Virgils Indebtedness for the Dido Episode

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

c:IAPTERPAGE

I . INTRODUCTI Oi'T• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ·• • • • • • • • • • • • • 1

I I . VIRGIL'S MOTIVES FOR WRITING THE DIDO :1:PISODE • • • • • • • • • • • • • 7

I I I . APOLLONIUS OF RHODES AND THE FOURTH AENEID • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 25

IV. NAEVIJS AND THE FOURTH AENEID • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 47

V. CATULLUS AN D THE FOURTH AENEID • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 61

V I . CONCLUSION. •-• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 7 4

BI BLI OG·RAPJIT • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Thomas David McMahon, S . J . , was born inBinghamton, N.Y., May, 1919.

He at tended S t . Paul ' s Paroch ia l and HighSchool i n the same c i t y and graduated therefrom i nJune, 1937. Af te r one year a t S t . B o n a v ~ n t u r eColl ege , Olean, N.Y., he e n t e r ~ dthe Novi t ia te of theSocie ty of Jesus a t S t . Andrew-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie , N.Y., in August , 1938 •. vVhile a t Poughkeepsie from the year 1938 u n t i l 1942, he wasacademical ly connected with Fordham Unive r s i ty, New

York Ci ty.

In September, 1942, he t r an s f e r r ed to WestBaden College of Loyola Univers i ty and rece ived h is

degree of Bachelor of Arts from·Loyola Univers i tyin June, 1943. He was unro l led in the GraduateS0hool of Loyola Univers i ty from January, 1943 toJanuary, 1945 .

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Roman Vi rg i l , thou t h a t s inges tI l i o n ' s l o f t y temples robed i n f i r e ,

I l i o n f a l l i n g , Rome a r i s ing ,wars, and f i l i a l f a i t h , an d

Dido's pyre.

"Dido i s perhaps Vi r g i l ' s g re a t e s t cnea t ion and su re ly. 1 2

one of the g re a t e s t i n a l l poe t ry. " Moreover Ovid t e l l s us t ha t

no p a r t of the Aeneid was so popular as the Dido episode. In the

twelve books of the ep ic from the g lo r ious wording of the whole3

heme of the Aeneid ~ Tantae molis e r a t Homanam condere gentem -

to the death 'of Turnus a t the end of th e twe l f th and f i n a l book,

no charac ter matches Dido, the Tyrian queen. When Virg i l puts her

on the s tage of h is ep ic , she complete ly dominates the scene. , So

powerful was Vi r g i l ' s concept ion of Dido 's charac te r and so exper t

h is s k i l l in t r a n s ~ i t t i n gh is conception in to the d i f f i c u l t veh i

c le of the Lat in hexameter t h a t Dido ec l ipses the dign i ty of pius

Aeneas. I t seems tha t the c r i t i c s who condemn Aeneas as a poor

concept ion of an epic hero, f ind t h e i r s t ronges t arguments fo r h is

condemnation i n the s to ry and charac ter of Dido. Though they

1 J . Mackail, Virg i l and His M e a n i n ~To the World of Today, Longmans, Green and Co.:-New-?ork, 19 7;-1067

2 Ovid, T r i s t i a , I I , 533, Loeb Cl ass i ca l Library, t r a n s l a t e d byA.L. Wheeler, WITliatti'""Heinemann, London, 1924, 95.

3 Vi rg i l , Aeneid, I , 33, Loeb Class ica l Library, t r a n s l a t e d byHenry Rushton FairclOugh, William Heinemann, London, 1929, 2.

d ig ress ion does n ot en te r so l a rg e l y i n t o the whole s t ru c t u re of

the Odyssey as does Aeneas ' s tay a t Carthage . The love mo t i f was

anothe r o f Vi r g i l ' s devices t h a t had no coun te rpa r t i n th e I l i a d

or the Odyssey. Most of a l l i t must be admit ted t h a t Dido has

ru ined the cha rac te r of Aeneas with n ine- ten ths of Vi r g i l ' s6

r eade r s . Why., then , d id Vi rg i l inc lude the s to ry? Obviously he

must have seen t h a t the cha rac te r of Aeneas would s u ff e r i n com-

par i son with h is pierc ing p o r t r ay a l of Dido. With these f a c t s i n

mind, l e t us look behind the s t o ry of Dido and a t tempt to discover

the more impor tan t r easons and cons ide ra t i ons which prompted Vir ..

g i l to inc lude the Car thag ian episode i n the Aeneid.

Once the reasons t h a t prompted th e i nc lu s ion of the

s to r y a re mani fes t , we w i l l en te r upon the o ther and more i n t e r e s -

t i ng phase of the problem, a phase which fol lows l og1ca l ly from

the previous cons ide ra t ion : Vi r g i l ' s debt t o h is predecesso rs ,

both Greek and Roman fo r th e Dido s to r y. For hand i n hand with

h is dec is ion to inc lude the s to ry i n the ep ic of Rome went th e

n eces s i t y of crea t ing th e cha rac te r of Dido. Dido did not sp r ing

f o r t h i n th e pages of Vi rg i l as a complete ly novel cha rac te r.

Rather was her cha rac te r d e l i n ea t i o n the r e s u l t of Vi r g i l ' s own pe

c u l i a r genius coupled with h is knowledge of the l i t e r a t u r e of th e

p as t . We s h a l l examine the e a r l i e r th e e a r l i e r Greek and Roman

w r i t e r s from whom Vi rg i l drew h is raw m a t e r i a l . Such an i n v e s t i -

6 T.R. Glover, Vi r g i l , Methuen & Company, L d t . , London, 1923, 172.

gat ion w i l l go fa r toward revea l ing Vi r g i l ' s debt to h is predeces

sors and a t the same time point out to what extent he surpassed

them in h is own creat ion of the epic heroine.

For the ac tua l h i s t o r i c a l connect ion between Aeneas and

Dido we sha l l inves t iga te the fragments of the Dellicum Punicum

of Naevius. From t h i s inquiry we can es tab l i sh the probab i l i ty

of' the Trojan-Punic connect ion which i s a t th e hear t of the Dido

episode. In other words, we intend to prove t h a t Naevius in h isl o s t dramatic poem, of which only fragments survive, brought

Aeneas to Carthage and the court of Dido. Thus we maintain t h a t

he offered Virg i l a legend fu l l y worked out, a t l e a s t as f a r as

Aeneas' coming to Dido 's Carthage. I f Virg i l decided to make use

of t h i s legend and i f the meeting of Dido and Aeneas was to take

up an important place in h is epic , Vi r g i l ' s decis ion would be i n

keeping with l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n a f t e r Homer. For had not Euripide

and Apollonius of Rhodes brought th e wandering hero to the land

and home of the heroine? These two poets , the former the Hellenic ,

the l a t t e r the Alexandrine r epresen ta t ive of poetry were among the

f i r s t to give women an important place in poetry and they were a ls7

the f i r s t to dwell a t l eng th on the passion of love . To these

two, but pa r t i cu la r ly to Apollonius , Virg i l turned fo r the back

ground of the Dido episode. Last ly i n any i nqu i ry in to the back-

7 Henry W. Presco t t , The Development of Vi r g i l ' s Art , Univers i tyof Chicago Press , Cnteago, l l l ino is- ; -1927 , 2 . 9 ' 1 - ~ .

ground of Virg i l , to omit the name of Catu l lu s , " tenderes t of

Roman poets , " would be to overlook one to whom Virg i l owed much

fo r the creat ion of Dido 's cha rac t e r. Truly might i t be sa id t h a t

nowhere i s i t eas ie r to prove Catu l lus ' s inf luence on Virg i l than

in Vi r g i l ' s borrowing of the pic ture of the in jured and abandoned

queen. Though Catul lus wri te.s of Ariadne, Vi rg i l of Dido, yet

the s to ry, circumstances , charac ters por t rayed , s p i r i t and l an -

guage of the two poets are marvelously akin . Indeed Vi rg i l de-

serves grea t c re d i t i n t h a t he knew and recognized the meri ts of

some of the most beau t i fu l passages in a l l of Catu l lus .

Here, then, i s the genera l out l lne whicn th i s t h e s i s w i l

f u l f i l l : f i r s t l y , we want to uncover the reasons t h a t prompted Vir

g i l to include the Dido episode in the Aeneid desp i t e the obvious

disadvantages such an episode would involve. These reasons are by

no means apparent a t a glance but requ i re a good measure of inves•

i ga t ion in to Vi r g i l ' s purpose and in ten t ions . Secondly, a f t e r

hese reasons have been given and explained i n d e t a l l we sha l l c o

inue with the second aspect of the problem: an i nqu i ry in to Vir •

i l ' s debt to h is predecessors, both Greek and Roman, who furn ished

him the raw mate r i a l for the Dido s to ry. This second aspect of

he problem i s the na t u r a l complement of the f i r s t . For g r a n t e

h a t Virg i l had decided to include the s to ry of.Carthage i n h is

pic , the quest ion n a tu ra l l y a r i s e s : Was t h i s heroine to be a com-

l e t e ly novel character? Or was she to be drawn from former models

et di ffe r ing from them because of the master touch of Vi r g i l ' s

pen? From the evidence i t appears t h a t Vi rg i l chose the l a t t e r

course . Our inves t iga t ion , t h e r e fo re , wi l l examine the ex ten t of

these borrowings and po in t out Vi r g i l ' s excel lence and good t a s t e

manifes ted in the borrowings.

CHAPTER I I

VIRGIL'S MOTIVES FORWRITING THE DIDO

EPISODE

Though Aeneas and h is Trojan comrades a r r ive a t Carthage

a t the end of Book I of the Aeneid, y e t i t i s not u n t i l the begin•

ning of the fou r th book t ha t the s tory of Aeneas and Dido rea l ly

begins to unfold . The second and t h i rd books are taken up with

Aeneas' descr ip t ion of the burning and sack of Troy. During t h i s

r e c i t a l of Trojan woes, Dido i s smitten with love fo r Aeneas

through the dar t s of Cupid.

The four th book: opens with a descr ip t ion of Dido 's p a s

s ion and love fo r Aeneas as she s t rugg les with her sense of d e v o

t ion and honor toward her former husband, Sychaeus. Juno then

plans with Venus a device fo r un i t ing Dido and Aeneas in marriage.

While on a hunting par ty, the two are dr iven by the divine plo t

to take she l te r in the·same cave. Immediately Jup i te r despatches

Mercury to command the depar ture of Aeneas. Caught i n the a c t of

summoning h is companions Aeneas i s b i t t e r l y reproached by Dido fo r

h is intended f l i g h t . As Aeneas l i s t e n s , unmoved by the quean 's

en t r ea t i e s , the Trojan f l e e t i s made ready. The queen, maddened,

resolves on death, f i r s t seeking magic incan ta t ions . A ll through

the s leep less n igh t , she r a n t s aga ins t the Trojan unfa i th fu lness .

Meanwhile Mercury in a vis ion again _warns Aeneas to f l e e . As

Aeneas hastens th e departure of the f l e e t , Dido 's despair increases

and she invokes curses upon the fu g i t i v e and h is pos te r i ty. Simu-

l a t ing r e l i g io u s r i t e s , she causes her chamber to be prepared, and

sJays he r se l f , a f t e r a l a s t appeal to her s i s t e r to s tay the f l i g h

of Aeneas. Juno sends I r i s to re lease her tormented s p i r i t . This

in shor t , i s the s to ry of the fou r th Aeneid.

1Many c r i t i c s have conjectured t h a t i n the or ig ina l plan

of the fou r th book, Dido was to be a Cleopatra or Alcina, a mad

f igu re from whose clu tches Aeneas was to be rescued; but they go

on to say t h a t somehow or other the " t ea r s of th ings" and Vi r g i l ' s

tender p i ty fo r the i n ju red queen impercept ib ly a l te red the poet•s

concept o f Dido to the s t r ik ing cha rac t e r we f ind i n the Aeneid.

I f fo r us the ·character of Aeneas s u ff e r s byh is dese r t ion of Dido, t h a t i s simply be•cause the poet , seized with i n t ense p i ty fo r

the i n ju red queen, seems fo r once , l i ke h isown hero to have fo rgo t t en h is missicn inthe poem. 2

This i n t e rp re t a t ion i s probably t rue in pa r t , but I do

not bel ieve t ha t Virg i l fa i led to see.what h is readers have seen .

There were def in i te objec t ives i n h is mind t h a t he wished h is epic

to accomplish. Some of these objec t ives would be well f u l f i l l e d

by the s to ry of the f a l l of Troy ·and the subsequent wanderings of

the Trojans; others could be completed by the founding of Latium

and the s to ry of the ear ly s t rugg les of the mighty people t h a t w e

1 W.Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People,MacMillan and co:;-London, 1922, 415. - - - - -2 ~ · ~ 416

to ru le the world. But fo r var ious reasons Virg i l knew h is epic

would be incomplete without the s tory of Dido and Aeneas. We

sha l l seek to determine what cons t i tu ted these reasons . Attempts

have been made to discover what Vi r g i l ' s chief motive was fo r the

c rea t ion of Dido but any such solut ion must of necess i ty remain in

the realm of the probable. Wehave no in ten t ion of determining

what Vi r g i l ' s prime motive was; i t w i l l suff ice to poin t out and

explain the more important ones.

Vi r g i l ' s f i r s t and ~ o a t l o g i c a l reason fo r wri t ing the

Dido episode was because i t offered him the opportuni ty fo r sp len-

did a r t i s t i c development. Virg i l wanted an opportuni ty to i n t r o -3

duce the pa the t i c element in to h is epic . A devoted fol lower of

the l a t e s t bloom of Greek and Alexandrine p o e t r r, he was quiok to

see the advantages to be reaped from the 1nolus1on of the love mo•

t i f which Euripides and Apollonius had in troduced. Virg i l was too

much of a s tuden t of Greek poetry t o neg lec t the examples and l e s

sons of any period i n tha t noble l i t e r a t u r e . True, Homer was Vir-

g i l ' s f i r s t master ; almost any page of h is epic r e f l e c t s i n some

measure h is devot:ton to the Bl ind Bard. Yet Virg i l was a lso a very

discern ing c r i t i c of Hellenic and Hel len is t i c poet ry, and very

ea r ly he perceived the advantage t ha t i t offered to touch the huma

h e a r t .

3 Richard Heinze, Virgi la Epische Technik, Druck Und Verlag VonE.G. Teubner, Le1J)z1g, 1903, 116.

Build ing upon the most sacred of themes, the mutual love of man

and woman, the poet brings out many var ied emotions before the'Dido episode i s brought to a c lose . The p ic tu res range from p i ty

and admirat ion through love and pass ion to agony, shame and

f i n a l l y despa i r. In to the Dido s to ry, Vi rg i l pours a l l h is i n •

s i g h t in to the human h e a r t and h is sense of human t ragedy. His

f in i shed product i s as he wished i t , a t r a g i c and extremely pathe-6

t i c f igure over whom s t . Augustine could shed t e a r s . No doubt

Vi rg i l pondered deeply before deciding to take s ~ c ha daring s t epas to inc lude the s to ry of Dido in the epic of Rome. Such a t a l e

might have disadvantages in the t e l l i n g , but he himsel f found t h a t

the power of h is own c rea t ion to s t i r the human hea r t and to show

human beings in a l l r e a l i t y more than even balanced the bad e f f e c t•

which could have poRsibly r e su l t ed . Besides , the s t o ry could r e -

viv i fy the old Greek theme of ind iv idua l i n c l i n a t io n versus the

w i l l of the gods. So t hen , to insure the success of the pa the t i c

element Virg i l determined to go to predecessor& who had a l ready

used i t success fu l ly and to draw from them whatever h is discern ing

judgment showed hi m was the bes t .

A element of r e l i g i o n , too , must be included i n the poem

tha t was to be the summit of the A u g ~ s t a nr e v i v a l and consequently

we should look fo r a motive which allowed Vi rg i l to expand on Ro-

man r e l i g io n . For never i n Rome's h i s to ry did the 0 i t y s tand

6 Augustine, Confess ions , I , 21, Loeb Classica::t. Library, t r an s l a t edby w. Watts , William Heinemann, London, 1912.

mightier than a f t e r Aotium. At t h i s time when the Roman eagle was

beginning to _spread i t s powerful wings over the world, Virg i l f i r s

decided to devote himself to a na t iona l poem. After so many years

of s t r a i n and alarm, s t r i f e and anxie ty, came peace. After so

long a time of bloodshed and war and, worst of a l l , the war of

i n t e rnec ine s t r i f e of Roman aga ins t Roman, there was to begin a

golden age in which Actium was the culminat ing poin t of the past

and the s t a r t i n g poin t of a grea te r fu tu re . Horace·had f e l t i t s

approach when in joyous song he sang:

Nunc e s t bibendum, nunc pede l ibe ropulsanda t e l l u s . 7

Virg i l , however, was to re.present the deeper tendencie-s of the age

His duty was to r e v iv i fy the old Roman Vir tus and Pie t a s t ha t had

moulded the mighty Roman empire from the s Lrnple beginni_ngs of the

ea r ly Lat in s e t t l e r s . He was to make l i ve again t ha t t yp ica l ly

Homan devot ion to family, s t a t e , and the gods, which in sp i t e of

t r i a l and danger, overcomes a l l enticement to ind iv idual passion

or se l f i sh ease . For Rome must r e tu rn her pr i s t ine norm i f she

i s to achieve the great dest iny t ha t the poet sees in s to re fo r he

Even Horace had t r i e d h is hand a t moral izing and offered h is never-8

to-be- forgot ten p ic ture of Roman manliness in the Regulus ode.

