Summary and Analysis of Book I
The Aeneid opens with Virgil’s famous words, “I sing of arms and of a man.” The narrator describes the
impetus behind Aeneas’s many struggles: Juno, Queen of the gods, was angered when a Trojan man, Paris,
did not choose her as the fairest of the goddesses. She became even more determined to do whatever she
could to destroy the Trojans when she learned that the ancestors of these men were fated to bring the
downfall of Carthage, the city of which she was patron. Although the Trojans were destined to land at
Latium and build a great city that would one day become Rome, Juno spends the entirety of the Aeneid
doing all that she can to steer them off course.
Readers first encounter Aeneas and his men while they are at sea, having just left the coast of Italy, and are
about to suffer Juno’s rage. Juno tells Aeolus, god of the winds, that if he will send a storm to stir up the
seas, she will give him a lovely nymph in marriage. Aeolus complies and creates a storm so terrible that
Aeneas cries out in dismay, asking the gods what he has done to deserve such hardship.
Aeneas is given respite when Neptune, god of the sea, notices the storm on the surface. Angered that
another god has infringed on his territory, he quickly calms the waters. Aeneas and his men then turn their
ships toward the coast of Libya. They dock their vessels and happily stretch out on the beach. Aeneas
leaves his men to rest and climbs atop a hill looking for other ships, but all he sees are some stags. He slays
seven of them and brings the meat back to his comrades for a feast, telling them not to despair, and that the
gods will put an end to their trials. He refers to their destiny, saying that the gods have decreed that the
Trojans will rise again.
Although Aeneas offers his men words of hope, he is still fearful about what is to come. Venus, Aeneas’s
mother, asks Jupiter, king of the gods and her father, why he persists in causing such hardships to befall the
Trojans. Jupiter, smiling kindly, answers that her son’s fate is firm, and that she should not fear what will
become of him. He describes the future of the race and the birth of Romulus and Remus (founders of
Rome), and says that there will be no limit to the fortunes of the Romans: “I give them empire without end”
(390). After this speech, Jupiter sends word that the gates of Carthage should be opened wide and that its
ruler, Dido, should offer the men her hospitality.
The next morning, Aeneas sets out with Achates to explore the land. In the woods, his mother, in the guise
of a young huntress, reveals herself to him. Aeneas, recognizing that she is a goddess – but not realizing
that the being is his mother – asks her to help him and his men. Venus tells him to seek out Dido, and she
relates Dido’s story: Dido was once married to Sychaeus, a wealthy Phoenician. Her brother, Pygmalion,
slew Sychaeus out of desire for his gold. When Sychaeus revealed Pygmalion’s treachery to Dido in a
dream, she fled the land with her companions and Pygmalion’s ill-gotten wealth, and started a new city,
Carthage. Finally, Venus reveals her true self to her son, who cries out to her, asking why she mocks him
with disguises.
Venus cloaks Aeneas and Achates in a dark fog so that no one can halt them on their journey. They climb a
hill and look down on the wondrous city, even mingling unseen with the Tyrians (because they remain
hidden in the mist). They come across a shrine that Dido is building for Juno, and they marvel at the city’s
riches. The art on the walls depicts the fall of Troy, and Aeneas wonders if there is anywhere in the world
that does not know of the sorrows of the Trojans.
While Aeneas gazes on the stories, paying particular attention to the story of Troilus and Achilles, Dido
approaches the temple and sits down to mete out judgments to her subjects. Aeneas, still hidden in the mist,
sees his companions approach to ask for refuge. Dido assures them that she has heard of the greatness of
the Trojans and that she will come to their aid. Aeneas and Achates are stirred by her words, and the cloud
surrounding them breaks apart. Aeneas is revealed in all his glory, having been invested with a remarkable
handsomeness by his mother’s hand.
Dido welcomes Aeneas and his comrades into her palace, and Aeneas sends Achates to bring back gifts for
her from his ships. Venus, fearing Dido’s capricious nature, sends for her son, Cupid, and tells him to
inflame Dido with love for Aeneas so that she will not be swayed by Juno’s malice. The god of love obeys
his mother: he takes on the guise of Ascanius, Aeneas’s son, and when Dido draws the young boy close,
Cupid uses his breath to fill her with passion for her handsome guest. Dido is so overcome by love for
Aeneas that she draws out the night’s feasting, asking him to relate his sad tale so that he may stay at her
side a few hours longer.
Analysis
Book I of the Aeneid is particularly interesting not only because it introduces several main characters
(including Aeneas, Venus, Juno, Jupiter, and Dido), but also because it introduces a number of themes that
are found throughout the poem. First and foremost, we are introduced to the gods, and we become familiar
with their tendency to meddle in mortal lives. The gods each have specific personalities, with their own
attachments, and they often use mortals to further their own ends. Juno is the driving force behind the
Aeneid: her passionate hatred for the Trojans drives the plot of the novel, as she steers them into one
treacherous situation after another. Venus, Aeneas’s mother, acts as her son’s protector, entreating several
other gods (including Jupiter and Cupid) to help her combat Juno’s wrath.
Juno is particularly noteworthy; as David Denby writes, she appears to be literally the embodiment of
Virgil’s apparent fear of feminine power. Strikingly few female characters in the poem are fleshed out. The
only mortal females with any real power are Dido and Camilla; women such as Creusa and Lavinia are left
floundering on the periphery of the epic. Juno, by contrast, is a wildly ferocious being, with the sole
apparent motive of destroying Aeneas’s life and turning him away from his destiny. She is so singleminded in her determination to harm Aeneas that her desire to settle an old score seems hardly enough of a
reason; perhaps Virgil intended her activity as an example of the dangers of women with too much power.
Women do not seem suited for leadership roles in Virgil's tale: witness Dido’s inability to dampen her
passion in order to properly rule her citizens in Book IV.
Another important element of the Aeneid first introduced in Book I is the idea of the Trojans’ fate.
Although the gods can help or harm mortals on the path towards their destinies, they are ultimately unable
to dictate the course of fate. Jupiter, it seems, is the only one who can truly alter fate, and he is decidedly
unwilling to do so. Throughout the epic, he looks on with an almost amused air as the other gods and
goddesses rush about causing problems in the mortal world, and he only interferes when he thinks that one
of them has gone too far (such as in Book XII, when a goddess wounds a mortal – something he takes as
quite inappropriate). When Venus approaches Jupiter and asks him for assistance with the Trojans, he
assures her that the fate of her son is set, and that nothing can sway the Trojans from their destiny to land in
Lautium and become an empire greater than all others: “It is decreed/ that there the realm of Troy will rise
again” (287-288).
A third important element that is first found in Book I is the idea of Rome’s greatness. Throughout the
Aeneid, Virgil refers repeatedly to Aeneas’s destiny to found a remarkable empire filled with the children
of the gods. Since Virgil was a patron of Emperor Augustus and would have been playing to Roman
audiences, this was clearly a technique intended to lend appeal to his tale. What Roman would not have
enjoyed a story offering such a romantic interpretation of his ancestry?
If there is any thesis behind Virgil’s work, it is that destiny must be fulfilled at all costs, but that such
fulfillment will inevitably necessitate enormous sacrifice. At the end of each book of the Aeneid, there is a
death. Virgil’s great poem offers sadness and despair almost beyond comprehension, but it also suggests an
inevitability found in few other comparable works. Virgil does not dwell in the misery, however; he offers
a vision of action and destiny marching on unimpeded even as the body count steadily grows higher.
Sacrifices must be made, but they are made in the course of fulfilling one’s fate, and there is no alternative.
Summary and Analysis of Book II
Aeneas’s tale of his travels takes up Books II and III of the Aeneid (note that only the first verse of Book II
and the last verse of Book III are not spoken in Aeneas’s voice). Aeneas begins by sighing deeply and
telling Dido and her court that his is a long and tragic story, but that he is willing to try to recall it for his
host. He starts by describing the fall of Troy:
The Greeks, aided by the goddess Minerva, construct a huge wooden horse, within which they hide a great
many armed soldiers. The rest of the Greeks flee the land. The Trojans rejoice, thinking that they have
driven off their opponents. They marvel at the horse and decide that it should be brought within their walls.
Only Laocoon disagrees, saying that “some trickery is here” (68) and flinging a spear at it in anger.
As Laocoon finishes his speech, Dardan shepherds drag a Greek youth who had surrendered willingly
before King Priam. The young man, Sinon, tells a tale of how he turned away from the Greeks after they
almost killed him as a sacrifice. The Trojans take pity on him and believe his claims. Sinon tells them that
if they lay waste to the horse the wrath of the gods will turn on them – this perspective is supported when
two giant sea-snakes rise out of the sea and kill Laocoon, the disbeliever, and his two young sons. The
Trojans tremble in fear at this omen, and they decide that the horse must be taken to the temple to curb the
wrath of the goddess Minerva.
That night, the traitorous Sinon frees his comrades from the belly of the wooden horse, and they fall upon
the sleeping city. In his sleep, Aeneas is visited by the shade of his friend, Hector, who warns him that the
Greeks have overtaken Troy. Hector tells him to flee. Aeneas, awakened by the sounds of battle, seizes his
weapons to join his comrades. He is met on his threshold by Panthus, who tells him that “It has come – the
final day/ and Troy’s inevitable time. We Trojans/ were; Troy has been” (442-444). Aeneas sets out to meet
the Trojan warriors and enters the gruesome battle, where many of his closest companions meet their ends.
Finally, Aeneas sets up a stronghold in King Priam’s palace, and the Trojans fling down weapons at the
advancing Greeks, but the Greeks break down the gate and wreak havoc inside the structure. Even the
ancient Priam throws on his armor, ready to rush into combat, but his wife, Queen Hecuba, urges him to
join her in prayer at the altar instead: “this altar shall yet save us all, or you shall die together with us” (703704). One of Priam’s sons, Polites, is slain before his very eyes, throwing Priam into a deep despair.
Aeneas is shaken by the sight of the Greek warrior Pyrrhus murdering Priam on his very altar. His despair
turns to anger when he notices Helen (the woman whose beauty brought about the war between the Greeks
and the Trojans) cowering in a corner, and he is about to attack her when Venus appears to him, urging him
to forget this “madness” (803) and to find his father Anchises, his wife Creusa, and his son Ascanius.
