The love episode of Dido and Aeneas is an important one in the Aeneid because the main force pulling Aeneas out of the relationship is his duty to found Rome. This force is embedded in ancient Rome’s influence from Greek Stoic philosophy. The ancient meaning of the stoics stresses the rule "follow where reason leads.” And this is what Aeneas does when he decides not to pursue his love for Dido and instead leave. In this case, Aeneas gives up a chance at a new love and also causes Dido to suffer. If Aeneas were to surrender his love to Dido, then he would not meet his goal or ,in this case, his destiny. By subduing his true emotions, Aeneas is exemplifying the stoic hero.
Later, we find that Aeneas will marry a woman he does not love, but he will marry her becasuse it is will serve the plan.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoics
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4 comments:
Leaving Carthage may in fact be "reasonable" - but the way it was undertaken might be open to question: sneaking out in the middle of the night, trying to deny what he was doing when caught, etc. . . It's hard to see Aeneas' behavior toward Dido as "heroic" in any way, just as it's hard to see Aeneas in 1-6 as heroic in any light.
I think I may have found something that might help. "The political theory of the early Stoic school agreed with the Aristotelian in the belief that man was a social animal and that his activities must be directed to the betterment of the social group to which he belonged." This is a quote from The Idea of Nationalism by Hans Kohn. I think that this explains very well why Aeneas did what he did to Dido, in terms of the Stoic philosophy. He was doing what was best for his men, for the betterment of his group.
This is one of the most difficult stories for me to read in the Aeneid. It just rings a bell of insincerity. It was impossible for me to care about anything else that happed to Aeneas along his journey because he at this point seems like a smooth-talking gigolo. And then how does one justify him marrying someone he doesn't love (can you imagine how happy he must have made her) in order to do the right thing for Rome. What is Virgil saying here for real? Is it merely that a man gotta do what a man gotta do? It doesn't feel authentic. A true hero would have either ended the relationship with Dido in a less destruction manner and married someone he loved, or he would have never gotten involved with Dido. Those are the honorable choices --anything else lacks the true meaning of Greek Stoic philosophy: reason.
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