After the destruction of his homeland of Troy, Aeneas sets sail with a small band of survivors from the war in search for a new home. Aeneas is destined to found Rome, and destroy the city of Carthage on the way. The arrival of the Trojans in Italy begins peacefully. King Latinus, the ruler of Latium, displays his hospitality. Realizing that this is the land he has been waiting to discover, Aeneas requests a share of land from Latinus. Latinus offers territory, and he suggests that Aeneas marries his daughter. It was prophesized that she would marry a foreigner and he is hopeful it is Aeneas. He accepts the fate that the Trojans will one day rule his kingdom. He believes it is safer to stand by fate than resist it. However, unexhausted Juno…show more content… Latinus’ wife Amata is first injected with rage, causing her to oppose her daughter’s marriage to Aeneas. Vigil draws a metaphor for her arousal of rage by showing the image of a serpent twisting around her body: “Into so many shapes she turns, from her dark head so many vipers sprout”(7.412). Next Allecto approaches one of Lavinia’s suitors, Turnus, convincing him that he cannot allow a Trojan to marry Lavinia. Amata and Turnus cultivate enmity toward the Trojans, and prepare for war: “Let men, whose province it is, make peace and war”(7.519). As Turnus and Aeneas come head-to-head, Aeneas is wounded. However, Turnus begs for mercy; Aeneas was close to sparing him but he sees the belt he took from Pallas and kills him. The poem ends in a description of Turnus’ death: “Relaxed, the limbs lay cold, and, with a groan, down to the Shades the soul, indignant, fled(12.1201). Virgil is imitating Homer here; the Iliad concludes with the death of…show more content… He is of noble and supernatural birth, he faces and overcomes temptation, he acts well as a vessel of the gods, and he is a passionate leader. His heroism is owed to both his legacy and his actions. In spite of the conflict between emotional impulses and duties of fate, he respects his fate which makes him a graceful hero and worthy of honor. His compassion for the sufferings of others is another aspect of his heroism. Sympathetic to the weariness of others from the journey, he gives speeches to his men in hopes to keep their spirits high: “Recall your courage; banish gloomy fears. Some day perhaps the memory of these things shall yield delight…And keep your hearts in hope of brighter days”(1.239). In his non-divine half, we see his raw, human emotions. However, for the sake of his duty, he suppresses them: “He in his features still dissembled hope, and pressed his heavy trouble down”(1.141). Aeneas’s investment in the future of Rome increases throughout the story as well as his development as a leader. Deciding to leave Carthage by the demand of fate, he watches “the flames of the unhappy Dido”(5.5). He also shows sympathy by allowing the crippled and unwilling to stay behind. He also grows in the underworld in book six when he observes the woes of the unburied