AENEID – PLOT, THEMES, SYMBOLS,
TECHNIQUES, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT;
QUOTES & SCHOLARSHIP
FATE
Book 1 – invocation referencing destruction of Carthage and founding of
Rome, ‘so heavy was the cost of founding the Roman race’, Dido is
doomed to be the victim of s plague
Book 2 – Hector appears in Aeneas’ dream, tells Aeneas to escape and
look for new city. Aeneas doesn’t accept and tries to fight showing
resistance to fate, Venus reminds Aeneas about Hectors visit
Book 3 – Helenus, a seer, tells Aeneas to go to the underworld
Book 4 – ‘it is not by my own will that I search for italy’
Book 6 – meets Sibyl, Anchises reveals future of Rome
Book 8 – Aeneas has vision of Tiberius, calms him and promises victory,
Vulcan references fate of Troys fall and Priam’s death
Book 10 – Gods agree to not intervene ‘let each man face his own fortune’
‘the fates will find their way’
Book 12 – Juturna showed false omen of eagle (Aeneas) seizing a swan
(turnus) and then dropping
Ross – the Aeneid is not a poem about religion, but fate and the gods
seem to be everywhere
Gransden – Fate means certain events have to happen but the exact time
and circumstances are not fixed
Camps – His will is free and his decisions are his own, that distinguishes
his situation from other characters
Grandsen – the concept of fate dominates the aeneid
,THE GODS AND DIVINE INTERVENTION
Book 1 – Juno ‘why did she drive a man famous for his piety to such
endless hardship and such suffering?’ , tries to get Aeolus to attack
Aeneas’ fleet at sea
Book 1 – Cupid disguised as Ascanius, Venus arranging for Dido and
Aeneas to fall in love
Book 2 – Venus stops Aeneas from killing Helen, reminds him of his
responsibility to family and adds information about his destiny
Book 3 – Apollo tells Aeneas to find the land of his forefathers and return
to his ancient mother where his descendants would rule the world,
Harpies (Caelano) tells Aeneas he wont found Rome until they undergo a
famine so great they will try to eat their tables
Book 4 – Cupid inflames Dido to fall in love with Aeneas, Cave scene
where Venus and Juno wed the couple in marriage
Book 7 – Juno summons Alecto to inflame Amata, Turnus and Ascanius’
hounds, Juno kicks open the gates of war. Alecto puts a viper in Amatas
heart and she goes around like a Bacchant singing wedding hymn for
Turnus and Lavinia, similar to Didos madness. Turnus tells Alecto to leave
peace and war to men and she throws a torch at his heart. Alecto put
Ascanius’ dogs on the trail of a stag, killed innocent stag which angers
herdsmen
Book 8 – Tiberius advises Aeneas to make an alliance with Evander (king
of future site of Rome)
Book 9 – Juno sends down Iris to tell Turnus to attack Trojans while Aeneas
is gone, goddess from Mount Ida turns trojan ships into nymphs to protect
from Turnus
Book 10 – Juno – ‘neither man nor god compelled Aeneas to choose the
ways of war’ but Allecto compelling Amata, Turnus, Ascanius’ hounds led
to war, Venus deflecting spears so that they only ‘grazed’ Aeneas’ body,
‘three times he tried each way, three times Juno held him back’ Turnus has
no agency.
Book 11 – Jupiter roused Tarchon to bitter battle,
Book 12 – ‘the god of fire himself had made the word for turnus’, Jupiter
tells Juturna to intervene, Juturna shows fake portent of eagle seizing
noble swan, Mars stirs up war, Venus puts special healing herbs into the
water aeneas’ wound is being cleaned in, Venus puts idea to go into city
into Aeneas’ mind throwing Latins into confusion, Juturna ran to give
, Turnus sword (in form of a charioteer), Venus wrenched out Aeneas’ spear
from the root, Jupiter to Juno ‘to light fires of an unholy war, to soil a house
with sorrow and mix the sound of mourning with the marriage song. I
forbid you to go further’
Ross – the Aeneid is not a poem about religion, but fate and the gods
seem to be everywhere
Rutherford – Women, and everyone else, are powerless under the forces of
the gods. Turnus is hopeless due to the manipulations of the gods
Williams – It is only in the world after death that Virgil can justify the ways
of the gods to men
Morton – The aeneid can also be read as the story about wrath of Juno
Quesnay – the unhappiness which leads to her (dido) suicide is the result
of the intervention of the gods
PIETAS
Book 1 - Epithet – pious Aeneas introduced in opening invocation, tries to
inspire men despite feelings, ‘he will build walls for people and establish
their way of life’
Book 3 – Aeneas carries Anchises on his back and holds Ascanius’ hand
while escaping Troy, Aeneas mourning the death of Anchises
Book 4 – Mercury finds Aeneas laying foundations of citadel in Carthage,
and reminds him his duty is to do it in Italy. Aeneas has to choose between
love and duty, he chooses duty and leaves Carthage
Book 6 – reunion with Anchises, attempting to embrace three times, then
crying
Book 9 – Nisus and Euryalus relationship
Book 10 – Aeneas’ pietas briefly returns after killing Lausus ‘he lifted
Lausus off the ground..he was soiling his carefully tended hair with blood’
Book 11 – book opens with Aeneas burying comrades, father Aeneas built
funeral pyres
Book 12 – Devout Aeneas, prays to Juno and Jupiter, ‘altar’ ‘peace’
