Dido

"Dido: The Tragedy of a Woman" is the second play (the first being "The Tragedy of King Lewis the Sixteenth" [Tate]) that has come from the pen of the New York author, David Lane, who has once more composed in blank verse and the traditional language of poetry that was used by virtually all poets from the time of Homer to those of the early twentieth century. The story is based on the amorous tale of Dido and Aeneas as told by Virgil in the Fourth Book of the "Aeneid." Dido is the Foundress and Queen of the Phoenician colony of Carthage, situated on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, where Providence has brought the far-wandering Aeneas, erstwhile Prince of Troy, from which he and a faithful band fled after its sack and destruction by the Greeks at the end of the Trojan War. Straight upon the arrival of Aeneas at the royal court, Dido falls in love with him, her love deepening as his piety and relative moral sense manifest themselves. Although he returns her love, his character in time ironically moves him to leave her, if reluctantly, in obedience to a long-standing decree by Jupiter, the supreme god of the Trojans, that Aeneas must travel to Italy and become the progenitor of the Romans. Mr. Lane has altered the story by introducing an unintended by-blow of the liaison as a tiny engine to propel the drama. Dido is torn between the selfish brutality of the Carthaginians and the enlightened civilization of the Trojans. Whether readers want to stage the play or simply read it as a story, Mr. Lane's exquisite book offers a rich and engaging poetic and dramatic experience.