As many of you may know, I’ve recently returned to my true love of teaching Latin. One of my favourite Latin works is the epic Aeneid, composed by Virgil at the end of the 1st Century BCE. While it remains a widely regarded and hugely influential piece of work, it does not quite have the appeal in modern times that Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey have in the public sphere. While teaching the work in translation, I noticed that the language of many older translations was difficult for students to get into. I’ve always intended to write a more approachable one that retains the poetic nature of the original while also keeping the language accessible.
This term I’ve been teaching Book 4 of the Aeneid, the great tragedy of Carthaginian Queen Dido. A blameless pawn in the conflict between Venus and Juno over the fate of Aeneas and his future Romans, Dido is made to fall hopelessly in love with the Trojan leader. As her body and mind succumb to this fatal infatuation, Virgil details the fatal consequences…
Have a read and please pass on any comments or suggestions, I’d certainly welcome them.
Virgil, Aeneid IV
Now the Queen, long since wounded by this fatal passion, drew the poison into her veins and felt the consuming fire within. All she could think of was this man, his incredible courage and the suffering of his noble people: deep within her heart was fixed the image of his face and the sound of his voice. This infatuation deprived her weary limbs any chance of peaceful rest.
Apollo was now spreading his light across the waking world, and the dewy shadows of night faded with the dawn, when Dido with mind ablaze spoke to her sister, her soul’s companion: “Anna, my dear sister, I’m plagued with such anxious dreams. Who is this new guest that has entered our house? What a proud bearing he has, such strong arms and a courageous heart! And I truly believe, with good reason too, that he is descended from a god. Any mortal man would have given into fear by now – he has truly suffered through so much. The endless battles he told us of…
If I hadn’t completely made up my mind that I would never remarry, after my husband was cruelly taken from me through a wicked death, if I had not grown weary of marriage and weddings… I might perhaps have fallen to this one temptation. Anna, I must confess, after seeing my husband Sychaeus murdered, the blood staining our sacred household relics, this is the first man to have stirred my feelings and made my mind waiver. I can feel the familiar traces of that old fire.
But I would still sooner the earth swallowed me to its deepest depths, or the all-powerful Jupiter dispatch me with a thunderbolt to the shadows of the Underworld and the darkness of Erebus, before I forsake my dignity and break my vow. The man who first joined himself to me took all my love with him; I only wish he takes it with him and keeps it eternally in his tomb.”
As she spoke, her tears filled the folds of her gown. Anna replied: “Sister, you who are dearer to me than light, will you continue to waste away your best years alone, in mourning? Never to know the sweetness of children, that greatest reward of Venus? Do you think that ashes or shadows have any feelings? As it is, no previous suitor has broken through your grief, not in Libya or previously in Tyre. You declined Iarbas and the other local leaders who thrive on this African soil. Will you now reject even a love that you find pleasing? Surely you know the lands we have settled on? You are surrounded by the cities of the Gaetulians, a race unsurpassed in warfare, and the savage Numidians, not to mention the inhospitable Gulfs of Syrtis, and the thirst-sapping desert ringed with raging Barcaeans. And do I need to mention the threats from Tyre and the war your brother might bring?
I believe that the Trojan ships sailed here by the favour of the gods and with Juno’s support. Imagine this city, the kingdom that would come from combining your two peoples! With a Trojan army at our side, think of the great achievements and glory we will bring to Carthage. You need only ask the gods for their favour; once you’ve obtained the right omens, then you can indulge your guest and make up reasons to keep him here, while winter storms rage upon the sea, while his ships lie shattered and the skies remain threatening.”
With these words Anna set her sister’s heart afire with passion and gave hope to her once doubtful mind, freeing her from guilt and shame. Setting out, they first visited the shrines and altars around the city, seeking favourable signs; they made animal sacrifices, per their customs, to the law-giver Ceres, Apollo and father Bacchus, and above all to Juno, who looks after the holy rite of marriage. Dido, looking resplendent with the libation bowl in her hand, poured out an offering between the horns of a white heifer; she toured the rich altars resplendent with gifts for the gods, blessing the day, before gazing into the open bodies of cattle to consult their animate entrails. If only these prophets could know what was to come! What use are vows or sacrifices when one is held in the grasp of passion? All the while the very marrow of her bones was alight and the wound burned silently within her heart.
Doomed Dido wandered a blazing path through the city in a passionate frenzy, just like a deer who has been shot by an arrow, fired by some reckless shepherd far off, while hunting with his bow among the forests of Crete. He abandons her, not knowing his winged weapon has found its mark. She flees through the woods and fields of Mt Dicte, the deadly shaft fixed firmly in her side. Now Dido took Aeneas on tours of the walls and displayed the great wealth of Sidon, and their new city already well underway. Every now and then she would try to speak her inner mind, but her voice faltered midway.
As each day wore on, she longed for a repeat of that great banquet, where she would fervently beg to hear once more the mighty deeds of the Trojans and hung on the speaker’s every word. When they were parted, as the shady moon suppressed its light and the falling stars urged the world to sleep, she wept alone in her great hall, lying on the couch he so recently occupied. In his absence she could still see his face and hear his voice; she would sometimes keep Ascanius on her lap, struck by the strong resemblance of his father, as if to deceive her unspeakable passion.
The towers she had started to build ceased to ascend; the young men no longer trained in arms or prepared the harbour and battlements against assault. All these works ground to a halt – the mighty walls and the cranes that touched the sky…
That’s all for now - see you again next week! Let me know if you want to read more!