by Anne Penny

Created on: June 28, 2009

At his death in 19 BC Virgil left three works of literature, all in verse: the first is the Bucolics, a charming collection of ten short poems about country life. The second poem is known as the Georgics, which is poetic advice to farmers with a famous section about bees and their habits. The third poem the Aeneid, is the longest, an epic work of imagination regarding the origins of Romans in times long before Rome itself was founded.

Legend held that Romans could trace their origins back to Troy whose story had been told by Homer. Virgil took this legend and reworked it in his own way to recount how a prince of Troy Aeneas and his companions escaped following the fall of Troy. They set sail for the west coast of Italy, which they only reached after many tribulations and adventures, and there at last they are able to establish the beginnings of Rome. All is pre-ordained, the final destiny is unavoidable; the sufferings of Aeneas and his crew merely postpone the inevitable founding of the Roman Empire.

The Aeneid is arranged into 12 books: books 1-6 are concerned with the wanderings of Aeneas and his men as they struggle against enormous difficulties in their attempts to reach the shores of western Italy. Books 7-12 show how, because of the sustained opposition of the powerful goddess Juno, Aeneas had to face war once he had reached Italy.

Aeneas was the son of Venus the goddess of love and Anchises, a mortal. Naturally, Venus attempted to watch over her son, but had a fierce opponent in Juno queen of the gods and wife of the supreme god, Jupiter. Juno opposed Aeneas because of her deep hatred of Troy and her wish to promote Carthage. Throughout the Aeneid Juno exhibits her anger and vents it towards the unfortunate Aeneas, although she is well aware of the inevitability of the outcome. Carthage is destined for destruction and Rome will rise, as is pre-ordained. Other gods appear: Jupiter himself works with Destiny and as his will is supreme he ensures that Aeneas eventually reaches Italy, despite the efforts of Juno to deflect him. Other more minor gods and goddesses become involved, either helping or hindering Aeneas' efforts often through omens or dreams.

As noted, books 1-6 tell of the wanderings of the Trojan group led by Aeneas and books 1-4 show them thrown off course by a great storm, landing them in Carthage in North Africa. Here queen Dido welcomes them and Aeneas relates to her the emotion-charged story of Troy's fall and their subsequent misfortunes.

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