Tori FrederickEyanna GruverNoah Kustrin

Michelle Lipski

At the beginning of Book 4, Dido expresses her love for Aeneas to her sister, Anna. Since Dido’s previous husband, Sychaeus, “cheated” her by death, Dido vowed to never marry again. However, while talking to her sister she realized that she loved Aeneas so much that the promise she previously made didn’t matter anymore. Anna even suggests that if Dido marries Aeneas the city of Carthage will become a great kingdom. After taking all of this in, Dido realizes that Anna is right.

Then Anna and Dido begin to make offerings to the gods (slaughtering sheep), especially to Juno because she is the guardian of marriage. However, Dido remains unsatisfied and chooses to put the work of the city on hold.

When Juno sees what this love has done to Dido, she decides to find a way to make peace, instead of war. She believes that if Aeneas and Dido marry there will be peace between the Trojans and Tyrians.

After deciding what to do, Juno makes a peace offering to Venus; this will end their feud. Even though Venus knows that Juno is trying to keep Aeneas from going to Italy, she agrees to what Juno requests and says, “I’ll follow.” Juno planned to make peace by creating a storm when Dido and Aeneas are hunting in the woods together. This intense storm will cause the two to flee and end up in the same cave. In that particular cave, Juno planned to await them and, eventually marry them.

When dawn rises Dido, Aeneas, and Ascanius plan to get ready to go out hunting. Dido is dressed as a beautiful huntress, while Aeneas is dressed as Apollo. In the meantime, a storm hits the area in which they are hunting. They all flee to the nearest caves for protection. Ironically, just as Juno planned, Dido and Aeneas end up in the same cave. Given the signal, Juno flashes lightning and the sea nymphs begin to shout while the two make love in the cave. Once all is said and done, Dido calls this miracle marriage; however, Aeneas does not.

As time goes on, Rumor spreads throughout the entire city that the two are officially married. When King Iarbus hears of this word, he becomes infuriated. Iarbus is angry because he had previously asked Dido to marry him; but because of the promise she made to herself, Dido refused and now she was “married” to Aeneas. Because he is so upset over the whole ordeal, Iarbus prays to Jove. When Jove hears his son’s desperate words, he orders Mercury to find Aeneas and figure his true fate.

Mercury follows the commands obediently and flies down to find Aeneas, clothed in a new, purple, hand-woven cloak from Dido, watching over the building of new houses and fortresses. Mercury brings the word of his father to Aeneas and tells him to go to Italy, where he is destined to be. However, Aeneas is unsure as to what to do. He does not want to leave Dido.

Eventually, Dido finds out about Mercury’s words through Rumor, and she becomes extremely infuriated. Dido confronts her husband about the situation and asks him how he planned to keep this from her. She even tried to convince him to stay by telling him that the Nomad princes and Tyrian people were hostile to her. Dido makes one last attempt to try and convince Aeneas to stay by saying that she at least wanted a son to remind her of him if he did end up leaving.

Aeneas finally tells Dido that he never meant to hide anything from her and that he didn’t want to leave her. He didn’t want to even leave the city of Troy in the first place, let alone

go to Italy. However, it was fate that was controlling everything. All awhile Aeneas was speaking, Dido just stood there in silence. She didn’t believe anything that he was saying. She begins to wish that bad things will happen to Aeneas and his ships while on their journey. Then, suddenly, she stops her speech. Although Aeneas longed to soothe Dido’s sorrow, he left to go to Italy.

Upset from everything that was going on at the moment, Dido turned to her sister once again. In tears, Dido went to Anna begging her to go and try to get Aeneas to stay home. Again, Anna obeys her sister’s wishes and tries to convince Aeneas to return to Dido. However, because of what the Fates have in store for Aeneas, he will not return. Distraught and angered once again, Dido begins to concoct a plan to commit suicide. Instead of telling Anna of her plans, she says that she found a magical remedy to make Aeneas fall in love her once more. Dido requests that Anna gathers all of Aeneas’s belongings and burns them on a pyre, and Anna fulfills her sister’s requests.

