Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 1-4

The Phoenician Queen’s Tragic Love

The Phoenician Queen is portrayed as a sad character who is at the mercy of the gods in Virgil’s first book, Dido. Dido, enchanted by Amor and instructed by Venus, falls in love with the attractive Aeneas and abandons her city’s construction initiatives, leaving it to rot. She quickly forgets about her late spouse and her pledge to never love again, allowing the new love to entirely take her. The gods soon intervene and force Aeneas to move on, thus this love is short-lived. Dido grows outraged after being mocked for sacrificing her reputation for love. No longer in control of her mind and emotions, she curses him in her crazed need for retribution and seeks to end her life. She tricks Anna into making a pyre under the pretense of wanting to burn gifts from Aeneas. She climbs onto the pyre and stubs herself with the Dardan sword gifted to her by her late husband.

Juno’s Love and Dido’s Demise

Virgil intimately describes the love Juno has for both Dido and Carthage. Being the protective goddess that she is, Juno attempts to do one final good thing for Dido. She sends Iris to end Dido’s slow torment. Iris offers the queen’s body to the underworld cutting her hair and in essence ending her life. This sad conclusion retaliates that fate is supreme leading the willing and dragging along the reluctant.

The Unyielding Power of Fate

Fate is the central idea of the Aeneid. Virgil’s epic poem presents fate as an unyielding force which could not be combated by free will. Dido’s death proves that even a power such as love has no effect on the greater force of fate. The interferences by the gods further propel the idea that fate can be manipulated but cannot be altered.