Dido and Aeneas or Love vs. Destiny
I. Transition
from Lysistrata: Make Love not War to Make War not Love
A.
I sing of warfare and a man at warÉRome Book I lines 1-11
B.
Romans are ultimate polypragamatica, except in off
hours—Catullus and Ovid
II. Context
A.
Chronology
1.
1150—Troy falls
2.
~700—Homer
3.
600—Sappho
4.
479—Victory over Persians—Athens takes dominance;
Athenian empire
5.
426—Sophocles: Oedipus
6.
431-04—Peloponnesian War—Athens vs. Sparta; Athens
defeated
7.
411—Lysistrata
8.
399—Trial and execution of Socrates
9.
385—Plato founds Academy
10.338—Greece
conquered by Macedonia (Greek speaking)
11.335—Aristotle
lectures at the Lyceum
12.334-307—Alexander
Òthe GreatÓ of Macedon, tutored by Aristotle, conquers Persian Empire;
establishes Library at Alexandria.
13.Hellenistic
period—Greek culture and language is dominant from Babylon to Spain
14.148—Roman
Republic conquers Macedonians
15.Republic—civil
wars, ended by conqueror Julius Caesar who becomes dictator, then is
assassinated 44 B.C.E.—; his protŽgŽ, Octavian, becomes emperor Augustus
27 B.C.E.
16.~6 C.E.
(A.D)—birth of Christ
17.~33 C.E.
–Crucifixion of Christ
B.
Elements of Roman culture
1.
Pax Romana—mediterranean lake—Imperialism; Manifest
Destiny
a)
World state—roman empireÉHoly Roman EmpireÉCatholic
Church--Universal
2.
Law, organization, administration
a)
Roads and laws
b) Invented
concrete—engineers—practical—not theoretical or poetic
3.
Gravitas, Frugalitas, Industria, Constantia, Severitas
4.
Patria potestas--patriarchy
a)
Mos maiorum—the customs of the older
ones—senatus—old ones—senex
b)
Contrast to Pericles description of the Athenians as flexible
and innovative—Greek emphasis on youth
C.
Virgil—70-19 B.C.
1.
appointed the imperial poet
2.
Eclogues or Bucolics—pastorals—vita amoris, vita
voluptuosa: Love is the concern
3.
Georgics—agricultural poetry
D.
Aeneid—epic—universal genre
1.
conscious imitation of Homer; written not oral
2.
combines Odyssey and Iliad—imitation and adaptation;
literary tradition
3.
Relation to Greeks—beware of those bearing
gifts—treacherous antagonists of Trojans
4.
Roman vs. Greek hero
a)
Duty vs. self-expression
b)
Stoicism: Duty vs. Passion—not anger of Achilles, or
personal homecoming of Odysseus, or the wiles of and brilliance of an
individual
c)
Piety, pius Aeneas; patriarchy—father Aeneas
d)
Destiny of leadership—family, state,
religion—pietas not arete
e)
Pietas vs. FurorÉusually gendered male and female
f)
Destiny vs. Fame
g)
Fortitude in face of loss
h)
Tears in the nature of things
III. Roman Ideals expressed
in nequia of Book VI—center of work; destiny framed for Aeneas, that
which counters his individuality—father, state, religion
A.
road forks—punishments of hell
1.
be warned and study justice, not to scorn the immortal
gods—crimes and punishments
B.
The Sybil—Wisdom, Diotima, the female guide
C.
ritual performed
D.
places of delight-blessed groves, stars, compete and train in
games, dancers, heros, joy in cars and weapons
E.
those who suffered wounds in battle for their country, holy men, those who bettered
life by findingt out new truths and skills
F.
no specific home, shady groves, riverbanks, meadows, lush
green of valley
G.
happy meeting with father, not mother like Odysseus; father is
wise
H.
Some souls are purified from bodyÕs stain and remain; others
are reincarnated and resent to earth
I.
souls drinking LetheÉroster of my childrenÕs children here/So
you may feel with me more happiness at finding Italy
J.