As night fell and Dido was laying in her bed, she began to wonder if she should join the Trojans on the ships or if she should have the Carthaginians charge them. After much thought she decides to do neither. In the meantime, Aeneas is asleep on one of his ships. In his dreams appears Mercury. Mercury tells Aeneas to leave before he faces any danger with the Tyrians. He quickly awakes and gathers his men. As dawn is quickly approaching, they all row their way into sea.

When she wakes, Dido sees that the shore is abandoned. She begins to think of hunting Aeneas down; she also wonders why she just didn’t butcher all of his comrades. Dido prays to Juno to guard her in her death and to place a curse on the Trojans and Aeneas in war.

Dido called to her last husband’s nurse, Barce, and told her to prepare Anna for the ceremony. Dido mounted the pyre, took out a sword, and prayed to the god. Soon after, Dido’s words were gone and her people could see the blood foaming from her bloodstained sword. Then her sister heard the news. All along, without her knowledge, she had been helping Dido plan her own death.

After the ceremony, Juno sent Iris down to take Dido to the Underworld. So she cut off a lock of Dido’s hair and let her life pass in the winds.

Juno offers to make a peace treaty with Venus and end their fight Venus really knows that Juno is just trying to keep Aeneas from

going to Italy, but she lets Juno go ahead with her plans. This leads Juno to intervene with the lives of Dido and Aeneas.

Juno tries to make peace between Trojans and Tyrians by marrying Dido and Aeneas. After the “marriage”, Rumor spread throughout the city and

King Iarbus finds out about the new couple. He is angered because after he asked Dido to marry him, she said no. He goes and complains to Jupiter which leads Mercury to intervene in Aeneas’ life.

Mercury tells Aeneas that he must go to Italy Aeneas isn't sure how to tell Dido about the news. When she

does find out, they begin to fight, and Aeneas ends up going to Italy with his comrades.

Mercury visits Aeneas in his dreams In the night, Mercury goes and tells Aeneas that he and his troops

need to leave in order to avoid any danger from the Tyrians. When Dido wakes up in the morning to see that abandoned shores, it is like the last straw for her. She begins to foreshadow that the men may face harsh struggles while in war in Italy.

Juno sends Iris to take Dido to the Underworld Because there was such an importance to bury the dead properly,

Juno sent Iris down to Dido so that she may be properly sent to the Underworld. She does this by cutting off a lock of Dido’s hair and letting her life “pass” in the winds.

In our opinion, the most significant event in Book 4 was Aeneas’ important decision to

follow the order of Mercury and go to Italy to fulfill his fate.

We felt that it was so significant because this caused the queen of Carthage, Dido, to

commit suicide. Her death may change some things to the Carthaginian people.

1- “Let us make, instead of war, an everlasting peace and plighted wedding. You have what you were bent upon: she burns with love; the frenzy now is in her bones. Then let us rule this people – you and I - with equal auspices; […]” ~ Juno to Venus It is important because this is showing how Juno is attempting to make peace between Trojans and Tyrians; she is also trying to end the fight with herself and Venus. This foreshadows the “marriage” of Dido and Aeneas.

2- “Deceiver, did you even hope to hide so harsh a crime, to leave this land of mine without a word? Can nothing hold you back– neither your love, the hand you pledged, nor even the cruel death the lies in wait for Dido […]

~Dido to Aeneas

These are the harsh words that Dido expresses to Aeneas when she finds out the he is fated to go to Italy. It is important because, in this quote, Dido foreshadows that she will be the victim of a cruel death.

3- “[…]Why not flee this land headlong, while there is time? You soon will see the waters churned by wreckage, ferocious torches blaze, and beaches flame, if morning find you lingering on this coast. Be on your way. Enough delays. […]

~Mercury to Aeneas (while Aeneas is sleeping)

This quote is important because Mercury is warning Aeneas that if he doesn’t leave there will big trouble coming his way. Right after Mercury says this, it leads Aeneas to get his men and start rowing out to sea. When Dido wakes the following morning, she sees the abandoned shores; she prays to Juno and asks her to place a curse on Aeneas. This foreshadows that Aeneas and his men may face some hard times while in Italy.

