How do you quote the Aeneid?
Citation Data
- MLA. Virgil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Toronto ; New York :Bantam Books, 1981.
- APA. Virgil. ( 1981). The Aeneid of Virgil. Toronto ; New York :Bantam Books,
- Chicago. Virgil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Toronto ; New York :Bantam Books, 1981.
What is the famous first line of Virgil’s Aeneid?
OPENING LINES: THE PROLOGUE OF THE AENEID In the first line, when Virgil says, “I sing of arms and of a man…,” he refers to the twin themes of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad, of course, focuses on Achilleus’ anger within the context of the Trojan War: “arms”.

What are some main themes of the Aeneid?
The Aeneid Themes
- Fate. In the Aeneid, fate (or destiny) is an all-powerful force—what fate decrees will happen, must happen.
- The Gods and Divine Intervention.
- Piety.
- Rome.
- War and Peace.
What is the last line of the Aeneid?
‘In the last lines of the poem he [Aeneas] killed Turnus, after relenting, just for revenge, in memory of Pallas, whom Turnus had killed, and because he saw the belt of Pallas, which Turnus was wearing. It was sheer vindictive vengeance.
What are the opening lines of the Aeneid?
Arms and the man I sing, who, forced by fate And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate, Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.

How many lines is Virgil’s Aeneid?
9,883 lines
And the Aeneid itself (9,883 lines) works out to about three lines a day.
Why is the Aeneid so important?
The Romans regarded the Aeneid as their great national epic, and it had enormous influence over later writers and thinkers. As well as being powerful literature, the Aeneid tells us a great deal about how the Romans saw themselves and their culture, and what it meant to be a Roman.
What does fire symbolize in the Aeneid?
Fire symbolizes both destruction and erotic desire or love. With images of flames, Virgil connects the two. Paris’s desire for Helen eventually leads to the fires of the siege of Troy.
What is the significance of the final scene in the Aeneid?
Taking the poem as it is, the ending clearly shows Aeneas violating Anchises’s command to “spare the conquered,” even if he has “battled down the proud.” As such, it provides powerful evidence for those scholars and readers who see Virgil as sympathetic to the defeated – and perhaps deeply critical of the Roman Empire …