Animals

Animals and other natural imagery symbolize the parallelism between the natural world and the human world of civilization. Lavinia will often make sense of her circumstances by relating them to nature. For example when she must explain to Silvia why she cannot marry Almo, she says it is because "Turnus would be after him like a hawk on a mouse" (76). The comparison between the human and natural worlds is a habit of the people in general, not just Lavinia. "People said, 'Look out for Etruscans,' when you went to the river the way they said, 'Look out for bears,' when you went up into the hills—out of habit" (94). Other times, the relation to the natural world is literal, such as Faunus who is a woodpecker, and Lavinia who transforms into an owl.

The war gate of Laurentum

The War Gate of Laurentum is...