This is Dido haunting Aeneas. That would be the Roman Dido, the Greek Dido was way more kickass. She founded her own nation, or something, Carthage maybe? And then some other king sort of like backed her into a corner, a corner in which she kind of had to either betray her people or marry him. So she killed herself really spectacularly, like stabbing and fire, I think? My mythology is really rusty, obviously, and I should have read up before writing this. But no time today! Oh, and the Roman Dido just pined for Aeneas and died, and then haunted him FOREVER. I think you probably can’t find a single mythological figure who is simultaneously so feminist and anti-feminist. I wonder what post-feminist Dido would do? Take a pole-dancing class?
And our quote:
Omnibus umbra locis adero : dabis, improbe, poena.
Burton’s translation:
My angry ghost, arising from the deep,
Shall haunt thee waking, and disturb thy sleep.
This angels, demons, and spirits section is so good. I am finding it very hard to stop drawing and move on. Coming soon: fire demons!
This post is part of a long, tedious, and very illustrated read-along of Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. More info here and follow along on Facebook here. Illustrations posted via devon_isadevon on Instagram.