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The Aeneid; Book 4 Summary
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Through Aeneas’ whole story Dido had been consumed with love for him
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She says that he is the one man who could possibly change her
vow never to marry again, but that she will not give in to temptation
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She has
turned down many chiefs before, but will Dido reject the one she feels for? She has
no one adequate locally and is at risk of war
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She believes that with the help of the Trojans, Carthage will flourish
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They made sacrifices at the altar
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Dido walked with Aeneas, showing him the city, but held back declarations of her
love
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When
Aeneas had left, Dido would go where he had been
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Juno notices and goes to Venus, angered by the cessation of Carthage’s growth
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Venus realised Juno was trying to prevent Aeneas from reaching Italy
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Juno has a plan to get them to marry; they will be hunting in the morning, but Juno
will bring down a violent storm
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It is here that Juno will marry them
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The Trojans joined the queen for the hunt, led by Aeneas
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While the hunt was going well, a storm began to thunder, causing the party to
scatter and forcing Dido and Aeneas into the same cave
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Rumour began to spread about how Aeneas and Dido had been married, how they
had forgotten their work and given in to lust
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Rumour then went to Iarbas, an admirer of Dido
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He was angered by the news of Dido’s love for Aeneas
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He urges the apparently
“useless god” to act to make it right
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He must sail
both for himself and for Italy
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Mercury berates
Aeneas for building up a Carthaginian citadel and neglecting Italy, which is owed by
him to Ascanius
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He ordered
three of his men to ready the fleet in secret and assemble the men for departure, to
their delight
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Dido realised something was wrong and found out the fleet was being prepared,
sending her into a frenzy around the city
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She begs him to stay, saying the seas are too rough and he
has a home in Carthage
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She has sacrificed her
image for him and she has been left with nothing; warring tribes and no child
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If he had a choice he would have rebuilt Troy, but he has been commanded to
go to Italy and the choice of what to do is not his
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She replies that he is a traitor, in anger
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She reminds ‘him’
that she accepted him to her city, then tells him to leave if he will
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Dido rushed indoors crying and fainted
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The Trojans are compared to worker ants preparing the ships
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Dido, still wishing to keep Aeneas,
asks Anna to go to him and tell him she had no part in the destruction of Troy, to ask
why he won’t listen to her and to wait until there is a good wind before he leaves,
for his own safety
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Aeneas would not accept it
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However, he still felt her pain
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When she made sacrifices of milk they turned black
and her sacrifices of wine turned to gore, unknown to everyone but herself
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At night dreams of Aeneas would send her mad
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She went to speak to Anna, pretending to be happier
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She tells Anna to raise a pyre on
which everything to do with Aeneas is to be placed
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When the pyre was ready, Dido hung it with funeral branches and laid an effigy of
Dido on a bed on the pyre
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Dido then began to eat and prayed to the
god who looked over betrayed lovers
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Her love and anger kept swelling, keeping her
awake
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She is
conflicted as to stay with her people or go alone
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She feels bad that she broke
her promise to the ashes of Sychaeus
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He alerts
her of Dido’s suicidal plan and tells him to make haste in leaving for his own safety,
otherwise he will be attacked with fire on the shore in the morning
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He
asks for favourable winds as he tells his men the god has commanded them
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When light broke Dido saw the ships leaving and despaired
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In
deathly despair Dido makes a plea to the gods
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She
then says her descendants must pursue Aeneas’
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The nurse must also wear a veil and sacred
ribbon
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When the nurse left, Dido ran outside and climbed the pyre
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She then fell upon the
sword, seen by her attendants
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She tells Dido she has destroyed everything she has worked for in
the process
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As Dido was not destined to die at this time she could not die until Iris had cut her
hair and she attempted to get up three times, before she was reached, her hair was
cut and she died on the pyre

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