Aeneid 1
The poem opens with an invocation to Caliope: the muse of epic poetry. This story is about
“arms (war) and the man (pious Aeneas) who was driven on by fate and the relentless anger
of Juno across land and sea, underwent countless ordeals to lead his people to a new home.
The poet (Virgil) asks Caliope to begin by explaining the reasons for Juno’s unbridled anger:
her furor.
The opening parallels with Homer’s Iliad for two reasons. Firstly the poet’s primary subject is War. It
also parallels with the Odyssey because it is the story of a man who is trying to get home, albeit to a
new home and again the poet tips his hat towards the Iliad when he asks the Muse to begin the story
with the reasons for Juno’s hatred of the Trojans just as Homer asks her to begin with the quarrel the
broke out between Agamemnon and Achilles in the Iliad.
The 3 reasons why Juno hates the Trojans
1. Through certain prophecies and omens the goddess has realised that her favourite city:
Carthage, for which she has high hopes, is fated one day to be sacked by a race
descended from the Trojans.
[Omens and prophecies are as important in the Aeneid as they are in the Odyssey because even the
gods put great stock in them]
2. She remembers how Paris of Troy slighted her beauty by choosing Venus instead of
her or Minerva for the prize of Discord’s apple (The Judgment of Paris)
3. She also loathes the thoughts of how Jupiter chose Ganymedes (a Trojan prince: the
son of Dardanus and brother to Ilus and Assaracus) as a cup-bearer snubbing her own
dear daughter Hebe whom Zeus gave to Hercules in marriage.
All three combine to make Juno extremely paranoid. She fears that with Carthage gone no
one on earth will honour her anymore.
The story proper begins when Juno spies the Trojans sailing around Sicily. They are nearing
Italy at last. She bribes Aeolus with the hand of Deiopea: one of her 14 nymphs (which parallels
with how in The Iliad Hera bribes Hephaestus to help her thwart the Trojans with the hand of the youngest of
the Graces: Charis.) Kind
and obliging Aeolus assures the Queen of Heaven that he needs no
bribes to carry out his duty and unleashes the winds as commanded.
As the storm engulfs the Trojan fleet, Aeneas’ courage fails him and he wishes he
had fallen in Troy to the spear of Diomedes (Just as Odysseus wishes he too had fallen in
Troy when Poseidon’s storm engulfs his ship in Odyssey 5)
Neptune however is displeased that the arrogant winds should have disturbed his
domain (the sea) without his permission. Neptune silences the winds and calms the
storm.
The sea god is not Aeneas’ enemy but nor is he necessarily his friend. In the Odyssey it is the hero’s
guardian Athena who quells the storm to save her favourite. Neptune simply calms a storm that
threatens to wreck a fleet of ships to which he is indifferent. He is more annoyed that the winds
should have disturbed the sea without his permission.
Aeneas’ fleet moors at Libya where The Trojans spill out to make camp and recover
from the ordeals at sea. Aeneas however climbs a cliff alone to search the horizon
for his lost ships (compare with Odysseus in Laestrygonia and Aiaia)
He spots a herd of deer and quickly beckons Achates to hand him his bow and
arrows then shoots down 7 deer; one for each of his ships. Compare with Odysseus in
Odyssey 9
Returning and dividing out the carcasses (one per ship) and doling out the wine that
King Acestes of Sicily gifted him he reminds his people of the hardships they have
endured: Scylla and Charybdis, the Cyclopes (compare with how Odysseus reminds his
men of all that they have endured to give them heart for the voyage ahead)
Meanwhile on Olympus, Venus appeals to her father Jupiter reminding him of his
promise that the Romans would rise from the descendants of Teucer through the
bloodline of her son Aeneas. (Compare with Odyssey 1 Athena talks to Zeus on Odysseus’
behalf). She reminds him that Antenor has already escaped through the Danaan ships
and founded the city of Padua (Venice) in northern Italy.
To ease his daughter’s mind Jupiter unravels the secret scroll of destiny [Fatum is
written in a scrol that Jupiter alone possesses](Compare with how Zeus calms Athena and
conspires to bring about Odysseus’ deliverence from Ogygia)
The destiny of the Trojans
 Aeneas will wage and win a war against the Rutuli from Lavinium in Latia.