Even old Cato would be proud of men l i ke Resulus. For Regulus

7 Horace, The Odes and Epodes, Loeb Class ica l Library ; t r ans la tedby C h a r l e s - ~ n n e t t ,William Heinemann, London, 1929, Odes,I 1 37.

8 !£!!!•, I I I , 5

urned h is back upon h is chaste wife and chi ld (and how Horace em-

phasizes the pudicae conjugisJ ) and went to h is death in Carthage

with as much unconcern as i f he were leaving the ted ious business

of h is c l i en t s and were speeding to h is country v i l l a a t Lacedae

monian Tarentum. This was a rea l ly convincing example of the old

Roman Virtua l But Regulus was not the mythical founder of the Ro•

man r a c e ~and consequently he aid not have the same power of com-

manding re spec t 1 devot ion and espec ia l ly imi ta t ion .

_In b r i n g i ~ gAeneas to Certhage and Dido,. Virg i l put the

moat formidable obs tac le tha t Aeneas encountered in his e ffo r t s

o found the c i t y ~" ~ e n u s~ Latinum Albanigue pat res atque

l t ae moenia Romae." To leave Carthage required the grea tes t per•

onal sac r i f i ce t h a ~ the Trojan chief was ever cal led upon to per•

orm. Many t r i a l s and anx ie t ie s confronted him in h is wanderings

efore Carthage but the supreme tea t of h is vocation came a t Car-

hage. He had been Pius Aeneas in mourning the lo ss of h is f r iends

n d the sca t te r ing of h is f l e e t by Juno 's gui le and the s t reng th

of Aeolus; he had b e e n ~Aeneas in Troy's l a s t hour as he ca r •

i ed h is aged f a ther from the flames of the burning c i t y, b11t h isr e a t e s t ac t was to leave Dido because the gods wil led i t , no m a t

10e r what the personal fee l ings . The vfc tory of duty over pleasure

howed the t rue path of vi r tue to a l l succeeding generat ions of

9 Aen. I , 6 -7 .0-xin. IV, 361, I t a l i am non sponte sequor.

Romans. Through frequent r ep e t i t i o n of the ep i the t , pius , with

which Virg i l charac te r i zes h is hero , he gives the key by which he

wants us to unlock the door to the understanding of a l l Roman v i r •

tue and greatness . And nowhere i s pius Aeneas more piue than when

he s a i l s away from Carthage and leaves broken hopes and dreams be•

hind. To provide the se t t i n g in which h is hero can make th i s

heroic sac r i f i ce and renun t ia t ion Vi rg i l looked to Euripides and

Apollonius fo r the mater ia l of h is s to ry. Naevius in h is Bellum

Punicum had spoken of Dido, and now a l l Virg i l needed was to c a s t

Dido in the role of the lover of Aeneas.

To a c lever mind suc.h as Virg i l 1 s , the t echn ica l advan ..11

tage of the Carthaginian episode would be quickly apparent . In

a long epic in which i n t e r e s t must be sus ta ined throughout, there

i s a decided t echn ica l advantage in t e l l i n g a s to ry of . pas t ac t ion

n the f i r s t person to some other character who could show spec ia l' 12

n t e r e s t in the nar ra t ive . By such a device, Virg i l could keep

h is epic from los ing i n t e r e s t by keeping his characters before the

eyes of the reader without many use less r ep e t i t i o n s of past s to r i e s

and events . Furthermore, he could manipulate the s to ry be t t e r i f

he i s not t i ed down to a s t r i c t chronological reckoning of the

na r ra t ive . Such c lever handling of mater ia l was f i r s t used by

Homer when he pic tured Odysseus t e l l i n g the s to ry of h is past ad-

11 Presco t t , 295.1 2 ~ .

ventures to Alcinous and Arete. But the adventures of Odysseus

were not the adventures of the founder of a mighty empire, "buf•13

eted by the Fates and tossed much on land and sea ." Nor did

he fa te of a great nat ion hang upon the outcome of Odysseus's

rave l s . The t a l e of Aeneas must t e l l of Troy 's downfall and of

he flames t ha t consumed the l a s t vest ige of the Troj$n kingdom of

Priam, driving the exi les over land and sea to the shores of I t a l y.

o then , the l i st.ener o·f Aeneas' l i t any of woes must be much more

rofoundly in teres ted in h is nar ra t ive than were Alcinous and Areta

n 'the story of Odysseus. After a l l , were i t not fo r th i s plucky

and of T ~ o j a n sand t h e i r t a l e of adventure, would the City of the

even Hil l s and the royal l ine of the Caesars have ru led the world?

As Virg i l pictt ired the meet ing 'of Aeneas and Dido, who

e t t e r than Dido could be the l i s t en e r of Aeneas• epic adventures?

Who could show more i n t e r e s t than· a woman sent imental ly in teres ted

n the nar ra t i ve ? Dido can s t i r up unusual i n t e r e s t and earnes t •

y reques t Aeneas to t e l l h is t a l e ; her eager queries can draw from

he hero the l e a s t de ta i l s of Troy and i t s burning c i t ade l s . Does

he not want above a l l to hear about the man to whom Cupid and Ve•14

us are tu rn ing her hear t more and more? To the choice of a woman

15Virg i l was drawn by the epic convention of h is day. The sentimen-

a l s i tua t ion i s the r e s u l t of Virg i l ' s devot ion. to the Hellenis-

1.3 Aen. I , 2-34 YO!'d, I , 748- .5 Prescot t , 295.

t i c t r ad i t i on . I f Aeneas i s to succeed as an epic hero, he must

be very hero ic and every b i t as good as Odysseus and Jason. He

too must have a Calypso or a Medea i f he i s not to f a l l shor t of

the measure of the t r ad i t i ona l epic hero·.

The l a s t major reason I w i l l t r e a t i s the motive of h i s

t o r i c a l foreshadowing. While I w i l l not t r y to give i t more pro

minence than i s i t s due, yet i t must rece ive considerable t r e a t -

ment. For one can hardly read the f i r s t ha l f of the Aeneid and

pa r t i cu la r ly the four th book without r ea l i z ing tha t Virg i l was

drawing a pic ture of con t ras t . While never ceasing to be the

imaginative poet , he was giving an h i s t o r i c a l preview of the grea t

s t ruggle between Rome and Carthage-- t h a t s t ruggle which was to

prove such a dangerous t h rea t to the power and even to the very16

exis tence of Rome h er se l f . Jus t how f ami l i a r the h i s t o r i c a l

s t ruggle of the Punic Wars was to the Roman of Vi rg i l ' s t ime i s17

well proven from other sources. Virg i l in h is epic reca l led t ha t

t e r r ib l e s t ruggle which might have changed the h i s to ry of the worl

i f the outcome had favored Carthage. Our poet i s not slow in a s-

suming his appointed task . The twe l f th l ine of the poem brings inthe s ta ry of Carthage and introduces the l as t ing enmity between

Rome and Carthage under the guise of Juno's love fo r the Tyrians

and her hatred fo r the Phrygians. This enmity would cont inue un•

16R.s.

Conway, "Under Hannibal 's Shadow, Harvard Lectures on Vir~ i l i a nAge, Harvard U ~ i v e r s i t yP r ~ s s ,C ~ m b r ~ d g e ,Mass, lm!S-;-'73.17 .orace, Epodes, XVI,6, ~ ~ I I , l , I I , 5 , IV,4.

ceasingly u n t i l the b a t t l e of Zama; there in 202 B.C. , Hannibal

and the Punic power would f i n a l l y be crushed forever by Scip io .

From the Aeneid 's twel f th l ine of the f i r s t book through the secon

th i rd and f o ~ r t hbooks, Carthage i s ever in the mind of the reader.

Virg i le , qui e s t bien de la grande nat ion ence la , n•a perdu aucune occasion dans l e e en•dro i t s ~ e c i s i f sde son poeme, e t a chaque int e r v a l l e , de nous f a i ~ etoucher en quelques o r t e l ' anneau d ' a i r i a n , j ' ap p e l l e a ins i l achaine de la destin 'ee romaine. Voyezl i l ac o m m e n o ~son poeme en montrant du do ig t Carthage, la grande r i v a l e : Urbs ant iqua f u i t J••• , e t l a grande r iva le qur-n •es t p l u ~ i ly r ev ien t en plus d 1un moment. 18

In Dido 's moving prayer fo r vengeance, Hannibal i s not named:

Haec preoor, hano vooem extremam cum sanguine fundo.tum. vos, o Tyr i i , s t irpem e t genus omne futurUlllexeroete o d i i s , ciner ique haec m i t t i t e nos t romunera, nul lus amor populis nee foedera sunto .exor ia re , a l i q u i s n o s t r l s ex ossibus u l t o r ,

qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos 1nunc olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore v i r es .l i t o r a l i t o r i b u s con t ra r ia , f luc t ibus undasimprecor, armis armis; pugnent ips ique nepotesque. 19

But what i n t e l l i g e n t Roman reader fa i l ed to th ink of him.here , and

th ink of him very def in i te ly? Mere suggest ion by Virg i l of the

e r r i b l e scourge who was to br ing Rome almost to ru in s t r i k es a

note of fea r in to the hear t of every t rue Roman as he reads Dido 's

words and r e f l e c t s upon the grea t d i sa s t e r s of Trebia , Lake Tras i -

mene and Cannae.

'l es t done bien a Virg i l e d ' a v o i r f a i t d 'Annt-

8 C.A. Sainte-Beuve, Etude Sur Virg i le , Calmann-Levy, Edi t eu rs ,Par is , 1855 1 165 .9 ~ · IV, 621•629•

. 'b a l une des pers fec t ives di rec tes de son poeme.Penser a Annibal e t aux p e r i l s qu 1 i l ava i tf a i t c o u r i r aux descendants d'Enne e t de Romu•l u s , a' l a f u m ~ ede son camp qu•on voyai t duCapi to la ; y f a i r e penser du temps d 1Auguste,e t quand le s a i g l e s romainea ne a • a r r e t a i e n tplus q u1 ~ l 'Euphra t e , c 1~ t a i td 1 au tan t mieuxdieux d 1 avo i r termide par un t e l couronnementde s i longs e t s i l abor ieux • • • • Mais admirons quece s o i t ~ propos pe Didon, e t dans l a bouched'une amante egaree e t mourante, quJ s o i t venuese p lacer s i nature l lement c e t t e pred ic t ion h i s -to r ique du plus t e r r i b l e vengeur. 20

Even the f i f t h book opens with Aeneas looking back on Dido ' s burn

ing pyre. Recal l too Dido ' s meeting with Aeneas i n the underworld21in book s i x . I t i s as i f Virg i l did n ot want us to fo rge t the

i n t ima te connect ion t h a t ex is ted between Carthage and Rome. I t

has been c leve r ly noted t h a t the e p i th e t s S ~ d c n i a nand Phoeniss ian

of ten applied to Dido are doubt less to remind the readers t h a t Did

was a Car thag in ian , though no ex tan t use of these words i n the22

sense of Carthagin ian i s found p r i o r to Vi r g i l ' s ep ic . Vi rg i l

achieved another admirable e f f e c t by h is use of anachronism i n

the f i r s t book in a t t r i b u t i n g to Carthage the power and spl·endor

t h a t was Rome's under the sway of th e Caesars . For he c leve r ly

succeeded in making h is readers f e e l the might and lo rd ly pr·owess

of the nascent c i t y of Carthage and i t s p o t e n t i a l i t i e s fo r harm

to Trojan and fu tu re Roman. Last o f a l l th e government of Carthage

was por t rayed i n a form most repugnant to Roman f ee l ing- -under the

20 S a i n t e ~ B e u v e ,165 .21 Aen.VI, 470-476.22 N!Cholas Mosely, Characters and E p i t h e t s , Yale Univers i ty Press

New Haven, Conn., 1926, 23.

23eadersh ip of a woman, Dux femina f a c t i .

Immediately we observe in the words of Dido the p ic tu re

of a pass ionate woman, while the c o n t r a s t i n the charac te r i s most

no t iceab le - -a na t u r a l l y phlegmat ic man. But yet over and above

h i s observa t ion , Vi rg i l had in mind to c o n t r a s t two d i f f e r e n t

modes of l i v i n g , two d i f f e r e n t phi losophies of l i f e . Since Rome

nd Carthage had engaged in a death s t rugg le during the Punic Wars

nd the most p a t r i o t i c cry on a Roman's l i p s had been Delenda ea t

Carthago, the hopes and aims of Rome must be i dea l i zed and Carthage

Rome's enemy, must be revealed as a l l t h a t was u t t e r l y incompatible

with Roman id e a l s . I t i s to be noted t h a t Vi rg i l a c c o ~ p l i s h et h i s

d ea l i za t i on of Rome not as the h i s to r i a n but r a th e r as the poet .

He does not n a r r a t e as the h i s t o r i an s Naevius and Ennius of ten do

n t h e i r epic verses but r e ly ing more on s u g g e s t i ~ nhe succeeds i n

o co lor ing the whole episode t h a t the d i s t i n c t l y Roman v i r t u e s of

Aeneas s tand o u t : h is devot ion f i r s t to the people he i s to found,

o h is ch i ld whom he wilJ. not cheot of a d ~ s t i n e dth rone , to h i s

ods who have des.tine-d him, to· be tpe progen i to r of the l i n e of the

Caesars . In the meeting of Aeneas and Didowe

have the meeting ofhe West and Eas t and a l l t h a t such an a n t i t h e s i s sugges ts i n

ch a r ac t e r, law, government; and cu l t u r e . The p ic tu re of Dido w i l l -

ng to s a c r i f i c e her f . a i r name and her honor i s heinous enough.

But her neg lec t of duty to her people and t h e i r r i s i n g na t ion

3 Charle·s : t n ~ p , :"Legend and History in the Aeneid" , C l a s s i c a lJournal XIX 1924 l 9 8 f ' f ' .

I t a l i a n i d ea l s . She does not understand thecombination of vi r tue which makes up the i dea lRoman matron • • • • Virg i l a l te red the s tory ofDido from the h i s t o r i c a l legend in order tocon t ras t the fury of ungovernable love, loveof

theanimal type,

with the se t t l ed ordar, a f •fec t ion and obedience of Roman family l i f e . 25

Accordingly, such a stand claims t ha t Virg i l in h is por t r aya l of

Dido used a l l h is resources to draw a woman whose r e a l nature was

h a t of Medea, of Clodia , of Cleopatra : a woman whose nature was

monstrous and completely divorced from a l l Roman idea l s of family

nd soc ia l l i f e . This claim seems t ~ · be fa r from the t r u th l In

he pic tu re of i n f e l i x ~ ~ does Virg i l want us to see the f a t a l e26

monstrum t ha t Cleopatra ce r t a in ly was to Horace. Or again i s the

i c tu re of Clo'dia the immoral "Medea of the Pa la t ine" , as Cicero27

a l l s her, in Vi r g i l ' s mind? I s he pain t ing a woman u t t e r l y a l i en

o the i d e a l of the typ ica l Roman matron to whose pure blooa theace of Romulus owed i t s preeminence? True, as has al ready pointed

ut , Virg i l was con t ras t ing two philosophies of l i f e but there a re

nmistakable s igns t ha t his por t r aya l ce r t a in ly does not extend

o a condemnation of Dido as an unworthy woman. Even h i s t o r i c a l l y

peaking, the proof l i e s i n Dido 's favor. For the only reference

o Dido in the h i s t o r i c a l re ferences of Vi r g i l ' s time shows t ha t

a r from being a Cleopatra or a Medea, Dido was received by the

oman people as another Lucre t i a , dear to the hear t of every

5 W.Warde Fowler, ·Roman Essays and In t e rp r e t a t i o n s , Clarendon Press

oxford, 1920, 185r r. - - -6 Horace, Odes, I , 37.7 Cicero, ~ C a e l i o ,Loeb Cl ass i ca l Library, t r ans la ted by J.H.

