Book 4: The End

Vergil plays up the theme of vengeance at the end of the book, with ulta in 656 and inultae in 659; this very much follows from the speech of Dido that we skipped, in which she calls down curses on Aeneas - that he struggle to reach Italy, that he be worn out by war once he should reach Italy, that he see Ascanius die, and that he himself die before his time.  Finally, she calls for eternal war between Rome and Carthage.  In this light, it is sort of interesting reading Moriemur inultae in 659; it is, of course, literally accurate in that when Dido dies, Aeneas has received no hardship on her account.  I would suggest, though, that it also hints that Dido's curses, though dreadful, will be ultimately unsuccessful (and that she perhaps suspects this) - Aeneas does have to face adversity and war, but neither he nor Ascanius dies early, he does establish a new kingdom in Italy, and Rome will eventually defeat and destroy Carthage.  Furthermore, nowhere in the rest of the book do we get the impression that Dido's curse had any effect on these events - most of them have already been predicted/foreshadowed before we ever met Dido.  It is perhaps the ultimate example of Dido's tragedy - for all that she loves and hates, burns and rages, and constantly fills the story with tension and passion, her final curse matters little, and her dying words acknowledge that she has been nothing but the plaything of the gods.  It is something we should keep in mind when we read about Amata (though I don't think we encounter her much in our passages in Latin).