The Aeneid is an epic poem by Virgil that tells an origin story of the Romans and was Rome’s national epic. One of the most famous episodes of the work is Aeneas’ tragic affair with Dido, which ends with Dido’s suicide. This essay will argue that Aeneas’ staunch inclination to following his pietas most strongly defines itself in it’s clash with Dido’s selfish anti-pietas. The similes comparing Aeneas’ time in Carthage to seasons reflect the natural necessity of his quest, as the only way for Aeneas to end winter is to depart Carthage. Aeneas is trapped in Carthage by Dido’s temptations and his realization of his obligation to his son Ascanius and his people wakes him up. Aeneas steadfastly refuses Dido’s temptations, and her love turns into a fire that kills her metaphorically & literally.
Aeneas’ calling to pietas is reflected in the seasonal similes and allusions of his time in Carthage. Winter in literal terms is important in the poem: A winter storm damages the hulls of Aeneas’ ships and forces him to land in Carthage. Dido warns the Trojans against sailing in winter, and the goddess Fama spreads news of Aeneas and Dido’s love heating up in winter.[1] But the seasonal similes are just as crucial. In one of Book 1’s similes, the Trojans witness the Carthaginians constructing their city:
Like bees in spring across the blossoming land,
Busy beneath the sun, leading their offspring,
Full grown now, from the hive, or loading cells
Until they swell with honey and sweet nectar,
Or taking shipments in, or lining up
To guard the fodder from the lazy drones;
The teeming work breathes thyme and fragrant honey.[2]
This is a happy, hopeful and proud simile for the Carthaginians, but not for the Trojans, who won’t create a city during the Aeneid. For the Carthaginians, spring has begun, and they can look forward to the joy of high summer.[3] The Carthaginians work together as one cohesive unit to build their city in the same way that bees work together to build and maintain a hive. It is like summer for the Carthaginians because they have long reached the final destination of a journey like that of the Trojans. The bees have raised their offspring to adulthood and now lead them in spring. They have loaded their cells with honey & sweet nectar. In the same way the Carthaginians have raised their city from one of huts to one of tall walls, paved roads, gates, and a citadel.[4] Carthage is a lawful and orderly city, and Virgil describes it in Roman terms, saying that it has “laws, magistrates, and sacred senators”.[5] The sun is another symbol of this verdant and orderly season. Aeneas sees what his own city could be in Carthage.
In another famous simile Aeneas goes out to hunt with Dido and is compared to Apollo:
Apollo, coming to his mother’s Delos
From winter Lycia and the river Xanthus,
Renews the dance. Around the altar shout
Dryopians, Cretans, tattooed Agathyrsi
He walks the slope of Cynthus with his long hair
Braided and bound with tender leaves and gold.
Arrows clank on his shoulder. Just as lively,
As beautiful, as noble, rode Aeneas.[6]
This lively simile foreshadows the joy of the coming hunt. This simile represents a point of transition, as Apollo has abandoned his winter visit of Lycia and is restarting his dances with his worshippers. There is an argument that this simile is symbolically retrospective, examining Aeneas’ life before arriving in Carthage. But this simile is looking forward to Aeneas leaving his winter quarters at Carthage, which Dido will lament. Before this in the same passage Dawn is describes as leaving Ocean, a cosmic reflection of Aeneas leaving Dido which synchronizes celestial and human activities.[7] This shows that Aeneas’ departure and his foundation of Rome are natural and fated to happen. They are a ritual like Apollo leaving his wintery abode so that he can restart the Delian dances. Aeneas’s comparison to Apollo shows his central role: Apollo is the god of the sun, and the planets revolve around him like Apollo’s worshippers shout and dance around his altar. In the same way Aeneas is the life giver, leader and culture hero of his people.
When Aeneas leaves Carthage, Vergil describes Dido’s view of the Trojans preparing their ships. A simile compares them to ants plundering a pile of grain to prepare for winter:
Tarred hulls
Floated. The busy crews brought leafy oars
And logs with bark still on them.
That rush from everywhere in town resembled
Ants plundering a giant heap of spelt
To store at home in readiness for winter.
Over the grass the thin black phalanx goes,
Loaded with booty. Some are heaving huge grains
Forward, and some are marshalling and prodding
So the entire pathway hums with work.[8]
This simile portrays coming change, with the ants looking forward to a future season. But the reader takes Dido’s perspective: to her the Trojans act like they are settling down for winter. This reflects Dido’s loneliness and disorientation, as the actual season in the narrative is midwinter. In their rush to sail in an unideal season, the Trojans also drag leaf-sprouting branches. The greenery shows that the natural world supports the Trojans in their quest, and spring has sprouted early for them.[9] This scene is a chaotic uproar and commotion with a sense of urgency. Just as ants have to store their goods & find shelter for winter, the Trojans must leave immediately. The incoming winter represents not just the divine command for the Trojans to leave, but also Dido’s wrath which threatens to kill them. The Trojans are described as a phalanx because their situation is like a battle, and they are working together to leave the city. The chaos of the scene also reflects Dido’s emotional state. She sees the Trojans as thieves, which is shown by the booty they are carrying and the greenery they are taking from springlike Carthage. The coming arrival of winter also anticipates Dido’s death. So winter is a catalyst that forces the Trojans to leave Carthage.
