The Fire of Love

Fire is utilized greatly throughout The Aeneid to symbolize love and destruction. This is often associated most with the character of Dido. Because of Cupid’s trickery, she was “ablaze with love” for Aeneas (131, line 125). The fire of love and passion that was within her became realized as she created a funeral pyre of the things that were associated with the love she felt for Aeneas. Fire can save and destroy, and in a way, it did both for Dido. The fire within her brought her out of the mire of her suffering and grieving, but as the plot progressed, it consumed her. The fire turned from love to guilt and grief, and then it destroyed her. Virgil put love and destruction together and made them almost synonymous. Why did he display such a negative view of love in his writing?