Aeneid Summary
Book One, Part I
timeframe
 starts seven years after the fall of Troy.
 voyage from west Sicily to Latium
opening lines
 line 1: “arma virumque cano”
 arma = nod to Iliad
 virum = nod to Odyssey
 Vergil is combining the themes from these two great
epics, so he is essentially asserting his superiority over
Homer here.
 watch for other lines in which some form of “arma”
occurs with some form of “vir”. Vergil is a very
deliberate poet; he wouldn’t construct a line like
that without meaning something.
line 5: Aeneas has come to found a city (conderet
urbem) and establish his gods (inferret deos)
the gods (lines 1-25)
 At the opening, Juno is not angry with Aeneas
per se, but with what his descendants are
supposed to do to her beloved Carthage (in the
three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage).
 Juno’s storm parallels the Odyssey opening with
meeting Odysseus after Poseidon has caused a
shipwreck.
 Notice throughout the poem that the gods can’t
do anything about fate.
the gods (lines 1-25)
 All of the reasons for Juno’s wrath:
 judgment of Paris (Paris was a Trojan) that chose
Venus over her
 Ganymede installed as cup-bearer (among other
things) by Jupiter over her relative Hebe
 descendants of Aeneas will destroy Carthage (Punic
Wars)
line 33
 tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem.
(of so great effort was it to found the Roman
race.)
lines 34 - 80
 Juno angered that she cannot do anything to
stop the imminent destruction of Carthage
because the Fates have decreed it, but she still
tries.
 Goes to Aelous, king of the winds. Offers him a
nymph bride in exchange for causing a storm. Of
course, he agrees. (Who can resist a nymph?)
lines 81 - 96
 The winds, like a military line of soldiers (nature-aspeople simile), do Aelous’ bidding.
 line 92: first mention of Aeneas. His words: “three
and four times blessed are those met death
before the faces of their fathers under the high
walls of Troy” (O terque quarterque beati, quis
ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis
contigit oppetere!)
lines 97 - 100
 Aeneas wishes that Diomedes would have killed
him, in an allusion to Iliad 5, and that he would
be dead where Hector and so many other
awesome Trojans died.
 These lines are super-important for several
reasons.
 Is this the first speech that great Roman warrior
should give? Um, no.
 What might this speech be telling us about Vergil’s
feelings about war and the resulting diaspora?
lines 101 - 156
 Neptune is angry about the storm, since he is god
of the sea, so he stops it.
 Lots of ellipsis in Neptune’s speech to the winds.
Why?
 Another nature-as-people simile: Neptune acts
like some dude who calms a rowdy crowd with
words (could this be JC? Augustus? Just a
dude?).
lines 157 - 193
 The followers of Aeneas wash up on the shore of
Libya in a very peaceful cave place. They are
really happy about it. Achates starts a fire
(beginning civilization) and they toast up some
grain (Ceres = metonymy).
 Aeneas then looks for some other comrades and
finds some deer. He shoots seven of them (one
for each ship left) with Achates bow and arrow
(image of Aeneas as deer hunter will come back
later, so make note of it!).
lines 194 - 209
 The men have some wine and food and Aeneas
tries to cheer them up: you guys have suffered
more serious things before, the gods will give an
end to this. You suffered through Scylla and the
Cyclops. Maybe you will recall this time with joy in
the future. We will gain homes in Latium and
rebuild Troy. Just endure.
 Sad things: Aeneas tries to hide the sadness in his
heart and pretends to be hopeful for the sake of
his men.
lines 210 - 222
 They have a feast!
 But they are still sad for the people who are lost;
should they decide they are dead and mourn
them or should they keep hope alive that they
are still living?
(the gods) lines 223 - 253
 Jupiter has been watching these proceedings.
 Venus comes up to him with tears in her eyes for her son,
Aeneas.
 Venus wants to know why the followers of Aeneas suffer
so much when Jupiter promised that they are fated to be
the future Roman commandeers and such.
 Venus gives the example of Antenor, who was a Trojan,
who now has settled his people in Padua. She is especially
angered because although she herself is a daughter of
Jupiter and Aeneas is her son, Juno’s wrath gets to
dictate all of these events.
(the gods) lines 254 - 262
 Jupiter is kind of amused by her whining. He tells
her that Aeneas’ fate remains unchanged. To
ease her fears, he tells her all of Aeneas’ future
endeavors.
