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
Aeneas As such, in the "natural order", the meaning of Aeneas' name combines Greek "ennos" ("dweller") and "demas" ("body"), which becomes "ennaios", meaning "in-dweller" (i.e. as a god inhabiting a mortal body). However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name. In imitation of the "Iliad", Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including; Anchisiades, "magnanimum", "magnus", "heros", and "bonus". Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own in the "Aeneid:" "pater" and "pius". The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of an attitude different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is "poikilios" ("wily"), Aeneas