Aeneas obeys his mother’s wishes and sets out for his father’s house. Anchises does not want to live to see
the fall of Troy and asks to be left behind. Aeneas declares that he will never leave his father to die, and he
steels himself for battle, but Creusa begs him to protect the house if he has any hope left for their survival.
Suddenly, a flame appears above Ascanius’s head, and Anchises is so moved by this omen that he says that
if the gods will only send another sign he will consent to leave Troy. Thunder crashes down and a shooting
star appears in the sky, so Anchises allows Aeneas to hoist him onto his shoulders. Aeneas asks his father
to carry the household gods (since Aeneas has been defiled by battle), takes his son by the hand, and tells
Creusa to follow behind. They approach the gates.
Just before they reach safety, the group is attacked by a band of Greek warriors. In a panic, Aeneas runs for
safety, but once he stops he realizes that Creusa is no longer behind him. He turns back toward Troy,
seeking her out, but he is met by Creusa’s shade, who urges him to go on. Creusa tells him that he is
destined to find gladness along the banks of the Tiber River, where he will take a royal bride and rule over
a great kingdom. Aeneas, weeping, tries to throw his arms around Creusa’s neck, but her shade disappears.
Aeneas returns to his companions, only to find that they have been joined by a great many more refugees
from the burning city. Book II ends with Aeneas lifting his father onto his shoulders once more and starting
off towards the mountains.
Analysis
One of the primary themes in Book II is the great value of one's family. Throughout the story, there are
several instances of a father being forced, as Priam is, to watch his son die – an “unnatural” event. Indeed,
throughout the Aeneid one of the driving forces behind Aeneas’s determination to fulfill his destiny is his
desire to give Ascanius a good life. Family is so important to Aeneas that he is willing to give up his own
life rather than leave his father behind for certain death. The Romans placed extraordinary value on respect
for one’s ancestors, and through this action, Aeneas positions himself as a model of true virtue. Creusa is
able to convince Aeneas to flee Troy largely because she appeals to his instincts as a father and head of the
family: “To whom is young Iulus left, to whom your/ your father and myself, once called your wife” (918919).
The losses incurred in Book II recall a theme first introduced in Book I: the inevitability of loss. One of the
most heartbreaking moments in the poem occurs when Priam watches his son die; even such a great leader,
it seems, is not exempt from the most emotionally painful experiences. Virgil offers a vision of a world in
which rewards are accrued only in the afterlife, where blessed souls spend their days relaxing in the sundappled fields of Elysium, or where the evil suffer through eternity behind the sleepless gaze of the bloody
monster Tisiphone. In the land of the living, it seems, destiny is supreme, and even the very best of men
will be made to suffer if their pain is written in the threads spun out by the Fates’ nimble fingers.
Many critics have pointed out that Aeneas is almost too good to be true, a perfect example of Roman
morality. While it is true that Aeneas is a paragon of virtue throughout the Aeneid, one of the most
interesting moments in the Book occurs when he is tempted to slay Helen to avenge Priam’s death. It is
only because Venus, essentially acting as his conscience, intervenes that he realizes that killing the young
woman will do no good. Aeneas, it seems, is not godlike in his virtue; he has achieved it through effort and
temperance. Perhaps Virgil has invested Aeneas with this slight measure of imperfection in order to make
him more accessible to audiences and to encourage them to emulate Aeneas’s morality.
One place where Aeneas demonstrates incontestable skill is on the battlefield. Book II gives the first
demonstration that Aeneas is a truly remarkable warrior. Skill at arms was another invaluable trait for the
Romans, and by displaying courage and dexterity on the battlefield Aeneas becomes even more elevated in
the eyes of the audience. Furthermore, he displays excellent leadership skills, inspiring his comrades to
fight with moving words: “Young men, your hearts/ are sturdy ... The lost have only/ this one deliverance:
to hope for none” (471-479). Clearly, Aeneas is a born king, worthy of the exceptional fate that awaits him.
Book II introduces yet another important theme: the supernatural. Throughout the Aeneid, the ghosts of the
departed often appear to Aeneas and offer him advice. This furthers the idea of respecting one’s ancestors;
Virgil’s contemporaries believed that the dead should be consulted and revered for their wisdom. They also
placed great faith in omens: Anchises only relents and accompanies the family out of Troy when he has
seen two omens that indicate that doing so is the best course of action.
Summary and Analysis of Book III
At the opening of Book III, Troy has fallen and now lies in smoking ruins. Aeneas and his men build a fleet
of ships that they hope will carry them to the land – as yet unknown – where they are destined to settle and
build a great new city. Weeping, Aeneas watches as the shores of his homeland recede in the distance.
The Trojans first dock in the city of Aeneadae, where they offer the sacrifice of a white bull to Venus and
the other gods. Shortly thereafter, though, they see a terrible omen: when Aeneas tries to tear a branch from
a tree for the altar, the tree moans and drips black blood. Twice more he tries to rip away a branch, and is
met with the same result. Finally, he hears a voice coming from the earth: it is Polydorous, a Trojan who
was slain by the king of Thrace. He begs Aeneas to take him out of the cursed land and give him a real
funeral, and Aeneas complies.
Setting out once again upon the ocean, they find Dardanus, a sacred island blessed by Apollo. They are
greeted by Anchises’s old friend, King Anius, and offer homage to the gods. They are met by another omen
when Apollo’s voice tells them to seek out the land of their ancestors, for it is there that “Aeneas’ house
will rule all coasts,/ as will his sons’ sons and those born of them” (129-130). The men confer about where
this ancestral land could be, and Anchises suggests that they head for Crete.
Upon the fleet’s arrival in Crete, Aeneas founds a city, which he calls Pergamum. They live there for only a
short time, however, before a plague strikes the residents and the crops fall into waste. One night, the
Phrygian household gods that Anchises carried out of Troy come to Aeneas in a dream, telling him that his
destiny lies elsewhere, in a land called “Italy,” where the founders of the Dardan race were born. Aeneas
tells Anchises of his vision, and Anchises realizes that he has made an error.
After Aeneas and his men have once again set out upon the waters in search of their home, the seas are
thrown into turmoil, and they lose their way in the darkness. After four days, they dock on an island in the
Ionian Sea, home of the Harpies, who are terrible monsters with the faces of beautiful virgins and the
dripping, gruesome bodies of birds. The men make a great feast for themselves from the herds of cattle they
find in the fields, but just as they are about to sit down to eat the Harpies descend on the tables and make
off with the food. This happens once again, but on the third try the Trojans are ready: they attack the birds
as they swoop in for the third time. Celaeno, the leader of the Harpies, curses the Trojans, saying that they
will not land in their promised city until they have been gripped by a terrible hunger.
The Trojans are terrified by the curse, and Anchises calls on the gods to save them. They flee the island and
dock in Leucata, where they offer sacrifices to Apollo and engage in a series of games. The Trojans next
land in the city of Buthrotum, governed by Helenus, brother of Hector, with Hector’s widow Andromache,
now married to Helenus. When Andromache lays eyes on the familiar Trojans she is stunned. She tells
them the story of how she and her companions escaped from Pyrrhus’s rule after the fall of Troy. Finally
Helenus approaches and welcomes his friends with a feast.
After several days, Aeneas asks the prophet Helenus what course he should take. Helenus answers that the
land they seek is far off, and that they should build their city where they see a sign: a huge white sow with a
litter of thirty sucklings. He warns them of the multitude of dangers that they may face along their journey,
including the fearful sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. He offers them guidance on how to avoid these
dangers, and he reminds them to be sure to offer homage to Juno. Helenus also tells Aeneas that he should
seek out the sibyl of Cumae, who will offer him further advice.
Finally, Aeneas and his men must take leave of Butrothum, much to Andromache’s dismay. As advised by
Helenus, they take the shortest path across the waves and at last see the low coastline of Italy. Aeneas sees
four white horses grazing on a plain, and Anchises cries out that the vision is an omen both of war and of
peace. The men offer sacrifices to Juno and return to the waters. They hear the frightful Scylla and
Charybdis in the distance but avoid their terrors thanks to Helenus’s guidance.
The weary voyagers settle for the night on the island of the Cyclops. The next morning, they are
approached by a haggard stranger, a Greek named Achaemenides who tells them that he was left behind by
his companions in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. Although his companions had blinded the monster,
they were chased to their boats by a hundred more Cyclops, deserting Achaemenides on the shore. The
Trojans take pity on the Greek and allow him to join them. They escape to the boats just in time, with the
Cyclops close on their heels.
Aeneas and his men skirt a number of small islands, stopping at several to offer sacrifices to the gods, and
arrive at last on the coast of Drepanum. It is there that Anchises dies, and this is where Aeneas finishes his
tale. The final verse returns us to Dido’s palace, where Aeneas has fallen silent at last.
Analysis
One of the more challenging aspects of reading the Aeneid is getting a sense of the time frame during which
the action takes place. Book III, for example, covers many years of wandering, although the time appears to
pass by in little more than a few weeks. The intensity of long years aboard a ship may be difficult for
modern readers to appreciate, but Virgil draws attention to the laboriousness of the travel and the harshness
of the conditions by frequently having Aeneas cry out to the gods, asking them to put an end to his struggle.
In Book III, Aeneas and his men have an extraordinary number of adventures, none of which is given
detailed attention. They encounter (or very nearly miss) a number of monsters – the Harpies, the Cyclops,
Scylla and Charybdis – but none of these episodes appears particularly “important”; they are accorded not
very many lines. In this manner, Virgil separates himself from Homer's descriptions of battles against
otherworldly creatures. Virgil’s story is about humanity and about the very human challenges of love,
sacrifice, and loss, elements he finds far more interesting than battles against imaginary beasts.
A particularly interesting episode in Book III occurs when Aeneas and his men take in the wretched
Achaemenides, a Greek warrior whom they find wandering on the island of the Cyclops. In light of Sinon’s
betrayal, the decision to allow a Greek to join them may seem questionable at best and naïve at worst, but
their kindness pays off, and Achaemenides becomes part of their crew. The Trojans, it appears, are men of
such remarkable virtue that they will not punish one man for the sins of another – they are willing to give
those in need the benefit of the doubt.
Book III offers audiences a great deal of foreshadowing in the form of guidance. As a prophet Helenus, for
example, outlines in detail many of the challenges that Aeneas and his men will face, and Helenus even
warns them against taking certain routes on the way to their destination. Throughout the story, Aeneas and
his men often meet prophets and gods who tell them where to go and how to get there, reinforcing the idea
that they are in the hands of fate and will be given any divine help necessary to ensure that they fulfill their
destiny.
