Order of destiny fixed by Jupiter and known through prophecies, which not even the gods undo. Juno, who hates the Trojans, can delay the fulfillment of the fates, but cannot prevent them: that Aeneas reaches Latium and that Rome is born from his line has been settled since the first book. The tension of the poem lies in how the fate is fulfilled and who pays for it.
Where It Appears
- Book II: The Fall of Troy
- Book III: The Wandering
- Book IV: Dido
- Book VI: The Descent to the Underworld
- Book VII: The Arrival in Latium
- Book XI: Camilla
- Book XII: Turnus
Quotes
Troy entrusts to you its sacred objects and its Penates. Take them as companions of the fates: seek for them the walls that, once you have crossed the sea, you will at last found.
Book II: The Fall of Troy, Hector
Look for it, then, with your eyes raised high, and once you find it as you should, take it in your hand: it will come to you willingly and without cost, if the fates are calling you; otherwise, by no force will you conquer it, nor tear it away with hard iron.
Book VI: The Descent to the Underworld, the Sibyl
Hail, land owed to me by the fates; and you, he said, faithful Penates of Troy, hail! Here is the home, this is the homeland.
Book VII: The Arrival in Latium, Aeneas
We are broken, alas, by the fates, he said, and carried off by the storm. You yourselves will pay for these penalties with sacrilegious blood, you unhappy ones! For you, Turnus, the crime, for you the wretched punishment awaits; and with late vows you will worship the gods. For me, rest is assured, the whole harbor is at my door; I am deprived of a happy death.