Book I

I. Put the following events in chronological order:

Aeneas meets his mother in the forest

King Aeolus frees the winds

Cupid takes Ascanius' place at the feast

Vergil appeals to the Muses

Iopas sings to entertain the feasters

Aeneas sees himself in the painting in the temple of Juno

Aeneas kills the seven deer

Venus appeals to Jupiter

Juno plots to destroy Aeneas

Dido asks Aeneas to narrate his adventures

A storm nearly destroys Aeneas' fleet

Jupiter reveals the future to Venus

Mercury visits Dido

Aeneas and Achates arrive in Carthage

Ilioneus asks Dido for sanctuary

II. Vergil frequently uses many names to denote the same person or persons.
Match the following names to their more common names. You may use the
glossary of names in the back of the book to complete this exercise. Two of the
answers below can be used twice.

___ 1. Aeolus A. Troy

___ 2. Cytherea B. Athena

___ 3. Simois C. Jupiter

___ 4. Teucrian D. Ascanius

___ 5. Ilium E. Trojan

___ 7. Argos G. king of the winds

___ 8. Jove H. Greece

___ 9. Xanthus I. a river neer Troy

___ 10. Pallas

___ 11. Dardan(ian)

Book II
The Horse:
1. Explain the debate over the wooden horse- what were the pros and cons? What
were the Trojans meant to believe? How did they finally come to believe that?
2. Identify (with relevance to this scene):
Laocoon
Priam
Sinon
Ulixes
Tenedos
Minerva
Chalcas
Palladium
Diomedes

Sack of Troy:
1. Who appears to Aeneas and what does he say?
2. What does Panthus say to Aeneas?
3. What ends up happening to Panthus?
4. What does Venus say to Aeneas and why?
5. What FINALLY convinces Aeneas to go?
6. What happens to Creusa?
7. Where did the Trojans gather?
8. Identify:
Menelaus
Agamemnon
Cassandra
Andromache
Astyanax
Neoptolomus
Pyrrhus
Hecuba
Creusa
Helen
Pergamum
9. How are fathers and sons used/portrayed in Book II? Start by looking back at
lines 1, 526, 212, 630. (short answer 3-4 sentences)

Book III
1. Identify:
Polydorus
Delos
Anius
Teucer
Cybele
Penates
Hesperia
Dardanus
*Palinurus
Celaeno
*MisenusActium
Buthrotum
Helenus
Aeacus
Pyrrhus
Simois
Xanthus
Drepanum
2. What is Celaeno's curse?
3. Summarize the first (Polydorus) episode of the book.
4. Why is Delos special to Apollo?
5. Where does Apollo tell the Trojans to go? How do they interpret this?
6. What happens in Crete?
7. Summarize Aeneas' dream.
8. Summarize Celaeno's curse.
9. Who prays in Book III?
10. Describe Buthrotum (emotionally as well as physically)
11. Very briefly summarize Helenus' speech.
12. Notice the omen.

Book IV
1. Identify:
Anna
Sychaeus
Iarbas
2. What is Dido's dilemma?
3. What is Anna's advice?
4. To what is Dido compared?
5. How does her love for Aeneas affect Carthage?
6. Summarize Venus and Juno's conversation. What is the outcome?
7. Briefly summarize the cave episode.
8. What is Iarbas' complaint?
9. What is the result of that speech?
10. How is Aeneas described after Mercury's speech?
11. Does Aeneas go directly to Dido?
12. How does Dido arrange her own death?
13. Summarize her curse.
14. What does Aeneas know of her death?

Book V
1. Why do the Trojans go back to Sicily?
2. Summarize the events of: ship-race, foot-race, boxing match, and the archery
contest.
3. Can you derive a lesson from each?
4. What is the Troius Lusus?
5. Reviewing Aeneas' speech at the beginning and Ascanius' actions during and
after the games, how have these characters changed since Troy?
6. What does Iris say, and what is her argument?
7. How is the fire quenched?
8. What happened to Palinurus and why?
9. Identify:
Acestes
Nisus
Euryalus
Dares
Entellus
Iris
Nautes
Dis
Palinurus

Book VI
1. Who and what is portrayed on the Temple doors?
2. Can you remember another important use of ecphrasis earlier in the poem?
3. Briefly summarize what Aeneas asks for and promises in return, and what Sibyl
prophesizes for Aeneas.
4. Aeneas wants to go to the underworld- who told him to do that?
5. What must Aeneas do before he descends?
6. How did Misenus die?
7. What does Aeneas say to Dido and how does she respond?
8. What do you make of the Gate of Horn and the Gate of Ivory at the very end?
9. Read the appendix!
10. Identify:
Misenus
Daedalus
Icarus
Pasiphae
Charon
Minos
Deiphoebus
Lavinia
Quirinis

Book VII
1. Identify:
Etruria
Hesperia
Latinus
Saturn (connection with Italy)
Latium
Turnus
Amata
Faunus
Dardanus
Ilioneus
Allecto
Lavinia
Rutulians
Iulus
Mezentius
Lausus
Camilla
2. Why would Vergil say this is a "higher order of things"?
3. What do you make of the omen?
4. How is Aeneas wrong when he says what his father told him?
5. How are the Trojans initially greeted and what does Latinus think of Aeneas?
6. Whom does Juno summon this time?
7. How does Allecto affect Amata? Look carefully at the imagery in this scene. How
does it compare to the fall of Troy and Dido's love and madness?
8. What is your initial impression of Turnus?
9. What does Vergil tell us is the "first cause of all the suffering"?
10. Where else has a deer been shot figuratively or literally in the poem?
11. Who is Galaeseus and how is his plight different than the statesman of Book I?
12. How does Latinus react to the impending war?
13. What happens at the end of the book? What does this harken to in Augustan
Rome, and in Book I?
14. Based on what you've read so far, who does Camilla remind you of and what will
become of her?

