Virgil’s Aeneid Ep 6 – Dido (cerva)

It’s our Dido episode at last! In Book VI Line 69 Virgil describes Dido as a ‘cerva’ – a ‘doe’, wounded by an arrow in one of his most impressive and ambiguous similes. But who is to blame in their ‘doomed’ relationship? We examine some other similes from books 1 and 4, with Aeneas as hunter (is he unknowing or just careless?) and Dido as Diana. Caroline has an interesting theory about ‘the horse in the bedroom’ and we talk funeral pyres, everlasting curses, young Ascanius, and a hunting dog…

In this series, podcast host Katrina Kelly is joined by bestselling author Caroline Lawrence, to discuss Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid. In each episode, inspired by a particular word, Katrina and Caroline explore characters, themes and poetic techniques, their favourite Virgilian similes, hear the sounds of ancient languages, and dive into the rich imagery and literary heritage of the Aeneid.

Listen to each episode wherever you get your podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify for Creators and Spotify and watch the video version on our YouTube channel – please give us a like and hit subscribe for free!