The Aeneid

Book I

Lines 1-49
Summary: Aeneas, driven by the Fates, came to Latium after the Trojan War to found
Rome. Juno was mad because:
1. According to the prophecy, Aeneas would establish Rome, which would one day overthrow
her beloved Carthage in the Punic Wars.
2. Paris from Troy called Venus more beautiful.
3. Jupiter had a side ho (Ganymedes) that replaced her daughter as cup-bearer.
4. Jupiter forced her daughter (Hebe) to marry Hercules, one of his many illegitimate children.

As a result, Juno did everything in her power to keep Aeneas away from Latium.

Lines 50-215
Summary: Juno worries that her cruelty in keeping the Trojans away from Italy would
prevent people from worshipping her and giving her offerings even though Athena destroyed the
Greek navy and used Jupiter’s lightning bolt to attack Ajax and impale him on a cliff. She bribes
King Aeolus with her prettiest nymph to release his powerful winds upon the Trojans and prevent
them from reaching Italy. He does so but is stopped by Neptune, who angrily halts the trouble.

Lines 216-303
Summary: Aeneas, with only 7 ships left, sails towards Libya. Once there, he spots a herd
of stags and single-handedly murders it along with its three leaders. He brings the meat back for
his men, and they have a feast with wine. Over food, he gives them an empowering speech about
all that they had overcome thus far.

Lines 304-410
Summary: Venus asks Jupiter what Aeneas did to deserve such trouble and reminds him
of his promise in which the Trojans would rule as Romans. He assures her that Ascanius, Aeneas’
son, would definitely establish Alba Longa, the place from which Remus and Romulus would
come. Then he sends down Maia’s son to make Dido, queen of Carthage, more open and
peaceful towards the Trojans.

Lines 411-894
Summary: Aeneas goes to explore the foreign land they have landed on and comes across
his mother Venus, disguised as a Spartan girl, in the forest. He recognizes her as a goddess and
asks about the people of this country. She tells Dido’s story:
1. Dido got married off to Sychaeus and loved him dearly.
2. Dido’s brother, Pygmalion, killed Sychaeus.
3. Sychaeus’ ghost came to her in a dream, urged her to run, and showed her the location of
a buried treasure.
4. Dido gathered others who hated Pygmalion and fled with them. Eventually, they established
Carthage.
Venus tells Aeneas that all his friends are alive and that his ships are back. She cloaked him and
his weapon-carrying guy, Achates, in a grey mist that would basically make them invisible. They
go to visit Carthage, where they find the people working hard. When he notices a temple being
built in Juno’s honor and sees the pictures of the mighty Trojan battles along the walls. Aeneas’
friends, who he thought were dead, approach Dido, ask for permission to remain in Carthage to
rebuild their ships. She welcomes them warmly and offers to send people to find Aeneas. At that
moment, Aeneas’ cloak of invisibility falls, and he thanks Dido for her generosity before greeting
his friends again. He quickly sends Achates to fetch his son, along with gifts. Dido plans a feast.

Lines 895-1031 (end of Book I)

Summary: Venus asks Amor (Cupid) to make Dido fall so deeply in love with Aeneas that
she will never cross him, despite Juno’s hate. After Venus puts a sleeping spell on Ascanius,
Cupid possesses his body to make Dido forget her love for Sychaeus and awaken a new love for
Aeneas. The feast begins, and Dido asks Aeneas to tell his long tale.

Book II
Lines 1-335
Summary: Aeneas tells the beginning of his tale, starting from the end of the Trojan War,
when a giant wooden horse appeared at their gates, the Greeks seemed to have disappeared, and
the Trojans just happen to capture Sinon, who tells the following story:
1. Tired from the war, the Greeks tried many times to escape, but weather would never permit
it. There was a prophecy that said only the sacrifice of a Greek would grant them passage home.
2. After much suspense, Sinon was revealed to be the destined sacrificed. Upon the day of
his sacrifice, he fled and was then captured by the Trojans, never to see his family again.
3. He tells them that the horse was supposed to be an offering to repent for Ulysses’ crime: he
had raided Athena’s holy shrine, taken the Palladium, and gotten blood all over her virginal
chaplets. Since then, the goddess had turned against them, and their battle strength had begun to
fade.
Laocoon, who had previously attacked the wooden horse, is suddenly killed by twin snakes, and
everyone takes it as a sign. They rush to get the horse to the temple.

