The Aeneid

Study Guide by Course Hero

TENSE
What's Inside The Aeneid is mostly told in the past tense, although there is
some present-tense and future-tense narration.

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 ABOUT THE TITLE

Although Virgil wrote in Latin, he used the Greek form of
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 Aeneas's name in his title as an homage to the Greek writer
Homer, his literary predecessor.
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3

h Characters .................................................................................................. 3

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8 d In Context

c Book Summaries .................................................................................... 14

g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 28 Homer's Influence

l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 30
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 31
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 33
j Book Basics
The Aeneid was modeled after The Odyssey and The Iliad, epic
poems written by Greek poet Homer. Like The Odyssey the
first six books of The Aeneid describe the hero's quest for a
home, although in Homer's work Odysseus is trying to return
home from the Trojan War, whereas Aeneas searches for a
new home. Like The Iliad, the second six books of The Aeneid
describe events from the Trojan War. Homer tells of the fall of
Troy, whereas Virgil describes a Trojan victory.

AUTHOR
Virgil Roman History
YEARS WRITTEN
Unlike Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which exist mainly
c. 30–19 BCE
independent of historical context, The Aeneid is intertwined
with Roman history. There were very few historical records
GENRE
from the early days of Rome, but the legend of Aeneas (a
Adventure
survivor of Troy) as Rome's ancestor had been developed
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR through previous centuries and was generally accepted by
As the narrator of The Aeneid, Virgil describes the thoughts Romans as real. Virgil tied this belief together with mythology
and feelings of the characters in his story in the third person. and historical events to create a new legend of the destiny of
Books 2 and 3 are narrated by Aeneas in the first person, Rome.
telling the story of his travels from Troy.
The Aeneid Study Guide
Roman Virtues
It is difficult for modern readers to understand why Aeneas
acts the way he does as a Roman hero without knowing the
entrenched Roman concepts of who a Roman was and how he
was expected to behave. In the first place, only men of specific
lineage could be Roman citizens, or ideal farmer-soldiers. This
lineage was secured through the paterfamilias (the male head
of the household). Women could be citizens but had few rights;
the materfamilias (mother) was interchangeable. Aeneas easily
goes through several wives without loss of honor. The only
Roman respect to family had to do with the paterfamilias. A
father without a son could publicly adopt a young man as his
own "son" or publicly denounce a son if he thought his wife had
been unfaithful.
A most important Roman virtue was gravitas, a serious and
grave attitude toward all issues with an emphasis on truth,
reality, and reason. Gravitas stands in opposition to levity—a
lighthearted or humorous attitude —and furor, extreme
passion. Levity was attributed to the less-than-manly Greeks,
and furor was an attribute held by any non-Roman (such as
slaves and barbarians). It was by way of giving up passions of
pride, jealousy, anger, and love that a Roman hero found his
path to his duty. So it is not surprising that the main
troublemakers in Aeneas's story are female.
The sum expression of Roman heroism in gravitas is in pietas,
or reverence of duty to family, country, and the gods. However,
Virgil's portrayal of the Roman gods and goddesses as
reckless, impulsive to the point of being capricious, jealous, and
even silly would not have been much of a surprise to the
educated Roman. Pietas in reference to the gods was defined
as a public display of respect. By attributing to their gods and
goddesses more human personal lives, the Romans gave
themselves a more godlike image. This concept allowed
Augustus Caesar to make the claim that as Aeneas's
descendant, he had the goddess Venus as his ancestor.
Founding and Roman Republic
Historians believe the city of Rome was founded in Latium (the
ancient name of a territory in central western Italy) around 753
BCE. According to legend, its founder and first king, Romulus,
organized the abduction of women from the neighboring
Sabine tribe to help populate his new city (which was founded
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In Context 2
primarily by men).
The last king of Rome was overthrown around 509 BCE,
beginning the Roman Republic. In the republic, the king was
replaced by two consuls with equal power who were elected
each year, and the Senate and a popular assembly controlled
administrators and made decisions. A military dictator could be
appointed for up to six months in times of emergency.
Although many details were modified over time, this essential
balance of power lasted for almost 400 years.
Expansion
From its start as a single city-state, Rome expanded to control
most of Italy by the early third century BCE. Rome's expansion
brought it into conflict with Carthage, a seafaring and
commercial center on the African coast of the Mediterranean.
Beginning in 264 BCE, Rome and Carthage fought in three
wars called the Punic Wars after the Latin word Punicus,
meaning Carthaginian. Although Carthage's great general
Hannibal (247 BCE–c. 183 BCE) invaded and occupied Italy
during the Second Punic War, he never conquered Rome.
Roman sea power and armies ultimately overwhelmed
Carthage, destroying the city and ending the Third Punic War
in 146 BCE. As a result, Rome gained territory to its west, in
Spain and northern Africa. At the same time, it expanded
eastward, conquering the Adriatic coast, Greece, Macedonia,
and parts of Asia Minor. War and conquest became a vital part
of the Roman identity, the best way for the ambitious to gain
money and power.
Civil War
However, as Roman territory continued to expand in Europe,
Africa, and Asia, tensions rose at home. Beginning around 90
BCE a series of uprisings in Italy and the territories fostered
the rise of two powerful generals—Pompey (106–48 BCE) and
Julius Caesar (100 BCE–44 BCE)—who seized political control
in Rome. Both rose to prominence via the military: Pompey
mostly in the eastern Mediterranean and Caesar in Europe.
They used their power and wealth to gain political power in
Rome, first as allies but eventually as rivals fighting a war for
control. Caesar's superior army won, and in 46 BCE he
declared himself dictator for 10 years, an unprecedented
length of time.
The Aeneid Study Guide
Caesar's success was short-lived, however—he was
assassinated two years later. Again there was a fight for
control, won by two of Caesar's allies: his adopted son,
Octavian (63 BCE–14 CE), and his supporter Mark Antony (83
BCE–30 BCE). Once again initial alliance turned into civil war,
and Octavian defeated Antony in a naval battle at Actium,
Greece, in 31 BCE. Octavian was granted the name Augustus
Caesar by the Senate in 27 BCE, and he showed a great deal
of political savvy as he steadily reorganized government
systems to gain more power without jeopardizing his own
popularity. These changes made Augustus the first Roman
emperor, and he ruled for four decades.
Destiny of Rome
When Virgil wrote The Aeneid (roughly 30–19 BCE), Rome was
exhausted from decades of civil war. Using the legend of
Aeneas as the father of Rome, Virgil celebrated the peace
achieved by Augustus Caesar as the start of a new golden age
in which Rome would responsibly dominate the world. The
destiny of Roman power is the driving force of the epic, so
much so that scholars have commented that the true hero of
Virgil's work is not Aeneas, but Rome.
One of the main obstacles to the achievement of Rome's
destiny in this story is Aeneas's attachment to Carthage's
queen, Dido. This is more than a love story, however. By
choosing Rome over Dido, Aeneas proves his honor. It is a
point Romans would not have missed, given their knowledge of
the love affair between Mark Antony and Cleopatra. In sharp
contrast to Aeneas, Antony chose love over his duty to Rome.
While ruler of Rome's eastern territories, Antony fell in love
with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Their affair lasted more
than a decade, and Antony eventually took her side in a war
against his homeland. It was a choice that resulted in his
dishonor and suicide in 30 BCE. So whereas Aeneas proved
his true Roman heroism by leaving Dido and going on to glory,
Antony didn't leave Cleopatra and was destroyed.
a Author Biography
Publius Vergilius Maro, known as Virgil, was born October 15,
70 BCE, near Mantua in northern Italy. Although he was the
son of a farmer, Virgil received training in formal writing. He
wrote the Eclogues, a collection of poems, between 42 and 37
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Author Biography 3
BCE. His poems were immediately and hugely successful in
Rome. He was the unsurpassed master of the poetic form of
the time, and Romans felt his poems spoke for them.
At some point Virgil came into contact with Gaius Maecenas (c.
70 BCE–8 BCE), a patron of literature and an adviser for the
young Gaius Octavian (63 BCE–14 CE), who would later
become Emperor Augustus Caesar. Maecenas steered Virgil
and other writers to topics that glorified Augustus and Rome.
The destiny of Rome (and Augustus) is a major theme in The
Aeneid. It is unclear when Virgil started writing The Aeneid, but
most of it was likely composed after Octavian won the Battle
of Actium in 31 BCE, finally ending nearly a century of civil
wars. Both Virgil's patriotism and his strong dislike of civil war
can be seen in his epic.
In 19 BCE, after more than a decade of work, The Aeneid was
mostly complete, but Virgil wanted three years to revise and
perfect it. He traveled to Greece to do so but caught a fever
and returned to Italy. He died September 21, 19 BCE, shortly
after reaching the port of Brundisium (now known as Brindisi).
He reportedly wanted his unfinished work destroyed after his
death, but his wishes were overridden by Augustus, who
required the epic to support not only Roman superiority, but
also his own claim as Aeneas's descendant.
In the two millennia since, Virgil's work has never ceased to be
influential. One of the Eclogues, which seemed to prophesy the
birth of Christ and Aeneas's piety in The Aeneid, inspired early
Christians so much that Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) made Virgil
his guide to the Christian afterlife and included other Aeneid
characters, such as Dido, in his Divine Comedy.
h Characters
Aeneas
Aeneas is famously pious, mindful of his duty to honor the
gods, his family, and his country. This makes him awfully good
most of the time: measured, generous, and responsible. Like
many heroes, he carries divine blood—his mother is the
goddess Venus—which makes him large, handsome, and
supernaturally strong. However, Virgil gives him lowly human
faults as well. Aeneas is at times unsure and conflicted and can
get carried away by his feelings. In particular, he handles the
The Aeneid Study Guide
situation in Carthage badly and behaves callously toward Dido.
Aeneas has an important fate awaiting him. Already a hero of
the Trojan War, he is destined to found the line of leaders in
Italy that develops into Romans. Aeneas is a legendary rather
than historical figure, but Virgil places him into Italy's
geography and history, making him seem historical. As the
father of Rome, he represents Romans, including good and bad
attributes, and the greatness of their destiny through Virgil's
time and beyond.
Juno
Juno is Aeneas's main antagonist, opposing him from start to
finish. She never stops scheming to try to prevent Aeneas's
fate. Her enmity for the Trojans springs from the cause of the
Trojan War—a contest between goddesses in which she was
not chosen as the most beautiful. She repeatedly uses her
powers as queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage to
try to destroy the wandering remnants of Troy. Frustrated in
her own marriage to Jupiter, her brother-god and fellow child
of Saturn, she is jealous, vengeful, and holds a grudge. But
even her powers cannot change Aeneas's destiny, which has
been set by the Fates. She is also subject to Jupiter's
oversight. She displays both the reckless whims and the limits
of the powers of the gods—even they cannot change Fate.
Turnus
Turnus is the primary hero for the Latin forces that fight
Aeneas in Italy. Like Aeneas, he is large, attractive, unusually
strong, and the son of a goddess (a more minor one). He fights
bravely, even heroically, in battle. Unlike Aeneas, he is impulsive
and arrogant with an exaggerated sense of his own
importance. He is unable to accept that Aeneas's fate might
override his "right" to marry Lavinia, despite signs and
prophecies to the contrary. He is defined by anger, in large
part because of the rage that the Fury Allecto instills in him to
start the war with Aeneas. As Aeneas's opponent, Turnus
represents the destiny of those who arrogantly oppose the
power of Rome: they will be defeated.
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Characters 4
Dido
Dido's backstory demonstrates her bravery and strength. She
has escaped the treachery of her brother, who killed her
beloved first husband, Sychaeus; sailed halfway across the
known world; and founded a great city in a strange land.
However, none of her virtues or accomplishments save her
when she crosses Aeneas's path. First Venus and then Juno,
Carthage's own patron goddess, push her into a love for
Aeneas that is very close to madness. Aeneas's fate inevitably
takes him away, and the madness drives Dido to an ending she
never would have reached on her own. Virgil also gives her
death historical consequences, attributing it as the root of the
long conflict between Carthage and Rome. Dido is a
memorable symbol of the tragic consequence when the
careless will of the gods conflicts with the inevitability of Fate.
Anchises
Anchises is the "best of fathers" to Aeneas, wise and strong in
character, always doing what he thinks is best for his son. He
isn't always right—he, too, displays human failings—but he is
clearly the source of Aeneas's values. He exemplifies the
Roman ideal of respect and honor for family in the all-
important relationship between a father and a son. Anchises is
a legendary figure in his own right. In Greek stories, he was
seduced by Venus and then struck by Jupiter's lightning for
bragging about it. The liaison produces a child, Aeneas, whom
Venus gives to Anchises to raise. In The Aeneid, Anchises still
bears the scars from Jupiter's bolt.
Jupiter
As the king of the gods, Jupiter manages the other gods and
mediates between them when there are conflicts. He is
responsible for ensuring that what the Fates have predicted
comes to pass, sooner or later. He indulges his wife, Juno, and
his daughter, Venus, in their efforts—up to a point. Virgil
portrays him as mostly calm and measured, in contrast to
Juno's vengeful anger, but he is not perfect either. Jupiter
tends to ravish any woman who catches his eye, willing or not.
As the enforcer of Aeneas's fate, Jupiter supports its
inevitability.
The Aeneid Study Guide Characters 5

Venus
As Aeneas's mother, Venus is his most ardent supporter. She
repeatedly advocates on behalf of her son to Jupiter, checking
and rechecking that his fate is still on track. She intervenes in
events to protect Aeneas as much as or more than Juno
intervenes to obstruct him. Like all the gods, she doesn't think
about how her meddling affects other mortals. She is the chief
architect of Dido's tragedy, making her fall in love with Aeneas
to give him a safe harbor that can only be temporary. However,
there is nothing temporary about the consequences for poor
Dido. Venus represents the spectrum of love, from parental to
passionate.

