History Literature / TheAeneid

The city he eventually founds is the one from which Roman founders Romulus and Remus supposedly come. ''The Aeneid'' was intended as a propaganda piece for the [[JusttheFirstCitizen emperor-in-all-but-name]] UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, who had recently become the supreme power in Rome, then ravaged by civil war, by defeating UsefulNotes/MarkAntony and UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII. Aeneas, who is pious,[[note]]Aeneas is often called ''pius Aeneas''. ''Pius'' is often translated as pious, but it refers to devotion to not only the gods, but also one's family and country. In the case of Aeneas, his country is the Rome which will eventually exist.[[/note]] dutiful and brave was held as the Roman ideal and is obliquely compared with Augustus at several points in the poem.

* EntitledToHaveYou: Iarbas, an African king Dido spurned, hears of Dido's affair with Aeneas. He then complains to Jupiter that Dido has rejected him in favor of Aeneas, whom he likens to Paris, and he concludes that all his devotional practices to Jupiter, all his prayers to him and all the temples and altars he built in his honor, [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthuhlu might be all for nothing]].

** Mezentius, who is known to despise the gods, proclaims his right hand that is holding his javelin to be his god and promises his spoils of war to Lausus, not to Jupiter, in the hopes of dressing him like a trophy. The typical Roman trophy is a tree with its limbs trimmed off and dressed in the armor of the conquered.

* DownerEnding: Somewhat; while Aeneas is victorious and peace is ensured, the epic ends on the death of Turnus.

** Androgeos urging his men to loot to their hearts content gets him killed when it turns out he is ''not'' talking to his men, but to a contingent of Trojan warriors.

* GiveMyRegardsInTheNextWorld: A rather villainous version.
-->'''Priam:''' How dare you make me witness my own son's death! You're no son of [[Literature/TheIliad Achilles]]--he had respect for those begging for mercy!\\
'''Neoptolemus[[note]]a.k.a. Pyrrhus[[/note]]:''' You'll get to see my father yourself! Be sure to tell him how wicked his son is. Now die.

* NayTheist: Mezentius is one of the first known examples his epithet being "God-despising Mezentius". He even vows his spoils of war to his son, rather than to Jupiter, in Book 10.

** Queen Dido stabs herself and jumps on her funeral pyre in grief and rage at being abandoned by Aeneas.

%%* MoralityPet:
%%** Lausus to Mezentius. The [[spoiler:former's death sets off a RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
%%** Also Mezentius's faithful horse Rhaebus.

** Downplayed with Aeneas when he meets his mother Venus when he lands near Carthage. Venus is disguised as a Spartan huntress, but Aeneas recognizes ''that'' she's a divine being; he can't tell which one. At least, until she walks away and lets her dress stream down to her ankles.Evidently, he is ''not'' happy when he discovers this.

* BattleCouple: Nisus and Euryalus are the homosexual kind. They are tied at the hip. [[spoiler: They start a night raid against the Latins together. It doesn’t end well.]]

%%* BuryYourGays: Nisus and Euryalus.
%%** Notable because it is an accidental trope. Virgil would not have intended, nor his audience understood or expected, this trope. All the same, to a modern reader, it fits it oddly exactly.
%%*** Given that in Roman society EveryoneIsBi, this might not even count since the distinctions of homo and heterosexuality didn't even exist at that time.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Iarbas, while ordering Jupiter to intercede on his behalf, adds: "We, meanwhile, consecrate offerings / Made in your temples, and place our faith in what's just idle Rumor." In other words, Iarbas is saying that all his prayers, all the temples and altars he erected in Jupiter's honour, might be all for nothing. That is enough to prod Jupiter into ordering Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty.

* NayTheist: Mezentius is one of the first known examples his epithet being "God-despising Mezentius".

* TemporaryLoveInterest: Dido. Her love keeps Aeneas in Carthage and away from his destiny, so the gods send Mercury to remind him to continue his journey.

