Question

Whom does the writer invoke in this passage?

the gods

a man at war

the Muse

the Alban lords

The Aenid
by Virgil (excerpt)

I sing of warfare and a man at war.
From the sea-coast of Troy in early days
He came to Italy by destiny,
To our Lavinian western shore,
A fugitive, this captain, buffeted

Till he could found a city and bring home
His gods to Laetium, land of the Latin race,
The Alban lords, and the high walls of Rome.
Tell me the causes now, O Muse, how galled

From her old wound, the queen of gods compelled him—

To undergo so many perilous days
And enter on so many trials. Can anger
Black as this prey on the minds of heaven?

Answer 1

In this excerpt of The Aeneid, Virgil is invoking the Muse so that she will help him tell Aeneid's story. This invocation to to the muse is Virgil's tip of the hat to Homer, who also started the Iliad and the Odyssey by invoking the muses.