Study Questions
1. What does Diomedes say has been the fate of the Greeks who participated in the Trojan War?

2. Along with gold and ivory, what gift does Latinus want presented to the Trojans?

3. Why does Evander want Aeneas to avenge Pallas’ death?

4. What difference is there between the Trojan and the Latin funerals?

5. How does Turnus insult Drances?

6. What metaphor is used to describe Turnus?

7. What aid do the gods improperly offer during the meeting of the forces outside of Laurentum?

8. What metaphor is used to describe the struggle between Tarchon and Venulus?

9. What second big opportunity does Turnus’ rage cause him to bungle?

10. How does Virgil poetically indicate the end of the day?

Answers
1. He says that they have all had bad luck. As examples he cites Agamemnon, who was killed by his wife, and his own companions, who were transformed into birds.

2. He wants his throne and robe—“the emblems of my sovereignty”—presented to the Trojans (442).

3. First, Evander cannot do it himself. Second, he wishes to tell Pallas’ shade, when he joins him in the underworld, that Turnus is dead.

4. While the Trojans are cremated with honors, including sacrifices and honor guards, most of the Latins are simply heaped up in piles and set aflame.

5. Turnus says that Drances has always preferred speaking even when fighting was necessary, and then reminds the assembly that Drances has killed no Trojans. Implicitly, Turnus is calling Drances a blustering coward.

6. He is like a stallion that has snapped its tether.

7. Jupiter encourages Tarchon and forces Turnus out of the forest, while Apollo enables Arruns to strike Camilla.

8. They are like a snake and an eagle fighting in the air.

9. By leaving the forest, he misses his chance to kill Aeneas.

10. He says that Phoebus (Apollo) is bathing his weary horses in the Spanish (western) sea.