Freese . WITliam Heinemann. 1933__._ #a.

e l l may Vi rg i l use sugges t ion and no doubt he did , but to say t h a t

do i s drawn from Cleopatra i s s t r e tch ing an analogy too f a r .

: t r g i l1 s method, here as elsewhere, i s to combine t r a i t s observed

n h is own experience or borrowed from l i t e r a r y sources , and to

ake up a new imaginat ive c re a t i o n .

Consider ing, then, the advantages to be gained from the

nclus ion of the Dido episode, Vi rg i l decided to t e l l the s t o r y

e s p i t ethe seemingly unfavorable ro le i n which i t c a s t h is hero .

i r g i lwas quick to see the powerful element of pathos t h a t i t a f -

o r d e dhim. How b e t t e r could he f u l f i l l h is wish than by inc luding

h e love s to ry with i t s t r a g i c ending and i t s oppor tuni ty fo r ex

ess ion of a l l emotions. Secondly, the s t o ry of Rome's greatness,u s thave place fo r the r e l i g i o us element t h a t Romans of the Augus-

a n Age bel ieved to be respons ib le fo r the pr i s t ine Roman Vir tueJ

he p ic tu re of Aeneas obeying the gods t o the u t t e r dis regard of

s own i n c l i n a t io n i s Vi r g i l ' s masterp iece . For i n i t we see

oman Vir tue c lo thed in f le sh and blood. Third ly, in the f i r s tI

onception of h is epic Virg i l saw the danger of dryness in the

e l l j n g of s to r i e s and pas t events . t h a t are p a r t and parce l ofpic l o r e . How could he counterac t any poss ib le monotony? He de

ided t ~ a t an i n t e r e s t e d l i s t e n e r whose enthusiasm could lend co lor

o the s t o ry and spur on the t e l l e r would solve the d i f f i c u l t y.

ido, the woman who would be .capt ivated by Aeneas could bes t f i l l

he r o l e . His choice · is a wise one. L a s t l y, any s t o ry of Rome

hich would exclude th·e s t o ry of the Punic Wars would not be the

omplete s to ry of Rome. For the Roman empire of Augustus 's time

ooked upon the s t ruggle with Carthage and i t s v ic to r ious i s sue

or the Roman arms as the tu rn ing po in t of Roman h i s t o r y. Afte r

he defea t of Hannibal, Rome was a world power. Virg i l used the.Dido episode to remind the wr i t e r and readers of h is day of the

~ ~ i t ybetween Roman and Tyrian in a l l i t s important phases . The

verage Roman found g re a t so lace in the ac t ion of Aeneas in l eav -

ng Dido fo r the welfare of the fu tu re · c i ty of Rome. With the

ompletion of the t a l e of Dido and Aeneas, Virg i l poe t i ca l ly sowedhe seeds of discord t h a t were to grow i n to the Punic Wars. Thus,

n · shor t , we seB the compell ing reasons t h a t u l t ima te ly decided

Virg i l to wr1te the fou r th book of the Aeneid.

CHAPTER I I I

APOLLONIUS OF RHODES AND THEFOURTH AENEID

The inves t iga t ion of the sources of the four th book of

he Aeneid proves a most i n t e r e s t i n g s tudy. The more one searches ,

he more convinced one becom.e.s t h a t i t i s almost impossi bl:e to

view every wr i t e r and h is works which had a p o s i t i v e i n f luence

n Vi rg i l . Undoubtedly extens ive reading was necessary to fu rn i s h

m with the necessary background from which he might choose as he

ould i n the d e l i n e a t i o n of the charac te r s i n the Dido episode.

l l wr i t e r s of g r ea t l i t e r a t u r e are conscious ly or unconscious ly

nf luenced i n t h e i r wri t ings by the works of t h e i r predecessors in

p a r t i c u l a r f i e l d . While i n the case of V i r g ~ l ,the f in i shed

roduct i s vas t ly su:perior to the exemplars , and shows, as Horace

uts i t so wel l , much l abor l imae ! ! ~ yet Vi rg i l was no excep-

on to the tendency noted above. In f a c t , Vi rg i l borrowed from

is predecessors much more than any modern c r i t i c would be wi l l i n g

permi t , fo r the anc ien ts had a much d i f f e r e n t outlook on v:hat

cf a. l a t e r day would l abe l downright plag iar i sml Virg i l , then ,

d no t sc rup le to take what f i t t e d h is designs . From Apollonius

f Rhodes, the author of the Alexandrine ep ic , th e Argonaut ica ,

o r e than from any o ther author Vi rg i l borrowed mater ia l fo r th e

eneid. This s ta tement may seem su rp r i s ing , e spec ia l ly in the face

a l l the mater ia l t h a t could be t r aced t o Homer i n Vi r g i l ' s poetr.

et i t s tands as the t r u t h .

In essence the poet ry of the Aeneid i s neverHomeric 1 desp i te the incorpora t ion of manyHomeric l i n e s . I t i s a sap l ing of Vi r g i l ' sHel len i s t i c garden 1 slowly accl imated toI t a l i a n s o i l , fed r i c h ly by years of phi losophica l s tudy, braced, pruned and reared

in to a t r e e of noble s t reng th and c l a s s i c d ign i t y. 1

Apollonius i s an impor tant f igure i n the Alexandr ine

Movement. His poem, the Argonaut ica , wr i t t e n in four books, i s

he f i r s t ins tance as fa r as we know where a love theme was the

ubjec t fo r a de ta i l ed epic t r ea tment . Most of the Homeric tra .di ..

ons are fol lowed by Apol lon ius : the language i s t h a t of the con•I

en t iona l epic of the pas t , and the consecrated epic theme ... k-A£01

v < f p ~ V -the glor ious deeds of heroes - i s presen t in the s t o ry and

dventures of Jason. But Apollonius departed from Eomer•s path by

nt roducing a love s to ry as a major episode i n h i s ep ic . This c e r-

a in ly was an innovat ion not to be found i n Homeric t r a d i t i o n .

i rg i l chose to fol low the l ead of Apollonius i n the t e l l i n g of the

ido episode.

Another d i ffe rence in Apollon1us was t h a t he did no t make

se of Greek l a d i e s as h is hero ines , but int roduced a barbar ian2

r inces s , Medea. I f 1 as has been s a i d , Dido would have been an

m p o s s i b i l i t y fo r Homer, i t may be as t r u t h f u l l y asse r t ed t h a t

pol lonius 1 s Medea would also be fo re ign to Homer's Muse. Homer's

Tenney Frank, Vi r f i l , Henry Holt & Company, New York, 1922, 168.J .Wight-Duff , A L t e r a ry His tory of Rome To the Close of theGolden Age, Charles Sc r i b n e r ' s Sons, New York, 1932, 460.

a t ive s imp l i c i ty would pass by so deep a study of f ee l ings and

ould give no such propor t ions to su.ch an e r o t i c theme. The am ..

i t i o n of Apol lonius was to express the love of Jason and .Medea in

medium i n which th e sub jec t had never be fore been handled. The

ovel ty of h is plan was not slow i n br ing ing him in to sharp d i s -

sreement with h i s contempora r ie s , e s p e c i a l l y with h is former t e a

her, Call imachus, whose l i t e r a r y aims and t a s t en d i f f e r e d cons i -3

erab ly from those of h is pup i l . This i s not a t a l l su rp r i s ing

i nce , fo r Call imachus , Homer was the Alpha and Omega of ep ic , anqe was convinced t h a t any depar ture from Homeric epic t r a d i t i o n '!'!a

grave l i t e r a r y blunder. Howe!l!er : h e dis regarded th e c r i t i c i s m

nd in t roduced a nove l ty i n h is ep ic . Moreover the Argonaut ica

rospered and was much admired by Roman wr i t e r s who r e e ~ i v e di n -

p i r a t i on from the g re a t c l a s s i c a l w r i t e r s by way of Alexandr ia .

u.e to Apol lonius , Medea was handed down to the Romans no t only as

he t r a g i c an d embi t tered f igure of Eur ip ioes but a l s o a g i r l who

ad abandoned a l l a t th e c a l l of her loved one, an d i n the end foun(4

he b i t t e r n e s s of a love .

Before proceeding to th e connect ion between Apollonius

nd Vi rg i l , we must give a word of warning. This chap te r has no

n t e n t i o n of making Vi rg i l an Alexandr ine , fo r he never fash ioned

ts poe t ry according to th e Alexandrine mold • . His l ea rn ing never

Cf. J.W. Atk ins , L i t e r a ry Cr i t i c i sm i n An t i fu i t y, Cambridgethe Univers i t y P res s , 1934, Vol. I , I77ff. or t rea tment ofp o i n t .HAnl "V R M 98 .

a tt h i s

egenera ted i n to pedantry or obscur i ty, nor did the Alexandrine

voidance of everything commonplace. i n sub jec t , s e n t i ~ e n tor a l -

us ion ever f ind place i n h i s pnet ry. This chapter i s designed

erely to show the in t imate connect ion between the fou r th Aeneid

nd the Argonaut ica .

We could surmise t h a t Vi rg i l would borrow from Apollonius

r a new phase had been added to epic t r a d i t i o n ; and i t had proved

be a high ly i n t e r e s t i n g phase . Vi rg i l knew t h a t somehow he

ust u t i l i z e what Apollonius had made p r a c t i c a l l y impera t ive , bu t

w was he t·o introduce. an e r o t i c theme in to h is plan of Home?

he l i n e s of Roman h i s t o r y were c l e a r ly cu t but the ca ree r of Ho•

er ' s Aeneas a f t e r the sack of Troy was unknown and consequent ly

i rg i l could use a f ree hand i n t r e a t i n g of the Trojan hero . The

ppor tun i ty. fo r inc lud ing the new love mot i f of Apollonius was pre •

nted to Vi rg i l by the work of h is predecessor, Naevius, the Roman

amatic poe t of Punic War days who included both Dido and Aeneas

h is Bellum Punicum.

The f i r s t b i t of evidence fo r Vi r g i l ' s debt to Apollonius

found in the commentators on Vi rg i l . Macroblus o ff e r s an i n -

r e s t i n g t ex t to begin the examinat ion:

de Argonauticorum quarto, quorum s c r ip to r e s tApollf'mius,. l ibrum Aeneidos suae quartum totumpaene formaver i t ad Didonem ve l Aenean amatoriamincont inent iam Medeae c i r c a Jasonem t r ansferendo . 5

Macrobius, S a t . , V, 1 7 ~ 4 .

An even more c l e a r s ta tement of f a c t i s found i n Serv ius :

Apollonius Argonautica s c r i p s i t e t i n t e r t i oi n d u c i t amantem Medeam: inde t o tu s h ie l i b e rt r an s l a t u s e s t . 6

i r s t of a l l , we know t h a t the four th book of the Aeneid i s f a r

n d e ~ dfrom a d i r e c t t r a n s l a t i o n of the t h i rd book of the A r g o n a

7i c a . Now a t . t h e beginn:i.ng before a review of the f a c t s has been

aken i t would be d i f f i c u l t to po in t out the. exact meaning of the

bove s t ~ t e m e n tof Serv iu s ; i t w i l l , I be l i eve , be c l ea r a t t h e

onclus ion.

The su r e s t , c l ea r e s t and most obvious way to a t t ack our

roblem i s to review the s t o r i e s of Medea and Dido from the b e g i n

ing . Dido i s the Tyrian queen, beau t i f u l , i ndus t r ious , c l ev e r.

Vi rg i l summed up her ch a r ac t e r in th ree words of eulogy - Dux

8.' ---

emina f a c t i . By t h i s he meant t h a t her i n d u s t r y, c l everness and

onstancy were d i r e c t l y responsib le fo r the r i s e of her count ry. ·

Medea, t oo , i s of roya l blood, being the pr incess dauc;hter of the

King of the Colchians .

The f i r s t l ikeness t h a t s t r i k e s one i s t h a t the union of

oth p a i r s of l o v e r s , Jason and Medea, Dido and Aeneas, i s the

e s u l t of div ine machinat ions . By the plan of the goddesses Hera

nd Athena, Medea f e l l in love with Jason. With her ass i s t ance

Serv ius , Grammatici, George Thi lo and Herman Hagen, Aeneidos

Librorum I-V C o ~ ~ e n t a r i i ,Lips iae , Teubner, 1891, Vol. I , auctusad Aen . IV, I •~ : i i ~ ' I ~

9 ~ ~ 4 .

he was enabled to b r ing back the Golden Fleece t o Greece. ~ e r a

addresses Athena:

Come, l e t us go to Cypr i s , l e t us both accos ther Venus and urge h er to bid her son ( i f only

he w i l l obey) speed h is s h a f t a t the daughterof Aeetes , the enchant ress , and charm h erwith love fo r Jason. And I d e ~ nt h a t by h erdevice he wi l l br ing beck the f l eece to Eel -l a s . 9

In th e Aeneid, Juno, r e a l i z in g Dido ' s i n f a t ua t i on fo r the Tro jan

l e ad e r, determj_ned to keep Aeneas a t Carthae;e so t h a t he might

never found h is dest ined kingdom i n I t a l y . She s ly ly addresses

Venus:

egregiam vero laudem e t spo l i a ampla r e f e r t i stuque puerque tuus ; magnum e t memorabile numen,una dolo divum s i femina v i c t a duorum e s t .nee me adeo f a l l i t veri tam t e m o ~ n i a n o ~ t r asuspectas habu isse domos K a r t h a g i n i ~a l t a e .sed quis e r i t modus, au t quo nunc cer tamine t an to?quin po t ius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos

exercemus? habes, t o t a quod mente p e t i s t i ;arde t amans Dido t r ax i tque per ossa furorem.communem hunc ergo populum par ibusque regamusa u s p i c i i a ; · l i c e a t Phrygio s e rv i r e mari todota l i sque tuae Tyrios permi t t e r e d.extrae. 10

·As one mi@1t wel l expect from th e passages j u s t q u o t e d

the next po in t of comparison i s na t u r a l l y the r o l e of Cupid in ·

both poe t s . Here again Vi rg i l d i r e c t l y fol lows i n th e s t eps of

Apollon:tus. Working a t the r eques t of h is goddess mother, Cupid11

i n th e t h i r d Argonaut ica i s thus desc:rj ' ted accomplish ing h is

9 Apol lon ius , Arfonau t i ca! Loeb C l a s s i c a l Library, t r an s l a t ed byR.C. Seaton, W111am :Helnemann, 1921, I I I , 25·29 .

10 Aen. IV, 93 ·104 .11 AF6onautica, I I I , 2 7 8 ~ 2 8 7 .

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

iss ion:

And quickly benea th the l i n t e l i n th e porchhe s t rung h i s bow and took from the quiver anarrow unshot befo re , messenger of pa in . Andwith swi f t f e e t unmarked he passed the t h r e s h -old and keenly glanced around; and g l i d i n g byAeson 's son he l a i d the arrow notch on the cord

" ~ i n the cen te r, and drawing wide a p a r t wi th bothfeet · he sho t a t Medea; and speechless a m a z e ~ -

ment se ized her sou l .

r g i l ' s Cupid has a s l i g h t l y sub t l e r r o l e . Cast i n the guise o f

scanius, Aeneas ' son, Cupid s lowly but s u re l y p l i e s h is appointed

sk , causing Dido to f o rg e t the memory of Sychaeus, h er formerouse, anrl a t the same t ime rous ing her to a burning love fo r

eneas:

praec ipue i n f e l i x , pes t i devota f u t u r a e ,exp le r i mentem nequ i t a rdesc i tque tuendoPhoenissa , e t p a r i t e r puero donisque movetur.i l l e ub i complexu Aeneae col loque pependi te t magnum f a l s i imp lev i t g e n i t o r i s amorem,reginam p e t i t . haec o c u l i s , haec pectore t o t oh ae r e t e t interdum gremio f o v e t , i n sc i a Dido,i n s i d a t quantus miserae deus. a t memor i l l emat r i s Acidal iae paulat im abo le re Sychaeumi n c i p i t e t vivo tempta t praver te re amoreiam pridem r e s id e s animas desuetaque corda. 12

Before proceeding f u r t he r with th e comparison, l e t us

te two o ther obse rva t ions . In Homer 1we

n o t i ce t h a t Odysseus i st r a v e l e r and hand i n hand with h is t r a v e l s go h is adven tu res . In

e Argonaut ica of Apol lonius , Jason i s a l s o c a s t as a t r a v e l e r .

e · reason i s because t r ave l o ff e r s the oppor tun i ty of v i s i t i n g

ny and s t r ange places and of unfo ld ing adven tu res in epic stolly.

