Love. What do you think of when you hear that word? Affection, devotion, friendship, maybe even lust? Well, love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. Today, people see love as a beautiful thing, that everybody dreams of falling into. Aw, so sweet right? Not quite, love can cause some problems, and sometimes these problems are quite traumatic. In Book IV of The Aeneid, Virgil uses Dido’s strong affection for Aeneas to show that love can lead to complications, even death. Virgil sets up a scenario in which Queen Dido allows herself to fall in love with Aeneas.
Fear keeps Dido from loving another man after her husband, Sychaeus, died. Dido explains, “That man who took me to himself in youth has taken all of my love; may that man keep it, hold it forever with him in the tomb. ” (37-38) Dido wants her husband to have her love dead or alive, and she does not want to feel like she has betrayed her husband in any way. Anna, Dido’s sister, plays a major role in telling Dido that she can love again. Anna states, “Never to know sweet children, or the crown of joy that Venus brings? Do you believe this matters to the dust, to ghosts in tombs? (43-45) What Anna is saying here is that Dido can love again because her husband is dead and he cannot do anything about it. Also, she should be able to see what having children and joy of having a husband is like. Dust is not going to do anything about it, or affect Dido’s outlook on loving another man. Anna is the reason that Dido felt like she could love another man again. Once Anna convinces Dido to fall in love with Aeneas, Virgil creates a situation where there is a storm and Dido ends up in a cave with Aeneas alone where they fall in love.
After making love in the cave, they return to Carthage as openly lovers. Dido even considered themselves married to each other, but this was a big mistake. Book IV states, “That day was the first cause of death, and first of sorrow. ” (221-222) This piece of text basically says that Dido is setting herself up for no good thinking that they are a married couple before they actually went through with the authentic marriage ceremony. In no time at all, rumors spread that Dido and Aeneas have given up themselves for love and stopped doing their duties as rulers.
The text says, “In those days Rumor took an evil joy at filling countrysides with whispers, whispers, gossip of what was done, and never done: how this Aeneas landed, Trojan born, how Dido in her beauty graced his company, then how they revealed all the winter long unmindful of the realm, prisoners of lust. ” (246-252) These rumors later then spread to the gods and had some consequences. Virgil explains how Jupiter learns about this rumor and sends Mercury to Carthage to send a message to Aeneas to leave his love for Dido for Italy, which ultimately leads up to her death.
Though this message was a shock to Aeneas he still must listen to the gods. Aeneas said, “Get the fleet ready for sea, but quietly, and collect the men on shore. Lay in ship stores in gear. ” (374-376) This was Aeneas preparing his crew to leave for Italy secretly, so he did not have to tell Dido knowing how drastically heart broken she would be. Dido then finds out about this plot to escape without her knowing and she is furious. Dido tells Anna to burn most things that he has left behind, but really this was a plan of Dido’s to kill herself.
Dido states, “To whom do you abandon me, a dying woman, guess that you are the only name now left from that of a husband? Why do I live on? ” What Dido is implying here is that she is losing her “husband”, so she has no reason to live. Aeneas does not think he has to stay because the real marriage ceremony did not occur. This is why thinking the “marriage” was legit ended up being her first death. Since Aeneas leaves, Dido kills herself in despair for her lost husband. A famous play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, portrays Virgil’s idea that love can lead to some serious mishappenings.
Romeo and Juliet is about two families that do not get along, the Montagues and the Capulets. Two young lovers, Romeo and Juliet, are from those two different families. Romeo is a Capulet, and Juliet is a Montague. They grew fond of each other at a family ball, but they cannot see each other because of the family feud. The play says, “Here’s to my love!… O truth apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss | die. “(Page 1) In this piece of the play, Romeo is drinking a poison to kill himself because Juliet is “dead”. Just like in Virgil’s Aeneid Book IV, a death occurred because of love.
Dido’s affection and lust for Aeneas ultimately leads to her death. After being convinced to fall in love with Aeneas and later becoming his lover, Dido developes an extreme lust for Aeneas. The gods decided that this was not Aeneas’ fate, so they shipped him off to Italy, breaking Dido’s heart, leading to suicide. The very well known play, Romeo and Juliet, includes Virgil’s idea of love leading to problems, where both Romeo and Juliet kill themselves because of love. People look upon love as something that can do no harm, but in reality it can.
