Classical Mythology, 7th Edition - obinfonet: dia logou

650 THE NATURE OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
Thus at the end Aeneas is overcome by anger mixed with devotion to his
dead friend. Vergil leaves us in doubt—is the pietas of Aeneas weaker than his
passion? Is he after all a hero motivated by passion like Achilles, rather than the
Roman hero inspired by pietas? Vergil leaves his readers to decide.
DIDO
The greatest obstacle to Aeneas' success is Dido, queen of Carthage and favorite
of Juno. In the tradition before Vergil she was called Elissa, a princess of Tyre,
married to Sychaeus, who was murdered by her brother, Pygmalion. She escaped
from Tyre (taking with her Pygmalion's treasure) and came to north Africa
where, as Dido (which in Punic means "Virgin"), she founded Carthage, whose
territory she was given by the local prince, Iarbas. Vergil makes her a gracious
queen, a leader whom he likens to the goddess Diana. She welcomed the Trojan
survivors of the storm, and Aeneas is moved as he sees the history of his
own sufferings at Troy portrayed on the city's temple. When Dido first appears,
she is likened to Diana herself; all is light and activity. She graciously invites the
Trojans to her palace, for, she says, "I also was tossed about with many sufferings
and Fortune finally wished me to settle in this land. Not without experience
of evil, I know how to help the unfortunate" (Aeneid 1. 628-630).
But destiny is against Dido; Venus and Juno conspire to make her fall in
love with Aeneas; and after he has recounted to her the fall of Troy and his
wanderings, she is stricken with love, likened by Vergil to a wounded deer.
Her passion is described in Book 4, along with the hunt and her union with Aeneas,
the complaint of her rejected suitor Iarbas to his father, Jupiter (who had
seduced Iarbas' mother), the appearances of Mercury urging Aeneas to leave,
the final confrontation of Dido and Aeneas, Aeneas' departure, and Dido's decision
to die. Before she dies Dido utters a curse on Aeneas and his descendants
(4. 607-629):
f
O Sun, you who traverse all earth's works with your flames, and you, O Juno,
mediator in these troubles and witness, and Hecate, called on with weird cries
by night at the crossways in the cities, and dire avenging goddesses (Dime), and
gods of dying Elissa [i.e., Dido], accept my words and hear my prayer! If it is
necessary for his cursed head to reach harbor and come to land, and if Jupiter's
fate so demands and this ending is fixed, then let him beg for help, harried by
war with a brave and well-armed people, an exile with no home, torn from the
embrace of lulus, and let him see the untimely death of his companions. And
when he has yielded himself to the terms of an unfair peace then may he not
enjoy his kingdom nor the light he longed for. Let him fall before his time and
lie unburied on the shore. This is my prayer, this is my final word as I shed my
blood. Then may you, O my Tyrians, harass his family and all his future descendants
with hatred and send this offering to my ashes. Let there be no love,
no treaty between our peoples. May you arise, some avenger, from my bones,
and may you pursue the Trojan settlers with fire and sword, now, in the future,