Lines 336-729
Summary: At night, Sinon, whom the Trojans had pitied and released from his
imprisonment, frees the Greeks from the horse, and the attack begins. Hector visits Aeneas in a
dream and warns him to run. Aeneas wakes, gathers people, and fights. The battle is hopelessly
one-sided, but the Trojans persist anyway, because if they die, at least it will be in battle. They
steal the armor of defeated Greeks and disguise themselves as Greeks as well. However, this plan
backfires when the other Trojans cannot see through the disguise and begin attacking them.
Aeneas escapes to the roof, where he sees the Greeks force their way into the palace. Priam
attempts to strap on armor but ends up hiding out in the altar with his wife and daughters.
Pyrrhus kills Priam’s son right before him and then kills Priam.

Lines 730-1046 (end of Book II)

Summary: Venus convinces Aeneas to forget about his anger towards Paris and Helen, to
think about his family, and to flee. Aeneas’ father refuses to flee (he’s too old) until he calls upon
Jupiter for a sign and immediately sees a shooting star in the sky. Everyone splits off into groups
and assign an old shrine of Ceres the Bereft as their rendezvous point. However, along the way,
fear of incoming Greeks splits Aeneas’ group up, and his wife, Creusa, dies. Aeneas is
determined to go search for her until she comes to him as a ghost and encourages him to leave.

Book III

Lines 1-952 (end of Book III)

Summary:
1.Old Thrace—having escaped from Troy, Aeneas and his crew, who he calls the
Aeneadae, build ships and set sail at the beginning of summer. They go here, where, when
Aeneas tries to make offerings to the gods, trees begin to grow out of the ground. When he tries
to remove the first tree, it bleeds. On his third attempt, it reveals itself to by Polydorus, a Trojan.
His story is as follows:
a. During the war, Priam told Polydorus to give a bunch of gold to the King of
Thrace for protection. When Troy began losing the war, the King of Thrace abandoned
them, killed Polydorus, and stole the gold.
They hold a funeral for Polydorus and leave the land.
2.Delos—with King Anius (also the priest of Apollo), Aeneas prays to the gods, and
Jupiter tells him to go to the land of his ancestors. Anchises decides this to be Crete because
that’s where Teucrus sailed to. They leave.
3. Crete—they are infected by a deadly plague. Household gods visist Aeneas in a dream,
and they tell him to go to Hesperia, the place that Dardanus and Iasius come from. Anchises then
recalls Cassandra’s prophecy about their fate with Hesperia, and they leave.
4. Strophades islands—they are forced to land here by a storm. It is the land of banished
Celaeno and her Harpy sisterhood. Aeneas and his people see a herd a goats and try to hunt them
for food, but they are chased away by the Celaeno and the Harpies. This happens three times, and
on the third time, Aeneas responds with violence. Celaeno gets pissed and curses them: they will
experience a deadly famine before they can reach Italy. Anchises begs the gods to take back her
curse, and they flee.
5.Actium—they give offerings to the gods and chill for a year.
6. Port Choanoia—Aeneas finds Andromache, Hector’s old wife, at the new tomb she
made him by a brook. She is now married to Helenus, one of Priam’s sons, and she tells their
tale.
a. After the final battle at Troy, Priam’s daughter was used as a virginal sacrifice.
Andromache was pretty much forced to be a sex-slave for Pyrrhus.
b. Pyrrhus decided he liked Hermione from Lacedaemon better, and he gave
Andromache to Helenus (who, at the time, was also a slave).
c. Orestes, pissed because Pyrrhus stole his woman, killed him.
d. Helenus inherited part of Pyrrhus’ kingdom and made Pergamum, which is
basically a second Troy.
They stay for a while. Aeneas asks their seer to ask Apollo how they can avoid Celaeno. They
kill some bulls, and the seer says: “Go past Tinacria, sail through Ausonian waters, go through
the lakes of the underworld, and when you see a giant sow with a 30 white babies, you will have
found where you need to go. When you reach Cumae, you’ll meet a prophetess that everyone
hates. Avoid the western coast of Italy where Greeks live. Watch out for Scylla, the 6-headed
wolf-mermaid monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool. Also: become BFFs with Juno.” Aeneas and
his crew leave with lots of fancy gifts.
7.At Sea Part 1—they call to the gods for a steady wind and find an acropolis of Minerva.
Here, they see 4 white horses. They prayed to Minerva and made offerings to Juno. They go back
out to sea and barely avoid the Charybdis.
8.Land of the Cyclops—it is said that the giant Enceladus lied inside Mt. Aetna, and
when he turned, the volcano spewed lava and smoke. Here, Aeneas and his crew meet Ithacan,
the guy who Odysseus forgot. He tells them about the Cyclops and begs them to either take him
with them or kill him. In the end, they see Cyclops Polyphemus and flee, taking Ithacan with
them.
9.At Sea Part 2—they take a complicated route to avoid Scylla and Charybdis. On the
journey, Anchises passes away.
Book IX

