The Aeneid: Aeneas and Dido

I do agree with Aeneas’s decision to conform to the will of the gods and that of his destiny despite the fact that he still loved Carthage and Dido. Aeneas was supposed to answer a higher calling, and the love to which he had developed was acting as a blockage towards his realization of the expectations set by the gods. I do disagree with Dido’s reaction in that she wanted Aeneas to stay with her, a fact that would have changed Aeneas storyline from being a hero to nothing, he could be a person whose destiny was destroyed by a woman just because he accepted the temptations of love.

It is not fair for the gods to expect so much from Aeneas, as he was just a human being who definitely could fall into temptations. For a human being to sacrifice his life and especially his love is a great deal. For Aeneas, he had to sacrifice his two love birds to act according to the gods’ will and in the fulfillment of his destiny, which obviously proves a challenge to him. If Mercury didn’t warn him, Aeneas could not have conformed with the gods’ will. Aeneas piety is a virtue when viewed from the viewpoint of the whole group of Trojan survivors and at the same time, a hindrance for him as an individual. The reason why his piety is a virtue to the people is that he is chosen by the gods to fulfill his destiny of leading his people and thus he had a responsibility as well as duty to fulfill. On the other side, Aeneas piety was a hindrance for him as an individual as it kept him away from the people he loved, for example, away from Dido. He falls in love and but he cannot start a family due to his destiny.