The death of Dido marks the end of Book 4 of Virgil's Aeneid. The Queen of Carthage stabs herself in a fiery rage following her abandonment by her lover Aeneas, who leaves Carthage to continue with his destined quest to found Rome. In her final moments, Dido curses Aeneas and his descendants and foreshadows an unknown avenger who will later terrorise Rome (a likely allusion to the great Carthaginian General Hannibal who fought Rome in the Punic Wars). In this last speech, Dido lays the blame for her death squarely at Aeneas' door due to his abandonment and betrayal. I would argue that Aeneas is only partially responsible for Dido's death and that responsibility must be shared by a whole host of characters. Chiefly responsible are the gods with Aeneas, Dido and her sister Anna all sharing some responsibility for Dido's death as shall be explained. The gods are primarily responsible for Dido's death as they manipulate Dido and Aeneas into falling in love and then force Aeneas to abandon his lover, with this abandonment and the associated shame for betraying the memory of her dead husband Sychaeus being the principal cause of Dido's suicide. In Book 1, it is Venus and Cupid who manipulate Dido into becoming besotted with Aeneas. In Book 4, Juno arranges for Aeneas and Dido to sleep together in a cave, leading Dido to falsely believe that the two are married. Finally, in Book 4, Mercury and Jupiter force Aeneas to continue with his quest and leave Dido and as such are the catalysts for the abandonment. All in all, it is clear that the gods have manipulated Dido for their own gain (largely to either protect or frustrate Aeneas) and these machinations leave a broken woman who kills herself. Aeneas himself is also partially responsible. He allows himself to be delayed in Carthage and as such leads Dido on when he already knows that his destiny is to found Rome, not stay in Carthage (Book 2, Creusa's prophecy). Moreover, his cold rebuffs and dismissal of Dido wound Dido to the core and as such drive her to commit suicide.
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