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Dido In The Aeneid

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Dido In The Aeneid
In the selected passage from The Aeneid (lines 54-89) Dido was completely enthralled with the young and strapping Aeneas. Aeneas, however, must leave Carthage to establish his destiny elsewhere. Thus, Dido now distraught offers a sacrifice up to Ceres, Apollo, and Bacchus, but more importantly Juno because she is the god of marriage. After the sacrifice is made, Dido examines the entrails of the cow only to fall more in love with Aeneas. Virgil describes their love for each other as a silent wound which is slowly growing to destroy the both of them. Following this, Virgil uses the imagery of a wounded doe to depict Dido's unhappiness as she "wanders through the forest" or chases after Aeneas' love. Following this, Dido starts to spend more …show more content…
. . . interea et tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus. . . . and meanwhile, the silent wound lived under her chest. (line 67, Virgil).
Virgil describes Dido's heartbrokenness as a "silent wound", meaning Dido's love for Aeneas is hidden. It is not at the time obviously and greatly hurting her, however, it is quietly causing destruction to her city and it will soon catch her unaware. In the following sentence, Virgil uses vivid imagery to further expound upon the harm that Dido's love is causing to her city.
Uritur infelix Dido totaque vagatur urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerva sagitta, quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit pastor agens telis liquitque volatile ferrum nescius:
Unhappy Dido burns, and raging, she wanders the whole city as if a deer after the arrow was hurled, which unaware acting from afar, the shepherd with a dart pierces between the grove of the Cretians, and not knowing leaves the swift iron. (lines 68-72, Virgil).
In the sentence above, the wandering deer is clearly symbolism of Dido chasing after her love for Aeneas and the arrow in its side shows how their love will only serve to destroy the both of them. Virgil strongly believes that love should not be the utmost priority in one's life. Dido had a city to take care of, and Aeneas had a city to build; their love for each other was merely distracting them from their greater
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