you seem to be? Whoever you are, graciously relieve our anxiety by
informing us what country this is into which unkind fortune has driven
us.

"Instruct us 'neath what sky at last,
Upon what shore our lot is cast;
We wander here by tempest blown,
The people and the place unknown."
CONINGTON, _AEneid_, BOOK I.

To these inquiries Venus, still maintaining her disguise, replied by
telling the Trojan heroes the story of Carthage and Queen Dido. This
famous woman was the daughter of Be'lus, king of Tyre, a city of
Phoe-nic'i-a, in Asia Minor. She married a wealthy Tyrian lord named
Si-chae'us. On her father's death, her brother Pyg-ma'li-on became
king of Tyre. He was a cruel and avaricious tyrant, and in order to
get possession of his brother-in-law's riches, he had him put to death,
concealing the crime from his sister by many false tales. But in a
dream the ghost of Sichaeus appeared to Dido and told her of the
wicked deed of Pygmalion. He at the same time advised her to fly from
the country with all speed, and he informed her of the place where he
had hidden his treasures--a large sum in gold and silver, which he
bade her take to help her in her flight.

Dido therefore got together a number of ships, and put to sea
accompanied by a number of her countrymen who hated the cruel tyrant.
They sailed to the coast of Africa and landed in Libya, where they
purchased from the inhabitants as much ground as could be encompassed
by a bull's hide cut into thongs. Then they commenced to build a city
which they called Carthage, and even now they were engaged in raising