Aeneas is trapped by Carthage’ splendors and must be reminded of his obligations to his family. Dido is resistant to marriage with Aeneas at first because she recognizes her pietas to her dead husband Sychaeus, but even then, she is consumed by a “brutal love wound” and is restless.[10] She tries to resist marriage, but her sister Anna convinces her to make love with Aeneas so she can bring Carthage to glory. She betrays her pietas for pleasure. Dido’s love wound is compared to that of a hunter’s arrow:
Poor Dido burned, raved, wandered through the city,
As when a deer, at peace in Cretan glades,
Is pierced from far off by a hunting shepherd.
Not knowing where the flying iron point
Landed, he leaves it. Through the groves of Dicte
She runs at random, in her side the death reed.[11]
This comparison to a real wound sets the stage for Dido’s death from love.[12] She is consumed by her passion for Aeneas. Dido tries to win over Aeneas:
Now Dido leads Aeneas through the fortress,
Shows him Sidonian wealth, the rising city,
Begins to speak but leaves her words half-said.
At fall of daylight, she repeats her banquet,
Demands to hear the Trojans’ trials again.
Again hangs on his words in her delusion.[13]
Dido shows Aeneas the splendors of her city. She gives him a taste of luxury and opulence that he has not had much of in the past 7 years since he has been on a restless journey. She also wants Aeneas to respect her by showing him the grand things that she has achieved as a leader. Another way that Dido exerts her control over Aeneas is by taking Ascanius:
She holds Ascanius – so like his father!
In her lap, cheats her real and shameful love.
The towers she began don’t rise. The young men
No longer drill or build defending ramparts
Or ports. The work stalls, halfway done – the menace
Of high walls, and the cranes as high as heaven.[14]
Dido’s mad love for Aeneas distracts her, as she is no longer tending to her city and is leaving it unfinished. When Dido and Aeneas go out to the hunt, her description is informative on her character:
At the queen’s door the Tyrian leaders waited.
Her horse stood radiant in gold and purple,
And fiercely stamped, and gnawed a foaming bit
At last, thronged with her retinue, she came.
Her cloak was Punic, edged with lavish stitching.
Her hair was clasped in gold, her quiver gold,
A brooch of gold secured her purple robe.[15]
Dido gives off an air of colorful luxury, a splendor that is not Roman. The scene’s central focus is Dido, and her delay is the scene’s cause. In contrast, the second simile that compares Aeneas to Apollo, already mentioned, has the god keep a distance from his followers, and focuses on his handsomeness.[16] While Dido’s description focuses on her luxury, Aeneas is described as Dido’s escort, and the simile shows him as a god performing a holy task for his followers. This shows that while Dido is hedonistic, Aeneas follows pietas, though he has currently been derailed from it. Later in the hunt, Dido and Aeneas are scattered by a tumult, and they take shelter in a cave. Gaia and Juno signal, and “lightning flashed / at the union”.[17] Dido interprets the thunder as sanctioning her marriage with Aeneas. As a result, Fama spreads the news of Aeneas and Dido’s relationship, and wonders “what kind of rulers spend the whole long winter / Sunk deep in sensuous and sordid passion?”[18] This is a criticism of both Aeneas and Dido focusing on pleasure and rest rather than their obligations to their people. The news reaches Jupiter, who sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his obligations:
Your wife must like you laying the foundations
For lofty Carthage, such a splendid city-
Forgetting your own kingdom that awaits you.
[…]
If you’re unmoved by all the coming splendor,
Which is a weight you do not wish to shoulder
Think of your hope as Iulus grows, your heir,
Owed an Italian realm and Roman soil.[19]
Mercury warns that Aeneas will disinherit his son if he stays in Carthage and does not go to Italy. Disinheriting a son was controversial in Roman culture if not done for a good reason. Aeneas and Dido could have a son, but he would not be his father’s legitimate successor.[20] Mercury is criticizing Aeneas for helping a foreign, alien people rather than his own Trojans. The relationship between Ascanius and Dido’s hypothetical son with Aeneas is similar to that between Octavian and Caesarion: Octavian was the legitimate heir of Julius Caesar, while Caesarion did not have any such claim.[21] Aeneas has a responsibility to follow pietas, his gods, family and people, and cannot live just for himself. Just as Dido’s earlier affection for Cupid disguised as Ascanius drove her to love Aeneas, now love for his son Ascanius drives Aeneas to depart.[22] Aeneas has been absorbed in his and Dido’s pleasures, but Mercury’s reminder of his obligations have woken him up from his stupor.
