My story is of a man torn between love and destiny. Aeneas was his name, and he was a Prince of Troy. When that city was destroyed by the Greek Army, he fled from the flames carrying his old father on his back, and with his son at his side. He gathered a band of Trojans and set sail in a fleet of ships. But his journey was long and hard, beset by dangers and troubles.
Why should a just a man suffer so? The answer is not hard to find. All the evil and suffering in the world is wished upon us by the gods, or is the debris of their own quarrels and strife. A goddess hated Aeneas with all the fury of her immortal heart. Her name was Juno, and she was queen of heaven. Her enmity went back a long way.
It all began with a divine squabble. Three goddesses met on the island of Crete and wrangled over who was the fairest. And while the divine ones were bickering and threatening to scratch each other’s eyes out, along stumbled Paris, Prince of Troy, out hunting in the woods. The goddesses appointed him as judge of their beauty. He chose Venus, and won a great reward from her, in the fair form of a woman, Helen, who was more lovely than any other. But he earned the immortal hatred of Juno.
Paris and Helen. Their names united into the greatest scandal of the Bronze Age. He was Trojan, she was Greek, and while they lay in each others arms, their countries locked in armed combat. After ten years of war, Troy was destroyed utterly. You would think that the Goddess had taken enough revenge on Paris and all the Trojans, but still she was not satisfied. Now Juno looked down from the skies and spotted Aeneas, a near relative of Paris, sailing across the sea, escaping his burning city. And this is what she said to herself:
JunoAnother of those pomaded Trojan lover-boys is setting out to create trouble in the world. I see his destiny all too clearly. He is leading his men to Italy, where his decedents will found a new city: Rome. And Rome shall grow into a proud ,powerful, and disgustingly hypocritical empire. The toga wearers shall make slaves of free peoples in the name of the law, peace and religion. They will conquer nations and utterly destroy Carthage, the city which does more honour to me than any other. But do you know what? I think I’ll do the world a favour. I’ll spare it Rome. I’ll destroy this Aeneas and his fleet of ships before they touch land. No Aeneas, no Rome. Now Blow Winds Blow !
NarratorAnd Aeolus, king of the winds, heard the command from the Queen of Heaven, and boy did he blow. He sent a ship splintering storm straight at the fleet of Aeneas. Aeneas and his men thought then that they would soon be fish food. But Neptune, the lord of the waters, heard the winds, and rolled his eyes around the earth, the sea and the skies, and when he saw the storm-tossed ships he said: Hey what’s all this? I’m in charge here. Jupiter and his dysfunctional family can do what they like up in the skies, but the waters are mine, and I won’t stand for any insubordination here. If there’s sinking to be done, then I’m the one to do it. And with a wave of his Trident, he sent the winds whimpering back into their box, and the seas settled down.
The battered ship of Aeneas, with broken oars and tattered sails, made its way to the shores of Libya. The sailors jumped over the sides and swam to the beach. They were plenty glad to feel the hot sand between their toes. As for the other Trojan ships, they did not know if they were lost of saved.
Now the goddess Venus looked down on the shipwrecked Trojans with more than a casual interest. Aeneas was none other than her own son. As any good mother would, she went to the Lord of the Skies and put in a complaint about her boy’s treatment.
( Venus)This is too much! Is it not enough that jealous Juno burned Troy? Can’t you reign in that neurotic consort of yours? My Aeneas is destined to found Rome, and now look at him, poor darling, he’s a shipwrecked wretch on the shores of Africa. And it’s Juno’s doing as usual.
( Jupiter)And father Jupiter sighed and sent a gush of wind over the mountain tops. Venus my dear, he said, Dismiss your fears. The fates are fixed. I’ve no intention that your son should be denied his destiny. There is an African Queen who will take good care of him. Dido is her name, and she lives in Great Splendour in the city of Carthage. She is just and fair. Send Aeneas to her, and she will give him all he needs.
NarratorVenus took the hint. Lovely Dido would put vim back in her son’s limbs
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