* RetiredBadass: Entellus was the bravest of Trojan heroes in the past, but age has forced him to step down. His match against Dares shows that he's StillGotIt, and he demonstrates this by bashing an ox's skull with a punch.

* RobbingTheDead: Some characters loot their dead foes, and often pay for it (Nisus and Euryalus are caught because the moonlight glints off their spoils, Camilla gives Arruns an opening to shoot her by running across the battlefield to loot Chloreus' armour, Turnus stealing Pallas's belt drives Aeneas to kill him when he was previously going to spare him).
%%* SecondHandStorytelling

%%* ShamingTheMob: Only in metaphor, but cool all the same.
* ShoutOut:
** The first words, "I sing of arms and a man," are meant by Virgil as a callback to ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' respectively, to connect his epic with the works of Homer. Specifically, ''The Iliad'' begins by proclaiming itself to be about the rage (''mania'') of Achilles, a great warrior, in the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, while ''The Odyssey'' begins by proclaiming itself to be about a man, Odysseus. Virgil starts by saying that his poem is going to be about both.
%%** The whole book is chock full of [[ShoutOut shout outs]] of various kinds to both epics.

* UnwantedRescue: Juno separates Turnus from the battle and his troops by luring him to a ship with a phantom of Aeneas. Turnus is extremely upset about this because he will be seen as a coward who fled battle and abandoned his men. He tries to jump off the ship to get back to the battle three times, but Juno restrains him. Turnus even considers falling on his sword.

* CurbStompBattle: Pyrrhus vs. Priam. Priam's a broken old man having suffered the death of his numerous children and the downfall of his family and kingdom. His son being killed galvanizes him to fight, but his spear bounces off Pyrrhus's shield and he's dragged to an altar and slaughtered.
* DavidVersusGoliath: InvertedTrope in Book 5; the boxing match between Entellus and Dares pits a giant, veteran warrior against a cocky, younger fighter who has to rely on his speed and his wits to defeat the terrifying champion. Problem is, Dares is portrayed as an arrogant antagonist in this account and loses to the Goliath-like Entellus, who only takes the challenge to teach a lesson in humility.
* DeadlyDodging: Dares replies on his youthful limbs to slip past the giant, but aged fists of Entellus. Eventually, his evasion pays off when it causes Entellus to miss a heavy stroke and fall to the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't help Dares get past Entellus's RapidFireFisticuffs.

* DeathByMaterialism: The deaths of Euryalus, Camilla and Turnus are all indirectly caused by their desire to loot their foes. See FatalFlaw below.

* SuicideByCop: Euryalus' mother tries to get the Rutulians to kill her, shortly after learning of her son's death. Idaeus and Actor defy this by pulling her away and taking her elsewhere.

* DecaputationPresentation: In Book 9, the Rutulians present the heads of the Trojans they have slain. Two of these heads are those of Nisus and Euryalus, demoralizing the Trojans. In fact, Euryalus' mother soon learns of her son's death and tries to coax the Rutulians into killing her, but two Trojans, Idaeus and Actor, pull her away before anything else can happen.

** Aeneas is one of many many characters referred to with epithets. Juno is "Saturnia", Dido is "infelix Dido" or "miserrima Dido" (referring to her destiny and doomed love), etc. Virgil is homaging Homer, who also refers to various heroes and gods with epithets.

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: Juturna, Turnus’s sister, happens to be a goddess of springs and streams; “this honor Jove had given to her, for violated maidenhood.” Surprisingly, Juno is fond of her.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Iarbas, while ordering Jupiter to intercede on his behalf, adds: "We, meanwhile, consecrate offerings / Made in your temples, and place our faith in what's just idle Rumor." In other words, Iarbas is saying that all his prayers, all the temples and altars he erected in Jupiter's honour, might be all for nothing, That is enough to prod Jupiter into ordering Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty.

** Dido goes a bit love-crazy after Aeneas arrives, and it worsens after he dumps her. By that point, virtually all her subjects are against her.

