For question #1
Some sat an army of horsemen is the most beautiful thing on earth. Others say a host of foot soldiers, a fleet of ships. I say it is whatever you passionately desire.
I can easily make this clear to all, for when Helen, who surpasses all in beauty, abandoned her husband, most noble of men, and sailed to Troy, she gave not a thought to her child or dear parents, Aphrodite led her willingly on.
…
Which reminds me of absent Anaktoria, whose lovely walk and glancing bright face I would rather see than any Lydian war chariots and fully-armed infantry.

In this poem by Sappho it is unclear how deluded Helen was by Aphrodite in leaving for Troy with her loved one. The word “willingly” is used and leaving did not seem to be something she did not pay a second thought about as she “gave no thought to her child” and is leaving her noble husband and dear family. By using words like dear and noble Sappho is emphasizing how much good Helen is leaving in order to go after what she most “passionately desire”. But rather than using this to blame Helen she is showing the power of love; what she is giving up for sailing with her love to Troy is major. To further justify Helen´s decision to leave, Sappho is indicating that she would do the same. She would also choose to place a loved one over duty. That conclusion comes from that she is saying that she would rather see her “lovely walk and glancing bright face” than “war chariots and fully armed infantry”. She passionately desires a person whereas the army and duty is in first place for the ones thinking “an army of horsemen is the most beautiful thing on earth”.

Referring back to the poem, Dido is well aware about the strength of love that causes Helen to leave all there is behind. Since the death of her first husband, Sychaeus, the duty has been the most important to her and she has managed to build a great city. She is not at all interested in love and another marriage, “may [Sychaeus] keep it and be its guardian within the grave” (p. 80). She is using the word “it” rather than “my love”, which puts her perception of love far from Sappho´s description of the one you fall in love with as the “something you passionately desire”. There is no question in that Dido loves Aeneas, but what loving someone means differ a lot from how Sappho depicts it. There is a difference in what Dido and Sappho sees in the objects of their love. Sappho is describing Anaktoria´s lovely walk and her bright face whereas for Dido there seem to be a focus on Aeneas achievements rather than his appearance: “Again she prays to hear about the trails of Troy, again she hangs upon the tellers lips” (p. 81). This is, once again, taking us away from the focus on passion in love in Sappho´s poem. The attraction is connected to duty rather than personal desire. Dido is mentioning his pleasing looks, but it is in his great leadership the real attraction lies.

From Sappho´s poem we do not learn what Helen has fallen for, but it is clear that she fell hard. She did not think twice about the decision to go. For Dido, on the other hand, there is a decision to make. She knows that she is lost to love, and the question is what to do about it. All along she has been convinced that staying widowed is what her duty requires of her. She has turned down offers of marriage from great leaders in the area and the statement “I´d violate you, Shame, or break your laws” (p.80) indicates the fear of what her citizen will say if she marry a second time. From class- that the ideal was to only marry once (look up in notes). However, her sister Anna is appealing to her sense of duty in trying to justify a marriage to be motivated by the good of the city: “If you marry Aeneas, what a city and what a kingdom, sister, you will see”. This, rather than deep passionate feelings for Aeneas, seems to be what makes Dido to accept the thought of marrying him.

Still working on my thesis, I think it will be about how they have both fallen in love influenced by gods, but what love means is different for Helen and Dido (different in what way?) And I dont know if I will be able to get a full essay, but I have another idea in that case.