 He will rule as king for 3 years until his death.
 Then his son, now called Ascanius but renamed Ilus (in rememberence of the
Ilus who founded Ilion) will go on to found the city of Alba Longa and rule
for 30 years.
 The Trojan line of kings will reign in Alba Longa for 300 years
 Then a priestess-queen Ilia will bear twin sons to Mars.
 One of these twins: Romulus, will found Rome after himself
 Jupiter has placed no limits on the duration and wealth of the Romans!
 Juno will eventually calm down and respond to better judgment.
 One day Romans descended from the Trojans will enslave Achilles’ Phthia,
and capture Agamemnon’s Mycenae.
 A Trojan Caesar: Augustus, will spread the empire to very edges of known
world and he will be deified after his death.
 Augustus will usher in a golden age of peace when the Temple of Janus will
be closed forever trapping Furor inside bound with 100 bronze chains.
This is a blend of myth, history and political propaganda. Remember Virgil was charged by Caesar
Augustus to write a Roman epic to rival the Greek epics of Homer. Homer composed entertaining
and thought-provoking epics. Virgil however must match Homer’s epics without copying them,
honour Homer’s heroes without honouring the Greeks and somehow manage to rig the poem so that
it inspires Romans in his own time to take pride in their heritage and their future. It is a lot to ask of
a poet.
Next, Jupiter sends Mercury down to Carthage to warn Dido to welcome the Trojans
in their land.
Meanwhile Aeneas strolls on the beach accompanied only by Achates and is met in
the trees by his mother (Venus) disguised as a Spartan or Thracian hunting girl.
Compare with how Athena meets Odysseus in Book 13 and also in Book 6. She asks Aeneas if
he has seen her sister. Aeneas recognises her for an immortal but not his mother and
asks her to tell him where he is and what people inhabit the land. Venus tells her son
that the land is called Libya and is ruled by Dido, formerly of Tyre in Phoencia.
Dido’s tale is a sad one. Her father had given her in marriage to the wealthiest man
in the land: Sychaeus, but her wicked brother Pymalion had murdered him and for a
time concealed his crime with lies. Sychaeus’ ghost came to Dido in a dream
however, exposed Pygmalion’s treachery and urged her to quit Tyre in search of a
new home. To speed her on her way he even showed her the location of a secret
horde of buried treasure. She led her people to Libya where she bought land with
thet reassure (as it turns out later from King Iarbus: a local Berber chieftain and a
son of Jupiter through his mother: a nymph of the desert. Iarbus gave Dido the land
in the hopes that Dido would marry him). Dido founded a city that is now being
built called Carthage.
Venus now asks Aeneas who he is and he explains that he is the famous Aeneas who
led his people from doomed Troy guided by his mother Venus and has been battered
by the waves ever since. He is searching for a new home in Italy. He left Troy with
20 ships. Only 7 now remain; proof of how much he is hated by the gods.
Venus now interupts him and assures him that since he is safe and sound he cannot
be hated by the gods and urges him to go into Carthage and seek the aid of Queen
Dido and find his lost comrade safe and sound in the harbour. Compare with Book 6
when Athena disguised as a Phaeacian girl sends Oydsseus into Scherie to beseech the help of
Alcinous through Queen Arete having filled him in on who’s who and what’s what first.
As proof she points to a line of 12 flying swans in the air and an eagle (Jupiter’s
bird), which had distrubed them but now they are settled and continue en route to the
rest. So too, she promises, Aeneas will find his lost comrades safe or en route to
safety in Carthage. Omens are important in Roman religion as they are in Homer’s
epics – even the gods use them.
As Venus turned to leave the divine light reflected off her neck and as she walked
Aeneas recognised his mother as she vanished. Aeneas calls afer her accusing her of
cruelty, begging to embrace her and talk to her face to face. (Compares and contrasts
with how Athena appears to Odysseus in Book 13. Whilst Aeneas recognises his mother Venus Pallas
Athene reveals herself to her champion: Odysseus.)
But whilst Venus made for her temple on Paphos she spread a mist around Aeneas
and Achates as they appraoched Carthage so no one could see them. (Compare with
how Athena conceals Odysseus under a mist in Scherie).
