Dido and Aeneas

Gap fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers.
   Aeneas      back      Carthage      children      city      Cursing      dead      death      descendants      duty      gods      hunting      husband      Iarbas      Juno      Jupiter      king      leave      lonely      love      marriage      Mediterranean      Mercury      mission      North Africa      pyre      queen      Rumor      security      ship      sister, Anna      sword      Sychaeus      Tyre      underworld      upset      Venus   
In the course of ' wanderings around the before he arrived in Italy, he landed at on the shores of . There he fell in love with the Carthaginian , Dido. The story of the love affair between Aeneas and Dido is one of the most moving books in The Aeneid and earned for Virgil the description: 'the world's poet of sorrow'.

Dido was by birth a Phoenician from the city of . Forced to flee her homeland after the murder of her , she was completing the building of a new city at Carthage when Aeneas and his men were washed ashore. She received them lavishly, and almost at once (due to the scheming of and ) fell deeply in love with Aeneas. This was against her conscience but encouraged by her , she began to accept her desire for Aeneas and to hope for marriage.

Anna argued that Dido did not need to remain , that she needed to continue her dynasty, and that was dead and would not mind. Marriage to a Trojan prince would increase Carthage's glory and , and the themselves seemed to support this union (more irony!!).
Aeneas and Dido shelter in a cave
Dido and Aeneas in a cave

One day when she and Aeneas were on a trip together, a storm caused by blew up, scattering the party, and they found themselves alone in a cave. While the storm raged they made love, which for Dido represented . From then on, they lived together as man and wife, and Aeneas behaved almost as if he were of Carthage.

While the royal lovers neglected their duty (Aeneas his , Dido her ), , which has become personified, takes the news to , Dido's former suitor. He complains to of the injustice.

When , the messenger of the Gods, came to remind Aeneas of his duty to found a new Troy in Italy, Aeneas decided that he must his beloved and continue on his journey. Thanks again to , Dido soon discovered what his intentions were, and confronted him with his treachery. Though himself deeply , Aeneas could only plead that the had compelled him, and begged Dido not to make their parting doubly difficult.

In despair, Dido resolved on . She built a vast funeral for herself, pretending it was for a magical rite to bring Aeneas , or at least to cure her . After a sleepless night she rose to see Aeneas' already at sea. him and praying for everlasting enmity between Carthage and Aeneas' , she climbed the pyre and , taking her lover's , mortally stabbed herself.

The book is dominated by a series of passionate speeches by Dido, of reproach, entreaty, bitterness and curses. Aeneas speaks only once and that to quote his . There is nothing else he can say. He leaves Dido but looks shabby as he steals off into the night.

Aeneas did not escape Dido entirely. On his visit to the he met her ghost and attempted once more to justify his conduct. But Dido would not speak with him, and slunk away to be with the ghost of her 'who answered her cares and matched her '. This is the only happy we see in The Aeneid; and it is amongst the . Aeneas is left in no doubt that he destroyed Dido.