The French author, writing "an idiosyncratic adaptation of Virgil's classic",[1] is particularly interested in the hero's romantic relationships, both with Dido and with the princess Lavine, who becomes the central character of the later part of the romance.

The vivid female characters of this romance discuss with each other and with themselves the meaning of love in a light but touching way that was new in vernacular literature, and modeled on Ovid rather than on Virgil.

At about this time—or a little later—other authors, such as Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas of Britain, were also learning to pause their narratives to allow their characters to consider the nature and power of love.

In the Roman, it is a ring that Enéas recognizes, a motif that Michelle Freeman sees repeated in Marie de France's "Le Fresne".

In the latter, the lengthy prologue to the love affair mirrors the courtship of Enéas and Lavinia,[1] and the magic ship and the castle also recall the Roman, according to Ernst Hoepffner.