Virgil's Aeneid
Book 1
Part 7 Dido's feast: Cupid does his job (657 - 722)
Venus' plan to substitute Cupid for Ascanius
But the Cytherean was busy with schemes of her own, devising her own plan, whereby Cupid in disguise would arrive in place of the charming Ascanius, and arouse uncontrolled passion in the queen with the presents, and set her inwardly aflame. The fact was that she was afraid of the treacherous family, and the two-faced Tyrians. Juno's cruelty made her hot with anger, and her worries haunted her as night approached. Accordingly she said this to Love, the winged god: [663]
"My son, my strength, source of my power and might, the only one who can ignore the Typhoean weapons of the almighty father, I come to you for comfort, and ask you, on my knees, for your divine assistance. You are aware how your brother Aeneas is being driven from sea to sea through Juno's bitter hatred, and you have often shared my grief with me. Now Phoenician Dido has him, and is keeping him [from his duty] with her seductive flattery: I am afraid of where Juno's hospitality may be leading. She will not miss out at this crucial moment. Which is the reason why I plan to get in first: catch the queen with my trick, and engulf her in the flames of passion, so that she will not bend to any god's whim, but be stuck fast with me in her mighty love for Aeneas. [675]
Listen now to my instructions how you can do this. The prince, my chief responsibility, is getting ready to go to the Sidonian city, having been summoned by his loving father, taking as presents things that survived the sea and the flames of Troy; I shall hide him, sound asleep, somewhere in a sacred spot on a mountain in Cythera, or in Idalium, so he can't know about the deception, or interrupt things in the middle! For just this one night steal his face and impersonate the boy, so that when Dido is so delighted to be cuddling you, at her royal banquet when the wine flows free, when she starts giving you hugs and planting soft kisses, you may breathe your invisible fire into her, and drug her senses." Love obeyed his darling mother's words, and took off his wings, amused to be walking on foot and mimicking Iulus.[690] And Venus poured a gentle stillness over Ascanius' limbs, and the goddess wafted him snug in her bosom to the woods high on Mount Idalus, where the soft sweetly-smelling marjoram gave him cover with its flowers. [694]
Cupid arrives at the banquet
Soon Cupid was on his way, in obedience to his mother, carrying the princely gifts for the Tyrians, 
content to have Achates guiding him. When he arrived, the queen radiant in her beauty had already positioned herself on a divan in the centre of the hall, propped on expensive cushions, while father Aeneas and the young men from Troy had taken their places on couches spread with purple tapestry. Slaves bustled about, bringing water for hand-washing, offering bread from baskets, and bringing smooth, crisp napkins. Backstage were fifty kitchen maids, whose job was to lay out the dishes for the long meal in order, and keep the fires going. In addition there were a hundred waitresses and an equal number of waiters, all matched for looks, who set the food on the tables and poured the wine. There were also numbers of Tyrians who'd been invited to join the happy party, taking their places on the richly-decorated couches as instructed. They stared at Aeneas' presents, they stared at Iulus - the shameless god with his stolen looks and his faked conversation, along with the dress, and the wrap edged with the saffron-dyed acanthus. [711] Phoenissa in particular, entangling herself in her own destruction, was unable to get enough of him, and her passion was beginning to catch fire simply through looking: she was affected as much by the the boy himself as by the presents. After Cupid had put his arms around Aeneas' neck and hugged him, claiming how much he loved the man who was not his real father, he sought out the queen. She couldn't take her eyes off him, her whole being was concentrated on him, and over and over again held him to her breast, poor Dido, not knowing how powerful a god was sitting in her lap. But he, mindful of his mother Acidalia, began to blot out [her memory of] Sychaeus, and attempt to stir up long dormant feelings, and fill the void in a heart long unused to affection with a lover who was alive. [722]
After dinner entertainment
As soon as the interval in the feast arrived, and the tables had been removed, they brought in huge mixing-bowls and filled them to the brim with wine. Their noise echoed through the building, and the buzz of conversation filled the great chamber; lamps were lit, and hoisted up to the gilded ceiling: the candle-flames conquered the dark. Now the queen called for a bowl, a heavy one studded with gold and jewels, which Belus and all Belus' decendants had used, and filled it with neat wine. The when silence fell throughout the hall:
"Jupiter, for they tell us that you laid down the laws of hospitality, please make this a special day for the Tyrians and the men who left Troy, one that our descendants may long remember. Let Bacchus, giver of joy, be present, and may Juno bless us. And may you, my Tyrians, give me your support, as you celebrate this coming together."
When she had spoken, she poured a libation of wine on to her table, showing honour to the gods, and after the libation, she took the first sip. Then she gave the cup to Bitias, with a word of encouragement; he managed with an effort to get the foaming golden bowl to his lips: it was so full he almost took a bath in it! Then the other leaders drank. Iopas, the long-haired bard who'd been taught by the great Atlas, took up his lyre. He sang about the moon's travels and the sun's labours, of where the human race and the animals came from, the origin of storm and fire, of Arcturus, and the Hyades that foretell rain, and the twin Triones; why the sun in winter is in such a hurry to plunge itself into the Ocean, or what causes the long nights that pass so slowly. The Tyrians applauded fulsomely, and the Trojans joined in. And the doomed Dido tried to keep the evening alive, with conversation on all manner of topics, all the time trying to quench her thirst for love, asking repeatedly about Priam, asking about Hector; now wanting to know what arms the son of Aurora had arrived with, now what Diomedes' horses were like, now how great Achilles was. "Come, please, you owe me this as my guest, tell me from the very beginning about treachery of the Greeks, and your sufferings and your travels; for a seventh summer now sees you still a homeless wanderer over land and sea."
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