Greetings to all

Greetings to all! Salvete! (An ancient Roman greeting)

Here is an example of a good answer for a "gobbet" style question from

AENEID, BOOK 4

NOTE:

For "gobbet" questions detail is required in your answers. If a proper name or any unusual word (eg "furor" or "pietas") is used in a question, be careful to add a detail, defining or giving information about this word.

If a question asks you to state how the "gobbet" passage contributes to a particular theme or aspect of the Aeneid, make your statement and BACK IT UP WITH A QUOTE FROM THE PASSAGE.
The passage:

"Now my wraith shall pass in state to the world below. I have established a noble city. I have lived to see my own ramparts built. I have avenged my husband and punished the brother who was our foe. Happy, all too happy, should I have been, if only the Dardan ships had never reached my coast!" With this cry she buried her face in the bed, and continued: "I shall die, and die unavenged; but die I shall. Yes, yes; this is the way I like to go into the dark. And may the heartless Trojan, far out on the deep, drink in the sight of my fire and take with him the evil omen of my death."

There she ended. And even while she still spoke she had fallen upon the blade. Soon her attendants saw her with blood foaming about the sword and the stains of it on her hands. A cry rose to the palace roof. Carthage was stricken by the hock and Rumour ran riot in the town.

Questions

1 Under what circumstances does Dido speak these words? 2 mks

Answer:

Dido, Queen of Carthage, has just seen her Aeneas, her lover, sailing away, secretly and with no word of farewell to her. She has climbed on to a funeral pyre which she has prepared in advance. The pyre contains all the relics and mementos from her affair with Aeneas.

2 Who was her husband? How had she "avenged" him? 2 mks

Answer:

Her husband was Sychaeus, a rich and powerful Phoenician. He had been killed without Dido’s knowledge by her brother, Pygmalion who wanted Sychaeus’s money. Dido had "avenged" Sychaeus in this way: Sychaeus appeared to her in a dream and told her who had killed him. Sychaeus then told Dido where a huge store of his treasure was hidden and instructed her to leave her homeland and found a new city elsewhere, with her supporters. She did so and therefore deprived her brother of a portion of the gold for which he had killed Sychaeus.

3 Give two other occasions on which Rumour has "run riot" in Book 4. 2 mks

Answer:

1 Rumour is described by Virgil as a "foul goddess". After Dido and Aeneas have begun their love affair, driven together in a cave during a storm, the goddess Rumour spreads the news of their affair, with some details true and some untrue. The stories spread beyond Carthage to the neighbouring kingdoms.

2 Later in the affair, Jupiter’s messenger god, Mercury, visits Aeneas with a message from Jupiter that he must leave Carthage and resume his destined voyage to Italy. As Aeneas’s men prepare the ships, Rumour brings the news to Dido that the activity on the ships is in preparation for a voyage.

4 What does this passage contribute to the characterisation of Dido? 4 mks

Answer:

This passage shows these aspects of Dido’s character:

Dido is an able leader and proud of her accomplishments as a leader:

"I have established a noble city. I have lived to see my own ramparts built."

Dido feels that she had no power of choice after she was given her obsessive love for Aeneas by the supernatural powers. She does not accept any responsibility for the tragic situation she now has to deal with:

"Happy, all too happy, should I have been, if only the Dardan ships had never reached my coast!"

Dido is dominated by the emotional state of "furor". Furor was a state of mind in which rational thought, and the ability to be objective was totally overcome by feelings such as rage, obsessive love, great fear. Here the feelings showing Dido’s "furor" are hatred and the wish for revenge:

"And may the heartless Trojan, far out on the deep, drink in the sight of my fire and take with him the evil omen of my death."