The Aeneid IV (304-312)
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Toggle Latin/EnglishTandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro:
'Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum
posse nefas, tacitusque mea decedere terra?
Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,
nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?
Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem,
et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per altum,
crudelis? Quid, si non arva aliena domosque
ignotas peteres, sed Troia antiqua maneret,
At last she addresses Aeneas with these words first:
did you even hope to conceal so much harm,
treacherous one and to leave silently my land
does not our love hold you her, nor does the pledge once given hold you here
nor Dido doomed to a cruel death?
nay do you even in the season of winter labor with your fleet
and you hurried to go into the middle of the North Wind
through the cruel deep, if you were not seeking foreign fields and unknown homes
and if ancient Troy remains
The 'an' ending hailing back to Homer and his 'Odyssey'
Gives emphasis to Dido's lack of clear thinking
Shows Dido's desire to get to the crime at hand
Represents Dido's desire to trap Aeneas in her lands
Unites the pledge ('dextera') and given ('data'), emphasising the supposed validity of the rites
Crescendo of love, the pledge, and death. Shows Dido's desperation
Represents Dido's desire to trap Aeneas, with the help of the season ('sidere') of winter ('hiberno')
Represents Dido's desire to trap Aeneas in the middle ('mediis') of the North Winds ('Aquilonibus') - she is calling upon forces greater than herself to accomplish this
The enjambement emphasises the separation of this oxymoron of unknown ('ignotas') homes ('domosque'), and is an attempt to show a futility to Aeneas' duty