* LoveHurts: For both Dido and Aeneas. After Aeneas tells his story to the Carthaginians, Dido, stirred by Cupid, falls in love with him and catches him in a liaison, while Aeneas, though not intending to stay in Carthage, eventually gets comfortable. Later, Mercury appears to Aeneas in a dream and snaps him out of it by ordering him to leave Carthage. Although Aeneas did not intend to be in the liaison, he also reluctantly does so out of duty, but Dido finds out and is outraged and heartbroken about it. She eventually kills herself as a result.

** This gets put to the test when Aeneas, after getting comfortable with Dido upon being getting pulled into a fling with her, is reminded by Mercury of his mission. Aeneas ultimately chooses to see the mission through and, despite the anguish it causes on him, Dido, and Anna, he remains resolute.

* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Aeneas' people may be just as annoyed about him knocking boots with Dido as hers are, but she's the one who pays for it.
* NayTheist: Mezentius is one of the first known examples. His whole shtick is, essentially, "screw you Jupiter!"

* StarCrossedLovers: Dido and Aeneas, though because of circumstances out of their control. When Aeneas sails to Carthage and tells Dido his story, Dido, under the influence of Cupid, becomes lovesick for him and catches him into trysting with her, especially when they flee into the cavern for shelter during a rainstorm; Aeneas, though he has no intentions of staying in Carthage permanently, evidently has become comfortable with her, and it is not until Mercury snaps him out of it, reminding him of his duty to sail to Italy. Though Aeneas experiences a lot of anguish, he ultimately decides to remain resolute in carrying out the command, while Dido, in a fit of lovesick rage, kills herself and prophesies her people meeting Aeneas' as combatants.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Book 4, we are repeatedly told that Dido is "burning" with love for Aeneas. At the end of the book, this becomes rather unpleasantly literal.
** Their whole badly-ended affair is this for the UsefulNotes/PunicWars.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: {{Averted|Trope}}, Priam explicitly condemns Pyrrhus as not being like Achilles. Specifically, Achilles held some measure of honor and compassion by returning Hector's body. Pyrrhus just killed Polites in front of Priam.

* MissionFromGod: The prophecy that Aeneas will found Rome. He finds other nice places to settle ''three times'', and every time the gods say, "Nope, you gotta keep going."

--> '''Jupiter''': His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;\\
Imperium sine fine dedi.\\
["For these I set no limits, world or time,\\
But make the gift of empire without end"].\\
Lines 278–279 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

%%* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic

* TrojanHorse: Book II contains the beginning of the fall of Troy and shows the horse from the view of the Trojans.

* WhatTheHellHero: Aeneas does a few things to provoke this reaction, among them abandoning Dido without warning and slaying the helpless Turnus at the end of the poem. While the ancient Romans [[ValuesDissonance would have viewed these actions somewhat differently than modern readers do]], the discrepancy is not so great that Aeneas' less heroic moments wouldn't have caused them some pause.
** Some have argued that this was deliberate; since Aeneas was supposed to be a stand-in for Augustus, many believe that Virgil worked in a TakeThat or two out of resentment for having his farm confiscated to give to soldiers.
** Priam also calls out Pyrrhus, [[ForegoneConclusion sadly to no effect]]:
-->'''Priam:''' ''You'' are no child of Achilles, you liar. He never mistreated / Priam, his

* WomanScorned: Dido ''really'' goes off the deep end, even though Aeneas obviously didn't want to leave, and wouldn't have if [[JerkassGods the gods (mostly Juno)]] [[YouCantFightFate told him to move on]]. (For bonus points, much of the imagery Vergil uses is the same imagery commonly used for Medea.)
** [-"Could I not have torn apart his snatched-away body, and scattered it on the waves? Could I not have murdered his companions and Ascanius himself, and served them on the father's table to be feasted upon?"-]

** Aeneas is known as "''pius Aeneas''", often translated as "pious", but it's one of the most complex words in Latin: other meanings include "steadfast", "dutiful", "kind" and "good".

** Aeneas meets his mother Venus when he lands near Carthage, but she is disguised as a huntress. She shows him the way to Carthage. (Aeneas does realize she's a divine being; he can't tell which one.)

