Virgil that Virgil seems to divide the "Aeneid" into two sections based on the poetry of Homer; the first six books were viewed as employing the "Odyssey" as a model while the last six were connected to the "Iliad". Book 1 (at the head of the Odyssean section) opens with a storm which Juno, Aeneas' enemy throughout the poem, stirs up against the fleet. The storm drives the hero to the coast of Carthage, which historically was Rome's deadliest foe. The queen, Dido, welcomes the ancestor of the Romans, and under the influence of the gods falls deeply in love with
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