Virgil’s AENEID BOOK 4 The tradedy of dido
But meanwhile Queen Dido, gnawed by love’s invisible fire, had long suffered…
If I had not been irrevocably resolved never again to desire a union in wedlock with any man…
Granted that in the past… you scorned Iarbas and other chieftains…
…The gods themselves sealed their approval and Juno herself gave her support…
...Formally sacrificing selected sheep… She would present more victims to start the day of service anew…
…Sometimes she held ascanius close to her, under the spell… trying hard to escape the love which she dared not tell…
Work hung suspended on gigantic, menacing walls
Saturn’s daughter, Jupiter’s dear wife… approached Venus with a suggestion
Dido has drunk the maddening poison into her very bones…
The sky connived at the union; the lightning flared; on their mountain-peak nymphs raised their cry…
She called it a marriage; she used this word to screen her sin… At once rumour raced through Africa’s great cities…
It was said that Iarbas, bitterly angry at what he now heard… prayed long prayers to Jupiter
SpEAK TO THE Dardan prince who is now lingering in Tyrian Carthage with never a thought for … destiny
A model husband. For shame A model husband! For shame! You forget your destiny and that other kingdom which is to be yours.
The news came to her, brought, once more by unholy rumour, that the fleet was being equipped in preparation for a voyage
“I had no thought of hiding my present departure under any deceit. Do not imagine that. Nor have I ever made any marriage-rite my pretext, for I never had such a compact with you.” “Traitor, did you actually believe that you could disguise so wicked a deed and leave my country without a word?” Tuluvao
Drink to the dregs the cup of punishment… And as you suffer cry “Dido” again and again.
So go now, sister, and speak in humble appeal to our haughty enemy…
All these appeals left aeneas unmoved… Dido was lost…
Build me a funeral pyre… Lay on it the arms of the false man… all the garments which he wore… I choose to destroy whatever can remind me of one who must never be mentioned…
As he slept he had a vision of the god… “Will you not hasten away while it is not to late for hastening?”
“Now receive my life-breath… I shall die, and die unavenged”… even while she still spoke she had fallen upon the blade…
But Juno who has all power took pity on the long anguish of her difficult death and sent Iris down… For.. She perished neither by destiny nor by a death deserved, but tragically before her day…
IMAGERY IN BOOK 4 2. The god Apollo (p.101) 1. A doe pieced by a shepherd’s arrow. (p.99) 3. The personification of Rumour (p.102) 6. Ants storing up food for the winter (p.109) 5. A strong oak tree (pg. 110-1) 4. A ‘Bacchanal’ (devotee of the god Bacchus) (p.106) 7. Stories of Madness (p.111) – Pentheus + Orestes, son of Agamemnon