Lines 1-126
Summary: Dido confesses to Anna that she might love Aeneas. Anna convinces Dido that
loving Aeneas is not a betrayal to Sychaeus. If, among the many men who tried to woo Dido,
Aeneas is the one who catches her eye, so be it. Dido gave offerings to Juno, goddess of
marriage, and from that moment, all the projects to build Carthage were put off.

Lines 127-402
Summary: Juno suggests to Venus that Dido and Aeneas get married so that they might
rule together. Venus, not fooled, agrees so that Aeneas and his crew have time to rest and restock
their ships. The next day, Dido and Aeneas conveniently get separated from the hunting group
and are chased into a cave by a storm. Here, with Juno as a witness, the two got married.
However, Aeneas did not consider it to be a true marriage. Regardless, Rumor reaches King
Iarbas, son of Jupiter by a nymph, an old suitor of Dido. Ticked off because Dido refused him, he
prays to Jupiter. In response, Jupiter commands Mercury to remind Aeneas of his true mission.
Mercury does so, and Aeneas immediately prepares to set sail again, though in secrecy.

Lines 403-978 (end of book IX)

Summary: Rumor reaches Dido, and she confronts him. At first, she is angry and accuses
him of breaking their marriage bonds. Then, when she sees that her fit has not moved him, asks
Anna to ask Aeneas to wait for better sailing weather. He refuses to listen. Dido tricks Anna into
lighting a pyre to burn all of Aeneas’ old stuff by using a spell as an excuse. Aeneas, warned of
Dido’s dangerous hatred by Mercury, leaves right before Dido curses his country to war with her
own and kills herself with a blade in her chest. Juno sends Iris down to release cut a lock of
Dido’s hair (release her soul).

Book V
Lines 1-140
Summary: Due to a storm at sea, Palinurus, Aeneas’ helmsman’ changes their course to
Sicily, home of Ascetes, one of Aeneas’ old Trojan friends. There, they hold a funeral for
Anchises. During the funeral, a snake with 7 coils glides amongst the offerings and, and Aeneas
sacrifices animals to it.

Lines 141-367
Summary: After 9 days of waiting, the games begin. First is a sailing contest with the
following teams: (captain w/ name of boat)
1. Mnestheus w/ the Seabeast
2. Gyas w/ the Chimaera
3. Sergestus w/ the Centaur
4. Cloanthus w/ the Scylla
Gyas is winning in the beginning, but his OCD with being careful of the rocks while still trying
to win ruins him, and Cloanthus passes him up. Pissed, Gyas throws Menotes, his helmsman,
overboard. Sergestus, in his hurry to win, crashes into a reef. When Mnestheus is about to win,
Cloanthus prays to the gods and bribes them with a snow-white bull and wine. As a result, they
get a sudden burst of wind and win. Prizes are as follows:

