Book 10 Summary Flashcards
What was the outcome of the divine council held on Olympus?
- Jupiter decreed that the gods should cease interfering in the conflict between the Latins and Trojans,
- leaving fate and mortal valor to decide the outcome
How do Venus and Juno contribute to the divine dispute at the council?
- Venus blames Juno for the ongoing suffering of Aeneas and his people,
- while Juno retorts that she did not force Aeneas to come to Italy
What does Jupiter declare regarding divine intervention in the war?
- Jupiter announces his impartiality and states that henceforth,
- the merits and efforts of men will determine their destiny, ceasing his direct help
hows aeneas feeling after he returns with his allies
- As he comes into sight of his camp, Aeneas raises his shield aloft, and the light shines from his armour like a comet.
- We should remember that by this time victory for Aeneas, wearing divinely made armour, has been assured by the gods, and he enters this battle with great confidence.
How does Aeneas reinforce his army before rejoining the battle?
- Aeneas returns with fresh reinforcements from Etruria, Arcadia, and now Tarchon of Tuscany,
- who provides a fleet and many warriors
Who leads the Arcadian forces, and what is his fate in battle?
- Pallas, the son of King Evander, leads the Arcadians.
- His fierce combat brings hope to the Trojans, but he is ultimately challenged and killed by Turnus
Describe the duel between Pallas and Turnus
- In a heroic face-off, both combatants throw their spears
- Pallas’s spear wounds Turnus, but Turnus’s lance pierces Pallas’s armor, killing him
- Turnus then arrogantly claims Pallas’s belt as a trophy.
How does Aeneas react to the news of Pallas’s death?
- Consumed by grief and rage for the frist time since leaving troy, Aeneas launches a furious counterattack,
- slicing through the Latin lines and mercilessly killing enemy soldiers
- thus providing the reason for his own death at the hands of Aeneas, who would have spared him but for this
what is the idsquieting manner of aneas when he hears about pallas dying
- Virgil presents Aeneas’ fury in a disquieting manner: ‘Everything that stood before him he harvested with the sword’
Was Turnus’ murder of Pallas justified?
- Turnus claims early on that only he alone should fight Pallas and that he wished Pallas’ father were here to see this.
- Such harsh words instantly turn our sympathy away from Turnus who, when standing over the mortally wounded Pallas, says ‘Take this message back to Evander, you Arcadians, and do not forget it: I am sending him back the Pallas he deserves.’
- (PSH note: yet read the section prior to this fight and remind yourself of what Pallas was planning to do with Turnus, should he have won!)
What intervention does Juno attempt to make after the tide turns against the Latins?
- Seeing the battle shifting, Juno asks Jupiter to spare Turnus from death
- Jupiter agrees,
- prompting Juno to create a phantom Aeneas to distract Turnus and force him onto a ship
How does Juno’s intervention affect Turnus?
- Turnus chases the phantom Aeneas onto a nearby ship
- As soon as he boards, Juno severs its moorings so that the ship floats away,
- leaving Turnus stranded and unable to return to the battle
Who steps into the battle after Turnus’s departure, and what is his role?
- Mezentius, a prominent Latin warrior, takes up the fight
- He slays many Trojans until his resolve falters following the death of his son, Lausus
How does Aeneas ultimately defeat the Latin resistance?
- After avenging Pallas’s death and cutting down Mezentius—whose shield could not withstand Aeneas’s blows—
- Aeneas delivers a decisive blow, signaling defeat for the Latin forces
What overall theme is underscored by the events of this chapter?
The interplay of fate and mortal valor is highlighted as the gods withdraw from direct intervention, forcing heroes like Aeneas, Turnus, and their allies to shape history with their actions
Describe Aneas being barabic in this chapter
- He then takes eight captives alive to be slaughtered at the funeral of Pallas.
- Such barbarous behaviour is startling, particularly when written by Virgil who presents war as an evil which will one day pass away in the march of civilisation.
- Aeneas’ behaviour continues to be extremely violent, killing the suppliant Magus, the priest Haemonides, and then Tarquitus, telling the latter that his body will be food for vultures or fishes.
- This is followed by many others, including the brothers Lucagus and Liger:
- ‘Die now. A brother’s place is with his brother.’ Virgil summarises this section by comparing Aeneas to a ‘storm of black wind’.
What makes Aneas pipe down
It is only with the killing of Lausus, dying to protect his father, that a feeling of revulsion sweeps over Aeneas ‘there came into his find the toughts of his own father’
- our sympathies return to Aneas, but question remains whetehr the roman world shoudl return wild fury