A perplexing aspect of Book III is the manner in which Anchises’s death is treated. It occurs extremely
abruptly and receives only a few short lines: “It is here that – after all/ the tempests of the sea – I lose my
father,/ Anchises, stay in every care or crisis.” Audiences are left to assume that Aeneas’s father died of old
age, but given the importance of their relationship, it seems strange that no description is given of his death
or burial. One possible explanation for this is that Virgil is attempting to convey that Aeneas is so deeply
stricken by the death that he can only speak of it in the briefest of terms.
Summary and Analysis of Book IV
Book IV begins just after Aeneas has finished the tale of his travels. Dido sits beside him, inflamed with
love. She looks to her sister, Anna, for guidance, torn between the promise she made never to love another
man after her husband’s death on the one hand, and on the other hand the passion that she feels for Aeneas.
Anna tells Dido that she should embrace such love, exciting her imagination by talking about the incredible
kingdom that the two of them could build together: “If you marry Aeneas, what a city/ and what a kingdom,
sister, you will see!” (64-65).
Having decided to pursue Aeneas, Dido leads him around Carthage, displaying its many marvels. Dido
begins acting “insane” (102): she begs him to tell her the entire story of his journey again, hugs Ascanius to
her, and allows all work on the construction of Carthage to fall idle. Juno, seeing her dear Dido in such
misery, asks Venus if she will help her wed the pair, but Venus recognizes that Juno’s motive is to move
Aeneas’s destined kingdom from Italy to Libya. She tells Juno that she does not want war, but that she fears
that fate will not be so easily tricked. Nevertheless, Venus offers the queen of the gods her blessing to go
and entreat Jupiter. Juno replies that she will do so, but in the meantime she will hatch a plan to strand
Aeneas and Dido overnight in the same cave, where they will be united in marriage.
The next day, the palace sets out on a hunt, but Dido and Aeneas are caught in a thunderstorm and seek
shelter in a cave. They sleep together, which Dido interprets as “marriage” to make herself feel less guilty.
Afterward, Rumor (described as a terrifying monster) carries word of the pair across the land, and it finally
reaches the ears of King Iarbas, who had allowed Dido to build Carthage on his territory and is now
angered that she did not marry him but instead took a foreigner as a partner. Jupiter hears King Iarbas’s
rage and sends Mercury to Aeneas with a message: he did not save Aeneas from the Greeks for this; his
destiny lies elsewhere, and he must not begrudge Ascanius his great future.
Aeneas is stunned by Mercury’s words. He tells his men to ready the fleet in silence. Nevertheless, Dido
catches word of his plan and “raves throughout the city” (403). She then attacks Aeneas with what is
undoubtedly the finest, most impassioned speech accorded to any woman in the Aeneid, cursing him for
taking her honor and then leaving her without a word. Aeneas counters her anger by hesitantly stating that
while he appreciates her kindness, he had never agreed to enter into a marriage contract. Again, he
mentions his duty to Ascanius and tells her, “Stop your quarrel. It is not/ my own free will that leads to
Italy” (491-492). Dido is not swayed by his words; she rails against him once again, cursing his journey.
With this, Dido faints, and Aeneas (with only a little hesitation) turns back to his fleet.
Later, Dido watches the fleet raising their sails in the harbor, ready to leave, and she calls for Anna. She
asks her sister to go to Aeneas and ask him to give her just a little more time, so that she may learn “how to
sorrow” (598). Anna does her sister’s bidding, but Aeneas cannot be swayed. At this, the miserable Dido
resolves to die. She asks Anna to build a pyre in her courtyard and lay Aeneas’s weapons upon it. Anna,
believing that Dido simply wishes to rid herself of any remnants of Aeneas, does as she is told. That night,
however, Dido constructs an elaborate ritual, with many sacrifices, and cries out another extraordinary
lament for Aeneas’s love.
Meanwhile, as Aeneas is asleep in his ship in the harbor, he is visited by Mercury, who warns him that the
city will soon be ablaze and that he must depart immediately. Aeneas awakens in terror and calls out to his
men to set sail. Dido sees the fleet moving out to sea and beats against her breast, cursing Aeneas and
crying out to the gods. She asks Barce, Sychaeus’s nurse, to send Anna to her to bathe her body in river
water and offer sacrifies. Barce goes, and Dido is left alone to mount the pyre. Atop the structure, she
grasps Aeneas’s sword, mourns the day the Trojans ever set foot on her shores, and with these words – “I
shall die unavenged, but I shall die” (909) – she plunges the sword through her chest.
The city is thrown into a panic at word of the queen’s death. Anna, hearing the commotion, runs through
the crowd to find her sister’s body. Crying out, she clutches Dido to her chest and holds her sister as she
finally dies. Book IV ends when Juno, looking down on the sorry sight, sends Iris to free Dido from her
tormented body.
Analysis
Except for the goddesses, the female characters in the Aeneid are, by and large, fairly unremarkable. While
Juno and Venus are given distinctive personalities and a hand in driving the action of the narrative, most of
the mortal women are far more ineffectual and shapeless. Creusa, for example, is only a vague presence in
Book II, and she appears to exist largely in order to die, thereby deepening Aeneas’s character and freeing
him from the bonds of a wife while explaining the presence of his son. Dido, in sharp contrast, is as rich a
character as any other in the epic.
Although the gods in the Aeneid frequently meddle in the lives of mortals, Dido is perhaps the clearest
example of the potentially tragic consequences of such intervention. Dido is their plaything, and the pain
that wracks her body at the sight of Aeneas and his troops fleeing the city is a visceral example of the
importance of abiding by one’s destiny. Indeed, Dido is one of the few characters in the Aeneid to truly rail
against the dictates of fate. She knows that Aeneas is destined to leave Carthage and to begin a new empire,
but the love that she feels for him is so overwhelming that she struggles against the will of the very gods.
This struggle makes her perhaps one of the strongest, most courageous characters in the tale.
Dido’s character serves two other distinct purposes. First, Virgil uses the Dido/Aeneas conflict to explain
the antagonistic relationship between Rome and Carthage in the real world, which came to a head during
the Punic Wars. More interesting, however, is the notion that Virgil employs Dido in order to reveal
Aeneas’s humanity. The protagonist usually seems too perfect: a flawless, unfailingly moral paragon of
virtue and courage. By creating a situation in which Aeneas reveals his weakness in the face of love,
tempted to stray from his fate - forcing his fleet to dock in Carthage for an uncomfortably, irresponsibly
long period of time – Aeneas is revealed as not just a goddess-born hero, but as an imperfect man. His
decision to give up love for the betterment of future generations is truly difficult for him, making his
decision arguably more honorable.
An alternative perspective on Aeneas’s behavior in Book IV is that he is, as David Denby writes, a “cold
fish” and a “cad.” Dido displays genuine sexual passion that is not found anywhere else in the poem
(except, perhaps, in Turnus’s desire to wed Lavinia), but Aeneas appears unemotional, even cruel in his
ability to walk away from his former lover, despite her desperate entreaties. Even though Aeneas is the
hero, he does not behave particularly heroically in this episode. Virgil could have chosen to write a scene
where Aeneas takes tearful leave from his lover, wrenching himself from her side even though he finds it
almost unbearable to inflict such pain upon another human being, but instead Virgil has him behave in a
callous (and cowardly) manner, fleeing the city under cover of darkness. Yes, he dutifully follows his
destiny by leaving Carthage in search of the city where he is to found Rome, but he leaves a trail of
undeniable destruction in his wake. Dido may be the true hero of this Book: she does not have the security
of the gods’ blessing, but she is so passionate about her love for Aeneas that she is willing to sacrifice
everything she has, even though she ultimately takes her own life.
Another interesting aspect of Book IV is its frequent reference to Ascanius. Aeneas is distracted from his
destiny by the temptation of love, and he is only able to regain his focus when he realizes that he will not
only be depriving himself of an empire, but will be denying his son the great future that awaits him on
Italian soil. This circumstance recalls the importance placed on family, as has been seen in Aeneas’s
relationship with Anchises. The multi-generational aspect of the epic reveals the value that Virgil’s
contemporaries placed on respecting one’s ancestors and providing for one’s descendants.
Summary and Analysis of Book V
Thus far unaware of Dido’s tragic demise, Aeneas stands aboard his ship, watching the city of Carthage
burn in the distance. When the fleet reaches open water, Palinurus, the pilot, calls out to Aeneas that the
wind has shifted; they will not yet be able to sail to Italy. Aeneas replies that struggling against the winds is
useless, so they should seek shelter in the Sicilian town of Drepanum, where his father is buried and his
friend Acestes lives. Acestes greets the voyagers joyfully and offers them shelter and food.
Aeneas realizes upon docking that it has been one year since the death of his father, so he orders a series of
competitions to commemorate his passing. First, however, the Trojans offer sacrifices to Anchises. The
moment that Aeneas calls out to his father, an enormous serpent crawls out of Anchises’s shrine, tastes the
feast that has been laid out, and returns harmlessly to the tomb. The men believe the serpent is the spirit of
Anchises, and they resume the rites.
First, Aeneas calls for a boat race. Four boats are selected, with four captains to man them: Mnestheus,
Gyas, Sergestus, and Cloanthus. The boats are to race out to an island in the ocean, where they will find an
ilex branch that will signal them to turn around. Virgil offers a detailed description of the race, with all four
captains determined to win at any cost. Cloanthus is the victor, though Aeneas offers prizes to all four
captains – even to Sergestus, the loser, who receives a female slave as compensation for his humiliation.
The next competition is a footrace. The first two Trojans to enter the race are Nisus and Euryalus (whom
we will meet again during the battle against the Latins). Although Nisus initially has a strong lead, he slips
in sacrificial blood and falls. He trips up Salius, who was in second place, so that his friend (and probable
lover) Euryalus will win. Aeneas, the “best of fathers” (472), is such a fair leader that he again gives all the
men prizes, so that Nisus is not punished for having slipped and Salius is not punished for having been
tripped.
Next, Aeneas calls for a boxing match. The enormous, young Dares enters immediately but can find no one
brave enough to challenge him. Finally, after much urging, the legendary Entellus enters the match. It is a
battle between youth and experience, and it is the latter who ultimately emerges victorious. Aeneas, in the
end, must intervene and tell Dares to give up so that the younger man is not killed in the fight.
