Dido

• book 1, book 4, book 6
• has much in common with Aeneas
• they are both refugees and noble leaders of their people
• they have both lost their spouse
• both are manipulated by the gods
• both are founding cities
• both are from rich places characterised by gold and rich textiles
• in similes, they are Apollo and Diana, the divine twins
• woman and man
• Carthage and Rome (destined to be enemies)
• childless and father
• passionate and resrved
• wild wind and a solid oak
• some suggest and allusion to Cleopatra and Antony
• Dido is a capable leader, who leads the foundations for her new city in bk 1
• she is also a victim
• her brother, Pygmalion, murdered her husband, Sychaeus
• Juno and Venus manipulate her for their own purposes
• is it because of Cupid's arrow or her own passion for Aeneas?
• manipulated by her own sister's advice
• manipulated by Iarbas, potential suitor
• of Rumour who presents to the world, a sordid affair rather than the marriage Dido believes herself to have entered into
• Aeneas leaves her
• the foundation of the Roman race
• Fate gives her no part
• she fits the model of a heroine from a Greek tragedy: she is a good woman who makes a wrong decision, after which, she is condemned
• she prays to the gods for their approval
• she carries on and marries Aeneas, unaware of the consequences of her action
• she realises that she has been deceived, and sees death as the only way out
• bk 4 is given over almost entirely to her
• we wait outside for her to appear for the hunt, as a bride is awaited on her wedding say
• we listen to her speeches and are aware of her suicide plans when she is deceiving everyone else about what she is doing
• Octavian, later known as Augustus (63 BC - AD 14)


  After the death of Caesar, Octavian avenged his adopted father's death and eventually, after a struggle with Mark Antony, became the first emperor. When he assumed complete control in 27, he took on the name Augustus
• Mark Antony (83-30 BC)


  the main adversary of Octavian after Caesar's death. He allied himself with Cleopatra and fought Octavian for the leadership of Rome. He was defeated at the Battle of Actium