Aen. I , 712·722.

n the l i g h t of t h i s preva i l j ng tendency Vi rg i l would be much i n -

l i n e dto cas t Aeneas as a t r a v e l e r • . Hence we see a reason fo r

he incroduct ion of Carthage and Dido. Another poin t of s i m i l a r i t

n th e two s t o r i e s i s the a r r i v a l of the Argonauts and the s h i p ~

recked Trojans . Immediately on touching the shore and meet5.ng

he Tyr ian dwel le rs , th e s a i l o r s has ten to expla in t h a t no t fo r

io lence or plunder have they come to Carthage, bu t t h a t a storm

as dr iven them t h i t h e r and they seek only a temporary refuge: ·

non no.s au t f e r r o Libycos populare Penat i svenimus au t rap ta s ad l i t o r a v e r t e r e praedas ;non ea v is animo nee t an t a superb ia v i c t i s . 13

he saMe tone i s apparent i n the language of Jason as he addresses

eetes , the king of Colchls , on th e a r r i v a l of th e Argonauts a t

h e Colchian sho res :

Aeetes , bear with th is . armed band, I pray.For not i n th e way thou deemest have we comet o thy c i t y and palace , no, nor yet with suchdes i r e s . For who would of h is o ~ n w i l l dareto cross so wide a sea fo r the goods of as t r anger? 14

Af te r l i s t e n i n g to the plea of the shipwrecked Trojans ,

ido shows h er m_!ignanimous s p i r i t and drops a l l th e b a r r i e r s to

er rea lm. Opening wide the gates of the c i t y, she i n v i t e s the

men of Aeneas to s t ay a while or even, should they so des i r e , to

e t t l e in her rea lm; she w i l l t r e a t them as c i t i z ens of equal

i g h t s with the Tyrians .

3 Aen. I , 5 2 7 · 5 2 9 .4 Argon. I I , 386-389 .

seu vos Hesperiam magnam Saturniaque arvas ive Erycis f i n i s regemque o p ta t i s Acesten,aux i l io t u t o s dimittam opibusque iuvabo.v o l t i s e t h is mecum p a r i t e r considere regn is?urbem quam s t a tuo v e s t r a ; ~ u b d u c i t en a v i s ;Tros Tyriusque mihi nu l lo discr imine age tu r. 15

For the counterpar t of t h i s passage we look to the f i r s t

ook of the Argonaut ica . In the ear ly s tages of the t r i p .for the

olden Fleece , Jason landed a t Lemnos and ·was gree ted by I lyps ipyle ,

aughter of King Thoas. The same d i sp lay of s e l f l e s s generos i ty

no t so c l e a r ly presen t in th e i n v i t a t i o n of Hypsipyle. Yet aarm welcome and an evident des i re t o be hosp i t ab le , and the same

oy in giv ing the i n v i t a t i o n i s evident i n the language of the p r i

S t ranger, why s t ay ye so long outs ide ourtowers? Do ye t he re fo re s tay and s e t t l e with

u s ; and shoulds t thou des i r e t o dwell here ,and t h i s f inds favor wi th thee , assured ly thous h a l t have the prerogat ive of my f a t he r Thoas;and I deem t h a t thou w i l t no t scorn our l anda t a l l ; fo r i t i s d e e p ~ s o i l e dbeyond a l l o theri s l a n d s t h a t l i e in the Aegaean sea . But comenow, r e t u r n to thy ship and r e l a t e my words tothy comrades, and s t ay not outs ide our c i t y . 16

Afte r the a r r i v a l of Jason and Aeneas, the passages con ..

rned with the r eac t i on of the two hero ines are almost · i d e n t i c a l ,

ven to the wording. The e ff e c t of Cupid 's dar t s on each i s the

me. The n a r r a t i ve of Apollonius i s not qui te as moving as t h a t

Vi rg i l , and Vi r g i l ' s t r i c k of making Dido speak out her con-

Aen. IV, 5 6 9 ~ 5 7 4 .

Argon. I , 793, 827-833.

i t i on makes i t m o r ~v iv id and r e a l i s t i c . Apollonius begins h is

esc r ip t ion of Medea'

and th e ·maiden looked a t him with s t e a l t h y

glance , hold ing her b r i g h t v e i l a s i d e , herh e a r t smoulder:tng with pain ; and her sou lc reep ing l i k e a dream f l i t t e d in h i s t r ackas he went. So they passed f o r t h from thepalace so re ly t r oub led . And Chalciope,sh ie ld ing h e r s e l f from the wrath of Aeetes ,had gone quickly to her chamber with her sons.And Medea l ikewise followed and much broodedi n h er soul a l l the cares t h a t Loves awaken.And before her eyes the y i s ion s t i l l appeared •himse l f what l i k e he was, with what vesture hewas. c l ad , what t h ings he spake, how he s a t on h is eh i s s e a t , how he moved f o r t h to the door ~ and asshe pondered, she deemed there never was suchano ther man; and ever i n her ~ a r s rung .h is voiceand the honey sweet words which he u t t e r e d . 17

f t e r reading th e above passage , l e t us t u rn to V i r g i l ~ He de•

elops Dido ' s cha rac t e r, f i r s t , by a s h o r t d e s c r i p t i o n of her

i r s t reac t ions to Aeneas 'c o m i n g , ~ l e t t i ' n g

her own words descr ibeer s t a t e of mind. L a s t l y, he l e t s her ac t ions speak . louder than

er words. Notice here the same s t r e s s on th e words and ac t ions

nd appearance of the hero which i s l ikewise emphasized i n the

oove passage of Apollonius ~

multa v i r i v i r t u s animo multusque r e c u r s a tg e n t i s honos; haeren t i n f i i i pectore vol tusverbaque, nee placidam membris d a t eura quietem •• • • quia novus h ie n o s t r i s sueeeRs i t sedibus hospes' ,quem sese ore f e r en s , quam f o r t i pectore e t arm.isJcredo equidem, nee vana f i d e s , genus esse deorum •• • • nunc eadem l abente d ie conv iv ia quae r i t ,I l i acosque i t e rum demens audi re l aboresexposc i t pendetque i terum n a r r a n t i s ab ore • • • •i l lura absens a bsentem audi t(}_ue vi detque ,au t gremio Ascanium, g e n l t o r i s imagine cap ta ,

Ar&on •• IV. 442-458.

Anna, f a tebor enim, miser i pos t f a t a Sychaeicon iug i s e t sparsos f r a t e rn a caede Penat i sso lus h ie i n f l e x i t sensvs animumque labentemimpul i t . 20

The r e a c t i o n of Medea as she reviews the wild thoughts

l i t t i n g yhrough her mind i s to th ink of the d ~ s g r a c eshe w i l l

r ing upon h e r s e l f i f she helps Jason. Even dea th seems more

more pre fe rab le than t h a t she should surrender an d a s s i s t Jason

n se iz ing the Golden Fleece . Yet while she speaks words of s e l f

ondemnation, she had a l ready ha l f decided i n her mind to he lphe man she l oved :

What disgrace w5_ll not be mine? Alas fo rmy i n f a t u a t i on l Far be t t e r would i t be fo rme to forsake l i f e t h i s very n igh t i n mychamber by some myster ious f a t e , escaping a l ls landerous , b'3fore I complete such namelessdishonor. 21

he f i r s t words t h a t come to Dido ' s l i p s i n the sAme ci rcumstances

re a curse t h a t she c a l l s upon h e r s e l f . She exceeds Medea's hope

o r dea th by ca l l i ng upon J u p i t e r to c a s t h er down to Hades i f

ver she should so f o rg e t her promised f i d e l i t y and honor:

sed mihi vel t e l l u s optem pr ius ima deh i sca tve l pa te r omnipotens ad iga t me f u l m ~ n ead umbras,p a l l e n t i s umbras Erebi noctemque profundam,an te , Puder, Quam te vio lo aut tua i u r a r eso lve .i l l e meos, primus q u i me s i b i i u r u d t , amoresa b s t u l i t ; illP- habeat secum servetque sepulchre . 22

ome see i n Dido ' s curse upon h e r s e l f , Vlrgi . l ' s a t tempt to r e s t o r e

oet ic j u s t i c e fo r the sorrowful outcome of D i d o ' s l i f e . But

0 Aen. IV , 1 3 - 2 3 .1 Jrr'gon. I I I , 797 ..8 0 1 .2 Aen. IV, 24-30•

a th.er they are merely worc_s by which Dido hopes to awe h e r s e l f

nto f i d e l i t y to her word; they are the l a s t noble e f f o r t to s t ru g -

le aga ins t the t reacherous C u p i d ~

At t h i s po in t i n the nar ra t ive i t i s most f i t t i n g to

~ t i c ea most important po in t in both the Argonauticn and the

Aeneid: the ro les of the two s i s t e r s of the r espec t ive women play

n the s t o ry. Their p a r t s are s imi l a r in many ways. For Medea#

er s i s t e r # Chalciope# i s a confidant# one to whom she can speak

ut her thoughts . Yet Medea r e f ~ s e sto pour fo r th her s t o ry of

er love fo r Jason in to her s i s t e r ' s e a r. Chalciope i s indeed one

o be t r u s t e d , bu t Medea does not f u l l y t r u s t h er sec re t to anyone.

ido on the o ther hand has the f u l l e s t conf idence i n Anna, her s i s -

e r . Her candid admiss ion of her s t a t e of mind to Anna throughout

he four th Aeneid bespeaks kinsh ip between the two much deeper than

h ~ t between Medea and Chalc iope . In the Argonaut ica , Chalciope i s

n t e r e s t ed only i n h er sons; Anna in the Aeneid has no i n t e r e s t

eyond t h a t of serv ing her s i s t e r . Anna i s the p e r f ec t f o i l fo r

Dido's cha rac t e r, even as Chalciope i s fo r Medea. Anna's words of

or ldly wisdom warning Dido to f o rg e t the memory of a dead husbandnd t o consu l t her presen t i n t e r e s t gradua l ly undermines Dido ' s

eterminat ion to be f a i t h f u l to the memory of her former spouse.

i t h an inc reas ing ly sof ten ing a t t i t u d e Dido looks upon a Tro jan -

yr ian bond t h a t would r e s u l t from wedlock with Aeneas. Or aga in

Apollonius uses Chalc iope ' s i n t e rven t ion toserve the. purpose of a second p l o t and givea dramatic t u rn to the n a r r a t i v e ; Vi rg i l with

a j u s t s r apprec ia t ion of the ep ic makes nosuch use of Anna. Anna i s her s i s t e r ' s na tur a l counsel lor and f r i end who merges i n withth e s to ry and i s i n f ac t th e h e ro i n e ' s second( i f l e s s noble) s e l f . 23

In desc r ib ing the beau ty o f t h e i r ~ a i n c h a ra c t e r s , both

Apollonius and Vi rg i l go ~ a c kto Bomer. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g here

or th e sake of comparison to see what both _poets have made out of

orrowed and p l i ab l e m a t e r i a l . The imagery i s much th e same i n

oth - admiring th rongs , youthfu l r e t i n u e , dancing nymphs, and

i n a l l y the use of the Diana s imi le to emphasize the beauty of

ach h e r o in e . Apollonius extended h is desc r ip t ion f u r t he r than

Vi r g i l :

And going f o r t h she r ~ e d e ; ; jmo,_mted on a swi f tchar io t and with her went two maidens on e a ~ h

s i d e . And she h e r s e l f took the r e i n s and i nher r i g h t hand the wel l - fash ioned whip, and drovethrough the c i t y ; and th e r e s t , the handmaids,l a i d t h e i r hands on the c h a r i o t behind and ranalong the broad h.tghway; and they k i l t e d t h e i r15.ght robes above t h e i r white knees·. Arid evenas by the mild waters of Par then ius , or a f t e rbathing i n the r i v e r Amnisus Leto 1 s daughters tands upon her golden cha r io t and cm1rses overthe h i l l s with her swi f t - foo ted r o e s to 3 r e e t:.:'rom a f a r some richly--stEJa:n::..ng ~ l c : c a " L : ) r r l · u ;andwith her come the nymphs i.n at tendance , ga the r

ing , some a t the spr ing of Amnisus i t s e l f , othersby the g lens and many-fountained peaks; andround her whine and fawn the t c 9 s t s cowering asshe moves along. 24 ·

Vi r g i l ' s d e s c r i p t i o n i s b u i l t upon the same Homeric model as the

bove l i n e s of Apol lon ius .

3 r:enry., 1 0 5 .4 Argon. I I I , 868-885 .

Haec durn Dardanio Aeneae miranda v iden tu r,·durn s tupe t obtutuque h ae r e t def ixus i n uno,reg ina ad ternplurn, forma pulcherr ima Dido,i n c e s s i t , magna luvenu.rn s t i p a n t e ca t e r v a .qua l i s i n Eurotae r i p i s au t per i,J_,_;a Cynthiexerce t Diana c h o r i s , qua J : , l i l le secutaehinc a t que hinc glomerantu.r Oreades; i l l apharet ramf e r t urnero gradiensque deas supereminet ornnis;Latonae tac i turn per temptant gaudia pec tu s :t a l i s e r a t ·Dido, ta lem se l a e t a f e r eb a tper medics, i n s t an s oper i regnisque f u t u r i s . 25

omparing the above descr ip t ions we cannot he lp bu t admire the

ne work of both poets . In t h i s Qescr ip t ion of Apol lonius we

eter. t none of the f a u l t s t h a t sometimes mar h i s e f f o r t s : too g r ea t

i sp lay of l e a rn i n g , pedant ry or obscu r i ty. Vi r g i l ' s , t oo , i s no

n f e r i o r e f f o r t ; but here Vi rg i l must y i e l d th e palrll to h1 s Alexan

r ine predecessor.

When Medea f inds t h a t th e Are;onauts a re undecided whether

o r e t u rn her to her f a t h e r ' s house or to br ing her wi th them to

i e l l a s ,she c a l l s Jason as ide from th e throng and with angry words

onfron t s him with t h i s accusa t ion :

What i s t h i s purpooe t h a t ye are now devis ingabout me, 0 son of Aeson'! Has thy t r iumph u t t e r -ly c a s t f o rg e t f u ln e s s upon t hee , and r eck es t thou

noth ing of a l l t h a t thou spakes t when held f a s tby necess i ty? 26

ote the same r e a c t i o n and s i m i l a r i t y of language when Dido l ea rns

f Aeneas' .planned depa r tu re ; she cannot conceal h e r b i t t e r n e s s .

