The Funeral Pyre of Dido

          I find the account of The Aeneid much more dramatic and touching than The Odyssey. The imagery is much more vibrant, and the plot line, much more tragic. While I do not assent to Dido's personal choices nor her leadership style, I found the portrayal of her suicide moving. The funeral pyre is bedecked with cloths and cypress boughs, almost as dramatic as the cry of her distress, 

"I die unavenged, but let me die. This way, this way, a blessed relief to go into the under gloom. Let the cold Trojan, far at sea, drink in this conflagration and take with him the omen of my death!" 

She could not overcome the temptation of lust, and when ripped from her 'lover' she has nothing else to cling to for her sanity. It is sad to me that they don't really even love each other. Aeneas even says in the Underworld that he had no idea she was that attached to him. Their relationship has not progressed in a healthy manner, but instead the appetitive nature has ruled like a tyrant. It is tragic that such a diplomatic woman could succumb to such a base desire.