* BadassBoast: Allecto has a great one in Book 7, when she appears to Turnus as an old woman and tries to persuade him to fight the Trojans. He sneers at her and basically tells her to leave fighting to the men. So she unveils her true form, scaring the crap out of him, and says ''respice ad haec: adsum dirarum ab sede sororum, / bella manu letumque gero'', or in English:
-->Look on me! I come from the home of the Dread Sisters
-->And in my hand I carry war and death.

* BloodSplatteredWarrior: ImpliedTrope; Alecto appears in Book VII covered in Gorgon poison at Juno's summon. As established in the ''Argonautica'', the Gorgon's poison is its blood, meaning Alecto is drenched in acidic blood just before she goes to bring war to Italy. John Dryden's translation of the text makes this explicit.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: Aeneas tries to invoke this on himself in Book V, after the Trojan women set fire to the fleet. He says "let your own hand / Blast me to death with a lightning bolt that expresses your anger." Instead, Jupiter sends a torrential rainstorm that puts the fire out.

* BreatherEpisode: Anchises's funeral games in Book V, after fleeing from Troy, a series of wanderings, and a liaison that has ended terribly for them both. At least, until the Trojan women burn some of the ships.

* TheCassandra: Cassandra appears in Aeneas's flashback in Book II. He acknowledges that even though Cassandra's prophecies have come true, the gods have cursed her by having nobody believe her.

* DavidVersusGoliath: InvertedTrope in Book V; the boxing match between Entellus and Dares pits a giant, veteran warrior against a cocky, younger fighter who has to rely on his speed and his wits to defeat the terrifying champion. Problem is, Dares is portrayed as an arrogant antagonist in this account and loses to the Goliath-like Entellus, who only takes the challenge to teach a lesson in humility.

* DeadPersonConversation: In Book II, Hector warns Aeneas to get out of Troy, and after Aeneas escapes, Creusa's ghost tells him not to wait for her.

* EntitledToHaveYou: Iarbas, an African king Dido spurned, hears of Dido's affair with Aeneas. He complains to Jupiter that

* {{Flashback}}: Books II and III are Aeneas telling the story of the fall of Troy to Dido.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Book IV, we are repeatedly told that Dido is "burning" with love for Aeneas. At the end of the book, this becomes rather unpleasantly literal.

* HowWeGotHere: Books II and III are an extended flashback to the events of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar and the long period of wandering that followed it, leading up to the Trojans' arrival in Carthage at the beginning of Book I.

* IntroDump: Book VII ends with a series of paragraphs listing the background and army of more than a dozen heroes who have answered Turnus' call to wage war on Aeneas.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Dido gives Aeneas one in Book IV after discovering that he's planning to leave Carthage and hasn't told her. When Aeneas replies, Dido's rage erupts, and she gives him another.

* SupermodelStrut: How Aeneas recognizes Venus in her disguise at the beginning of the book.
-->"And by her stride she showed herself a goddess."

* ToHellAndBack: Book VI. In a homage to ''The Odyssey'', Aeneas enters the underworld to talk to the ghost of his father.

** Book II: Aeneas ignores his wife's commands to stop grieving her and tries to hug her three times, passing through all three times as she fades into shadow.
** Book VI: As they reunite in Elysium, Aeneas tries to hug the soul of his father, only to touch his hands to his own chest three times. It turns out that while Elysium's souls look solid, living people cannot touch them.

-->'''Priam''': You pretend that Achilles was your father, but this is not how Achilles treated his enemy Priam.

%%* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Mezentius has made a career out of this.

* NayTheist:
** Mezentius is one of the first known examples. His whole shtick is, essentially, "screw you Jupiter!"
** Iarbas, an African king spurned by Dido, rhetorically asks Jupiter ''to his face'' whether or not he's powerful enough to be worth worshipping.

%%* StarCrossedLovers: Dido and Aeneas.