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The Aeneid Study Guide Characters 6

Character Map

Turnus
King; opposes Aeneas
in Italy

Dido
Anchises
Welcoming queen
Wise father and adviser
of Carthage
Foes

Lovers
Father

Aeneas
Hero; leads the Trojans

Son Ascanius
Jupiter
Aeneas's son; follows in
Impartial king of the gods
his father's footsteps

Foes Mother

Spouses

Juno Venus
Queen of the gods; Passionate goddess
enemy of Troy of love

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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The Aeneid Study Guide Characters 7

Full Character List Evander

Evander is the king of Pallanteum, who
sends his son to fight with Aeneas.

Character Description Juturna is Turnus's sister and a river

Juturna nymph, who tries to save her brother
from Aeneas.
Aeneas is the leader of a group of
Aeneas Trojans who fled the destruction of Troy.
He is fated to found a new city in Italy. Latinus is the king of Latium, a city-​state
Latinus in Italy, and Aeneas's potential father-​in-
law.
Juno is the queen of the gods and wife of
Juno
Jupiter, and she opposes Aeneas's fate.
Lavinia is Latinus's daughter and only
Lavinia child. Turnus and Aeneas fight over her
Turnus is the Rutulian king who fights to
Turnus as a potential future wife.
drive Aeneas out of Italy.

Mezentius is an Etruscan king who fights

Dido is the queen of Carthage. Her love Mezentius
Dido with Turnus against Aeneas.
for Aeneas is tragic.

Pallas is the son of King Evander of

Anchises is Aeneas's father, who helps
Anchises Pallas Pallanteum, and is killed in battle by
him understand his destiny.
Turnus.

Jupiter, often called Jove, is the king of

Aeolus is the god of the winds, whose
Jupiter the gods, husband to Juno, and father of
powers Juno calls upon to create the
Venus. Aeolus
terrible storm at sea at the beginning of
The Aeneid.
Venus is the goddess of love. As
Venus Aeneas's mother, she helps and protects
Allecto is the Fury called upon by Juno to
him.
Allecto incite war between the Trojans and the
Latins.
Achates is Aeneas's right-​hand man and
Achates
is always by his side.
Andromache is the widow of the hero
Andromache Hector who then marries Helenus and
Amata is the wife of Latinus, and mother becomes queen of a region in Epirus.
Amata of Lavinia; Juno turns Amata against
Aeneas.
Apollo is the god of the Sun, who steers
Apollo
Aeneas toward Italy and protects him.
Ascanius, also called Iulus, is Aeneas's
Ascanius young son, who will be a great forefather
Arruns is the soldier who kills Camilla and
of the Romans. Arruns
is then himself killed by order of Diana.

Camilla is a female warrior who fights

Camilla Augustus is the descendant of Aeneas,
with Turnus against Aeneas.
Augustus who represents the great destiny of
Rome.
Creusa is Aeneas's first wife, who dies
Creusa
during the fall of Troy.
Diana is the goddess of hunting, who
Diana orders the death of Arruns for killing
Drances is a Rutulian critic of Turnus, Camilla.
Drances
who argues against war with Aeneas.

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The Aeneid Study Guide
Diomedes
Diomedes is an accomplished Greek
warrior who refused to join the Latins in
their war against Aeneid.
Euryalus, the close companion of Nisus
Euryalus and loyalist to Aeneas, is killed in front of
Nisus by the Latins.
Mercury is the messenger god, who
Mercury delivers instructions from the gods to
Aeneas.
Neptune is the god of the sea, who
becomes territorial about the storm Juno
Neptune
commanded Aeolus to create and calms
it.
Nisus is the adventurous cohort of
Nisus Euryalus who dies trying to save
Euryalus's life.
The Sybil is Apollo's priestess, who
The Sybil predicts Aeneas's future and guides him
through the Underworld.
Tarchon is the Etruscan king who
Tarchon
becomes an important ally of Aeneas.
k Plot Summary
The Aeneid begins after the fall of Troy. The Trojan fleet
carrying the surviving warriors is being battered by a storm in
the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. The storm has been
sent by Juno, queen of the gods. She holds a grudge against
the Trojans and their leader, Aeneas, over past injustices done
to her by Trojans and because in the future, the descendants
of Aeneas will destroy her favorite city, Carthage. Just as it
seems the Trojans will be destroyed, the sea god Neptune
guides their ships to shore. They discover they are near the
city of Carthage, ruled by Queen Dido, who welcomes them
warmly. The Trojans have been traveling since Troy was
destroyed, trying to find a new home. Worried that Aeneas, her
son, will have no place to rest, the goddess Venus makes Dido
fall passionately in love with him.
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Plot Summary 8
Aeneas Tells of His Feats
Aeneas tells Dido the story of their travels so far, beginning
with the destruction of Troy. He describes how the Trojans
were manipulated into bringing a giant horse left by the Greeks
into their city. It was filled with Greek soldiers, who sneaked
out in the night and let in the Greek army. Aeneas fought
through the streets but could not save the city. Venus sent him
back home to save his family before the fall of the city. He got
his father and son safely out of Troy, but his wife disappeared
as they fled the city. When he returned to look for her, he
found only her ghost, who told him to seek a new queen in Italy.
Aeneas and the other survivors from Troy built their fleet and
then sailed to neighboring Thrace and tried to settle there.
However, a terrible omen of future treachery sent them back to
sea. They stopped at Delos, an island sacred to the god Apollo,
where Aeneas was given a prophecy to settle in his ancestor's
land. Thinking of the wrong ancestor, they tried to settle on
Crete, but a plague drove them back to sea. As they sailed on,
encountering monsters and old friends, the prophecy was
clarified—their new home would be in Italy. Unfortunately,
Aeneas's father, Anchises, died before they reached it. Aeneas
buried him in Sicily, and the Trojans set sail again, this time
getting waylaid by Juno's storm.
A Tragic Love Affair Ends as
New Adventures Begin
Dido is impressed by Aeneas and his feats, and succumbs to
her feelings for him. Hoping it will keep Aeneas out of Italy and
prevent his fate, Juno maneuvers Dido into having sex with
Aeneas. However, it is not an official marriage, and the winged
monster Rumor flies to tell people in other towns about their
union. Noticing Aeneas is getting too comfortable, Jupiter
sends his messenger Mercury to remind Aeneas of his fate and
duty. Dido is terribly distraught to learn he is leaving and
foresees her death. Aeneas is regretful, but nothing can delay
him or change his mind. Dido climbs on her funeral pyre, where
her dead body will burn, and fatally stabs herself with his sword
as he sails away.
Fighting unfavorable winds, the Trojan fleet stops again in
Sicily, just in time to celebrate the first anniversary of
Anchises's death. Aeneas and his people make sacrifices and
The Aeneid Study Guide
feast before the games of speed and skill. Trojans and Sicilians
distinguish themselves, while others are embarrassed. Aeneas
richly rewards both winners and other notable competitors.
Meanwhile, Juno incites the women in the fleet, who are tired
of traveling, to burn the ships. Jupiter puts the fires out before
the ships are destroyed, but it shakes Aeneas's confidence.
The ghost of his father appears, telling him to sail to Italy and
visit him in the underworld.
Aeneas's first stop in Italy is Cumae, where the Sybil delivers
prophesies to Aeneas and where the door to the underworld
lies. The Sybil foretells a terrible war before Aeneas can make
his home in Italy. She directs Aeneas to the golden bough he
must find to enter the underworld and then guides him into its
depths. They cross the river Acheron and the marshes of the
Styx, where the ferryman Charon waits for the dead, meeting
many spirits. Aeneas sees Dido and tries to apologize, but she
refuses to speak to him. He finds his father in the Elysian
Fields, and Anchises shows him many of his Roman
descendants who will build the Roman Empire. They include
Romulus, Julius Caesar, and Augustus Caesar.
The Trojans finally find the Tiber River, where they are meant
to settle. Aeneas sends an envoy to make peace with the king
of Latium. Following a prophecy, King Latinus offers his
daughter, Lavinia, in marriage. But before the deal can be
made, Juno sends the Fury of Rage to turn both Latinus's
queen and Turnus, king of a neighboring city and one of
Lavinia's suitors, against Aeneas. Between the three of them,
they rouse Italy to war with the Trojans.
More Warfare
Turnus gathers allies, and Aeneas needs to find allies of his
own to fight with him. The god of the Tiber River tells Aeneas
to go up the river to Pallanteum, which often fights against
Latium. There, King Evander tells Aeneas of another potential
ally, the Etruscans. They have overthrown their cruel king and
are gathered to attack Turnus, with whom the former king has
taken refuge. However, a prophecy says their leader cannot be
from Italy. Evander sends horsemen and his son, Pallas, with
Aeneas to meet the Etruscans. Wanting to ensure the safety of
her son in battle, Venus asks her husband, Vulcan, the god of
fire, to make Aeneas weapons and armor. He creates a great
shield that shows the future glory of Rome.
Turnus's army attacks the Trojans left behind when Aeneas
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Plot Summary 9
went to Pallanteum, a group that includes Aeneas's son,
Ascanius. They retreat safely within their fort, so Turnus
instead tries to burn their ships. However, Jupiter turns them
into sea nymphs, and they swim away. The Trojan comrades
Nisus and Euryalus make a daring attempt to get through the
enemy camp surrounding them and summon Aeneas back, but
a lust for plunder betrays them to their tragic death. When
Turnus attacks the fort itself, a few of the Trojans open the
gates to better fight the enemy. The gates are closed again,
but Turnus is already inside. He kills many Trojans before he is
driven out.
Aeneas sails back with the Etruscan fleet, and a great battle
begins. Aeneas and Turnus are effectively invincible against
anyone except each other. Pallas, commanding the cavalry
from Pallanteum, fights bravely and catches Turnus's attention.
Pallas attacks first, but Turnus's attack is deadlier, and Pallas
dies with a spear in his chest. Fatefully, Turnus takes Pallas's
sword belt to wear as a trophy. Aeneas, enraged by news of
Pallas's death, finally frees the Trojan fort. Fearing Aeneas's
strength, Juno whisks Turnus away from the battlefield. The
cruel Etruscan king Mezentius is still fighting, though. Aeneas
wounds him with a spear throw, but his son, Lausus, protects
him so he can get away. Unfortunately, that costs the noble
Lausus his life. Mezentius returns to avenge him and is also
killed by Aeneas.
Aeneas sends Pallas's body home with a great procession.
When an envoy from Latium arrives, he suggests he and
Turnus fight in single combat to decide the war. In Latium, King
Latinus and Turnus learn they won't be joined by a powerful
ally, and Turnus reluctantly agrees to single combat. However,
before it can be arranged, part of Aeneas's army approaches
the city. While Turnus unsuccessfully tries to trap Aeneas and
the other half of his army, the warrior princess Camilla defends
the city. Camilla is as deadly as Turnus or Aeneas, but she gets
distracted, allowing an Etruscan soldier to get a spear through
her defenses. Camilla's patron goddess Diana ensures that
vengeance is taken on her killer, but the defense of Latium is
broken.
Settling Things One-on-One,
with the Gods' Help
Turnus agrees to single combat with Aeneas. Latinus asks him
to consider another bride, but Turnus is fatalistically
The Aeneid Study Guide Plot Summary 10

determined to win Lavinia or die. On the morning of the duel,

Juno convinces Turnus's sister, Juturna, to save her brother by
provoking the armies to fight again. When Aeneas tries to stop
the escalating hostilities, he is struck by an arrow, but Venus
helps heal him. Juturna disguises herself as Turnus's
charioteer and keeps her brother away from Aeneas. When
Aeneas attacks the city, Turnus finally returns for the duel.
Turnus is no match for Aeneas assisted by the gods. Wounded
and humbled, he asks for mercy. Aeneas is about to grant it
when he sees Turnus is wearing Pallas's sword belt. In a blaze
of fury, Aeneas stabs Turnus through the heart.

