1. THE AENEID
Gordon Freeman waz here.
by P. Vergilius Maro

2. STRUCTURE You can break this poem up in a couple of ways.
By halves: I-VI VII-XII
By thirds I-IV V-VIII IX-XII

3. BOOK I
Like all god epics, the poem begins with an invocation to the Muses for inspiration.
Vergil asks them to tell him about Juno’s anger and explains that she is harboring hatred against the refugee Trojans led by Aeneas.
The Trojans have two strikes against themselves. Juno was already mad that Paris chose another goddess, but more importantly, they are prophesied to one day destroy her favorite city Carthage.
A storm forces them to land on the North African coast near Carthage.

4. BOOK I
Venus meanwhile checks with Jupiter who assures her that Aeneas will eventually reach Italy and that his descendants will one day found Rome.
She has a lot invested in Aeneas since he is her son.

5. BOOK I
Juno, determined to keep Aeneas from reaching his goal, tries to stop Aeneas by having him fall in love with Dido, the queen of Carthage. If Aeneas never leaves Carthage, his descendants won’t be its enemies.

6. Dido and Aeneas The two of them have a lot in common.
Both of them are refugees from the East, Aeneas from Troy, Dido from Phoenicia.
Both of them are founders of new empires, Aeneas and Rome (eventually), and Dido Carthage (already in progress).
Both of them lost a spouse. Aeneas’ wife died as they were escaping Troy. Dido’s husband was killed by her brother which cause her to flee with followers.

7. Dido and Aeneas
Dido also thinks Aeneas’ son Ascanius is the most adorably little boy. -CUPID in disguise-
Dido after inviting Aeneas to dinner asks him to tell his story.

8. BOOK II
UNSPEAKABLE!
That’s how he begins his story at the beginning of book 2; then he proceeds to speak it.
Very much like in the Odyssey, the story of Aeneas’ travels come from his own mouth. Unlike the Odyssey Aeneas did not wash up by himself on the shore; he still has some friends and ships left.

9. BOOK II
He begins his story with the fall of Troy and the famous account of the Trojan horse. THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE THIS STORY APPEARS IN MYTH.

10. BOOK II
Aeneas and some of his friends try to fight the Greeks who are already in the city, but it is too late for that. Aeneas then decides to at least get revenge by killing Helen, but his mother Venus appears to him and convinces him to flee to safety and take others with him to found a new city.

11. BOOK II
He flees with his family - father Anchises, son Ascanius, wife Creusa.
Somewhere in the confusion Creusa gets lost. When Aeneas tries to find her, he finds her ghost.
She tells him to go on because a new home and wife are waiting for him in Hesperia…wherever that is.

14. BOOK III
Aeneas then tells of their travels. They start by sailing to Thrace and Delos, the birth place of APOLLO, where they respectively see a bleeding, talking tree haunted by a dead son of the King of Troy and get advice for where to found the new city.
Apollo tells him to found the city in the land of their ancestors, which Aeneas’ father Anchises says must be Crete after their ancestor Teucer.

15. BOOK III
They sail to Crete and begin building, but are hit by a plague – they did not choose wisely.
While the Trojans are sometimes called the Teucrians, they are also sometimes called the Dardanians for another ancestor, Dardanus, who was from Italy.
They choose Italy as their next goal.

16. BOOK III As the island hop toward Italy they find… Harpies
Shrines to Apollo
Old friends who also escaped Troy
-they manage to avoid Scylla and Charybdis
One of Odysseus’ men left behind on the island of the Cyclops

17. BOOK III
While Aeneas’ men rest in Sicily, just before the storm drives them to the African coast, Anchises dies.

18. BOOK IV
By the time Aeneas has finished his story Cupid has finished making Dido fall in love with him.
Aeneas and the Trojans stay as guests and soon accompany Dido and the Carthaginians on a hunting party.
While hunting, Juno arranges for a storm to come up.
Everyone runs for cover and it just so happens that Aeneas and Dido end up in the same cave all alone.

19. BOOK IV
It all seems good…except that Aeneas is supposed to be going to Italy.
While Dido falls more in love, Mercury is sent to remind Aeneas to get a move on!
Aeneas tries to leave without Dido finding out but fails.
Dido tells her sister that they should gather all of Aeneas’ things that were left behind and burn them.

20. When the fire is going, she throws herself on it committing suicide.

21. A key word in all this is pietas. This the Latin word for duty
A key word in all this is pietas. This the Latin word for duty. Even though Aeneas would like to stay with Dido, his sense of duty convinces him to go on to fulfill his destiny.

22. BOOK V
They hit the sea again, make another stop in Sicily to honor Anchises with games and then head to Italy without much incident.

23. BOOK VI They finally arrive.
But Aeneas while in Sicily was told in a dream that he must visit the underworld before settling.
From the temple to Apollo at Cumae, Aeneas begins his underworld journey.

