Here ends the story of AEneas as related by Vergil. There was no more to be told, that could properly come within the limits of the subject, as set forth in the opening lines of the AEneid:
Arms and the man I sing, who, forced by Fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.
Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destined town.
The poet undertook to tell about the wanderings of the hero, and his long labors both by sea and land, up to the time he won a settlement in Italy. This was accomplished by the death of Turnus, which put an end to the war. The brave Rutulian chief made a gallant fight, but the fates were against him. He would probably have been the victor had his antagonist been any other than the man of destiny, who had the decrees of heaven always on his side.
As to the subsequent history of AEneas, the Roman traditions tell us that he married the princess Lavinia, and built a city which was called after her name—Lavinium. Upon the death of his father-in-law, Latinus, he became king of Latium. But though he was then in possession of his long promised settlement, his wars were not entirely over, for we are told that he fought a battle with the Rutulians who, though their king was dead, were still unwilling to submit to a foreigner. In this battle, which took place on the bank of the river Numicus, the Trojan hero mysteriously disappeared and was seen no more. Some say he was drowned in the river, and that the Latins, not finding the body, supposed he had been taken up to heaven, and therefore offered him sacrifices as a god.
On the death of the hero, his son Iulus succeeded him, and built the city of Alba Longa, which was ruled for many centuries by kings of the line of AEneas, whose descendants were the founders of Rome.
From whence the race of Alban Fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.