1. The Aeneid Book IX Analysis

2. Book IX Summary
Juno sends Iris down to Turnus to tell him that Aeneas is away
Turnus and his men attack the Trojan camp
Turnus sets fire to the Trojan ships
The ships sink themselves and escape from fire because they were forged of sacred wood
Turnus attacks again until nightfall

3. Book IX Summary Continued
Nisus and Euryalus volunteer to go out and find Aeneas and leave with Ascanius’s blessing
The two friends ransack the Rutilian camp but are discovered and killed
Turnus attacks and gets through to the Trojan camp and fights off many Trojans inside before jumping into the river and making an escape

4. The Relationship between Nisus and Euryalus
Some scholars speculate that their relationship was more than just friendship but some don’t care to delve too deep into the subject
Vergil does not go into this much detail with tragedy between friends in any other characters in the books, because both end up dying, and Nisus while trying to take fall for Euryalus

5. Nisus and Euryalus

6. Turnus as fire
His helmet was gold with a red triple plume which exhaled Aetnean fire
His temperament is described as a cauldron boiling over with a fire beneath it

7. Metaphors for Turnus A wolf on the prowl
A preying bird with talons, or a wolf
Lightning
A tiger
A savage lion

8. Parallels between this war and the war in Troy
Turnus compares himself to Achilles
The Trojans are defending their camp with a wall
Turnus is able to infiltrate the camp like the Greeks did
Turnus makes several references to how they will breach the walls faster than the Greeks