Up to the Foundation of the City: Sovereignty or Sacrifice of Dido in Re- naissance Tragedy

Abstract

This examination of the literary and historical sources behind Virués’s Elisa Dido and Lobo Laso de la Vega’s La honra de Dido restaurada reveals a distinctive feature that sets them apart from the interpretations traditionally associated with these works. Both authors —prominent among those who revisited the figure of Dido within the veristic tradition of Hispanic literature— elaborated upon the primary Justinian narrative, which has long dominated critical attention. Their approach resonates with a more nuanced tradition established by earlier writers who had reinterpreted the character. Inspired by the Estoria de España of Alfonso X, tracing perhaps as far back as Livy’s Ab urbe condita —necessarily and decisively mediated through its commentators— and aligned with the cause of Saint Jerome in the Adversus Jovinianum and Boccaccio in the De casibus virorum illustrium, our tragic authors highlighted Dido’s political virtues at the very moment most often cited as a singular example of her conjugal loyalty.