Aeneas’ pietas clashes against Dido’s anti-pietas when he tries to leave. Aeneas resolves to tell Dido about his coming departure. However, Dido has already been told by Fama. She is furious, and compared to a bacchant, a woman stuck in a frenzy but who can still be cured.[23] She has harsh words for Aeneas:
You traitor, did you think that you could hide
Such a great crime, that you could sneak away?
The pledge you made, our passion for each other,
Even your Dido’s brutal death won’t keep you?
[…]
You ruined me and my good name – my one path
To the stars.[24]
Dido feels that Aeneas has an obligation to stay in Carthage and help her maintain the city. She thinks that he promised her marriage. Dido accuses Aeneas of ruining her reputation and life. Aeneas is arguably not to blame for her reputation being ruined, but instead her own passion for him, which was exacerbated by the gods. Dido threatens to kill herself if Aeneas leaves. In the face of Dido’s anger, Aeneas calmly replies:
Never will I regret Elissa’s memory
While I have memory, while I breathe and move.
A little on the facts, though: don’t imagine
I meant to sneak away; and as for spouse,
I never made a pact of marriage with you.
[…]
You, though Phoenician,
Are riveted by towers in Libya.
So how can you resent us Trojans’ settling
In Italy, our lawful foreign kingdom?
[…]
Don’t goad me-and yourself- with these complaints.
Italy is against my will.[25]
Aeneas is grateful to Dido for her hospitality. However, he had nothing to do with the thunderous omen and never agreed to marriage with Dido. Dido already has her kingdom in Carthage and only wants to keep Aeneas for her own pleasure. Aeneas is emotionally making it clear that going to Italy is his sacred task and he must stick to it, even though it is burdensome.[26] But it all goes over Dido’s head as she curses him personally, foreshadowing her later curse to his people. Dido’s speech is garrulous and mad, and she says far more in the book overall than Aeneas. Meanwhile, Aeneas speaks concisely and reasonably. He may seem heartless, but the Romans respected moderation.[27] Dido’s love for Aeneas is selfish and conditional, turning into hatred if she doesn’t get what she wants. Aeneas still wishes to comfort Dido, although he must leave immediately. In this part of the book, as it reaches it’s climax, Aeneas is given the Latin adjective pius.[28] Even when Anna tearfully pleads for Aeneas to stay, Aeneas is immovable:
As in the Alps, the North Wind’s blasts assault
A solid, tough, and venerable oak,
Competing to uproot it; under hard blows,
Creaking, it spreads its high leaves on the ground
But clasps the cliff with roots that go as far
Toward hell as its top reaches up to heaven:
Just as relentless were the words that battered
The hero. Though his generous heart suffered,
The tears fell useless. His resolve endured.[29]
Aeneas sinks into his conviction. Like the roots of the tree going down to hell while the top goes to heaven, Aeneas suffers now so he can reap the rewards later. This is when he wins his metaphorical battle and accepts his pietas. Meanwhile, Dido only becomes madder. She is likened to mad Orestes, or Pentheus in a play. It is too late for Dido, and she chooses death. Dido commands Anna to:
Build me a pyre in secret in the courtyard.
The arms that evil man hung in our bedroom,
The clothes he left me here, our bed of union
(My death)- put it all there. I want the remnants
Of the criminal destroyed. She’s shown me how.[30]
Dido claims this is a rite “to bring [Aeneas] back or set me free from love”, declining to reveal her desire for suicide.[31] Dido’s love bed will also be her death bed. Her pyre is both meant for her own cremation and a reenactment of her love with Aeneas, in the same palace and bed, finished with his effigy and clothing.[32] Dido wants to destroy anything that is associated with Aeneas. Dido in her anger curses the Trojans:
And now, my last plea, gushing with my blood:
Tyrians, hound with hatred for all time
The race he founds. My ashes call from you
This service. Let there be no pacts of friendship.
