The fortunes of the Latins being again broken by the death of Camilla, their hopes necessarily centre upon Turnus, whose character and fate form the main interest of the concluding book. It is Turnus' conduct which gives the final justification to Aeneas' position. Latinus, hesitating and distracted as before, would make a treaty and give his daughter to Aeneas: Tuvuus disdains the idea, and will appeal to single combat. The preliminaries are arranged: but the truce, on which they depend, is broken by the agency of Juno and Turnus' sister Juturna. Turnus neither makes any attempt (as Aeneas does) to keep the peace, nor ventures to seek out his powerful adversary. But when Aeneas, wounded by an arrow from an unseen hand, retires a little from the battle, Turnus waxes bold and throws himself into the fray, thus losing all claim to sympathy. In the battles which ensue, the two heroes are prevented for some time from meeting by the agency of Juturna; but the extreme peril of the city, which the Trojans are on the point of taking, at length recalls Turnus to encounter Aeneas, who has all along only joined in the battle on extreme provocation. The dignity with which Turnus at length resolves to meet the supreme moment goes far to compensate for the want of firmness and patriotism which he has hitherto displayed.

The mechanism of the narrative is not always easy (see, for instance, on v. 81 foll.). The frequency of supernatural intervention is remarkable.