Book 4 Flashcards
What is the name of Dido’s sister?
Anna
What does Dido’s sister encourage her to do?
Be with Aeneas
What is a Culpa?
A matter for blame
What is Dido’s culpa?
Her love - ‘a fire of wild love’
What is Dido compared to in the simile at the start of Book 4?
A wounded doe with an arrow sticking from her side
What does the wounded doe simile foreshadow?
Dido’s death, the arrow could be symbolic of Aeneas and the removal of it/him would cause her to die
What does Juno and Venus decide to do?
When Aeneas and Dido are on a hunting trip, it will rain and Aeneas and Dido shall be in a cave together and a marriage between them will take place
What is the significance of the Gold and Purple imagery used?
Recognizable by the contemporary Roman colours as a sign of the Empire
Who is Aeneas compared to?
Apollo
Why does Dido have reservations about first being with Aeneas?
A vow show took following the death of her husband, Sychaeus
What is personified to spread throughout Carthage?
Rumour
Who from Iliad is Aeneas compared to?
Paris - ‘ this second Paris’
Who does Jupiter send to remind Aeneas of his fate and duty to his son?
Mercury
‘His sword was studded with yellow stars of Jasper, and glowing with Tyrian purple, there hung from his shoulders a rich cloak given to him by Dido’
Augustan allusion - Aeneas wearing Carthaginian dress would have served as a reminder of Mark Antony in Egyptian dress to the contemporary audience
‘Spare a thought for Ascanius as he grows to manhood, for the hopes of this Iulus […] you owe him the land of Rome and the kingdom of Italy’
Pater duty
‘You are a Phoenician from Asia’
Augustan allusion - Reminders of Cleopatra
‘Aeneas did not move his eyes and struggled to fight down the anguish in his heart’
Conflict between duty and to his people, and to his love
‘I see my son Ascanius and think of the wrong I am doing him’
Pater duty
‘The mighty oak whose timber has hardened over long years of life […] the trunk feels the shock and the foliage from its head covers the ground, but it holds onto the rocks […] just so the hero Aeneas was buffeted by all this pleading […] and felt the pain deep in his mighty heart but his mind remained unmoved and the tears rolled in vain.’
Simile
Aeneas’ piety to the Gods and the Fates have made him unmovable even to love
Suggestion that he did love Dido - but unknown if the tears rolling are his or hers
What does Dido have placed at the top of the pyre?
The marriage bed with an effigy of Aeneas (with all his left belongings)
What prevents any other outcome for Dido?
Her hubris
‘No, you must die. That is what you have deserved.’
Dido has lost all self respect and sees her death as the only option - her fate is complete
‘Women are unstable creatures’ is whose view?
Virgils
What does Dido say in her curse upon Aeneas? (5)
May he be driven from his own land and torn from the embrace of Iulus
See his innocent people dying
Let him fall before his time and lie unburied
Harry the race of Dardanus with fire and sword wherever they settle
Let there be war between our nations and their sons for ever
