DIDO
Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent!
quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,
quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis!
credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum.
degeneres animos timor arguit. heu, quibus ille
iactatus fatis! quae bella exhausta canebat!
Fear shows a degraded soul.
Is she admiring his bravery in war, or encouraging herself to be daring in love? Again, the poet leaves it open.
heu, quibus ille fatis iactatus! Oh, by what (cruel) fates (he has been) tossed around!
An utterance like this is a good example of the conciseness Latin can achieve. It may also be an indication of the fervour of Dido’s passion. She has stopped making full sentences here. Instead she is pouring out exclamations of praise and wonderment.
quae bella exhausta canebat! What wars undergone (by him) he was singing about! What suffering in war he regaled us with!
Why canebat, the imperfect, rather than something in the perfect tense? It means literally he was singing, and the continuous aspect of the imperfect reminds us that this went on for quite some time. Aeneas was not the first or last soldier to treat a table to two hours of his exploits.
It is occasionally pointed out that the Aeneid, like the Bible, has no jokes in it. Sometimes we can make our own.