The final event is an archery competition, in which all the men must attempt to shoot a dove out of the air.
This competition is most noteworthy because Acestes’s arrow bursts into flames and disintegrates, which
the men interpret as a powerful omen. Following this event, Aeneas calls for Ascanius, who is permitted to
come out with his friends and “show himself in arms” (724). This is a great honor for the young man, in
essence marking his coming-of-age.
The happy festivities take a turn for the worse when Juno intervenes to cause dissent among the Trojan
women, many of whom are tired of traveling and wish to settle in Drepanum. She appears to them in the
guise of Beroe, an elderly woman, and urges them to set fire to the Trojan ships so that they will be unable
to continue their journey. When the goddess reveals her true shape, the women are stunned into action, and
they light the ships aflame. Fortunately, Aeneas notices the burning ships in time to appeal to Jupiter.
Jupiter takes pity on the Trojans and sends a thunderstorm that saves all of the ships except four.
That night, Anchises’s shade appears to Aeneas in a dream, urging him to take the bravest of his group with
him to Italy. First, however, Anchises tells Aeneas to travel to Dis, in order to seek a meeting with him in
the underworld. Upon awakening, Aeneas calls his companions together and tells them that anyone who
wishes to remain behind – those who do not seek “great fame” (990) – may do so. Aeneas founds a city to
be reigned over by Acestes, and he uses a plow to separate it into two districts named Troy and Ilium.
In the meantime Venus, distressed by Juno’s unending efforts to harm the Trojans, appeals to Neptune,
asking the god of the sea to help the fleet reach its destination safely. Neptune replies that he will watch
over the Trojans and that only one man will be lost. Thus, after the Trojans set out to sea once again, the
god of sleep enchants Palinurus, the pilot: his eyelids grow heavy, he relaxes his limbs, and he falls, in a
deep sleep, into the dark ocean. Book V ends with Aeneas mourning the loss of his friend.
Analysis
The lighter Book V stands in marked contrast to the tragedy and emotionality of Book IV. By following the
climactic death of Dido with this relatively joyful, easygoing period, Virgil not only heightens the impact
of Dido’s demise, but also gives his audience a release period during which to process the events that have
taken place thus far. This is not to say that Book V is unimportant or even unexciting: the Book describes a
series of thrilling competitions that would have been immensely exhilarating and familiar to Virgil’s
contemporaries. Furthermore, the Book is shot through with elements of sorrow; the Trojan women
threaten the future of the fleet, and Aeneas’s companion and trusted pilot Palinurus falls overboard to his
death. Virgil is, quite clearly, aware of the tragedy that can strike even those who are destined for greatness.
The competitions are being held to honor Anchises, who was buried on that very island exactly a year ago.
By holding elaborate funeral rites and an extended series of festivities, Aeneas is demonstrating once again
the great respect he has for his father. The fact that Aeneas now deals with the reality of his father’s death
also makes the following Book, in which Aeneas descends into the Underworld in the company of his
father, more understandable.
There are two notable points in Book V where Aeneas demonstrates his remarkable leadership skills: first
after the footrace, and again after the boxing match. When Nisus trips Salius so that his friend Euryalus
wins the race, Salius is quite understandably angered by the unfairness of the situation. Aeneas declares
Euryalus the victor – and the respect that he receives is evidenced by the fact that no ones dares question
the decision – but also gives prizes to Salius and Nisus, both of whom lost through no flaw in their abilities.
In the boxing match, Aeneas urges Dares to accede victory to the older, stronger Entellus. Although Dares
initially bristles at Aeneas’s words, he is pacified when Aeneas tells him that he should not question the
will of the gods.
Another moment that demonstrates Aeneas’s ability to pacify the masses occurs when he allows the Trojan
women to remain in Drepanum. Although he momentarily questions his destiny and wonders aloud whether
he should build his city in Sicily, Anchises’s shade helps him see that he can please everyone by taking the
strongest with him on his journey, while giving a home to those who wish to remain behind.
The death of Palinurus at the close of Book V casts a pallor over the entire chapter. Palinurus is one of
Aeneas’s most trusted companions: a truly honorable, courageous, loyal man. Even the very best men, it
seems, are not rewarded for their valor if such rewards do not serve the dictates of fate. Palinurus is not
even rewarded in death; in Book VI, Aeneas will find his comrade’s shade wandering in misery alongside
other unburied, restless souls. Although the sibyl of Cumae assures Palinurus that his corpse will one day
be put to rest, it is clear that Palinurus is expendable, and even his good deeds in life do not guarantee him
happiness or peace in death. Through Palinurus’s death, Virgil reveals the depth of the sacrifices that must
be made in the service of destiny.
Summary and Analysis of Book VI
At the opening of Book VI, Aeneas docks on the coast of Cumae in search of the Sibyl of Cumae,
Deiphobe. Upon locating the sibyl in her grotto, Aeneas is ordered to sacrifice seven steers. He does so and
promises Deiphobe that if the fates allow him to build a city in Italy, he will raise a temple to Apollo and
Diana. Finally, the sibyl, possessed by Apollo, makes a prophecy: she tells Aeneas that he will reach the
kingdom he seeks, but that the Trojans will suffer through a horrible war over a “foreign bride” (131), and
he will have to confront a “new Achilles” (125).
When the sibyl has finished speaking, Aeneas asks her whether he may be permitted to go before the shade
of his father, Anchises. Deiphobe tells him how to do so: he must pluck a golden branch from a tree, give
burial to a friend of his who is “defiling the fleet with death” (209), and sacrifice black cattle as a peace
offering. At first, Aeneas is uncertain which Trojan she is referring to, but upon returning to the camp, he
discovers the body of Misenus, dashed on the rocks after challenging the gods. Aeneas buries Misenus and
goes out in search of the golden bough. He finds it (with the help of Venus) and sacrifices the steers.
Deiphobe, seeing that Aeneas has completed all of his tasks, sends his companions away; only Aeneas
himself may accompany her on the journey to the Underworld. As they approach the horrible monsters
guarding the entrance, Aeneas is struck with fear, and he is only calmed when the sibyl tells him that the
creatures are nothing more than phantoms that can bring him no harm. The pair approaches the River Styx,
where Charon, the boatman, ferries souls to the afterlife. Aeneas notices that some wretched souls are
turned away, and the Sibyl explains that only souls whose bodies have been buried may cross. One of those
wandering souls is Palinurus, who begs Aeneas to help him across. Deiphobe promises Palinurus that she
will send a plague to the residents of the area where his body lies unburied, so that they will give him a
proper tomb.
Finally, after some difficulty convincing Charon to allow living souls to pass, Deiphobe and Aeneas cross
the river. They pass by Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the riverbank, and they pass the souls of
deceased infants and those who were wrongfully executed. They then arrive in the Fields of Mourning,
where those who have died from the pains of love wander in misery. It is there that Aeneas sees Dido, and
he weeps to learn what became of her. Dido’s shade refuses to hear his entreaties, and she flees into the
woods in a rage to reunite with Sychaeus, her dead husband.
Next, Aeneas passes through the land where the souls of war heroes reside. He is momentarily distracted
when he sees Priam’s son, Deiphobus, who married Helen following Paris’s death but was betrayed by her
and put to death. At Deiphobe’s urging they move on, and they encounter a fortress guarded by the terrible
Tisiphone, wearing a bloody mantle. Horrified, Aeneas asks what the sins were of those who live inside
Tartarus, and Deiphobe replies that the souls being tortured within have committed the gravest of sins, such
as dishonoring the gods, adultery, and incest.
Finally, Aeneas arrives in the Groves of Blessedness, where he finds Anchises. He tries to throw his arms
around his father, but grabs only air. Anchises describes the many wonders of Elysium to Aeneas, and he
then focuses on the great future in store for Aeneas and his descendants: “my tongue will now reveal/ the
fame that is to come from Dardan sons” (999-1000). When Aeneas notices souls hovering over a river,
Anchises explains that the river is called Lethe, and that after drinking from it souls are stripped of any
memory of their former lives, then returned to earth to begin life again in a new body. Anchises points out
several souls who would have been significant to Virgil’s audience, including Romulus, the founder of
Rome; Ascanius’s descendants; Julius Caesar; and Caesar Augustus himself. Tears spring to Anchises’s
eyes when he points out the handsome Marcellus, Augustus’s heir, who died at a young age.
Book VI ends with Anchises leading Aeneas and Deiphobe out of the Underworld. There are two gates of
sleep through which to exit: one made of horn, and the other of ivory. Aeneas and the sibyl choose the
ivory gate for their return to earth. Aeneas rejoins his companions, and the fleet sets out to sea once again.
Analysis
Perhaps more than any other episode in the Aeneid, Book VI exemplifies the purpose of Virgil’s epic.
Ultimately, Virgil hoped to appeal to Roman audiences by creating a tale demonstrating that they were
fated to become a glorious empire, and in particular to Caesar Augustus, his patron, lauding his leadership
skills and the moral values that he espoused during his reign. Not only is it clear in Book VI that Aeneas’s
destiny is set – his descendants are already clearly delineated, as Anchises points out – but there are
numerous additional references to his “fate.” The sibyl informs Aeneas that he must pluck a golden bough
in order to advance to the Underworld, but he will only be able to do so if he is “fated” to do so: “if the
Fates have summoned you,/ the bough will break off freely, easily;/ but otherwise, no power can overcome
it” (203-205). Unsurprisingly, Aeneas breaks off the bough with ease. Upon entering Elysium, he witnesses
a virtual parade commemorating Rome’s great future: Anchises points out countless heroes and leaders
who are the lucky benefactors of Aeneas’s blessed journey.
Part of Book VI was clearly intended to appeal specifically to Casesar Augustus; when Aeneas encounters
his soul in the Underworld, Anchises describes the leader as “the mane you heard so often promised--/
Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will/ renew a golden age in Latium” (1048-1050). Furthermore, by
painting a tragic, heroic portrait of Augustus’s beloved nephew and heir Marcellus, who died at the young
age of 16, Virgil gives the boy an immortality that Augustus would certainly have appreciated.
