Summary of Vergil's Aeneid

Books 1-2: Read in entirety.

Book 3: Aeneas' story continues. He tells how he and the refugees set sail and landed in Thrace, where the Trojans had allies. Aeneas began to found a colony, but finding a long-lost Trojan messenger dead on the beach constituted a bad omen, and the group moved on. The Trojans then landed on Delos, an island sacred to Apollo, and asked for guidance. Apollo responded that they had to return to land from which their race came: "Look for your mother of old. Aeneas' house in her will rule the world's shores down the years, through generations of his children's children" (133-5). Anchises suggested that this meant Crete, where the mother goddess Cybele originated. When they arrived, Aeneas started setting up houses and laws, but the crops and people were struck by a plague. One night, Aeneas heard his household gods from Troy tell him that Italy was where they needed to go, the home of Dardanus. They set sail, but a storm knocked them off course. They took shelter on an island where the Harpies harrassed them, and Aeneas ordered the men to ambush and attack the monsters. One prophesied that for this bloodshed the Trojans would be unable to found a city in Italy until they became so hungry they ate their tables. The Trojans launched again, passed Odysseus' home island of Ithaca off the west coast of Greece, then landed on the mainland near Actium to hold games. They sailed up the coast and discovered a city founded by other Trojan survivors, including Andromache, Hector's wife, who escaped her servitude to the Greeks. She told Aeneas to avoid the east coast of Italy, where there were lots of Greek cities, to sail around Sicily rather than through the strait where Scylla and Charybdis live, to stop for advice from the Sibyl of Cumae, and finally to found his town where he sees a white sow suckling thirty white piglets by a river. They set sail again, crossed to Italy, coasted around to Sicily, and put in for the night within sight of Mount Aetna. In the morning a terrorized Greek ran up and begged them for help. He explained how he'd been abandoned on the island of the man-eating Cyclops Polyphemus by his commander, Odysseus. The now-blinded Cyclops began to approach, and they all jumped into their boats and sailed away. The Greek helped them navigate the south course around Sicily. When they put in at Drepanum for the night, Aeneas' father Anchises died.

Book 4: Read.

Book 5: The Trojans sailing away from Carthage encounter a storm. They decide to head for the 'land named for Aeneas' brother Eryx' in Sicily. The local leader, Acestes, welcomes the travelers. Since it has been a year since his father's death, Aeneas decides to hold a ceremony and funeral games in his honor. The contests are described-a ship race, foot race, boxing match, and archery contest. Ascanius then leads the boys in an elaborate equestrian performance. While the men are thus engaged, Juno sends her messenger Iris down to stir up a revolt among the women. Disguised as one of them, she encourages them to vent their anger about their long travels and troubles and set the ships on fire, so that they will be forced to found a city right there. The women go mad and burn the boats. The men come rushing back, and Aeneas prays to Jupiter for help. It starts to rain, and all but four ships are saved. Even so, Aeneas hesitates to continue the journey. That night, the ghost of his father Anchises tells him to sail to Italy and visit the Sibyl, who will lead Aeneas down into the underworld to visit him. In the morning, Aeneas decides to allow the older men and women to stay in new towns called Ilium and Troy, and all the Trojans help build a temple to Venus on Mount Eryx. They all feast for nine days, then the travelers under Aeneas push on. Venus appeals to Neptune to watch over their journey to Italy. He agrees, and rides down from Olympus himself with many marine deity attendants. He transports the ship overnight to the coast off Cumae, but takes as a sacrifice the helmsman Palinurus, whom he pulls into the sea.

Book 6: Last book to read for first day.