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The Aeneid Study Guide Plot Summary 11

Plot Diagram

Climax

7
10 Falling Action
Rising Action
6
11
5

4 12

3 Resolution

2
1

Introduction

Introduction Climax

1. Trojan ships are driven by a storm to Carthage. 9. Turnus kills the prince Pallas, igniting Aeneas's rage.

Rising Action Falling Action

2. Aeneas tells Dido of their journey from Troy. 10. The girl-warrior Camilla fights bravely and dies in battle.

3. Aeneas leaves Dido to follow his fate; she kills herself. 11. After another battle, Aeneas duels Turnus in single combat.

4. Aeneas celebrates the anniversary of Anchises's death.

5. Aeneas and the Sybil visit Anchises in the Underworld.

Resolution
6. Trojans find their fated destination and begin to build.
12. Aeneas kills Turnus in combat, becoming ruler of Latium.
7. Juno drives Queen Amata and Turnus to start a war.

8. Turnus traps the Trojans, but Aeneas arrives with allies.

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The Aeneid Study Guide Plot Summary 12

Timeline of Events

Beginning of journey

After the destruction of Troy, Aeneas's fleet wanders

looking for a new home.

Seven years later

A storm drives the fleet to Carthage; Aeneas loves and

leaves Dido, queen of Carthage.

Months later

Aeneas and his people hold funeral games for his father,
Anchises, in Sicily.

Sometime later

Aeneas consults the Sybil of Cumae and they visit his

father in the Underworld.

Days later

The Trojans arrive in Latium; Juno turns Queen Amata

and Turnus against Aeneas.

Sometime later

Turnus attacks the Trojan fort; Nisus and Euryalus die

trying to get a message to Aeneas.

Days later

Aeneas and his allies arrive and fight a great battle;

Turnus kills Pallas.

The next few days

Both sides mourn their dead; Aeneas sends Pallas's body

back to Evander.

A few weeks later

Turnus attacks Aeneas's approaching troops; Camilla

fights bravely but is killed.

The next day

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The Aeneid Study Guide Plot Summary 13

After one last unexpected battle, Aeneas kills Turnus in

single combat.