Aeneas and Achates move through the streets of Carthage marvelling at the industry
of the Tyrians and stop in a sacred grove wherein Dido has built a temple dedicated
to Juno. Here the two stop and marvel at the freizes on the temple walls.
Throughout the Aeneid Virgil paints tableus (describes rich imagery at length) The
Virgilian tableu is a clever device used to condense a potentially long winded
passage that is largely irrelevent to the quest of Aeneas but serves to fill the reader
in on the background to the story or places the proceeding episode in context.
Instead of simply telling the story, which would take a long time, Virgil imagines the
story carved in a frieze and proceeds to summarise the narrative of the relief
carving.
The frieze captures the story of Troy in its correct order. Aeneas sees the sons of
Atreus: Agamemnon and Menelaus. He see Achilles and he sees Priam, king of
Troy, the war and eventual sack of the city. He even sees himself carved within the
tapestry of stone. This tableau prepares us for Book 2 in which Virgil has Aeneas recount the sack
of Troy in vivid detail; a story which the reader wants to revisit because Homer’s Iliad stops just
before the Sack of Troy.
As Aeneas and Achates marvel at the frieze Dido arrives with her entourage and
takes her seat on the throne in front of the temple where she begins the business of
the day. Just then Aeneas sees the captains of his three lost ships awaiting an
audience with the queen. Aeneas and Achates are both happy and afraid to see their
comrades and for the meantime remain aloof confused by the unexpected turn of
events.
Iloneus is given leave to speak first. He tells Dido that they are Trojans who were
separated on the sea from the main fleet heading to the land the Greeks call Hesperia
(Western Land/Italy) and washed up on her shores. He assures her that they mean no
harm and wish only to repair their ships so they can either search and rejoin their
leader pious Aeneas or else return to King Acestes in Sicily.
Dido responds by easing his mind telling him that the Phoenicians have heard tell of
Aeneas and of Troy and bids them rest a while in Carthage where she will see to it
that their ships are mended and they are afforded all the help they need but she also
invites them to make their home in Carthage where she says Tyrians and Trojans
will live as equals. She also wishes Aeneas himself were present and offers to send
search parties along the Libyan coast in case he washed up elsewhere. Hearing this
Achates turns to Aeneas and asks him what they should do pointing out that all their
friends are now accounted. Aeneas moves towards Dido and his 3 comrades and as
he does so the mist disperses. (Compare with Odysseus in Scherie)
Virgil tells us that Aeneas looks like a god when he appears miraculously at the Temple of Juno in Carthage but
unlike Homer whose hero Odysseus is frequently in rags or filthy before Athena supernaturally enhances his looks
for the benefit of those around him Aeneas is actually the son of Venus and Virgil tells us she imparted to him good
looks and stature. Venus has left for Paphos at this stage. She doesn’t need to make Aeneas look divine. He always
looks semi-divine because he is the son of a goddess.
Homer uses several nomenclatures for “the Greeks” in is epics. The Achaeans are the inhabitants of Achaea: later the
Peloponnese where Sparta, Mycenae, Corinth, Argos, Tiryns and Pylos are located and to which Ithaca is geopolitically linked but after Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel in the Iliad and Achilles goes on strike he refers to them as
Argives signifying that they are the followers of Agamemnon who rules the Argeid plain from his citadel at Mycenae.
The Hellenes are the people of Hellas: southern Greece , where Achilles has his kingdom of Phthia in Thessaly. So too
does Virgil uses different words in referring to the Trojans. In connection with the hoary antiquity of the Trojan race
he sometimes calls them the sons of Teucer or the Teucrians because Teucer was the pelasgian ruler of the Troad
before Tros was born. Generally however he calls them Dardans/Dardanians. When specifically referring to Anchises’
bloodline he refers to the sons of Assaracus; Aeneas great grandfather, and he also calls them simply the Trojans or
else the Aeneadae (the sons or people of Aeneas).
Dido welcomes Aeneas to Carthage telling him of that the Teucrians were friends and allies
of her father Belus and how she herself remembers when Teucer visited Tyre and was given
Cyrpus to rule by Belus. She invites Aeneas and his comrades into her palace and orders up a
feast. She also sends 20 bulls down to Aeneas’ ships along with 100 swine and 200 sheep.
