A Detailed Treatment of Virgil’s “Aeneid”
()
About this ebook
Read more from Daniel Zimmermann
A Detailed Exposition of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmoebas, Euglenas. Radiolarians, Foraminifera, Et Alii Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummaries of a Few of Chaucer’s Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInteresting Plants My Personal Observations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDraco Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhotosynthesis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilippine Anecdotes and Activities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Look At Musical Treasures of Bygone Eras Third Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Genus Rhipsalis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Satellites of Neptune Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummaries of “Song of Hiawatha” and “Skeleton In Armor” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilippine Birds Most of Them Endemic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotes On the Book of Enoch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummaries of Fifteen Tales of Hoffmann Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummaries of Short Stories of O. Henry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The (Dwarf) Planet Pluto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummaries of Various Works of H. G. Wells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristian Stories That Make You Think Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems for Christian Festivals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Synthesis of Elements 107-118 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevelation a View of Heaven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllegory, Myth, and Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Satellites of Jupiter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Exposition of the Odyssey of Homer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Exposition of Works By Henry James, Washington Irving, and Other American Authors, Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Bird’s Eye View of the “Arabian Nights” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Genus Hylocereus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeo Minor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Satellites of Uranus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories to Brighten a Cloudy Day Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Detailed Treatment of Virgil’s “Aeneid”
Related ebooks
The Aeneid of Virgil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Virgil, “The Fall of Troy”: A Discussion Guide for Book 2 of Virgil’s "Aeneid" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Time Since Passed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiterary Cultures of the Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Woman & the Priest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Imagined Civil War: Popular Literature of the North and South, 1861-1865 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUlysses by James Joyce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan Should Rejoice, by Hugh MacLennan: A Critical Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEthics in an Age of Terror and Genocide: Identity and Moral Choice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCanada and the Changing Arctic: Sovereignty, Security, and Stewardship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Harold Frederic's "The Damnation of Theron Ware" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbove the Battle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of unrest: Karain, A Memory - The Idiots - An Outpost Of Progress - The Return - The Lagoon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moon and Sixpence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lieutenant Schreiber's Country: The Story of a Forgotten Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArchias the Exile-Hunter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHobbes's Behemoth: Religion and Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong the Imperial Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCuriosities of Puritan Nomenclature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Mary Oliver's "The Eskimos Have No Word for War" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThornton Wilder: A Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Man's Land: Preparing for War and Peace in Post-9/11 America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890-1900 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wallet of Kai Lung Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsErasmus and the Age of Reformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Works of Edmund Burke, plus Burke Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTherefore Choose Life: The Found Massey Lectures Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Evolution of the Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Canadian Battles: Heroism and Courage Through the Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun and Her Flowers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Forward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Collection of Poems by Robert Frost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pillow Thoughts II: Healing the Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Not Taken and other Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things We Don't Talk About Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf: A New Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Detailed Treatment of Virgil’s “Aeneid”
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Detailed Treatment of Virgil’s “Aeneid” - Daniel Zimmermann
A Detailed Treatment of Virgil’s Aeneid
By Daniel Zimmermann
Chapter I: A Brief Summary of the Entire Aeneid
The Aeneid is an epic poem which Virgil wrote in the Latin language. It contains twelve separate books. This essay offers a brief summary of the entire work. Subsequent essays will summarize each of the twelve books.
Book I
Virgil began his epic in the middle of the story. Under the leadership of Aeneas, the Trojans were sailing to Italy. It seemed as if they would soon reach their destination.
Suddenly, a ferocious storm arose. The goddess Juno, who hated the Trojans, had persuaded Aeolus to let loose all the winds that were under his control.
The god Neptune eventually noticed the storm and calmed the troubled waters, but much damage had been done. The crippled Trojan fleet took refuge on the coast of Africa near the city of Carthage. Dido, the Carthaginian queen, offered hospitality to the Trojans.
Book II
At a feast, Aeneas told Dido and other Carthaginians about the Trojan horse and the fall of Troy.
Aeneas told the assembly that the Greeks had pretended to give up and go home. They left behind a giant wooden horse, in which a number of Greek soldiers were hidden. By clever lies, a Greek named Sinon persuaded the Trojans to bring the horse into the city of Troy.
That night, while the Trojans slept, Sinon let the Greek soldiers out of the wooden horse. These soldiers killed the Trojan guards, so that more Greek soldiers could enter the city unhindered. Then the slaughter began.
Aeneas and other soldiers fought valiantly, but eventually he had to leave the city with his father Anchises, his son Ascanius, and his wife Creusa. During the flight, Creusa got lost and perished.
Book III
In the third book, Aeneas continued his narrative by explaining what they did after the fall of Troy.
