Chapter Synopsis of The Aeneid - Study Guide by Virgil

This is enough to persuade Dido, who hesitates no longer. She arranges a sacrifice in the correct manner, but her obsession results in a cessation of the building of Carthage.

Juno meanwhile, annoyed by Venus' apparent success, suggests to her a marriage between Aeneas and Dido. Venus agrees, despite realising that this is a plot to make Carthage all- powerful and prevent a new empire from being established in Italy. The Carthaginians and Trojans assemble for a hunt. Juno brings about a storm of thunder and hail. As everyone runs for shelter, Dido and Aeneas reach the same cave, where the powers of nature bear witness to their union.

News of this is carried by Rumour to the ears of king Iarbas, the son of Jupiter and a Garamantian nymph, and a suitor of Dido's. In anger, he abuses his father and questions his authority, since Dido has overlooked the favours done her and let an effeminate vagrant become her husband and co-ruler. Hearing Iarbas' prayers, Jupiter instructs Mercury to go down to Aeneas and remind him of his duty, calling upon Ascanius' destiny if his own is not motivation enough to leave. Mercury does as he is ordered, finding Aeneas busy building the walls of Carthage.

Aeneas, terrified by the god's appearance and with his duty suitably impressed upon him, frets about how he will tell Dido but, at the same time, orders his men to prepare secretly for departure. The queen, hearing rumours that the Trojans are preparing their fleet, rages round the city like a Bacchant and confronts Aeneas before he can say anything to her. She attacks his duplicity and heartlessness and begs that he stay, partly because his departure leaves her vulnerable to her enemies. Aeneas, with difficulty, replies, acknowledging her kindness but denying that he ever entered into any marriage with her. He states that he is controlled by the Fates and is impelled to seek Italy, justifying this with reference to the commands of Apollo, the ghost of his father, the destiny of Ascanius and the visit of Mercury. Dido angrily pours scorn on his reply, noting his lack of emotion, criticising his lack of gratitude and questioning whether his future is really the concern of the gods. She tells him to go if he wishes but prays that her memory may pursue him. With these words she rushes into the palace and faints.

The Trojans continue to prepare to depart and Dido, on seeing them, asks her sister, Anna, to beseech Aeneas to stay until there is a prevailing wind. She no longer requests that he stay permanently but asks him at least to grant her a short respite that she may learn to grieve. This Anna does, but the Fates forbid Aeneas to hear and the Gods block his ears.

Dido now determines to die, a decision that is strengthened by the appearance of unpleasant portents as she sacrifices and the voice of Sychaeus, her deceased husband, at the shrine she has established for him. Furthermore, she recalls the words of ancient prophets and is visited by unsettling dreams. She tricks Anna into building her a pyre, replete with the armour that Aeneas left behind, by pretending that she has discovered a Massylian priestess who has advised that her obsession can be relieved if she destroys everything that reminds her of him.

That night Dido considers her position and realises that suicide is her only option. Meanwhile, Aeneas is visited again by Mercury, while he sleeps on the stern of his ship, and is told that he must depart immediately if he is not to put himself and his comrades in danger from Dido's madness. As a result, the Trojans set off.

When dawn comes, the queen awakes to see the harbour empty and the Trojan fleet sailing away. In distress, she rages that she did not visit any punishment on Aeneas for his actions and eventually invokes a curse upon him and his people, which foreshadows the troubles in Italy, the future enmity between the Carthaginians and the Romans, and the coming of Hannibal as an avenger. Having done this, she instructs Sychaeus' nurse, Barce, to send Anna to her in preparation for the sacrifice. When the old woman has bustled away. Dido climbs the pyre and with a final look at Aeneas' possessions and a few words of encouragement, she falls upon his sword. Rumour rages through the city and Anna, when she hears, rushes to the pyre and lambasts Dido for not letting her share in her fate, for deceiving her into building the pyre and for destoying not only herself but also her sister and her people. Climbing the pyre, she