On this episode we discuss the doomed romance of Aeneas and Dido, and her subsequent tragic suicide. We continue to consider the major themes of this book – the destiny of Rome, Aeneas as a hero, fate and the gods, the conflict between Eros and the State, sources of meaning and order – as they relate to the very captivating and articulate character of Dido. Why is a woman-ruler (a fact which comes in for some heavy-handed, very Roman, stereotyped criticism) of a civilization fated to be destroyed by glorious Rome, who takes her own life in a seemingly meaningless melodramatic pique, given the most compelling character, and all the best lines?
