Lavinia

Content Warning: This section discusses enslavement.

Some Rutulians and Volscians attack Lavinium in the second year of Aeneas’s reign, but they’re easily defeated. Lavinia fears an increase in violence, but Aeneas is a skilled peacekeeper. Lavinia and Aeneas visit King Evander to improve their alliance, since Evander still blames Aeneas for Pallas’s death. His people are now quite poor. To cheer Aeneas during the uncomfortable visit, Lavinia tells him that the great city of his descendants will one day be in Evander’s kingdom and among the Seven Hills; it will be called Roma. In addition, Aeneas makes an alliance with another Greek settlement, Arpi, even though he fought against its leader, Diomedes, during the Trojan War. He leaves without Lavinia to make other alliances, which upsets her because she knows how little time they have left together. She begs him not to travel but knows the futility of trying to avoid fate.

Whenever Aeneas must leave Lavinium, he leaves Ascanius in charge. However, Lavinia and Ascanius greatly dislike and distrust each other. Ascanius is quick to start conflicts, significantly harming Lavinium’s diplomatic relations at every turn. When Ascanius offends Latinus, Latinus asks Aeneas to put him in charge of another city to keep him out of the way; Aeneas agrees and sends his son to Alba Longa.