Perhaps one of the most interesting episodes in Book VI occurs when Aeneas comes upon Dido in the
Fields of Mourning. This brief encounter, during which Aeneas weeps upon realizing his lover’s sad fate
and Dido refuses to hear his entreaties, offers closure to a dramatic, painful episode, and it invests Aeneas
with a much-needed measure of humanity. Readers who may have been struck by Aeneas’s apparent
heartlessness at his leave-taking of Dido will be won back by his tears here. Aeneas’s redemption is
somewhat undermined by the fact that Dido flees from him into the arms of her beloved husband,
Sychaeus.
Aeneas’s reunion with Dido also reveals behavior of Dido that appears entirely inconsistent with the
dynamic, forceful woman we encountered earlier. Dido is reduced to a voiceless shade with angry eyes,
bitterly fleeing the sight of her former lover without so much as a word of chastisement for the wrong he
has done her. It is an unsatisfying ending for those who seek a brilliant, tragic love story – perhaps one of
the most poignant and passionate opportunities in literary history – and one must wonder whether Virgil
intended to revisit this moment and revise it before releasing the work to the public. That is a question,
indeed, that haunts the Aeneid in its entirety: since the work was unfinished at the time of Virgil’s death, we
are left wondering which scenes and lines he still found unsatisfactory.
Later in the chapter, Aeneas’s humanity is again emphasized by his response to the myriad horrors of the
Underworld. Even this hero is struck by fear and panic at the sight of the monsters that guard the entrance:
“Aeneas, shaken suddenly/ by terror, grips his sword ... Had not/ his wise companion warned him they
were only/ thin lives that glide without a body in/ the hollow semblance of a form, he would/ in vain have
torn the shadows with his blade” (383-389). Moments later, Aeneas is pained by the sight of unburied souls
swarming the shores of the River Styx, and he is horror-struck at the sight of Tartarus. His reunion with
Anchises is particularly poignant, as Aeneas throws his arms around his father’s shade in vain not merely
once, but (famously) three times, again revealing the deep and meaningful relationship shared between the
generations.
Summary and Analysis of Book VII
Aeneas’s first stop in Book VII is Caieta’s harbor, named for his childhood nurse. After honoring Caieta’s
memory, the fleet sails past the island ruled over by Circe, a goddess who turns her many suitors into
animals. Neptune takes pity on Aeneas’s men and sends them a wind that carries them past the dangerous
island. Aeneas sees the Tiber River and knows that he has arrived, at last, in the land that he is destined to
rule. At this point, Virgil returns to the first-person narrative that he used at the very opening of the epic,
calling upon Erato, the muse of poetry, to aid him in telling the second half of Aeneas’s story.
Virgil now introduces King Latinus, who presides over Latinum with his wife, Queen Amata. The pair have
only one surviving child: a daughter, Lavinia, who is being pursued by the Rutulian Turnus, a favorite of
Queen Amata.
As Aeneas and his men arrive on the Latin shores, King Latinus receives a series of omens of war. He also
receives a prophecy that he should choose a husband for his daughter from among the foreigners who have
just arrived, and that he should allow these strangers to intermarry with the Latins, for the offspring of such
a union is destined to rule the world: “their blood will raise our name/ above the stars” (124-125).
In the meantime, Aeneas and his men rest beneath some trees and prepare a sumptuous meal, which they
serve on hard wheaten cakes. After they finish the meal, they eat the cakes, and Ascanius laughingly says
that they were so hungry that they ate their very tables. Aeneas is struck by this statement, because earlier
in the Aeneid the Harpy Celeano prophesized that they would only reach the destined land when their
hunger had compelled them to eat their tables.
Aeneas sends emissaries to King Latinus, laden with gifts. King Latinus, realizing that Aeneas and his men
must be the foreigners destined to intermarry with his people, sends gifts to the Trojans in return and asks
Ilioneus to tell Aeneas that he wishes to give him Lavinia’s hand in marriage.
Upon hearing of this peaceable agreement, Juno becomes infuriated once again. Although she recognizes
that she cannot sway the Trojans from their destiny, she is determined to postpone their inevitable rise for
as long as possible: “so be it, let Lavinia be his wife/ as fates have fixed. But I can still hold off/ that
moment and delay these great events,/ can still strike down the nations of both kings” (415-418). To
achieve this end, she enlists the Fury Allecto to help her incite a war between the Trojans and the Latins.
Allecto approaches Queen Amata and enchants her so that she will do all that she can to upset the peace
between the Trojans and the Latins. Amata begs her husband not to give away their daughter to “Trojan
exiles” (475). Latinus refuses to be swayed, and Amata literally turns insane, raging throughout the city and
lighting fires while singing the wedding song of Turnus and Lavinia. She even goes so far as to hide
Lavinia in the mountains.
Allecto next goes to Turnus, where she takes on the guise of the elderly Calybe, priestess of Juno’s temples.
As Calybe, Allecto urges Turnus not to permit the Trojans to take control over the city, and tells him to
raise his men in arms against the foreigners. Turnus mocks Allecto, telling her that war is a matter for men.
Angered, Allecto reveals her true self to Turnus, and he is frightened into assent.
Allecto completes her plan to destroy the treaty between the Latins and the Trojans by visiting Ascanius,
who is hunting along the coast. She sends the scent of a stag owned by a Latin family into the noses of
Ascanius’s dogs, and then guides Ascanius’s arrow so that it slaughters the beast. The local farmers are
enraged and gather their weapons against the Trojans; Allecto herself blows the trumpet calling them to
war. The Latins attack the Trojans, and several men die on both sides.
Finally, Allecto returns to Juno to report that her work is done: “See the discord I made ripe/ for you in
bitter war” (718-719). Allecto offers to continue wreaking havoc, but Juno dismisses her, and Allecto
returns to her cave in Cocytus. Angered by the casualties, the Latins (including Turnus) storm the palace,
calling for war, but King Latinus refuses, and “shut himself within the palace, let the reins of rule fall
slack” (791-792).
Virgil next describes a “traditional Hesperian custom” in which the gates of Mars’s temple are thrown open
to signify the beginning of a war. Seeing that King Latinus refuses to take this step, Juno throws the gates
open herself, and warriors come from all over the kingdom to fight against the Trojans. Two notable
arrivals are the evil Mezentius and the brave Camilla, both of whom will be described in more detail later
in the story.
Analysis
Book VII is a turning point in the Aeneid, marking the beginning of the second half of Virgil’s epic. This is
evidenced by Virgil’s return to the first person: “Now, Erato, be with me, let me sing/ of kings and times
and of the state of things/ in ancient Latium when the invaders/ first beached their boats upon Ausonia’s
coasts” (45-48). This half of the book is distinct from the first, in that the action largely takes place in one
location. Furthermore, Virgil offers exhaustive descriptions of specific warriors, lavishing attention on their
ancestry and past feats of heroism. He also describes battle scenes in rich, almost tiresome, detail. Although
these elements may appear incongruous in light of the tone of the first half of the tale, it is important to
remember that Virgil’s audience would have relished Virgil’s willingness to offer the founding of Rome the
attention that they would have felt it deserved.
An interesting sidenote is that Aeneas himself appears in Homer’s Iliad as a relatively minor character. In
Homer’s epic, Aeneas is a warrior who survives a battle with Achilles, thereby implying that he does have
a great future written in the stars. Not only does Virgil directly emulate his predecessor’s style, in this Book
in particular, but he directly appropriates one of Homer’s characters in order to further link the three works.
By doing this, Virgil lends his epic the gravitas of association with an established classic, and underscores
his desire to have his work do for the Romans what Homer’s great poems did for the Greeks: give the gift
of immortality to their empire, and to their leaders.
An important aspect of Book VII is the emphasis that Virgil places on the Trojans’ blamelessness: they are
not true “invaders,” seeking to take over a land that does not belong to them and disturb the peace. When
he approaches King Latinus, Aeneas’s companion Ilioneus asks only for “some small settlement:/ safe
shore to house our native gods and air/ and water free to all” (300-302). Aeneas and his men are more than
willing to find a peaceable way to coexist with the Latins; it is the hotheaded Turnus and the meddlesome
Juno who intervene to create the ensuing tragedy. In this manner, Virgil reconciles the necessity of
conquering the Latin people with Aeneas’s essential morality and fairness.
Throughout the Aeneid, mortals fall victim to the gods’ meddling. This Book, in particular, demonstrates
the negative consequences that arise from intervention in matters of destiny. Even Juno finally recognizes
that Aeneas’s marriage to Lavinia is inevitable, but she cannot resist doing all that she can to stave off this
event and cause as much discord as possible. She enlists the hideous Allecto to aid her, and the ensuing
events recall the tragedy in Carthage. Like Dido going insane with passion after being hit with Cupid’s
arrow, Queen Amata goes “raging” throughout the city, insane with anger. Even Turnus, as unquestionably
self-possessed and autonomous as he is, is described as being driven to the brink of sanity by Allecto’s
interference: “Great fear/ shatters his sleep, sweat bursts from all his body/ and bathes his bones and limbs.
Insane, he raves/ for arms, he searches bed and halls for weapons” (605-608). Attempting to sway destiny,
it appears, not only creates strife but can lead to insanity.
Summary and Analysis of Book VIII
Book VIII opens with Latin warriors pledging their support to Turnus. Aeneas is greatly troubled by this
turn of events, and particularly by the fact that the dangerous Diomedes has been asked to support the Latin
troops. That night, the river god Tiberinus appears to Aeneas in a dream and tells him that he will see an
omen of a white sow with thirty white suckling pigs to signify the location of Alba, the city that Ascanius
will found. Tiberinus also tells Aeneas to seek help from King Evander and to pray to Juno in order to
assuage her anger.
The next day, in the woods, Aeneas comes upon the very sight that Tiberinus has prophesied: the white
cow with her sucklings. He takes this as incontrovertible proof that he and his companions are destined to
build a great city in Latium, and he sacrifices all the animals to Juno.
Aeneas and his men then take off for Evander’s city, where they find the residents engaged in a ceremony
honoring Hercules, who saved them from the horrible monster Cacus. Although Evander’s son, Pallas,
instantly thinks that they are invaders and demonstrates his hotheadedness by snatching up his weapons to
meet them, Aeneas extends an olive branch and is welcomed warmly by Evander, who remembers King
Priam and Anchises fondly. Evander pledges to support the Trojans and asks them to join in the
celebrations.
After the ceremony, King Evander takes Aeneas on a walk and tells him about the origins of Latium: once
the lawless home of fauns and nymphs, order was established by Saturn, who was fleeing the wrath of Jove.