(the gods) lines 263 - 266
 Jupiter’s proclamations:
 Aeneas will wage war throughout Italy and bring
people mores (morals, laws) and moenia (city walls)
 After three years, Aeneas’ son Ascanius (now called
“Iulus”) will then rule for 30 years.
 Iulus will move the center of power from Lavinium to
Alba Longa where kings will rule for 300 years.
 Vestal Virgin named Ilia will be raped by Mars and give
birth to twin boys (Romulus and Remus).
 no mention is made of the feud between Romulus
and Remus. I think this is significant.
(the gods) lines 267 - 282
 Jupiter’s proclamations, cont.:
 Romulus’ empire will have no physical or temporal
limit (nec metas rerum nec tempora)
 “I give an empire without end” (imperium sine fine
dedi)
 Juno will give up her anger and rule the Romans with
me.
 The Romans clad in togas will be in charge of
everything ever (rerum dominos gentemque
togatam).
(the gods) lines 282 - 290
 Jupiter’s proclamations, cont.:
 Rome will one day defeat Greece.
 From this pretty lineage (pulchra origine) will come a
Trojan Caesar (Troianus Caesar) whose first name will be
Julius, coming from the great Iulus. You will worship him
as a god in the heavens.
 This really could refer either to GJC or to Augustus,
since he took the name upon his adoption. It’s
probably Augustus because the passage refers to
Caesar’s spoils won in the East, and JC doesn’t have
any of those.
(the gods) lines 291 - 296
 Jupiter’s proclamations, cont.:
 There will be an awesome age of peace.
 Remus and Quirinus (Romulus’ deified name) will
make laws together.
 The Gates of War will be closed.
 Crazy image of Furor caged, sitting on weapons,
hands bound by a hundred bronze-locked chains,
face bloody.
 Augustus then had a painting of this image placed
in the forum after Vergil’s death. Super weird.
lines 297 - 313
Back to the mortals: Jupiter sends Mercury down to
Carthage so that Dido, queen of the Phoenicians
who live in Libya now, will welcome Aeneas and his
men and not turn them away. The Phoenicians are
now ready to welcome the Trojans.
Pius Aeneas has been worrying about many things
during the night. At dawn, he decides to scout out
their location.
He sets out with Achates to figure out where they are.
lines 314 - 337
 Who should appear to them but Venus! Of course,
she is in disguise as an attractive Spartan maiden
out on a hunt (super weird).
 She speaks to them under the pretense of finding
out where her sisters are.
 Aeneas says he hasn’t seen her sisters, but that he
knows she is not mortal. He thinks she might be
Diana, so he offers her deer sacrifices in exchange
for information about where they are.
 She says she’s not Diana, and so she doesn’t need
any sacrifices.
lines 338 - 353
 Venus tells Aeneas that the Phoenicians live here
now and then goes on to tell him the sad, sad
story of Dido.
 Sad, sad story of Dido:
 Dido married Sychaeus, richest of all the Phoencians.
 Her brother Pygmalion was ruling Tyre at that time.
 Pygmalion killed Sychaeus to steal his money.
 Pygmalion hid his crime for a long time from Dido,
but she knew something was up because she kept
having dreams about her dead husband.
lines 354 - 364
 Sad, sad story of Dido:
 The ghost of her dead husband reveals the crimes of
her brother to her in a dream. The ghost of her dead
husband then tells her in a dream to escape to
another place where there is some buried treasure.
 She assembled all the people who hated her brother
to leave with her.
 She stole back the gold and sailed away! (dux
femina facti.)
lines 365 - 368
 Sad, sad story of Dido:
 They sailed to this new place and bought some land
and called it Carthage (new town).
 The story of how they bought the land:
 The Libyan natives agreed to sell to the
Phoenicians as much land as could be covered
with a bull’s hide and that the Carthaginians cut
the hide into long strips, this securing a
considerable area (don’t ask).
lines 369 - 377
 Venus ends her story by asking Aeneas and
Achates who they are and from where they have
come, even though she already knows (gotta
keep up the Spartan maiden act).
 Aeneas addresses her as dea because she is not
fooling him.
 He tells her they are from Troy and thus very, very
sad and their story is very, very long.
lines 378 - 386
 He calls himself pius Aeneas, which is a little
pretentious, if you ask me, and says that he is
carrying the household gods with him and he is
famous as far as the gods are concerned.
 He started with 20 ships for Italy. His mother
showed him the way. But then a lot of people
died, and now he’s got 7 ships.