Fate and Tragedy in The Aeneid
Most heroes of Greek and Roman epics are defined by a single, prominent trait of theirs. The Iliad’s Achilles was courageous, The Odyssey’s Odysseus was cunning, and The Aeneid’s Aeneas was dutiful.
But maybe this defining trait was assigned unjustly. Aeneas shirks his duties to the city of Carthage and its queen, Dido, massively, devastatingly, by leaving the city to falter and fail instead of helping it to rise. He may have fulfilled his destiny, according to the gods, but ultimately, he failed in his duty to his people, and to Dido.
Aeneas Flees to Carthage
In the second book of the Aeneid, we witness a flashback to the fall of Troy, through the eyes of our hero. We learn about the tragedy he and his men faced, the pure destruction of the city, the death of the king, and, most chillingly, we witness the ghost of Creusa, Aeneas’ wife, killed in the fires of the Greeks.
There end your toils; and there your fates provide
A quiet kingdom, and a royal bride:
There fortune shall the Trojan line restore,
And you for lost Creusa weep no more. — The Aeneid, Book 2
She appears to him as a shade, telling him that there is something better waiting for him if…