Anchises watching those who are about to return, his
descendants, the future
K.
Teach Aeneas his destiny
1.
future generations
2.
romulus fathered by Mars
3.
under his auspices Illustrious Rome will bound her power with
earth
4.
Caesar Augustus, bring an age of goldÉextend his power
5.
civil war predicted
L.
Roman values expounded
1.
Others will cast more tenderly in bronze 746
2.
their breathing figuresÉargue more eloquently
3.
roman remember by your strength to rule
4.
earthÕs peoples—for your arts are to be these
5.
To pacify, to impose the rule of law
6.
to spare the conquered battle down the proud
M.
Dido in Hell
1.
suicides and then victims of love 211-230
2.
Dido
a)
Aeneas weeps and speaks tenderly
b)
I swear I left your land against my will my queen
c)
Wait a little, his last word to her
d)
Savage glaring back
e)
sheÕs not affected, his enemy still
f)
joined by Sychaeus who shares her sorrows and returns her love
3.
AeneasÕ suffering and guilt and helplessness
4.
Unresolved because it represents undying enmity of Carthage
and Rome, which is what inspires JunoÕs rage
5.
Also Cleopatra, the Egyptian ally of Mark Antony, who Augustus
had defeated to end the Civil Wars—Book VIII 87-96, 101-107, 116-123, 140-143, 151-4, 162-168
N.
Puzzling end of this section
1.
Aeneas leaves underworld through gate of ivory—the false
gate—why?
a)
ending of furor taking over Aeneas
b)
why?
IV.
Against the Imperial glory story is set the tragic love story
A.
Most memorable and revered stories of Aeneid are about loss
not winning--tragedies
1.
Destruction of Troy; loss of spouse—widower and widow
2.
He has this experience in common with Dido
B.
Their love is based on doomed efforts to find new beginning
C.
Vergil shows them both to be victims of fate and the gods—a
negative destiny
V. Love as trap and
tragedy—a danger, an irresistible plague coming from outside the person,
but manifesting in them; an illness
A.
End of Book I—edited out of Norton
But Venus, anxious for her son's affairs,
New counsels tries, and new designs prepares:
That Cupid should assume the shape and face
Of sweet Ascanius, and the sprightly grace;
Should bring the presents, in her nephew's stead,
And in Eliza's veins the gentle poison shed:
É.
But, far above the rest, the royal dame,
(Already doom'd to love's disastrous flame,)
With eyes insatiate, and tumultuous joy,
Beholds the presents, and admires the boy.
The guileful god about the hero long,
With children's play, and false embraces, hung;
Then sought the queen: she took him to her arms
With greedy pleasure, and devour'd his charms.
Unhappy Dido little thought what guest,
How dire a god, she drew so near her breast;
But he, not mindless of his mother's pray'r,
Works in the pliant bosom of the fair,
And molds her heart anew, and blots her former care.
The dead is to the living love resign'd;
And all Aeneas enters in her mind.
VI.
Book IV
A.
Overall pattern
1.
where are our sympathies—compared to Medea—is this
Jerry Springer?
2.
pain of love—both sides
3.
building sense of chaos—passion, the storm, rumor,
political instability, private becomes public, growing sympathy for her
deepening, inexorable doom—the walls closing in with every
incident—like Oedipus
4.
powerful dramatization; rather than Stoic itÕs an operatic
exploration and celebration of feeling—furor rather than pietas is
foregrounded—make us weep and love it; evoke emotion
B.
Stages of loveÕs tragic progression
1.
Loss of control; vacillation; emotional stress—the
threat of the irrational
a)
wound, illness, inward fire 1-8
b)
vacillation 20-38
2.
sisterÕs counsel fans the flames—love as flame; both
desire/pleasure and prudence dissolve her scruples
3.
89-120 roams
through the city like a doe hit by an arrow—shaft clings
a)
her behaviors—have him retell the story, like on his
couch, hold his son
b)
projects broken offÉmenacing hung walls/with cranes unmoving
stood against the sky—passion vs. duty
4.