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The Aeneid Study Guide
c Book Summaries
Book 1
Summary
"Wars and a man I sing—an exile driven on by Fate." With this
iconic first line, Virgil begins to lay out the story of Aeneas, who
is destined to become the founder of Rome. Along the way he
will face great battles and challenges created by the angry
Juno, queen of the gods. She wants Carthage to rule the world,
but the Fates have decreed that Rome will defeat her beloved
city. Juno still resents the "Judgement of Paris, the unjust slight
to her beauty," and she will interfere with Aeneas's destiny
however she can.
Juno bribes Aeolus, king of the winds, to sink the Trojan fleet
as it leaves Sicily, but the sea god Neptune calms the seas and
rescues the ships. Aeneas and seven ships land in a natural
harbor on the Libyan coast, but they fear the other ships are
lost. In the sky Aeneas's mother, the love goddess Venus,
worries his fate has changed, but Jupiter foretells his future:
Aeneas will win a long war and will rule for three years. But his
son, Ascanius, will rule for 30 years. Their descendants will rule
until Romulus founds Rome. On Romans, Jupiter has "set no
limits, space or time:/I have granted them ... empire without
end."
Exploring the area where they have landed, Aeneas and his
faithful friend Achates meet Venus in disguise. She tells them
of Carthage and Dido, its widowed queen, and reveals that
their missing ships are there. Hidden in Venus's mist, the men
enter Carthage unseen, and they admire the bustling city. They
make their way to the temple of Juno, where Aeneas feels
welcomed by scenes of the Trojan War. Still hidden, Aeneas
and Achates watch Dido warmly welcome the other half of
their fleet. The mist dissipates, and Aeneas is revealed. Dido,
familiar with his story, admires and honors him.
Venus, worried that Juno will cause trouble, hatches a plan to
protect Aeneas. She bids Cupid to make Dido fall in love with
Aeneas. Pretending to be Aeneas's son, Ascanius, Cupid hugs
and charms Dido, making her forget her dead husband,
Sychaeus, whom she loved deeply. Unaware of the
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Book Summaries 14
"plague/about to strike" her, Dido begs Aeneas for the story of
his travels.
Analysis
Virgil's Roman epic builds off of, and pays homage to, Homer's
Greek Iliad and Odyssey. The Iliad follows the warrior Achilles
in the Trojan War, and The Odyssey tells of the struggles of
Odysseus (Ulysses in The Aeneid) to get home from the war.
The first half of The Aeneid is a travel epic, like The Odyssey,
and the second half is a war epic, like The Iliad. Virgil sets The
Aeneid after the Trojan War, following the Trojan hero Aeneas
(who also appears in The Iliad) and his fellow refugees from
Troy. Juno's anger is also related to the war. The "Judgement
of Paris, the unjust slight to her beauty," refers to a contest in
which Paris, a Trojan prince, picked Venus as the most
beautiful goddess. She rewarded him with the love of Helen,
already married to Menelaus of Greece, and they ran off to
Troy. In the resulting war, resentful Juno sides with the Greeks.
Like Homer's epics The Aeneid begins in medias res, Latin for
"in the midst of things." Aeneas and his group have been
traveling for seven years when the first plot event in Book 1,
Juno's storm, occurs. Their earlier travels are told through
Aeneas's recollections in Books 2 and 3.
As the author of The Aeneid, Virgil occasionally presents
himself as the narrator in the first person, but for the most part
he employs the voice of an omniscient third-person narrator.
Of course, Virgil is human and not actually all-knowing, but he
invokes the help of the Muses, goddesses of poetry and
history. Ancient Romans would have seen this immortal
inspiration as lending a tone of historical authority to the story.
Virgil's famous first line, "Wars and a man I sing—an exile driven
on by Fate," provides the broad strokes of the story he is about
to tell, as well as the central theme, the inevitability of Fate. As
Jupiter explains, Aeneas's fate is set, and all the events he
describes will come to pass. However, exactly how they
happen can be influenced. Aeneas's fate is tied to the destiny
of Rome. Aeneas's greatness foreshadows the power and
glory of Rome, which Jupiter grants "empire without end." The
closing of the Gates of War and chaining of the "Frenzy/of civil
strife" represents the end of Rome's recent civil wars and
Virgil's prediction of long-lasting peace under Caesar
Augustus.
The Aeneid Study Guide
Interactions between Juno, Neptune, Jupiter, and Venus
illustrate their natures and will: they are passionate and
temperamental, and mortals are helpless against their power.
However, even the gods cannot change Fate. Their actions
balance each other to achieve the destiny that the three Fates
have spun in the thread of Aeneas's life. Angry Juno tries to
fight Fate, sending a storm to destroy Aeneas, but Neptune
rescues him. To protect her son, Venus starts a passionate fire
of love in Dido that will ultimately destroy her. Jupiter manages
and balances the other gods, ensuring that the will of the Fates
is carried out.
"I am Aeneas, duty bound." So the hero introduces himself to
his mother in disguise. He is described throughout the poem as
"pious," from the Latin pius, which has a somewhat broader
meaning than in English. It means dutifully honoring and
respecting not only the gods but also family and country.
Aeneas is presented as a paragon of Roman virtue, but also as
having all-too-human weaknesses. Despite knowing that his
fate lies in Italy, Aeneas wishes to die during the terrible storm,
and part of him wants to stay in Carthage. This is an example
of an important distinction Virgil makes in his story to reveal an
internal conflict going on in the hero. The literary tactic has the
effect of engaging empathy in the reader, who also has
experienced similar doubts. As an example to Romans, this
struggle exists to inspire the reader.
Virgil's mastery of language is evident in the vivid imagery of
the terror of the storm, the sanctuary of the protected harbor,
and the activity of Carthage. Paying homage to Homer, Virgil
uses epic similes, extended comparisons of one thing to
another using like or as (usually related to nature), to create
mental pictures that still pop off the page two millennia after
they were written. In a famous simile, he compares the workers
building Carthage to a beehive that "seethes with life."
Book 2
Summary
Aeneas tells Dido of the destruction of Troy. This flashback to
past events makes them come to life at the time of his retelling:
The Greeks have apparently sailed away, leaving behind a
giant horse. Laocoön, priest of Neptune, fears the horse is a
trap and attacks it. A Greek prisoner, Sinon, spins a persuasive
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Book Summaries 15
story that the horse is an offering for Greek offenses against
the goddess Pallas Athena (Minerva). He says that a prophecy
indicated Troy will invade Greece if they bring the horse into
the city. Great serpents kill Laocoön; these seem to be a sign
that he offended Minerva. To appease her they bring the horse
to her temple in the heart of Troy.
But it's a sly Greek trick, for the Greek ships return in the night,
and the warriors inside the horse open the gates to the Greek
army. The ghost of Hector alerts Aeneas that Troy is falling,
telling him to leave. Burning to fight, Aeneas roams the city and
kills many Greeks, ending up at the palace, where he witnesses
the death of King Priam. Suddenly, Aeneas remembers his own
father, as well as his wife and son. His mother, Venus, appears,
bidding him to flee Troy with his family, whom she has
protected. All the gods are against Troy now.
Aeneas's father, Anchises, at first refuses to leave, but two
signs change his mind: a crack of thunder crashes to the left of
them and a star shoots down, persuading Anchises that he
should follow his son out of Troy. Carrying his father and
holding his son's hand, Aeneas runs to escape the city; his wife,
Creusa, follows behind. When they arrive at their meeting spot,
Aeneas discovers Creusa has been lost in the confusion. He
returns to the burning city to find her, but her ghost appears to
him. It is her fate never to leave Troy, but Aeneas will find a
new queen in Hesperia (Italy).
Analysis
Signs and omens, which abound in The Aeneid, feature
prominently in this book of the poem. Sometimes they are
clear, as when Anchises asks for, and receives, a second sign
that he should leave Troy with his son. Other signs are not so
clear. The Trojans know the serpent attack on Laocoön is a
terrible omen, but they interpret it incorrectly as a sign that he
was wrong about the danger posed by the giant horse. Since
the serpents slither away to the temple of Minerva, patron of
the Greeks, that may have been the goddess's intent. (Snakes
are also a motif in the poem, usually signaling death or
destruction.) The fire that plays over the head of Aeneas's son
is both a sign to Anchises and a foreshadowing of Ascanius's
fate as a great king in Italy.
Father-son relationships are of highest importance in The
Aeneid—the pinnacle of devotion to the family that is part of
the Roman concept of pietas (state of being pius). Leaving the
The Aeneid Study Guide
burning city, Aeneas literally supports his father by carrying
him on his back and keeps his son beside him. Left to follow "at
a distance," his wife, Creusa, is lost. He clearly loves her—he
risks his life to go back and look for her and tries desperately
to hold her ghost—but his actions demonstrate that his father
and son are his priorities. Aeneas must also honor their
household gods, small figures worshiped at home altars as
guardians of a place, in this case Troy. Preserving them saves
a sacred piece of Troy that can be replanted in a new land.
Fire symbolizes many things in Book 2, first and foremost the
destruction of Troy, in some of Virgil's most vivid imagery. As
Aeneas's home burns, "Devouring fire ... /goes churning into
the rooftops, flames surging/ ... scorching blasts raging up the
sky." The gods warn or destroy with fire. Pallas (Minerva)
comes "flaming out of the clouds" to help destroy the city.
These signs telling Anchises to leave Troy with his son involve
fire, and descriptions of the battle fury experienced by Aeneas
and others involve a lot of fire language. Fire is both inspiring
and vengeful. A flame appearing above Ascanius's head
signifies a good omen of future triumph.
Book 3
Summary
Aeneas and other survivors of Troy build ships and sail north to
Thrace, where they try to build a new city. However, a terrible
omen—the blood of a Trojan prince killed by the treacherous
Thracian king—prompts them to move on. They sail south to
Delos, where the god Apollo sends Aeneas a prophecy that he
will settle in the land of his ancient ancestor. Recalling that the
Trojan forefather Teucer came from the island of Crete, they
sail there and begin to build a city. However, a plague strikes
people and crops, signaling that Crete is not their new home. In
a dream the household gods tell Aeneas he has misinterpreted
Apollo's prophecy: he is fated to build in his forefather
Dardanus's land of Italy.
The Trojans continue on, sailing northwest around Greece.
After a storm they land on small islands called the Strophades.
After they kill animals they find there, they are attacked by the
Harpies: half-woman, half-bird monsters. The lead Harpy,
Celaeno, issues a prophecy and curse: the Trojans will not find
their home until great hunger has made them eat their platters.
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Book Summaries 16
They sail north to Actium, where they celebrate and make
offerings to Jupiter. They reach the town of Buthrotum and are
overjoyed to learn that the Trojan prince Helenus is now king
and has married his brother Hector's widow, Andromache.
They are making Buthrotum into a little Troy. The reunited
Trojans celebrate, and Apollo speaks through Helenus,
reassuring Aeneas he will safely reach Italy after a long
journey. He instructs Aeneas to make a sacrifice to appease
Juno and to consult the Sibyl (an oracle) at Cumae. A white pig
with 30 piglets will mark the site of Aeneas's new city.
Aeneas makes offerings to Juno immediately upon reaching
Italy. The fleet sails on, heading south around Sicily to avoid the
sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. A calm wind forces them
to land near Mt. Etna, home of the giant one-eyed Cyclops. A
survivor from Ulysses's encounter with the Cyclops,
Polyphemus warns them of the danger, and they sail away just
in time. They arrive in Drepanum, home of the friendly King
Acestes, where Anchises dies. When they sail again, they are
driven to Carthage by Juno's storm, ending Aeneas's tale of
their journey.
Analysis
Aeneas's stop at Actium seems a minor incident to modern
readers—it doesn't advance his progress toward his
destiny—but for Romans it would have immediately brought to
mind the recent battle in which Octavian (soon to be Caesar
Augustus) defeated Mark Antony, ending nearly a century of
civil wars. The shield that Aeneas attaches to the temple doors
belonged to Abas, an ancient king of the Greek city of Argos,
representing Rome's destiny to eventually conquer Greece and
beyond.
Aeneas's journey in Book 3 is heavy with prophecies; he gets a
new one at nearly every stop. Prophecies can be
misinterpreted, such as Apollo's at Delos, which initially leads
the Trojans to build a city in the wrong place. If they had been
paying attention, Apollo's naming them "Sons of Dardanus"
should have told them which ancestor he meant. Prophecies
can also be forgotten. Aeneas seems to forget the prediction
of Creusa's ghost that Aeneas will settle in Hesperia (Italy)
after long wanderings—he goes no farther than the
neighboring land mass before trying to build a new city
(Aenus). Likewise, Anchises has forgotten a prophecy made
before the fall of Troy by Cassandra, daughter of King Priam.
She is a minor player in The Iliad and The Odyssey, but later
The Aeneid Study Guide
works, such as Aeschylus's play Agamemnon, explain that, as
punishment for rejecting Apollo's amorous advances, she was
cursed to accurately tell the future but to never be believed.
In his prophecy at Buthrotum, Helenus tells Aeneas he must try
to appease Juno with prayers and sacrifices. "Only then can
you leave Sicilian shores at last." Aeneas makes a sacrifice to
Juno when he reaches Italy, but it seems he neglects to do so
before leaving Sicily, since an angry Juno sends the storm that
drives the fleet to Carthage. The prophecy of the Harpy
Celaeno sounds dire, but Helenus's prophecy assures Aeneas
that it will be nothing to fear.
Aeneas's religious piety is well represented on his journey, with
a variety of sacrifices, offerings, and prayers to appeal to or
give thanks to the gods, or simply to celebrate.
Book 3 features the most direct reference to Homer's epics in
The Aeneid, when Aeneas encounters a Greek left behind after
Ulysses's confrontation with the Cyclops Polyphemus. The
man's story includes a number of details familiar from The
Odyssey, including drilling out the giant's eye, refreshed by
Virgil's vividness of description. Although the two epics
originated hundreds of years apart in different cultures,
Aeneas and Ulysses (Odysseus) are wandering at the same
time. Ulysses's group left three months before Aeneas
encounters the Cyclops. The Greek's story also highlights the
characterization of Ulysses. His cleverness is celebrated in The
Odyssey, but in The Aeneid, told from the other side of the
conflict, he is deceitful and self-serving: "always true to himself
when it's life-or-death."
As in later battle scenes, Virgil's depiction of violence is graphic
and brutal, but it doesn't solely celebrate the protagonists.
After vividly describing the horror of Polyphemus killing and
eating Ulysses's men, Virgil shows sympathy for the monster:
"But what a price he paid!" His sheep are "his sole pleasure,/his
only solace in pain."
Book 4
Summary
Queen Dido fears her burning love for Aeneas betrays her
vows to her dead husband. However, her sister, Anna, asks:
doesn't Dido deserve to know the joy of love and children?
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Book Summaries 17
Allying with the Trojans would make Carthage stronger, and
the gods' approval can be won with offerings. Although given
with good intentions, the advice has tragic consequences.
Juno takes advantage of Dido's love to keep Aeneas in
Carthage and prevent his fate. One day when the court is out
hunting, Juno sends a rainstorm that drives Dido and Aeneas
into a cave, where Juno simulates wedding rituals, "marrying"
them. Dido doesn't hide their affair, and the winged monster
Rumor incites ugly opinions and dissatisfaction with the match,
eventually bringing it to Jupiter's attention. Jupiter sends the
messenger god Mercury to remind Aeneas of the importance
of his fate—especially for his son—and Aeneas prepares to
leave. However, he puts off telling Dido, and Rumor gets to her
first. She angrily confronts Aeneas—he is betraying their
marriage. Denying they are married, he cites Jupiter's order
and obligation of his fate. "Come, stop inflaming us both/with
your appeals. I set sail for Italy—/all against my will." Fearing
this will cause her death, Dido promises to haunt him. Although
Aeneas is crushed, his "heart shattered by his great love,/... he
obeys the gods' commands." He won't even delay until spring.
Dido tells Anna she has a plan to either bring back Aeneas or
fall out of love with him, but she is actually preparing to die.
She builds a pyre and puts on it an effigy of Aeneas, things he
left behind, and their shared bed. Unsure what Dido will do,
Mercury warns Aeneas to set sail quickly. Dido issues a curse
that there will be "endless war" between their peoples before
stabbing herself with Aeneas's sword on top of the pyre. Juno
releases her spirit, which leaves before its fated time, heading
to the Underworld.
Analysis
Virgil uses fire imagery extensively in Book 4 to symbolize the
destructive passion of Dido's love for Aeneas. "Dido burns with
love." It is in her blood and bones: "The flame keeps gnawing
into her tender marrow hour by hour." The poet also recalls the
source of her consuming passion, arrow-bearing Cupid, with an
epic simile comparing Dido to a wandering wounded doe,
"fixed in her side the shaft that takes her life."
Whether Dido and Aeneas are married is unclear. Dido sees it
as a marriage, but Virgil says she uses the label to "cloak her
sense of guilt." Juno, who is the goddess of marriage, means
for it to be binding, providing "lightning torches" and a wedding
hymn sung by nymphs from the mountaintops. However, in the
The Aeneid Study Guide
end, it may come down to different definitions of marriage:
Dido cites the "pledge once sealed with our right hands," but
Aeneas says he did not "extend a bridegrooms torch/or enter
into a marriage pact."
Whatever their relationship, or Aeneas's feelings toward it, it
can't alter his inevitable fate. When Mercury delivers Jupiter's
message, Aeneas seems invested in Carthage, building its
walls and wearing Tyrian purple (the color of royalty and a
symbol of Dido's origin in Tyre). Jupiter uses Aeneas's pius
duty to his family, particularly his son, Ascanius, to motivate
him to leave—"does the father of Ascanius grudge his son/the
walls of Rome?" (Significantly, Aeneas is never called pious
during his stay in Carthage.) After the message Aeneas is split,
"He yearns to be gone, to desert this land that he loves."
Although a stammer reveals his uncertainty, the case for
leaving he makes to Dido seems cold, giving his love for her
and Carthage little credit. Perhaps he is afraid that speaking it
will make it impossible to leave. Regardless of Aeneas's
feelings, he barely looks back once Mercury points him toward
Italy. Despite all Dido's pleas, "His will stands unmoved."
This decisive action by Aeneas appears to the modern reader
as a betrayal of heroic character, but it was never a virtue for a
Roman hero to remain enamored of a woman. Virgil supplies
the "loophole" for Aeneas to tell Dido that they weren't actually
married. Roman readers would agree that the sacrifice of Dido
is "regrettable" but necessary to the far more important
destiny Aeneas has in going on to found Rome, for which he
will need not an "African" queen, but a Roman wife (Lavinia).
Virgil is likely making reference to the recent defeat of Antony
and Cleopatra here, since in this instance Aeneas passes the
test, whereas Antony did not.
Dido immediately sees that the departure of Aeneas will kill
her, and she moves steadily toward that end. Many images
evoke death and dying. Dido prays for death, and her offerings
to the gods become corrupted. She builds a pyre, usually used
for funerals, calling on Chaos, god of the Underworld; Erebus,
his son and god of darkness; and Hecate, goddess of
crossroads and the Underworld (she is a form of Diana,
goddess of wild places on earth and the moon in the sky).
Hecate is also associated with witchcraft, and many of Dido's
actions related to the pyre, such as gathering herbs under
moonlight and standing "with one foot free of its sandal," are
traditional elements of magic. She has turned toward darkness.
Dido's curse before she dies predicts events in Roman history.
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Book Summaries 18
The "endless war" she sees between their peoples references
the three Punic Wars that pitted Rome against Carthage for
more than a century. In the Second Punic War, the great
Carthaginian general Hannibal sailed an army to Spain,
including an elephant cavalry, and marched them over the Alps
into Italy. Dido's "avenger still unknown," he came very close to
taking out her revenge on Rome.
Virgil's depiction of Rumor in The Aeneid is famously striking.
She is a winged monster: under every feather an "eye that
never sleeps and as many tongues as eyes/... ears pricked up
for news." This is a remarkable visualization of rumors that
seem to see and hear everyone's business and spread through
a thousand wagging tongues. Rumor is the "swiftest of all the
evils in the world./She thrives on speed, stronger for every
stride."
Book 5
Summary
The Trojans see Dido's pyre burning as they sail away. A
strong wind forces them toward Sicily, where King Acestes
warmly greets them. It has been a year since they buried
Aeneas's father, Anchises, there, and now it is time to hold his
funeral games. As Aeneas pours offerings on his father's tomb,
a snake slithers out, tastes the offerings, and disappears back
into the tomb. Is it Anchises's spirit? Aeneas and his men make
sacrifices and wait nine days. Then the games begin. The
Trojans and Sicilians compete in dramatic races in ships and
on foot, in a boxing match, and in an archery contest. Aeneas
richly and fairly rewards all notable participants. Ascanius and
his friends close the games with a complex demonstration of
horseback skills.
While the games are going on, Juno sends her messenger, Iris,
to the Trojan women who are part of Aeneas's group.
Disguising herself, Iris plays on their frustration with seven
years of wandering. When one woman sees through Iris's
disguise, she drives the women to madly set fire to the ships.
Rushing to the shore, Aeneas prays to Jupiter, who sends a
rainstorm to put out the fires. Nevertheless, Aeneas's
confidence in his fate is shaken. Should he stay in Sicily? An
adviser tells him to leave those Trojans tired of
traveling—Acestes will make them a home—and continue with
The Aeneid Study Guide
the rest of his followers to Italy. Anchises's ghost comes with
the night, bidding Aeneas to visit him in the Underworld when
he gets there.
Upset by Juno's interference, Venus appeals to Neptune, god
of the sea. He assures her the Trojans will reach Italy
safely—only one life will be lost. During the night, the God of
Sleep overwhelms Palinurus, the pilot of Aeneas's ship, and
throws him overboard.
Analysis
The funeral games are the essence of Aeneas's pietas. He
isdoing his duty to honor and respect his family, in this case his
father's memory. It again emphasizes the importance of the
father-son relationship in The Aeneid. Nowhere else do the
Trojans spend so much time (at least 10 days) sacrificing,
feasting, and celebrating for a single purpose. Another aspect
of pietas, paying respect and honor to the gods, is also a large
part of the games, often with direct rewards. Cloanthus
ensures his win in the ship race by promising a future sacrifice
to the gods of the sea. Seeing his fleet in flame, Aeneas prays
to Jupiter, who immediately sends rain to put out the fires.
Aeneas worships the household gods of Troy and Vesta,
goddess of the hearth, before sailing for Italy, symbolizing his
recommitment to honoring Troy by accepting his fate.
The snake motif appears again in the form of a serpent that
slithers out of Anchises's tomb during the funeral ceremony.
Unlike most other snake appearances in the poem, this one
seems peaceful and non-threatening, associated with death
but not destruction.
Virgil models Anchises's funeral games after those in Homer's
Iliad (put on by Achilles for his friend Patroclus). The first
contest in The Aeneid is a ship race rather than a chariot race,
but Virgil practically circles the parallel by comparing the
speed of the ships' start to chariots. Parallels can also be seen
in details of the races. As in The Iliad, the leader in the footrace
loses by slipping in the mess from a sacrifice, though Virgil
ends the race in a different way. Even the prizes Aeneas offers
often parallel those offered by Achilles, except they are richer
and grander. In one inconsistency that Virgil may have cleaned
up had he lived longer, Aeneas lists a javelin contest when
introducing the games (one appears in The Iliad) that is never
described further.
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Book Summaries 19
