek your ancient mother; there the race of Aeneas shall dwell, and reduce all other nations to their sway.’ “I knew not where to find my ‘ancient mother,’ but Anchises, my father, remembered that Crete was the reputed home of my ancestors. To Crete, therefore, we sailed, and having landed, we began to build a city, but sickness broke out among my people, our crops utterly failed, and I had a dream in which I was warned to seek Hesperia, in the west, whence Dardanus, the real founder of the Trojan race, had migrated.

"Leaving Crete, therefore, we turned our ships toward the west. Having touched at various points, and met with many strange adventures, we at last reached the coast of Sicily, over against your own good city of Carthage. “With fair winds, clear skies, smooth water and hopeful hearts, we were speeding away prosperously toward our destination, when Juno, whose resentment against Paris for awarding the Golden Apple to Venice extends to the whole Trojan race, sent for Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, and ordered him to turn loose a gale upon our ships and wreck them. "It was that storm, O queen, through which we struggled as we neared this hospitable shore. No doubt you marveled at the suddenness with which it subsided; but know you that it was great Neptune that quieted the waves. Hearing the storm raging, and knowing that he had not ordered one, he looked from under the water and bade the winds go back to their keeper. "Then it was that we sailed through smooth water to your fair city, where you and your people have so royally received us.”

“And here you shall remain, noble Aeneas, if it please you, for whatever you ask you shall have, even to the half of my kingdom. I beg you to seek not that unknown country, Hesperia; be content with Carthage, for here you shall have riches, luxury and power.” Who will wonder that Aeneas accepted the generous queen's offer? And when she gave him her hand and made him her royal consort, he ceased to think of Hesperia and the mysterious warning he had received in his dream. But the hands of the gods were upon this noble Trojan, for it had been decreed that his race should found the city of Rome, in Hesperia, or Italy, as it is now called, and Jupiter sent Mercury to remind him of the, great destiny that had been predicted for him. Surrounded by luxury, wealth, power, love and all the allurements that ensnare a man’s ambition, he was content to remain in Carthage with his beautiful queen. But a command from the gods he dared not disobey. When Mercury had left him, therefore, he began his preparations for leaving Carthage. Dido used all the sweet persuasions that love and devotion could suggest but While his heart was torn with agony at the thought of leaving her, he dreaded the anger of Jupiter too much to yield to her entreaties When the afflicted queen knew that Tie had sailed away she gave herself up to a grief that was too heavy to be borne, and even while his ships were still within sight of the city, she mounted a funeral pile that had been prepared by her direction, thrust a dagger deep into her heart and sunk dying upon the pile as the flames sent their long tongues up Into the air.

A GREAT STORM SWEPT OVER THE SEA.