1st—Cloak w/ gold thread and a pic of Juno’s bird snatching the royal boy in the boughs of Ida
2nd—Chest armor made of gold links and a trophy of Aeneas’ victory over Demoleos
3rd—Brazen caldrons and silver cups
Pity gift for Sergestus—Cretan Pholoe (slave woman who knew how to weave)

Lines 368-463
Summary: The following important people compete in the running race:
1. Nisus—guy who loves Euryalus (BFFs? More than BFFs?)
2. Euryalus—super beautiful guy
3. Diores—from line of Priam
4. Salius
5. Helymus--Sicilian
Nisus is winning in the beginning but slipped on an old animal-slaughtering area. He trips Salius
so that Euryalus would win. Helymus wins 2nd place and Diores wins 3rd. Everyone wins two
Cretan arrows and an axe. Other prizes include:

1st—horse
2nd—Amazonian quiver full of Thracian arrows and a strap of gold
3rd—Argive helm
Pity gift for Salius—Gaetulian’s lion hide and gilded claws
Pity gift for Nisus—fancy shield

Lines 464-627
Summary: Dares, who defeated enormous Butes, fights with elderly Entellus, who used
to be the best fighter. To even the odds, they both fight with gauntlets of hard rawhide. Entellus,
weak with age, only beats Dares to a bloody pulp with the help of madness. He smashes the skull
of the ox that he won with his hard gauntlet in the name of Eryx, his old teacher.

Lines 628-777
Summary: Aeneas ties a dove to the pole of a ship’s mast. The following compete in the
archery contest:
1. Hippocoon—son of Hyrtacus
2. Mnesthesus—won 2nd place in ship race
3. Eurytion—bro of famous archer Pandarus
4. Acestes—that old Trojan friend of Aeneas and Anchises

Hippocoon hits the pole. Mnestheus hits the cord holding the dove and set the dove free.
Eurytion kills the dove mid-air. Acestes shoots an arrow that catches fire mid-air and vanished in
the wind. He is deemed winner (chosen by the gods) and receives an old engraved mixing bowl
that belonged to Anchises. It was gifted by Cisseus of Thrace.
Epytides, the bodyguard of Ascanius, tells him and the boys to come out. They do fancy
military drills on horses, a tradition that will pass down to Alba Longa and Rome.

Lines 778-1014
Summary: The women, tired of traveling, complain about why they can’t just settle where
they are now. Juno sends Iris down on a rainbow to incite their anger. Iris disguises herself as
elderly Beroe and says that she had a dream where Cassandra told to set fire to the ships and
establish Troy there instead. Although Pyrgo, the royal governess to Priam’s sons, reveals the
disguise, the women are still angry and set fire to the ships anyway.
Eumelus (a courier) tattles on them, and Ascanius is the first to arrive. He yells at them
and throws his helmet at their feet. When Aeneas arrives, he begs Jupiter to either save the fleet
or strike him dead right there. A storm saved all the ships but 4. Elderly Nautes (taught by
Minerva herself) encouraged Aeneas to leave those who wanted to stay and take those who
wanted to leave. Anchises’ ghost appears before Aeneas and tells him to listen to Nautes. He also
tells his son to visit the underworld and meet him up in Elysium via Avernus.
Aeneas set up borders for a town on Acestes’ land, and after 9 days of feasting and
sacrifices, he left with a small band of men.

Lines 1015-1141
Summary: Venus begs Neptune to allow them safe passage across the sea, and he agrees
in the return for the life of one of their men. During the night, Somnus visited Palinurus, who
was steering the ship, and tried to get him to sleep. He refused, but Somnus used Lethe’s dew
and made him drowsy. Then, Somnus tossed him overboard. The fleet remained safely on course,
and they neared the Sirens’ reef.

