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AP® Latin passage guide · Vergil, Aeneid 12.791–828, 919–952
Vergil, Aeneid 12.791–828 and 919–952: Juno's Reconciliation and the Death of Turnus
What happens
Jupiter asks Juno to end her anger: it is forbidden for her to go further. Juno gives way, but asks one thing that fate does not forbid: when peace is made, let the Latins keep their name, their language and their dress. Let Latium stand, let there be Alban kings through the ages, let the Roman race be strong in Italian courage; Troy has fallen, let it stay fallen with its name. Jupiter agrees, smiling: the Trojans will mix with the Italians, and no race will honour Juno more.
In the final duel, Aeneas' spear strikes Turnus in the thigh and he falls. Humble and pleading, Turnus stretches out his hand: 'I deserved it and I do not beg off. Use your chance. But if a father's grief can touch you, have pity on Daunus and give me back to my people. You have won; Lavinia is yours. Go no further in hatred.'
Aeneas stands hesitating, and the speech is starting to sway him, when he sees on Turnus' shoulder the sword belt of young Pallas, whom Turnus had killed. Blazing with fury, he cries that Pallas is making the sacrifice with this wound, and buries his sword in Turnus' chest. Turnus' limbs go slack with cold and his life flees with a groan, resentful, to the shades below.
Grammar to look for
- Present subjunctive in wishes and commands: sit Latium, sint Albānī per saecula rēgēs, “let Latium stand, let there be Alban kings through the ages”
- Imperative of a deponent verb: Ūtere sorte tuā, “use your chance”
- Temporal clauses with cum: īnfēlīx umerō cum appāruit altō balteus, “when the ill-fated belt appeared high on his shoulder”
Style
- Anaphora: sit Latium, sint Albānī per saecula rēgēs, sit Rōmāna potēns Ītala virtūte propāgō. Juno's terms, one wish after another.
- Repetition: Pallās tē hōc vulnere, Pallās immolat. The name twice: Aeneas acts for his dead friend.
- Final line: vītaque cum gemitū fugit indignāta sub umbrās. The poem ends with Turnus' resentful death, as Camilla's did.
Themes to think about
- Mercy against vengeance: is Aeneas right to kill Turnus?
- Juno's anger finally ends, and what it wins
- Roman identity: Trojan blood, Italian name
- The epic's abrupt, unsettling ending
Practise this passage
The Last Duel is a self-grading escape room built from this passage's own vocabulary, with a grammar lock on the present subjunctive in wishes and commands. It takes about one lesson.
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More passage guides
- Vergil, Aeneid 1.1–33: The Proem and Juno's Anger
- Vergil, Aeneid 1.88–107 and 496–512: The Storm and Dido
- Vergil, Aeneid 2.40–56 and 201–249: Laocoön and the Wooden Horse
- Vergil, Aeneid 4.74–89 and 165–197: Dido's Love, the Cave and Fama
- Vergil, Aeneid 4.305–361: Dido and Aeneas Quarrel
- Vergil, Aeneid 6.450–476, 788–800 and 847–853: Dido's Shade and Rome's Mission
- Vergil, Aeneid 7.45–58 and 783–817: Latinus, Turnus and Camilla
- Vergil, Aeneid 11.532–594: Diana's Story of Camilla
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