Diss:tmulare et iam s p e r a s t i , p e r f i d e , tantum

5 Aen. I , 494•504.Argon. IV, 355•358.

posse nefas t ac i tu sque mea decedere t e r r a?nee te nos te r amor nee t e da ta dex te ra quondamnee mori tu ra t en e t crudel:t funere Dido? 27

The i n e v i t a b l e psycho log ica l reac t ion s e t in again fo r both hero -

n e ~ 1 . I.iedea immediately reca l l ed a l l the su ffe r ings and s a c r i f i c e

ha t she had undergone fo r ' J a s o n 1 s sake . She raged a t the b l ack

n g ra t i t u d e of the son of Aeson:

I have l e f t my country, the g l o r i e s of myhome and even my paren t s - - th ings t h a t weredeares t to me; an.d f a r away a l l alone I amborne over · the sea with the p l a i n t i ve king-

f i she r s because of thy t r o ~ b l e ,i n order t h a tI might save thy l i f e i n f u l f i l l i n g the con-t e s t s with the oxen and ear thborn men. Las tof a l l the f l eece - - when the mat ter becameknown, i t was by my f o l l y thon 1 i d s t win ~ . t ;

and fou l reproach have I poured on womankind. .28

or Dido, t o ~ ; Aeneast i n g ra t i t u d e i s hardes t to bear. Her l i t a n y

f woes r P v e ~ l e dh er love of Aeneas and a lso sympathe t i ca l l y showe

what a high pr ice she had paid fo r i t :

t e r r o p t e r Libycae gentes Nomadumque t y r ann iodere , i n f en s i Ty r i i ; te prop te r euridem ·exs t inc tus pudor e t , qua so la s ide ra adibam,fama p r i o r . cu i me moribundam d e s e r i s , hospes,hoc solum nomen quoniam de con:tuge r e s t a t ? 29

And l a s t l y i n t h e i r fu ry, both women fol low the same

ourse , curs ing t h e i r l over s and ca l l ing the d i r e s t t h r ea t s of

he powers of heaven down upon them. I t i s , as i f r ea l i z i ng t h e i r

wn f a i l u r ~and powerlessness to s top the plans of Jason and Aeneas

h e ~ c a l l upon the gods to be t h e i r avengers . The Eumenides,

s the Avengers of the wronged are inv9ked i n both prayers .

e d e a • swords are ca lcu la ted to force Jason to change h is p lans :

What revenge 1 what heavy calami ty s h a l l In ot endure in agony fo r the t e r r i b l e deedsI have done? And w i l t thou win the r e tu rnth9 t thy hea r t des i res? Never may · zeus ' sbr ide , the queen of a l l , in whom thou dostg lo ry, br ing t h a t to pass . Mayst thou somet ime remember me when thou a r t racked withangulsh; may the f leece l ike a dream vanishin to the ne the r darkness on the wings of thewindJ And may my avenging F'uries fo r thwi thdr ive thee from thy count ry, fo r a l l t h a t Ihave suffered through thy crue l tyJ These

curses w i l l not be allowed to f a l lu n a c c o m ~

pl ished to the ground. A mighty oath has tthou t r ansgres sed , ru th lese one; but not longs h a l t thou and thy c o m r ~ d e ss i t a t ease c a s t - .ing eyes of mockery upon me, fo r a l l your covenants . 30

Dido's curse upon Aeneas d i f f e r s s l ig :1 t ly i n i t s des i red e ff e c t

rom t h a t of Medea. upon Jason. The curse of Dido i s t h a t of a

person who r e a l i z e s t h a t · t h e l a s t ray of hope has vanished and

l l t h a t i s l e f t i s s t a r k , cold vengeance. Nowhere i s i t more

le a r ly manifes t than here t h a t ' love turned to hate i s the t e r -

i t l e kind of hateJ In her cuiJse., Dido runs through a l i s t of

i v i n i t i e s , the Sun, Juno, Hecate., the F u r ~ _ e sand a l l the minor

de5t ies of Tyr ian.name:Sol , qui terrarum flammis opera omnia l u s t r a s ,tuque harum i n t e rp r e s curarum e t conscia Jt::.n0 1n o c t ~ r n i s q u eHecate t r i v i i s u lu la t a per urbese t d i r a e Ul t r i ce s e t di morien t i s E l i s sae ,acc i p i t e haec , mer:tturnque mal is adve r t i t e numene t nos t ra s audi ta preces . s i t angere por tus

0 Argon. IV, 379-390 .

infandu.111 caput ac t e r r i s adnare necesse e s t ,e t s i c f a t a Iov i s poscunt , h ie terminus h a e r e t :a t be l lo audac i s populi vexatus e t armis ,f i n ib u s e x t o r r i s , complexu avolsus I u l i ,auxi l ium imp lo re t videatque indigna suorum. funera; nee , cum se sub l eges pac i s in iquaet r a d i d e r i t , regno au t op ta t a luce f r ua t u r,sed cadat ante ·d iem nediaque inhumatus harena. 31

Two minor po in t s t h a t help to fu r t h e r bo l s t e r the c lose

a r a l l e l s between Vi r g i l and Apollonius are tho dreams of Dido and

~ e d e aand th e i n t r o d u c t i o n of magic ceremonies i n to the s t o ry of

ido. Both of t hese po in t s a re borrowed from the Argonaut ica .

n the Alexandrine e p i c , the dream of Medea i s a pleasan t episode

n which she p i c t u re s to h e r s e l f t h a t Jason was s ~ a n tt o Col chi a·

u s t fo r her. Then i n h er land of m a k e ~ b e l i e v e ,she marr ies him

i th the b les s ing of her f a t he r. Vi r g i l , on the o ther hand., uses

~ edream episode f o r a d j f f e r e n t purpose. Dido ' s dream i s j u s t32 1

efore Aeneas• depa r tu re and merely adds to her f renzy and

eightens the a l ready s t r a i n e d atmosphere i n the Car thag in ian c i t y .

ido even t u rn s to magic ceremonies in her despera t ion but her

ai ls to the heavenly powers go unanswered. In the Argonaut ica

pol lonius makes Medea to be a wielder of magic a r t s . Argus speaks

hese words i n the t h i r d book:

There i s a maiden, nur tured i n the h a l l s ofAeetes , whom the goddess Hecate t aught to han-d le magic herbs with exceeding s k i l l - - a l lt h a t the land and flowing waters produce.With them i s quenched the b l a s t of unwearied

1 Aen. IV, 6 0 7 ~ 6 2 0 .

2 IOfd. I V ~ 4 6 6 ~ 4 7 0 .

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -43

'f lame, and a t once she s tays the course ofr1.vers as they rush roar ing on, and checksthe s t a r s and the paths of th e sacred moon. 33

i rg i l adopted the use of magic fo r Dido though he makes her prow

s t t h a t she tu rns to i t aga ins t her w i l l . The s tay ing of the

ourse of r i v.ers and the turninc; of the s t a r s in the sky seem to

the examples of div ine power Vi rg i l owed to Apollonius . The

xact s ign i f i ca t ion of these ceremonies i s not too c l e a r bu t V i r ~

l ' s source i n us ing them i s p l a i n enough. Dido speaks to Anna:

hinc mihi Massylae g e n t i s monstrata sacerdos 1Hesperidum templ i cus tos , epulasque draconiquae dabat e t sacros servabat i n arbore ramos,spargens umida mella sopor1.ferumque papaver .haec se carminibus p r om i t t i t s o l v e r ~mentesquas v e l i t , a s t a l i i s duras irn.mitere curas ;s i s t e r e aquam f l u v i i s e t v e r t e r e a:tdera r e t r o ; 34

Even the cave scene in the Aeneid where the marr iage of35

eneas and Dido was ce leb ra ted i s but a counterpar t of the cave36

ene i n the Argonaut ica i n which Jason and Medea are wed.

Apollonius was very c lever in handl ing h is p lo t inasmuch

he nowhere bound Jason to Medea by an e x p l i c i t and spoken pro

ise . Consequently nowhere i s i t possible t o l eve l any charges

gains t Jason of unfa i th fu lness or d e f in i t e at tempt to hoodwink

edea. In t h i s po in t , Vi rg i l has fol lowed Apol lon ius . In f a c t

e n ~ a sdenies he ever bel ieved he was en te r ing i n t o a marriage con-

3 Argon. I I I , 529-539.

Aen. IV, 483*489.5 IOI'd. IV, 160 f f .Argon. IV, 1128 f f .

r a c t with Dido. This i s no at tempt to "white-wash" the charac . te r

f Aeneas; but amidst the many passa0es avowing Dido 's love and

opes fo r marriage# the t e ~ t i s s t r ange ly s i l e n t regard ing Aeneas•

c tu a l words to Dido. Assuredly we are led to be l i eve as theour th book progresses t h a t the f e e l l n g between the two was one of

mutual a f f ec t i on ; but Vi rg i l handles i t s k i l l f u l l y by never comw

mit t ing Aeneas to a spoken promise of marr iage which would l a t e r

e fo rced asunder.

Thus f a r our comparisons have a l l been between the hero -

ne s ; but not because th.e heroes do not lend tl:le:rnsel ves to many

ointB of s i m i l a r i t y but r a t he r because th e d i v e r g e n ~ eof t h e i r

harac te rs i s so complete. Aeneas i s by f a r the more appeal ing of

he two. He has more co lo r, courage and appeal than Jason. J a s o

en know t h a t he i s no l eade r of men·, while th e T:t"ojans i n t h e i r

i s e r i e s look upon pius Aeneas as one to lead them to the land of37

es t iny.

One o ther f ine echo i s found i n both poets . Apollonius) ,

hows h is Alexandrine weakness by an overfondness fo r Jc. IL q 1

h a t i s , the unfo ld ing o f the mythologica l or ign i s of persons#

laces and events• Founding of towns and v i l l ages , or exp lana t ions

f the beginnj_ngs of r e l i g i ou s r i t e s connectec; with some p a r t i c u l a r

7 Cf. Rand 398 f f . f o r d e t a i l e d ana ly s i s of the charac te rs ofJason and Aeneas as w el l as an ex ce l l en t comparison of the

hero ines Dido and Medea; the supe r i o r i t y of Aeneas over theArgonaut hero i s most evident :tn Rand 1 s t r ea tmen t .

ace are s c a t t e r e d t ~ o u g h o u tthe poem. In the middle of adven-

resome episfvies Apollonius was wont to come out with a remem ..

ance of a l i t t l e -known myth, t r ac ing i t s o r i g i n , or again ~ n g

me anc ien t epic ch a r ac t e r i n close connect ion with the myth. The

ythologica l o r i g i n s i n themselves are not bad, fo r a ce r t a i n

mount of such mate r i a l se rves to sp ice and f l a v o r a s t o ry of epic

opor t ions and make i t ;more impress ive . Rather i t i s the abuse;I '

such mate r i a l t h a t makes these « . J i t . ~ ' - at i resome, monotonous co l .

c t i on of f a c t s , marringt ~ e

beauty of the ep ic . Vi rg i l , recog ..I ,

z ing the value of these i I 'T c. cl.l., showed g r e a t s k i l l and good

s t e i n sca t t e r i ng a few throughout the Aeneid. No doubt i n h is ·

ars spent in gather ing mater ia l he had · co l lec ted a wealth of such

t t a r . However, he chose j u s t a . few, j u s t enough to lend va r i e t y

nd background. By t h i s wise se lec t ion , he s a t i s f i e d readers who

pected them, without a t th e same time al lowing them to d u l l the

s t r e of h is s to ry.

After a review of the f a c t s in these pa3es we are much

t t e r qua l i f i ed and prepared to unders tand j u s t what Macrobius

d Servius meant when they made such a s t rong l i t e r a r y connect iontween Vi rg i l and Apolloni, ls . The s ta tement t h a t Vi rg i l was as

l l acquainted with the Argonautica as he was with the I l i a d or

e Odyssey i s now c l ea r. Vi rg i l borrowed from Apollonius but he

s not content to r e s t t he re . Al l · t he sugges t ions and ideas t h a t

cu l led would amount to nothing i f he merely re ..assembled them.

edea indeed s t i r r e d h is fancy but Dido could not be the exact

upl ica te of Medea. For Dido was the mature queen of C a r t h a g ea

widowed wife 1t : ~ e power behind the Tyrian t h rone ; Medea even ad-

mit t ing her wonderful d e l i n ea t i o n by Apol lonius , i s a f t e r a l l ,

~ t a maiden fac ing moral i s sues fo r th e f i r s t t ime . She i s a

i r l without a h i n t of grea tness except the r a t he r dubious honor

of being a wielder of magic a r t s under Heca te ' s power. The many

t r i k i ng s i m i l a r i t i e s o b s e ~ v e di n these pages are the po in t s

where Vi rg i l cons ide red i m i t a t i o n would bes t br ing out h is hero-

n e ' s t rue charac te r. What he has borrowed., he has used w el l and,n a l l f a i rn e s s to Apollonius and h is Alexandrine gen ius , the

harac te r of Dido i s f a r more powerful ly conceived and drawn than

h a t of Medea, th e maiden p r i n c ~ s sof Colch i s .

CHAPTER IV

NAEVIUS AND THE FOURTH AENEID

In v e s t i g a t i n g t ~ e sources of th e fou r th book of the

Aeneid, we f ind t h a t one of the d i f f i c u l t problems to s e t t l e c a t e -

o r i ca l l y i s th e ques t ion whether or no t Vi rg i l invented the Dido

to ry. s ~ r e l yt h a t p a r t of the Aeneid which the modern r ead e r,

t l e a s t , f inds most deeply moving deserves our spec ta l a t t e n t i o n .

W·1ence came th e idea fo r the Dido episode i n th e s to ry of Aeneas

nd h is wanderings?

I f Vi rg i l himsel f was wholly r espons ib le fo r the sources

nd the charac te r of Dido, h is g lo ry i s so much th e g re a t e r, but

uch seems no t to be th e case . Indeed one th ing ulone can be

e r t a i n l y s t a t ed a t _the s t a r t of t h i s inves t i 'ga t ion before a b i t

f evidence has been examined: ~ e r.annot determine ca t ego r i ca l l y

f Vi r 5 i l invented the meeting and love s to ry o i ' Aeneas and Dido.

Ye·t by examinj_ng the frae,ments t h a t reMain, a s t rong case can be

rgued fo r a t t r i b u t i n g the meeting of Aeneas and Dido to Naevius,

he Roman dramatic poet who l ived about th e t ime of the Second

unic War.

Even when he f i r s t dreamed of wr:t t ing an epicpoem on the s to ry of Rome, Vi rg i l doubt lessr ea l i z ed t h a t he must, i n some way, combinelegend and h i s t o r y. Naevius and Ennius hades tab l i shed fo r a l l the t imes th e convent ionof going back to beginnings , and of f ind ing

____________________________________________ __ _

these beginnings i n the Trojan-Roman s to r y.

I t i s unfor tuna te t h a t t he re remain but scanty f ragments

with which we may work but cons iderab le l i g h t j_s thrown on the

ues t i on by the s ta tements of seve ra l of the ancien t c o ~ ' T I . e n t a

nd c r i t i c s of Vi r g i l , espec ia l ly Servius and Macrobius. From

hese fragments even though they a re bu t i nd i ca t i ve , we can argue

o the p r obac i l i t y t h a t i t was Naevius who f i r s t brought Aeneas

nd Dido toge ther ; Vi rg i l , takinG the bare ou t l ines of the Naevian

to ry, fashioned i t i n t o the Dido episode. We are wel l aware t ~ a

2hera i s scho la r ly oppos i t ion on the ·par t of some authors to a t ~

r i bu t i ng the meeting of Aeneas and Dido to Naevius. We b e l i e v e ,

owever, t h a t the f ac t s can be so i n t e r p r e t a t ed as to warrant the

ta tement t h a t i t was Naevius who brought about the meeting of

eneas and Dido.

The e s t a t l i s h i n g of the connect ion between Naevius ' s'

ellum Punicum fragments and the Trojan s to ry i s very simply done.

e are indebted to Serv ius fo r prese rv ing the f i r s t fragment we

h a l l use . In t h i s f i r s t fragment Naevius goes back to the f i r s t

eg innings of Trojan-Roman h i s t o r y, br inging us the p ic tu re of

eneas and Anr-hises l eav ing Troy with t h e i r wives . Thus reads Ser-

us 1 s cormnent on l i n e te n of the I I I Aeneid:

' L i t e r a cum p a t r i a e lacr imans 1 Amat poe ta quae: J eg i t immutata a l iqua par te v e l personis i p s i s

Knapp, 201.Duff, 1 3 2 ; Ynapp, 203 .

verb:ts p ro fe r r e . Naevius enim i n d u x i t uxoresAeneae e t Anchi ses cu.r.1. l ac r imis I l ium re l inc luent e s h is v e r b i s · · -

Amborum uxoresnoctu Troiad ex iban t capi t : tbus o p e r t i s 1

f l en t e s ambae aoeuntes l a c r ~ m i scum m u l t i s . 3

ra3ments e igh t 1 nine and ten f u r t he r bo l s t e r the connect ion of

Aeneas and h is wanderings with the poem of Naevius. Again we owe

he prese rva t ion of the l i n e s to Servius . In h i s commentary on

Aeneid, I I , 797 1 he w r i t e s :

Naevius B e l l i Punic i primo de Anchisa e tAenea fug ien t ibus haec a i t - ~ -I 4

'Eorum sectam sequuntur mul t i mor ta les '- 5

Ecce hoc e s t ' i nvenio admirans numerum'

Servius con t inues to comment on the Aeneid and by s t a t i n g Vi r g i l ' s

oc i i n Naevius, he proves Vi r g i l ' s c l o s ~ eacquaintance and use of

Bellum Punicum:6

'Mul t i a l i i e Troia s t r e n u i v i r i ••• r7

Ecce h i aunt 1 animis •• • p a ra t i 1 ( ~ . I I , 799)

The t e n t h fragment of Naovius formed Vi r g i l ' s model f 'or l ine. 799

n the second Aeneid:

81 Ubi fo ras cum auro i l l i c ex ib an t '

Ecce e t r'opibus i n s t r u c t i ' (Aen. I I , 799)9

Naevi u s , Bellum Punicum, Li b e r Pr,_mus, fragment 5•7 , Remains ofOld Lat in , t r an s l a t ed by E . l l . Warmington, r;ondon, 1936 1 48.

I b i d . , fragment 8 .Servius , I I , 797.

Naevius, fragment 9.Servius , I I , 7 9 9 .Yaevius, fragment 10.Serv ius I I '799

hat Naevi11s sa id something about th e sh ip t h a t was t o ca r ry

eneas i n h is wanderings i s apparen t from th e note 'o f Serv ius on

eneid, I 1 170::

Naevius Bel lo Punico d i c i t unam navem habuisseAeneam quam Mercurius f e c e r i t ,

Hence from th e fragmants we can argue to a g en e ra l indebtedness

f V:trgi l to Naevius. But what about a Dido 'episode i n Naevius?

s y et we have no r i g h t to i n f e r anyth:tng. Such s ta tements of

ervius as the fo l lowing comment on Aeneas•s w o r ~ sof courage to

i s comrades: 11 Et t o t u s hie locus de Naevii E e l l i Punic i Libro10

r a n s l a t u a e s t . " make Vi r g i l ' s genera l debt c l e a r .

