Dydo the Epicurean by Julia T. Dyson

In the Aeneid Dido becomes a victim to love, from divine intervention, when she drinks the potion and fall in love with Aeneus. Didos first line "put away your cares " (1.561) exemplifies the Epicurean belief in peace and tranquility. Dido gives this instruction to the Trojans, but the act is only accomplished through fate, and godly intervention. Her last line "life receded into the winds " (4.705) exemplifies the Epicurean beliefs of death. Epicureans believed in no afterlife, no reincarnation, so when an Dido dies, the only explanation would be for her body to become like dust and one with the wind. Dido is a reflection of tension in her relationship to Epicureanism. She desires freedom from interfering gods who disturb her want for divine justice and immortality. Dido admits that she has been defeated by supernatural force, the will of the gods. She fell to the hand of Venus when she took the love potion and her argument to Aeneas was useless due to divine intervention. When she acknowledged her defeat to the intervening gods she commits suicide. The Aeneid does not specify what happens to Dido's soul. No description of the soul fleeing to the shades or dying off. The unknown state of the soul leaves no contradictions to the idea of Dido the Epicurean. .
             In "Mezentius the Epicurean, " the Kronenberg argues that Mezentius displays Epicurean values. Mezentius is first presented as impietas. In Book 7 Mezentius is presented as a "scorner of the gods ", an "unworthy father " to his son Lausus, and "a cruel tyrant. " From Books 7-10 Mezentius undergoes a change from impietas to pietas. Mezentius goes from being a tyrant in Book 7 to becoming more sympathetic in Books 9 and 10. The only idea that remains constant with Mezentius is his dislike for the gods. Mezentius denied the fact that gods were present and involved in the individuals life. He strongly believed this idea that he would go as far as scorning the gods.