![]() A woman of great beauty and majesty, she seats herself on her throne and holds court. Entering the temple, they see that its walls are covered with decorative panels that depict scenes from the Trojan War, which fill Aeneas with sorrow.Īs Aeneas inspects the murals more closely, Dido and her attendants enter the temple. They come at last to a grove, where they find a great temple built to honor Juno. ![]() As she turns away, Aeneas recognizes her as his mother and reproaches her for always appearing to him in disguise.Įnveloped now in a cloud that Venus has thrown over them to make them invisible, Aeneas and Achatës observe the people of Carthage at their various tasks. Advising Aeneas to go to Dido's palace, Venus assures her son that the missing ships and his comrades are safe. They meet Venus, who, disguised as a Carthaginian huntress, tells them that they are near Carthage, a city founded by Dido, who fled with her followers from the Phoenician city of Tyre after her evil brother, Pygmalion, murdered her husband, Sychaeus. The next morning, Aeneas sets out with his companion Achatës to explore the region. Jupiter now sends Mercury, the messenger god, to Carthage to put the Carthaginians and their queen, Dido, in a mood to receive the Trojans favorably. Juno will come to love the Romans, and at last a Trojan caesar named Julius, after Aeneas's son Iulus - not Julius Caesar, but his heir by adoption, Augustus - will bring an age of peace. Jupiter quiets her fears by telling her that the Trojans will arrive in Latium Aeneas will win a great battle and found the city of Lavinium his son, Ascanius, also known as Iulus, will found Alba Longa, near the future site of Rome and Romulus will eventually found Rome itself, which will conquer the world, including Greece. Meanwhile, Aeneas's mother, the goddess Venus, reminds Jupiter of his promise that the Trojans will reach Italy and become the forebears of the Roman people. Neptune, the god of the sea, angry because Aeolus has infringed on his own territory, calms the water, and the seven remaining ships of Aeneas's fleet find a safe harbor on the North African coast of Libya, site of the city of Carthage. Many of the ships appear to be lost at sea. Seeing the Trojans set sail for Italy, Juno commands Aeolus, the god of the winds, to raise a storm that will capsize their ships and drown them all. ![]() Finally, Juno is angry because Jupiter made Ganymede, a Trojan prince, the gods's cupbearer. ![]() She also hates the Trojans because one of their ancestors was Dardanus, the son of Jupiter - Juno's husband and king of the gods - and Electra, a daughter of Atlas and Juno's rival for Jupiter's affection. Why, Virgil asks, appealing to the muse of epic poetry, does Juno, the queen of the gods, harass such a good man? He mentions two explicit reasons for Juno's hostility: her love for Carthage and corresponding hatred for the future Rome, which is destined to overthrow her favorite city and her lingering resentment because Paris, a Trojan, did not award her the golden apple, the prize given to the most beautiful woman in the world. Virgil begins his epic poem with a succinct statement of its theme: He will sing of war and the man - Aeneas - who, driven by fate, sailed from Troy's shores to Italy, where he founded a city called Lavinium, the precursor of Rome.
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