We s h a l l proceed fu r t h e r i n our e f f o r t to e s t a b l i s h th e

lose connect ion betvreen Naevi us and, t l ~ J " ,s to ry of Aeneas and h is

anderings. Macrobiua w r i t e s :

In p r in c ip i a Aeneidos tempestas d e s c r i b i t u re t Venus apud Jovem quer i tu r de p e r i c u l i s f i l i i ,e t · J u p p i t e r eam de futurorum p ro s p e r i t a t e so la ..t u r . Hie t o tua locus su."'lptus a Uaevio e s t exprimo I IDro B el l i Pun ic i , i l l i c en1m aeque Ve-nus Tro ian i s t empes ta te l abo ran t ibus oum Joveq u e r i t u r e t aecuntur verba Jov i s f i l i a m conso-l a n t i s ape fu turorum. 11

is words a t t e s t to th e f a c t t h a t Vi r g i l ' s use of div ine machinery

hereby Venus complains to J u p i t e r i n beha l f of Aeneas, her son,

nd r ece ives from the Fa ther of the gods a comfort ing r e p l y ~found

s exac t coun te rpa r t i n the f i r s t book of Naevius ' s Punic War.- - - _ _ ; ; . ~-

b . S a r v iu s , I , 198 ,Macrobius,VI, 2 1 ( i t a l i c s mine) .

A ll t h a t we have been t ry ing to e s t a b l i s h thus f a r i s the

ose r e l a t i o n s h ip t h a t e x i s t s between the l o s t fragments of Nae-

us and the s to ry of Aeneas as found i n Vi rg i l . The anc ien t com-

enta tors had much, perhaps a l l , of Naevius 1 s t e x t a t t h e i r d i s -

osal and t h e i r c0mments have given us b r i e f glimpses i n t o the

mportant conpect ion between Vi rg i l and Naevius in the s to ry of

eneas and h is Trojans . I t i s clear. , then , t h a t Naevius d id t e l l

uch of the s to ry of Aeneas, h is wanderings and. adventures . The

ojan hero and f o ~ n d e rof Rome formed the sub jec t matte r of the

a r ly p a r t of h is dramatic poem.

The f i r s t mention of Dido i s in a pure ly h i s t o r i c a l con ..

ec t ion . Timaeus the·· Greek h i stor1 an of · the t h i r d century B.C. 1

12entions h e r · i n a fragment which' t e l l s her s to ry. Refer r ing to

e r a sE l i s s a , he r e l a t e s t h a t when Dido ' s bro the r, the king of the

yrians, k i l l s Dido ' s husband, she, with a chosen band of c i t i z e n s

t up a regime i n Llbya. Rather than submit to a d i s t a s t e f u l

arriage with a neighboring king in Libya, · she chose ra t t . e r to

uild a pyre and cas t h e r s e l f upon i t in su ic ide . Timaeus makes

mention of Anna, Dido's s i s t e r in the f ragment .

Much more of Dido ' s s t o r y and background i s preserved i n

h e account of Jus t i n , a Roman,his tor ian of the second century of

h e Chr i s t i an era . Probably using the complete t e x t of Timaeus i n'

2 Timaeus 1 :F'raginenta Hi a t o r i corum Graecorum, ed i ted by CharleBand Theodore Muel ler, Edi to re Ambrosio Firmin Didot , I n s t i t u t aFranc ise typographo. 1 8 7 4 ~Vol. I , 1 9 7 ~f r a ~ . 23.

r i t ing h i s La t in accoun t , he t e l l s t h a t Dido r . : ~ . a r r i e dh er u n c l e .

hen Pygmalion, her husband 's s l aye r and .he r blood bro ther d id h is

u l deed, she with a chosen sa i l ed t o the shores of Afr i ca . O b ~

i n ing enough l and to found a c i t y by the ruse of c u t t i n g up a

u l l ' s hide so as to cover a g r ea t expanse, she s t a r t e d bu i ld ing

c i t y . I a rb a s , a neighbor ing barbar ian king , t r i e d to fo rce her

. n t oa d i s t a s t e f u l marr iage but Dido s t i l l proved l o y a l to h er f i r s

usband. Pre tend ing to accep t the c h i e f t a i n ' s o ff e r, she made

repara t ions and f i n a l l y , l i g h t in g up a pyre , · she cas t h e r s e l f

on i t to d i e . As i s p a t en t , i n ne i t he r of these two h i s t o r i c a l

counts i s there any mention of Aeneas. Any mention 0f Dido 's

s t e r , Anna, i s also conspicuous by i t s absence .

~ r o mTimaeus and Jus t i n we can ga the r in format ion r e -

arding Dido but i n these au thors we f ind no f a c t s t h a t a t t e s t to -

eneas and Dido being t oge the r a t Carthage. Since these sources

i . l to supply the necessary nexus we. are seeking , o ther sources .

ust provide th e m a t e r i a l . No !loman wr i t e r before Naevius makes

ention of Dido, the queen of Carthage nor does any of them bri.ng

eneas i n t o Dido ' s l i f e a t Carthage.

The f i r s t l i n k we have i n the Dido-Aeneas s t o ry i s i n

imoortant sentence i n the comrrtentary of Serv ius . Very casua l ly

gives us a l ead of consequence when he comments on th e n i n t h

Jus t i n , The Delphin Class ics with Variorum n0 tes , Gurante e t Impr imente A. J . Valpy, A.M., London, 1922, Vol. I , XVIII , 6 .

n e of th e four th Aeneid, where Dido addresses Anna, her s i s t e r :

cujus f i l i a e f u e r i n t Anna e ~ Dido Naevius d i c i t .

rom t h i s s ta tement i t i s evident t h a t Naevius , as wel l as Vi r g i l ,

new Dido and Anna as two separa te persons . Also ano ther f a c t

ecomes c l e a r. Naevius i n wri t ing h i s h i s t o r y was the f i r s t wr i t e r

o inc lude both the charac te r s of Aeneas and Dido i n h is work•

ervius adds a s t i l l s t ronger l i nk to the chain of evidence with

hese words:

Varro a i t 1 non Didonem, sed Annam, amore Aeneaeimpulsum se super rogum in te remis se . 14

h e above words of Serv ius are a very good argument fo r suppor t ing

he view t h a t Naevius brought Aeneas and Dido toge ther. . For here

s Varro, a contemporary of Cicero , saying t h a t Anna and not Dido

was th e one who k i l l e d h e r s e l f fo r love of Aeneas. Evident ly some

omans knew the s to ry naming Dido as dying· fo r love of Aeneas; but

here could they have become acqua in ted with such a s to ry? No

ention of Dido can be found in preceding Roman wr i t e r s and no

ubsequent Roman wr i t e r handled these charac te r s u n t i l Vi rg i l wrote

he Aeneid. But obviously someone worked out th e Dido legend,

therwise how could Varro make such a s ta tement? A very l og i ca lnference we could make i s t h a t Naevh1s i n h is l o s t fragments gave

h i ~ s t o ry to Roman t r a d i t i o n and Vi rg i l fashioned the raw mate r i a l

.,.to th e s to ry in th e four th Aeneid. Again, too , Varro r s mention

f Anna i s t r u l y reminiscent of Naevius . l<'or Anna i s absen t i n

4 Serv ius , IV, 682.

e Greek scurries and i n o the r Roman wr i t e r s before Vi r g i l , oxc • p t

Naevius . Var ro ' s purpose in naming Anna r a t h e r than Dido was

r econc i le th e h i s t o r i c a l and poet ic t r a d i t i o n . The former s t a -

d t h a t D i d ~k i l l e d h e r s e l f out of love fo r her husband, th e l a t -

r t h a t she k i l l e d he r se l f out of love fo r Aeneas. Varro recon-

l ed th e two b y naming Anna as th e one who died fo r love of

eneas. However the r e a l importance of Varro 1 s s ta tement i s a

hronologica l one: a genera t ion before Vi rg i l th e s to ry of Dido

ing fo r love of Aeneas was known a t Rome. 'Ne contend t h a t N a ~ -

us gave the germ of the s to ry i n h is Bellum P u n i c ~ n .The f a c t

a t Naevi us an•1 Vi rg i l both used the charac te r of Anna, Dido 's

s t e r i s ano ther po in t i n favor of our hypothes i s .

Now l e t us turn our a t t e n t io n t ~ the most i ~ p o r t a n tf r a g •

ent of a11. On i t s c o r r e c t in te rp re ta t : ton w i l l depend a s t rong

gument fo r attr1_buting th e meet ing of A e n e a ~and Dido to Naevius .

hough we have a l ready given severa l good arguments in suppor t of

r s tand , t h i s i s one of the most impoPtan t :

blande e t docte percon ta t Aeneas quo pactoTroiam urbem l i q u i s s e t . 15

onius Marce l lus , a grammarian of the four th century A.D., i s re ..

onsible f-:>r the fragment.. He c i t e s t h i s verse of Naevi us twice

t ne i t he r time does he mention the con tex t of Naevius from whichI

took the verse . The f i r s t t ime he quotes the l i n e s to demon ..

5 Naevlus , frae;. 15.

way could be c lea red fo r a Dido episode - an i n t r i gue wblch th e

watchfu l eye of Anchises would have quick ly d i scovered and have19

aver ted fo r Aeneas. As to th e ques t ion proposed by Knap!).,

whether Aeneas i s th e sub jec t of percon ta t or l i q u i s s e t , Pease

ably answers: " the s t rong d iv i s jon between the halves of the

Saturn ian verse between percon ta t and Aeneas makes the former20

much l e s s n a tu ra l . " On the sub jec t of t h i s impor tan t fragment

of Naevius a chronologica l d i f f i c u l t y has been proposed which,

f t r u e , could cons iderably weaken any a t t r i b u t i n g of the meeting

of Aeneas and Dido to Naevius . Wight ..Duff thus IJroposes the

d i f f i c u l t y :

Apparent ly both Naevius and Ennius push th efoundat ion of Rome back to a period contempo-r a n ~ o u swith t h a t of Car thage , · and they makeRomulus, th e founder of Rome, a grandson of

Aeneas. Aeneas, then , must hsve reached I t a l ybefore the founda t ion of Carthage; and the wordsof Naevius , ' b l ande e t docte percon ta t Aeneasquo pacto Troiam urbem l iqu i s8 :3 t , ' i n whichsome have impuls i v·ely seen Dido ' s reques t t h a the should, as i n Virgi l# recoun t the ' unu t te rab lewoe' of the downfal l of Troy, may be more ap-p r op r i a t e l y, i f l e s s roman t i ca l ly, be r e fe r redto old King L'..:t:tnus. 21

We r ead i l y admit th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t i t could be old La t inus

or fo r t h a t mat t e r any charac te r Aeneas might have met i n h is

r ave l s and v1hich Naevius might have included i n h is poem. But

ure ly th e evidence does no t poin t t n a t way. For cor robora t ion

9 Knapp, 2 0 2 ~ 2 0 3 .

0 .:?ease, 20.1 D u f f , 132.,

of h is s ta tement , Duff appea l s to th e comment of 'Se rv iu s on l i n e

72 of th e f i r e t Aeneid as h is r e fe rence . Servius wri tes i n

or,ment:

E r a t o s t ~ e n e sAscani i , Aeneae f i l i i , Romulumparentem u rb i s r ~ f e r t . Naevius e t ZnniusAeneae ex f i l i a nepotem Romulum conditoremu r b i s .

Viith the above comment i n mind, we can r ead i l y see the a u t h o r i t y

o r Duff ' s s ta tement t h a t Naevius and Ennius make Romulus the

o ~ ~ d e rof Rome and grandson of Aeneas. But the f i r s t p a r t of

is s ta tement t h a t a s s e r t s t hP t "appa ren t ly bnth Ennius and Nae-

vius push the founda t ions o f Rome back to a period contempora

eous with t h a t of Car thage ," has no subs t an t i a t i on e i th e r i n

nnius or Naevius . True, Haevius r e l a t e d the or ig ins of both

oun t r i e s but th e n a r r a t i o n of the ear ly beginnings of both

oun t r i e s by no means necess i t a t e s t h e i r sin1ultaneous o r j g i n .

)uff i s not argu:!.ng from h i s t o r i c a l evidence, fo r here h i s , s t a t e -

ment would be mani fe s t ly wrong. The o r i g i n of Carthage under22

Dido i s s e t a t about 850 B.C. While'l "most Roman h i s t o r i a n s23 .

a te the founding of Rome a t abnut 753 L.C." And s ince the re

eems to be no evidence fo r be l iev ing the s imultaneous o r i g i n ofome and Carthage i n Naevius , t he re i s no i n t e r n a l con t rad ic t ion

n naming Dido as the quest ioner and Aeneas the one quest ioned

n the fragment under cons idera t ion . The cumulat ive evidence

2 Alfred J. Church, Carthage, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York,1901, XI.

3 Charles W. Reinhard t , An Outl ine of Roman His tory, E. HerderBook Co., S t . Louis , 1 ~ 9 , 5.

a th e r favors such an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n .

Heinze quotes Macrobius as saying t h a t Vi rg i l f a l s i f i e d24

h e Dido t r a d i t i o n . Why would Vi rg i l f a l s i f y the Dido t r a d i t i o n

nd i n what way i s Heinze ' s s ta tement to be understood? Fowler

hus expla ins why Vi rg i l changed the h i s t o r i c a l t r a d i t i o n of

i d odying Cl'}_t of love fo r her husband. to th e s to ry found i n the

ourth Aeneid.

Vi rg i l a l t e r ed th e s to ry i n order to c o n t r a s t

the fu ry of ungovernable love , love of theanimal t ype , with the s e t t l e a order, a f f ec t i onand obedience of the R o ~ a nf ~ m i l yl i f e . 25

Whether one would agree en t i r e l y ' with Fowler 1 s opinion i s very

o u b t f u lbut t h i s much i s c l e a r, the Aeneid i s the s t o ry of

e n e a sthe founder of Rome. The h i s t o r i c a l o r i g i na l t r a d i t i o n

f Dido was out of place i n th e n a r r a t i o n of th e wanderings of

e n e a ssimply because i n such a n a r r a t i v e Aeneas the hero would

ot have a prominent r o l e . By a l t e r i n g t!1e h i s t o r i c a l t r a d i t i o n

nd fo l lowing the poet ic t r a d i t i o n he was b e t t e r able t o ob ta in

he pa t he t i c , h i s t o r i c a l , r e l i g i o u s , and t e ch n i ca l advantages

we have a l ready pointed out i n th e second chap ter. Vi rg i l seems

more than j u s t i f i e d in deser t ing th e h i s t o r i c a l t r a d i t i o n of

Dido when we behold the wonderful l i t e r a r y beauty i n the s to ry

f Dido.

4 Heinze, 11 5 .

5 Fowler, Roman Essays and I n t e r p r e t a t i o n s , 185.

Vv11y, t hen , i f we have so much evidence on the word of

he c o r a m e n t a t ~ r s ,do we not f ind Servius or Macrobius orJNonius

Mentioning the f ac t t h a t Naevius connected Dido and Aeneas and

brought Aeneas to Carthage? Such a ques t ion must remain unans

werable fo r there i s no adequate response to th e argument from

s i l e n c e . To a rgue , however from what people should have sa id

n a given c ircumstance i s much more u n s a t i s f a c t o ry than working

with what they a c t u a l l y ~s a id . I f we may with p r obab i l i t y.

asc r ibe the Dido-Aeneas l i a s o n to Naevius,i t

was indeed a s t rokeof g r ea t geni 1.:s and an a::;:,propria te and n a t u ra l . means of moti va

i o n fo r the Punic Wars. The evidence i s t he re and a sympathe

i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the f ac t s can br ing i t ou t without going

beyond t ~ e bounds of reason and t r u t h . Jus t how de ta i l ed any

matory episode between Aeneaa and Dido r e a l l y was i n Naevius 1 s

work would be j u s t mere con jec tu re on our p a r t . We do not

n e c e s s a r i l y claim t h a t such a d e t a i l e d love s to ry appeared i n

Naevius as we f ind i t i n the A e n e ~ - d ~Our po in t i s wel l proved

f Naevius mere ly brought Aeneas to Carthage and Dido.

