Aeneas and his friends are warmly welcomed by Dido, who quickly falls in love with the stranger. She proudly shows him the city the gods advised her to build on a piece of land no bigger than a bull’s hide. She turned this rather ungenerous offer into an ingenious plan: she cut the hide into thin strips and used it to outline a large area of land. On that site, Dido built the new city of Carthage.

With the hustle and bustle of building all around them, Dido shows Aeneas a construction blueprint.

Tired from their wanderings, Aeneas and his Trojans decide to stay in Carthage for a while and Aeneas soon becomes enraptured by the queen.