Juno Convinces Aeolus, God of the Winds, to Unleash a Storm on the Sailing Trojans

The Aeneid

By Virgil

I.Virgil invokes the muse and declares his subject: Aeneas, a fleeing Trojan that must contend with the will of Juno, who is angry because, according to prophesy, Aeneas’s descendants (Rome) will eventually destroy Carthage, her favorite city.

Juno convinces Aeolus, god of the winds, to unleash a storm on the sailing Trojans.

Neptune senses the storm and calms it, saying that Aeolus has gone too far.

Seven Trojan ships remain, and they head for the harbor of Libya.

Aeneas goes to hunt for food.

On MountOlympus, Venus, mother of Aeneas, asks Jupiter to end the suffering of the Trojans. Zeus reminds her that Aeneas is destined to reach Italy and that two of his descendants, Romulus and Remus, will found the greatest empire in the world.

Zeus sends a god to the Carthaginians to make sure they are hospitable to the Trojans.

Venus, disguised as a huntress, appears to Aeneas and tells him how Dido became queen of Carthage. She tells him to seek her out and ask for help.

Dido had lived in the Phoenician city of Tyre, but her brother, Pygmalion, murdered her wealthy husband, Sychaeus. Warned by her husband’s ghost, she and some others fled and founded Carthage.

As she leaves, Venus reveals her true identity.

Venus makes a magic cloud around Aeneas and his friend Achates, so that they can enter the city unseen.

There, the two see a shrine to Juno that has a mural depicting the Trojan War.

When they reach the palace, they find other Trojans that had been separated from them asking Dido for aid.

Aeneas steps out of the cloud, introduces himself, and is reunited with the other Trojans.

Dido invites them all to feast with her that night.

Venus has her son Cupid make Dido fall in love with Aeneas. Cupid takes on the form of Aeneas’ son Ascanius and does so.

Dido asks Aeneas to tell the story of his travels.

II.Aeneas begins with the story of the Trojan Horse, which was Odysseus’ idea.

The Danaans (Greeks) built the horse and sailed a short distance away from Troy.

A Greek youth named Sinon stays behind and tells the Trojans that he was left as a sacrifice to ensure safe passage home for the Greeks.

Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse was built as an offering to Minerva. If the Trojans harm it, they will incur her wrath, but if they take it into the city, they will gain her favor and defeat the Greeks.

A Trojan priest named Laocoön does not believe this and hurls a spear at the Horse.

Suddenly, two snakes come out of the ocean, devour Laocoön and his sons, and slither to the shrine of Minerva. This is considered an omen, and the Trojans take the Horse.

That night, Sinon opens the belly of the Horse and several Greek heroes open the gates.

Hector appears to Aeneas in a dream and informs him that Troy is under attack.

Aeneas gathers a few men and goes to join the hopeless fight against the Greeks.

Aeneas and his band go to the Trojan palace where they witness the murder of Polites and then his father, King Priam.

Aeneas, in a rage, goes after Helen, but Venus stops him and tells him that the war is the fault of the gods, not Helen. She advises him to flee Troy.

Aeneas goes to the house of his elderly father, Anchises, but his father refuses to leave.

Two omens appear: a tongue of fire on Ascanius’ forehead and a shooting star.

Anchises agrees to leave and Aeneas carries him away on his shoulders.

Aeneas’ wife Creusa is lost in the commotion as they flee. Aeneas goes back to look for her, but her ghost appears and tells him that a new wife and destiny await him.

III. Aeneas and the group he has led out of Troy build ships and sail for Thrace.

At Thrace, Aeneas pulls up a plant and a tree branch, only to see blood running out of the ground and tree.

The ghost of Polydorus, son of Priam, appears and tells Aeneas that he had been sent to Thrace to be safe form the war. When the Greeks won the war, the Thracian king betrayed the Trojans and killed Polydorus.

The Trojans hold a funeral for Polydorus and sail for the holy island of Delos.

There, Apollo speaks to Aeneas and tells him to go to the land of his ancestors.

Anchises thinks this means Crete, where a Trojan forefather named Teucrus had ruled.

The Trojans go there and start a city, but it is destroyed by plague.

Aeneas’ gods appear to him and explain that their actual destination is Italy, where the Trojan forefather Dardanus once ruled.

Next, the Trojans land at Strophades, where they kill the wild livestock to have a feast.

This provokes the Harpies, who attack and curse the Trojans, saying that they will not establish their city until they eat their own tables out of hunger.

Next, the Trojans visit the island of Leucata, where they make sacrifices to Apollo.

When the Trojans land in Buthrotum, in Chaonia, they discover that Helenus and Andromachë, two Trojans, have gained power in the Greek city when their captor, Pyrrhus, was killed.

Helenus and Andromachë advise Aeneas to go the long way around Sicily, to the South, because the narrow pass between Sicily and Italy is made dangerous by the whirlpool Charybdis and the six-headed monster Scylla.

