Introduction
It may that no no ancient text is as based in conflict as Virgil’s Aeneid. This is largely inevitable, to an extent; the story details ongoing and violent clashes between mortals and gods, even as it documents a series of equally relentless conflicts between men and societies. Added to this are the personal conflicts between men and women, and gods and gods, the latter typically igniting the former. Then, the story itself ultimately centers on, or stems from, a primary conflict in which one man’s destiny to found a city is opposed by a goddess. Even with this complex and relentless arena of antagonism, however, other forms of it may be discerned in The Aeneid, and which go to conflicts more based on internal, moral, psychological, and emotional causes.

Conflicts
Power, in a sense, lies at the heart of most of the less blatant conflicts of the tale, even as the power struggles arise from deeply personal resentments and rivalries. For instance, a great deal of the trouble faced by men in this story of battles is in fact due to an intense competition between two “women”: Juno and Venus. The antipathy is consistent from the start and reveals itself in a series of duels over control of men’s destinies, and the ultimate welfare of Aeneas, son of Venus. Virgil’s Juno may be said to be true to form as the ancients usually present her; she is relentlessly scheming and vindictive. Venus, conversely, is presented by Virgil in a more expansive way that usual. This goddess of love is also both maternal and a warrior, and she is more than a match for Juno’s deceptions. When, for example, Juno is angered by Aeneas’s rejection of Dido, she pretends to seek an alliance with Venus, who responds with equal deceit: “Who is mad enough to shun the terms you offer? Who would prefer to strive with you in war?” (Virgil, IV, ll 142-144). This is a conflict between goddesses so deeply rooted in rivalry, the fates of men are insignificant, even as Venus’s chief concern is Aeneas.

Moral conflict also is within the personal, or internal, clashes between men and gods, as well as within a single mortal. Aeneas begs the Sibyl to allow him to enter the Underworld and see his father; he feels an intense moral obligation to honor this as a request made, in fact, by Anchises: “He ordered me, with prayers, to seek you out, humbly, and approach your threshold” (VI, ll 115-116). It is clear that Aeneas is brave and determined, yet he also understands the dangers involved, and these are reinforced by the Sibyl. To enter into Hell is not difficult, but: “To retrace your steps, and go out to the air above, that is work, that is the task” (VI, ll 128-129).
Virgil describes Aeneas’s descent as courageous, which encompasses the ambition needed to overcome any man’s deep aversion to the unnatural region, even if it is to honor a father’s pledge. Then, further conflict awaits him as the Sibyl leads him on, and of a type symbolic of psychological, moral, and physical kinds.

In this region of death, conflict is everywhere, and seemingly the eternal consequence of human weakness: “Right before the entrance, in the very jaws of Orcus, Grief and vengeful Care have made their beds, and pallid Sickness lives there, and sad Old Age” (VI , ll 274-276). It is notable that vengeance lives on in the underworld, just as old age is miserable; this is, in other words, an afterlife with no peace, and marked by perpetual torment, or conflict. Not unexpectedly, it takes physical shape in various forms as well. The arena is replete with monsters, ranging from the Furies, Harpies, and Gorgons to the goddess Discord with snakes for hair. The implication is clear; in this underworld, conflict of the most horrific kinds exists, and it is conflict that reflects the worst of humanity.

Conclusion
The beauty of the poem notwithstanding, Virgil’s Aeneid is very much all about conflict. Aeneas fights divine and human opposing forces, gods compete in intense rivalries, and there is the significant conflict of Dido’s love being rejected by the hero. Beyond this, however, are multiple layers of additional conflict, including the foundational one between Juno and Venus, and the multifaceted kinds evident when Aeneas descends into the Underworld. Ultimately, then, conflict infuses every part of Virgil’s classic work.