1. The Aeneid
Miss Johnson

2. Book 1 Epic Poetry: song, invocation, in medias res
Juno at fault for Aeneas’ troubles
Rome’s claim to fame
Born of Trojan blood
Apparently it is Aeneas FATE to found Rome
Glory
Aeneas wishes he had died on the battlefield
Politicians glorified
Neptune compared to a great politician

3. Book 1 Giant wind blows them off course Blown to Libya, Africa
The city of Carthage ruled by Queen Dido
Aeneas’ speech reveals that he has endured similar events as that of Odysseus
The cyclops, Scylla
Venus appears to Aeneas disguised as a young Spartan girl and tells Aeneas of Queen Dido’s history

4. Book 1 Carthage is just being built
This building gives Aeneas hope about the future
“to trust his destiny more even in affliction” (943)
Aeneas is made invisible by Venus so that he can enter the city and the Queen’s throne room without notice

5. Book 1
While she is keeping court, men that Aeneas had thought lost during the storm show up asking if the Queen has seen or heard of Aeneas
Aeneas’ men were thought to be pirates and were attacked by the Carthagians; leader asks for mercy since they are not there to plunder
Dido explained she ordered the attacks to protect her fledgling city
Dido offers to allow the Trojans to stay in her city safely
After this, Aeneas reveals himself to Dido, his lost companions, and the court
Venus intervenes by sending her son Desire (Eros, Cupid) to Dido to make her fall in love with Aeneas
Dido invites Aeneas to tell the story of his wanderings

6. Book 2
Trojan Horse
Greeks built Trojan Horse supposedly to appease the gods for a safe journey home; especially Pallas because they had violated her temple
In reality, Greeks hiding inside belly and on other side island
Trojans argue about bringing the horse inside the walls
Eventually convinced by a Greek warrior left behind
Water snakes appear from the ocean and strangle one of the proponents for destroying the Trojan Horse
Word is sent to Greek ships and Greeks released from horse’s belly
Hector appears to Aeneas to wake him
His fate to found Rome, taking Trojan “holy things, her gods of heart and household”
Aeneas desires to gather men and fight the Greeks

7. Book 2 Aeneas and other Trojans dress like the Greeks
Allows them to get close to the Greeks and kill them
Trojans also attack them, not recognizing them
Aeneas fights all the way to the palace where he tries to help the royal family- Hecuba, Priam, their many daughters
Priam’s Death
Suited up for war; Hecuba calls him to the alter; Pyrrhus finds them and kills Priam
Seeing and hearing this, Aeneas is reminded of his father and family
On his way home he runs into Helen; he tries to attack her but Venus holds him back

8. Book 2
Venus claims she will protect him and Aeneas realizes that Troy really will fall
Aeneas’ father, Ascanius, prepared to fight and die
Aeneas convinces him to run by saying that Aeneas would stay with him to fight and die
Jupiter sends two signs he is helping them: (1) a fire upon Iulus’ brow; (2) lightening and thunder
Aeneas carries his father and holds his sons hand
Wife, Creusa runs behind
While running, fear overcomes Aeneas and he flees loosing his wife in the process
When he reaches relative safety he realizes she is gone and wants to go and search for her
Her ghost appears and tells him “Nothing here has come to pass except as heaven willed” (973)
She’s actually happy because now she will not have to be a slave to the Greek conquerers like Hecuba, Cassandra, and Andromache

9. Book 4 Dido, now in love with Aeneas, struggles against the love
Sister Anna encourages her by saying her old husband is dead and cannot care; and having Aeneas and his Trojans in Carthage will help protect them from warlike neighbors
Dido holds a second feast
The city starts to fall apart because she is so overcome with love that she cannot lead them in building anymore
Juno wants Aeneas to marry Dido so that Rome will never be founded
While out on a hunt, it begins to rain; Dido and Aeneas shelter in the same cave
Described in marriage terms; Dido believes she and Aeneas are now married

10. Book 4 After spending quite a bit of time with Dido Dido is not happy
Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his Fate
Worries about telling Dido he must leave
Tries to do everything in secret but Dido finds out
Dido is not happy
Feels used
Claims Aeneas cannot be of noble birth for acting so terribly
Aeneas claims it is fate
He also claims that they have never been married

11. Book 4 Aeneas seems to struggle with leaving
“Duty bound, Aeneas, though he struggled with desire” “shaken still with love of her, yet took the course heaven gave him”
Dido claims she wishes she could die
She is essentially reduced to madness
She builds a pyre
When Aeneas’ ships sail away she stabs herself
“She prayed then to whatever power may care in comprehending justice for the grief of lovers bound unequally by love”

12. Book 4
“If so Jove’s destinies require, and this, His end in view, must stand, yet all the same when hard beset in war by a brave people forced to go outside his boundaries and torn from Iulus, let him beg assistance, let him see the unmerited deaths of those around and with him, and accepting peace on unjust terms, let him not, even so, Enjoy his kingdom or the life he longs for, but fall in battle before his time and lie unburied on the Sand. This I implore, This is my last cry, as my last blood flows. Then, O my Tyrians, besiege with hate his progeny and all his race will come: make this your offering to my dust” (992-3)