In the simile describing the equestrian demonstration
performed by Ascanius and his friends, "the labyrinth once in
hilly Crete," Virgil uses the mythical Minotaur's labyrinth to
emphasize the complexity of the horseback maneuvers.
In Book 5 fire again symbolizes passion, destruction, and
destiny. The book begins with the sight of Dido's burning pyre,
a symbol of destructive passion. In the games fire language is
primarily used in the boxing match. The old champion
Entellus's "blood runs cold" due to age until the
embarrassment of overbalancing "fires him up." In the archery
match, Acestes's arrow bursting into flame is a sign—"a potent
marvel/destined to shape the future"—perhaps of the new city
that Acestes builds for the Trojans who decide not to continue
on to Italy.
Fire is associated with destruction and madness when the
goddess Iris appears to the women in disguise. She says
Cassandra, who was considered mad, gave her flaming
torches in a dream as a sign to burn the ships. The fire would
have consumed all of the ships without Jupiter's intervention.
The message from Anchises's spirit reignites Aeneas's
commitment to his fate, and he symbolically revives the fire to
worship the household gods.
Book 6
Summary
Aeneas and his fleet finally arrive in Italy, landing at Cumae,
home of the Sybil (a priestess of Apollo and Diana who sees
the future). He makes the required sacrifices and promises to
build a new temple for Sybil when he founds his fated city in
Latium. The god Apollo speaks through her, prophesying that
Aeneas will achieve his fate, but not before a terrible war. For
Aeneas to visit the Underworld, he must find and pluck a
golden bough precious to Proserpina, queen of the dead, from
a tree deep in the forest. Aeneas appeals to his mother, and
Venus sends doves to guide him. He enthusiastically tears the
branch off the tree.
The Sybil and Aeneas enter the cave leading to the Underworld
and approach the river Acheron, which dead souls must cross
to enter the Underworld. Aeneas spots a number of men from
his fleet who have died, but they cannot cross because their
bodies remain unburied. The Sybil assures Aeneas's pilot,
The Aeneid Study Guide
Palinurus, that strangers will bury his body soon. Charon,
ferryman of the dead, challenges them, but the golden bough
allows them to pass into the Underworld.
In the Underworld each type of dead soul has its own area. The
marshes around the Styx hold the souls of the tragic
dead—infants, suicides, and those killed by "cruel love." Aeneas
sees the spirit of Dido and tries to talk to her, but she angrily
returns to her husband, Sychaeus. She is Aeneas's "enemy
forever." Moving on, they encounter dead heroes, both Trojan
and Greek, and Aeneas visits Tartarus, where those who don't
repent of their crimes or those who defy the gods are
punished. Finally they use the golden bough to enter Elysium.
In the peaceful Elysian Fields, the soul of Anchises shows
Aeneas their descendants waiting to be reborn into the world.
Among many others, Ascanius points out Romulus, founder of
Rome; Julius Caesar, descendant of Iulus (Ascanius); and
Caesar Augustus, whom he predicts will "bring back the Age of
Gold/to the Latin fields." He previews centuries of Roman
history, including the Punic and civil wars. Speaking to future
generations, he charges Romans to "rule with all your
power/the people of the earth ... / ... spare the defeated, break
the proud in war." Aeneas and the Sybil return to the world of
the living through the ivory Gates of Sleep.
Analysis
The Sybil's prophecy again assures Aeneas that he will
eventually achieve his fate, but she expands on what others
prophecies have said: he will need to fight a long war before
building his new city. She describes it as a new Trojan
War—"Simois, Xanthus, a Greek camp" (rivers around Troy and
the enemy outside the gates)—and his primary foe (Turnus) as
"a new Achilles." Again it will be a war fought over "a stranger
bride" (Lavinia), like the Trojan War was fought over Helen.
The golden bough allows Aeneas to access the Underworld, a
place from which the living are usually barred (though Aeneas
lists a number of legendary figures who have entered it living
before him, including Orpheus and Hercules). The bough
cannot be picked if it is not fated to be, making it a symbol of
the inevitability of Aeneas's extraordinary fate. The description
of Aeneas removing the golden bough is a little confusing,
since it is inconsistent with the Sybil's claim that it will release
"freely, easily,/all by itself it comes away if Fate calls you on."
Instead, when Aeneas grasps it, "the bough holds back—/he
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Book Summaries 20
tears it off in his zeal." However, since he is able to pluck it, it
seems he is meant to visit the Underworld.
Aeneas's encounter with his pilot, Palinurus, illustrates an
important belief of both the Greeks and Romans—the unburied
dead cannot enter the Underworld and thus may return to
torment the living. Likewise, the ghost of Achilles's friend
Patroclus in The Iliad and the ghost of one of Odysseus's
(Ulysses) crew in The Odyssey cannot pass on to the land of
the dead until they are buried. The Sybil's assurance that
people would find and bury Palinurus's body demonstrates the
obligation of every person to bury the dead, even those not
their own.
The punishments in Tartarus, the pit of the damned, reinforce
the importance of pietas: dutifully respecting and honoring the
gods, family, and country. Many of those being punished in
some way defied the gods, particularly Jupiter. Phlegyas, who
is "most in agony" for burning Apollo's temple at Delphi, cries
"Never scorn the gods./You all stand forewarned!" However,
the reader might observe that the destruction of a temple is a
public, rather than a private, act of defiance. Given the close tie
between the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses with the
identity of Rome itself, it can be argued that it is Roman culture
even more than spiritual sentiment that has been insulted by
such defilement. Others in Tartarus betrayed their families
through violence, greed, and adultery, or betrayed their
countries through civil war—another of Virgil's condemnations
of the recent Roman civil wars.
In his visit to the Underworld, Aeneas also encounters Dido and
attempts to apologize to her for his part in her death.
Unforgiving, she turns away from him in anger and moves
toward the shade of her first husband instead. However,
despite the fact that she is a queen, her betrayal is justified to
Romans in that she is "African" (not of Roman lineage), and her
destruction would have been interpreted by Roman readers of
the time as a foreshadowing of the conquest and complete
destruction of Carthage (Rome's most powerful competitor).
The identity of ruler and country is a close tie, so that the
destruction of one is the beginning of the end of the other.
As he did with Creusa in Book 2, Aeneas desperately tries
three times to hold Anchises's spirit. This also pays homage to
Homer, echoing Achilles's attempt to hold Patroclus's ghost in
The Iliad and especially Odysseus's three tries to hold his
mother's spirit on his visit to the land of the dead in The
Odyssey. The inability of the living to hold onto the dead
The Aeneid Study Guide
emphasizes the separation between the two realms and serves
as an analogy for human grief and attempts to hold onto loved
ones after their deaths.
Anchises's perspective in the Elysian Fields, with its souls
waiting for reincarnation, allows him to show Aeneas the great
leaders who come after him. Virgil's depiction of the
reincarnation of souls appears nowhere in Homer; instead, it
borrows from later Greek philosophers such as Plato and the
Pythagoreans, but the details seem to be Virgil's own invention.
Anchises describes figures, mostly historical, from the
founding of Rome up to Virgil's current ruler, Caesar Augustus.
Through Anchises, Virgil even eulogizes Augustus's potential
heir (his sister Octavia's son), who died young—the sad young
man walking with Marcellus.
Especially during the review of notable Roman figures, Virgil
mixes future, present, and past verb tenses to skillfully create a
sense of people and events that are still to occur in Aeneas's
time but would be known to Roman readers of The Aeneid as
historical. This sense of the past as present and future
contributes powerfully to the sense of Rome's destiny, with a
future as glorious as its past.
The ivory Gates of Sleep and Gates of Horn that Virgil depicts
at the end of Book 6 are also borrowed from Homer's
Odyssey. Aeneas leaves through the Gates of Sleep, which are
generally for "false dreams," perhaps suggesting he forgets the
future events that Anchises has described to him. When he
receives a great shield decorated with future scenes of Roman
history in Book 8, Virgil tells us "he knows nothing of these
events."
Book 7
Summary
Aeneas and his fleet sail again and finally reach the Tiber River.
Upon landing the Trojans feast using dried-out wheat cakes for
plates. Jupiter prompts them to devour the cakes after eating,
thus fulfilling the prophecy that they will eat their platters.
Aeneas praises and makes offerings to his patron gods, family,
and the gods of the place, and Jupiter sends thunder and a
fiery cloud: omens that they have reached their destination.
Latium's King Latinus has only one child, a lovely daughter
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Book Summaries 21
named Lavinia. Neighboring King Turnus wants to marry her,
but prophecies and signs indicate she will marry a stranger,
one whose "lifeblood will lift our name to the stars." Aeneas
starts building a town and sends a delegation to King Latinus,
who receives them in a hall that echoes the power and history
of Italy. Latinus recalls that Dardanus, one of the fathers of
Troy, originated in Italy. The Trojans offer gifts and pledge
friendship, and Latinus offers his daughter to Aeneas to fulfill
the prophecy.
Frustrated she cannot change Aeneas's fate, Juno vows to
make the cost as high as possible—she sends Allecto, the Fury
of rage, to start a war. Driven insane by rage, Queen Amata
whisks her daughter Lavinia away and whips the mothers of
Latium into a frenzy. Allecto then visits Turnus in a dream,
inflaming his heart with anger. He awakes burning with "lust for
the sword, the cursed madness of war/and rage to top it off."
Finally, Allecto causes Ascanius to inadvertently start a bloody
battle with Latin citizens. Torn between his pledge to Aeneas
and the anger of his people and Turnus, Latinus refuses to
lead. He will not open the Gates of War, so Juno does it
herself, and "all Italy blazed." Armies from all over Italy gather
to support Turnus.
Analysis
At the beginning of Book 7, Virgil again calls on the Muses to
help him tell of the war Aeneas must fight to claim his fate in
Italy, the "history" of Rome. He specifically invokes Erato, muse
of love, because the war is fought over the right to marry a
woman (Lavinia). Prophecies about Lavinia's marriage also
predict the destiny of Rome: "rising or setting, East or
West,/the whole earth turn beneath their feet, their rule." Signs
and omens involving fire, such as Lavinia's head being
wreathed in fire (which doesn't seem to burn, similar to the fire
on Ascanius's head in Book 1), symbolize Aeneas's fate.
In an interesting interplay of the will of the gods, Jupiter fulfills
the dire-sounding prophecy that a great hunger will make the
Trojans eat their platters (originally made by the unfriendly
Harpies) in a harmless way. Their "platters" are wheat cakes,
and the great hunger is for their new home in Italy rather than a
physical famine. Although Juno has godly powers, her actions
are limited by the inevitability of Aeneas's fate. Hoping to at
least postpone and make Aeneas's fate more difficult, Juno
vows to make him into a "funeral torch to consume a second
Troy." This passage refers to a story from The Iliad: before
The Aeneid Study Guide
giving birth to Paris, Queen Hecuba dreams that she is carrying
a burning torch, symbolizing the destruction her son will bring
down on Troy. Juno wants Aeneas to wreak the same sort of
destruction on Latium, but at a cost to him as dear as possible.
This is not the only parallel between the Trojan War and
Aeneas's conflict with Turnus. Virgil emphasizes Turnus's
Greek roots (he is a descendant of Acrisius, a king of Argos in
Greece who built the Rutulian city of Ardea), equating him with
the Greeks who fought at Troy. Turnus also mirrors Aeneas in
many ways: he is the son of a goddess, although a more minor
one, and is handsome and strong, although inevitably less so
than Aeneas. With Virgil's typical sympathy for both sides,
Turnus does not seem naturally war-crazy—he initially refuses
to respond to Allecto's goading—but eventually he is infected
by Allecto's rage.
Similar to his depiction of Rumor (who also appears in Book 7),
Virgil's description of Allecto, the Fury of rage, is vividly
terrifying. She has venomous snakes for hair, one of which she
flings into Queen Amata's heart to inflame her anger to the
point of madness. She flies unseen and can change her shape
at will. Her faces are so terrifying that even her sister Furies
hate her. The rage that Allecto either creates or increases is
described consistently in vivid fire language. She ignites
Turnus's rage by impaling his dream body with a flaming torch,
which Virgil expands upon with an extended epic simile
comparing him to a blazing fire under a wildly boiling cauldron.
Opening the Gates of War symbolizes that the country is at
war. In Aeneas's legendary time, they seem to function more
than symbolically: Juno opening the Gates of War appears to
actually cause war to break out, prompting the gathering of
armies in a country that was previously "all unstirred, inert."
Furthermore, continual reminders of the high price in suffering,
doubt, and conflict are Virgil's way of reminding the reader of
the ultimate value placed on the founding of Rome. If the path
had been made easy, its value would not have been as great.
Book 8
Summary
Aeneas worries about the impending war, but the god of the
Tiber River appears in a dream and assures him he is fulfilling
his fate. Tiber promises the sign that Apollo foretold on Delos,
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Book Summaries 22
confirming Ascanius will establish Alba Longa, the parent city
of Rome. He tells Aeneas to seek help from King Evander up
the river in Pallanteum. As Aeneas prepares to sail, he sees the
sign and sacrifices the pigs to Juno as instructed. The Tiber
guides him to Pallanteum, the future site of Rome.
Evander and his people are feasting to honor Hercules, who
saved their city from a monster. Prince Pallas greets Aeneas
and his companions, and Evander welcomes them as friends
and distant kin. After the celebration, Evander welcomes
Aeneas to his home, showing him many places familiar to
Romans. The next morning, Evander tells of a great army that
will support Aeneas—Etruscans who rose up against the
monstrous King Mezentius. Mezentius is now with Turnus, so
they will fight with Aeneas. Importantly, they will follow him
because a prophecy says they must have a leader from
overseas. Sending his ships back to Ascanius, Aeneas rides
with Pallas to meet the Etruscans.
Meanwhile, worried Venus charms her husband, the fire god
Vulcan, into making weapons Aeneas can use to win against
the Latins. Deep in his volcanic island he and his Cyclops
assistants forge weapons, armor, and a great shield for
Aeneas. Venus delivers them, and Aeneas marvels at the shield
decorated with scenes of Roman history, foretelling the future
of his people.
Analysis
It is significant that Evander and Pallas are introduced to the
story in the midst of a celebration to honor the hero-god
Hercules, who saved their city. As Aeneas's primary allies, their
honor and piety reflect on him. Evander and Pallas are also
another important father-son pair in The Aeneid. Evander's
passionate prayer for the safety of his son shows both the
honor to family aspect of pietas and also great affection. As he
sends Pallas to fight with Aeneas, he says he would rather die
himself than live to see his son die, foreshadowing the worst.
The fact that Evander and Pallas are descended from Greeks,
related to Agamemnon and Menelaus, who fought against
Troy, fulfills one of the Sybil's prophecies. They are also related
to Aeneas, because both of their family lines descend from the
Titan Atlas, father of Jupiter. They immediately bond as friends
and allies. Although Venus signals approval of the alliance,
Aeneas is insightful enough to fear the price of a war that will
be paid in blood.
The Aeneid Study Guide
The shield that Venus has persuaded Vulcan to make for
Aeneas, decorated with images of Roman history, is a symbol
of both the inevitability of his fate and the destiny of Rome. The
events engraved have yet to happen for Aeneas, but the poet
and the reader know they are historically fixed (even if some
are more legendary than strictly factual). This makes them
inevitable for Aeneas, fixing his fate.
Part of the shield shows legendary formative events, including
Romulus founding Rome and the abduction of the Sabine
women. However, it is dominated by the glory of Caesar
Augustus: the central image is his historic victory (with his
commander Agrippa) over Mark Antony and Cleopatra in a sea
battle at Actium. The aftermath of the battle, including the
suicides of Antony and Cleopatra ("that outrage, that Egyptian
wife!") and Augustus's triumph in Rome, takes up the
remainder of the shield. The prominence of Augustus on
Aeneas's shield equates the two men in greatness. From the
city Aeneas builds, a great empire will spring. Virgil envisions
Augustus's empire to likewise grow exponentially in territory
and glory.
The shield itself is modeled after the shield of Achilles that
appears in Homer's Iliad (Book 18). They are both forged by
Vulcan (Hephaestus in Greek), the god of fire, at the request of
the hero's mother. However, Achilles's shield shows scenes of
everyday life and mythological figures, evoking moods more
than a message. In contrast, Aeneas's shield is defined by
Roman history and clearly conveys the dominant destiny of
Rome.
Book 9
Summary
Taking advantage of Aeneas's absence, Turnus and his allies
march on the Trojan fort. Although they want to fight, the
Trojans follow Aeneas's instructions to retreat inside their
walls. Scornful and angry, Turnus seeks a way to harm his
enemies—he fires torches and approaches the Trojan fleet.
The Mother of the Gods (who abides near Troy) appeals to her
son Jupiter not to allow the Rutulians to destroy them.
Granting the request, Jupiter turns the Trojan ships into sea
nymphs.
On the walls of the Trojan settlement, Nisus sees a way to get
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Book Summaries 23
through the Rutulian camp and inform Aeneas of the situation.
His companion, Euryalus, insists on going with him. Ascanius
promises rich treasures if they succeed. Nisus and Euryalus
sneak through the Rutulian camp, killing many enemies. Young
Euryalus takes a decorated helmet as a trophy—a fatal
decision. As they sneak toward the woods, Rutulian cavalry
spot them when moonlight glints off the helmet. Fleeing
through the trees, Nisus gets away, but Euryalus is caught.
Nisus returns for his friend and spears the cavalry leader, but
both comrades are killed.
Turnus's troops attack the Trojan walls. As the fighting
intensifies, Ascanius shoots his first man: a boastful Rutulian.
Someone opens the Trojan gates in the excitement of battle.
At first they kill many of Turnus's people, but Turnus arrives
and turns the tide of battle. When the gates are finally closed,
Turnus is already inside the Trojan fort. He wreaks havoc until
a squadron of Trojans beats him back. He seems trapped but
boldly escapes into the Tiber River.
Analysis
Virgil develops the complexity of Turnus's character in Book 9.
Like Aeneas, he displays piety, praying "to the gods ...
/weighing down the heavens with his vows." However, unlike
Aeneas, he suffers from hubris, exaggerated or foolish pride.
He compares himself to Achilles at Troy, taking Troy's fall as a
sign that he will be victorious, and boasts that his fate is to
"stamp out these accursed people with my sword." Like other
epic heroes, he is dominant in battle—no one can stand against
him (with occasional help from Juno). However, in his
enthusiastic killing of enemies he misses a golden opportunity
to defeat the Trojans: if he had "thought ... /of smashing the
gate-bolts, letting his cohorts in," it would have been "the last
day of the war." This episode is part of a pattern of battle fury
clouding a fighter's judgment with large consequences,
supporting the view that Virgil is subtly arguing against the "lust
for war," or war for war's sake. Virgil may have been able to get
away with this risky idea by appealing to the Roman virtue of
gravitas, which, even in war, must prevail over anger and
promote reason.
The nature of the relationship between Nissus and
Euryalus—whether their love is friendly or romantic—is
ambiguous and continues to be debated. They fit the ancient
Greek erastes-eromenos relationship in which an adult man is
romantically involved with a teenage boy. As a youth with only
The Aeneid Study Guide
the "first down of manhood, cheeks unshaved," Euryalus fits
the eromenos role, and Virgil repeatedly notes that Nisus is
older (though it seems not by much). Their battle exploits also
call to mind the Sacred Band of Thebes, a highly effective
Greek military unit comprising 150 pairs of lovers said to be
more motivated because of their romantic ties. However, Virgil
does not describe Nissus and Euryalus's love with the fire
language he uses to describe the passion of Dido, or the
encounter between Venus and Vulcan. Ultimately, readers
must decide for themselves.
The story of Nisus and Euryalus's tragic end is one of the most
poignant in The Aeneid. They are young, beautiful, and bold,
and they die together. Ascanius unwittingly foreshadows their
tragic deaths when he promises them a wine bowl that was a
gift from Dido when they succeed. They come very close, but
unfortunately the Fates are against them: they are "destined to
die/but make a bloodbath first." Euryalus's desire for glorious
plunder betrays them, a pattern that repeats in Camilla's death
in Book 11 and also relates to Turnus's death in Book 12. The
death of the beautiful Euryalus is compared in a haunting simile
with a blood-red poppy cut down in a field, and Virgil
admonishes his readers to remember them both: "If my songs
have any power, the day will never dawn/that wipes you from
the memory of the ages."
Virgil's portrayal of war is considerably more nuanced than in a
typical epic. The deaths of soldiers on both sides of the
conflict are portrayed sympathetically with no sense of one
side being better than the other. The Rutulian cavalry captain
Volcens is not eulogized like Nisus and Euryalus, but Virgil
does make a point to depict the Rutulians' grief. On the other
hand, Romans believed glory was earned in war, and the
actions of characters and descriptions of battle reflect this
attitude. Virgil's typically vivid imagery applied to battle scenes
contributes to this, creating a jarring mix of glory and gore. As
in Homer's epics, the bodies of notable enemies who are
captured are often abused and displayed to the other side as a
sign of victory.
Book 10
Summary
Jupiter asks the gods why Trojans and Latins are fighting when
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Book Summaries 24
he commanded otherwise. Venus blames Juno, begging that
Ascanius be saved to fulfill the destiny of Rome. Juno plays
innocent—she didn't send Iris to inflame war. (She sent the
Fury Allecto.) And didn't Venus cause the Trojan War, starting
all of this in the first place? Jupiter pledges not to
interfere—the Fates will decide.
As Turnus keeps the Trojans pinned in their fort, Aeneas sails
back with the Etruscan fleet. Turnus sends troops to meet the
ships, and soldiers clash on the beach. None can stand against
Aeneas, especially with Venus's protection. Pallas keeps his
inexperienced horsemen from retreating and kills many
enemies—until he comes to Turnus's attention. Pallas throws a
spear at Turnus, but Turnus's shield protects him. Then Turnus
throws; his spear punches through Pallas's shield into his
chest. Turnus takes Pallas's golden sword belt as a trophy, an
act he will come to regret.
A herald brings Aeneas the news of Pallas's death, and he
blazes through the enemy. Showing no mercy in his anger, he
frees his Trojans from the fort. In the heavens Juno begs to
preserve Turnus. Jupiter allows it—but it will not change his
fate. Railing against Jupiter and Fate, Juno lures Turnus away
from the battle.
Back on the field, Jupiter spurs the brutal King Mezentius to
enter his last fight. Acknowledging no other god than his right
arm, Mezentius fails to wound Aeneas. Aeneas successfully
wounds Mezentius, but Lausus, Mezentius's son, protects his
father and allows him to flee. Unfortunately, Lausus cannot
stand against Aeneas, but Aeneas is moved by his devotion to
his father and declines to plunder his corpse. Realizing he has
abandoned his son to die, Mezentius returns to duel Aeneas.
He dies asking only to be buried with his son.
Analysis
The central conflict between the will of the gods and Fate in
The Aeneid is highlighted in Book 10. It is essentially a conflict
between Juno, who hates the Trojans, and Venus, who
supports her son Aeneas. As king of the gods, Jupiter enforces
Fate, but he also indulges his wife, allowing her to temporarily
extend Turnus's life, and for her part Juno is always wary not
to push her husband too far. The interactions between Jupiter
and Juno also hint at their rocky relationship. In mythology
Juno is frequently jealous and upset about her husband's
equally frequent infidelities, betraying the institution of
The Aeneid Study Guide Book Summaries 25

