By Eliott Anderson
Briar Moore
Vito Sicurella
Timothy Piatt
 Aeneas sails away from Carthage, but he doesn’t guess
what has happened there. Once Aeneas and his men
reach open water once more, a storm occurs. Aeneas
decides it is best to wait the storm out, and he decides to
harbor in the port of Eryx in Sicily where his friend
Acestes is. It is also the place where Aeneas’ father is
buried, and it happens to be his father’s death one year
anniversary. In honor of his father, there are to be eight
days of sacrifices and on the ninth day, games are to be
held in his honor. They offer animals for sacrifice to his
father, and the men bring gifts to him.
 On the ninth day the games are held, they begin with a rowing
race. The men participating are Mnestheus, Sergestus, Cloanthus
and Gyas, once the trumpet sounds they all take off. Cloanthus
ends up winning the race, with Mnestheus following in second
place; everyone ends up receiving a prize. The next event is the
footrace, where Nisus, Euryalus, Salius, and Diores. Nisus was in
the lead, but slipped on blood from a sacrificial animal, but
while falling he tripped Salius. Euryalus won in first place, and
Aeneas as he promised rewarded everyone else who participated.
The boxing match was next, when Aeneas asked for volunteers
Dares immediately volunteered. Nobody wanted to go up against
Dares, eventually the old boxer Entellus is persuaded by Acestes
to go against him. The match began but was called off because
Entellus blows were too fierce and dangerous, Entellus shows his
strength by punching through a bull’s skull in one blow, and kills
it.
 The next event of the day is the archery contest, where the
contestants have to hit a dove tied to a mass with their arrows.
Mnestheus fires his arrow, which misses the bird and hits the
cord binding it. Eurytion then quickly fires his arrow at the dove
while it is flying away, and kills it. Acestes shoots his arrow and it
catches fire in midflight, Aeneas sees this as a positive omen, and
gives Acestes the first prize. Next the men come out on their
horses to display their techniques of riding and battle. While this
is going on, Juno takes the opportunity to send Iris down as a
Trojan woman and motivates them to burn the ships.
 Ascanius is the first one to see the burning ships, and they rush
over to them. The women scatter and Aeneas prays to Jupiter,
asking him to save their ships from being burned down. Jupiter
then sends rain down to save some of Aeneas’ ships, only four
ships were destroyed. Aeneas isn’t sure of what to do at this
point, and his friend Nautes advises him to leave the unwilling
and weary Trojans in the care of Acestes. That night Aeneas’
father comes to him in his dream and tells him to follow Nautes’
advice, and tells him to see him in the Underworld once he
reaches Italy. Aeneas and his men select the people to stay
behind and Aeneas lays out a colony for them there. Before they
set out to sea, Venus consults Neptune and asks him to provide
protection from Juno and her tricks. Neptune agrees, but tells
that one man must die as a sacrifice for the safety of the rest of
Aeneas’ crew. That night, the lead captain, Palinurus, falls asleep
and falls into the sea.
 When Iris is sent by Juno to motivate the Trojan
women to burn the ships.
 Sleep, in the form of Phorbas, persuades Palinurus to
and Palinurus falls into the water.
 We think that the most important event in Book V is when
Juno sends Iris to give the women torches and persuade
them to burn the Trojan ships. This event makes it
necessary to decide whether to build Rome on the Eryx
port of Sicily, or to continue on to Italy with less people and
ships. Aeneas decides to continue to venture to Italy as he
was told initially. Some his people are either exhausted or
unable to continue on the journey as a resulted from the
destroyed ships, so they settle on the Sicilian coast and
establish a new Troy. This is very important because the
location of the city of Rome would certainly affect it future.
This is probably more important then all of the other
events of this book because the other things that took place
were simply sports that could not affect the future of Rome.
 This book is an excellent in terms of learning about
Aeneas. When Aeneas gives all of the participants of
the sports prizes whether they win or not, this show
how extremely generous and caring he is, as well as a
good leader he is. His speeches in this book show how
he knows what to say at the right time, which are traits
of a great leader.
 There are a few minor characters introduced in this
book:
 Mnestheus – a racing captain. He is the runner-up for the
rowing race.
