“From Troy’s fair stock shall Caesar rise,
  The limits of whose victories
  Are ocean, of his fame the skies."[5]

Having thus quieted Venus’ apprehensions in regard to her son, Jupiter directed Mercury to hasten off to Carthage so as to warn Dido she is to receive hospitably the Trojan guests.

After a sleepless night Aeneas again set out with Achates to explore, and encountered in the forest his goddess mother in the guise of a Tyrian huntress.  In respectful terms—­for he suspected she was some divinity in disguise—­Aeneas begged for information and learned he has landed in the realm of Dido.  Warned in a vision that her brother had secretly slain her husband and was plotting against her life, this Tyrian queen had fled from Tyre with friends and wealth, and, on reaching this part of Africa, had, thanks to the clever device of a bull’s hide, obtained land enough to found the city of Byrsa or Carthage.  In return Aeneas gave the strange huntress his name, relating how the storm had scattered all his vessels save the seven anchored close by.  To allay his anxiety in regard to his friends, Venus assured him that twelve swans flying overhead were omens of the safety of his ships, and it was only when she turned to leave him that Aeneas recognized his mother, who, notwithstanding his desire to embrace her, promptly disappeared.

The two Trojans now walked on in the direction she indicated until dazzled by the beauty of the new city of Carthage, which was rising rapidly, thanks to the activity of Dido’s subjects.  In its centre stood a wonderful temple, whose brazen gates were decorated with scenes from the War of Troy.  Hidden from all eyes by a divine mist, Aeneas and Achates tearfully gazed upon these reminders of the glories past and mingled with the throng until Queen Dido appeared.

She was no sooner seated upon her throne than she summoned into her presence some prisoners just secured, in whom Aeneas recognized with joy the various captains of his missing ships.  Then he overheard them bewail the storm which robbed them of their leader, and was pleased because Dido promised them entertainment and ordered a search made for their chief.

The right moment having come, the cloud enveloping Aeneas and Achates parted, and Dido thus suddenly became aware of the presence of other strangers in their midst.  Endowed by Venus with special attractions so as to secure the favor of the Libyan queen, Aeneas stepped gracefully forward, made himself known, and, after paying due respect to the queen, joyfully greeted his comrades.  Happy to harbor so famous a warrior, Dido invited Aeneas to a banquet in her palace, an invitation he gladly accepted, charging Achates to hasten back to the ships to announce their companions’ safety and to summon Iulus or Ascanius to join his father.  To make quite sure Aeneas should captivate Dido’s heart, Venus now substituted Cupid for Iulus, whom she meantime conveyed to one of her favorite resorts.  It was therefore in the guise of the Trojan prince that Cupid, during the banquet, caressingly nestled in Dido’s arms and stealthily effaced from her heart all traces of her former husband’s face, filling it instead with a resistless passion for Aeneas, which soon impelled her to invite him to relate his escape from Troy.