batch.motif.roman-aeneid-mackail-gutenberg-l2391-l2467
---
record_id: batch.motif.roman-aeneid-mackail-gutenberg-l2391-l2467
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK THIRD / THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING / BOOK FOURTH / THE
LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END; lines 2391-2467
start: '2391'
end: '2467'
translation: The Aeneid of Virgil
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: Not of my will do I follow Italy.
summary: Dido confronts Aeneas for preparing to leave Carthage, invokes their union,
her lost honor, political danger, and the child she does not have. Aeneas answers
that divine commands, his Trojan duty, Anchises' warnings, and Ascanius' destined
inheritance require him to seek Italy. Dido denounces him, curses his voyage,
foretells vengeance, and says her ghost will haunt him after death. She then breaks
off, departs, and is carried swooning by her attendants to her chamber.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Dido accuses Aeneas of attempting to hide his departure and leave her land
in silence.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Dido refers to their love, Aeneas' given hand, and marriage rites being prepared.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Dido says Libyan tribes, Nomad kings, and her Tyrians have become hostile
or estranged because of Aeneas.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Dido says she would feel less utterly deserted if she had a child of Aeneas
in her hall.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Aeneas keeps his gaze still and restrains distress in his heart under Jove's
counsel.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Aeneas denies trying to flee secretly and denies having held out the marriage
torch or entered such an alliance.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Aeneas says Apollo of Grynos and Lycian oracles direct him toward Italy.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Aeneas reports that the phantom of Anchises comes to him in sleep with warning
and dread.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Aeneas says he wrongs Ascanius if he cheats him of a Hesperian kingdom and
destined fields.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: Aeneas says a divine interpreter sent from Jove brought commands through the
air, and that he saw the deity in daylight.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: Dido insults Aeneas' lineage by denying that a goddess was his mother and
saying Caucasus and Hyrcanian tigresses produced him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:12
text: Dido declares that she will follow Aeneas in murky fires and that her ghost
will haunt him after death.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: Dido stops speaking, leaves Aeneas, and her women carry her swooning to her
marble chamber and bed.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Dido / Elissa
description: Queen addressed by Aeneas as Elissa; she confronts Aeneas, describes
her endangered house and honor, curses his departure, and is carried away swooning.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Aeneas
description: Departing Trojan leader whom Dido calls traitor and guest; he answers
that divine orders and duty require him to follow Italy.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:9
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Jove
description: Divine authority whose counsel steadies Aeneas and from whom the gods'
interpreter is sent.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Apollo of Grynos
description: Divine source named by Aeneas as bidding him steer for broad Italy.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Lycian oracles
description: Oracular authorities named by Aeneas as directing him toward Italy.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Anchises' phantom
description: Troubled phantom of Aeneas' father appearing in sleep with warning
and dread.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Ascanius
description: Aeneas' dear boy, linked to the Hesperian kingdom and destined fields.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Gods' interpreter
description: A deity sent from Jove who bears commands through the air and is seen
by Aeneas within the walls.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Queen Juno
description: Named by Dido as not regarding her with righteous eyes.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Pygmalion
description: Dido's brother, invoked as a possible threat to overthrow his sister's
city.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Gaetulian Iarbas
description: Named by Dido as a possible captor.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Dido's women
description: Attendants who catch Dido, carry her swooning to her marble chamber,
and lay her on her bed.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: abandoned queen and accuser
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Dido accuses Aeneas of secret flight, names him traitor, and asks how he
leaves her to die.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: speaker of curse and posthumous haunting
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Dido foretells vengeance, says her ghost will haunt Aeneas, and expects to
hear of his repayment in the underworld.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:3
label: departing lover or guest
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Dido calls him guest and says the name of husband has dwindled down to this;
he prepares to leave by fleet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: divinely compelled quester for Italy
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Aeneas says Apollo, oracles, Anchises' phantom, Ascanius' destiny, and Jove's
messenger compel him toward Italy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:5
label: divine commander
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Jove counsels Aeneas and sends a divine interpreter with commands.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: role:6
label: oracular authority
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: Aeneas names Apollo of Grynos and Lycian oracles as directing him to Italy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: paternal warning figure
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Anchises' phantom appears in sleep with warning and dread.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: destined heir
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Aeneas says Ascanius is wronged if deprived of a Hesperian kingdom and destined
fields.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:9
label: divine messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The gods' interpreter is sent from Jove and bears commands through the air.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:10
label: divine observer invoked as unjust
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Dido says Juno and the Saturnian lord do not regard her with righteous eyes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:11
label: threatening ruler
assigned_to:
- fig:10
- fig:11
basis: Dido invokes Pygmalion and Iarbas as possible future threats to her city
or freedom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: role:12
label: attendant rescuers
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: The women catch Dido, carry her to her chamber, and lay her on her bed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sea voyage
literal_form: fleet, deep, northern gales, tossing seas, overseas route to Italy
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: sym:2
label: fire imagery
literal_form: stars lift their fires; Dido names the fire of madness and murky fires
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:11
- id: sym:3
label: marriage torch
literal_form: marriage torch denied by Aeneas
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: phantom of the father
literal_form: troubled phantom of Anchises appearing in sleep
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: underworld after death
literal_form: rumour reaching Dido deep in the under world after chill death severs
body from soul
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: Caucasus crags
literal_form: rough Caucasus and iron crags in Dido's insult to Aeneas
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Dido confronts Aeneas' intended departure
summary: Dido accuses Aeneas of secret flight, appeals to their love and impending
marriage rites, describes her political ruin, and imagines the absent child who
might have linked them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:14
- id: scene:2
label: Aeneas gives the reasons for Italy
summary: Aeneas denies a secret marriage-alliance and says that Apollo, Lycian oracles,
Anchises' phantom, Ascanius' inheritance, and Jove's messenger require him to
follow Italy.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:3
label: Dido's denunciation and curse
summary: Dido denounces Aeneas' lineage and lack of pity, rejects his divine justifications,
tells him to go to Italy, and declares that her ghost will haunt him after death.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:13
- id: scene:4
label: Dido's collapse and removal
summary: Dido breaks off, leaves Aeneas troubled, and is caught and carried by her
women to her marble chamber and bed.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:12
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: divinely compelled departure from beloved city or queen
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: Aeneas' departure is framed as enforced by Jove's messenger, Apollo, oracles,
his father's phantom, and Ascanius' destiny, despite Dido's appeal to their relationship.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives this motif in the context of Aeneas' explanation; it
does not resolve Dido's competing interpretation of betrayal.
