Æneas

Also known as: Trojan / hero · Family: Trojan · Role: traveler · First appears: Fable 103

Æneas, a Trojan traveler, is received by Dido in her home and affection, but afterward abandons her, and she stabs herself in despair. At Avernus, Sibyl grants him passage through Elysium so he can visit Anchises; he plucks the golden branch, enters the underworld, sees his father and ancestors, and learns its laws and the dangers of his future wars.

Achæmenides honors Æneas no less than his own father, while Caieta, his nurse and foster-mother, is buried by him, giving her name to the place. His mother is Venus, and he has escaped Diomedes’s sword; he later wages war with Turnus, or, as the material states, with Juno rather than Turnus.

Relationship record

Fable 103

admirer: Dido “Dido entertains Æneas in her palace, and falls in love with him.”
with Dido (Æneas abandons Dido.) “He afterwards abandons her, on which she stabs herself in despair.”
courtship with Dido “Dido entertains Æneas in her palace, and falls in love with him.”

Fable 104

with Sibyl (The Sibyl acts as Æneas's guide.) “Yet, Trojan, lay aside {all} apprehension, thou shalt obtain thy request; and under my guidance thou shalt visit the abodes of Elysium, the most distant realms of the universe, and the beloved shade of thy parent.”
parent: Anchises (Anchises is identified as Æneas's father.) “and he enters the shores of Cumæ, regions abounding in the sedge of the swamp, and the cavern of the long-lived Sibyl[13], and entreats {her}, that through Avernus, he may visit the shade of his father. But she raises her countenance, a long time fixed on the ground; and at length, inspired by the influence of the God, she says, ‘Thou dost request a great thing, O hero, most renowned by thy achievements, whose right hand has been proved by the sword, whose affection {has been proved} by the flames. Yet, Trojan, lay aside {all} apprehension, thou shalt obtain thy request; and under my guidance thou shalt visit the abodes of Elysium, the most distant realms of the universe, and the beloved shade of thy parent. To virtue, no path is inaccessible.’ {Thus} she spoke, and she pointed out a branch refulgent with gold, in the woods of the Juno of Avernus[14], and commanded him to pluck it from its stem. Æneas obeyed; and he beheld the power of the dread Orcus, and his own ancestors, and the aged ghost of the magnanimous Anchises;”

Fable 105

with Achæmenides (Æneas rescued Achæmenides, who reveres him as a father.) “Achæmenides says, “Again may I behold Polyphemus, and those jaws streaming with human blood, if my home and Ithaca be more delightful to me than this bark; if I venerate Æneas any less than my own father.”
with Caieta (Caieta was Æneas’s nurse.) “Caieta was the name of the nurse of Æneas, who was said to have been buried there by him.”

Fable 110

guardian: Caieta “This was Caieta, who, being buried there by her foster-child Æneas, gave her name to the spot.”
with Caieta (Caieta was Æneas's foster parent.) “This was Caieta, who, being buried there by her foster-child Æneas, gave her name to the spot.”

Fable 111

parent: Venus “When the resplendent mother of Æneas was sensible of this;”
enemies with Diomedes “and Æneas had escaped from the sword of Diomedes.”
enemies with Turnus “I, who have seen my son driven about in protracted wanderings, tossed on the ocean, entering the abodes of the departed, and waging war with Turnus;”
enemies with Juno “and waging war with Turnus; or, if we confess the truth, with Juno rather?”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.