Ramviknesh Ramanathan
Aeneid Book IV Essay
The Roman Empire may have been the most influential empire ever and at its height it
encompassed the area from north-western Europe to the Near East. One of the central aspects of
the Roman Empire was their work in the arts. One of the greatest authors from the Roman
Empire was Virgil. His ability to interact with the reader in text is uncanny. One of his most
famous works, the Aeneid, talks about Aeneas, who is portrayed as an ancestor to the Romans.
Throughout the epic poem the superiority of the stoic mindset over the epicurean mindset is seen.
At the beginning Aeneas and Dido both tend to follow an epicurean mindset and both fail to
fulfill their to duty to their citizens. By the end Aeneas gets past his temptations and returns to a
stoic mindset of fulfilling your duty.
Throughout Book 4 Dido is portrayed with an epicurean mindset, tending to look for
pleasure rather than follow her duty. Book 4 of the Aeneid opens up with a scene where Dido is
conversing with her sister Anna. In this conversation Dido mentions how in love with Aeneas
she is; This is seen when she says, “Anna, since the time Sychaeus, my poor husband, died and
my own brother splashed our household Gods with blood, Aeneas is the only man to move my
feelings”. This shows that Dido is deeply in love with Aeneas, and he is the first person since the
death of her husband who she has truly fallen in love with. With this an epicurean mindset is
seen; Dido had promised to herself that she would never marry after the death of her husband.
Although she shows some hesitation by saying “Were it not my sure, immovable decision…I
might perhaps give way to this one fault”, she ends up falling in love with him anyway. The
epicurean mindset is based upon pleasure over pain; here she is following this mindset and going
for pleasure, by falling in love with Aeneas, over the pain of being a widow. Spending all the
time worrying about Aeneas Dido’s city has begun to fall apart. She is ignoring her duties as
Queen; this is seen when the narrator says “Her towers rise no more…even the crane defier of
the sky, now lie neglected”, this shows that she isn’t fulfilling her duties as Queen. The city is
beginning to fall apart, work is idle and the city isn’t progressing. She is neglecting her duty for
the pleasure of her love with Aeneas. While in the cave with Aeneas rumor spreads across the
city about Dido and how she is neglecting her citizens. These rumors spreading show that she is
ignoring the citizens and her city, instead she is making love with Aeneas. This is another
example of her disregarding her duty for pleasure. Throughout Book 4, Dido tends to follow an
epicurean mindset and chooses pleasure over duty and pain.
In Book 4 of the Aeneid, Aeneas is seen struggling between the epicurean and stoic
mindset. At the beginning he too fell in love with Dido, neglecting his duty as becoming the
founder of Rome. In the cave he makes love with Dido, and is picking the pleasure of love over
his duty as future founder of Rome. This entire scene is a test by the Gods, as they attempt to
distract Aeneas from founding Rome. This is seen when Juno says “That task is mine…I shall
unite the two in certain marriage and seal her as Aeneas’ very own”, Juno is attempting to mess
with Aeneas’ destiny and keep him stuck in Carthage. At first, her plan works and Aeneas falls
to the temptations of love and pleasure. When Jupiter realizes this he has Mercury interfere and
put some sense into Aeneas. Mercury calls Aeneas out and says “Are you now laying the
foundation of high Carthage, as servant to a woman, building her a splendid city here? Are you
forgetful of what is your own kingdom, your own fate”, this shows that Aeneas has neglected his
fate and duty as future founder of Rome for Dido and the pleasure of love. He is ignoring what
needs to be done, and falling for the temptations of love. When Aeneas realizes this he is
shocked, the narrator says “The vision stunned Aeneas, struck him dumb; his terror held his hair
erect; his voice held fast within his jaws. He burns to flee from Carthage.”; this shows that
although Aeneas did fall for temptations, he realizes the graveness of his mistakes. It is said that
he burns to flee Carthage, he realizes the mistakes of his ways and that he must get back to
fulfilling his duty. Here the struggle between the stoic and epicurean mindset is seen. The
temptation of love and happiness at first had taken over Aeneas but when he realized what he
was doing, throwing away his future, he returns to a more stoic mindset.
Over the course of Book 4 of the Aeneid, the differences between the stoic and epicurean
mindset are seen. Both Aeneas and Dido begin the work with epicurean mindsets, falling for
temptations and love. Throughout the beginning both characters neglect their duties as Queen,
and future founder of Rome. By the end Aeneas realizes his mistake and switches to a more stoic
mindset. He is cold-blooded and seems to completely forget about the relationship he and Dido
had, this is seen when Dido says “Deceiver, did you even hope to hide so harsh a crime, to leave
this land of mine without a word?”, this shows that Aeneas completely ignored their relationship,
and was easily able to move on. He is following a stoic mindset, although he enjoyed much of
his time being in love with Dido, he knows that it is his duty to get back to the founding of Rome
and must move on from Dido. Dido on the other hand isn’t able to move on, she is stuck on
Aeneas, as seen by her reaction when she finds out Aeneas is leaving. She goes into such deep
sorrow saying “Do you flee me? By tears, by your right hand this sorry self is left with nothing
else”, she truly fell in love with Aeneas and is now stuck upon it. She completely fell into the
epicurean mindset and can’t switch back to a stoic mindset for serving her country. In the end
Aeneas’s switch to a stoic mindset leads to him becoming the founder of Rome. On the other
hand, Dido, is stuck on Aeneas and her epicurean mindset has failed her, she ends up killing
herself. As is seen by the final outcomes of both characters, the stoic mindset led Aeneas to
having a better life and legacy to leave behind.