Synopsis of the Aeneid

A storm raised by Aeolus at the request of Juno scatters the Trojan fleet after its voyage toward Italy. Neptune calms the sea, and Aeneas reaches an African port with seven ships in all. Venus appeals to Jupiter, who sends Mercury to secure a welcome for the Trojans at Carthage. Venus meets her son disguised as a huntress and conceals him in a cloud. At Carthage he finds companions he had thought lost. Queen Dido receives him and, through the device of Venus, begins to love him. She asks him to relate his adventures since the siege of Troy.

Aeneas tells how Troy fell after a ten-year siege, through the treachery of Sinon and the stratagem of the wooden horse. He resolves not to outlive his country and fights in its defense. Warned by the ghost of Hector and then by the appearance of Venus, he agrees to leave the city and carry his household gods to another land. He carries his father on his shoulders and leads his young son by the hand, with his wife following behind. At the assembly point he finds many fugitives but not his wife, whose ghost later appears and names the land designed for him.

Aeneas continues his account. He describes the fleet and the first voyage, to Thrace, and then the course to Delos, where he asks the oracle which place the gods have appointed for him. Mistaking the oracle’s answer, he settles in Crete. His household gods give the true sense of the oracle in a dream, and he sets out for Italy. After landing on several shores and meeting strange adventures, he reaches Sicily, where his father Anchises dies. Sicily is the place from which the storm had driven him to the Carthaginian coast.

Dido confesses to her sister her passion for Aeneas and her thought of marrying him. A hunt is arranged, and Juno, with the consent of Venus, raises a storm that drives Aeneas and Dido into the same cave, where, according to the Argument, their marriage is supposed to be completed. Jupiter sends Mercury to warn Aeneas to leave Carthage. Aeneas prepares his departure in secret. Dido discovers the plan and tries to prevent it through her own entreaties and her sister’s, displaying the passions of a neglected lover. When nothing moves him, she contrives her own death, with which the book closes.

A storm drives Aeneas from Africa to Sicily, where Acestes, king of part of the island and of Trojan parentage, receives him. Aeneas honors the memory of his father with funeral games and prizes. During the ceremonies Juno sends Iris to persuade the Trojan women to burn the ships. They set fire to them, and four burn before a shower sent by Jupiter extinguishes the rest. On the advice of the old seer Nautes and a vision of his father, Aeneas founds a city for the women, the old men and others unfit for war or weary of the voyage, and sails for Italy. Venus obtains from Neptune a safe passage for all except the pilot Palinurus, who is lost.

The Sibyl foretells the adventures awaiting Aeneas in Italy and accompanies him to the underworld, describing its scenes. He meets his father Anchises, who instructs him on the soul of the world and on transmigration, and shows him the line of heroes who will descend from him and his posterity.

King Latinus receives Aeneas and promises him his only daughter, Lavinia, heiress of his crown. Turnus, who loves her, is favored by her mother, by Juno and by Alecto. He breaks the agreement Latinus had made with Aeneas and brings into the quarrel Mezentius, Camilla, Messapus and other neighboring princes, whose forces and commanders are listed.

As war begins, both leaders prepare. Turnus sends to Diomedes. Aeneas goes in person to seek help from Evander and the Tuscans. Evander receives him, supplies men and sends his son Pallas with him. At the request of Venus, Vulcan makes arms for Aeneas and depicts on the shield the most memorable actions of his descendants.

Taking advantage of the absence of Aeneas, Turnus fires some of his ships, which are transformed into sea nymphs, and assaults the Trojan camp. The besieged Trojans send Nisus and Euryalus to recall Aeneas, which gives rise to the episode of their friendship and the outcome of their venture. The book’s Argument spells the first name “Ninus.”

Jupiter calls a council of the gods and forbids them to take either side. When Aeneas returns a bloody battle follows. Turnus kills Pallas, and Aeneas kills Lausus and Mezentius. Mezentius is portrayed as an atheist and Lausus as a pious and virtuous youth, and their deeds and deaths form an episode.

Aeneas sets up a trophy of the spoils of Mezentius, grants a truce for burying the dead and sends the body of Pallas home with ceremony. Latinus calls a council to consider peace offers to Aeneas, which produces hostility between Turnus and Drances. Meanwhile the cavalry engage sharply; Camilla distinguishes herself and is killed, and the Latin troops are defeated.

Turnus challenges Aeneas to single combat. Terms are agreed but broken by the Rutulians, who wound Aeneas. Venus heals him, and he forces Turnus to a duel. The poem ends with the death of Turnus.