Medea and Dido: Epic and Tragedy in Book IV of Vergil's Aeneid.

 

 

It has been well documented that Vergil was influenced by a host of previous authors in composing the Aeneid, synthesizing motifs of epic and tragedy into a unified poem (Fenik 1960:IV). While an understanding of these influences does much to illuminate the poem as a whole, it is especially pressing for readers of the Dido episode, as Book IV does ostensibly little to advance the overall plot of the "arms and man" with whom the poem is primarily concerned.  The present paper seeks to examine the influence of both epic and tragedy in Book IV through two variations on a single character: Medea, as she is presented in Euripides' eponymous play and Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica.

 

     Focusing especially on the interplay between public and private discourse for each author, I argue that each heroine uses both discourses to advance her own interests, without exclusively ascribing to either sphere. By synthesizing both epic and tragic presentations of Medea, Vergil is able to advance the ambiguity present in defining public and private roles, thus appropriating his Greek predecessors. I conclude by speculating upon the importance which an understanding of these influences might pose for the question of Dido's culpa.