Hames and a u t h o r i t i e s can o ff e r no s a t i s f a c t o r y so lu •i on fo r opinions are so a t ·var iance. We have discussed the

ros and cons offe r ed by respec t ]ve au thors and be l i eve we have

n t e rp re t e d the f ac t s f a i r l y and co r r ec t l y. I t cen a lso be

r u t h f u l l y as s e r t ed t h a t the t r end of more recen t scho larsh ip

eems to coincide wi th the view taken jn t h i s t h e s i s as the more

ympathet ic one. In speaking of t h i s ques t ion , Presco t t i n h is

CHAPTER V

CATULLUS AND THE FOURTH AENEID

We have discussed the h i s t o r i c a l and poet ic t r a d i t i o n

of th e s to ry of Aeneas and Dido, t r a c in g the in f luence of Apol-

on ius of Rhodes on Vi rg i l i n the d e l i n ea t i o n of Dido ' s charac-

e r . Our i n v e s t i g a t i o n , however, would remain incomplete i f we

were to omit t h ~ p o s s i b i l i t y of Vi r g i l ' s borrowings from h is

Lat in predecessors . Wer·e Vi r g i l ' a models a l l Greek ones? Did

Apollonius fu rn i s h a l l the l i t e r a r y clay from which the charac te r

of Dido was fashioned? Was t he re not any Ro:map l i t e r a t u r e t h a t

could have in f luenced Vi rg i l i n the crea t ion of Dido and i f so ,

o what degree was he in f luenced?

·Here aga in , as we have done befo re , we must d i s t i n g u i s h

between the Aeneid as a whole and the Dido episode. Ennius and

Lucre t ius su re ly formed f ine models fo r Vi rg i l i n the composi t ion

of h is epic as f a r as the L a t i n i t y of the d i c t i on was concerned.

Clea r ly these two homan poe ts in f luenced Vi rg i l cons iderably i n

l l t h a t h ~ wrote . Yet , as regards the p a r t i c u l a r a p p l i c a t i o n

o the four th Aeneid, Vi r g i l ' s borrowings ( to use th e word i n

he good sense , as i t was understood i n Vi r g i l ' s t ime) from them

were n e g l i g i b l e . Who, then , was the Roman poet , i f any, to whom

he was indebted fo r the development of the cha rac te r of Dido?

t was Catu l lus , " t e n d e re s t of Roman poe t s n ine t een hundred years

ago." This 11!-ay come somewhat as a su rp r i se to the s tudent of

Lat in l i t e r a t u r e , fo r while one might be ready to admit t h a t

Vi rg i l shows d i s t i n c t t r a c e s of Catu l lus throughout the whole

Aeneid, y e t the connect ion between Catu l lus and Vi rg i l r s foul ' th

Aeneid i s not too c l e a r. The in f luence of Catu l lus on Vi rg i l i s

so p l a i n i n the Aeneid taken as a whole t h a t a few verbal p a r a l -

l e l s w-l.ll su f f i ce to prove the p o i n t . Now, i t was some s t r i k i n g

e p i th e t , or aga in , j u s t a phrase t h a t captured Vi r g i l ' s fancy:1

ferarum ge l ida s tabu la2

s tabu la a l t a ferarum

carbasus obscura ta dece t f e r rug ine Eibera3

p ic tus acu chlamydem e t f e r rug ine c la rus Ribera

Tro ia virum e t vi r tu tum o m n i l l i ~acerba c in i s

6Troia ••• v i r tu tesque virosque au t t a n t i i n c e n d i a . b e l l i

At other t imes Vi rg i l would borrow an en t i r e verse i f i t appealed

to h is t a s t e :7

Quae S y r t i s , quae Scy l la rapax , quae vasta Charybdis8

Quae S y r t e s , au t Scyl)_a mihi , quid vasta Charybdis

1 Catu l lus , Loeb C las s i ca l Lib ra ry, t r an s l a t ed by F.W. Cornish,Wllliam Heinemann, London, 1928, LXII, 53.

2 Aen. VI, 179.3 c a f u l l u s , LXIV, 227.4 Aen. IX, 582.5 C'"itullu.s, LXIV, 9 0 .6 ~ · I , 566.7 Catu l lus , LXIV, 156.8 Aen. VII , 302.

I n v i t a , o reg ina tuo de ve r t i c e c e s s i10

In v i t u s reg ina tuo 1e l i t o r e c e s s i

l/Ioreover no t always was i t the word or rhytl:ua Vi rg i l

appropr ia ted but in severa l in s tances th e o r i g i na l s e t t i n g was

uppermost i n the poe t ' s mind:

Vi rg i l was deeply i ~ p r e s s e d ,l i k e many r eaderss ince h is day, with the tender sadness of theone hundred and f i r s t poem of Catu l lus - .;Ei'ra-t e r Ave Ataue Vale . Various scho lars of tEeRenaissance detec ted an echo of th e poem in

the sp lend id passage a t the opening of thee l ~ v e n t hAeneid, where Aeneas pronounces thel a s t words over the body of Pa l l a s ( v. 9 7 ) :' Sa lve aeternum mihi , maxime P a l l a , aeternumque v a l e l ' I f here the coincldence i s duer a t h e r to the f a c t t h a t bQth poets ar3 r e p e a ting independen t ly th e formal language of theb u r i a l r i t e , a t l e a s t in th e follo·wing ins tancewhich, s t r an3e ly :::eli tr,r·s have no t no t i ced ,Vi rg i l r epea t s Catu l lu s d i r e c t l y. The f i r s tl i n e of the poem - l ' lultas per gentes e t multaper aequora vectus - reappe9.r"s in ' t h ew o r d swith which Anchlses welcomes Aeneas i n theworld below (Aen. VI, 692) - Q,uas ego ~ t e r -~ e t quanta. vectum accip ioJ ' l 'his i s thel a rge r Ki.nd of i m i t a t i o n . V ~ r g i lt akes morethan the words; he in fuses sc:rmething of thepathos of th e t en d e r e s t of Roman poet s in tothe longing of Anchises fo r h is son. 11

Yet i t was i n th e s i x t y - f ou r t h poem of Catu l lus t h a t

Vi rg i l saw th e model which would o ff e r him the mate r i a l fo r the

crea.t:ton of Dido. The modE.Jl was Ca.tullus 1 s cha rac t e r, Arladne .

9 Catu l lus , LXVI, 39.10 Aen. VI, 460. ·11 E:K. Rand, "ca . tu l lus and The Augustans", Harvard Studies i n

C l a s s i c a l Phi lo logy, Harvard Unive r s i ty P r e s s ~C amb r id g e ,Mass. , 1906, XVII, 24 ..25.

I t wes the Ariadne of Catu l lus who become thei n s p i r a t i o n f o r , and -u.lt lmately develops i n t o ,th e Dido of Vi r g i l ; and nowb_ere more c l ea r l ythan i n · t h i s t r ag i c f igure of the disappoin tedand abandoned queen Ariadne do we see how muchof h is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c sense of "p i ty" and" t e a r s fo r th ings" Vi rg i l owed to t enderhear ted Catu l lus . 12

The s imi la r5 ty of the two s t o r i e s , espAcia l ly i n the

development of Dido and Ariadne , the re spec t ive heroines,- i s

amazing. The bero ine of Catu l lus 1 s t a l e i s Ariadne , the daugh-.-

t e r of Nines, the king of Crete . After ex t r ica · t ing Theseus fromthe Labyr in th , she accompanied him on h is r e t u r n to Greece, but

was deser ted by him a t Naxos. Catu l lu s took the s to ry and made

t i n to beau t i f u l poet ry i n h is s i x t y - f ou r t h poem. We s h a l l see

more c l e a r ly a f t e r i nves t i ga t i n g the bex t s t h a t Ariadne i s the

coun te rpa r t of Dido.

The very beginning of the Dido episode with the des•

c r i p t i on of Dido 1 s palace - At domus in te r io r • r e g a l i splendida13

uxu - hearkens back to th e p ic tu re of th e roya.l house in which14

Peleus and Thet i s wed - Tota domus gaudet r e g a l i sp lend ida saza .

At the opening of the four th book of th e Aeneid, as the s t o ry ofDido begins , reminiscence of Cat u l l u s ' s poem a t once appears .

15I'he l i n e , "Q,uis nevus h ls n o s t r i s s u c c e s s i t sedibus hospes"

2 Karl Pomeroy ~ I a r r i n g t o n ,Catu l lu s and His In f luence , Marshal l.Jones Company 1 BoRton, Hassachuset' t"S; ~ 3 , 8 1 .

3 Aen. IV, 637.4 c a t u l l u a , LXIV, 46.5 Aen. IV 1 1 0 .

t akes th e reader back to

Utinam ne ••• malus h ie celans du lc i crude l ia formaco ns i l i a i n n o s t r i s r e q u i e s s e t seC:ibus hospes . 16

The heroes are both r e f e r r ed to as hospes and th e use of t h i s

word cla ims an i m p l i c i t comparison of the hero ines a t the begin-

ning of the Aeneid.

Then as the s to ry proceeds and the s t r anger Theseus

comes to Cre te , Ariadne burns with love fo r th e s t r an g e r j u s t

as Dido too i s smi t ten with love fo r Aeneas. Catu l lus wri t e sof Ariadne :

non pr ius ex i l l o f l a g r a n t i s d e c l i n a v i tlumina, quam cuncto concep t i corpore flammamtund1 tus atque imis e x a r s i t t o t a medu l l i s . 17

Vi rg i l wri tes much i n th e same vein of Dido as she gazes on

Aeneas. 'I'he eager look of th e l o v e r, the metaphor of the f i r e

of love a re presen t in both descr ip t ions and are equal ly e ff e c -

i v e i n bo th :

praecipue i n f e l i x , p e s t i devota fu tu raeexp lc r i mentem nequi t a ruesc i tque tuendo:£hoenissa e t p a r i t e r puero donisque movetur 18

The d e s c r i p t i o n of th e deser t ion of th e two hero ines

by ' the heroes i s most powerful . Ariadne awakens to f ind rrheseus

s a i l i n g away over th e waves. Her p a t h e t i c f igure as she s tands

on the shore , looking out over the waters a t h er escapine; lover

16 Catu l lus , LXIV, 75.17 I b i d . , 91-9318 Aen. I , 712-714o

s matched only by the flames of Dido ' s pyre s lowly consuming

her members as the Trojan f l e e t h u r r i e s from the Carthagin ian.

shores . Ariadne c r i e s to Theseus of h is t r eachery and reminds

him of h is promises :

At non haec quondam blanda promissa d e d i s t ivoce ~ i h i ; non haec miseram sperare iubebas ,sed conubia l a e t a , sed opta tos hymenaeos; 19

Eefore Aeneas s a i l s away, the moment Dido discovers the e f f o r t s

of the Trojans to prepare fo r a sec r e t s a i l i n g , she conf ron ts

Aeneas with h is gu i l e and burs t s i n to a mighty t i r a d e . Pleading

with him by t h e i r quas i -marr i age and wedlock begun and by a l l .

h a t she has ever been or meant to him, she begs him to change

h is mind and s tay ln Carthage. Both th e i t a l i c i z e d l i n e above

and the one below show g re a t s i m i l a r i t y :

per conubia n o s t r a ,~

inceptos hymenaeos'S"r""bene quid de te merui 1 fu i t ...oro , s i quia adhuc precib,.ls l ocus , exue mentem. 20

Examining the sent iments and language of the two hero

nes i n t h e i r r e a c t i o n to t h e i r d e s e r t i o n o n ~ f inds i n t e r e s t i n g

me.tter fo r a s tudy of j u s t how f a m i l i a r t h i s . poem of ca ' tu l lus wal!

o Vi rg i l . The f i r s t l i n e s i n both poets , conta in ing th e f i r s t

spoken words of the hero ines a f t e r t h e i r dese r t ion , have the

word, per f ide 1 to descr ibe t h e i r r espec t ive dese r t e r s , Theseus

and Aeneas. Ariadne ' s f i r s t burning ques t ion was:

19 Catu l lus , LXIV, 139-141, i t a l i c s i n 141 mine •.20 Aen. IV, 315-319, i t a l i c s in 315 mine.

s i ~ i n eme p a t r i i s avectam, per f ide ab a r i sp e r f i d e , dese r to l i q u i s t i i n l i t o r e 1 Theseu? 21

Vi rg i l opens with these words i;n :::>ido 1 s f i r s t reproach of Aeneas

Diss imulare et iam s p e r a s t i 1 per f ide 1 per f lde 1 tantumposse nefas t a c i tusque mea decedere t e r r a? ' 22

I t seems as i f Vi rg i l in bu i ld ing up h is de l inea t ion of Dido ' s

charac te r was adhering very c lose ly to the s t o ry of Ariadne 1 fo r

th e genera l ou t l ines down even to p a r t i c u l a r phases i s almost

exac t ly th e same in thought and t he re ex i s t s a remarkable s imi-

l a r i t y even in d i c t i on and language .

Ariadne reminds Theseus what an i ng r a t e and wretch he

i s proving himse l f to be by deser t ing .one who took him i n 1 saved

him and offe r ed him so much:

c e r t e ego t e i n medio versantem tu rb ine l e t ier:)_pui, e t po t iu s germanum ami t t e r e c r ev iquam t i b i f a l l a c i supremo i n tempore dessem. 23

Dido ' s b i t t e r words 1 too 1 t e l l of i ng r a t i t ude and her_ wasted

generos i ty d i s t u r b s her s p i r i t . The rescue f ron the angry waves

of th e sea and a watery grave i s cont ras ted wi th Ar iadne ' s ass i s •

tance i n help ing Theseus e x t r i c a t e himsel f from the Labyr in th .

Dido hopes and be l ieves t h a t a r e c i t a l of generous deeds w i l l

cause her dese r t e r t o p i t y h e r, f e e l shame and change h is plans

to forsake he r.

nusquam t u t a f i d e s ; ejectum l i t o r e , egentem

21 Catu l lus , LXIV, 1 3 3 ~ 1 3 4 .

22 Aen. IV, 305-306.23 Gatu l lus , LXIV, 154-156o

when she r ea l i z ed she ·could no t delay Aeneas or tu rn him from

h i s p l a n to withdraw, fo l lows fo r comparjson:

J:Jec t i b i diva parens gener is nee Dardanus auc to r,p e r f i d e , sed dur i s genu i t t e caut ibus horrens

·caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubere t i g r e s 28

The same metaphor i s also used by both authors i n des,cribing the

surge of passion i n the hea r t s of both w o ~ e n . Catul lus wrote :29

" p r o s p i c i t e t magnis curarum f l u c tu a t und is . " Vi r g i l ' s c lose

i m i t a t i o n i s as f .ol lows: " s a e v i t amor, magnoque i ra rum f l u c t u a t30

aes t u . "

Dido ' s wish i n ~ e r l a s t hour was t h a t she ha d never

l a i d eyes on Aeneas and the Tro jans . .She reviewed her accom-

pl i shments : the bui ld ing of a noble c i t y, . vengeance f.or the

dea th of h er husband, Sychaeus, ' exact ion ·of penal ty from her

bro ther and a l l her foes . Aeneas alone was her downfal lJ Would

t h a t she had never seen him and h i s Dardan ex i l e sJ

f e l i x heu, nimium f e l i x , s i l i t o r a tantumnumquam Dardaniae t e t i g i s s e n t nos t ra ca r inae ! 31

Catu l lus , a gene ra t ion be fo re , had put i n t o th e mouth of Ariadne

a l i k e query as she reviewed the course of h er unhappiness .