 Cloanthus – the winner of the rowing race.
 Sergestus – he obtained last place in the rowing race. He
ran into rocks during the race, but triumphantly dislodged
himself.
 Nisus – he had lead in most of the footrace, however, near
the end, he slips on some spilled sacrificial blood and
purposely trips Salius so that his friend Euryalus could win.
 Euryalus – the winner of the footrace
 Dares – a famous Trojan boxer. When he volunteers to
participate in the boxing match, nobody wants to fight him.
 Entellus – an old, retired boxer. After being persuaded by
Acestes, he decides to box against Dares. After a few minutes,
Aeneas cancels the match, fearing the damage Entellus could do.
 Eurytion – the archer that wins in the archery game. He shoots a
dove out of the sky.
 Acestes is a semi-important character. He is the King of Sicily, a
good friend of Aeneas, and the man who buried Aeneas’s father.
He plays in the archery event, and shoots an arrow that magically
catches on fire.
 “Just as storm clouds that rattle thick hail on the roofs, so
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do the hero’s two thick hands pummel, pound on Dares,
blow on blow, from every side.”
“They leave the starting point; they stream out like a storm
cloud.”
“The first to go is Nisus, darting past all others, swifter than
the wind or than winged lightning.”
“The labyrinth in high Crete had a path built out of blind
walls, an ambiguous maze of a thousand ways, a winding
course that mocked all signs of finding a way out.”
“Why should I confide Aeneas to the deceiving winds- I
who have been cheated so often by the treachery of the
tranquil skies?”
 Serpent in Aeneas’ father’s tomb- Acts as the attendant
and symbolizes of the spirit of Anchises.
 Bad Weather- The bad weather that occurs is symbolic
of Aeneas’ father’s death.
 Flaming Arrow- It is a good omen.
 The Games- Symbolic of unity, peace, and celebration.
 Aeneas speaks to his Crew
“[…]the circling year completes its months since we entombed in earth the
bones and remnants of my godlike father. Unless I err, that anniversary
is here, the day that I shall always keeping grief and honor[...]”
This shows that Aeneas respects and loves his father, and that this year
marks the first anniversary of his death.
 Iris to the Trojan Women
“In my sleep the image of the prophetess Cassandra appeared and offered
blazing brands. "Look here for Troy; here is your home!" she cried. The
time to act is now; such signs do not allow delay. Here are four altars
raised to Neptune; the god himself gives us the will, the torches.”
This is Iris motivating the Trojan women to burn down the ships so that
Aeneas and his men couldn’t continue their journey, and instead build
a city where they are.
 Neptune to Venus
“[…] He will safely reach the harbor of Avernus. And
you will only have to mourn one Trojan, one lost
within the eddies of the sea; one life shall be enough
instead of many.”
This shows that the gods are willing to help Aeneas and that
they are on his side.
 “Mnestheus, soon to be Italian, the chief from whom the line
of Memmians will take their name.”
It is foreshadowed that Mnestheus will conquer the Italians and start the
tribe known as the Memmians.
 “Last, Cloanthus[…] it is he from whom you take your
name, Roman Cluentius.”
Shows that Cloanthus will start the Roman house of Cluentius.
 “[…]Your bright son, Polites, destined to swell the race of the
Italians;[…]”
That Polites will start a large family in Italy.
 “[…]And you will only have to mourn one Trojan, one lost within
the eddies of the sea; one life shall be enough instead of many.”
This foreshadows one crew member will die in order to get to Italy
safely.
 Epithets
 Pious Aeneas, Father Aeneas, Goddess-born - Aeneas
 Saturn’s Son- Neptune
 All-able Jupiter- Jupiter
 Epic Digression
 The games, that take up most of this book, do not
further the plotline of the story, and only serve as a
“break” for the audience.
 Speeches
(Lines 61-98, Mandelbaum ed.)
Aeneas gives this speech concerning the anniversary of
his father’s death and the start of the funeral games.
 Would you settle where Aeneas and his men find
themselves, in the port of Eryx, and go against fate?
Would you try to sail to Italy? Why or why not?