religious imagery
TECHNIQUES, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT;
QUOTES & SCHOLARSHIP
FATE
Book 1 – invocation referencing destruction of Carthage and founding of
Rome, ‘so heavy was the cost of founding the Roman race’, Dido is
doomed to be the victim of s plague
Book 2 – Hector appears in Aeneas’ dream, tells Aeneas to escape and
look for new city. Aeneas doesn’t accept and tries to fight showing
resistance to fate, Venus reminds Aeneas about Hectors visit
Book 3 – Helenus, a seer, tells Aeneas to go to the underworld
Book 4 – ‘it is not by my own will that I search for italy’
Book 6 – meets Sibyl, Anchises reveals future of Rome
Book 8 – Aeneas has vision of Tiberius, calms him and promises victory,
Vulcan references fate of Troys fall and Priam’s death
Book 10 – Gods agree to not intervene ‘let each man face his own fortune’
‘the fates will find their way’
Book 12 – Juturna showed false omen of eagle (Aeneas) seizing a swan
(turnus) and then dropping
Ross – the Aeneid is not a poem about religion, but fate and the gods
seem to be everywhere
Gransden – Fate means certain events have to happen but the exact time
and circumstances are not fixed
Camps – His will is free and his decisions are his own, that distinguishes
his situation from other characters
Grandsen – the concept of fate dominates the aeneid
,THE GODS AND DIVINE INTERVENTION
Book 1 – Juno ‘why did she drive a man famous for his piety to such
endless hardship and such suffering?’ , tries to get Aeolus to attack
Aeneas’ fleet at sea
Book 1 – Cupid disguised as Ascanius, Venus arranging for Dido and
Aeneas to fall in love
Book 2 – Venus stops Aeneas from killing Helen, reminds him of his
responsibility to family and adds information about his destiny
Book 3 – Apollo tells Aeneas to find the land of his forefathers and return
to his ancient mother where his descendants would rule the world,
Harpies (Caelano) tells Aeneas he wont found Rome until they undergo a
famine so great they will try to eat their tables
Book 4 – Cupid inflames Dido to fall in love with Aeneas, Cave scene
where Venus and Juno wed the couple in marriage
Book 7 – Juno summons Alecto to inflame Amata, Turnus and Ascanius’
hounds, Juno kicks open the gates of war. Alecto puts a viper in Amatas
heart and she goes around like a Bacchant singing wedding hymn for
Turnus and Lavinia, similar to Didos madness. Turnus tells Alecto to leave
peace and war to men and she throws a torch at his heart. Alecto put
Ascanius’ dogs on the trail of a stag, killed innocent stag which angers
herdsmen
Book 8 – Tiberius advises Aeneas to make an alliance with Evander (king
of future site of Rome)
Book 9 – Juno sends down Iris to tell Turnus to attack Trojans while Aeneas
is gone, goddess from Mount Ida turns trojan ships into nymphs to protect
from Turnus
Book 10 – Juno – ‘neither man nor god compelled Aeneas to choose the
ways of war’ but Allecto compelling Amata, Turnus, Ascanius’ hounds led
to war, Venus deflecting spears so that they only ‘grazed’ Aeneas’ body,
‘three times he tried each way, three times Juno held him back’ Turnus has
no agency.
Book 11 – Jupiter roused Tarchon to bitter battle,
Book 12 – ‘the god of fire himself had made the word for turnus’, Jupiter
tells Juturna to intervene, Juturna shows fake portent of eagle seizing
noble swan, Mars stirs up war, Venus puts special healing herbs into the
water aeneas’ wound is being cleaned in, Venus puts idea to go into city
into Aeneas’ mind throwing Latins into confusion, Juturna ran to give
, Turnus sword (in form of a charioteer), Venus wrenched out Aeneas’ spear
from the root, Jupiter to Juno ‘to light fires of an unholy war, to soil a house
with sorrow and mix the sound of mourning with the marriage song. I
forbid you to go further’
Ross – the Aeneid is not a poem about religion, but fate and the gods
seem to be everywhere
Rutherford – Women, and everyone else, are powerless under the forces of
the gods. Turnus is hopeless due to the manipulations of the gods
Williams – It is only in the world after death that Virgil can justify the ways
of the gods to men
Morton – The aeneid can also be read as the story about wrath of Juno
Quesnay – the unhappiness which leads to her (dido) suicide is the result
of the intervention of the gods
PIETAS
Book 1 - Epithet – pious Aeneas introduced in opening invocation, tries to
inspire men despite feelings, ‘he will build walls for people and establish
their way of life’
Book 3 – Aeneas carries Anchises on his back and holds Ascanius’ hand
while escaping Troy, Aeneas mourning the death of Anchises
Book 4 – Mercury finds Aeneas laying foundations of citadel in Carthage,
and reminds him his duty is to do it in Italy. Aeneas has to choose between
love and duty, he chooses duty and leaves Carthage
Book 6 – reunion with Anchises, attempting to embrace three times, then
crying
Book 9 – Nisus and Euryalus relationship
Book 10 – Aeneas’ pietas briefly returns after killing Lausus ‘he lifted
Lausus off the ground..he was soiling his carefully tended hair with blood’
Book 11 – book opens with Aeneas burying comrades, father Aeneas built
funeral pyres
Book 12 – Devout Aeneas, prays to Juno and Jupiter, ‘altar’ ‘peace’
religious imagery