Jupp i te r omnipotens utinam ~ tempore primoGnosia Cecroniae t e t i g l s s e n t l i t e r a puppesindomito nee d i r a fe rens s t ipend ia t auroper f idus i n Creta r e l , igas se t nav i t a funemnee malus hie ce lans du lc i c rude l ia forma

28 Aen. IV, 365-367.29 C i t u l l u s , LXIV, 6 3 .30 Aen. IV, 532.31 I b i d . , IV, 657-658, i t a l i c s mine.

c o n s i l i a i n n o s t r i s r eq u i e s s e t sedibus hospesl

· As the sh ip on the hor izon c a r r i e d away Theseus and

snuffed ou t a l l hope of r e c o n c i l j a t i o n , Ariadne raved and broke

in to a p i t i a b l e so l i loquy. The sho r t - c l ipped sen tences and

ques t ions of s e l f • p i t y r e v e a l her broken mind· and s p i r i t ; the.

f a c t t h a t she !;lad placed everything on the love of Theseus l e f t•

her no or no place to tu rn upon her deser t ion .

nam qtw me referam? qual:t spe perd i t a n i to r?Idoneosque pet·am montes? a gurg i t e l a t odiscernens poni t ruculentum ubi d i v i d i t aequorJan p a t r i s auxi l ium sperem? quemne ip sa r e l i q u i ,respersum iuvenum f ra tern8· caede secu ta?conjugis an f ido conso le r memet amore .quine f u g i t l en to s incurvans gurg i t e remos? 33

Dido revo lves l i k e thoughts-and sen t iments in he r insane fu ry

as th e f u l l s ign i f i cance of h er t r a g i c downfal l begins to dawn

upon her. She too knew not where to tu rn . Overcome with g r i e f

and wild wandering of the mind she dec ides t h a t dea th a lone i s

the so lu t ion to her t r o u b l e s :

en quid ago? rursusne procos i n r i s a pr io resexper ia r 1 Nomadumque petam connubia supplex 1

q'lOS ego sir1 to t iens · iarn dedignata mari tos?I l i a c a s i g i t u r c l a s s i s atque ul t ima Te'.lcrumi u ssa sequar'? tluiane au x i l i o i u v a t ante l eva tose t bene apud memores v e t e r i s s t a t g r a t i a f e c t i ?quis me autem 1 fac v e l l e 1 s i ne t r a t ~ h : s v esuperbisinvisam acc ip i e t ? ne-ac.i.s 1 heuJ p e rd i t a , necdumLaomedonteae s e n t i s p e r i u r i a gen t i s?quid tum? so la fuga nautas comitabor ovan t i s?an Ty r i i s omnique manu s t i p a t a meorumi n f e r a r e t , quos Sidon ia v ix urbe r e v e l l i 1

32 8 a tu l l u s 1 LXIV, 171•176 , i t a l i c s mi.ne.3Z, Ib id . I LXIV I 177 ..183 .

ru r sus agam pela60 e t v e n t i s dare v e l a iubebo? 34quin morel 'e, u t meri t a e s , fe r roque aver t e dolorem.

The l a s t note of s i m i l a r i t y between the two women i s

th e ~ ' J r s i . n gof t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e l o v e r s . A f t e r a l l has f a i l e d and

they a re alone with t h e i r broken hopes, with the , a s s i o n a t e an-

g er of s c o r n e ~ il o v e r s , they calleC: down th e powers o f the Al -

mighty to avenge the:rn. A r i ad n e ' s p le a was addressed to the Eu-

menid-es, the Avenging F'ur ies , t h a t they might br ing Theseus t o

ru : in :

quare fe.cta virum mul ta n te s v ind ice p 1 1 ~ n a ,

Eumenides, quibus anguino r ed i mi t a c a p i l l of rons ex p i r an t i s p r a c p o r t a t p e c t o r i s i r a s ,hue hue ad v en t a t e , meae aud i t e q u e r e l l a s ,quas ego, vae , misera ex te rmis p r o f e r e ~me du l l i scogor, i nops , a r de ns , amenti ~ a e c af u r o r e .quae quoniam verae nascuntur p ec t o re ab imo,vos n o l i t e p a t i n')s trum vanesce re luctl.lM;sed q u a l i solJ.m T!ieseus me mente re l iq-c . i t ,

t a l i mente , deae f u n e s t e tseq'Je s u o s q ~ e .

35Dido c r i e d f i r s t t o th e Sun,, tLen t o Juno t h e p a t ro n of Car thage

to the Fu r i e s as did Ariadne , and f i n a l l y to th e minor d e i t i e s o

Carthage. .She cursed Aeneas v:ri t:-.. the hope t h a t he ever ·oe d r i vet

over th e e a r t h as an e x i l e , be t o r n from h i s c h i l d ' s embrace,

see h i s f r i e n d s murdered and f i n a l l y she adds th e most d i r e curs

of a l l i n th;e eyes o f th e a n c i e n t s : may he 'be s l au g h t e red and

l i e unbur ied on the sands of th e seashore •.S o l , qui t e r ra rum flam."rlis opera omnia l u s t r a stuque harum i n t e r p r e s curRrum e t consc ia Juno.noc turn isque Hecate t r l v i i s u l u l a t a per urbese t Dirae u l t r i c e s e t d i mor ien t i s E l i s s a e

34 Aen. IV, 534 ·547 .35 c a t u l l u s , LXIV, 192w201 0

acc i p i t e haec , meritumque mal i s a d v e r t i t e numen

e t nos t ras audi te preces . s i t angere por tusinfandum caput ac t e r r i s adnare necesse e s t ,e t s ic f a t a Jov i s poscunt , h ie terminus h a e r e t :a t be l lo audac i s populi vexatus e t a:>mis,f i n ib u s e x t o r r i s , complexu avolsus I u l i ,

auxi l ium implore t vide a tque j_ndigna suorumf·u.nera; nee cum se sub l eges pac i s i n iquaet r a d i d e r i t , regno au t op ta ta luce f ru a t u rsed cad a t an te diem mediaque inhumatus harene . 36

The only conc lus ion one can draw, a f t e r a c a re fu l

eading of both pieces of l i t e r a t u r e i s t h a t Catul lus 1 s s i x t y -

o u r t h poem was in th e bsckground of Vi rg i l as he d e l ~ n e a t e dth e

cha rac te r of Dido. '::.'he p a r a l l e l s i n many cases a re so s t r i k l n g

ha t i t i s evident to the r eade r t h a t Vi rg i l did no t even h ~ s i -

a t e to use the s e ~ e phrases and t u rn s he had read and cu l led

rom th e love poet of Hepublican days. I t i s comforting to f ind

a scho la r of genera t i ons p&st adver t ing to the f a c t t h a t he be-

i eved t h a t Catu l lus 1 s Ariadne was Vi r g i l ' s model i n forming th e

charac te r of Dido. For Roger Ascham i n h is Scholemaster w r i t e s

how Vi rg i l himse l f i n th e s to ry of Dido doth wholly i m i t a t e37

Catu l lus i n the l i k e mat t e r of Ariadna." A most f i t t i n g f i n i s

o a chapter dea l ing wi th the above mate r i a l i s found i n th e

view so capably presen ted by E.K. Rand:

Vi rg i l in prepa ra t ion fo r h i s s t o ry of Dido,had st·Qdied and absorbed th e s i x t y - f ou r t h poemof Catu l lu s and a l l along by i n t e n t i o n a l imi •t a t i o n he i n v i t e s the reader to 0 0 M p a r ~the twohero ines and the two s t o r i e s . This i s , i n p a r t ,

6 Aen. IV, 607-620.7 Harr ing ton , 145-146, quoting Roger Ascham.

a s i g n o f homage t o h i s p r e d e c e s s o r, i n p a r t a

c ha l l e nge to him. F or Vi r g i l has no t h i ng tol o s e by t h e compar i son . Whi l e Q a t u l l u s g i ve sus p a t h o s a t i ~ s h i g h e s t , th e f o u r t h Aeneid i sa t r a ge dy - t r a ge dy of ~ ~ i c hSophoc l e s would n o thave been ashamed. 38

38 Rand , 2 6 -2 7 .

The l a s t two advantages Virg i l wanted to ga in was the

t e ch n i ca l advantage and the h i s t o r i c a l advari taee. The t echn ica l

advantage i s ~ p a r e n ti n a long epic where a s to r y of ac t ion i s

necessary. By th e device of an i n t e r e s t e d l i s t e n e r Virg i l i s

not t i e d to a s t r i c t chrono log ica l order in unfolding h is p l o t .

By making Dido t h a t i n t e r e s t e d spec ta to r ' l i r ~ i lhas solved a l l

h is problems a t one bold s t roke . With the hero Aeneas as the

n a r r a t o r , Dido shows s ~ e c i a li n t e r e s t i n the n a r r a t i v e ; the s to ry

of the f a l l of Troy becomes a very gr ipping par t of the Aeneid.Aeneas speaks i n the f i r s t person, thus avoid ing monotonous r e -

p e t i t i o n of pas t s t o r i e s a n ~ even t s . As fo r the h i s t o r i c a l fo r e -

shadowing, i n view of the dea th s t ruGgle i n which Rome and Car-

thage had engat?ed in dur ing th e Punic Wars, i t was only n a t u ra l

t h a t Virg i l should pa in t the or ig ins of Carthage as t n imica l to

th e f i r s t beginn:tngs of Rome. This he accomplished by the · ca r-

thag in ian episode wjth i t s t r a g i c end fo r Dido. From th e very

f i r s t p a r t of the poem, Vir t ; i l by c leve r sugges t ion always has

i n our mj.nd 1 s eye th e s to r y of Carthage and Rome and a l l the sub-

s,equent h i s t o r y t h a t made Rome th e mis t r e ss of the ·world.

In t r e a t i n g the second aspec t of our ques t ion we i nves -

t i g a t e d th e works of Vi r g i l ' s predecessors who most e s p e c i a l l y

in f luenced him i n th e formation of the cha rac te r of Dido and the

br ing ing of Aeneas and Dido t oge the r i n the Car thag in ian ep i sode .

As regards Greek au thors , the man to whom Vir b i l undoubtedly

owed most fo r the Dido episode was Apollonius of R h o d e ~ .Fo l •

lowing t h e p a t t e rn of the Argonaut ica of Apol lon ius , Virg i l

made h i s s to ry s t r i k i n g l y, s i m i l a r to th e love s to ry of Medea and

Jason. In the g en e ra l ou t l ines and even down to p a r t i c u l a r

scenes , and a t t imes even to the same d i c t i o n and imagery Vi rg ! l

draws Dido along th e l i n e s of the Colchian pr incess , Cedea.

We have t r i e a to show t h i s by p a r a l l e l s an d comparisons and we

be l i eve t h a t the f a c t s amply prove Vi r g i l ' s deb t to Apol lon ius .

'rhe I'1.0st interest inc?; s tudy of a l l was a t t empt ing to

prove t h a t Haevius f i r s t brought Aeneas and Dido t oge the r a t

Car thage . We contended t h a t i t was from Naevius i n h i s Bellum

Punicum t h a t Vi rg i l received the poe t i c t r a d i t i o n o f th e meet:i.ng

of the Trojan pr ince and the Tyrian queen. The whole ques t ion

s a much dispu ted one among a u t h o r i t a t i v e scho la r s . Many im•

por tan t names could be mustered i n defen')e o f e i t h e r proposi t·ion

- : a e v i u sdid or d id no t g:i. ve 111 r g i l the meeting of Aeneas and Did

a t Car thage . A dec i s ion r . r . . . : ~ s tbe reached from fragments of Nae-

vius t h a t surviv 'e . Yet as I have shown tn the chap te r on Naeviu

a few other major cons ide ra t i ons en t e r i n to ca l cu l a t i o n which

decided us i n our s tand . I t i s safe to a s s e r t with a f a i r degre

of p r o b ab i l i t y t h a t a f t e r a ca r e f u l weighing of the evidence ,

Naevi us d ~ . d g ive Virg i l the meeting between Aeneas and Dido.

Under th e master pen of V i r ~ i li t has becone one of the 2:reates t

examples of t r a g i c poet ry.

But ·Apolloniu.s was no t the only wr i t e r who in f luenced

Vi rg i l as he began the t ed ious work of' accep t ing and r e j e c t i n g

mate r i a l s u j t a b l e fo r the Dido episode. I t i s su rp r i s ing to

f ind a d ~ ~ t i n c t l yRoman i n f luence ~ . r o r k i n gon Vi rg i l . Catu l lus

i n h is s i x t y - f o u r t h poem furn i shed a surpr is in<; ly c lose p ic tu re

of i n f e l i x Dido as he drew h i s p i c tu r e of the t r a g i c g r i e f of

Ariadne . The t r a ce s of the in f luence of t h i s poem are unmis

t akab le . For the s t o r i e s of Dido and Ariadne have the same

generG.l c g s t and f i n i s h . Fur the r, s ince both Catul lus and Virg i

were wr i t ing in Lat in , t h e i r choice of l a n ~ u a g e~ s , a t t imes ,almost i d e n t i c a l even to the use of the same metaphors i n the

embell ishment of t h e l r p o e t ry. Vi rg i l pondered much over the

choice of m a t e r i a l and cu l led what he considered bes t from

Apollonius and Catu l lu s . The r e s u l t was a c h ~ r a c t e rf a r g re a t e r

than e i tl1.er Medea or Ariadne ; a cha rac te r whose fame and s to ry

have t r ave led f a ~ beyond the wal l s of Rome to every p a r t of the

world where good l i t e r a t u r e i s read and enjoyed .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Authors

August ine , Confessions, Loeb C las s i ca l Library, t r an s l a t ed by W.W. W a t t ~ ,William Heinemann, London, 1912.

Apollonius Rhodius, Arronaut ica , Loeb C las s i ca l Lipra ry, t r a n sl a t ed by R . ~ .Seaton,· William Heinemann, London, 1921

Catu l lus , Poems, Loeb C las s i ca l Libra ry, t ran3latecl by F.w. Cor ..

n i s h , William H e . i n e ~ 1 1 a n n JI,ondon, 1928 .

Cicero, ' Pro Oaelio 1 Loeb C las s i ca l Libra ry, tJ:>anslated by J.H.- - - F r e e s e , William Heinemann, London, 1929 .

Horace, ~ Odes and Epodes 1 Loeb C las s i ca l Libra.r·y, t r an s l a t edby C.E. Bennet t , William Heinemann, London, 1933.

_.............. ., S a t i r e s , E p i s t l e s and Ars Poet ica , Loeb C l a s s i c a l Lib ra rt r an s l a t ed by H::-Rushton t- ·airclough, William Heine ..

mann, London, 1932 .

Jus t i n , The Delphin Class i c s with Variorum ne>tes 1 Curante e t Imprimente A.J . Valpy, London, 1822 .

Macrobius, S a tu r n a l i a , Franciscue Eyssenhardt , Lips iae , b.G.Teubner, 1868 .

N a e v i u ~ ,Bellum Punicum, Remains of Old Lat in , Loeb C las s i ca lI J b ra ry, t r an s l a t ed by E.II. Warmington, William Heineinann, London, 1936.

Serv ius , Grammatici , George Thi lo and Hermann Hagen, AeneidosLibrorum L-V Cor:1mentarii, Lips iae , Teubner, 1891 .

Fragmenta :i:iistoricorum Graecorum, ed i ted b y Charles. an d Theodore Mueller, Edi to re Ambrosio Firmin Didot,.

T i m a e ~ s J

I n s t i t u t a F'ran?ise Typographo, 1874o ·

Trogi Pompeii Fragmenta, Jus t i n , The.Delphin Class ics wi th Var iorum no tes , Curante e t Imprimente A .J . Valpyj London,1922 . '

Vi rg i l , Aeneid, Bks. I •VI , Loeb C las s i ca l Libra ry, t r ans la tedby H . Rushton Fai rc lough, William Heinemann, Londont1 9 2 8 .

Atkins , J.W., L i t e r a r f Cri t i c i sm i n Antiqui ty, Cambridge a t theUnivers i ty r e s s , 1 9 3 4 , ~vo l s .

Bai ley, Cyr i l , Rel ig ion in Vi rg i l , Oxford a t the Clarendon Press ,1935.

Church, A . J . , Carthage, J .P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1901.

Constans, L.A. , L'Eneide de Verg i l e , Lib ra r i e :Mellottee, P ar i s .

Conway, R.S . , Harvard Lectures On The Vi rg i l i an Age, HarvardUnivers i ty Press , Cambridge, Mass. , 191'J8.

Duff , J.W., A Li te ra ry History of Rome to the Close of th e G o ~ 1...dGn Age, Charles Scr ibner r s - sons , New York ; -1932 . - - -

Fowler, w.w., Roman Essays and I n t e r p r e t a t i o n s , Clarendon Press ,O:Xford, 1 9 2 ~ .

- - - - - - - - - - - , The Rel ig ious Experience of the Roman People , Mac-mil lan and Co. , London, 1922. ·

Frank, Tenney, Virg i l , Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1922.

Glover 1 T .R., Virg i l , ~ l e t h u e nand Company, New York, 1923.

Harr ington , K.P. , Catu l lus And His In f luence , Marshal l JonesCompany, Eoston, Iv1aa s:-;-1923.

I ieinze, R ., Vi rg i l s Spische Technik, Druck Und Verlag Vn n L.a.Teubner, Leipzig , 1903.

La. eke i l , J . , Vi rg i l And His lv:eening To The World of Today, Longmans, Green-and Co. , New Yorrc;-1927.

Mosely, Nicholas , Characters and E p i t he t s , Yale Univers i ty Pre8sNew Haven, Conn., 1 ~ .

Pease, A.s., Virg i l , IV Aeneid, Harvard Univers i ty Press , C a m ~

br idge , Mas'S:"', 1935.

P r esco t t , H.W., The Develor,ment of Vi r g i l ' s Ar t , Univers i ty ofChicago Press , C.1icago;-I11. , 1927 : - -

Rand, E.K.,The Ma;sical Art of Virg i l , Harvard Un:tversity Press ,Cambridge, Ma887,-r93lo

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