Study Questions

1. To whom does Dido tell of her love for Aeneas?

2. What bad effects does Dido’s passion have on her city?

3. Why do Juno and Venus cooperate to bring Dido and Aeneas together?

4. What simile describes Aeneas as he leaves the city to go
hunting?

5. How is Jupiter alerted to Aeneas’ dalliance?

6. How does Mercury insult Aeneas’ efforts to build Carthage?

7. What does Dido say would confront her in the face of Aeneas’ departure?

8. What differing views do Aeneas and Dido hold of their affair?

9. What curse does Dido wish upon Aeneas?

10. What service does Iris perform for Dido?

Answers

1. Dido tells her sister Anna about her feelings for Aeneas.

2. Dido’s passion causes construction of Carthage to come to a halt.

3. Juno wants to make Carthage the great kingdom of the Mediterranean, while Venus wants to see her son succeed.

4. He is compared to graceful Apollo returning to Delos.

5. The prayers of King Jarbas alert Jupiter.

6. Mercury asks if Aeneas is a woman’s servant.

7. Dido says she would be comforted if she were to have a child by him.

8. Dido sees it as a marriage, which Aeneas denies.

9. Dido wishes Aeneas to drown crying her name. She later curses him to watch as his people are slaughtered and be denied the enjoyment of his new kingdom, dying unburied in the sand.

10. Iris cuts a lock of hair from her head, enabling her soul to escape.