Book 4 contains the tragic story of Dido. Since Aeneas had finished his story and went to rest, and since Dido had been smitten with love for him by Venus, she finds herself unable to get him out of her mind. She talks about it with her sister Anna. She tells Anna that if she hadn’t sworn on the ashes of her first husband, she might actually try to pursue a relationship with Aeneas. Anna tells her to go for it, because she is still young and deserves to be happy with someone. Dido decides to give it a shot.
They visit many shrines to ask for the gods’ approval. Dido then spends as much time as
she can with Aeneas. Her passion for him grows and grows. Juno sees that Dido is lovesick and confronts Venus. Juno congratulates Venus on her successful plan of causing Dido to fall in love with Aeneas, then proposes that they join forces and bring about the marriage of Dido and Aeneas. Venus is suspicious of Juno’s intentions and suggests that Juno seek Jupiter’s approval. Juno says she will, but doesn’t. She comes up with a plan to bring about the marriage.
The next day, Dido and Aeneas go out hunting. Juno causes a storm which results in Dido and Aeneas taking shelter in a cave. In the cave, Juno, goddess of marriage, performs the wedding. Aeneas and Dido, now married, live happily in Carthage for a while.
Rumor sweeps through the entire land, spreading the news of Dido’s marriage. Many
men had sought the hand of Dido in marriage, and she had rejected all of them. One such man, Iarbas, a son of Jupiter, hears the news of Dido’s marriage to Aeneas and goes to a temple of his father to pray. He is upset that Dido chose Aeneas instead of him, and refers to Aeneas as a “Paris” in a clear reference to Paris and Helen. Jupiter, who was unaware of the union, sends Mercury to remind Aeneas that he needs to leave Carthage and go to Italy.
Mercury delivers the message to Aeneas. Aeneas is in shock. He realized he had been neglecting his duty. He agonizes about what to tell Dido, because he does love her, but he loves the gods more and wants to obey the will of the gods. He decides to order some of his men to begin preparing the ships to depart while he thinks about how to tell her he is leaving. Dido notices their preparations and confronts Aeneas. They have a huge argument. Dido is unable to change Aeneas’ mind about leaving, and Aeneas doesn’t explain things to her in a way she finds satisfactory. Dido storms out and hides in her room. Aeneas wants to comfort her, because he does care about her, but isn’t sure what to say so he joins the other Trojans in their preparations and plans to leave even sooner than he had intended.
Dido is completely heartbroken. Because her love was brought about by divine
intervention, it is much harder to move past Aeneas’ betrayal than if it had been a natural love. She agonizes over him leaving, and decides she will die. She tells Anna to prepare a pyre in the city so she can burn anything that reminds her of Aeneas, but doesn’t tell Anna she plans to use it as her own funeral pyre. Anna begins preparing the pyre, unaware of Dido’s true intentions. Dido considers other options, such as leaving Carthage with the Trojans, but realizes she isn’t part of Aeneas’ fate so it will never work out. She resigns herself to death.
Meanwhile Aeneas, who is taking a nap on one of the ships, is visited in his dreams by Mercury, who tells him he must leave right away, or risk the wrath of the Carthaginians. He jumps up and orders his men to set sail at once. The fleet departs and Dido sees them sailing away.
Her emotions boil over, and instead of just feeling angry with Aeneas for leaving her, she is filled with the desire to kill him as well. She climbs on top of the pyre and looks at the pile of Aeneas’ things. She gives one last speech, declaring that everything would have been better if the Trojans had never come to their shores. After that, she collapses onto the sword Aeneas left behind.
Anna arrives and sees what her sister has done. She climbs the pyre and holds her dying
sister. Juno takes pity on Dido who is slowly dying, and sends Iris down to free her mortal soul from her body. Dido then dies.
There is no doubt that the story of Dido is a tragic one. She was a strong, independent woman who was founding her own city and successfully ruling over it. When Aeneas arrives, she falls in love with him not on her own, but because Venus makes her in order to gain an advantage over Juno. Dido is a casualty of a divine squabble.
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