You’re a Guest

When Aeneas decides to leave DIdo she says, “To whose mercy do you leave me on the point of death, guest — since that alone is left alone from the name of husband?”

Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes, hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat? (IV, 323)

Aeneas has been a guest in Carthage, one that has had the full benefit of Dido’s hospitality. The setting in the story is not a cave, but a hotel. I picked this exchange, or highlighted it for this reason. The word hospes is key. Dido took care of Aeneas, and she feels like he led her on.

Dido is furious. “I welcomed him [Aeneas], a castaway on the shore, a beggar, and madly gave him a share in my throne.”

Then she says, “neque te teneo neque dicta refello,” (IV, 380) essentially do whatever you have to do, I am not keeping you prisoner.