- id: motif:2
label: contested sacred or marital union
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_marriage
basis: Dido invokes union and marriage rites, while Aeneas denies the marriage torch
and formal alliance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage stresses dispute and noncompletion rather than a clearly established
sacred marriage.
- id: motif:3
label: posthumous haunting and vengeance oath
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Dido says she will follow Aeneas in murky fires, her ghost will haunt him
in every region, and she will hear of his repayment in the underworld.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: No available taxonomy reference exactly matches posthumous haunting; this
is retained as an unclassified candidate motif.
- id: motif:4
label: divine parentage denied in insult
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_parent_child
basis: Dido explicitly denies that a goddess was Aeneas' mother and replaces the
lineage with harsh images of Caucasus and tigresses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a rhetorical denial, not a narrative account of parentage in the
passage.
- id: motif:5
label: dynastic duty to destined heir and land
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: Aeneas links departure to Ascanius' Hesperian kingdom and destined fields,
and to the Trojans' right to seek a foreign realm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage frames legitimacy through destiny and inheritance, but does
not depict coronation or rule.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 2391-2406
quote_or_summary: Dido asks whether Aeneas hoped to mask the crime and slip away,
invokes love, his given hand, her tears, their union, and marriage rites being
prepared, and asks him to pity her sinking house.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 2406-2414
quote_or_summary: Dido says Libyan tribes and Nomad kings are hostile, her Tyrians
are estranged, her honor and fame are gone, and she is left to die by one now
reduced to the name of guest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 2414-2419
quote_or_summary: Dido says that if she had borne or held a child of Aeneas, a tiny
likeness of him playing in her hall, she would not feel utterly trapped and deserted.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 2420-2423
quote_or_summary: After Dido finishes, Aeneas, by counsel of Jove, keeps his gaze
unmoved and suppresses distress before answering.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 2424-2431
quote_or_summary: Aeneas says he never hoped to slip away in stealthy flight and
did not hold out the marriage torch or enter such an alliance.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 2431-2442
quote_or_summary: Aeneas says he would restore Troy if fate allowed, but Apollo
of Grynos and Lycian oracles command him to steer for Italy, which he calls his
desire and native country.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 2442-2446
quote_or_summary: Aeneas says that whenever night covers the earth and the stars
lift their fires, the troubled phantom of his father Anchises appears in sleep
with warning and dread.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 2446-2448
quote_or_summary: Aeneas says he wrongs Ascanius if he cheats him of a Hesperian
kingdom and destined fields.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: quote
locator: 2448-2455
quote_or_summary: Aeneas says the gods' interpreter, sent from Jove, brought commands
through the air; he saw the deity in daylight and concludes, 'Not of my will do
I follow Italy.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation included.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 2456-2462
quote_or_summary: Dido looks at Aeneas silently, then says no goddess was his mother
nor Dardanus his founder, but rough Caucasus bore him and Hyrcanian tigresses
nursed him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: 2462-2466
quote_or_summary: Dido says the fire of madness drives her, mocks Aeneas' divine
justifications, tells him to follow Italy, hopes he will meet vengeance on the
rocks, and declares her ghost will haunt him after death and hear of his repayment
in the underworld.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: 2466-2467
quote_or_summary: Dido breaks off unfinished, departs from sight, leaves Aeneas
fearful and hesitant, and her women carry her swooning to her marble chamber and
bed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: 2462-2464
quote_or_summary: Dido says neither Queen Juno nor the Saturnian lord regards her
with righteous eyes and that nowhere is trust safe.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: 2412-2415
quote_or_summary: Dido asks whether she waits for Pygmalion to overthrow his sister's
city or for Gaetulian Iarbas to lead her into captivity.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/aeneid-mackail.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif candidates are cautious
where taxonomy labels only approximate the local narrative features. No comparison
claims were added because the passage itself does not support a specific cross-text
or cross-tradition comparison.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Public-domain English translation by Mackail as supplied in the request. Line references follow the provided stable markdown range.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:roman-aeneid-mackail-gutenberg__l2391-l2467
passage_sha256=c4dcd1c0c4026ae42aabd79385da24827ca72dbd1a1d97e618bede5196a29910