Aeneas sends Achates back with them to fetch Ascanius and some fine gifts: a fine dress
wrought with gold and a cloak worn by Helen herself, the sceptre of Ilone (Priam’s eldest
daughter), a pearl necklace and a bejewelled golden tiara which he intends to gift to Dido in
gratitude for her lavish hospitality.
The Roman guest and host exchange gifts, whereas in Homeric xenia the onus falls completely on the host to
make a gift to his guest.
Venus however has other plans. She contrives to send her son Cupid in Ascanius’ place to
titillate the heart of Dido with the gifts and arouse deep feelings of desire in her for Aeneas
because she fears the duplicity of the Tyrians: Juno’s people. Venus gives Cupid his mission
and he takes on the look and step of his nephew Ascanius whilst Venus spirits the real
Ascanius away to her shrine in Idalia wrapped in sweet sleep.
Achates now leads Cupid back to Carthage with the gifts and once he has satisfied Aeneas’
desires to see his son safe and sound he begins to work on Dido’s heart gradually erasing all
memory of Sychaeus and warming a heart unused to love with his fire. The Trojans and
Tyrians feasted long into the night and Dido brought out the cup of Belus, which her people
had long used at such feasts. As the cup is passed around she asks Aeneas all about Troy,
about Priam and Helen and not satisfied with the bitty answers she finally asks him to recount
the full tale of Greek trickery that saw the doom of Troy.
End of Book 1
Major Themes in Book 1
Fatum (Fate), The Greatness and Personality of Rome, Character and role of Pious Aeneas,
Roles of Juno and Venus, the character and role of Dido, Virgil’s narrative style
Aeneid 2: The Fall of Troy
At Dido’s bidding Aeneas reluctantly begins his sad tale ...
The Wooden Horse
The war had waged for ten long years without any decided victor when one day the Trojans awoke
to find the beach-head deserted. Overjoyed they rushed down to inspect the Greek camp and were
met by nothing but a gigantic wooden horse.
The Trojans were initially divided on what to do next. Thymoetus urged them to either cast it
into the sea or set it aflame whereas Capys urged them to haul it inside the city as an offering to the
gods. As the Trojans argued Neptune’s priest Laocoon came rushing down from the citadel. He cried,
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” and asked them to reflect on whether or not gift-giving fit with
Ulysses’ reputation. He proclaimed that the horse was obviously some sort of trick; either it was a
siege engine for ramming their city walls or else it concealed Greeks hiding inside and with that he
hurled his spear at the belly of the horse where it stuck quivering as the hollow womb resonated
from force of the spear.
Sinon’s lies
As the Trojans stood silent listening to the sound some scouts led a Greek with his hand tied
behind his back amongst them. He knelt on the ground before King Priam looking miserable and
bewailed his fate to have been banished by the Greeks only to escape into the arms of Trojans
looking to kill him. His misery made the Trojan’s pity him and Priam asked him his name and for him
to explain why he had been bound.
His name was Sinon and the Greeks had left him behind when they departed for Greece. He
was a liar placed by Ulysses to deceive the Trojans and they fell for it because he was committed to
lie or die. Being honest men, the Trojans had never met such bare faced duplicity and were
completely taken in by Sinon’s feigned misery.
Sinon said that he had been sent to Troy as a boy by his father to serve Palamedes who of all
the Greeks was the only one to oppose the war. Whilst Palamedes lived Sinon enjoyed a decent life
but once through Ulysses’ wicked schemes Palamedes was executed SInon’s fortunes took a turn for
the worse as he now fell under Ulysses’ suspicions. Sinon goes on to say that when the war began to
turn against the Achaeans they thought of leaving and tried to several times but each time they did a
gale struck up and prevented them, so Eurypylus was sent to Apollo’s oracle to find out why and the
response was that just as an Argive (Agamemnon’s virgin daughter Iphygenia) had been sacrificed to
allow the Greeks leave Greece for Troy, so too was an Argive life now required in order for them to
depart.
Ulysses immediately threw the prophet Calchas amidst the Greeks and demanded to know
who the victim was to be. Calchas kept silent for ten days and as time went by Sinon grew more and
more nervous as he knew that Ulysses would engineer it so that Calchas fingered Sinon, which he
did. Sinon was tied up like a lamb and anointed for sacrifice but managed to escape. The Greeks left
knowing that he would fall into the hands of the Trojans who would complete the sacrifice for them
and departed for Greece.
