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Read Ebook: Two Dramatizations from Vergil: I. Dido—the Phœnecian Queen; II. The Fall of Troy by Virgil BCE BCE Nelson J Raleigh Joseph Raleigh Contributor Miller Frank Justus Translator
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Ebook has 311 lines and 26478 words, and 7 pages
Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics .
TWO DRAMATIZATIONS FROM VERGIL
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON
THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI
THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY SHANGHAI
TWO DRAMATIZATIONS FROM VERGIL
Arranged and Translated into English Verse
FRANK JUSTUS MILLER
The Stage Directions and Music for the DIDO Are Contributed By
J. Raleigh Nelson
The University of Chicago Press Chicago, Illinois
Copyright 1908 by Frank Justus Miller
All Rights Reserved
Published September 1908 Second Impression April 1913 Third Impression March 1917 Fourth Impression January 1920 Fifth Impression August 1924
PREFACE
The epic is a drama on gigantic scale; its acts are years or centuries; its actors, heroes; its stage, the world of life; its events, those mighty cycles of activity that leave their deep impress on human history. Homer's epics re?nact the stirring scenes of the ten years' siege of Troy, and the perilous, long wanderings of Ulysses before he reached his home; Vergil's epic action embraces the fall of Troy and the never-ending struggles of AEneas and his band of exiles till Troy should rise again in the western world; Tasso pictures the heroic war of Godfrey and his crusaders, who strove to free the holy city of Jerusalem; and Milton, ignoring all bounds of time and space, fills his triple stage of heaven, earth, and hell with angels, men, and devils, all working out the most stupendous problems of human destiny.
The ordinary student of Vergil is too much engrossed with an intensive study of the text, and has too near a view of the poem, to appreciate how fully this story is worked out in detail; how its speech, action, and events all lead to a dramatic climax. There is need only here and there of an interpolated lyric upon some suggested theme, a bit of Vergil's description of action or feeling expressed in the actor's words, an interjected line to relieve the strain of too long speech--all else is Vergil's own, ready to be lifted out of its larger epic setting and portrayed upon the stage.
In arranging and translating this epic tragedy, the authors have made only such minor additions and alterations of the original as seemed necessary from the dramatic point of view. Prominent among these are the introduction of lyrics at certain points, the obviously necessary curtailing of the banquet scene by the omission of the long narrative of AEneas, and the removal behind the scenes of the final tragedy of Dido's suicide. The lyrical parts have been set to original music in sympathy with the themes; stage action and scenery are suggested by outline drawings of the different settings; and idealized figures and costumes are reproduced from ancient vases and bas-reliefs. These figures have, in some cases, been assigned by scholars to other subjects; but they may be taken, for the purposes of the present work, as illustrative of the characters designated.
With full consciousness of the shortcomings of the work, but with the hope also of assisting the student in school and home to a fuller appreciation of the power and beauty of Vergil, this volume is respectfully presented to the public.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
F. J. M.
CHICAGO, 1908
I Dido--The Phoenician Queen
THE ARGUMENT
THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA
AENEAS, prince of Troy, and leader of the Trojan exiles. ACHATES, confidential friend of AEneas. ILIONEUS, a Trojan noble. DIDO, the queen of Carthage. ANNA, sister of Dido. BARCE, nurse of Dido. IOPAS, a Carthaginian minstrel. IARBAS, a Moorish prince, suitor for the hand of Dido. JUNO, queen of Jupiter and protectress of the Carthaginians, hostile to Troy. VENUS, the goddess of love, mother of AEneas, and protectress of the Trojans. CUPID, son of Venus, god of love. MERCURY, the messenger of Jupiter. Maidens, Courtiers, Soldiers, Attendants, Servants, etc., in Dido's train. Nobles, Sailors, etc., in the band of AEneas.
THE PRELUDE
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto Vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram, Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, Inferretque deos Latio: genus unde Latinum Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romae. Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, Quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus Insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores Impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
ACT I
Dido--The Phoenician Queen
Early morning; the open square before the temple of Juno on a height near Carthage. In the distance appear mountains, and at their foot lies the city, clustered about the harbor where ships are riding at anchor. The effect of elevation is increased by the unfinished columns and the tree-tops just showing above the low marble wall which encloses the square. This scene is set nearer than 1, 2, 3, to increase the perspective.