On their walk, Evander points out a number of sights that would have been recognizable to Virgil’s readers
as important future locations. Evander takes them to his poor household and tells them not to feel bad about
his poverty.
Meanwhile, Venus notices the Latin uprising with alarm and asks her husband, Vulcan, to fashion Aeneas a
set of weapons. Vulcan agrees to do what he can to help her son, so he orders the Cyclops, who work for
him, to stop what they are doing and focus on Aeneas’s weapons.
At the same time, Evander is telling Aeneas that he has slim means by which to help the Trojans himself,
but that he should seek aid from the Etruscans. For years, the Etruscans suffered under the rule of the evil
Mezentius, who is one of Turnus’s allies, so they would welcome the opportunity to rise up against their
former oppressor and bring him back to their land to be punished. Evander also entrusts his son Pallas to
Aeneas, since Evander himself is too old and infirm to go to battle. Aeneas is initially wary of Evander’s
advice, but Venus sends crashing thunder and an image of weapons hanging in the sky as a sign that he is
to seek the help of the Etruscans.
Aeneas picks the bravest of his men to travel with him to Agylla, sending the rest back to the camp with a
message for Ascanius. With Pallas by his side, he meets with the Etruscans, who are led by King Tarchon.
At their camp, Venus appears to him with Vulcan’s weapons. Aeneas marvels over the extraordinary
craftsmanship of the shield, which depicts Rome’s brilliant future. The shield contains images of Romulus
and Remus suckling at the teats of a wolf and Augustus Caesar leading his men into battle, among others.
The chapter ends with a promising image, as Aeneas dons his new armor: “Upon his shoulder he/ lifts up
the fame and fate of his sons’ sons” (954-955).
Analysis
The primary function of Book VIII is to set up the readers' sympathies – in essence, to let them know who
to root for. Parallels are drawn between Aeneas, Hercules, and Evander, cementing the men as heroes in
their own time. Evander demonstrates remarkable piety, with his annual commemoration of Hercules’ great
feat; Hercules is an extraordinary warrior; and Aeneas is both courageous and pious, serving as a link
between the two great men. The positive qualities displayed by Aeneas and his comrades – including the
Etruscans, whose oppression under Mezentius’s rule immediately arouses sympathy – stands in sharp
contrast to the hotheadedness and antagonistic tendencies of their opponents, the Rutulians.
The second primary goal of Book VIII is to demonstrate, once again, that the great future of Rome was
destined even in Aeneas’s time. As they walk around Pallanteum, King Evander points out a number of
sites that were still in existence during Virgil’s time, thereby underscoring the fact that Rome’s greatness
was preordained. The shield that Vulcan presents to Aeneas is an even more concrete example of this
theme, containing images of the heroes to come. Even though Aeneas is unaware of the meaning of the
images, he is nevertheless awestruck by them, and their positive portents fill him with a sense of hope for
the future and determination to see his son fulfill his destiny.
Many of Virgil’s critics argue that the Aeneid is little more than a giant piece of propaganda intended
primarily to please his patron, Caesar Augustus. Indeed, elements such as the images on Aeneas’s shield
and Anchises’s tour of the Underworld certainly support the contention that Virgil hoped to present the
Romans as a people so favored by the gods that their rise to power was inevitable. In the scenes depicting
Rome’s future, the only characters described in any detail are the Greeks, the Trojans, and the gods (with
the Trojans given primary importance, of course); all others are mere filler, standing on the periphery of the
world stage. Virgil’s supporters, however, point to the fact that he repeatedly emphasizes the uncountable
sacrifices in the pursuit of Rome’s destiny; he attends to both the positive and negative aspects of the rise of
the empire.
One interesting element found in this Book is King Evander’s infirmity, which recalls both King Priam and
King Latinus. While all three men are unquestionably moral, pious individuals, King Evander is “heavy/
with age” (402-403), King Priam is “tottering with age” (II.685), and King Latinus is “an old man now”
(VII.56). Why does Virgil create such weak characters to rule over these lands? One possibility is that these
rulers are meant to represent specific aspects of Aeneas’s personality – his determination, his piety, his
wisdom – and to provide a prototype for the ideal leader late in life. They may also be intended to contrast
with the new generation of leaders; since the older generation is unable to lead their subjects as they once
could, a new generation awaits, ready to take over the reins of power.
An interesting moment occurs when Tiberinus orders Aeneas to make offerings to Juno (as he has done
several times before). When Aeneas finds the white cow and thirty white sucklings that mark the future
location of Rome, he sacrifices all of the animals to Juno. This is a curious gesture, considering that omens
such as these are what anger Juno the most, but by doing this Aeneas demonstrates that he is above the
petty quarrels of the gods. He is entirely assured of his destiny, and he will not lower himself to treat Juno
with the disrespect that she has shown to him.
Summary and Analysis of Book IX
Juno, determined to see the war between the Trojans and the Latins begin in earnest, sends Iris to tell
Turnus to attack the Trojan camp. The Rutulians surprise the Trojans, who react in fear to the approaching
“mass ... of gloom and darkness” (45-46). Since Aeneas is not present (he is visiting the Etruscans, seeking
their assistance in battle), the Trojans do as he had instructed, retreating behind their ramparts even though
they feel ashamed to do so.
Turnus searches desperately for an entrance to the Trojan camp but, unable to find one, decides to set fire to
the Trojan fleet. The attack is unsuccessful: years before, Jupiter’s mother had given her pine grove to
Aeneas for wood to build his fleet, and in return she had asked Jupiter to promise that no harm would ever
come to her precious timbers. Although he questions whether mortals should be given immortals’
privileges, Jupiter keeps his promise to his mother and transforms the burning ships into sea nymphs, who
flee into the ocean’s depths. The Rutulians are struck by fear at this sight, but Turnus maintains total
confidence in his ability to defeat Aeneas. He will not, he states, hide himself in the belly of a wooden
horse to prove his superiority to the Trojans; he will meet them “in broad daylight” (203).
Nisus and Euryalus, who had engaged in the footrace, now bravely volunteer to carry word of the attack to
Aeneas, who is still in Pallanteum. Although Nisus initially tries to dissuade Euryalus from accompanying
him, not wanting to put his friend in danger, Euryalus insists that he will have it no other way. Ascanius,
struck by their courage, says that he will reward them richly upon their return, even though all that
Euryalus asks is that his mother be provided for.
On the road, Nisus and Euryalus slay a number of Rutulians. Finally, however, they are spotted, and the
Rutulian horsemen give chase through the forest. Euryalus, laden with spoils from those he slaughtered,
falls behind, and he is captured by Volcens, a Rutulian warrior. Nisus makes a brave effort to save his
friend, hurling spears at Euryalus’s captors. In revenge for the deaths, Volcens kills Euryalus. Nisus rushes
at Volcens in a rage and thrusts his sword through Volcens’s mouth, but is then quickly slain by the other
Rutulians.
The bereaved Latin men carry Volcens back to their camp, and then they place the heads of Nisus and
Euryalus on pikes and parade them before the Trojans, who are deeply grieved by the sight. Rumor carries
word of Euryalus’s death to his mother, who weeps so piteously that the Trojans take her into their arms
and carry her home. Angered by the deaths of their friends, the Trojans return the Latins’ attack, and the
battle begins in earnest. The next few pages describe great brutality: a wall collapses, killing many Trojans,
and Ascanius makes his first kill in battle. He slays Turnus’s brother-in-law, Remulus, because he had been
mocking the Trojans. Apollo appears to Ascanius and tells him that while he has done well, he should
never again engage in war, but instead must work to maintain peace.
Finally, the Latins manage to beat down the gate to the Trojan camp, although the Trojans are able to keep
them out, and Pandarus, with superhuman effort, swings the gates shut once again. Several Trojans are left
outside to battle the Latins, but Turnus had made it through the gate with the Trojans. He begins running
rampant, killing all whom he encounters. Finally, Serestus and Mnestheus (who had engaged in the
boatrace) shame their companions for allowing one man to create such discord. The Trojans finally get the
upper hand and begin to close in on Turnus, but Juno sends word to him that he must flee. He escapes by
jumping into the Tiber River and allowing the current to carry him back to the Latin camp.
Analysis
In Book IX, the Rutulians – and Turnus in particular – demonstrate remarkable strength. Even though the
outcome of the battle is certain, the Rutulians nevertheless reveal that they are extremely resourceful,
courageous, able fighters, and they inflict a great deal of harm on the Trojan camp. Turnus is especially
remarkable on the battlefield, holding his own even when he is the only Latin warrior locked inside the
Trojan camp. Indeed, Turnus’s character, like Dido’s, derives its complexity from the fact that he is fated to
lose, but is so confident in his abilities that he continues to battle destiny. He is clearly intended to be an
antagonist, but Virgil allows readers to feel a measure of sympathy for this man, who is so certain in his
convictions that he fights – almost heroically – to the very end.
Some of Virgil’s critics even argue that Turnus appears almost more heroic than Aeneas, particularly in this
Book. Throughout the Aeneid, Aeneas certainly demonstrates skill and valor, but is it truly heroic to fight
when one is assured of success? Courageous, but heroic? It is a foregone conclusion that Aeneas will win
the battle; the only suspense that Virgil can offer his audience lies in Turnus’s remarkable abilities on the
battlefield. This man is such a brilliant warrior that he has the ability to keep the inevitable victors at bay
for far longer than they expected. By investing Turnus with exceptional abilities, Virgil heightens the
suspense of the Aeneid and keeps readers' attention even though they know what the ultimate outcome will
be.
One of the most poignant episodes here is the death of Nisus and Euryalus. These two men, who display a
deep and enduring friendship (if not also romance, if one interprets homoeroticism in the poem), reveal the
great reverence Virgil placed on such relationships. Nisus is a wholly self-sacrificing individual, willing to
go on a highly treacherous journey by himself, so that he will not place his friend in danger, and later
willing to sacrifice his own life to avenge the death of his friend. Euryalus is slightly less heroic; he appears
to want to accompany Nisus largely so that he can share in the glory, but is caught by the Rutulians because
he is so laden down with spoils taken from the bodies of his Latin conquests that he falls behind during a
chase through the forest. Nevertheless, the connection that these two men share is admirable, and their
shared death is undoubtably one of the most poignant, emotionally affecting moments in the tale.
