Summary
While Turnus gathers his forces, Aeneas readies the Trojan
troops and solicits support from nearby cities in Latium. Still,
he is troubled at his prospects in battle. That night, the river
god Tiberinus speaks to him and tells him to approach and form an
alliance with the Arcadians, who are also at war with the Latins.
Aeneas takes two galleys and rows several days up the Tiber to the
forest of the Arcadians. There, the Trojans address the Arcadian
king, Evander, who gladly offers aid against their common enemy
and invites Aeneas to a feast.
After the feast, holy rites are performed in honor of
Hercules, the patron of the Arcadians, who killed the monster Cacus
near where Arcadia now stands. Evander also explains how Saturn
descended to Italy long ago and formed a nation from the wild savages
who inhabited the land, calling it Latium. The Arcadians still dwell
in relative simplicity. Even Evander boasts only a small house but
offers everything at his disposal to Aeneas in hospitality.
Meanwhile, Venus frets over Aeneas's upcoming war. She
speaks to her husband, Vulcan, the god of fire and forging, and
persuades him to make Aeneas new weapons and armor that will give
him an added advantage. Vulcan commands his workers—Cyclopes inside the
great volcano Etna—to begin forging the items.
The next morning, back in Arcadia, King Evander assigns
what troops he can spare to Aeneas's command. He also bids neighboring kingdoms
to send their aid. All told, several thousand soldiers are rallied
to accompany the Trojans back to the front, but due to their increased
numbers, they must march rather than row, which causes a delay.
Finally, Evander dispatches Pallas, his own son, and requests that
Aeneas teach Pallas the arts of war and return him home in safety.
The new army marches all day. At the camp that night,
Venus suddenly appears to Aeneas and presents him with the arms
that Vulcan has completed: helmet, corselet, sword, spear, and shield,
all of them beautifully crafted and stronger than metal forged by humans.
The face of the shield is particularly notable, for on it Vulcan
has depicted the story of the Roman glory that awaits Italy. Aeneas
sees Romulus being nursed by the she-wolf, the defeat of the Gauls,
Caesar Augustus as he defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the battle
of Actium, and much else.
Analysis
After many books in which we see Aeneas being alternately
tormented at the hands of Juno and rescued by Venus and her allies,
the fates begin to balance out. A veritable coalition of immortals
now fortifies Aeneas for the coming campaign: he receives help from
the gods Tiberinus, Venus, and Vulcan. Tiberinus helps Aeneas by
telling him how to find help from a mortal, King Evander. Evander's immediate
recognition of Aeneas—Evander knew Anchises and notices the family
resemblance—prompts him to offer his hand without hesitation to
form a pact with Aeneas. This gesture of automatic trust and loyalty
is founded both on Aeneas's reputation and on his family lineage,
two elements of character that rank among the highest values of
heroic culture. The Trojans obtain the reinforcements they need
in large part because they are recognized and even expected—their
coming has been heralded in prophecy far and wide. Everywhere they
tread, the famous name of Troy earns them respect and hospitality.
The rich description of Aeneas's shield parallels Homer's
description, in the Iliad, of the shield that Vulcan—known
in the Iliad by his Greek name, Hephaestus—makes
for Achilles. By emulating Homer, Virgil responds to and attempts
to surpass the Greek tradition with the Roman. This desire to surpass
was also evident in Augustan Rome, the Golden Age during
which Virgil wrote, as the Roman Empire strove to outshine the accomplishments
of ancient Greece. Aeneas's taking up of the new armor also symbolizes
the way he symbolically shoulders the whole weight of the destiny
of Rome.
Like Anchises' speech in Book VI, Virgil's description
of the mural on the shield Vulcan forges for Aeneas promotes the
Roman legend and stresses Augustus's position as the culmination
of that legend. Repeating some of the scenes that Anchises describes
in the underworld, Virgil particularly emphasizes the contrast between
Romulus's humble beginnings and Caesar's far-reaching glory. As
before, Virgil compresses the many centuries that separate Romulus
from Augustus into a few lines, which heightens the impact of the
contrast.
This rags-to-riches progression is a good tool for Virgil
because it parallels the Aeneid's plot: Aeneas
and his followers leave Troy as refugees without a home, but go
on to found a new and greater city in Italy. The city that the Trojans
eventually establish—to be called Lavinium, after Lavinia—is not
the site of Rome. Centuries later, Rome will be built
by Romulus and Remus further up the Tiber, near where the Arcadians
dwell when Aeneas approaches them to form an alliance. Aeneas's
excursion away from the main scene of action brings him to the land
that will become Rome. To Roman audiences, this powerful geographic
connection would make more concrete their understanding of Aeneas
as the founding father of their civilization.
