Aeneid Of Virgil Love

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In The Aeneid of Virgil, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, we are shown that love is used as an extremely powerful force. Love is truly a beautiful emotion that is shown between more than two people, but more of two things that have a certain attraction to one another. Whether the love is between a man and war, a woman and man or a strive for a goal, love can be between anything; but, love sometimes makes us forget what is truly important to us. Love is powerful enough to confuse the idea of set fates. We are introduced to Dido in the book as a fierce woman figure and the Queen of Carthage. Before Aeneas comes into Dido’s life, she focuses on her role as Queen and has the goal of making Carthage a successful city. Virgil shows her change of mindset with the image of the queen being hit by cupid's arrow, causing her to go insane and lovestruck. Virgil even describes the hit as Cupid “...inflam[ing] the queen to madness and…show more content…
Aeneas’ compassion of fighting and of war grows stronger as the story progresses. Throughout Aeneas’ journeys in books four and five, he shows his growth as a leader. This is shown when he visits his father in the world of the dead and also when he leads the Trojans towards Italy. Virgil consistently refers to Aeneas as “Pious Aeneas” (I,307), showing from the latin root that he has a devotion to his family and loved ones as well as his passion. But his frittering with Dido in book four makes him lose track of what he’s destined to do. Aeneas is even torn between Dido and his fate later on in the book and says, “No longer set yourself and me afire. Stop your quarrel. It is not my own free will that leads to Italy.”(IV,490). Aeneas’ love for Dido is so distracting that he needs to explain to her that he has to oblige by his fate and do what he was born to do best, which is to fight in battle. Aeneas shows that the fates will always win over a force as powerful as
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