marriage. Jupiter, though calmer in temperament, has a blows to punch through and kill their bearers.
tendency to seduce other goddesses and mortal women.
Mythology is full of his offspring—Hercules and Helen of Troy, Mezentius's story warns against failing to honor and respect

just to name a couple.
Jupiter's oath of noninterference is a bit confusing. In one
place he almost seems to be saying he wouldn't prevent the
destruction of the Trojans. However, his statement "the Fates
will find a way" indicates that Aeneas's fate is still on track. The
Fates will ensure it, if not him. Jupiter does intervene in small
ways in Books 11 and 12, apparently without breaking his oath,
so perhaps it only applies to the battle in Book 10, or only to
larger interventions. Jupiter also allows the goddesses to
interfere, which may serve Virgil's intent in two ways. One, he
may be inviting the reader to question the judgments of the
gods and therefore the power of the gods themselves. Or two,
Virgil may imply that by permitting interference of the
goddesses, the heroic nature of Aeneas is put to the test.
There would be little risk in the outcome, though, because both
gods and mortals fall under the ultimate conditions of Fate.
the gods. In addition to being a tyrant who murdered his own
people, he scorns the gods. Jupiter takes an active role in
punishing this, goading Mezentius into the fight that eventually
leads to his death. In two epic similes, Mezentius holds off
attackers like a wild boar (notoriously dangerous and ill-
tempered) and pounces on an enemy like a maddened lion.
Even he is not all bad, for he honorably refuses to kill a man
while he is running away. Instead he chases him down and kills
him face-to-face. As he faces Aeneas he indulges in hubris, or
pride, calling his own right arm "my only god." When he
dedicates his spear throw to Lausus, he also involves his son in
his offense, leading to both their deaths.
Book 11

Pallas's death demonstrates the limits of piety when it comes

Summary
up against the inevitability of Fate. Although he prays
Aeneas sends Pallas's body home to Evander in a great
successfully to the god Tiber in an earlier battle, his prayers to
procession and allows the Latins to bury their dead. He says he
Hercules cannot help him when he faces Turnus. In the
never wanted to fight them—he would prefer to face Turnus in
heavens Hercules weeps, but he can't fight Fate any more than
single combat. The Rutulian Drances, an opponent of Turnus,
Juno can. As Jupiter says, "Each man has his day, and the time
sets out to make peace between Aeneas and King Latinus. In
of life/is brief for all and never comes again." Turnus will face
Pallanteum, Evander mourns Pallas, wishing he had died
his fate as well.
instead of his son. He charges Aeneas with killing Turnus so he
Battle fury and anger over Pallas's death overtake Aeneas's can take Pallas the news in the Underworld when he dies. Both
better judgment. He loses his reason and the sense of mercy sides perform funeral rites for their dead.
that his father's spirit urges in Book 6. The Rutulian Magus
In Latium families are sick of the cost of war. Drances
begs Aeneas to spare his life for the sake of his father and son.
suggests Aeneas's single combat idea, but Queen Amata
Aeneas refuses for his family's honor: "So the ghost of my
supports Turnus's war. The envoy to Diomedes, the great
father, so my son declares." He also denies a proper burial to
Greek hero who fought at Troy, returns with bad news:
the begging champion Tarquitus, preventing his soul from
Diomedes has no desire to fight Aeneas again and
entering the Underworld. In a practice that echoes Patroclus's
recommends Latium not do so either. Latinus and Drances
funeral in The Iliad, Aeneas takes enemies alive to burn on
want to make peace with Aeneas, but Turnus still burns to
Pallas's pyre. Only Lausus's display of love and honor for his
fight. He grudgingly consents to single combat, but Aeneas's
father reaches Aeneas, prompting him to show mercy by
troops surround the city before anything is decided. Turnus
allowing his body to be removed without plundering or
rushes off to ambush Aeneas (still on his way) in a valley.
desecrating it.