Out of my grave let an avenger rise
To visit fire and sword on Trojan settlers –
Now – someday, when the power is there to strike.[33]
Dido’s curse foreshadows the Punic Wars, and Hannibal as the avenger. Dido’s hatred goes even beyond Juno’s, as while the goddess will make peace with Aeneas by the end of the poem, Dido’s hatred will last for generations. Indeed, the Punic Wars were some of the most difficult Rome had ever faced: particularly during the second war, Rome faced Hannibal’s invasion of Italy, the massacre of its army at Cannae, and a threat to its very existence. The Third Punic War ended with the destruction of Carthage and its rebuilding by the Romans. With the story of Dido and Aeneas Virgil is attempting to not just explain the Punic Wars, but why they were so violent. Aeneas’ sword, a gift to Dido, symbolizes his penis, and her stabbing herself with it symbolizes sexual intercourse.[34] This is another indication of Dido blaming Aeneas for her death. Even before she dies, Dido says that she feels no vengeance. This shows her lack of self-awareness, introspection and repentance even in her death. Dido’s love transforms into a fire that both metaphorically and literally takes her life. Some readers and scholars of the poem blame the god’s manipulations for Dido’s actions. Juno’s attempts to trap Aeneas in Carthage and stop Rome’s creation using Dido forced Venus to act against the queen. But Juno is worshipped in Carthage as a patron goddess, so Dido naturally gravitates towards her. Dido chooses to curse Aeneas and kill herself, rebelling against the will of the gods. Aeneas’ pietas leads him to depart Carthage and continue his journey, while Dido’s anti-pietas drives her suicide.
The relationship between Aeneas and Dido show the contrasts between following pietas and rejecting it. The seasonal similes reflect the natural calling of Aeneas to leave Carthage and continue his quest to end his winter. But Aeneas is trapped in Carthage and is only woken up by Mercury reminding him of his obligations to his family. Dido demands Aeneas stay, but he has the dedication to continue on, and Dido’s love turns into a fiery rage that destroys her. Virgil’s work was meant to inculcate values of collective patriotism into Roman citizens as part of Emperor Augustus’ ideology. Augustus wanted them to sacrifice pleasure for the Roman nation. A typical Roman charge against Eastern peoples like the Carthaginians was that they were effeminate and materialistic, and these tropes were portrayed in Dido.
Works Cited
Eidinow, J.S.C. “Dido, Aeneas, and Iulus: Heirship and Obligation in ‘Aeneid’ 4.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 1, May 2003, pp. 260-7.
Franko, George Frederic. “Seasons and Similes in the Aeneid.” The Classical Bulletin, vol. 85, no. 1, 2009, pp. 49-59.
McLeish, Kenneth. “Dido, Aeneas, and The Concept of Pietas.” Greece & Rome, vol. 19, no. 2, Oct. 1972, pp. 127-135.
Moorton Jr, Richard F. “Love as Death: The Pivoting Metaphor in Vergil’s Story of Dido”. The Classical World, vol. 83, no. 3, Jan-Feb 1990, pp. 153-66.
Virgil. The Aeneid. Sarah Ruden (translator) and Susanna Braund (introduction, notes). Yale University Press. 2021.
[1] George Frederic Franko, “Seasons and Similes in the Aeneid,” The Classical Bulletin, vol. 85, no. 1 (2009): 51.
[2] Virgil. The Aeneid. Sarah Ruden (translator) and Susanna Braund (introduction, notes). (Yale University Press. 2021), 1.430-6.
[3] Franko, “Seasons”, 57.
[4] Virgil, Aeneid, 1.421-4.
[5] Ibid, 1.426.
[6] Ibid, 4.143-50.
[7] Franko, “Seasons”, 52.
[8] Virgil, Aeneid, 4.398-407.
[9] Franko, “Seasons”, 53-4.
[10] Virgil, Aeneid, 4.1.
[11] Ibid, 4.68-73.
[12] Richard F. Moorton Jr. “Love as Death: The Pivoting Metaphor in Vergil’s Story of Dido”. The Classical World, vol. 83, no. 3 (Jan-Feb 1990): 157.
[13] Virgil, Aeneid, 4.74-9.
[14] Ibid, 4.84-91.
[15] Ibid, 4.133-5.
[16] Kenneth McLeish. “Dido, Aeneas, and The Concept of Pietas.” Greece & Rome, vol. 19, no. 2 (Oct. 1972): 131.
[17] Virgil, Aeneid, 4.167-8.
[18] Ibid, 4.193-4.
[19] Ibid, 4. 265-7, 272-5.
[20] Eidinow, J.S.C. “Dido, Aeneas, and Iulus: Heirship and Obligation in ‘Aeneid’ 4.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 1 (May 2003): 262.
[21] Ibid, 267.
[22] Moorton, “Love”, 158.
[23] Mcleish, “Pietas”, 132.
[24] Virgil, Aeneid, 4.305-8, 322-3.
[25] Ibid, 335-9, 347-50, 360-1.
[26] McLeish, “Pietas”, 134.
[27] Ibid, 133.
[28] Ibid, 134.
[29] Virgil, Aeneid, 441-9.
[30] Ibid, 494-8.
[31] Ibid, 479.
[32] Moorton, “Love”, 159.
[33] Virgil, Aeneid, 622-7.
[34] Moorton, “Love”, 162.
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