Book 7: The Trojans sail up the coast and draw near the island of Circe. Neptune blows winds to push them past this dangerous enchantress. When they reach the outlet of the Tiber river, Aeneas orders them to beach. The singer calls on the Muse Erato to tell the situation of the Italians where they land. King Latinus, leader of the Latins and descendant of Saturn, has a daughter, Lavinia. Turnus, leader of the Rutulians, wishes to marry her, but omens suggest Lavinia should marry a stranger to produce a powerful race. Meanwhile, Aeneas and his followers prepare a meal on the shore using wheat cakes as platters. Iulus notices that this means they have fulfilled the Harpies' curse and Anchises' prophesy that they become so hungry they eat their tables. They make prayers and libations to the gods. In the morning, Aeneas leads an embassy to the nearest town. When Aeneas introduces himself, Latinus recognizes him as the stranger who is supposed to marry his daughter. The men exchange gifts. Juno is pissed. She rouses Allecto from hell and sends her down to stir up war among the Italians. Allecto inspires anger in the queen of Latium (Amata) at the proposed marriage of her daughter to a Phrygian stranger. Allecto then proceeds to Ardea, Turnus' city, and inspires him to attack the Trojans. Juno frames the Trojans for an attack on the Latins, and Latinus is forced to declare war on Aeneas. The singer invokes the Muses to recount all the soldiers and leaders from neighboring towns drawn into the war.

Book 8: Read.

Book 9: Juno sends Iris to tell Turnus that Aeneas is busy looking for allies, so now is the time to attack the Trojan camp. Turnus takes the advice, but the Trojans refuse to come out for battle. Turnus tries to set their protective embankment on fire. The goddess of Mount Ida asks that the sacred trees used to make the Trojan ships be saved from the flames, and Jupiter transforms them back into nymphs, who swim away. Turnus lays seige to the camp. Nisus and his young companion Euryalus, Trojan watchmen, decide to volunteer to get a message to Aeneas. The camp leaders, including Ascanius, agree, and promise to take care of Euryalus' mother should they be killed. They set out at night, and kill a number of sleeping enemy as they move through their campfires, taking some of their armor. Rutulian messengers spot Euryalus' new helmet shining in the moonlight. The messengers chase them into the woods, and Nisus escapes, but Euryalus is captured. Nisus kills two men with javelin throws, but a third puts his sword through Euryalus' "snow-white chest." In anguish, Nisus attacks his friend's killer, and the two die in combat. Turnus puts Nisus and Euryalus' heads on pikes and leads a night assault on the Trojan camp. Euryalus' mother delivers a bitter speech from the walls. Turnus kills a number of opponents in spectacular ways; there is a great deal of taunting back and forth. Ascanius kills someone with an arrow, and Apollo congratulates him on his "new-found manhood." Two Trojans open the gates to the camp and dare the Rutulians to try to enter. Many more are killed as a few Rutulians make their way into the gates before they are closed, including Turnus himself. In a rampage, Turnus kills a number of Trojan heroes, before he finds himself surrounded. With Juno's aid, he escapes by diving into the Tiber river in full armor.

Book 10: On Olympus, Jupiter calls a council of the gods to discover why the Italians and Trojans are fighting contrary to his decree. Venus complains about the hard life of the Trojans, and Juno replies that they asked for it. Jupiter swears by the Styx that he will not interfere in the battle and that each man will have to fight on his own. The Rutulians attack the Trojan camp. Meanwhile, Aeneas has left his new ally Evander and sailed north to the Etruscans. Tarchon joins the alliance so that he can fight the exiled Mezentius. The singer invokes the muse to describe all the warriors sailing with Aeneas to fight Turnus. Among the places mentioned are Elba, Pisa, Caere, Pyrgi, Graviscae, and Mantua. The nymphs born from the Trojan ships spot Aeneas, and inform him of Turnus' siege. Aeneas lands ready for battle and engages the Rutulian army. Brothers and sons and fathers are killed and avenged in a grisly and vivid battle. Finally Turnus and Pallas, the son of Evander and leader of the Arcadian contingent, meet in single combat. Hercules bemoans the fate of his friend's son, but Jupiter counsels him not to interfere. Turnus kills Pallas and strips the armor from his body. Aeneas throws himself into the battle in search of vengeance. He kills people for several pages. Jupiter hints to Juno that if she wants to keep her precious Turnus from being killed, she better act fast. Juno takes the shape of Aeneas and tricks Turnus into chasing her aboard a ship-she cuts the mooring lines and it sails off. The battle continues. Aeneas finally faces and kills Mezentius.

Books 11-12: Read.