Which scholar notes that Jupiter's speech emphasizes victory while Dido's curse reminds of its costs?

Which scholar notes that Jupiter's speech emphasizes victory while Dido's curse reminds of its costs?

• A. Denis Feeney
• B. R. D. Williams
• C. Ellen O'Gorman
• D. Philip Hardie

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is how Virgil uses two contrasting voices to shape the epic’s view of victory and its costs. Jupiter’s speech frames Rome’s future as glorious and ensured, presenting victory as destiny and triumph for the empire. But that sense of triumph is tempered by Dido’s curse, which calls attention to the personal heartbreak, bloodshed, and long social and political costs that such victory entails. The tension between a bright, fated victory and the darker, costly consequences gives the Aeneid its moral complexity. Ellen O’Gorman is the best fit because her work explicitly foregrounds this tension: she reads Jupiter’s victorious rhetoric alongside Dido’s curse to show how Virgil embeds the costs of empire within the promise of triumph. She argues that the poem invites readers to consider not just the inevitability of Rome’s rise but the human and ethical price that accompanies it. This approach directly links the celebratory prophecy with the warning implied by the curse, illustrating Virgil’s nuanced balance between fate, pietas, and the costs of conquest.

The idea being tested is how Virgil uses two contrasting voices to shape the epic’s view of victory and its costs. Jupiter’s speech frames Rome’s future as glorious and ensured, presenting victory as destiny and triumph for the empire. But that sense of triumph is tempered by Dido’s curse, which calls attention to the personal heartbreak, bloodshed, and long social and political costs that such victory entails. The tension between a bright, fated victory and the darker, costly consequences gives the Aeneid its moral complexity.

Ellen O’Gorman is the best fit because her work explicitly foregrounds this tension: she reads Jupiter’s victorious rhetoric alongside Dido’s curse to show how Virgil embeds the costs of empire within the promise of triumph. She argues that the poem invites readers to consider not just the inevitability of Rome’s rise but the human and ethical price that accompanies it. This approach directly links the celebratory prophecy with the warning implied by the curse, illustrating Virgil’s nuanced balance between fate, pietas, and the costs of conquest.