Sinon’s explanation for the Wooden Horse
Sinon now turns to the Trojans and begs for his life saying, “if you judge all Greeks the same
then kill me now as Ulysses wants. The sons of Atreus would pay a heavy price for the favour” and
this of course stays the Trojans’ hands.
Priam now has Sinon freed and promises him a new home in Troy provided he explain the
meaning of the colossal horse.
Sinon goes on to explain that victory for the Greeks in Troy always depended on the grace of
Minerva but Pallas had turned against the Greeks when Tydeus, Ulysses and Diomedes committed
sacrilege when having raided the Paladium (Minerva’s shrine by the beach at Troy) they dared to
touch the goddess’ statue with blood-stained hands. The idol was carried back to the Greek camp
and established there where its eyes were seen to glow red, it sweated salt water and it was even
seen to move. Seeking advice the prophet Calchas interpetted the omens to signify that Pallas
needed to be appeased, so the Greeks had departed to bring the goddess home and pay her due
reverence whereupon they would return this time assured of victory. It was Calchas who had
ordered that the gigantic horse be constructed as an offering to Minerva. It had been deliberately
built too large for the gates of Troy so that the Trojans could not take the horse inside the city. The
Greeks anticipated that the Trojans would think the Greek horse was some kind of trick and burn it.
If they did they would incur the wrath of the goddess who would naturally side with the Greeks
again.
Laocoon
When he had finished speaking Neptune sent two sea serpents out of the sea. They slithered
up to Laocoon’s two sons and coiled around them. In horror Laocoon drew his sword to save his
boys and the snakes then enveloped him and killed all three. They then slithered up to the Paladium
and disappeared under into its grove.
The Trojans drag the Horse inside
Aghast at what happened to the man who threw a spear at Pallas’ horse the Trojans flew
into a frenzy and heaved the horse within the city as fast as they could. They even broke down part
of the walls to do it. Four times the horse rocked on the threshold of the gate and four times the
Greeks inside were thrown against each other. Four times the Trojans heard the mysterious sound of
clanking armour from within the horse but no one paid any attention in their frenzy to claim
Minerva’s blessing.
The horse was now established in the square and the Trojans celebrated the departure of
the Greeks until late at night. Whilst the Trojans slept the horse opened and the chosen men spilled
out of the belly of the horse. At the same time the Greek fleet sailed back from behind the island of
nearby Tenedos by the light of the moon and disembarking the marched back to the city in total
silence as Sinon signalled them from the now deserted watch-tower with a torch. The Greeks insaide
the city killed the sentries and opened the Scaean Gate and the Greeks quietly spilled into the city at
long last.
Hector’s ghost
Aeneas was asleep in the house of his father Anchises. He dreamt that Hector’s ghost still
bearing all the wounds Achilles had given him appeared before him, told him the city was doomed
and bade him lead the Trojans to a new home in a faraway land. He awoke shaken by the strange
dream and climbed to the roof of his house to ascertain if indeed the Greeks were in the city. From
his vantage point he saw fighting in the streets and fires blazing.
Aeneas rushes out to die in battle
Just then Panthus: the priest of Apollo arrived to tell him the Greeks were in the city and
that all was lost. Aeneas quickly buckled on his armour in despair and went to win himself a noble
death in battle. Finding some comrades they ran to look for battle when they were mistaken by
Androgonus for Greeks. Falling in with Androgonos’ men the Trojans killed them and then Aeneas
decided to donn the Greek armour and masquerade as Greeks killing as many Greeks as they could
in the process.
Cassandra
The rouse was successful until at the palace of Priam Aeneas saw Ajax Telemonius dragging
Cassandra towards the temple of Minerva. Resolved to rescue her he ordered his men into battle.
Unmasked now as Trojans Aeneas’ men were butchered and Aeneas managed to escape with only
two men.