At the first wing on the right , a colonnade, leading to a flight of steps, forms the entrance from the city below. On the same side, along the wall, is a broad marble seat , shaded by a wild crab tree, pink with bloom. The dark rug on the step before it is strewn with fallen petals. On the left is the front of the temple . Two large columns of white marble flank three broad steps leading to the platform. Above these columns, the architrave bears a frieze representing scenes from the Trojan war. Before the temple door is an altar on which fire is burning.
At the rise of the curtain, a chorus of Carthaginian maidens, clad in white, are seen kneeling before the altar on the temple steps; they sing a greeting to the dawn.
Wake, Aurora, Wake! Come, rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn, The saffron couch of old Tithonus scorning; Fling wide the golden portals of the morning, And bid the gloomy mists of night be gone.
Hail, Aurora, Hail! The dewy stars have sped their silent flight, The fuller glories of thy rays expecting; With rosy beauty from afar reflecting, Thy Orient steeds come panting into sight.
Rise, Apollo, Rise! Send forth thy healing rays to greet the world, Upon the lands thy blessed radiance streaming; Arise, and fling afar, in splendor gleaming, The banners of thy golden light unfurled.
Enter AEneas and Achates, on their way into the city, evidently attracted hither by the singing. AEneas is resplendent in full armor. Achates wears the Phrygian costume: long trousers of brown, a tunic of deep old blue, ornate with embroidered patterns in gold and purple thread; over this a traveling cloak of brown. He carries two spears. The maidens withdraw and as their voices grow fainter AEneas and Achates kneel before the altar. The light brightens. A bugle call in the distance rouses them from their devotion. They arise. Enter Venus, dressed as a huntress.
I crave your grace, good sirs. If my attendant maids Have chanced to wander hither, quiver-girt, and clad In tawny robes of fur, the trophies of the chase, Or with triumphant shouts close pressing in pursuit The foaming boar,--I fain would know their course.
O awful, quenchless thirst of gold! 'T was ever thus That thou hast spurred the hearts of men to deeds of blood.
He long concealed the deed with wanton, feigned excuse, And mocked his sister, sick at heart, with empty hopes. In vain: for in the visions of the night the shade, The pallid shade of her unburied husband came; The cruel altar and his pierc?d breast he showed, And all the hidden guilt of that proud house revealed. He bade her speed her flight and leave her fatherland, And showed, to aid her cause, deep buried in the earth, An ancient treasure, store of silver and of gold Uncounted. Thus forewarned the queen prepared her flight And bade her comrades join her enterprise. They came, Whom hatred or consuming terror of the prince Inspired. A fleet of ships at anchor chanced to lie In waiting. These they seized and quickly filled with gold; Pygmalion's treasure, heaped with greedy care, was reft Away upon the sea, a woman leading all. They reached at last the place where now the mighty walls And newly rising citadel of Carthage stand. But who and whence are ye? and whither do ye fare?
Whoe'er thou art, Full sure am I the gods must love thee well, since thou Through dangers manifold hast reached this Tyrian realm. But haste thee and with heart of cheer seek out the queen. For lo, thy friends are rescued and thy fleet restored, Unless in vain my parents taught me augury. For see, those joyous swans are fluttering to the earth, Which, swooping from the sky, but now the bird of Jove Was harrying. As they, with fluttering wings and cries Of joy regain the earth, so, by this token know, Thy ships and comrades even now are safe in port, Or with full sails the harbor's mouth are entering. Then fare thee on, and follow where the path of fate May lead.
As Venus vanishes from the temple steps she is illumined in rosy light.
Achates, see the bright refulgent glow Upon her face! 'T is light divine! And from her locks Ambrosial, heavenly odors breathe! Her garments sweep In stately folds, and she doth walk, a goddess all, With tread majestic! Lo, 't is Venus' self! O stay, My heavenly mother, stay! Why dost thou, cruel too, So often mock thy son with borrowed semblances? Why may we not join hands, each in his proper self, And speak the words of truth? Ah me! She's vanished quite, And I am left forlorn!--
Deeply moved, he follows her vanishing figure.
Behold this city with its gates and mighty walls, And well-paved streets, where even now the Tyrians With eager zeal press on their various toil. See there, Some build the citadel and heave up massive stones With straining hands; while some a humbler task essay, And trace the furrow round their future homes. Behold, Within the harbor others toil, and here thou seest The deep foundations of the theater, where soon Shall rise huge columns, stately set, to deck the scene.
He remains in deep dejection.
But here, O friend, behold, in carv?d imagery, Our Trojan battles one by one, that mighty strife Whose fame has filled the world. Here see Achilles fierce, The sons of Atreus,--and, alas, our fallen king!
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