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Act II: Scene 2
Scene: The Grove
[enter Aeneas, Dido, Belinda, and their train]
RITORNELLE [Orchestra]
Belinda
[Repeated by Chorus]
Thanks to these lovesome vales,
These desert hills and dales,
So fair the game, so rich the sport,
Diana's self might to these woods resort.
GITTER GROUND A DANCE
Second Woman
Oft she visits this lov'd mountain,
Oft she bathes her in this fountain;
Here Actaeon met his fate,
Pursued by his own hounds,
And after mortal wounds
Discover'd, discover'd too late.
[A Dance to entertain Aeneas by Dido's women]
Aeneas
Behold, upon my bending spear
A monster's head stands bleeding,
With tushes far exceeding
Those did Venus' huntsman tear.
Dido
The skies are clouded, hark! how thunder
Rends the mountain oaks a sunder.
Belinda
[Repeated by Chorus]
Haste, haste to town, this open field
No shelter from the storm can yield.
[exeunt Dido and Belinda and train]
[The Spirit of the Sorceress descends to Aeneas in the
likeness of Mercury]
Spirit
Stay, Prince and hear great Jove's command;
He summons thee this Night away.
Aeneas
Tonight?
Spirit
Tonight thou must forsake this land,
The Angry God will brook no longer stay.
Jove commands thee, waste no more
In Love's delights, those precious hours,
Allow'd by th'Almighty Powers
To gain th' Hesperian shore
And ruined Troy restore.
Aeneas
Jove's commands shall be obey'd,
Tonight our anchors shall be weighed.
[Exit Spirit]
But ah! what language can I try
My injur'd Queen to Pacify:
No sooner she resigns her heart,
But from her arms I'm forc'd to part.
How can so hard a fate be took?
One night enjoy'd, the next forsook.
Yours be the blame, ye gods! For I
Obey your will, but with more ease could die.
The Sorceress and Her Enchantress (Chorus)
Then since our Charmes have sped,
A Merry Dance be led
By the Nymphs of Carthage to please us.
They shall all Dance to ease us,
A Dance that shall make the Spheres to wonder,
Rending those fair Groves asunder.
THE GROVES DANCE
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