The Elegy in the Aeneid Book IV

Abstract

In Aeneid's book IV, Virgil makes use of elegiac topics while narrating Dido and Aeneas' ill-fated love, inserting these topics into the epic genre. Some key characteristics of elegiac lover, such as the furor by which he is taken when injured by Cupid's dart; lover's idleness; the mala fama that emerges from the love affair; and, lastly, the misera condition in which the lover is thrown to, always followed by a lament; all these has shown to be present in Aeneid's book IV. So, in addition to evincing how epic genre, without losing its formal rigour, subsume other genres, in this case the elegiac one, this article observes how this procedure takes part in both Vergil's intra-narrative and extra-narrative purpose when composing Aeneid. In the first case, if we bear in mind that books I to VI are concerned with the construction of Aeneas' heroic ἦθος, the hero's denial in staying together with the queen confirms, once again, his destiny, which is Rome's foundation, that is conventionally of an epic hero -- and not of an elegiac lover. As for the second one, it is first important to be aware of Vergil's aim when composing Aeneid, which is to insert Rome's history into a myth, which is the elegiac poem itself. Therefore, Dido's abandonment and her following imprecation in verses 590-640 are used by the poet to justify, even if ironically, Carthaginians' rivalry and violence against Romans throughout the Punic Wars, putting them as the result of a woman's love frustration.