Lillian looks at how Virgil creates links between existing works to influence the readers views and reactions to characters and their actions in Book Four:
"In a passage describing Dido in love, she is compared to a deer wounded by an arrow," writes Lillian. "This violent image for Dido’s love has the effect of causing the reader to feel sympathy for Dido’s state, a wounded deer is a pitiful image. It invokes imagery from the Argonautica when Medea flees like a frightened doe. This association with Medea complicates Dido’s character at this point... By invoking Medea, Virgil chooses a complex and morally grey character, which the reader uses to adjust to their moralising judgements of Dido. Dido’s love is no longer pitiable but rather a force to fear for the repercussions it may have in the future".