The Trojan survivors regarded Aeneas as their leader. Under his direction, they built a fleet and set sail. They disembarked in Thrace, where they planned to build a city. However, the spirit of Polydorus, a son of King Priam of Troy, warned him that the local king was treacherous. He urged the Trojans not to settle in the area.
The Trojans sailed to Delos. Here the oracle of Apollo instructed them to return to the land from which their ancestors had originally come. Anchises thought that Apollo was directing them to Crete. However, when they tried to establish themselves on the island, they encountered problems, and Aeneas learned in a vision that Crete was not the place where they were destined to settle. They were supposed to go to Italy.
Accordingly, they sailed northward along the west coast of Greece. They briefly stopped at Epirus, where a Trojan named Helenus had become king. Helenus was a sort of prophet, and he gave Aeneas some useful instructions. Above all, he told Aeneas not to settle on the eastern coast of Italy, but on the western side.
On the way, they disembarked on the eastern coast of Sicily. Here they encountered a Greek named Achaemenides, who told him of his experiences with cannibalistic one-eyed giants called Cyclopes. As they were talking, a blind Cyclops named Polyphemus approached, so they quickly put to sea, taking Achaemenides with them.
Instead of passing through the dangerous strait between Sicily and Italy, the Trojans circumnavigated Sicily. At Drepanum on the west coast of Sicily, Anchises died.
While they began to sail northward toward their destination in Italy, they were buffeted by a storm and eventually had to take refuge in Carthaginian territory.
Book IV
Dido fell in love with Aeneas. While they were hunting, a storm arose, and Dido and Aeneas took refuge in a cave. Here they embarked on a more intimate association, and Aeneas began to direct building operations in Carthage.
Jupiter sent Mercury to remind Aeneas that he was not supposed to stay in Carthage. It was his duty to journey to Italy and settle there. When Dido learned that Aeneas was preparing to set sail, she became angry and berated him severely. After the Trojans left, Dido committed suicide.
Book V
On the way to Italy, the Trojan's disembarked on the west coast of Sicily, where Aeneas' friend Acestes was king. Since this is where Anchises was buried, Aeneas performed rites and held athletic contests in memory of his father.
In the meantime, Juno sent Iris to cause trouble. Iris persuaded the Trojan women to set fire to the ships so that they could stay in Crete instead of suffering further hardships at sea. Jupiter sent a storm to put out the fire, but some ships were lost.
They decided to build a city called Acesta in Sicily. Here most of the women stayed, as well as some others, especially older men. The fighting men sailed on to Italy with Aeneas. At the request of the goddess Venus, the mother of Aeneas, the god Neptune granted the Trojans fair weather as they sailed to Italy. Only Palinurus, the pilot, was lost. He fell asleep at the helm and fell into the sea. Though he managed to reach shore, he was treacherously killed by some local inhabitants.
Book VI
Before reaching their final destination, the Trojans stopped at Cumae. Here the Cumaean Sibyl led Aeneas into the realm of the dead, so that he could converse with the spirit of his father Anchises.
As he approached the realm of the dead, Aeneas saw the spirit of Palinurus and found out what had happened to him. After Charon had taken Aeneas and the Sibyl across the Styx River in his boat, they saw many dreary sights, such as the lamentations of those who had committed suicide. In this group, Aeneas saw the spirit of Dido.
Aeneas and the Sibyl eventually entered the happy fields of Elysium. Here he met the spirit of his father Anchises, who showed him various spirits who would later return to the upper world with new bodies. One spirit would soon become Silvius, a son whom an Italian girl named Lavinia would bear for Aeneas in his old age. Other spirits would later become important in the Roman nation, the nation that the descendants of Aeneas would found. Among these, Aeneas saw the spirits that would become Romulus and Caesar Augustus.
After finishing his discourse, Anchises sent Aeneas and the Sibyl back to the upper world.
Book VII
The Trojans sailed to the Tiber River. King Latinus welcomed him, and Aeneas became engaged to Lavinia, the daughter of the king.
However, not everyone wanted the Trojans to settle peacefully in Italy. The goddess Juno sent the Fury Alecto to stir up trouble.
Alecto stirred up Amata, the wife of Latinus, who did not want Aeneas to become her son-in-law. Then she stirred up Turnus, the king of the Rutulians, who wanted Lavinia to be his bride. Finally, she caused friction between the Latins and the Trojans, so that an impromptu battle occurred.
In this battle, the Latins suffered some casualties, so they became angry. They wanted war, and their desires were abetted by Queen Amata and Turnus. King Latinus rebuked them in vain. He was forced to let the people do what they wanted.
Book VIII
In the impending war, the Trojans had to face not only the Latins and Rutulians, but also many other Italian tribes that agreed to help the Latins in their war. At the suggestion of the Tiber's river god, Aeneas visited a Greek king named Evander, who had founded a colony on what later became the Palatine Hill of Rome. Evander agreed to forge an