The Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC (29-19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is written in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas' wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. Virgil begins his poem with a statement of his theme (Arma virumque cano..., "I sing arms and the man...") and an invocation to the Muse, falling some ten lines after the poems inception: (Musa, mihi causas memora..., "O Muse, recount to me the causes..."). He then explains the reason for the principal conflict in the story: the resentment held by the goddess Juno against the Trojan people. This is consistent with her role throughout the Homeric epics.