The Trojans follow these instructions and sail to the South of Sicily.

On the beach, they meat a ragged Greek who asks to come aboard. He relates how he was in the crew of Ulysses and how they were captured by a Cyclops. He tells them how Ulysses stabbed the Cyclops in its eye.

As the story finishes, the blinded Cyclops and fellow Cyclopes come, and the Trojans must make a speedy getaway.

The Trojans then land at Drepanum, where Anchises dies.

Lastly, the Trojans end up at Carthage, where the story ends.

IV.Dido falls more and more in love with Aeneas.

She had sworn not to remarry after the death of Sychaeus, but her sister Anna councils her that marrying Aeneas would increase the power of Carthage.

Dido lets the building of Carthage slacken as she becomes more infatuated with Aeneas.

Juno goes to Venus and suggests that the two of them try to get Aeneas and Dido alone.

Venus sees that Juno is only trying to keep the Trojans from reaching Italy, but she agrees.

When the Carthaginians are out hunting, Juno sends a storm.

Dido and Aeneas end up seeking shelter in a cave alone, where they make love.

When Jupiter hears that Dido and Aeneas are now living as lovers, and that they are neglecting their ruling duties, he sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty to reach Italy.

Aeneas tries to leave in secret, but Dido finds out.

She gets angry, but Aeneas insists that he is only leaving because he must.

Dido asks Anna to build a pyre of all the things Aeneas has left behind. She claims this is a way to get him out of her mind.

That night, Mercury comes again and tells Aeneas to leave right away. He does.

Dido, in despair, climbs the pyre and falls on one of Aeneas’ sword. Juno, in pity, lights it.

V. Hindered by storm clouds, Aeneas stops at Eryx, a city in Sicily where his fellow Trojan Acestes rules.

Acestes welcomes Aeneas, who decides to hold eight days of offerings followed by a day of feasts in honor of the one year anniversary of Anchises’ death.

During the games, Juno sends Iris to insight the Trojan women to set fire to the fleet out of fear of further travels.

Aeneas is only able to put out the fire by praying to Jupiter, who sends rain.

Aeneas considers doing what the women want: building the city in Sicily instead.

Nautes, a Trojan seer, suggests that they simply leave the weary behind in Eryx.

Anchises appears to Aeneas that night and confirms this plan. He also tells Aeneas that he will face a strong enemy in Italy and that Aeneas must come to the underworld to speak further with Anchises.

Venus asks Neptune to ensure safe passage to Italy, which he does.

Neptune, however, requires a sacrifice and causes Palinurus, head captain of the Trojan fleet, to fall asleep at the helm and die at sea.

VI. The Trojans finally arrive at Italy and land at Cumae.

Aeneas visits the shrine of Apollo, as his father instructed, where he meets the Sibyl priestess.

He asks Apollo for safety in Italy, but the Sybil warns of more fighting and a Latin foe equal to Achilles.

The Sybil also tells Aeneas how to get into Dis (the underworld): he must find a golden branch growing in a local forest. If the branch comes off the tree easily, he can enter the underworld.

Aeneas says a prayer, and a pair of doves guides him to the branch, which comes off.

The Sybil takes Aeneas to the gates of Dis, where Charon must ferry them across the river Acheron.

Aeneas learns that the souls that are not buried properly must wait a long time before crossing the river. Palinurus is among these.

Aeneas sees the newly deceased being judged by Minos.

Aeneas sees Dido in the Fields of Mourning, where people that commit suicide reside.

Aeneas passes the field of war heroes and sees a fortress where Rhadamanthus is dealing out torturous punishments to the worst of sinners.

Aeneas finally meets his fathers in the Blessed Groves, who shows Aeneas his future descendants, including Romulus, who will found Rome, and a great king, or Caesar.

Anchises also prophesies about how Rome will come to rule to world and leads Aeneas out of Dis, where he gathers the men and moves on along the coast of Italy.

VII.Virgil re-invokes the muse, asking for help in describing the Kingdom of Latium.

King Latinus has only one daughter, Lavinia, and the hero Turnus seeks to marry her.

Latinus, however, was warned by the Oracle of Faunus that Lavinia should marry a foreigner.

Meanwhile, the Trojans eat fruit spread out on stale bread, and Ascanius points out that they have eaten their tables, this fulfilling the prophesy of the Harpies.

Aeneas sends an envoy to Latinus asking for land, and Latinus offers both this and Lavinia’s hand in marriage. He recognizes that even the Trojans taking over his kingdom is better than resisting fate.

Juno sends Allecto, a fury, to make the local peasants angry at the Trojans.

Allecto makes Queen Amata oppose Lavinia’s marriage and Turnus oppose the ideas of loosing his future wife and being ruled by a foreign King.

While Ascanius is hunting, Juno gets him to shoot a deer that is a favorite of the local shepherds.

The shepherds, Queen Amata, and Turnus force Latinus to wage war on the Trojans.

