There are several significant women in the Aeneid, Virgil's epic poem loosely inspired by the Iliad. Most of them tend to have minimal, if any, impact on the plot because they are not major players in the Trojan War and nearly always die before the story even ends. They instead point to the grief and fear caused by the war, showing that rich and poor alike are affected. Each woman’s demise affects either Aeneas or a different set of characters, but the emotions evoked are largely similar. By far, the most meaningful representations of negative emotions are Creusa, Acca, Camilla, and Dido.
The woman dearest to Aeneas is Creusa, his wife who is killed and makes a final appearance as a ghost. Aeneas loses track of Creusa when a house is set ablaze by enemy soldiers. Distraught Aeneas is understandably screaming out her name and looking everywhere for her. Imagine a dark city with destroyed buildings and flickering flames looming over Aeneas as he searches for his wife, with a broken heart, only to see her once more as an immense ghost.
Imagine the disappointment in Aeneas’ heart when he is told that he cannot join Creusa. Creusa had similar strategic qualities to Aeneas, warning Aeneas’ father to protect the family against enemy soldiers, anticipating danger, and delegating the responsibility of protection to an established soldier rather than to herself, who was inexperienced militarily. She also had loyalty to her family by asking her husband to take his family into battle or else leave them somewhere safe. As a ghost, Creusa becomes the voice of reason amid Aeneas’ grief and shows no emotion. Perhaps, being dead, she loses the power to feel any grief or emotion. Aeneas, on the other hand, breaks down in tears.
Camilla, the woman warrior, actually is part of the Trojan War and seems to enjoy taunting the enemy armies. Her role as the only female soldier in the war distinguishes her from the other women in the story, but she still dies before she can make a contribution that is any different from Aeneas’ (i.e., potentially changing the outcome of the war). She is killed in battle, and everyone around her suddenly becomes fearful. Her cavalrymen immediately leave the battleground, suggesting they mindlessly followed her orders during battle and now have lost their sense of purpose. Lots of people run away from the battlefield and make such a commotion. Lost soldiers are everywhere, and they forget what they were there for: to block the Trojan invasion. There was something about Camilla—perhaps her military prowess or the goals of supporting (or defeating) her — that kept people calm but is now taken away by war. To be sure, everyone felt grief and insecurity as much as fear following her death. While Aeneas was a little scared of Creusa’s ghostly form, he was easily calmed as soon as she started talking to him again. The result of her death was mainly sadness, but Camilla’s death results primarily in fear and a loss of direction.
Another way to explain the soldiers’ loss of direction is that Camilla’s taunts were a way of encouraging them to keep on fighting and not get too disheartened. Encouragement from a “role model” figure (maybe a general) was vital to keep a soldier’s hopes up, considering the sad circumstances. Camilla was probably admired by her soldiers, but now that she is dead, they have no one to encourage them anymore.
Acca, Camilla’s best friend, watches her die and is probably trying not to cry. She listens to Camilla’s dying speech and is the only one who can follow through with her command to ask Turnus to help stop the incoming Trojans. Acca is not shown grieving very much, although she still reveals just how desperate the situation is. It may be implied that Acca is sad and starting to grieve. As she escapes from the chaos of battle, she may be denying her own sadness. She continues trying to restrain herself to give a serious message to Turnus. The “picture of immense devastation” may be a release of her own grief as she retells the battle to him. Acca represents the “survival mode” of war veterans escaping a dangerous situation and dealing with losing friends. Both Acca and Camilla may have been trying to look tough and strong, immune to crying, as a way of dealing with war. Friends can share similar attitudes, allowing Camilla to have the “survival mode” mindset as well.
Dido is the queen of Carthage. Unlike Camilla and Creusa, she is not a direct casualty of war. However, she is indirectly ruined and killed by war. She loves Aeneas very dearly, but Aeneas has to leave for military service early in their relationship. In wartime, it is doubtful whether someone will return. Dido understandably thinks that Aeneas has left her behind emotionally. Aeneas has to do his duty, but Dido cannot seem to stay calm even though he wants to explain to her what is happening. Dido becomes emotionally unstable, plans her own funeral, and dies of a broken heart. Although she is royalty and insulated from the actual fighting, she still experiences trauma. Rich and poor alike suffer the consequences of war. The incident in which Dido cries out for Aeneas as he leaves mirrors the episode of him searching for Creusa, as both characters lose a loved one forever no matter how frantically they search for him or her. The role of women in the Aeneid is to convey a more realistic portrayal of war and its psychological effects. All of them are grieving or cause others (unwittingly) to grieve. Different social classes are included to show the reality of rich and poor suffering.
The Aeneid was inspired by Greek mythology and was also a representation of the Trojan War, like the Odyssey. In the Roman Empire and in Saint Augustine's time, the Aeneid was taught in schools and distributed to children as busywork to be committed to memory. Even Augustine wrote about "weeping for Dido" in his Confessions.
