On the fourth Book of the Aeneid little remains to be added to what has been already said in the general Introduction. Its subject has made it the most attractive, perhaps the most celebrated, part of the poem: it has provoked much controversy, and that of a kind which has an interest, not only for the scholar, but for the general reader; much of it has been supposed to be borrowed from a particular Greek writer, whose work happens to be preserved: it is the most dramatic portion of the Aeneid, and as such may be viewed in relation to the masterpieces of Greek dramatic art. These are all points which appear to belong to the sphere of Virgilian criticism in general, whether aesthetic or antiquarian; and it seemed natural to discuss them in that connexion. For the questions then of Aeneas' treatment of Dido, of Virgil's obligations to Apollonius Rhodius, and of his relations, general and special, to the Greek drama, I must refer my readers to what I have said already.

Naevius, as has been remarked in the general Introduction, is supposed to have preceded Virgil in the anachronism of bringing Aeneas and Dido together. As this fact is itself a matter of inference, we cannot of course tell whether he made their parting tragical or otherwise. All that we know connecting Naevius with the story of this book is that he mentioned Anna, Dido's sister, who appears now in Virgil for the first time.