The Gods and Fate in the Aeneid The Gods: Aeneas is the son of Venus, Goddess of love and

d beauty. She longs for him to succeed and always helps him, but keeps her distance and does not seem to have a very close relationship with him. Juno, Queen of the gods, hates Aeneas and wants to stop him. She dislikes the Trojans because Paris did not choose her for the golden apple; because of Jupiters attentions to the Trojan boy Ganymede and most of all because of Carthage. Carthage is her favourite city and the race destined to be set up by Aeneas will, in the future, destroy Carthage. She will do anything she can to stop him from reaching Italy. At the start of the poem, she is raging that he is on his way to Italy, his destination. She bribes Aeolus to start up a terrible storm to stop him. This washes him up on the shores of Libya, near Carthage. Next morning, he meets his mother, disguised as a hunting maiden. She tells him where he is and also the story of Queen Dido. As she leaves, she reassures him about his lost men. As she leaves, Aeneas is angry because she does not talk to him face to face as his mother. To ensure that Juno does not use Dido to damage Aeneas, Venus sends her other son, Cupid, god of love, to infect her with a complete passion for Aeneas. He goes to the feast, disguised as Ascanius and causes her to fall hopelessly in love with Aeneas. In the story Aeneas tells about the fall of Troy (Book 2), Venus stops him from killing Helen by explaining that the fall of Troy is not her fault, but destined by fate and that the gods themselves are helping to pull down the city.

Back in his fathers house, when Anchises refuses to leave the city, Jupiter sends two signs to guide them, Ascaniuss hair goes on fire and a shooting star appears over Mt Ida to guide them. In Book 4, Juno thinks of a cunning plan to prevent Aeneas going to Italy. She approaches Venus and suggests that Aeneas and Dido get married. Venus pretends to go along with this but knows that it is not what fate decreed. The marriage takes place in a cave during a hunting expedition. When Iarbas, son of Jupiter, an African king, hears that Dido is living with Aeneas, he is very angry. She had turned down his proposal of marriage. He prays to his father who sends down Mercury to remind Aeneas of his destiny and especially of the future he owes his son. Mercury comes down again to get him to hurry and leave while he can. At Didos death, Iris comes down from Juno and plucks a lock of hair from her head to set her spirit free. Fate From the start we know that Juno is trying to stop Aeneas from fulfilling his fate of setting up a new race in Italy. Venus, his mother is disgusted that he is being prevented, again, from this mission. She complains to Jupiter who reassures her about Aeneass destiny (N.B. p18). Jupiter tells Venus that her son will get to Italy, will fight wars there and will set up a new race with an Italian bride. After ruling for three years, he will die and Ascanius will rule for thirty years. Three hundred years later their descendant, Ilia will have twins, Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars,the God of war. Romulus will be the founder of the city of Rome. Jupiter: For them I have set no limit of time or space. To them I grant

power without end. He says that in time, even Juno will accept the power of the Romans and that eventually the Romans will conquer the Greeks. The Romans will become first masters of the world, then a nation of peace. He predicts the birth of Julius Caesar who will be a great conqueror and that there will be a time of peace after him when war will be no more. The first Aeneas hears of this fate is when Hector comes to him in a dream to say that he must escape from Troy which is doomed. Hector tells him that he must leave bringing the sacred images of the Trojan gods with him. At first Aeneas ignores this advice and tries to fight. Later he meets his mother, Venus, who points out to him that the gods are destroying the city which is fated to destruction. At first, Anchises refuses to move from the city but once the signs from Jupiter arrive, he leaves with father on his back carrying the sacred images. On his way out of the city, he loses Creusa, his wife. When he runs back to try to find her, he meets her ghost. She tells him that she was fated to die and that he is destined to go west to the River Tiber where he will find a kingdom and a royal bride. In Book 4, Juno tries to thwart fate by organising the marriage of Aeneas and Dido, but it is not to be. Jupiter sends Mercury down to remind Aeneas of his destiny and especially to remember the kingdom he is to set up for his son. He tries to explain to Dido that the Fates will not allow him to live his life as he wishes, but she does not believe him. Before she dies, Dido calls on someone to rise from her ashes in generations to come to avenge her death. (This is a reference to Hannibal).