Pyrrhus had made her his slave after the fall of Troy, but
after he wedded Hermione, he had given her to Helenus, himself a slave.
When Pyrrhus died, part of his realm fell to Helenus, and here the two had
set up a little Troy.
"Helenus received us kindly, instructed us as to our route, and gave us
rich gifts; and Andromache, remembering her dead Astyanax, wept over lulus
as she parted with him.
"As we passed Sicily we took up a Greek, Achemenides, a companion of
Ulysses, who had been left behind, and had since been hiding in deadly
terror from the Cyclops. We ourselves caught sight of the monster
Polyphemus, feeling his way to the shore to bathe his wounded eye.
"Instructed by Helenus, we avoided Scylla and Charybdis, and reached
Sicily, where my father died. We were just leaving the island when the
storm arose that brought us hither. The rest thou knowest."
The guests departed from the banquet hall; but the unhappy Dido, consumed
with love, imparted her secret to her sister Anna.
"Why shouldst thou weep, sister dear? Why regret that thou hast at last
forgotten Sichaeus? Contend not against love, but strive to unite Trojan
and Tyrian. Winter comes on, and thou canst detain him while the sea rages
and the winds are fierce and the rains icy."
Her ambitious plans for her city forgotten, Dido wandered through the
streets, mad with love and unable to conceal her passion.
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