Anna ~ Dido’s sister Has good intentions, but somehow always seems to be

in disastrous situations Unknowingly, she was tricked into helping Dido commit

suicide King Iarbus ~ Son of Hammon

Built many temples and shrines for Jupiter Asked Dido for her hand in marriage, but Dido denied

his request Experiences extreme rage when he finds out about the

marriage between Dido and Aeneas After finding out about the couple, he prays to Jove

which causes the intervention of Mercury

Aeneas Protagonist Motivator of his men Respects the gods Marries Dido to gain peace between the Trojans and Tyrians His trip to Italy, will allow him to fulfill his fate

Dido Queen of Carthage Leaves Tyre after her husband was killed by her brother, Pygmalion She falls in love with Aeneas, and breaks her promise to herself After Dido leaves to fulfill his fate in Italy, she becomes enraged So enraged, she commits suicide

Jupiter Ruler of the Gods “Peacemaker” Favors the Trojans Just as in the Iliad, he is the father figure that many of

the gods and goddesses cry and complain to.

Juno Queen of the Gods Can be labeled as another antagonist to Aeneas Tries to do her best to delay him from destroying

Carthage, as fate has planned. (creating storms, casting him under love spells)

She tries as hard as she can to make everything to go in her favor, but it kills her to know that fate controls everything.

Venus Aeneas’ mother Dislikes Juno; often feuding with her, as well

Epithets Aeneas ~ Trojan Chief(tain), Dardan Chief(tain) Venus ~ Cytherea, Primal Earth Jupiter ~ All-able Jove

Long Speeches Many of the characters make long speeches

Praying or making offerings to the gods Expressing their emotions

Gods and Goddesses Many interventions throughout the entire book They are often looking to finds ways to control fate

Juno suggests to Venus that they make a wonderful wedding between Dido and Aeneas. This hints that the two goddesses will intervene and make

the marriage a reality. When Dido is confronting Aeneas about leaving for Italy,

she says to him, “Can nothing hold you back– neither your love, the hand you pledged, nor even the cruel death the lies in wait for Dido […]” Here, it is foreshadowed that Dido will die a horrible death;

however, it is unknown if that death would be murder or suicide.

“Many, many prophecies of ancient seers now terrify her with their awful warnings. And in her dreams it is the fierce Aeneas himself who drives her to insanity.” Virgil foreshadows that Aeneas will be the reason why Dido

commits suicide.

Dido pleads to Juno that a curse be set on Aeneas and the Trojans. She demands that he suffers in war and struggles with audacious nations and watch his peoples’ shameful slaughter. Dido is foreshadowing that when the Trojans reach Italy,

they will be faced with many struggles.

Weather (harsh storms) Control of the Gods

Juno sends a storm along the path of Dido and Aeneas. This shows her great power and will to do as she pleases.

Fire Love

“I know too well the signs of the old flame […]” ~ Dido The flame represents the feeling of love. Because of her previous

marriage, Dido is expressing that she understands what real love is. Destruction

“I should have carried my torches to his camp and filled his decks with fire […]”

The flame and fire represents Dido’s anger towards Aeneas when she sees the abandoned shores. Therefore, Dido is enraged and wanted to destroy Aeneas and his ships.

[…] swift as whirlwinds […] […] tremendous turmoil […] […] the setting stars invite to sleep […] […] dying Dido […] […] so deep the roots it reaches down to

Tartarus […]

Can you figure the figurative language?

As Aeneas was given his Fate, he was still thinking about the possibilities of staying with Dido. Were you ever in a situation,

similar to Aeneas, where the decision was already made for you… but you wanted

to choose the other option? Explain.