Niall's Post- The Stoic Nation and Illogical Individuality

"Trying to lift her heavy eyes, the queen falls back again.  She breathes; the deep wound in her chest is loud and hoarse.  Three times she tried to raise herself and strained, propped on her elbow; and three times she fell back upon the couch.  Three times with wandering eyes she tried to find high heaven’s light and, when she found it, sighed.

But then all-able Juno pitied her long sorrow and hard death and from Olympus sent Iris down to free the struggling spirit from her entwining limbs."

In Virgil’s The Aeneid the nation is not only a motif throughout the text but also a means in which Aeneis and a majority of the gods strive towards.  Stoic theology regards the nation with the utmost importance and emotions as a descent into insanus.  As pious Aeneis quests to found Rome he is inhibited by various characters.  Dido and Taurus are essentially against the ideals of the nation as they are encompassed by emotions- and individualist construct.  The problem that arises is that Aeneis’ establishing Rome is fated and these characters that are overwhelmed with emotions are eventually overwhelmed by the nation.  Dido and Turnus are unable to shed their individualism or insanus.  The creation of a nation entails that people must shed their selves or risk being overcome by the nation.

Dido fell in love with Aeneis and cannot accept the fact that he must create Rome, the nation.  After stabbing herself out of sorrow, or insanus, she struggles for life:  “Three times she tried to raise herself and strained, propped on her elbow; and three times she fell back upon the couch” (Virgil 102).  She is struggling against the nation as she attempts to preserve her self.  Dido is filled with emotions during her last moments which are a symbol of her individuality:  “But then all-able Juno pitied her long sorrow and hard death and from Olympus sent Iris down to free the struggling spirit from her entwining limbs”  (102).  According to Stoicism, any emotions are a sign of the individual and detrimental to the nation.  Dido is attempting to thwart Aeneis, the representation of the nation, from creating Rome and is filled with irrational emotions.  She is struggling to maintain her individuality but that cannot happen as in order for the nation to thrive, individuals must relinquish a portion on their individuality or self.  Since Dido is unable to shed a fragment of her self and loses her life in the process.