* BreatherEpisode: Anchises's funeral games in Book V. After fleeing from Troy,

* BreatherEpisode: Anchises's funeral games.

* TheCassandra: Cassandra appears

* TragicIntangibility: Virgil uses this device twice, closely copying the example from ''The Odyssey''.

* WeWillMeetAgain: Dido's LastWords are that hers and Aeneas' people will meet again in war; she essentially prophesies the Punic Wars.

** Most of the Greeks in general are portrayed unsympathetically. Odysseus, for example, is a slimy ManipulativeBastard compared to the GuileHero OnlySaneMan in Homer's epics.

* AerithAndBob: Amongst the exotic-sounding Greek and Latin names, it may come as a surprise for some to also find names still used today like Anna and Camilla. Though, at least in Anna's case it's a subversion, as the commonplace name Anna we use today is of Jewish origins and not etymologically connected to the one in the Aeneid.

** Aeneas is one of many many characters referred to with epithets. Juno is Saturnia, Dido is infelix Dido or miserrima Dido (referring to her destiny and doomed love), etc. Virgil is homaging Homer, who also refers to various heroes and gods with epithets.
* AfterlifeTour: The TropeCodifier. Aeneas, while still alive, makes a journey through the underworld under the guidance of a likewise still-living Sybil. His purpose is to speak with his deceased father, which he does, but the Sybil also shows him around the underworld in general.

** Aeneas meets his mother Venus when he lands near Carthage, but she is disguised as a huntress. She shows him the way to Carthage. (Aeneas does realize she's a divine being, he just can't tell which one.)
** The queen of the gods sends the goddess Iris to disguise herself as an old maid and inspire the Trojan women to set Aeneas' fleet on fire. Unfortunately, some of the women see through her disguise and only some of Aeneas's fleet is torched.

* DressingAsTheEnemy: A band of Trojans disguise themselves in Greek armour; however, the other Trojans are fooled as well, and the Greeks eventually see through the disguise.

** Queen Dido stabs herself and jumps on her funeral pyre in grief at being abandoned by Aeneas.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Book IV we are repeatedly told that Dido is "burning" with love for Aeneas. At the end of the book, this becomes rather unpleasantly literal.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: While her husband is a good if not a very proactive king, Queen Amata of Latium sides with Turnus against Aeneas. Then there's Juno, who also causes some trouble for Aeneas.
** Dido goes a bit love-crazy after Aeneas arrives, and it gets worse after he dumps her. By that point, virtually all her subjects are against her.

* HowWeGotHere: Books II and III are an extended flashback to the events of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar and the long period of wandering that followed it, leading up to the Trojans arrival in Carthage at the beginning of Book I.

* IronicNickname: Virgil uses the Homeric technique of applying epithets to his characters, but unlike Homer, he sometimes uses them ironically: e.g. in Book 4, immediately after Dido has just given Aeneas her epic denunciation of his faithlessness, Virgil describes "pius Aeneas" as going back to his ships. Sarah Ruden in her translation renders "pius" as "right-thinking", to underline how poorly Aeneas has defended himself. [[note]]''Pius'' is the adjective related to the noun ''pietas'', one of the most complex notions in Latin. In Book 9, when Euryalus' mother learns of her son's death in battle, she runs to the front line and laments his death, and demands that the enemy, if they have any feelings, kill her on the spot. The word she uses for "feelings" is ''pietas''.[[/note]]

** Neoptolemus/Pyrrhus brutally kills the defenceless Priam and gets away with it; while Greek tradition held that he was eventually killed by Orestes, his fate isn't relevant to Aeneas's story, so Virgil doesn't mention it beyond a vague mention by Diomedes of something bad having happened to him after the war.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: The Etruscans reason for joining the war: their former tyrant Mezentius had escaped to Rutulia after being overthrown and is now fighting alongside Turnus, so they hope that winning the war will allow them to avenge themselves on him.