Death of Priam
Next they climbed up into one of the towers and began to sabotage the walls so that the
tower collapsed killing many hundreds of Greek beneath but by then the city was all but taken. As he
gazed down at the palace he saw Achilles’ son Neoptolemus, nicknamed Pyrrhus for his fiery hair
leading the Greeks into the a palace having smashed his way through the doors. Women ran about
screaming in despair but in the courtyard of the palace under the sky sat Queen Hecuba and her
daughters in the sanctuary of the altar. Priam now walked by clad in his armour seeking death but
Hecuba took him by the hand and led him to the altar assuring him that either the gods would save
them or they at least would die together. Now Priam’s son Polites came running up with Pyrrhus
chasing behind. Struck by Pyrrhus’ spear Polites crashed to the ground before Priam’s eyes vomiting
his life’s blood out.
Priam now cast his spear pathetically at Pyrrhus. It stuck quivering harmlessly in the centre
of his shield. Priam rebuked Pyrrhus reminding him that the man he claims as father had respect and
gave him back the body of his son Hector and that having killed a son in front of his father was both
wicked and ignoble. Pyrrhus bade Priam complain to his father in the underworld before he grabbed
him and dragging him shaking through his own son’s blood twisted his hair around his left arm to
arch his head back and plunged his poised sword into Priam’s body up to the hilt. Priam’s body was
decapitated and left on the beach as a nameless corpse. Such was the end of the great king of Troy.
Aeneas sees Helen
From his vantage point Aeneas saw Helen and knowing Troy was doomed decided that at
the very least this wanton slut would not return to enjoy a luxurious life as the queen of Sparta.
Before he could rush towards her and kill her though his mother Venus materialised behind him and
dragged him back from killing Helen.
Venus unveils Aeneas’ eyes
Venus now unveiled Aeneas’ eyes so he could see the true powers at work behind the doom
of Troy: the gods themselves. She explained that it was neither Helen or the Greeks who now were
sacking Troy but the gods themselves and she unveiled his eyes so that he could see and accept the
doom of Troy. He saw Neptune shaking the city’s foundations, Juno urging the Greek ranks on
towards Priam’s palace and Minerva herself in the thick of the fighting.
Aeneas rushes home to Anchises
Having accepted that Troy was doomed Aeneas’ first thought was of his father Anchises and
at once he rushed off back to his home. There he found Anchises and explaining what had happened
Anchises refused to go. Anchises was instead determined to go out into the streets to meet death as
Aeneas had himself originally wished. Reluctantly Aeneas helped his father strap on his armour
before once again unsheathing his sword and determined to go out yet again in search of desperate
death but Creusa now blocks his path and begs him if indeed he is resolved to die in battle to stay
and defend his familt instead asking him to whom he abandons his son Iulus, his father and herself
his wife?
Jupiter’s omen
At that moment a bright light shone from the crown of Iulus’ head and a bright but harmless
flame played about his head and shoulders. Seeing this as an omen Anchises called aloud to Jupiter
for a sign confirming the omen and Jupiter responded with a flash of thunder. Convinced now
Anchises bade Aeneas lead the Trojans on into exile.
Creusa’s ghost
Being too old to move quickly Aeneas picked up his father who clutched the idols of the
Penates in his arms and Aeneas also led Ascanius by the hand as he led the Trojans off into flight.
Creusa followed behind but when they got to outskirts of the city she had disappeared. Aeneas put
his father down and leaving Ascanius in his care dashed back frantically retracing his steps. Returning
to the house he found it in flames and there was no sign of Creusa in the palace. Aeneas searched in
vain calling her name in the streets but suddenly her ghost appeared before him larger than she had
been in life. Creusa’s ghost told her husband not to look any further for her, that Creusa was not
fated to go with him into exile, nor was she fated to return to Greece as a slave but to remain in
Troy. He urged him to protect their son Ascanius and told him that he would eventually remarry in
his new home. She bid him farewell and disappeared.
Venus shows the way
Returning alone to the refugees Aeneas was perplexed about what to do next but just then
as dawn broke the Morning Star (Venus) appeared over Mt. Ida and so Aeneas led the Trojans to Mt.
Ida.
