Authority in the Aeneid

Section: Unsorted

Reclaiming What Was Once Lost
Authority is the centerpiece of power. With it, one has the ability to control those
around them under the basis of their power, and maintain a given sense of order and duty
as well. This notion of the importance of authority is nowhere more evident than in
Virgil's Aeneid, where through the manner in which Dido falls from authority, and
eventually fights to gain it back, Virgil paints the image of a character whose whole
existence centers about the authority and sense of duty she shares for both herself and
the people she is in charge of. Furthermore, through the folly of succumbing to her own
desires, Dido must ultimately sacrifice all she holds dear to regain a small semblance of
that authority which is lost. In other words, it is precisely this fall Dido suffers, and
the manner in which she regains her authority, that allow her to exude the heroic
qualities that make her the steadfast leader she truly is.
As Dido begins to fall madly in love with Aeneas, her longing for personal desire fully
encompasses her being, and slowly strips her of her own integrity and authority. For
example, in describing how enthralled Dido is, Virgil notes:
Unlucky Dido, burning, in her madness
Roamed through all the city, like a doe
Hit by an arrow shot from far away
By a shepherd hunting in the Cretan woods-
Hit by surprise, nor could the hunter see
His flying steel had fixed itself in her;
But though she runs for life through copse and glade
The fatal shaft clings to her side. (IV. 91-98)
The purpose of this simile here is twofold. First, it captures the image of Dido's
passion in all its engulfing fury. The passion is depicted as burning madness (IV. 91)
that slowly eats away at Dido's rationale, leaving her a shattered visage of her former
self, roaming the streets of her city with a desire so strong that it fully encompasses
all her thoughts, and leaves her oblivious to the world around her as well. This
indirectly leads to the second point of the simile. Here, Virgil likens Dido's situation
to that of a doe / Hit by an arrow shot from far away (IV. 92-93). This is significant in
that Dido here is being equated with prey, that she is essentially nothing more than game
at the disposal of the gods, to be hunted and exploited for their own purposes. This adds
a sense of tragic irony to the situation as well, because much like the doe in the
simile, Dido has been struck with a passion that will prove to be her undoing-a true
fatal shaft (IV. 98)-yet at the same time, she is so enthralled at the prospect of love
and marriage that she is just wandering through her life, and ultimately, right into her
own demise. By giving into these desires Dido completely allows her own self to be
subjugated, and prevents herself from rationally thinking her situation through, and then
acting on it. In essence then, by giving into her passions, Dido has sacrificed all her
rationality, sensibility, and her own sense of being for the sake of wandering about her
city like a fool in love.
Perhaps the single most important thing Dido sacrifices (outside of her own life) for the
sake of her desires is her own authority. For it is when she surrenders her own authority
that Dido allows herself to be subjugated, in that it is her place as leader of her
people, as well as founder and builder of Carthage, that is directly dependent on her
authority and power. So when Dido then gives into this desire of hers, she must first
relinquish that authority and duty to which she is bound, and essentially transform
herself into a completely complacent and submissive visage of her former self. This is
realized in the description of the half-built Carthage (IV. 115-118). Here, Virgil
parallels the earlier image of a Carthage bustling with growth and activity, buildings
being built, workers busy like bees at work, and most importantly, Dido in full control
of her authority and power, to that of an image of Carthage as only towers, half-built,
rose / no farther, with men no longer training in arms (IV. 115-116). Dido becomes so
engulfed with personal desire that she relinquishes all her responsibilities to her city,
her people, and to herself as leader and figurehead of authority. All that essentially
defines Dido-her grace, her kindness, her air of self-assurance and self-reliance-are
intrinsically dependent on her power and authority as leader. The authority which once
made Dido, and Carthage itself, seem impregnable (IV. 118) is no longer there. The moment
she gives into her personal desire, she is essentially abdicating her authority into the
hands of Aeneas and the gods, and as such, is no longer in control of her destiny, but
instead her own self-destruction.
Unfortunately for Dido, she does not become aware of this until it is too late. By the
time she realizes she has completely undermined her own authority, the world around her
