| oculos habent, et non videbunt They have eyes but they do not see Psalms 113:13 |
D Vautier
12/1/2021
My
fourth year Latin was a drag except when it dealt with things the
teacher did not address. I
remember our instructor giving only partial mention to Dido and ignoring
most of Virgil’s great description of the love that affair that Aeneas
had with her.
Sure it was nice to do the “Arma virumque” thing and all the
other brave honorable non-sexy stuff but when I look at the Aeneid, I
get a different picture of this guy Aeneas who was made out to be
the great founding father of Rome—and therefore without blame or
shame. Virgil was one great
dude no doubt, in fact the only guy who was able to bring the language
to some kind of class. But
let’s face it, Aeneas was a cad and a womanizer.
He had this “mission” thing in mind all the time so he
managed to dump the beautiful Dido at the end of book four who by the
way was so madly in love with him that when he dumped her she toasted herself
as his ships departed.
| et os impressa toro 'moriemur inultae, sed moriamur' ait. 'sic, sic iuuat ire sub umbras. hauriat hunc oculis ignem crudelis ab alto Dardanus, et nostrae secum ferat omina mortis. Aeniad 660 |
"..and
pressing her cheek against the couch, she said “I shall die unavenged,
but I will die nonetheless. Thus, for certain I am determined to end it. May that heartless Trojan see this fire from the sea, and
may he share the burden of my death.”