The Aeneid Topic Tracking: Divine Intervention

Divine Intervention 1: Juno intervenes in the Trojans' safe trip towards Italy by creating a storm that destroys one ship and leaves the rest of the ships separated in Africa. Neptune stops this storm from getting any worse. Once they are in Africa, Venus informs her son who rules the island and makes sure he is cloaked as he enters the city. She also sends her divine son Cupid to make sure that the queen falls in love with Aeneas. The Trojans are puppets in the hands of the gods in this book

Divine Intervention 2: While Venus does rescue her son from some ill, the primary divine intervention in this book is supernatural. The ghosts of Creusa and Hector direct Aeneas as he fumbles through the city not wanting to embrace his fated task. Without this intervention, Aeneas would have died several times over.

Divine Intervention 3: Aeneas wanders around the Mediterranean unsure of where to go and the gods must constantly remind him. When he stops at an island, a god speaks to him from a sacrificial tripod and tells him that he must go to the land of his ancestors. When this is misinterpreted, his household gods come to life to tell him point blank where to go.

Divine Intervention 4: Juno hopes to make Aeneas stay with Dido and arranges for them to have sex thinking that this will be a binding tie. When these events are brought to the attention of Jupiter, he sends Mercury down to order Aeneas to leave. Mercury comes to Aeneas again when he is delaying his departure. Juno, feeling bad for Dido, sends Iris to take Dido's soul to the underworld after she kills herself.

Divine Intervention 5: Juno tries to have the ships of the Trojans burned so they can go no further. They lose four of them, but Jupiter puts out the fire with rain. Neptune, at the prompting of Venus, makes sure that there are no further storms on the journey from Sicily to Italy.

Divine Intervention 6: Juno pays no heed to the prophecies of the land. She does not want the Trojans to have an easy time so she sends Allecto down to cause chaos. She makes Amata opposed to Aeneas as a son-in-law and informs Turnus of the state of affairs. Then she gives the native Italians a reason to lash out at the Trojans when she inspires Ascanius to attack a captive deer.

Divine Intervention 7: Tiberinus pities the Trojans and the coming war so he advises him to seek out King Evander who will aid him in the war. Venus knows that the war will be brutal so she asks her husband Vulcan to make weapons for Aeneas as great as the ones that he made for Achilles. Vulcan makes these weapons and Venus takes them to her son.

Divine Intervention 8: Juno sends Iris to have Turnus begin the war while Aeneas is away. They try to destroy the ships of the Trojans, but they have been blessed by the mother earth and the ships cannot be destroyed, although they change. Apollo keeps Ascanius from getting killed because he gets the Trojans to restrain him from the battle.

Divine Intervention 9: In the beginning of the book, Jupiter calls the gods together and tries to solve the conflict by encouraging all the gods to stay out of the war. A nymph informs Aeneas of the plight of his people. Juno, with Jupiter's permission, attempts to rescue Turnus from the war by leading him away from it. When he tries to kill himself in shame, she stops him.

Divine Intervention 10: Even with Jupiter's admonition, the gods, including him, continue to wreak havoc with the mortals. He inspires the Trojans to attack and Diana gets revenge for the death of Camilla.

Divine Intervention 11: Throughout this book, Juno tries to preserve Turnus through his sister Juturna who drives his chariot and spreads rumors through the men to bring them back to battle. Venus comes to her son when he is wounded and helps the healer take the arrow out of his thigh so that he may return to battle.