24. BOOK VI
While in the underworld he sees Dido in the fields of mourning. She gives him the silent treatment.
In the happy part of the underworld (there is a happy part in Roman myth) he finds Anchises who answers his questions about what happens after people die.
Then Anchises explains the importance of his mission.

25. BOOK VI Anchises Foretells
Romulus and Remus will be born from the family line of Aeneas’ son Ascanius, who is also known as Iulus.
He also explains that from the same family line a ‘Caesar’ will rise and rule over Rome.
He says that Rome will enter a golden age and rule the whole world.
The Julian clan of Rome (which included Julius Caesar and Caesar Octavian Augustus and their descendants) claimed that their name came from Iulus.

27. BOOK VI
When Aeneas leaves the underworld, he can choose to go out through one of two gates, the Gate of Horn or the Gate of Ivory.
True dreams pass through the Gate of Horn, false dreams and lies pass through the Gate of Ivory.
Aeneas chose the Gate of Ivory, and scholars still conjecture and argue over why.

29. INTERMISSION

30. MUSES
Before Vergil recommences with the story, he re-invokes the muses since he’s beginning a different kind of epic.
The very much formalizes the division between what we call ‘Vergil’s Odyssey’ and ‘Vergil’s Iliad.’

31. BOOK VII Aeneas and the Trojans sail up the Tiber River.
Nearby, a local king named Latinus is worried about a prophecy that says his kingdom will be conquered. Upon seeking more information an oracle tells him that he should marry his single daughter to a foreigner instead of a local Latin.
Enter Aeneas.

32. BOOK VII
When the Trojans shortly after arriving send an envoy to Latinus to ask for a share of the land, Latinus heads the oracles words and offers land and his daughter’s hand in marriage.
There is, however, a problem. Many of the local Latin nobles desired to marry her, and it was expected that she would be married to Turnus, King of the Rutuli.

33. BOOK VII
Turnus at first takes the news well, but Juno manages to change that.
Juno sends a Fury by the name of Allecto into the body of Latinus’ wife, the queen. She then pushes Turnus into feeling offended and enraged by the marriage of Aeneas and Latinus’ daughter and assembles an army to fight him.

34. BOOK VII
Elsewhere Ascanius goes hunting, and with Juno’s intervention ends up killing a stag that was a pet of a local herdsman.
That Latin shepherds and farmers attack the Trojans who fight back, and end up going to Latinus demanding war along with Latinus’ wife.

35. BOOK VII
Latinus throws up his hands and lets the war happen.

36. BOOK VIII
The next day Aeneas sails up the Tiber to get allies, which he gets from a group of Arcadians that has settled near by. Their king, Evander, devotes troops including his own son Pallas to the war effort. Aeneas promises to watch over him as his own son.
At the end of this book, Venus comes to him and gives him arms made by her husband Vulcan.

37. Aeneas’ Shield On the shield there are scenes sculpted which include…
Romulus being suckled by the she-wolf.
The defeat of the Gauls.
Octavian defeating Antony and Cleopatra at Actium.

39. BOOK IX
This book is hack and slash all the way, fighting from start to finish.
The Latins attack while Aeneas is still away, first burning the Trojan ship which happened to be built from a sacred forest. As a result the ship submerge themselves and emerge as nymphs.
The Latins also attack the Trojan camp with many casualties on both sides, and with Turnus actually getting into to camp at one point and getting out again by floating through the Tiber River.

40. BOOK X
Most of this book is comprised of fighting scenes, but there are a couple of high points for the plot.
In one particular fight, Turnus kills Pallas, the young son of Evander entrusted to Aeneas, and takes his belt and armor as the spoils of the fight.
Very much like Achilles at the death of Patroclus, Aeneas becomes a Latin killing machine killing many of the most important fighters on the enemy side.

41. BOOK XI The Trojans and Latins agree to a 12 truce to bury the dead.
In the meantime, the Latins grow increasing disappointed in Turnus and want him to face Aeneas alone in a duel to settle this matter.
Before a final decision is reached the Trojans attack and the war continues.

42. BOOK XII
The two champions finally agree to meet in a duel. The two armies line up to watch.
They throw spears first and then continue the duel with swords.
Turnus breaks the sword he was using and frantically looks for his regular sword.
While all this goes on, the scene changes to Mt. Olympus. Jupiter asks Juno why she worries so much when she knows Aeneas will win. She agrees to let go of her grudge as long as the Trojans will have to take on the name of language of the Latins.

43. BOOK XII On the ground, Aeneas wounds Turnus in the leg.
Turnus pleads for clemency – clementia in Latin.
Aeneas is moved at first, but then notices Pallas’ belt and drives his sword into Turnus’ neck all the way to the hilt.
The problem of whether Aeneas should have granted clemency or not is still hotly debated by scholars.

45. FINISH