Dido and Aeneas In a poem of about 1686, Tate alluded to James II as Aeneas, who is misled by the evil machinations of the Sorceress and her witches (representing Roman Catholicism, a common metaphor at the time) into abandoning Dido, who symbolises the British people. The same symbolism may apply to the opera. This explains the addition of the characters of the Sorceress and the witches, which do not appear in the original "Aeneid". It would be noble, or at least acceptable, for Aeneas to follow the decree of the Gods, but not so acceptable for him to be tricked by ill-meaning
Military of Carthage where the Punic language was to persist until the 5th century AD. The idea that mercantile business and warlike spirit are contradictory dates to the Age of Enlightenment and is generally not shared by ancient sources, such as Virgil, who writes in "Aeneid" 1,444f. on Carthage: for this reason shall the people be glorious in war and acquire food easily for centuries ("sic nam fore bello / egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem"). Livy already points out that Carthage did house a body of at least 40'000 professional soldiers until sometime after the Second Punic War. Other sources can