* LoveHurts: For both Dido and Aeneas. After Aeneas tells his story to the Carthaginians, Dido falls in love with him. At one point, however, Mercury visits Aeneas in a dream and orders him to leave Carthage. Aeneas reluctantly does so out of duty, but Dido finds out and is outraged and heartbroken about it. She eventually kills herself as a result.
%%* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Could have been the title of Dido's autobiography.

* PatrioticFervor: One of the whole points of the work!
** [-"Remember, Roman, these will be the arts for you, to rule peoples by command, to impose the custom of peace, to spare the conquered, and to wear down the proud with war." (6.851-3)-]
** As mentioned above, though, it can be read as a satire against that same PatrioticFervor.

* RacialRemnant: The Trojan War ends with nearly all of the Trojans killed while the remnants of Troy escape. ''The Aeneid'' definitely contributed to the idea of the surviving Trojans being the founders of other countries--for example, several medieval works had them as the founders of Britain. Especially pronounced since Juno concedes defeat, but on the condition that the Trojans will not pass on their culture but fully assimilate with the Latins instead.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Dido gives Aeneas one in Book IV after discovering that he's planning to leave Carthage and hasn't told her.

* SexSignalsDeath: Aeneas and Dido both suffer consequences from their affair: [[DoubleStandard Aeneas gets a slap on the wrist from the gods, and Dido stabs herself in a botched suicide and burns to death on her funeral pyre, having lost all the respect of her people, other leaders and herself.]]

* TemporaryLoveInterest: Dido. Her love keeps Aeneas in Carthage and away from his destiny and so the gods send a messenger to remind him to continue his journey.

** Book II: Aeneas ignores his wife's commands to stop grieving her and he tries to hug her three times, passing through all three times as she fades into shadow.
** Book VI: As they reunite in Elysium, Aeneas tries to hug the soul of his father, only to touch his hands to his own chest three times. Turns out that while the souls of Elysium look solid, living people cannot touch them.

* WeWillMeetAgain: Dido's LastWords are that hers and Aeneas' people will meet again in war--Virgil's fictional cause of the Punic Wars.

The fourth book was used as the basis for Henry Purcell's opera ''Theatre/DidoAndAeneas'', using a libretto by Nahum Tate.

* {{Bishonen}}: Euryalus is described as “pulchrior”, or more beautiful, than any of Aeneas’s other men.

* LastOfHisKind: Aeneas and the other Trojans are part of a handful of survivors of their city-state after it was exterminated by the Greeks. ''The Aeneid'' definitely contributed to the idea of the surviving Trojans being the founders of other countries--for example, several medieval works had them as the founders of Britain. Especially pronounced as, to make Juno feel better about losing this particular godly squabble, Jupiter says that the Trojans will not pass on their culture but fully assimilate with the Latins instead.

* TheRemnant: Aeneas and his crew flee from Troy when the Greeks take over, and they serve as the remains of the city.

** Largely {{deconstructed|Trope}}. Aeneas's destiny goes against his desires for love, stability, and comfort, but his devotion to the gods prevents him from doing anything but suffering as the gods command. His lover kills herself, half his men abandon him, a friend's son dies, and he's nearly poisoned to death all so the decrees of the Fates can be fulfilled.
** Doesn't matter whether Lavinia really wants to marry Turnus (implied at one point) or how long they've been promised, it's decided the minute he arrives that she's gonna marry Aeneas, who never shows any interest in her. Which means Turnus is doomed to die, just for being her former fiancé. And that's that.
* BigBad: Juno. [[NonActionBigBad While she never directly confronts Aeneas]], she does spark the most amount of conflict for him in her efforts to prolong his suffering, even manipulating Turnus to start a war.

* DivineIntervention: Juno and Venus intervene throughout. Juturna intervenes in an attempt to save Turnus by steering him away from Aeneas. Turnus’s prayer to Faunus is implied to have had an effect on Aeneas’s sword being stuck in the consecrated wild olive tree that the Trojans cut down.