Book IX is the only one in the Aeneid in which Aeneas is not directly present. Virgil does, however,
indicate that Aeneas is such a strong character that his men continue to obey him – and even take on his
characteristics – in his absence. Before leaving for the Etruscan camp, Aeneas instructed his comrades to
retreat behind the battlements should the Latins attack, and even though it goes against their instincts as
warriors to flee from battle, the Trojans do as their leader requested.
Aeneas's influence is underscored by the fact that many of the warriors display their leader's most notable
traits during the battle: heroism, morality, and courage. Ascanius, in particular, is able to take over for
Aeneas in his absence: as Aeneas might have done, he promises Nisus and Euryalus that they will be
rewarded richly for their bravery, and he is struck by the piety of Euryalus’s request that his mother be
looked after. Furthermore, he makes his first – and only – kill out of a desire to protect the honor of his
comrades, and he does so in a humble, relatively moral manner.
Summary and Analysis of Book X
Book X begins with a council of the gods. Jupiter calls the gods to Mount Olympus, where he berates them
for having meddled with fate. Although Venus and Juno attempt to argue the cases of, respectively, the
Trojans and the Latins, Jupiter asserts that there is to be no further divine intervention in the battle: “what
each man does will shape his trial and fortune” (160).
While the gods hold their council, the fighting on earth continues: the Trojans are still trapped inside their
battlements as the Latins storm their gates. Aeneas, with Pallas at his side, travels back to the Trojan camp
from his meeting with the Etruscans after securing their pledge of assistance. With him aboard the ships are
a number of notable chiefs and warriors, all of whom are described in considerable detail. On the voyage,
Aeneas is met by the sea nymphs who were once his ships, and the leader of the nymphs, Cymodoce, warns
him of the siege taking place on the Trojan camp. She also predicts that the next day will see a great many
Rutulian casualities.
When the Trojans see Aeneas approaching, his shield held high, their hope is renewed. Immediately upon
docking, however, Aeneas and his men are attacked by the Latins. Horrific fighting ensues, during which
many lives are lost on both sides. Aeneas, Turnus, and Pallas are each responsible for an amazing number
of deaths. Pallas, invoking his father’s name, enters into battle with Lausus, Mezentius’s son, but is slain by
Turnus. Turnus callously slings Pallas’s belt across his shoulders – a decision that he will come to regret in
the last moments of his own life. Pallas’s friends carry him back to camp, where Aeneas is spurred into fury
at the sight of the dead body of the boy entrusted to him by his friend for safekeeping.
In a rage, Aeneas cuts a wide, bloody swath through the Rutulian army – like a “torrent/ or black
whirlwind” (829-830) – in search of Turnus. Juno, fearing for Turnus’s life, asks Jupiter to help her protect
her favorite, and he consents to this one favor. In an effort to send Turnus away from the battlefield, she
conjures a mist in Aeneas’s shape and allows Turnus to catch sight of it. Turnus pursues the phantom as it
boards a ship, which then sets out to sea. Upon realizing that he has been tricked, Turnus is deeply angered;
he wonders whether he should save himself from the disgrace of having seemed to abandon his troops by
falling upon his sword, or whether he should try to swim back to shore. Three times he tries to jump into
the water, but three times Juno restrains him.
In Turnus’s absence, Aeneas and Mezentius meet on the battlefield. Although Mezentius is harmed, he is
able to escape Aeneas. His son Lausus, upset at the sight of his father’s wound, confronts Aeneas. Aeneas
warns the young boy not to engage with him in battle – “Why are you rushing to sure death?” (1113) – but
Lausus refuses to back down, and Aeneas slays him easily. As the boy dies, however, Aeneas is filled with
thoughts of his own father, and feels dismayed by what he has done.
When Mezentius hears of the death of his son, he is grief-stricken and sets out to avenge Lausus’s death or
to die himself. He engages in battle with Aeneas but is finally cast from his horse. As Aeneas holds his
sword poised above Mezentius’s body, the old man bares his throat willingly, his final words a plea to be
buried alongside his beloved son.
Analysis
The question of the inevitability of destiny is answered once and for all at the outset of Book X, when
Jupiter addresses the council of the gods. He chides Juno and Venus for having attempted to alter the
course of fate, refusing to allow any further meddling: “Jupiter is king of all alike/ the Fates will find their
way” (161-162). Although he agrees that Juno may help Turnus live a little longer, he tells her that
Turnus’s fate remains set in stone: “If you ask respite from impending death,/ a breathing space for that
doomed youth ... then let your Turnus flee” (855-858). He will allow her to sway the course of events
slightly, but she can do nothing to alter the eventual outcome.
Book X portrays Aeneas in a far different light than what we have seen thus far. Here we see a vengeful,
impassioned Aeneas, wreaking havoc on the battlefield. Even though certain elements of his behavior recall
Turnus’s rage earlier, Aeneas’s actions stem from the far nobler desire to avenge the death of the blameless
youth, Pallas, who was entrusted to his care. Furthermore, he displays a morality on the battlefield far
different than that of Turnus: when he is forced to kill Lausus, he is filled with pity and perhaps even
regret. Aeneas had wounded Lausus’s father, and his own close relationship with Anchises helps him to see
why the young Latin might have been driven to seek battle with him.
Turnus is not, however, wholly without redeeming qualities here. Once again, one could admire his passion
and determination to abide by his convictions while fighting a losing battle. After Juno, in a last-ditch
attempt to save his life, tricks him into boarding a boat that takes him away from certain death, Turnus tries
to throw himself overboard three times: he will either return to the battlefield and fight Aeneas, despite the
inevitably hopeless outcome, or he will die at sea - he will not be regarded as a coward who abandoned his
men and his beliefs.
The level of passion that Turnus displays in this chapter is almost unparalleled in the Aeneid. The only
other character with a comparable display of emotion is Dido. The moment when Aeneas goes raging
through the battlefield after learning of Pallas’s death is one of the few times in the epic when his
emotionality rivals that of Dido and Turnus. Interestingly, both Dido and Turnus are driven to such a state
by love (overtly in Dido’s case, more by implication in Turnus’s); Aeneas, however, is flung into the throes
of near-madness by the loss of a boy who was like a son. Once again, Virgil underscores his belief that the
relationship between sons and fathers is of utmost importance – so important, in fact, that it can push a
relatively calm and moderate man to impassioned fury.
Virgil’s ability to create antagonists as complex as his protagonists is exemplified in the death of
Mezentius. The previous chapter displayed his many misdeeds, and his evil nature has been emphasized
repeatedly. Yet Virgil arouses sympathy during Mezentius’s final battle against Aeneas. Mezentius is
acting out of a paternal love similar to the bond between Aeneas and Ascanius, and when he finally dies, he
does it bravely, turning his throat up to meet Aeneas’s sword. If he cannot avenge the death of his son, he
wishes to die on the battlefield and join him in the afterlife. Even though Mezentius is a “bad guy,” he is no
stock evil character, deprived of redeeming characteristics; he is a complex, multilayered character who
stands as a testament to Virgil’s extraordinary craftsmanship.
Summary and Analysis of Book XI
Although Aeneas is deeply distressed by the deaths of Pallas and his other comrades, he still offers a
sacrifice to the gods composed of spoils taken from Mezentius. He and his men bury the bodies of their
slain companions and take great care readying Pallas’s corpse for return to King Evander. Aeneas weeps
over Pallas’s fate and for having failed to keep his friend’s son safe. Nevertheless, he is heartened by the
fact that Pallas did not die a coward.
Messengers from the Latin camp then approach Aeneas, begging him to allow them to bury their dead.
“Good Aeneas” (137) grants them their request, telling them that it is only Turnus who should be fighting
him and that the Latins and Trojans should seek peace. The Latin Drances, who has an old grudge against
Turnus, tells Aeneas that he admires him greatly, and they agree on a peace of twenty-six days during
which all may bury their dead.
Rumor reaches King Evander before Pallas’s body does, alerting him to his son’s sad fate. Evander throws
himself across the bier on which Pallas’s corpse lays, crying, “I ... have undone/ the fate of fathers: I
survive my son” (207-208). Nevertheless, he asserts that he does not blame Aeneas and that he is glad his
son died bravely.
In a deeply emotional scene, Aeneas and his men set fire to the bodies of their comrades, throw spoils taken
from the bodies of the Latins into the flames, and offer sacrifices. Elsewhere, the Latins do the same for
their fallen men, and some women cry out that only Turnus should be suffering, since it is only he who
seeks war. King Latinus, pained by the turn of events, calls a council of the city’s chiefs. Some feel that the
problem should be settled by a duel between Aeneas and Turnus alone, and when they learn that the great
Greek warrior Diomedes has rejected their plea for aid, Latinus proposes that they attempt to establish
peace. Drances attacks Turnus, blaming the war on his arrogance, and Turnus responds by mocking
Drances and calling him a coward. He tells Latinus that he is happy to fight Aeneas alone, but begs him not
to “falter in dishonor at the threshold” (560).
As the council argues, they receive word that the Trojans are marching on the city. Turnus takes advantage
of the ensuing panic to urge the Latins to take up arms, and he prepares himself for battle. The Latins are
joined by the legendary warrior Camilla and her Volscians, who take over the defense of the city against
the approaching Trojan horsemen, while Turnus rides off to ambush Aeneas, who is taking a different route
through the forest.
Virgil focuses briefly on Camilla’s interesting history: when King Metabus fled his city in exile, he took
the infant Camilla with him. When he approached a river that he could not safely cross with his daughter,
he strapped her to a lance and threw her across, after praying to the goddess Diana to keep her safe. The girl
was raised in the wilderness and became Diana’s favorite: a fellow virgin whose only true love is of arms.
The Trojans finally reach the city, and the battle begins. Camilla is the fiercest warrior on the field, and she
slays uncountable Trojans until she is finally taken down by Arruns. Arruns is only able to kill Camilla
because he has prayed to Apollo to help him end her attack. Now Diana seeks vengeance by sending her
sentinel, Opis, to slay Arruns. Having lost Camilla and unable to hold back the Trojan army, the Latins
scatter. Camilla’s closest companion, Acca, sends word to Turnus of the events taking place, and Turnus is
forced to abandon his ambush and return to the city only moments before Aeneas passes through. Book XI
ends with both men returning to their respective camps on the outskirts of Laurentum to fortify themselves
for the next day’s battle.
