105-114: Venus' reply

Question 1

regnum Italiae Libycas… oras

Answer 1

chiasmus: underscores Juno’s intended redirection of the fated empire

Question 2

Libycas… oras

Answer 2

homoiteleuton places emphasis on Libya over Italy

Question 3

quis talia demens abnuat

Answer 3

implies the negative answer Juno wants to hear; mock agreement

Question 4

demens

Answer 4

perhaps a sly dig at Dido, who Virgil has described as ‘demens’

Question 5

si modo… fortuna

Answer 5

feigns concern that fortune may not favour Juno’s plan - Venus is smug in the knowledge that fate will ensure it does not come to fruition

Question 6

factum

Answer 6

placed after relative clause, generating ironic juxtaposition between what J wants to happen (memoras) and what will actually happen (factum); factum fortuna alliteration

Question 7

fatis incerta feror

Answer 7

she is ‘carried by the fates’ but she is in no way ‘incerta’

this feigned uncertainty - outright lie - gives J mock concession to her plan

Question 8

miscerive… populos… foedera iungi

Answer 8

chiasmus: emphasises her feigned consideration of the precise terms of the proposed merger

‘misceri’ covers the biological terms and ‘foedera iungi’ covers the legal implications

Question 9

tu coniunx

Answer 9

guileful as J&J have notoriously stormy relationship

Question 10

tu… tibi

Answer 10

polyptoton: very direct, shifts full responsibility for success of plan onto Juno and her ability to influence her husband’s decisions

Question 11

perge, sequar

Answer 11

imperative: the play is now dictated on V’s terms, but she again gives mock submission with ‘sequar’