Aeneid 3: Aeneas’ wanderings
Thrace & Polydorus
At Anchises order Aeneas led his people in the building of a fleet and their first port of call
was nearby Thrace, which had long been allied to Troy whilst it controlled Asia and whose gods were
equally friendly to the Trojans. There Aeneas founded a city, which he named Aeneadae. Whilst
making sacrifice so that Jupiter would bless the work Aeneas went to pluck some myrtle branches
from a bush on a nearby mound. The broken branch however dripped blood. Horrified Aeneas
picked another to find yet more blood dripping. He prayed now to the nymphs and father Gravidus
of Thrace to lessen this omen and stooped to break a third branch and this time heard a groan
coming from the roots of the bush. The voice of Polydorus was heard and it urged Aeneas to leave
this accursed land; a land of oath-breakers. Polydorus had been sent by Priam to Thrace to raise gold
to help finance the war but when Troy fell the Thracians murdered Polydorus and switched their
allegiance to Greece. The myrtle spears that pinned Polydorus’ body to the ground grew into the
bush and his corpse was consumed by the roots. Telling his father of what had happened Anchises
decided to leave Thrace but not before the Trojans performed funerary rights for Polydorus and left
him buried beneath the myrtle bush.
Apollo’s oracle on Delos
Their next stop was Apollo’s birthplace: Delos. There they were welcomed by the priest-king
Anius who led them to the shrine of Apollo. Aeneas prayed to Apollo asking him where the Trojans
might find a new home and begged some omen or sign. There was an earthquake and the shrine
split in two from the depths of the earth came an oracular voice that bade the Trojans to seek out
their “ancient mother.” Anchises thought for a while and then remembered that long before the
citadel of Ilion was built their people were known as the Teucrians after King Teucer who came from
the island of Crete and that the cult of the Great Mother Cybele also originated in Crete. The Trojans
set sail for Jupiter’s birthplace at once and made the great island in 3 days.
Crete
When they arrived they heard a rumour that Idomeneus had been banished from Crete and
that the land lay deserted. Having arrived and landed unhampered the Trojans busied themselves in
founding a new city, which Aeneas called Pergamum after that lost city in Troy. A pestilence
however soon came on the wind and crops and fruit failed. Anchises advised that they return to
Delos for further guidance but Aeneas was visited by the Penates in a dream who told him that
Jupiter denied the Trojans the fields of Dikte. Instead they were to search for the land once known
as Hesperia and now renamed Italia by a younger race. It was from there that Dardanus and Iasius
came to found Ilion on the rich plain of Troy. The Penates urged Aenenas to seek out the fields of
Ausonia in Italy and found his city there.
The Strophades & the Harpies
Reporting his dream to Anchises his father remembered that Cassandra had once
prophesized the same but that no one at the time believed that Trojans would ever resettle in Italy.
They left some people in Pergamum and took to their ships again. Not far from land the fleet was
engulfed by storm that settled into a fog. For 3 days the ships travelled on blindly until at last on the
fourth as the fog cleared Aeneas recognised the famous wandering rocks: the Strophades. Here they
saw herds of cattle and sheep wandering unguarded and landing the Trojans quickly slaughtered as
many as they could and lit the fires in preparation for the feast but no sooner had they sat down to
eat then the Harpies swept down from the sky. These birds of doom with the heads of girls, wings,
plumage and talons of birds and covered in the foulest excerement swept down and fouled
everything they touched before departing. Aeneas called his people back to the feast. The fire were
relit and more meat was roasted but the Harpies returned a second time. On the third Aeneas’ men
hid their swords in the grass ready to fight the Harpies shuld they return again and when they did
the Trojans hacked at them to no avail but they did fly off; all except their grim prophet leader:
Calaeno. Perched on a cliff she cried a prophecy to the Trojans. She promised them that they would
reach Italy but would not enjoy a new life in their city before craven hunger had forced them to eat
their very tables. Aghast by this dark prophecy Anchises lifted his hands to heaven and prayed the
gods to look favourly on the righteous and not to grant that this prophecy come true and then
ordered the Trojans back on the ships.
Chaeonia: Helenus & Andromache
They sailed past wooded Zacynthus and Dulichium, Same and Ithaca cursing the land that
bore Ulysses until they reached Actium where they celebrated games and Aeneas dedicated
captured Greek arms to Apollo at his shrine.
