Lavinia's Role in Virgil's Aeneid: Symbol and Chattel

Introduction: A Minor Character with a Major Role

In The Aeneid, the character Lavinia plays simultaneously a very minor and a very major role in the poem. Her name is mentioned a mere seventeen times throughout the body of the work, and she takes no actual action except for what is mentioned in a flashback sequence. In this sense, her role is clearly minor. However, she is also the wife of the hero and the means by which the Trojan line can be perpetuated, making her a minor character with a major role in the poem.

Moreover, her major role does not simply define her own place in the narrative, but also the role of her country in the history of the Trojans. She is mentioned only a handful of times and personally has no real interaction with any other character. Instead, her basic role is that of chattel — to be given by her father, Latinus, to Aeneas as a wife. Yet while Lavinia herself takes practically no action, her role is major in that this political marriage has a significant impact on her countrymen. Lavinia becomes the underlying reason for the struggle between the Trojans and the Latians, and she symbolizes all of the Latians: whoever wins Lavinia will rule them. In this way, Lavinia's story provides the historical underpinning for the entire poem.

Lavinia is principally defined as her father's daughter — not a surprising characterization given the historical context of the poem, in which women were largely considered chattel and fathers routinely arranged marriages for their daughters. Her father, Latinus, is the King of Latium, and she is his prize; with her hand goes the country:

Lavinia as Her Father's Daughter and Heir to Latium

Thus King Latinus, in the third degree,
Had Saturn author of his family.
But this old peaceful prince, as Heav'n decreed,
Was blest with no male issue to succeed:
His sons in blooming youth were snatch'd by fate;
One only daughter heir'd the royal state.

It is therefore important to keep in mind that whenever the poem discusses Lavinia, it is, by extension, also discussing the fate of Latium and all of the Latians. Her fate is intertwined with the fate of the country — and this is true long before any mention of Aeneas, simply because she is her father's only surviving heir. As a foundational text of ancient Roman civilization, The Aeneid uses this dynastic logic to give Lavinia's marriage cosmic significance.

The undeniable relationship between the state of Lavinia and the fate of the Latians helps explain why some characters in the poem are so troubled by Latinus' seemingly ready acceptance of the divine decree that a foreigner shall marry his daughter. His compliance does not merely affect his daughter's life or serve as a routine political marriage; it literally means that the entire fate of the country will pass from Latian control to that of an outsider. Nevertheless, Latinus acknowledges the role Lavinia is prophesied to play — not only in Aeneas' life, but in the continuation of the Trojan line:

Prophecy, Fate, and the Foreign Prince

An Alban name, but mix'd with Dardan blood,
Born in the covert of a shady wood:
Him fair Lavinia, thy surviving wife,
Shall breed in groves, to lead a solitary life.
In Alba he shall fix his royal seat,
And, born a king, a race of kings beget.
Then Procas, honor of the Trojan name,
Capys, and Numitor, of endless fame.
A second Silvius after these appears;
Silvius Aeneas, for thy name he bears;
For arms and justice equally renown'd,
Who, late restor'd, in Alba shall be crown'd (Virgil).

It is important to recognize that simply because Latinus accepts his daughter's fated future, it does not mean that he is happy about it. Nothing suggests that his warm welcome of Aeneas is driven by genuine affection; rather, it indicates that he understands the risks of going against prophecy. More importantly, he understands that his daughter plays a role in fate that must be fulfilled, however unpleasant. A prophecy had clearly foretold that his daughter's marriage to a foreign prince would provoke a war devastating his people:

An ancient augur prophesied from hence:
"Behold on Latian shores a foreign prince!
From the same parts of heav'n his navy stands,
To the same parts on earth; his army lands;
The town he conquers, and the tow'r commands."
Yet more, when fair Lavinia fed the fire
Before the gods, and stood beside her sire,
(Strange to relate!) the flames, involv'd in smoke
Of incense, from the sacred altar broke,
Caught her dishevel'd hair and rich attire;
Her crown and jewels crackled in the fire:
From thence the fuming trail began to spread
And lambent glories danc'd about her head.
This new portent the seer with wonder views,
Then pausing, thus his prophecy renews:
"The nymph, who scatters flaming fires around,
Shall shine with honor, shall herself be crown'd;
But, caus'd by her irrevocable fate,
War shall the country waste, and change the state" (Virgil).

It is also critical to recognize that Aeneas was a hero of the Trojan War, which makes the idea of fighting over a woman — any woman — seem particularly dangerous. He does not need to rely on prophecy to understand that such a war will waste a country; he has already lived through one. The Trojan War began when Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. As in The Aeneid, the gods played an important role: the conflict originated with a dispute among the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite over who was the most beautiful. Paris judged Aphrodite the fairest, and in return she gave him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world — Helen, who was already married to Menelaus. When Paris took Helen, he ignited the Trojan War.

Of course, the underlying motive for the war was not really Menelaus' affection for Helen. It was Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother and king of Mycenae, who waged war against Troy because the abduction was a profound insult. The Achaeans eventually succeeded in their siege, slaughtering nearly all of Troy's men, enslaving the women and children, and desecrating the temples. Aeneas was one of the few Trojans who survived. One would therefore expect him to be acutely aware of the dangers — to himself and to his fellow survivors — of starting a new war over a woman. He would also have been wary of divine promises concerning love, since it was Aphrodite who had made Helen fall in love with Paris. Yet, by the same token, he would have been more sensitive than most to the power of the gods in daily life and unlikely to disregard their commands.

Indeed, one of Aeneas' defining characteristics is his piety. It should therefore come as no surprise that he is determined to follow the gods' wishes even when doing so places him in an awkward or vulnerable position. Lavinia had been promised to Turnus before the gods informed Latinus that Aeneas was her destined husband. Yet Aeneas' role in the poem is to serve as fate's instrument for creating history. He is acutely conscious of prophecy, and he repeatedly works to bring about the circumstances it foretells — even when he does not personally wish to do so. His marriage to Lavinia is one such circumstance. He does not dread the match, but neither does he anticipate it with longing. However, if he does not marry Lavinia, the Trojan lineage cannot be perpetuated according to the prophecy. He therefore resolves to marry her.