156-168 hunt, storm, cave, ambiguous, non-legal,
passion-driven marriage
a)
Venus and Juno—talk and pretense; Juno wants to arrange
a marriage; Venus doesnÕt trust her, but feigns agreement
b)
215-226 *Earth and Juno officiate at marriage, considered such
by Dido, though improper to others
(1)
dido had no further qualms/as to impressions givenÉshe thought
no longer of a secret love/but called it marriage. Thus under that name/she hid her fault
5.
226-251 *rumor is agency by which we hear of their love
affair. prisoners of lust [public danger of love]; leads to the love horror of
jealousy
a)
earth her mother (who attended the wedding)
b)
wings, tongues, eyes, ears
c)
tells story; judges their relation lust
d)
harping on lies evenhandedly with truth
e)
King Iarbas rudely invokes Jove in jealousy
6.
290-310; Jove responds, calling Mercury to address lovers
a)
Òcareless of their good name.Ó in narratorÕs view
b)
ignoring destiny and duty in JoveÕs paternal view
c)
contrast to Hermes telling calypso Odysseus must go and her
protest and their amiable parting in Odyssey 5. 48 ff. p. 279
7.
344-357 Mercury repeats reproach
a)
tame husbandÉoblivious of your own world
b)
what have you in mind? wasting your days in Libya
c)
think of the expectations of your heir, Iuilus, to whom the
Italian realm, the land/of rome are due
d)
story of Aeneas and Moses—exile founder of a people,
conqueror of a new land—pilgrims—Moses reluctance, remaining in
Midian with JethroÕs daughter
8.
363 Aeneas is Òshocked and shamed, BURNED only to be gone, to
leave the land of the sweet life behind.
What can he do?
9.
370—the rational approach:
a)
How tell herÉtesting alternatives/running through every
one. And as he pondered this
seemed the better tactic
b)
***Fifty ways to leave your lover (45 to 1:40)
(1)
You just slip out the back, Jack
(2)
Make a new plan, Stan
(3)
You don't need to be coy, Roy
(4)
Just get yourself free
(5)
Hop on the bus, Gus
(6)
You don't need to discuss much
(7)
Just drop off the key, Lee
(8)
And get yourself free
10.390-431 DidoÕs
response—anger to self-abasement—intensity of narrative rising here
as dialogue begins
a)
Furious, like a Bacchante—the Dionysian furor of
women—Euripides—VergilÕs sexism
b)
Do you go to get away from me?
c)
I beg you, have pity
d)
Because of you I lost my integrity/And that admired name by
which alone
e)
I made my way once toward the stars—kleos
f)
Guest to husband
g)
begs for a child by him
h)
utterly defeated, utterly bereft—sympathy; the image of
the little child; major pathos
11.435-476—Aeneas
response, qualified by Òat JoveÕs commandÓ; read and discuss; compare to Jason
a)
self possession—held fast his eyes, fought down emotion
in his heart—duty vs. emotion
b)
wont deny what she can say
c)
never will memory stale
d)
donÕt think I meant to steal away
e)
I never entered the pact of marriage
f)
If fate permitted meÉmy own wishesÉfirst of all I should look
after Troy
g)
but nowÉApollo tells me I must make for Italy
h)
There is my love.
There is my country
i)
father and son call him
j)
I sail for Italy not of my own free will
12.479-514 --Her
rage again
a)
talks to him third person; he didnÕt sigh while I wept or look
at me
b)
I did everything for him
c)
I am swept away burning by furies
d)
she mocks his claim about Apollo—why does he say Apollo
when it was mercury?