is crumbling. As Aeneas prepares for Italy, this come to fruition for her, as she notes:
Because of you, Libyans and nomad kings
Detest me, my own Tyrians are hostile;
Because of you, I lost my integrity
And that admired name by which alone
I made my way once towards the stars. (IV. 417-421)
This is significant here because Dido has finally come to the realization that she has
lost her authority. She acknowledges the fact that she gave into desire, and it
undermined everything she has worked for. However, Dido makes a key point for her case as
well. She notes to Aeneas that if he leaves, it will completely destroy her reputation as
figure of authority in Carthage, because she essentially let a stranger come into her
city, her life, and basically do what he wanted with it, and then leave when it became
convenient to fulfill his duty once again (IV. 491-500). When Aeneas ultimately does
leave, this pushes Dido over the brink, and she lashes out in a fit of both rage and
unrequited passion, cursing his name, and cursing herself as well.
However, all is not lost for Dido. Although from this point on it may appear like she
acts solely on madness and pain, Dido in actuality does otherwise. She assesses her
situation, and begins to slowly reassert her authority. First and foremost, she
eliminates the arms that faithless man left in my chamber, / all his clothing, and the
marriage bed (IV. 659-660) in an altar pyre, cleansing every memory of that failed
attempt at personal desire, as well as the flame of her own passionate anger.
In quenching flame with the cleansing flame of the altar, Dido begins to symbolically
wash herself of this shame she has inflicted upon herself. By taking charge in such
action, Dido gains a small bit of her own integrity and authority back, in the sense that
she could just roll over and let this grief slowly eat her life away, but that fact that
she chooses to change shows she wants to regain her authority. Then Dido assesses her
situation. She knows that Aeneas has destroyed her reputation as a leader, and that she
cannot just blindly follow him around like a slave (IV. 711-720), so she come to a
radical conclusion-in order to protect her own personal integrity, and of the city of
Carthage as well, she will take her life into her own hands, to die as [she] deserves
(IV. 730). This becomes the apex of Dido's reassertion of her own authority. As she
thrusts Aeneas' sword into her chest, she proclaims, I die unavenged, but let me die…/
Let the cold Trojan, / Far at sea, drink in this conflagration / And take with him the
omen of my death! (IV. 8811-886). At this moment, Dido is taking back her own fate, her
own life, from the hands of both the gods and Aeneas. She will no longer spend her life
pining in remorse for the man she cannot have, nor will she allow the gods the pleasure
of watching her suffer. Instead, in the fell motion of a sword swipe, Dido pushes out the
last blood of an impassioned desire, and regains authority-authority over her own life.
She dies, but with that, she takes with her her own authority and integrity, and wipes
clean once and for all the blood of this unrequited passion. She reclaims authority over
her destiny.
A final glimpse of Dido in her authority is seen when Aeneas travels to the underworld.
As he wanders about, Aeneas sees the faint image of the woman he helped destroy, and
walks over to her, trying to make peace for the trouble he has caused, proclaiming he
could not believe he would hurt her so (VI. 238-249). Dido however, remains steadfast in
this whiny attempt at placation, glaring with a fixed gaze like immobile granite or
Marpesian stone (VI. 256-258), until she finally tires of this and returns to her place
with Sychaeus. Her stone-like gaze intimates that his workings have no effect on her, and
that the anger she harbors towards him is so strong that Aeneas himself can feel it, and
dares not to push the issue. Thus in this final glimpse Dido has finally regained that
sense of strength and power that defined her authority, and no longer is submissive to
the pleas of Aeneas, but instead, completely oblivious to it. Dido has come full circle
in reasserting her authority.
Thus through the struggle of Dido, Virgil provides a glimpse not only into the folly of
personal desire when it conflicts with duty, but more importantly, of the intrinsic
importance that authority plays in defining the picture of the Roman world that Virgil
has depicted here. Ultimately for Virgil, it is integrity, and the responsibility that
comes with maintaining it with respect to duty, that serves as the underlying force of
man, and of the state as well.

Bibliography:

Virgil. The Aeneid. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 7th ed. Vol.1
Ed. Sarah Lawall, Maynard Mack. New York : W.W. Norton & Co.,
1999. 817-895. 2 vols.

 

 

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