^{page 127 note 1} Criticized as melodramatic by Shaw in Plays and Players.

^{page 128 note 1} Cf. his behaviour in the storm (i. 92 ff.); his inner torment after the ships are burnt (v. 700 ff.), or the gross indignities (disobedience by his men, wounding) he suffers before the final conflict (xii. 311 ff.).

^{page 128 note 2} See below for comment on how this passage differs from its near-twin in iv. 141–50. Both Dido and Aeneas are presented to us as god-like beings—with the single absence of pietas to distinguish her from him. (One might also note that they are not only god-like, but god-dominated as well. In Book iv Aeneas is described as certus eundi [554]. whereas Dido is certa mori [564]. Their destinies are set out for them, whatever their characters or actions.)

^{page 130 note 1} The ‘ant-simile’ (iv. 402 ff.)Google Scholar is not strictly relevant to our purpose, as it is concerned more with the external appearance of movement than with inner emotion.

^{page 131 note 1} This simile is also reminiscent of ii. 304–8, where Aeneas compares himself to a lone shepherd on a hill top, watching flames or a flood engulf the farmlands below. The imagery is once again metaphorically significant.

^{page 132 note 1} It is here too that the great critical dilemma occurs. Book iv is poetically very fine, and Dido emerges from it as a real person, perhaps more sympathetic even than Aeneas himself. How much Virgil's head was at odds with his heart, has been the subject of speculation for centuries. The present article argues that in one respect at least his head remained fully in control. At the same time, the whole treatment of Dido and Aeneas in this book shows a depth of human understanding that makes nonsense of the black-and-white judgements critics are so often compelled to make.