* DyingCurse: Immediately before Queen Dido of Carthage commits suicide because Aeneas left her, she prays to the gods that Aeneas's mission may fail, and that the Carthaginians may forever be enemies to the descendants of Aeneas's Trojans and may one day avenge her. While part of the curse comes true, it ultimately fails: Aeneas succeeds despite many obstacles, and although Carthage came close to defeating Rome in the [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Second Punic War]], in the end, Rome turned out victorious.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: While Juno is perfectly willing to unleash Allecto on Latium to stir up a bloody war for the purpose of eliminating Aeneas, she immediately dismisses her back to the Underworld once she starts gloating that she can expand the war to affect neighboring states that have nothing to do with Juno's grudge against Aeneas.

* GrayAndGrayMorality: Aeneas is a courageous, pious, and dutiful leader, but he also commits morally questionable acts such as abandoning Dido without warning and slaying an unarmed Turnus at the end of the poem. The Trojans' enemies are likewise portrayed sympathetically despite being antagonists.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Dido for Aeneas, justified in that Cupid, Aeneas's half-brother, personally causes it.
** Aeneas and Pallas seem to have become friends at first sight. I mean seriously, a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for a guy you've known for a week or two?

* OurGiantsAreBigger: The nine-acres tall Tityus, a child of Jove and the Earth, appears in the Fields of Punishments. His many entrails serve as an eternal feast for an infernal vulture.

* RapidFireFisticuffs: After falling on his face, Entellus ends his fight with Dares by attacking him so fast he can't even breathe. The succession of blows is compared to a storm, a tempest, and hail before Aeneas stops the fight and declares Entellus victorious while blood floods out of Dares's mouth.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Dido gives Aeneas an ''epic'' one in Book IV, after finding out that he's planning to leave Carthage and hadn't told her. In reply, he waffles rather ineffectually. So she gives him another one.

** The first words, "I sing of arms and a man," are meant by Virgil as a callback to ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' respectively, to connect his epic with the works of Homer. Specifically, ''The Iliad'' begins by proclaiming itself to be about the rage (''mania'') of Achilles, a great warrior, in the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, while ''The Odyssey'' begins by proclaiming itself to be about a man, Odysseus. Virgil starts by saying that his own poem is going to be about both.

* YouCantFightFate: Juno knows that there is nothing that she could do to avert Aeneas's fate (she hooks him up with Dido to distract him, supports the Rutuli, tries to kill him multiple times). All that she could do is make the journey miserable for him. She eventually relents and spares Aeneas and his crew, but on the condition that they assimilate with the Latins and give up the name of "Trojans".
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Troy has been razed by Greek soldiers; the premise of the poem is Aeneas trying to found a new one.
** Well, for a while Aeneas certainly does try to make a new Troy and actually meets someone else who successfully does so however the point of the story is really more him realizing that it is not his place to reproduce Troy but instead to lay the groundwork for Rome.
* YouHaveWaitedLongEnough: Dido's sister Anna says this when Dido believes that having an affair with Aeneas would be betraying her deceased husband.

->''"Arma virumque cano…"\\
(I sing of arms and of a man…)''
-->-- '''Opening words'''

%%** Virgil himself could be seen to take this stance, since the ''Aeneid'' can be read as saying [[JerkassGods "look what horrible people the gods are"]].

* YouCantFightFate: Juno knows that there is nothing that she could do to avert Aeneas's fate (she hooks him up with Dido to distract him, supports the Rutuli, tries to kill him multiple times). All that she could do is make the journey miserable for him.

** Neoptolemus/Phyrrus brutally kills the defenceless Priam and gets away with it; while Greek tradition held that he was eventually killed by Orestes, his fate isn't relevant to Aeneas's story, so Virgil doesn't mention it beyond a vague mention by Diomedes of something bad having happened to him after the war.

** DirtyCoward Arruns prays to Apollo that he will kill Camilla by shooting her InTheBack. Apollo grants his prayer, but is so disgusted by his cowardice he decrees that Arruns himself will die immediately afterwards. Arruns is indeed killed when he himself is shot InTheBack by Opis, a handmaiden of Artemis sent to slay whoever kills Camilla, and his comrades don't even notice that he's gone.