La sventura di innamorarsi: pensieri impliciti di Virgilio e ideologia dell’amore nel IV libro dell’Eneide

Abstract

Virgil’s concept of love in book 4 of the Aeneid is completely negative, perhaps the most terrible in the whole of Latin literature. The reasons for this can be understood only by explaining some unclear passages in book 4 correctly. For infelix Dido love is the cause of irreparable psychological and moral degradation: the loss of univiratus, pudicitia and fama; the neglect of negotia and officia; the loss of composure and, ultimately, her suicide. So, as a result of love, the behavior of the queen becomes the antithesis of traditional Roman values, but also of proper Epicurean behavior: book 4 of De rerum natura is, in fact, an important ideological model for Virgil.