Vergil's Aeneid: Books 1-2: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
39 flashcard terms for AP Latin Unit 2, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 20-question quiz — free, no account needed.
The opening words of the Aeneid ('Arms and the man I sing') announce the two halves of the epic: war (Iliadic Books 7-12) and the wandering hero (Odyssean Books 1-6).
Invocation of the Muse
Lines 8-11 ask the Muse to explain the causes (causas memora) of Juno's anger, ending with the famous question 'tantaene animis caelestibus irae?' (Are there such great angers in heavenly minds?).
Fato profugus
Aeneas is 'an exile by fate'; fatum (fate) is the driving force of the epic and repeatedly overrides Juno's opposition.
Juno's Grievances
Juno hates the Trojans because of the Judgment of Paris, Jupiter's favor toward Ganymede, and the prophecy that a Trojan race will destroy her beloved Carthage.
Carthage
A Tyrian colony (Tyrii tenuere coloni) in North Africa, opposite Italy, favored by Juno above even Samos; foreshadows the historical Punic Wars.
Aeolus and the Storm
Juno bribes Aeolus, king of the winds, with the nymph Deiopea to unleash a storm on the Trojan fleet as it leaves Sicily.
Neptune's Rebuke
Neptune calms the sea with 'Quos ego...!' (aposiopesis) and is compared, in the epic's first simile, to a statesman calming a riot with his authority (pietate gravem ac meritis).
O terque quaterque beati
In the storm Aeneas wishes he had died at Troy ('O three and four times blessed those who died before their fathers' eyes'), showing his human despair beneath his heroic duty.
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
'Perhaps someday it will help to remember even these things': Aeneas' encouragement to his men on the Libyan shore, while he hides his own grief (spem vultu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem).
Venus' Complaint and Jupiter's Prophecy
Venus asks Jupiter why the Trojans suffer; he unrolls the fates: Aeneas will rule in Latium, Ascanius will found Alba Longa, Romulus will build Rome, and Rome will have 'imperium sine fine' (empire without end).
Imperium sine fine dedi
Jupiter's promise of limitless empire to the Romans, culminating in Augustus (Caesar) and the closing of the gates of War (Belli portae) with Furor bound inside.
Venus in Disguise
Venus meets Aeneas dressed as a Spartan huntress, tells him Dido's story, and reveals herself only as she departs, prompting his reproach 'quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis ludis imaginibus?'
Dido's Backstory
Dido fled Tyre after her brother Pygmalion secretly murdered her husband Sychaeus at the altar; she bought as much land as an ox-hide could enclose (Byrsa) and founded Carthage.
Bee Simile
Aeneas watches the Carthaginians building their city and Vergil compares them to bees working in early summer, an image of orderly, communal labor (qualis apes...).
Sunt lacrimae rerum
In Juno's temple Aeneas sees paintings of the Trojan War and says 'sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt' (there are tears for things and mortal matters touch the mind).
Dido's Entrance
Dido enters like Diana leading her dancers on the banks of the Eurotas, a simile that dignifies her but also foreshadows through the huntress image.
Cupid Disguised as Ascanius
Venus substitutes Cupid for Ascanius so that Dido, holding the boy at the banquet, will be infected with love (inflammed 'infelix, pesti devota futurae').
Book 1 Banquet
Dido pours a libation, Iopas sings of cosmic themes, and Dido asks Aeneas to tell the whole story of Troy's fall from the beginning (a prima dic, hospes, origine).
Book 2 opens with Aeneas' reluctance to renew 'unspeakable grief'; the narrative of Books 2-3 is his first-person flashback at the banquet.
The Wooden Horse
Built by Epeos with Minerva's help, the horse is claimed to be an offering for the Greeks' safe return; the Trojans debate whether to bring it inside the walls.
Laocoon
Priest of Neptune who hurls a spear at the horse and warns 'timeo Danaos et dona ferentes' (I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts); two sea-serpents from Tenedos kill him and his sons.
Sinon
Greek deserter whose staged capture and lying tale (he claims he escaped being sacrificed and that the horse will protect Troy) persuades the Trojans to breach their own walls.
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
Laocoon's warning; the phrase Danaos names the Greeks after Danaus, an ancestor. Ignored, it becomes the emblem of Trojan credulity.
Hector's Ghost
Hector appears to sleeping Aeneas, disfigured as when dragged behind Achilles' chariot, and tells him to flee: 'Heu fuge, nate dea', entrusting him with Troy's sacra and Penates.
Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia Penates
Hector's charge that Aeneas carry Troy's household gods to a new city establishes Aeneas' mission of religious continuity.
Panthus
Priest of Apollo who reports the city's fall: 'venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae' (the final day and inescapable hour of Troy has come).
Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem
'The one safety for the conquered is to hope for no safety': Aeneas' rallying cry as he leads a desperate band into the burning city.
Wolf Simile
Aeneas and his men rush into battle like ravening wolves in a black mist, driven by hunger; the simile shows their furor rather than pietas at this stage.
Coroebus and the Greek Armor Ruse
Coroebus, in love with Cassandra, proposes disguising themselves in Greek armor (dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?); the trick works briefly, then Trojans die under friendly fire.
Cassandra
Priam's daughter, cursed by Apollo to prophesy truly but never be believed; she is dragged from Minerva's temple, and Coroebus dies trying to save her.
Death of Priam
Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) kills Polites before Priam's eyes, then drags the old king through his son's blood to the altar and beheads him; his body lies 'sine nomine corpus' on the shore.
Pyrrhus / Neoptolemus
Son of Achilles, compared to a snake shedding its skin in spring, embodying the merciless violence of the sack; Priam accuses him of degenerating from his father, who returned Hector's body.
Helen Episode
Aeneas spots Helen hiding at Vesta's shrine and considers killing her (a passage some editors bracket) until Venus intervenes.
Venus Reveals the Gods
Venus removes the mist from Aeneas' eyes to show Neptune, Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter himself destroying Troy: 'divum inclementia, divum' is to blame, not Helen or Paris.
Anchises' Refusal and the Omens
Anchises refuses to leave until a harmless flame plays on Iulus' head and Jupiter sends thunder and a shooting star as confirmation.
Aeneas Carrying Anchises
Aeneas lifts his father onto his shoulders, takes Iulus by the hand, and has Creusa follow behind, the iconic image of pietas toward family and gods.
Creusa falls behind in the confusion; her ghost tells Aeneas he will reach the Tiber (Hesperia) and marry a royal bride, then vanishes as he tries three times to embrace her.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum
'Three times he tried to throw his arms around her neck': the formulaic failed embrace of a ghost, repeated with Anchises in Book 6.
Book 2 Ending
At dawn Aeneas finds a crowd of refugees gathered at Ceres' temple, takes up his father, and heads for the mountains: 'cessi et sublato montis genitore petivi.'