Aeneid Is Essentially the Story

¶ … Aeneid is essentially the story of the founding of Rome told through the adventures of Aeneas, the son of a mortal Trojan and the goddess of love, Venus. Aeneas is wandering after the fall of Troy by the hands of the Greeks. He was fated to escape alive and it is prophesied that he will be the catalyst to a new great city being established whose people are destined to rule the world with great wisdom, creating peace and prosperity for generations to come. The great god Jupiter is the one who sets Aeneas on his task, but the powerful goddess Juno is determined to keep Aeneas from reaching his goal to avoid the inevitable fall of her favored city, Carthage, at the hands of the Romans. The poem chronicles the obstacles and trials that faced Aeneas on his way to Rome.

The poem begins with Aeneas' fleet (the seven ships remaining) being wrecked on the coast near where Dido, a refugee Phoenician queen, is building the city that will become the powerful Carthage. Through the influence of Cupid, the queen is struck when she meets Aeneas and she falls desperately in love with him, completely ignorant of the fate he will bring her and her city. It is also explained why the goddess Juno holds such contempt for Aeneas and his task. Paris, also a Trojan, had declared Juno's rival, Venus the fairest of the two. So Aeneas is not only hated because he is Trojan, but also because he is Venus' son.

Book two and three are essentially a retelling of the tale of the fall of Troy. Aeneas tells the story of the Trojan horse, and the brutal attack of the city. His tale is a tragic one and he laments the fact that he was able to escape and not to die a noble death with his city as a warrior. He explains how his wife, Creusa is lost in the commotion, and then appears to him as a shad to explain his fate. Through Aeneas' storytelling, Book two he explains the adventures on the sea, and the dead of his father. Dido is even more enamored of him by the end of his tale.

Book four details the love affair between Aeneas and Dido. It was encouraged by Juno, who saw it as an opportunity to keep Aeneas from going to Italy, and it was a successful plan initially until Jupiter sees what is happening and sends a messenger to remind Aeneas of his fate elsewhere. Unable to deny the gods, Aeneas sets out to break the news to Dido, who does not take it well. In a dream that night Mercury again comes to Aeneas to tell him to leave right away because he has stalled far too long. Aeneas obeys, but the sleepless Dido sees his departure and is overcome with grief. She throws herself on a sword that Aeneas left behind, ending her life with a curse on Aeneas.

Book five Aeneas returns to Sicily, where his father died. He holds games to commemorate the anniversary of his death, but Juno is still hot on his trail. Through her messenger, Iris, she inspires the women of the island to set fire to the fleet of ships to force them to settle there on the island. Once again the influence of the gods save the fleet by conjuring up a rainstorm to douse the flames. As Aeneas becomes weary and suspicious of all the misfortune, a seer suggests that he leave behind Trojans who are ready to end their journey. Venus pleads with Neptune to secure their journey from this point forward, and he agrees but at the price of one Trojan, Palinurus, who falls asleep and falls into the ocean.

Book six finally sees Aeneas in Italy. The Sybil of Apollo tells him that there are many more trials in front of him, and Aeneas asks to settle there in Latium. He also asked to be taken to the underworld to speak with his father. There he sees the shade of Dido -- who turns away from him -- in the forest where suicides wander. He sees all of the underworld, and several familiar souls, but finally comes upon his father who explains the great lineage that he is to begin and the future of Rome. When he hears this, he finally understands the importance of his journey, and he continues on after leaving Dis.

Book seven marks the second half of the poem, showing a new revitalization of purpose in both the writing and the journey. Recognizing that they have finally reached their promised land by fulfilling a curse from the Harpy, Aeneas finds himself in Latium, where the daughter of the king is fated to marry a foreigner.

For thus Anchises prophesied of old,

And this our fatal place of rest foretold:

When, on a foreign shore, instead of meat,

By famine forc'd, your trenchers you shall eat,

Then ease your weary Trojans will attend,

And the long labors of your voyage end.

Remember on that happy coast to build,

And with a trench inclose the fruitful field.'

VII. 168-173)

The king offers his daughter along with the land that Aeneas requests to found a new city, but Juno inspires a hated of the Trojans to delay the founding of their great city and begins a war between the Trojans and the Latins and the kingdom of a nearby suitor.

In book eight, preparations of war are described. Aeneas is presented with armor that depicts the future of Rome on the shield. Books nine, ten, and eleven detail the events of the war including a council held by the gods who determine that the mortals' fates are in their own hands because of the bickering caused in the heavens. Book twelve ends with Juno finally giving in to the fate that Aeneas brings, but bargains with Jupiter that the Trojans will at least adopt the Latin language. Turnus, the suitor, is slain by Aeneas in a duel, and the battle, and the epic poem, is finally ended.

This epic poem is a very powerful piece. It is full of violence and blood:

When two bulls lower heads and horns and charge

In deadly combat...

They g]ore one another, bathing necks and humps

In sheets of blood, and the whole woodland bellows.

Just so Trojan Aeneas and the hero

Son of Daunus, battering shield on shield,

Fought with a din that filled the air of heaven.

XII.972-982) but laced with pride and love:

Did you suppose, my father,

That I could tear myself away and leave you?

Unthinkable; how could a father say it?

Now if it pleases the powers about that nothing

Stand of this great city; if your heart

Is set on adding your own death and ours

To that of Troy, the door's wide open for it.

II.857-863)

It is fascinating how the form itself is so compact, and the length is really rather short, and yet the tale covers almost two decades worth of events that lead up to centuries worth of profound history. It is also very interesting how such a story, which by all logical means should be quite antiquated, is still of profound interest and value today.