As the girl-warrior Camilla engages Aeneas's advance cavalry,

Aeneas's shield, the symbol of his fate, preserves his destiny
her patron goddess, Diana the huntress, recalls her unusual
(and through him, the destiny of Rome) by physically protecting
upbringing. Foreseeing Camilla's fate, Diana sends her archer
his life. Time and again it deflects blows without significant
Opis to take vengeance on whoever harms her. "Godlike"
damage when many other shields, including Pallas's, allow
Camilla is deadly with spear and battle-ax, killing warrior after

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The Aeneid Study Guide
warrior and driving back the Etruscan and Trojan allies.
However, the Etruscan Arruns is stalking her. When Camilla is
distracted by a desire for plunder, Apollo guides Arruns's spear
through her defenses. Opis follows him deep into the woods
and avenges Camilla's death. Her loss turns the battle against
the Latins, and they flee into the city. Turnus rushes back to
the battlefield, giving up his ambush just before Aeneas arrives.
The sun goes down to end the battle.
Analysis
Aeneas mourns Pallas almost as his own child: "Child of
heartbreak, was it you/whom Fortune denied me, coming to me
all smiles?" This is probably based on both affection and a
sense of paternal responsibility because Evander entrusted
Pallas to Aeneas's care. His paternal devotion to his own son is
also involved as he mourns the loss to Ascanius—Pallas would
have been a friend and ally to him had he lived. As a father
himself, Aeneas knows how Evander will feel about this loss.
Indeed, Evander's grief is deep and complex. He is glad that
Pallas died bravely and can never be disgraced—not small
considerations in a culture where bravery and honor are highly
valued—but that is still small comfort when he no longer has his
son. Virgil memorializes Pallas with an epic simile comparing
him to a flower cut down, very similar to the one eulogizing
Euryalus in Book 9. When Aeneas covers Pallas's body with
robes that Dido made, the connection to the tragic queen
emphasizes the great tragedy of Pallas's loss.
Once the heat of battle has passed, Aeneas's reason
reappears. When the Latins request access to the battlefield to
bury their dead, "good Aeneas grants the appeal he'd never
shun." The contrast between this and his threat on the
battlefield to leave an enemy fighter's body for the vultures
highlights the terrible consequences of rage, building Virgil's
argument against the rage of war. Ironically, when Aeneas is
enraged, he is also at his most mighty, but Anchises's
instruction in Book 6 to "spare the defeated" indicates that this
strength should be used responsibly.
Book 11 also contains Virgil's most explicit argument about war
and peace. The case for peace, made by Drances, emphasizes
the cost of war to the people of Latium. Turnus's war making is
"flinging your wretched people into naked peril" and has been
"the root and spring of all the Latins' griefs!" Drances argues,
"There's no salvation in war," countering the culture of patriotic
pride and personal glory being won in war. As a product of a
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Book Summaries 26
country in civil war, Virgil knew these costs firsthand. Farmers
in northern Italy, where he grew up, were kicked off their land,
which was then given to soldiers who fought in the Battle of
Philippi in 42 BCE. It is unclear whether Virgil's family also lost
their land (if they did, they got it back eventually), but it made
an impression on him either way. However, Virgil also points
out that Drances uses bad logic and is envious of Turnus's
glory, somewhat undermining his argument.
Turnus's case for war isn't particularly effective either, since he
mostly attacks Drances rather than his arguments, a deliberate
example of the logical fallacy known as ad hominem by the
rhetorically trained Virgil. Feeling he is being shamed and
called a coward, Turnus vehemently objects to the suggestion
that he can't win, again comparing himself to Achilles. If he is
Achilles, why should he back down? Greeks didn't back down
at Troy, and they ultimately won. Turnus seems to be carried
away by his sense of himself, confusing the destiny of Troy
with the separate destiny of Aeneas and his Trojans. His
argument for war is basically "glory or death," and those who
object are just cowards. The ineffectiveness of Turnus's
argument points out the weakness of many cases for war, but
war was also deeply embedded in Roman culture.
Virgil bases his warrior princess Camilla on the Amazon
warriors of mythology, but then makes her a unique legendary
figure. He points out Camilla's similarity to the Amazon
Penthesilea in the decorations of Juno's temple in Carthage in
Book 1 and compares her to Hippolyte, another Amazon queen,
in battle: "Watch, exulting here in the thick of carnage, an
Amazon." Descriptions of her battles are as gory and brutal as
those of the battles of Turnus or Aeneas. She experiences the
same blaze of battle rage, fights with the same type of
weapons, and even runs down on foot a man fleeing on
horseback—a superhuman feat reserved for great heroes. The
epic simile comparing her to a falcon catching a dove echoes
Homer's simile in The Iliad describing Hector fleeing Achilles,
putting her on a level with those great warriors. Only the
opposing captain Tarchon disparages her skills. However, her
"woman's lust for loot and plunder" leads to her death,
somewhat undermining what is otherwise a portrait of a heroic
warrior who just happens to be a woman.
Book 12
The Aeneid Study Guide
Summary
Wanting only to win or die, Turnus demands that the terms of
single combat with Aeneas be set. The next morning both
armies line up and people watch from Latium's walls to see the
fight. Still defying Fate, Juno urges Turnus's sister, Juturna, to
save him from death. Making offerings before the duel, Aeneas
vows to deal honorably with the Italians, win or lose. However,
it is evident that Turnus is no match for Aeneas. Juturna (who
is a minor goddess) begins to rile up the Rutulians, showing
them a sign: many smaller birds driving away an eagle.
A Rutulian throws a spear, and the truce starts to fall apart.
Aeneas tries to stop the fighting, but he is hit by an arrow and
has to retreat. This gives Turnus hope, and he starts to
rampage in his chariot—the war resumes. Venus helps heal
Aeneas, and he strides into the battle like a storm, looking for
Turnus. Terrified, Juturna impersonates Turnus's chariot driver
to keep him away from Aeneas. Both roam the battlefield killing
enemies. Prompted by Venus, Aeneas attacks the city and
threatens to burn it. Thinking Turnus is dead, Amata hangs
herself. When Turnus learns the city is falling apart, he returns
to fight Aeneas, stopping the battle.
In single combat Turnus's sword breaks—he mistakenly
grabbed his charioteer's inferior blade. He runs from Aeneas
until Juturna delivers his own sword. In the heavens Juno finally
stops fighting Aeneas's fate, asking only that his descendants
be called Latins not Trojans. Jupiter calls off Juturna with an
omen: one of the Furies in the form of an owl, which also
harasses Turnus. After Aeneas wounds Turnus in the leg, he
asks for mercy for his father's sake. Moved, Aeneas is inclined
to grant it—until he sees Pallas's sword belt hanging on
Turnus's shoulder. Enraged, he stabs Turnus in the heart.
Analysis
The will of the gods plays a central role in the final conflict, with
many divine interventions affecting how events unfold, despite
the final outcome. Turnus's reaction to Latinus's proposition
that he give up his claim on Lavinia indicates that he is still
infected with the rage that Allecto introduced at Juno's
request: "The attempts to heal enflame the fever more." When
Juno asks Juturna to start the fighting again and keep her
brother from facing Aeneas, she only delays the inevitable.
Venus's interventions—healing Aeneas and inspiring him to put
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Book Summaries 27
pressure on the city—balance the consequences of Juno's
interference and bring Turnus back to fight Aeneas. The god
Faunus holds Aeneas's spear in the roots of his sacred tree,
but Venus frees it. Finally, the Fury that Jupiter sends to warn
off Juturna also hampers Turnus in the duel. Thus, Aeneas's
fate and, through him, the destiny of Rome are preserved.
The Roman concept of pietas, or piety, which encompasses
not just reverence for the gods but also for country and family,
runs as an undercurrent through this last book of the poem.
Aeneas's piety to the gods is explicit in his offerings and
prayers before single combat is set to begin. Within a long list
of others, Aeneas significantly prays to Juno, trying to appease
her anger: "goddess, be kinder now, I pray you, now at last!" He
also honors his family and the all-important father-son
relationship by including an appeal to Anchises and advice to
Ascanius in his prayers. He tells his son to always revere family
as well: "Soon as you ripen into manhood,/ ...
remember—/father Aeneas and uncle Hector fire your heart!"
Latinus asks Turnus to consider the welfare of his country and
his "father, bent with years and grief" rather than insisting on
fighting Aeneas, but Turnus's rage will not let him even
consider the possibility. Turnus may believe he will preserve his
family and country by winning, but he fails to consider the very
real (readers know inevitable) possibility that he will lose,
bereaving his father and perhaps destabilizing his country. In
contrast, Juturna honors her family by doing everything she
can to save her brother. She is crushed when she fails, running
up against Aeneas's fate. However, their failure is Aeneas's
success, preserving the honor and glory of his family and
planting the seeds for a new city and country (Rome) that will
turn into an empire.
After many delays and diversions, Aeneas and Turnus finally
come face-to-face in single combat, and their interaction
serves to highlight their similarities and differences. As noted
earlier, they are both the sons of goddesses, although only
Aeneas's shows up to help him. Each is the hero of his group
that no enemy can defeat. They both are armed by the god of
fire—Turnus carries a sword made by Vulcan. Yet when they
stand against one another, the battle is remarkably one-sided.
Aeneas's quickly healed arrow wound evens the odds a bit, but
Turnus never lands a blow. He knows he is beat even before
Aeneas wounds him with a spear throw that seems to have
been thrown by a catapult.
Aeneas's decision to kill rather than spare Turnus is
The Aeneid Study Guide Quotes 28

controversial. It goes against Anchises's instruction in Book 6

"I am Aeneas, duty-bound./I carry
to "spare the defeated, break the proud in war." Aeneas has
effectively broken Turnus. When he pleads for his life (in aboard my ships the gods of
another example of pietas) for the sake of his father and his
house and home."
people, Aeneas seems about to spare him—until he sees the
golden sword belt Turnus plundered from Pallas's body. Once
again, the lust for gold and glory leads to a tragic rage over — Aeneas, Book 1
Pallas's death and puts Aeneas back in the rage of battle,
where endless vengeance leads to vicious cycles of killing, by This is how Aeneas introduces himself to his mother, who is in
which reason and mercy are abandoned—a subtle but powerful disguise before she guides them to Carthage. It is one of the
condemnation of war. many passages in which Aeneas is labeled pius in
Latin—"pious" or, as translated here, "duty-bound." One of his
It is unclear whether Virgil intended to end the poem so
obligations is to find a new home for his people, represented
abruptly. It doesn't fit the pattern of other epic poems, which
by the household gods he carries.
usually conclude with sections that wrap up details in the story,
such as Aeneas building his fated city and actually marrying
Lavinia. Virgil died before finishing his epic, so he may have
intended a conclusion of this sort. But if the ending we have is "But, oh/how wrong to rely on
what he intended, it makes his denunciation of war and the gods dead set against you!"
grief it causes, evoked by Turnus's sad ghost in the last lines of
the poem, that much stronger.
— Aeneas, Book 2

g Quotes During the destruction of Troy, most of the gods turn against
the city and rampage with the Greeks. Cassandra, who has
taken refuge in the temple of Minerva, is raped and dragged

"Wars and a man I sing." away by Ajax (the lesser). They have relied on the gods for
preservation, but they are on the wrong side of Fate. It is a
pattern that repeats for Dido and Turnus, others who come
— Narrator, Book 1
between Aeneas and his fate.

The opening phrase of The Aeneid sets forth Virgil's purpose:

to tell an epic story about a warrior in the tradition of Homer. "To what extremes won't you
compel our hearts,/you accursed
"Romans/On them I set no limits, lust for gold?"
space or time."
— Aeneas, Book 3

— Jupiter, Book 1
In Thrace the Trojans' first attempt to build a new city is
blocked by the blood of Polydorus, who was sent to secure
After Juno nearly wrecks the Trojan fleet in a storm, Venus
Thracian support for Troy but was killed for the gold he
goes to Jupiter in tears, worried that her son will not reach his
brought. In the poem the desire for gold is almost as
fated destination. Jupiter tells her not to worry; Aeneas's fate
destructive as the lust for war. Dido's first husband was killed
has not changed. He will reach Italy and father the
by her brother for gold. The destructive power of gold and war
Romans—and there will be no limits to what they will achieve.
are often intertwined. Both Camilla and tragic Nisus and
Jupiter foresees them conquering the world and ruling forever.