They sailed on past Phaeacia and onwards to the city of Buthrotum where rumour had it
Priam’s son Helenus had married none other than Hector’s widow Andromache and was no ruling
over the Greeks in the area. Aeneas went at once to see if there was any truth to the rumour and
happened upon Andromache making her annual libations over the ashes of Hector. When she saw
him approaching she feinted from the shock of seeing a fellow Trojan but when she came to she
asked is her were really alive. Aeneas assured her he was and asked for her story. She had indeed be
taken as a slave by Pyrrhus and brought here but by then he had fallen in love with Hermione:
Helen’s daughter and she was given to Helenus: a slave to a slave. Pyrrhus however had been killed
by Orestes in his madness as the Furies pursued him for murdering Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and
once dead Helenus and Andromache were free and settled on the headland where the founded a
little Troy in the land, which they renamed Chaeonia after Helenus’ best friend. Now Helenus
approached with his entourage and there was a tearful reunion between the cousins Aeneas and
Helenus and the Trojans were welcomed home into the home from home.
Helenus’ prophecy
After a long stay Aeneas asked Helenus, who was a prophet, for a prophecy. Helenus led
Aeneas to the shrine of Apollo, loosened his hair and made the sacrifice then gave Aeneas what
prophecy he could for as he explained Saturnine Juno forbade him to speak any more than what he
could say and the Fates refused to allow him no more. He did however reveal that he was to found
his city wherever he found a white sow suckling a litter 30 piglets under an oak tree by a remote
river. Helenus also urged him to heap honours on Argive Juno to appease her wrath. He warned
Aeneas not to approach Italy from the side directly across the water because hostile Greek occupied
every city. Instead Aeneas was to go around to Sicily and then around to the Tyrrhenian Sea, past
Circe’s Aeaea and onto Cumae. He warned him also not to take the strait of Messina between Sicily
and Italy because Scylla and Charybdis are treacherous. Instead he was to continue on and sail the
full way around Sicily. Once in Cumae he was to seek out the Sibyl on Lake Avernus and ask her for
her prophecy, which would make things clearer.
Sicily & Polyphemus
As the Trojans set sail for Italy they were given kingly gifts by Helenus. Andromache also
gave Ascanius, who reminded her of her own dear son now dead Astyanax and the Trojans vowed if
ever Aeneas was granted his destined city that their twin cities should be allies forever. On the
Trojans went across the sea heading south to round Sicily as Helenus had urged.
When the came in sight of the land Anchises looked to the cliffs to see four white wild horses and
seeing it as both an omen of war and then peace he lifted his arms to heaven in thanks. The Trojans
now made sacrifice to Minerva and to Argive Juno as urged by Helenus.
The Trojans sail on towards Charybdis giving her a wide birth by order of Anchises and
continue on towards the land of the Cyclopes where they pass the night cowering in the forest from
the ceaseless quakes of Mt. Etna. At the dawn the next day they were approached by a filthy man
dressed in rags. When he saw their Trojan armour he paused but then ran up and knelt before them.
They quickly learned that he was a Greek and he begged them to take him away from that land or to
kill him if they hated the Greeks so much; at least he would die by mortal hands. Anchises himself
raised him to his feet and asked him his name and tale. His name was Achaemenides; one of Ulysses’
men, whom he forgot about in his haste to flee from the hideous Cyclops’ lair 3 months ago.
Achaemenides had been surviving on wild fruit from the forest ever since. He urged the Trojans to
quit the land immediately telling them the story of Polyphemus. Just then the now blind Polyphemus
himself came into view with his flocks tapping a tree trunk in front of him like a staff. The Trojans
quietly disembarked but Polyphemus heard the splashing of the oars and turned in their direction to
roar. His roar brought the other Cyclopes down to the beach and the Trojans got a look at the giant
society. They unfurled their sails to take whatever wind was blowing and for a moment it seemed as
if the wind was going to blow them back to Charybdis until suddenly a northern wind caught the sails
and with Achaemenides as a guide retracing is own voyage in reverse the Trojans sailed on to the
western tip of Sicily.
Anchises dies
At Drepanum at the very western tip of Sicily something that no prophecy had forewarned
Aeneas about occurred. Good Anchises died and Aeneas was inconsolable. From that place the
winds blew the Trojans to Libya and Carthage and here Aeneas stopped his story and rested.
End of Aeneid 3
Major themes of Books 2 and 3
Divine Intervention, Fate, Pious Aeneas, Father-son relationships. Homeric parallels, The
Greatness and Personality of Rome, The role of Venus