e)
she calls down curse and threatens to haunt him after she dies
f)
she storms out
13.520-541 Aeneas
move from frustration to activity
a)
Duty bound Aeneas struggled with desire to calm and comfort
her—at a loss, alarmed, mute
b)
went back to fleet
c)
eager to leave; loading ships like ants
14.542 ÒAt that
sight what were your emotions, DidoÓ puts us in sympathy with
her—ÒUnconscionable Love, to what extremes will you not drive OUR
heartsÉÓ
a)
watches the bustle from her tower; humbled; felt driven to
weep and try to move him
b)
begs sister to ask him just for a little more time
c)
one last gift, she never did anything to hurt him
d)
a respite and breathing space
e)
fates opposed it; GodÕs will blocked the manÕs once kindly
ears
15.582-595
intensifies our sympathy with, or at least admiration for him
a)
he will not be moved, like an oak in a storm—long
image
b)
buffeting furor of storm of her pleas; felt their moving power
in his great heart; yet his WILL stood fast
16.597-695—denoument
1. madness and death --getting control through ritualistic preparation
a)
terror grew at her fate; prayed for death
b)
her vow of suicide
c)
sacrifices to gods go bad
d)
she tells no one, not even sister, isolated
e)
husband calls to her like owl from shrine
f)
prophecies make her shiver
g)
nightmare: hunted down by Aeneas, alone, looking for her
Tyrians
(1)
like Eumenides chasing Pentheus and Orestes in madness
h)
mind broken by suffering—
i)
deceives her sister with scheme for solution
j)
story of Ethiopian priestess providing drugs for a solution
[cf. Sappho and Medea]
k)
funeral pyre to burn bed and his arms
l)
Dido decorates palace with funereal boughs—death wishes
m)
love and death
n)
sword, clothing, effigy on couch
o)
elaborate female ritual of witchcraft—cf.
Macbeth—calls on Hecate
p)
mixture of purity and perversion—prays to whatever power
may care for lovers bound unequally by love.
17.696-740 alone at
night, world asleep; she agonizes—no way out—arrives at profound
self-awareness of her relation to fate—tragic wisdom
a)
no options—cant follow Aeneas
b)
woman abandoned is without choice—all thought leading to
steel blade
c)
blames herself for not keeping vow
d)
passion is affliction, not innocence of wild creatures
e)
736-739: ÒIt was not given to me to lead my life/without new
passion, innocenctly, the way wild creatures live, and not to touch these
depths.Ó
18.740-780 Transition to complete opposite: Aeneas
sleeps peacefully on the ship—everything ready for departure—and
then awakens and breaks free, together with his crew
a)
dream also with shame, reproach
b)
tells him to leave at night
c)
women are dangerous and unpredictable
d)
wakes up suddenly and insists on instant departure
e)
takes out sword and cuts rope; men excited to leave
19.780-844 Her final vacillations and curse
a)
first plans on following them
b)
then imagines what she might have done, including serving up
Ascanius for dinner to father
c)
then utters lengthy curse predicting three wars between
Carthage and rome and AeneasÕ death without seeing glory of descendants
20.860-886 baring
sword and kissing the bed
a)
nurse send for anna and they sanctify themselves
b)
sick pallor, quivering cheeks; passionÕs height
c)
weeping a little, mindful, last words:
d)
reflects on her life, triumphs and defeats—this way,
this way—sword thrusts
e)
blade aflush with blood drenched her hand
g) she
says, Ò a blessed relief to goÓ—but not
that at all
21.915-943 Agony and pity and release
a)
rumor and scream pierce the city
b)
AnnaÕs reaction—reproaches sister for not taking her in
death
c)
anna holds her, she cant die, painful ending
d)
Juno feels pity and sends Iris to set free wrestling spirit
e)
Rainbow comes, beautiful moment, to cut the lock to free her
from her body; out into the winds her life withdrew.
C.
Conclusion: the Love Tragedy
1.
MarloweÕs Dido Queen of Carthage
2.
Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and almost any
opera from 17th through 19th century
3.
Dido and Aeneas
1685—Tate and Purcell
When I am laid in earth,
May my wrongs create
No trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Cupids appear in the clouds o'er her tomb
CHORUS
With drooping wings you Cupids come,
And scatter roses on her tomb.
Soft and gentle as her heart
Keep here your watch, and never part.
Cupids Dance