I’m not sure if I have understood the following lines (228-233):
Nonne ego eum et socios et ipsum Ascanium ferro absumere potui?
Etiam si pugnae fortuna dubia fuisset, quem metui moritura? Faces in
castra tulissem, carinas flammis delevissem, filium et patrem cum
genere exstinxissem – et ipsa memet super eos iecissem!
Here’s what I think it means:
Could I not have killed him and the allies and Ascanius himself (with swords)?
Even if the outcome of the battle would have been doubtful, have I feared that, I
who am about to die? I would have brought torches into the camp, destroyed the
ships with fire, killed the son and the father with his race – and thrown myself on
top of them!
What’s causing me trouble is quem in the second line. Is it referring
to the doubtful outcome of the battle? I’m also not sure if all those pluperfects
are actually describing what Dido didn’t do, but could have done.
What’s causing me trouble is quem in the second line. Is it referring
to the doubtful outcome of the battle?
I think it’s a bit simpler than that. quem is the object of metui and the phrase is a question. “whom have I to fear who am about to die?”
I think you have understood the pluperfect subjunctives. Past contrary-to-fact conditions. She could have fought Aeneas and his men but didn’t so none of the actions " Faces in
castra tulissem, carinas flammis delevissem, filium et patrem cum genere exstinxissem etc" happened.
Ah, of course – whom makes so much more sense! For some reason my mind had decided that quem is a thing or circumstance, and that muddled everything for me. Many thanks seneca and mwh!
On a sidenote: Even though I’m struggling a lot with these Aeneid-chapters, I must say they are truly great. Not only do they offer drama on the grandest scale, but poetic beauty in both deeds and words. That makes the language learning so much more enjoyable.