The Aeneid
Also known as: Aeneis, The Aeneid
Virgil’s epic follows Aeneas, a survivor of Troy, as he journeys to Italy to found the lineage of Rome. Guided by fate and the gods, he endures exile, love, loss, underworld visions, and war against Turnus to secure a future kingdom.
Description
The Aeneid recounts Aeneas’ divinely mandated flight from fallen Troy and his arduous quest to settle in Latium, where his descendants will found Rome. The poem opens with storm and shipwreck, pauses for a tragic romance with Dido in Carthage, and culminates in Italian warfare as alliances form and break. Book 6 anchors the Roman mission in a visionary katabasis that reveals souls, Roman heroes to come, and the moral calculus of pietas. Forged shields, prophetic omens, and the negotiations of kings frame a narrative balancing personal compassion and public necessity, ending with Aeneas’ decisive victory over Turnus and the shadow of empire.
Historiography
Surviving medieval manuscripts derive from late antique exemplars; the poem was published after Virgil’s death by Varius and Tucca despite the poet’s wish to destroy it. Ancient scholia culminate in Servius’ late antique commentary, expanded in the Servius Auctus tradition. Reception shaped Roman imperial ideology and later European epic, with sustained commentary from antiquity through Renaissance humanists and modern philology.
Date Notes
Composed ca. 29–19 BCE; left unrevised at Virgil’s death in 19 BCE and issued posthumously under the supervision of Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca.
Major Characters
- Aeneas
- Dido
- Anchises
- Ascanius
- Turnus
- Venus
- Juno
- Evander
- Nisus
- Euryalus
- Lavinia
Myths
- The Fall of Troy and Flight
- Dido and Aeneas
- The Descent to the Underworld
- The War in Italy
- The Shield of Aeneas
Notable Quotes
Arma virumque cano
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.
Facilis descensus Averno.
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento.
Facts
- The poem is divided into 12 books, mirroring Homeric epic architecture.
- Books 1–6 emphasize voyage and exile; Books 7–12 focus on Italian war and settlement.
- Virgil models Aeneas on pietas, balancing duty to gods, family, and future nation.
- Book 6’s underworld vision provides a teleology of Roman history and virtues.
- The Shield of Aeneas prefigures Roman history, culminating in Augustus’ triumphs.
- Published posthumously; editors did minimal emendation, preserving unfinished lines.
- Servius’ late antique commentary is the most influential ancient exegesis.
- Dido’s narrative forges an etiological link between Carthage and Rome’s enmity.
- Aeneas’ epithet pius signals the epic’s ethical program over sheer martial prowess.
- The poem became a cornerstone of Roman education and medieval Latin curricula.