The Deer Simile (Aen. 4. 68-73) and Two Inconsistencies

Abstract

In the opening scene of Aeneid book 4 Dido is compared to a deer struck by the hunter's arrow. This is one of the most excellent similes in the Aeneid. But strictly speaking, it is inconsistent with the development of the story. First, although we can recognize behind this simile the intervention of Cupid, who makes mortals (and also immortals) fall in love in the twinkling of an eye with his bow and arrow, the love of Dido in book 1 seems to develop gradually. Second, although just before this simile Anna persuades Dido to abandon her chastity toward her lost husband, this simile depicts Dido trying to flee from the temptation of love. These two inconsistencies come from the following reasons. In book 1 Dido, like Medea, has fallen in love with a guest-hero. But her passion must be restricted by her queenly dignity, like that of queen Arete in the Odyssey. This restriction made a difference in the pattern of Cupid's intervention. In the case of Medea, Cupid used the bow and arrow, but in the case of Dido his weapon is kisses and poison. On the other hand, Dido's agony in book 4 is like that of Phaedra or Helen in the Euripidean tragedy. Dido treads the path to death by abandoning her chastity. If we consider book 4 to be an independent tragedy, the theme of that tragedy is not how Dido falls in love but how she abandons her chastity. In that case the start of her love is no more than the background to the story of abandoned chastity. And it is suitable that her love belongs to the category of love at first sight. So in this simile we can catch a glimpse of some expression of the strength of her passion along with the perplexed state of her mind. In short, Dido's love is described in accordance with the requests of the story in books 1 and 4 respectively. With regard to Anna's persuasion we can explain the inconsistency by an epic technique, the description in two stages*. 1st stage: a. the agony and sleeplessness b. the confession of love c. Anna's persuasion 2nd stage: a. the sacrifice and stopping construction of the city b. the agreement between Juno and Venus c. the wedding in the cave This technique is not used to describe one scene successively, but to describe a crucial moment of the story from two different points of view. In this case the moment of abandoning chastity is described twice in two stages. By this technique Virgil can show that the union of Carthage and Troy is a good choice for both Carthage and Dido from the terrestrial point of view, but at the same time it is nothing but an obstacle to the fate of Aeneas. * One example of this technique is Iliad 4. 446-544. The scene of the encounter between Greeks and Trojans is depicted twice, from general to individual point of view.