Book VI

Lines 1-330
Summary: They land at Cumae and make camp. Aeneas and his buddies go to the Sibyl’s
cave where they see some pretty pictures detailing a bunch of stories/myths. Achates, having
been sent into the dark cave, returns to the entrance with the Deiphobe, the Sibyl. Apollo
possesses her and prophesizes the wars to come and a marriage to a stranger. Apollo leaves her
body, and Aeneas asks for directions to the Underworld so he can visit his father. She replies that
he must go deep into the forest and remove a gold branch. If he could remove it w/o trouble, he
is destined to go to the underworld; if he cannot remove it, it is not meant to be. Then she tells
him that his friend Misenus, a brilliant warrior, is dead and insists that they bury him before
Aeneas goes to the Underworld. After burying him, Aeneas prays to the gods for help finding the
branch, and Venus sends down two doves that lead the way. He removes it and, after a feast in
Misenus’ honor, brigns it to the Sibyl.

Lines 331-852
Summary: Aeneas enters the Underworld with the Sibyl where he sees the bad
god/goddesses (Diseases/Age/Dread/etc) and monsters. As they reach the Cocytus River, the
Sibyl explains that Charon cannot bring the dead people over the river until their bones are
buried or 100 years have passed. Aeneas sees some people he knew including Palinurus who asks
Aeneas to find his body and bury it, but the Sibyl says he will have a cape named after him, and
he is satisfied. Aeneas and the Sibyl show Charon the golden branch, and he brings them across
the river. There, Aeneas meets Dido and tries to apologize, but Dido ignores him and turns away
to rejoin Sychaeus, her husband. He meets one of Priam’s sons, Deiphobus (not to be confused
with Deiphobe, the Sibyl), whose body has been cruelly mutilated. Aeneas and the Sibyl
continue on and see people who are being cruelly punished for their sins.

Lines 853-1222 (end of book VI)

Summary: They enter the Blessed Fields (Elsyium, I believe) where Aeneas finally
reunites with his father. Anchises tells him not to worry and proceeds to tell him the future: there
will be lots of famous children from Aeneas’ line. Anchises tells Aeneas about Lavinia and how
his final child, Silvius, will have sons that will rule in Alba Longa. Eventually, he tells the story
of how Rome will be established and how Caesar Augustus will bring about another Golden Age
to Latium and conquer a lot of land. Numa will establish laws, Tullus will bring war, and there
will be a lot of grief and bloodshed. A beautiful man who stands next to Marcellus, a mighty
Roman general, will grow to be a fabulous warrior but will die early (I think? It’s a vague
description here). Finally, after all is said and done, Anchises sends Aeneas back to the surface
through the Ivory Gate of false dreams.

Book VII
Lines 1-653
Summary: Aeneas returns to the surface where they bury Nurse Caieta. They leave the
island and, thanks to Neptune’s intervention, they avoid the isle of Circe where men are turned
into horrible monsters via magic.
They finally reach Latium where King Latinus, son of Faunus, is struggling with his
daughter’s marriage situation. Lavinia, originally intended to marry Turnus, a handsome and
powerful heir, but they had received two signs that the marriage was not meant to be. First, bees
clustered together and made the top of a laurel tree bend over, meaning that a group of men
would arrive to take over their land. Secondly, Lavinia’s hair caught on fire, meaning that she
was destined to bring war upon her people.
Aeneas and his crew, after being so hungry that they eat the bread they used as plates
(therefore fulfilling the prophecy of Celeano, the Harpy leader, meaning that they have finally
arrived at their destination), Aeneas sends people to go talk to King Latinus. Aeneas’ people ask
for a chunk of land and permission to live in peace. They make a treaty, and King Latinus insists
that Aeneas and Lavinia get married.
Juno, pissed, wakes up Allecto and sends her to do her dirty work. Allecto posses Amata,
Latium’s queen, with madness. Amata runs through the city insisting that Lavinia should marry
Turnus and then feigns to be possessed by Bacchus. She rouses the other women in the city and
goes into the woods.
Allecto then goes to Turnus and tries to convince him to wage war. He refuses, saying
that what will happen will happen, but she possesses him with madness, and he orders his people
to prepare for war.

