She is the first of her type, so we can hardly blame her for failing in her mission to keep her people safe.

• A. Bob Cowan
• B. Philip Hardie
• C. Richard Jenkyns
• D. Damien Nelis

Answer: (B)

This item looks at how scholars frame Dido’s role in the Aeneid, specifically as a pioneering female leader whose political duties clash with personal passion. The best match is the critic who emphasizes governance and female agency in epic, presenting Dido not just as a tragic love figure but as a founder-queen whose story raises questions about authority and empire. Philip Hardie is known for readings of Virgil that foreground political power, empire, and gender within the epic, making him the scholar most associated with this particular interpretation of Dido as “the first of her type.” The other names are respected classics scholars, but their work centers on broader Virgilian poetry or reception rather than this specific framing of Dido’s leadership and its significance. So this reading aligns most closely with Hardie’s feminist-political approach to the Aeneid.