Fate and Counter Fate in the Aeneid

Fate and Counter Fate in the Aeneid

In the Aeneid, Virgil follows a definite notion about personal fate. A certain fate is attached to a certain person (or peoples) and follows him all of his life. These fates are referred to as the fates of the person. Most of the events of the Aeneid are instigated by the gods and fate. The connection between the gods and fate is a complex one and the two seem to be inexorably linked. Juno, wife of Jupiter and queen of the gods can be viewed as “the embodiment of the hostile power in opposition to which Aeneas with his people has to prove himself and fight his way as a man called by fate to a great mission.” In doing this, she blocks the ‘progress’ of Aeneas’ and the Trojan’s Fate. She is thus the counter fate. Jupiter, the king of the gods represents fate in the Aeneid, in that he uses various methods to ‘hasten the progress’ of fate. Juno acts in opposition to the necessary path of the fates. She knows perfectly well what must come to pass, because Jupiter who has already foreseen everything that will happen tells her so, but she has her own passionate agenda, a raw frenzied hatred of the Trojans.

This hatred arises from the fact that the descendants of the Trojans would destroy her beloved Carthage. This can be clearly seen early in Book one, “… And Juno, we are told, cared more for Carthage Than for any walled city of the earth …But she had heard long since That generations of Trojan blood Would one day overthrow her Tyrian walls...” And as if this was not enough, Juno was still angry at the judgment Paris gave on the day the golden apple was given to Venus for her gift of Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman on the earth. Paris, being from Troy, gave Juno another reason to loathe the Trojans.

The first instance in the Aeneid during which the fates, so to speak clash, occurs early in book one. Juno knows that the Trojans are leaving Sicily for Italy and she wants to prevent Aeneas and his men from reaching their goal. “The race I hate is crossing the Tuscan sea, Transporting Ilium with her household gods-Beaten as they are- to Italy.” In order to thwart the Trojans, Juno orders King Aeolus who “rules the contending winds and moaning gales” to “put new fury into his winds, and make the long ships (of the Trojans) founder!” This action of Juno’s shows us how she tries to alter fate by inciting Aeolus and offering him Deiopea, an “exquisite nymph’s” hand in marriage. Her intentions of destroying the Trojans though remain unfulfilled as Neptune; brother of Jupiter sets things right for the Trojans by giving a counter command to the winds and by “quieting the surging water, driving the clouds away, and bringing the sunlight back.” Neptune then dislodges the grounded ships with his trident and sets them on course again. He also chastises and punishes King Aeolus for his part in the storm. In this case fate has been put onto its due course by Neptune rather than Jupiter. This does not countermand the original hypothesis which suggests that Jupiter should have been the one to do so because Neptune is brother of Jupiter and is on Jupiter’s side throughout the Aeneid.

Aeneas and Dido’s love for each other is another example of Juno (and Venus) interfering with the Trojan’s fates. Venus has acted through Ascanius to make Dido fall in love with Aeneas and to put her under the influence of Cupido. This is done in order to make Dido forget Sychaeus. “He begins gradually to efface Sychaeus and tries to waken by a living love her spirit long since inert and her heart no longer used to love.” Juno’s plan is to bring Dido and Aeneas together in a cave during a thunderstorm and wed them. She intends to do this to further her own purposes. She thinks that wedding Aeneas and Dido will divert empire from Rome to Carthage. It should be noted that while the two goddesses Juno and Venus are both working in opposition to Jupiter and fate here, they pretend to each other to be doing otherwise. Here although she knows Jupiter’s forecast for Rome, “In Italy he (Aeneas) will fight a massive war, Beat down fierce armies, then for the people there Establish city walls and a way of life”, Juno nevertheless tries to change Aeneas’ fate. Jupiter now acts by sending Mercury down to Aeneas not once but twice. During their first meeting Mercury reproaches Aeneas and asks why he is founding Carthage rather than Rome, “Is it for you to lay the stones for Carthage’s high walls, Tame husband that you are, and build their city?” This encounter with Mercury terrifies Aeneas and prevents him from giving in to Dido’s pleas to stay. In fact Aeneas even says that “I sail for Italy not of my own free will.” Still Aeneas lingers on