VIII. Aeneas readies his men for war and recruits local cities to help, but he still feels unready.

That night, the river god Tiberinus tells him to make an alliance with the Arcadians.

Aeneas rows several days up the Tiber and makes an alliance with King Evander, who offers help against the Latins, who he is also at war with.

After a feast, rites are made in honor of Hercules, who is patron of Arcadia because he killed the monster Cacus.

Venus asks her husband Vulcan to make new weapons and armor for Aeneas. Vulcan has his workers, Cyclopes that live in the volcano Etna, make them.

Evander offers troops, and asks nearby cities to do the same.

Several thousand troops join Aeneas, but this army is so large that it must march back.

Evander asks Aeneas to take Pallas, his son, and teach him the art of war.

Venus gives Aeneas the godly weapons, which include a shield that depicts, among other things, Romulus being raised by wolves and Caesar Augustus defeating Antony and Cleopatra at the naval battle of Actium.

IX.Juno tells Turnus that Aeneas is away, and Turnus leads his army against the Trojans.

Unable to find a way into the Trojan fortress, Turnus decides to set fire to the ships.

Little does Turnus know, Cybele, mother of Jupiter, asked her son to bless the ships since they were made of wood form her sacred forest. The ships, instead of burning, become sea nymphs.

The Trojans need to send word to Aeneas, and Nisus and Euryalus volunteer.

They slip out of the fort at night and slaughter several sleeping Trojan captains.

Euryalus insists on taking a helmet as a prize, but this helmet eventually allows the Latins to spot them as they sneak away toward Aeneas.

Euryalus is captured and Nisus goes to help, but is also killed.

The next day, the Latins attack. Turnus burns a tower of the fort, and Ascanius must rouse the Trojans to not give up hope.

The Trojans charge out from their fort and kill many Latins, until Turnus joins in and forces the Trojans back into the fort.

The Trojan Pandarus closes the gates, but Turnus gets inside and slaughters many.

Turnus, eventually outnumbered, jumps into the Tiber and floats back to his army.

X. Jupiter, who had expected a peace in Italy, calls a council of the gods.

Venus and Juno argue, and Jupiter gets annoyed. He decides not to help either side and let the men decide their own fate.

Aeneas receives ships form Tarchon of Tuscany and the sea nymphs born of the ships speed the now sailing army back to the Trojan camp.

Turnus sees the ships approach and marches out to meet Aeneas’ army.

Aeneas and Pallas kill many Latins, but this causes Turnus to challenge and kill Pallas.

Turnus takes Pallas’ belt as a prize, and Aeneas flies into a rage.

Juno gets permission to save Turnus: She disguises herself as Aeneas and gets Turnus to chase her aboard a ship. She then makes the ship sail away down the coast.

Mezentius takes control of the Latins and tries to kill Aeneas, who is saved by his new shield.

XI. Aeneas sends an envoy of 1,000 men back to Evander with Pallas’ body. Evander manages to forgive Aeneas since Pallas died honorably.

The Latins ask for a 12 days truce to bury the dead. Aeneas agrees.

The Latins call a council. Latinus does not think it can be won and wants to make peace.

Several of the men blame Turnus for the war and say he should fight Aeneas for Lavinia.

Turnus gets angry, but agrees.

Just then, unwilling to allow the poem to end for at least another two books, a messenger arrives and tells Latinus that Aeneas is marching on Latium.

The Latins forget about the duel and scramble to ready their defenses.

The Latins are now being aided by Camilla, leader of the warrior maidens called the Volscians.

Turnus learns that Aeneas has divided his army, and goes to set a trap for Aeneas’ half in the mountains.

The second half engages the Volscians in front of the Latin city.

Camilla kills many Trojans until Arruns, a Tuscan, kills Camilla.

Diana, who likes Camilla, sends Opus to kill Arruns.

Acca, a Volscian, goes to tell Turnus that the Latins have no leader.

Turnus is forced to return to the city just before Aeneas comes to the ambush he had set up.

XII. Turnus decides to fight Aeneas man to man for Lavinia, despite the warnings of Latinus and Amata.

As the two armies assemble outside the city to watch, Turnus’ sister Juturna, at the behest of Juno, disguises herself as an officer named Camers and tries to convince the Latins to attack the Trojans while they are off guard.

A Latin throws a spear and kills a Trojan, starting another battle.

Aeneas tries to break it up, but is shot in the leg with an arrow and must retreat.

Turnus, seeing his chance, kills many Trojans.

Venus sends a balm to the Trojan physician, who uses it to remove the arrow and heal the wound, thus allowing Aeneas to return to the battle.

Aeneas, seeing the Latin city unguarded, assaults it.

Queen Amata looses all hope and commits suicide.

Turnus finds Aeneas and the two decide to battle one on one again in the main courtyard.

Before the battle, Turnus picked up someone else’s sword, which breaks in the duel.