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.

_Book II._ With the eyes of all present upon him, Aeneas related how
the Greeks finally devised a colossal wooden horse, wherein their
bravest chiefs remained concealed while the remainder of their forces
pretended to sail home, although they anchored behind a neighboring
island to await the signal to return and sack Troy. Overjoyed by the