Analysis
One of the more interesting problems that Virgil must have encountered while writing the Aeneid is the
difficulty of maintaining suspense in a tale with such a preordained outcome. Throughout the story, readers
are repeatedly made aware of the inevitability of Aeneas’s victory; the gods themselves have asserted that
his destiny is to found a city in Italy that will one day become the Roman Empire, and to act as the father to
a long line of kings that will lead to the great Caesar Augustus, Virgil’s patron. Even King Latinus tells the
council that there is no use in continuing the war: “My citizens,/ we wage a luckless war against a nation/
of gods, unconquered men; no battle can/ exhaust them” (402-405). Nevertheless, Virgil is first of all a
storyteller, and he does all that he can to keep his readers on tenterhooks as to the manner in which this
outcome will be reached. He does this by allowing the action to take a dramatic turn: in the previous
chapter, the Latins had the upper hand, exemplified by their destruction of the Trojan fortifications; in
Book XI, the Latins maintain their position (largely because of Camilla), and even slay one of Aeneas’
closest comrades, Pallas, but the chapter ends with the Latins scattering as the Trojan army presses in.
Virgil’s skill lies in allowing his readers to know only the story’s ending, not how it will come to pass.
Although Aeneas’s human limitations have been emphasized earlier, and he has even shown some
character flaws, Book XI lauds him as an unfailingly fair, moral leader. The funeral rites that he gives
Pallas are so exhaustive that even King Evander says that he could do no better for his own son, and
Aeneas weeps genuine tears of mourning over the bodies of his fallen comrades. Indeed, the degree of
sorrow that Aeneas expresses over the death of Pallas is almost startling if we recall that he only recently
met the boy, when King Evander introduced them. Pallas, it seems, reminds Aeneas of his son, Ascanius,
and the possibility of death that might have awaited the boy if he had not been preordained to help found
Rome.
Even though he is overwhelmed by sadness at the deaths of his friends, Aeneas is so merciful that he allows
the Latin envoys to reclaim the bodies of their dead so that they can be buried. Time and again, Virgil
emphasizes that though Aeneas is a courageous warrior who will never shy away from the battlefield, what
he truly wants is peace. This outlook contrasts markedly with that of Turnus, who refuses even to consider
abandoning the conflict.
Camilla is a strong presence in this episode; Virgil describes the origins of the great female warrior in
considerable detail. This is particularly striking given the fact that this episode and those surrounding it
focus almost entirely on the battle taking place, making the story of Camilla’s background a welcome,
peaceful respite from the exhausting bloodshed. Like Dido, Camilla is a strong female character who
commands the respect of the men around her, but unlike Dido, Camilla has no strong personal presence.
She is described wholly in terms of her abilities on the battlefield, and does not appear to have any notable
personality traits. Although audiences may wonder why Camilla is fighting on the “wrong” side, the fact
that Virgil focuses solely on her skill on the battlefield helps to explain this: Camilla is first of all a fighter
who will engage in battle wherever she finds it.
One particularly interesting element of Book XI is the absence of Lavinia. Even though the battle between
the Trojans and the Latins is ostensibly being fought over the hand of this character, she is rarely
mentioned. She remains quite peripheral and faceless (compare Helen in the Iliad). Even in King Latinus’s
council, the focus is never on the person over whom the war is being fought; by this point, it seems to be
far more about Turnus’s pride and determination to prove that he is the better man than it is about the love
of a woman. Lavinia seems unlikely to inspire such impassioned devotion as to incite a war, and Virgil may
have presented her in this manner in order to demonstrate that the mechanisms that bring Aeneas to his
destiny are irrelevant - the fulfillment of his fate remains of first importance.
Summary and Analysis of Book XII
Turnus, seeing that the tide of war has turned against the Latins, realizes that he now must keep his pledge
and fight Aeneas in a duel. King Latinus begs Turnus to reconsider and seek peace with the Trojans, and a
weeping Queen Amata pleads with him to defect. But Turnus cannot back down; his very honor, he
believes, is at stake. “The war,” he states, “will be decided by our blood; the bride/ Lavinia will be won
upon that field” (107-109). Aeneas sends word that he will duel with Turnus indeed, comforting his
companions and his son by teaching them “the ways of fate” (150).
The next day, both the Trojans and Latins gather on a field to watch the duel. Aeneas and Turnus agree to
the terms of the duel and offer sacrifices to the gods. Juno, afraid that Turnus will be killed, calls on
Juturna, Turnus’s sister, to come to his aid. Juturna disguses herself as Camers, a Latin warrior, and moves
among the Latin ranks, telling them that they should not allow their honor to rest on a single life. She is
able to inflame them into action, and Tolumnius, calling himself their new leader, hurls his lance at the
Trojans. It kills a young warrior, and the Trojan army rushes the Latins. Once again, the battle begins in
earnest, and King Latinus retreats to his castle to mourn the broken treaty.
Aeneas begs his men to calm themselves and leave him to battle, but he is hit in the leg with an arrow and
must flee. Turnus is heartened by Aeneas’s departure and begins slaying a great many Trojans. Aeneas,
back at the camp with his comrades, wishes only to return to the battle, but the physician, Iapyx, cannot
remove the arrow from his leg. Venus, upset by her son’s pain, sends a healing balm to mend his wound.
Thus recovered, Aeneas embraces Ascanius and returns to battle.
Aeneas and Turnus both slay a great many warriors, although Juturna is able to distract Aeneas
momentarily by riding around in Turnus’s chariot while Aeneas, believing his foe to be inside it, pursues
her. Finally, Venus urges Aeneas to move towards the unguarded Latin city. He pledges to annihilate the
city if the battle is not resolved that day. Queen Amata, terrified at the sight of the approaching Trojans and
believing that her beloved Turnus has been killed, hangs herself in the castle.
At last Turnus realizes the tragedy that he has wrought, and he calls for Aeneas to meet him on the field
once again to decide the battle once and for all. The fight begins by both men throwing their spears. Then
they rush toward each other to battle with swords. Turnus’s sword breaks off, forcing him to retreat, and
Aeneas pursues him despite his pain from the arrow wound. Aeneas, unable to catch Turnus, notices his
spear embedded in an olive tree and struggles to free it. Meanwhile, Juturna takes on the guise of Turnus’s
charioteer and returns her brother’s blade to him. Angered by this interference, Venus helps Aeneas remove
the spear from the tree.
Jupiter, himself angered by this continued meddling in mortal affairs, calls his wife to him. She knows, he
says, that Aeneas is fated to win, so why must she persist in staving off the inevitable? Jupiter tells her that
the end has come. In return, Juno asks that the Latins be able to keep their name and customs, and Jupiter,
smiling, says that he will allow the customs to be blended and the Latins to keep their name: “You will see/
a race arise from this that, mingled with/ the blood of the Ausonians, will be/ past men, even past gods, in
piety;/ no other nation will pay you such honor” (1113-1117).
Jupiter sends down one of the Furies to frighten Turnus into submission. Juturna, realizing that there is
nothing more that she can do to help her brother, flees into the depths of the river, moaning. Aeneas hurls
his spear at the fallen Turnus, and it pierces his thigh. Aeneas approaches Turnus to end his life, but Turnus
pleads for mercy, for the sake of his father. Aeneas is moved by Turnus’s words and momentarily considers
sparing him, but then notices Pallas’s belt slung across Turnus’s shoulders, and drives his sword through
his opponent’s chest.
Analysis
One of the most fascinating and perplexing aspects of Virgil’s epic is its ending: even though our hero
Aeneas is victorious, the Aeneid ends on an unquestionably tragic note, devoting its final lines to the sad
last moments of Turnus’s short life. Virgil could have ended the story with, for example, victory
celebrations and the joining together of the Latins and the Trojans, but he chooses to end it in a manner that
not only takes readers to the opposite emotional pole from the triumphant, positive beginning, but is
consistent with his interest in creating multilayered, painfully human characters. The ending of the epic is
tragic in order to convey Turnus’s complexity, as well as the complexity of the situation at hand (compare
the funeral of Hector at the end of the Iliad, after which the second half of Virgil’s epic is patterned).
Turnus is arguably one of the most inconsistent characters in the Aeneid. He is by turns courageous,
antagonistic, sympathetic, impassioned, and pitiful. This very complexity lends him his humanity. Just as
Virgil invests Aeneas with flaws in order to enhance the sense that he is not simply an epic hero but a real
person, Turnus’s capriciousness enables the audience to view him not merely as a villain but as a person
whose misdeeds are motivated by internal conflicts and flaws. Indeed, his motivations, while vastly
different from those of Aeneas, are in some ways no less pure. Turnus seems to be truly passionate about
Lavinia, while Aeneas wishes to marry her simply because it his destiny to do so; Turnus wishes to uphold
his sense of honor regardless of the challenges that face him, while Aeneas can, to some degree, rest in the
security of knowing he is destined to succeed.
In the final episode, Turnus’s willingness to fight Aeneas even though he knows that he is fated to lose
demonstrates his courage, placing him on a level closer to Aeneas than any other warrior. Yet in the last
moments of his life he is reduced to begging on his knees to be spared. Readers cannot help but feel pity for
this fallen man, and it is exactly this sentiment that Virgil hopes to elicit. Even though the ending is
“happy” in that the protagonist, Aeneas, is victorious, the focus on Turnus’s sad end demonstrates that no
victory is without its downside.
In the closing moments of Homer's Iliad, Achilles demonstrates his compassion by agreeing to return
Hector’s body to King Priam. At the end of the Aeneid, Aeneas is confronted with a similar decision, but he
does not show a comparable level of empathy (even though his loss of Pallas might be compared with
Achilles' loss of his friend Patroclus). The fact that Virgil’s epic ends with Aeneas’s sword plunging
through Turnus to his death, and with Turnus’s embittered shade fleeing to the underworld, might be even
more downbeat than the funeral of Hector at the end of Homer’s work. By ending the poem in this manner,
Virgil underscores the theme of loss as a consequence of following one’s destiny. Aeneas’s adventures
result in the loss of countless lives, but in the end something even more precious is lost, Aeneas’s mercy.
Throughout the Aeneid, the protagonist has shown himself to be a just, moral, and kind leader, but in the
final moments of the epic he is a fighter, slaying a man who lies pleading for his life at his feet. While
Aeneas may be a classic hero, modern readers might want their heroes to mix more mercy with their
justice.