Romilde Nigra

The mighty King of Babylon falls in love with a beautiful girl, ruthlessly tears her away from her lover, who is left wounded upon the ground, and carries her to his palace, where he seeks to will her affections, showering her with gifts of precious stones from his treasure chests. The heart-broken girl repulses all his overtures and dashes the jewels to the floor, and the infuriated monarch, incensed at her refusal to share his throne, orders her cast into the lions' den. An immense throng of his court followers are invited to witness the execution, but the expectant throng is dumbfounded when the ferocious beasts, instead of rending the victim to pieces, fawn upon her. A wave of superstitious awe sweeps through the gathering, who regard the incident as a miracle and believe that the girl is under the protection of the gods. The King's guards are overpowered and the girl released, and the monarch, by this time imbued with fear, pays homage to the maiden, who is restored to her lover.

After seven years of traveling, Aeneas and the other Trojans are surprised by a storm that wrecks their ship on the African coast. Here they are led by the Amazons to the Queen of Carthage, Dido, who soon falls in love with Aeneas. When the King of Numidia, Iarbas, comes to marry Dido, she rejects him. But in the meantime Anchises appears to Aeneas in dreams, and commands him to leave to found Rome. So, while Iarbas’ army surrounds Carthage, Aeneas embarks secretly for Rome.

At Megara, near Carthage (204 B. C.), the slave merchant Sahabalcar lusts after his roman slave Licia, who loves Terentius instead. Threatening her with sacrifice to the man-eating god Moloch, he is still refused. As the rite begins, Terentius rescues her, unleashing lions on the pursuing crowd, and the two lovers escape by boat toward freedom and happiness.