Lines 654
Allecto tricked Iulus into shooting the beloved stag of Silvia, and it triggers a huge battle.
Allecto, her job finished, is banished back to the Underworld by Juno. King Latinus sees the
crazy battle, his insane wife, and just gives up ruling his city. Juno opened the gates of war, and
all the tribes/lands who had yet to act began to move. The following people seem pretty
important:
1. Mezentius of Tuscany
a. He hates the gods.
2. Lausus—son of Mezentius
a. He’s very pretty and is a conqueror of beasts.
3. Aventinus—son of Hervules
4. Catillus and Coras—twin bros
5. Caeculus—son of Vulcan
a. Founded Praeneste
6. Messapus—son of Neptune
7. Halaesus—Agamemnon’s son
8. Umbro—skilled priest who could not heal his own injury
9. Virbius—ZOMBIE GUY
a. When he died, Asclepius’ meds and Diana’s revived him. But Jupiter got mad at this
and threw Asclepius into a river. Diana hid Virbius (then called Hippolytus) and sent him
to live in her wood with the nymph Egeria.
10. Camilla—she’s a badass and kicks some serious booty at the end of the Aeneid

I’m too lazy to do the rest, so...

Book VIII: Aeneas asks King Evander for an alliance, and he agrees. They tell a story about
Hercules. Venus asks Vulcan to make special armor for Aeneas, and he agrees.
Book IX: Juno tells Turnus to attack the Trojans while Aeneas is gone. They attack for a while
but are unable to get past the walls. They also try to burn Aeneas’ ships, but his ships turn into
nymphs. In the night, Nisus and Euryalus volunteer to leave the Trojans to find Aeneas and give
him a msg. They slaughter a lot of Turnus’ people, but in the end, they get ambushed by his
arriving allies and are driven into the woods where they get separated. Euryalus gets cornered, so
Nisus throws his javelins at the enemies from the shadows. The enemies get mad and charge at
Euryalus, so Nisus reveals himself, but it doesn’t matter. They both die, but at least they die
together. Turnus throws a torch at one of the towers, and it catches on fire. From here, shit just
hits the fan. A lot of people die. Ascanius gets sassy and kills his first man. Apollo takes the form
of Butes, Anchises’ armor-bearer, and warns Ascanius to refrain from any more fighting. Turnus
rushes into an open gate, kills a bunch of people, and almost gets slaughtered. Luckily, Juno is
there to save him, and he basically dives into the river and lets it carry him back to camp.
Book X: Aeneas and his growing army are aided by the nymphs that used to be his fleet and are
sent zooming through the water. They return to their fellow Trojans. Pallas, son of Evander, gets
pretty badass and starts killing people. The nymph Juturna, Turnus’ sister, tries to convince him
to run away, but he ignores her and kills Pallas in a pretty suspenseful battle. Aeneas hears that
Pallas is dead and kills a shit ton of people in rage. He kills Mezentius and his son Lausus.
Book XI: There’s a pretty fierce debate about whether the Latins should give up to the Trojans or
not. Drances tries throwing shade at Turnus, but Turnus stands up and fires some super sassy
shots back at him. Eventually, the battles resume. Since the Trojans are coming in two groups,
the Latins do the same. Turnus goes to ambush Aeneas’ group while he commands the rest of his
armies to fend off the other Trojan group. Here is where Camilla kicks some serious ass. She
kills a bunch of people and finally, is killed by Arruns. However, because Camilla is loved by
Diana (as a baby, Camilla was offered to Diana as a slave or something), Opis (Diana’s sentinel)
kills Arruns with an arrow. With Camilla gone, the Trojans start to gain ground. Turnus starts to
return to them so he can help them fight when he catches sight of Aeneas.
Book XII: Aeneas gets hit by an arrow or something. Iapyx tries to heal him but fails until Venus
dips the herb leaves in ambrosia and Heal-all. Aeneas and Turnus kill some more people. Juno,
seeing that she is fighting a losing battle, asks Jupiter to allow the Latin race to live on, and he
agrees. He says that the Trojans and Latins will become one, but underneath the Latin name. The
Trojan traditions will mix with the Latin ones. Aeneas and Turnus finally fight. Aeneas totally
kicks ass. At the end, Turnus asks Aeneas to return his corpse to his father, but Aeneas catches
sight of Turnus wearing Pallas’ belt and slaughters him on the spot without giving a response.

THE BOOK ENDS. YAY.