Greek Anthology 16.151:
On an Image of Dido
O stranger, you’re looking at a model of wide-famed Dido, an image shining with divine beauty. ‘I was such as you see, but I did not have the mind that you hear about, since I earned by fame for good deeds. I never saw Aeneas, nor did he ever come in the times of Troy’s destruction to Libya. Rather, fleeing from the compulsion of marrying Iarbas, I drove the double-edged sword into my heart. Muses, why did you arm divine Vergil against me to say such things against my self-control!?’
εἰς εἰκόνα Διδοῦς
ἀρχέτυπον Διδοῦς ἐρικυδέος, ὦ ξένε, λεύσσεις,
εἰκόνα θεσπεσίῳ κάλλεϊ λαμπομένην.
τοίη καὶ γενόμην, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ νόον, οἷον ἀκούεις,
ἔσχον, ἐπ᾽ εὐφήμοις δόξαν ἐνεγκαμένη.
οὐδὲ γὰρ Αἰνείαν ποτ᾽ ἐσέδρακον, οὐδὲ χρόνοισι
Τροίης περθομένης ἤλυθον ἐς Λιβύην:
ἀλλὰ βίας φεύγουσα Ἰαρβαίων ὑμεναίων
πῆξα κατὰ κραδίης φάσγανον ἀμφίτομον.
Πιερίδες, τί μοι ἁγνὸν ἐφωπλίσσασθε Μάρωνα
οἷα καθ᾽ ἡμετέρης ψεύσατο σωφροσύνης;
