Rachel SampleyRome: Julius Caesar through NeroKimberly Brown12 April 2014When a novel defines a cityVirgil's Aeneid and the historical characters Antony and Cleopatra are parallel love stories with surprising similarities identified by reverse epilogues . Virgil wrote the Aeneid as a tribute to Augustus Caesar, the leader of the Roman Empire and an integral figure in the story of Antony and Cleopatra. The Aeneid's lovers Dido and Aeneas parallel the true story of Antony and Cleopatra with the common theme of a heroic man tied to his state torn between responsibility to his nation and loving devotion to a passionate and beautiful foreign queen . Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid, contains a brief love story between the central character Aeneas and the queen of Carthage, Dido. Although the famous romance in this tale only lasts for part of the epic. While Cleopatra and Antony were less mystical in their relationships, both couples were stories of star-crossed lovers who, despite their political complications, found comfort and joy in their relationships with each other before meeting an untimely end. The Aeneid tells the story of the dangerous life of the Trojan hero Aeneas. flight from Troy to Italy after the Trojan War. In Italy the descendants of Aeneas are destined to found Rome. However, Aeneas does not go directly to Italy because, blown off course by a storm, he stops in Carthage and allows himself to stay there and fall in love with the Carthaginian leader, Dido (Virgil, 103). Dido is a "Phoenician princess who fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother killed her husband." While in Carthage, Aeneas tells the story of the Trojan War, using the Iliad as a starting point and imagining... in the center of the paper... that she might have died of poison or been killed later. Roman Orders Despite numerous ideas surrounding his death, it is generally attributed to the situation of political unrest between Egypt and Rome, something that resulted as a direct complication with his relationship with Maria Antony. This constitutes a common factor in Dido's story, as her morbid end was the result of her relationship with Aeneas (Suetonius, 373). In conclusion, the lovers of the Aeneid and Antony and Cleopatra are both tragic tales with many connections between them. They share the common theme of a patriotic, heroic man choosing between duty to his country and passionate love for a beautiful, foreign, and strong queen. On the other hand, both depict a powerful and noble queen who is able to overcome the rampant patriarchy in their cities and rule with steadfast loyalty. hand.