Dido e Lucrécia, de Virgílio a Shakespeare

Abstract

In this paper I explore the links between the Virgilian version of Dido, the woman whose fall from chastity leads to her suicide, and, through her dying curse, eventually to the destruction of her city of Carthage in the Punic Wars, and Lucretia, the woman whose suicide as vindication of her innocence after her rape is a foundational event in the history of the city of Rome, leading to the expulsion of the kings and the establishment of the republic. A detailed study of the Virgilian narrative, in which I argue that the shadow of Lucretia hovers behind the figure of Dido, is followed by a sampling of the later history of the association of Dido and Lucretia, from the Church Fathers to Shakespeare.