Juno and Venus

• Juno - book 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12
• Venus - book 1,2,4,6,8,10,12
• Juno is the driving force behind Aeneas' troubles
• begins book 1 with an angry outburst about Aeneas' success in approaching Italy
• she goes on to cause the war
• book 12 - she is reconciled to his settling there
• Juno and Venus have all the human vices
• they are significant to the narrative because they represent opposing ambitions, and support Turnus and Aeneas
• they provide, through their ability to send a Fury or heal a wound at will, a means for Virgil to move the plot in unexpected ways
• their conversations are full of cunning of the worst sort
• their individual schemes totally disregard the consequences for mortals
• they play a game of one-upmanship
• Juno is confident that she has the higher authority because she is the wife of Jupiter
• Venus is sure that she will manipulate him
• book 10 - Jupiter calls them into account at the council of the gods
• it is an opportunity for him to assert the power of Fate
• Virgil reasserts Aeneas' role in Rome's imperial destiny