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The Aeneid Study Guide Quotes 29

Euryalus are brought down by a desire for rich plunder in Anchises lays out Rome's mission: to rule all the peoples of the
battle. Turnus's fate turns on a golden sword belt. earth, in peace if at all possible, practicing mercy and fighting
only for a righteous purpose. Many interpret this as a directive
for Aeneas as well, because he is the father of the Romans. He
"Stop inflaming us both/with your is fighting for a great purpose, to found Rome, but he fails to
follow the path of mercy in his final battle with Turnus.
appeals. I set sail for Italy—/all
against my will."
"If I cannot sway the heavens, I'll
— Aeneas, Book 4 wake the powers of hell!"

This is the conclusion of Aeneas's somewhat lacking — Juno, Book 7

justification for why he is leaving Carthage and Dido. It gets at
the heart of the matter—that he would stay if his fate did not lie
This is Juno's furious response when Aeneas is on the verge of
elsewhere—but it also dismisses Dido's feelings. Perhaps he is
sealing a pact with King Latinus that will fulfill his fate. She has
trying not to give in to his own feelings, but there is a
previously worked with other gods—Aeolus, Iris, and even
suggestion that she is a hysterical woman. This is Aeneas at
Venus (who lets Juno think she is working with her)—to create
his most humanly flawed.
trouble for Aeneas. Now she turns to the Fury Allecto, twin
sister of Tisiphone, who guards the gate of Tartarus in the
Underworld. Allecto infects Amata and Turnus, and through
"Here is the man ... / Caesar them the people of Latium, with her hellish rage, starting the
war that tears Italy apart.
Augustus!/ ... he will bring back the
Age of Gold."
"Limp as a crimson flower/cut off
— Anchises, Book 6
by a passing plow, that droops as
When Aeneas visits his father, Anchises, in the Underworld, he it dies."
is shown a parade of Romans, most notably Virgil's ruler,
Caesar Augustus. Through Anchises, Virgil predicts that — Narrator, Book 9
Augustus's reign will be a new golden age of Rome, connecting
it to the Age of Gold the god Saturn was said to rule over after
In one of his many epic similes (extended comparisons in the
he was kicked out of the heavens by his children, the new gods
form of similes that can extend several lines), Virgil compares
such as Jupiter and Juno.
the dying Euryalus to a blood-red poppy cut down in a field.
The flower represents the blood from his fatal wound and the
way his head sags over his shoulder as he dies. The farmer has
"But you, Roman, remember ... / ... no intention of cutting down that particular flower; it just
happens to be in the path of the plow. So, too, is the death of
spare the defeated, break the
Euryalus (and Nisus) tragically random.
proud in war."

— Anchises, Book 6 "Each man has his day ... /But to

lengthen out one's fame with
Contrasting the Romans to come with "others" (the Greeks),

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The Aeneid Study Guide
action,/that's the work of
courage."
— Jupiter, Book 10
This is Jupiter's response to Hercules, now a god in the
heavens, after Pallas prays to him for success against Turnus.
Hercules weeps not to be able to answer Pallas's prayer and
preserve his life. The Romans highly valued the glory of war, so
the fame of a great death in battle provides some consolation
for Pallas's death. Jupiter goes on to point out that Turnus's
fate also awaits him—Pallas's killer will not go unpunished.
"Vengeance waits ... /you'll lie here
in the same field—very soon."
— Orodes, Book 10
As Mezentius gleefully kills him, the Trojan soldier Orodes
foreshadows Mezentius's own imminent death by predicting
their fates will be the same. Tisiphone, the Fury of vengeance,
roams the battlefield. Mezentius has been the killer this time,
but he will soon come up against Aeneas, and Orodes's death
will be avenged.
"The same dark fate of battle
commands me back/to other
tears."
— Aeneas, Book 11
Aeneas speaks these words as he sends the procession with
Pallas's body back to Pallanteum. He accompanies it part of
the way, paying his respects and saying goodbye, but he
cannot accompany the procession all the way to Pallas's
home—the war isn't over yet. Significantly, Aeneas sees the
battles ahead as causes of more death and tears rather than
paths to glory, emphasizing the cost of war.
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Symbols 30
"Learn courage from me, my son,
true hardship too./Learn good luck
from others."
— Aeneas, Book 12
These are Aeneas's parting words to Ascanius as he prepares
to enter the final battle of the war—the last words Aeneas
speaks to his son in the poem. Aeneas has demonstrated
courage in the face of many hardships, but he definitely has
not benefited from good luck in his travels. Juno's efforts have
seen to that. Like any parent, Aeneas wants his son to benefit
from his successful experiences, but to avoid his difficulties.
This exchange carries an extra level of meaning because of
the Roman concept of pietas, which includes a reverence for
family, especially fathers and sons.
l Symbols
Fire
Fire is an uncontrollable force in the poem, symbolizing both
destruction and inspiration. It physically destroys Troy and
damages the Trojan ships in Sicily, and it is figuratively used to
describe the fury of battle that obscures even Aeneas's
rational thinking and mercy. Dido is driven to suicide by her
love for Aeneas. Pallanteum's grief over Pallas's death is also
symbolized by fire.
On the positive side, fire is a symbol of destiny and inspiration.
The flame of passion the goddess Venus inspires in her
husband, Vulcan, figuratively and physically results in the
creation of the shield and weapons she gives to Aeneas. Fire
appears on both Ascanius's and Lavinia's heads as a sign of
their destinies. The sight of Aeneas's great descendants
waiting in the Underworld "fired his soul with a love of glory still
to come."
The Aeneid Study Guide
Golden Bough
The golden bough is a symbol of Aeneas's extraordinary and
inevitable fate. To enter the Underworld, he must find and
pluck the bough, and he will only be able to do so if Fate allows
it. Like his fate, his access to the bough has already been
determined. The golden bough grants him access to the world
of the dead that is usually forbidden to those not dead, making
him one of only a few extraordinary people who have entered it
while still living.
Shield of Aeneas
The great shield that the fire god Vulcan makes for Aeneas is
engraved with images of Roman history, which have not
happened yet in the epic's time frame. Because these events
have happened in Virgil's time, they are inevitable as Aeneas's
future. The shield functions as a symbol of the destiny of Rome
and Aeneas's fate. It also ensures Aeneas's inevitable fate by
protecting him in battle. Other people's shields, including
Pallas's and Turnus's, fail, allowing them to be injured or killed,
but Aeneas's shield protects him without taking damage.
Gates of War
The Gates of War were the entrances to the temple of Janus
(god of doorways) in Rome. They were symbolically opened
during wartime and closed in times of peace. In Book 7 Virgil
places an early version of the Gates of War in Latium. King
Latinus, waffling between Queen Amata, Turnus, and the
people who are clamoring for war and his pledge of peace to
Aeneas, hesitates to open the Gates of War and start the
conflict. When Juno takes the decision out of his hands and
flings open the gates, "all Italy blazed." Jupiter predicts in Book
1 that the Gates of War are destined to be bolted shut,
symbolizing the long and peaceful rule that Virgil envisions for
Caesar Augustus and successors.
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Themes 31
m Themes
Inevitability of Fate
A person's destiny is determined by the Fates, three
goddesses who spin the thread of life, measure it, and cut it,
thus determining the quality and length of a person's life. Once
set, even the gods cannot change Fate. Aeneas's inevitable
fate is to found a new city in Italy that builds the groundwork
for the city of Rome and the Roman Empire. This theme
primarily glorifies Rome, but Virgil obviously also hopes for the
inevitable fate of the Roman Empire to be a long and peaceful
future.
Some characters try to alter the course of Aeneas's fate. The
goddess Juno is set against him from the very beginning, and
she repeatedly uses her divine powers to cause trouble for
him. However, she only manages to lengthen and twist
Aeneas's path to his fate, not block it. Turnus is Juno's primary
agent for interfering with Aeneas's fate in Italy, imposing a
costly war on him just when it looks like he will fulfill his fate in
Italy by the peaceful means of marriage.
Other characters support Aeneas's fate, most notably his
mother, the goddess Venus who, naturally, as the goddess of
love, believes his protection lies in that attribute, even though
his fate is made more difficult by his attachment to Dido. Other
gods also keep Aeneas's fate on track, clarifying his destiny
and countering Juno's mischief. The sea god Neptune rescues
the Trojan ships in Book 1, and Apollo repeatedly sends
Aeneas prophecies telling him where he should be heading.
Jupiter, king of the gods, is responsible for executing the
Fates' decree. Although he tempers that responsibility with
sympathy for Juno, who is also his wife, he does finally rein her
in and allow Fate to take its course. Of course, Aeneas's fate is
supported by his family and fellow Trojans. His father,
Anchises, in particular plays a large role in exploring and
explaining the specifics of his fate.
The Aeneid Study Guide
Destiny of Rome
Aeneas's fate is inextricably linked with the destiny of Rome.
By placing the legendary hero Aeneas into a historical
framework, Virgil uses his heroic qualities to explain the
historical rise of Rome up to his time and to predict the
continued greatness of the Roman Empire into the future.
Although the poem is set generations before the founding of
Rome, many details reference events from Roman history
through Virgil's time. The images on Aeneas's shield and the
parade of Romans waiting in the Underworld to be reborn are
the most obvious examples, but there are also many less
explicit references that would have resonated with Roman
readers.
Aeneas's character illustrates the qualities Virgil believed were
needed for Rome to achieve a peaceful destiny. When not
consumed by battle fury, he is just and merciful and never
starts a fight. The contrast between Aeneas's actions in and
out of battle is a subtle condemnation of the endless quest for
glory through battle, which not only had become a defining
characteristic of Rome and its leaders, but also led to civil war.
Honor and Respect
Aeneas is repeatedly called pious (pius Aeneas appears
numerous times in the Latin text), a concept that encompassed
much more than paying respect to the gods in Roman culture.
Piety (pietas) also includes honoring and being mindful of one's
duties to family and country. Aeneas is a nearly ideal example
of pietas. He takes great care to preserve his family, especially
his father and son. In the destruction of Troy, he carries his
disabled father on his back and holds his son's hand. His
father, Anchises, is his most respected adviser. Aeneas also
preserves the household gods of Troy, carrying the spirits of
his old home to his fated new home in Italy. And of course
Aeneas honors the gods with offerings and sacrifices. With the
exception of Juno, whom he is unable to appease, the gods
reward his reverence by answering his prayers.
However, Aeneas's great piety can be overcome, at least
temporarily, by passion and anger. His love for Dido threatens
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Themes 32
to disrupt his fate until Jupiter reminds him of his duty to family.
At the end of the poem, his rage over Pallas's death prompts
him to kill Turnus rather than show him mercy, ignoring his
father's directive to spare the defeated. Virgil seems to be
warning readers about the dangers of war and acting in anger
and vengeance, a lesson for both Rome, which has been
ravaged by civil war, and for all those who would make war.
With these human flaws, Aeneas represents an ideal test of the
heroic man's resolve to remain true to his own destiny.
Will of the Gods
Most of the conflict in The Aeneid is caused by the changing
will of the gods. Far from being infallible, the gods of Rome
(like their Greek counterparts) act more like squabbling
children than higher beings. In this frame Virgil seems to invite
the reader to question whether or not the gods merit the
respect they demand of human beings, a consideration that
would not have been alien to philosophical considerations of
Romans at the time. Unfortunately, the gods also have a lot of
power, so they cause great trouble. They are just as biased as
mortal characters in the epic and give little thought to the
people who are caught in the crossfire. Juno, queen of the
gods, is Aeneas's main antagonist, always trying to prevent the
fulfillment of his fate, whereas Aeneas's goddess mother,
Venus, is his main supporter. Both intervene to influence Dido,
and their meddling ultimately causes her suicide. Juno starts
the war in Italy by enraging Turnus and Queen Amata, forcing
Aeneas into a fight he does not want.
As powerful as the gods are, they cannot change Fate. Juno
succeeds in making Aeneas's path to his new home in Italy
more difficult, but in the end, even she must let Fate take its
course. Other gods and mythical figures support each side of
the conflict, serving to balance the divine influences and
ensure Aeneas's fate. Jupiter, king of the gods, mediates
between the arguing goddesses and has the final responsibility
to fulfill the Fates' decree. As the gods cannot change
Aeneas's fate, they also cannot change Rome's great fate.
The Aeneid Study Guide Suggested Reading 33

e Suggested Reading
Anderson, William S. The Art of the Aeneid. 2nd ed. Wauconda,
IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2005. Print.

Becker, Trudy Harrington. "Ambiguity and the Female Warrior:

Vergil's Camilla." Electronic Antiquity 4.1 (1997). Web. 23 Apr.
2016.

Johnson, W. R. Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil's Aeneid.

Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2015. Print.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin,

2010. Print.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Random

House, 1983. Print.

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