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Summary Aeneid Book Summaries
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Summaries of the plot of Virgil's Aeneid alongside memorable quotes to include in OCR exams
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Aeneid Book SummariesBook 1: There’s a storm because of Juno, the Trojan’s land on Carthage and some die,
Aeneas meets Venus disguised, Aeneas and Dido meet and he’s super into her, Venus
gets Cupid to infect Dido with love, they feast, and she asks him about the fall of Troy.
‘I sing of arms and of the man, fated to be an exile.’
‘the fierce and unforgetting anger of Juno.’
‘Can there be so much anger in the hearts of the heavenly gods?’
‘So heavy was the cost of founding the Roman race.’
‘Wherever the Trojans looked; death stared them in the face.’
‘those whose fate it was to die beneath the high walls of Troy with their fathers looking down
on them were many, many times more fortunate than I.’
‘at such a time if people chance to see a man who has some weight among them for his
goodness and his services to the state, they fall silent.’
‘My friends, this is not the first trouble we have known. We have suffered worse before, and
this too will pass. God will see to it.’
‘Summon up your courage once again. This is no time for gloom and fear. The day will come
perhaps, when it will give you pleasure to remember even this.’
‘I used to console myself with this for the cruel fall and sack of Troy, by weighing one
destiny against another (…) Is this our reward for piety and obedience?’ (Venus)
‘Then wars will be laid aside and the years of bitterness will be over.’
‘On them I impose no limits of time or place. I have given them an empire that will know no
end.’
‘The woman led the whole undertaking.’
‘I am Aeneas, known for my devotion.’
‘whoever you are I do not believe he was hated by the gods.’
‘You are too cruel. Why am I never allowed to take your hand in mine, to hear your true
voice and speak to you as you really are?’
‘The goddess spread a great veil of cloud over them so that no one could see them or touch
them.’
‘returning happily to her beloved home where she has her temple, (…) breathe the fragrance
of fresh cut flowers.’
‘Some of them were laying out the lines of the walls (…) on one side they were excavating a
harbour; on the other laying deep foundations for theatre.’
‘The Trojan War was already famous throughout the world.’ … ekphrasis … ‘men’s hearts
are touched by what man has to bear.’
,‘Dido was like Diana, and like Diana she bore herself joyfully among her people, urging on
their work for the Kingdom that was to be.’
‘she was giving laws and rules of conduct to her people, and dividing the work that had to be
done in equal parts or allocating it by lot.’
‘This is a new Kingdom, and it is harsh necessity that forces me to take these precautions and
to post guards on all our frontiers.’
‘Or do you wish to settle with me on an equal footing, even here in this Kingdom of
Carthage? The city which I'm founding is yours.’
‘through my own suffering, I am learning to help those who suffer.’
‘your honour, your name, and your praise will remain forever in every land to which I am
called.’
‘but a father’s love allowed Aeneas’ mind no rest.’
‘driving her into madness by the gifts and winding the fire of passion round her bones (…)
Dido, doomed to be the victim of the plague.’
‘he began gradually to erase the memory of Sychaeus.’
Book 2: The Fall of Troy. Sinon speaks, they let in the horse, Laocoon criticises then
dies, Greeks invade and Aeneas dreams of Hector telling him to leave, Aeneas fights for
a bit, watches Priam die at the altar, and nearly kills Helen. Venus intervenes, Anchises
refuses to leave, Acanasius’ hair blazes, they all leave, Creusa gets lost, he goes back, he
meets Creusa’ ghost who tells him he’ll marry in Lavinium and he finally leaves Troy
‘The whole of Troy then shook itself free of its long sorrow. The gates were thrown open and
the people went out rejoicing to see the Greek encampment.’
‘do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I'm afraid of the Greeks, even when they bear
gifts.’
‘Sinon was ready with all his Greek arts and stratagems.’
‘four times it stopped on the very threshold of the gate, and four times the armour clanged in
its womb.’
‘You must escape, son of the goddess. You must save yourself from these flames.’
‘Frenzy and anger drove me on and suddenly it seems a noble thing to die in arms.’
‘The Trojans are no more.’
‘Everywhere there was death, and fear in many forms.’
‘moving through the city, we mingled with the Greeks and fought many battles under gods
not our own (…) but no man can put trust in gods who are opposed to him.’
‘you found as you fell that your great devotion and the ribbon you wore as priest of Apollo
were no protection.’
, ‘although he could achieve nothing, the old man buckled his armour long unused on his
shoulders trembling with age.’
‘there was no escape for Priam. Death was now upon him, but he did not check himself or
spare the anger in his voice.’
‘Let him know about my wicked deeds and do not forget to tell him about the degeneracy of
his son Neoptolemus. Now, die.’
‘a corpse without a name.’
‘This Helen (…) was afraid of the Trojans, who hated her for the overthrow of their city.’
‘She had gone into hiding in was sitting there at the altar.’
‘I shall also take pleasure in feeding the flames of vengeance and appeasing the ashes of my
people.’
Why this raging passion? Where is all the love you used to have for me?’
‘They would have been carried off by the flames or slashed by the source of the enemy of my
loving care were not defending them.’
‘it is not the hated beauty of the Spartan woman (…) nor is it Paris although you'll blame
him, it is the god's, the cruelty of the gods.’
‘Escape, my son, escape with all haste.’
‘I shall have no tomb, but that is an easy loss a bear.’
‘Did you think I could run away and leave my father here?’
‘Today we die. But not all of us shall die unavenged.’
‘your first duty is to guard this house.’ (Creusa)
‘I shall take you on my shoulders (…) Whatever may come, danger or safety, it will be the
same for both of us.’
‘Young Iulus can walk by my side and my wife can follow in my footsteps at a distance (…)
and you, the slaves of the house, must pay attention to what I'm saying.’
You, father, take in your arms the sacrament and the ancestral gods from our home. I am
fresh from all the fighting and killing and it is not right for me to touch them till I have
washed in a running stream.’
‘it was then that my wife Creusa was torn from me by the cruelty of Fate.’
‘Nor did I look behind me or think of her or realise that she was lost till we arrived at the
mound and the ancient sanctuary of Ceres.’
‘This was the cruellest thing I saw in all the sack of the city.’
‘why do you choose to give yourself to such wild grief? These things do not happen without
the approval of the gods.’
‘and I shall never go to be a slave to any matron of Greece.’
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