VIRGIL'S AENEID
Aeneas, a Trojan prince, the hero of Virgil"s epic called The Aeneid. He was the son of Anchises and Venus. His first wife was Creusa (3 syl.), by whom he had a son named Ascanius; his second wife was Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, king of Italy, by whom he had a posthumous son called Aeneas Sylvius. Aeneas succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom, and the Romans called Aeneas their founder.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth "Brutus," the first king of Britain (from whom the island was called Britain), was a descendant of Aeneas.

The Aeneid, the epic poem of Virgil in twelve books. When Troy was taken by the Greeks and set on fire, ---Aeneas, with his father, son, and wife, took flight, with the intention of going to Italy, the original birthplace of the family. The wife was lost, and the old father died on the way'; but after numerous perils by sea and land, Aeneas and his son Ascanius reached Italy. Here Latinus, the reigning king, received the exiles hospitably, and promised his daughter Lavinia in marriage to Aeneas; but she had been already betrothed by her mother to prince Turnus, son of Daunus, king of Rutuli, and Turnus would not forego his claim. Latinus, in this dilemma, said the rivals must settle the dispute by an appeal to arms. Turnus being slain, Aeneas married Lavinia, and ere long succeeded his father-in-law on the throne. Book I. The escape from Troy; Aeneas and his son, driven by a tempest on the shores of Carthage, axe hospitably entertained by queen Dido.

II. Aeneas tells Dido the tale of the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, and his flight with his father, wife, and son. The wife was lost and died.

III. The narrative continued. The perils he met with on the way, and the death of his father.

IV. Dido falls in love with Aeneas; but he steals away from Carthage, and Dido, on a funeral pyre, puts an end to her life.

V. Aeneas reaches Sicily, and celebrates there the games in honor of Anchises. This book corresponds to the Iliad, xxiii. VI. Aeneas visits the infernal regions. This book corresponds to Odyssey, xi.

VII. Latinus, king of Italy, entertains .Aeneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage, but prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raises an army to resist Aeneas.

VIII. Preparations on both sides for a general war.

IX. Turnus, during the absence of Aeneas, fires the ships and assaults the camp. The episode of Nisus and Euryalus.

X. The war between Turnus and Aeneas. Episode of Mezentius and Lausus.

XI. The battle continued.

XII. Turnus challenges Aeneas to single combat, and is killed.

N.B.---I. The story of Sinon and taking of Troy is borrowed from Pisander, as Macrobius informs us.
2.The loves of Dido and Aeneas are copied from those of Medea and Jason, in Apollonius.
3.The story of the wooden horse and the burning of Troy are from Arctinus of Miletus.