Book VIII
1. Identify:
Tiber/Thybris
Diomede
Evander
Pallas
Pallanteum
Cacus
Vulcan
Laurentines
Etruscans
Cythera
Latins
2. Aeneas is often described as "pius Aeneas." How is Mezentius described in the
beginning of this book?
3. Who is Diomede? Have we encountered him before? Why would he help the
people of Latium against the Trojans?
4. What happens in Aeneas' dream?
5. Where exactly is Evander's city?
6. What is Evander doing when Aeneas arrives?
7. Briefly summarize the first conversation between Aeneas and Evander. What
does Aeneas want and on what grounds does he ask for it? How does Evander
reply?
8. Keeping in mind that a) the festival they are celebrating in Pallanteum was still
celebrated in Rome during Vergil's day on Augustus' birthday and b) that Aeneas
has been made to parallel Hercules on many occasions (even sitting on a lion skin at
the beginning of this part of the story), read the Hercules/Cacus story closely. How
does it fit thematically in the rest of the story and who in the Aeneid as well as in
modern times could Hercules and Cacus be like?
9. After the tour of Rome ends, what does Venus do?
10. What is a baldric?
11. Whose side are the Etruscans on?
12. Read Appendix Two! The process of describing art in poetry is called
ecphrasis. Could the shield really exist as described?

Book IX
1. What convinces Turnus to attack the Trojans?
2. When the Trojans do not come out and fight, how is Turnus described?
3. Why does Nisus want to go into battle?
4. When Nisus and Eurylanus leave the camp, what is their mission?
5. When Nisus starts his killing, how is the action described- what is the tone of the
passage?
6. What was Euryalus' fatal mistake?
7. What did Nisus do in the end and whose interest did he serve?
8. What impression does Euryalus' mother's grief leave you with of his actions?
9. There is a moment where Turnus, like Euryalus, could have succeeded in his
mission that he not been overcome by bloodlust. What are we to learn from Turnus
and Eurylanus' deaths in this book?
10. How does Turnus finally exit the camp?
11. Where was Aeneas all this time?

Book X
1. How does Book X open?
2. What does Jupiter say about the wars in Italy? Is it true?
3. Venus says: "Aeneas is far away and knows nothing of this." How many other
times in the book can you think of Aeneas being described in these terms?
4. Is Juno's argument convincing? What are her best points?
5. What is Jupiter's verdict?
6. While at sea, Aeneas is given some instructions by a divinity. Who is the divinity
and what are the instructions?
7. When Aeneas is described on the bow of his ship, it recalls a scene from his
shield. What naval battle is depicted on his shield?
8. Briefly summarize the fight between Turnus and Pallas. Is it an even match or
one-sided?
9. How does Aeneas react to the killing of Pallas? Is this in character for him? If we
were exchanging Augustus for Aeneas, are there any battles Augustus won where
he behaved this way?
10. Can you find a moment in the fight between Aeneas and Mezentius where
Mezentius commits blasphemy (earning his nickname)?
11. What is Mezentius' final request?
12. How does Aeneas deal with the corpse? How does that disposal of the corpse,
when figured with his "rage" earlier on the battlefield after the death of Pallas, make
this scene like or unlike the Iliad?

Book XI
1. Identify:
Drances
Camilla
Diomede
Metabus
Arruns
2. What is Diomedes' situation and attitude towards the aftermath of the Trojan
War?
3. What does Latinus propose?
4. How does Drances portray Turnus in his speech?
5. After his speech against Drances, what does Turnus propose?
6. What does Turnus plan for Aeneas in battle?
7. Who tells Camilla's story?
8. What was Camilla's flaw?
9. How does Turnus' ambush of Aeneas go?

Book XII
1. What do we learn about the arrangement between Lavinia and Turnus at the
beginning of the book?
2. Remember Latinus' words "take pity on an old Father..." . What is Turnus'
reaction to this plea?
3. Aeneas has a shield created by Vulcan, what "divine" weapon does Turnus
have?
4. In Book X, notice how and why Turnus kills Pallas, and how Aeneas reacts, and
how Aeneas kills Lausus. How are Aeneas and Turnus alike or different?
5. What happens in this poem to characters about your age? Why?
6. What's carved on Pallas' belt? In what two scenes is this mentioned?
7. What does Aeneas say to his son Ascanius in this book? (direct words quoted in
poem)
8. What are we to think of what happens to Mezentius at the end of Book X and
Camilla at the end of 11? Are these sympathetic characters or not?
9. What takes place in the agreement between Jupiter and Juno near the end of this
book? Is this what we expected? Compare this conversation to that between Jupiter
and Venus.
10. What function does Juturna serve?
11. How does Aeneas respond to Turnus' final request? Why does he then do what
he does? Should he?