Lavinia

''''Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn''''t be given, wouldn''''t be taken, but chose my man and my fate. The man was famous, the fate obscure; not a bad balance.'''' Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a victorious warrior who loves peace; she is her father''''s closest companion. Now of an age to wed, Lavinia''''s mother favours her own kinsman, King Turnus of Rutulia, handsome, heroic, everything a young girl should want. Instead, Lavinia dreams of mighty Aeneas, a man she has heard of only from a ghost of a poet, who comes to her in the gods'''' holy place and tells her of her future, and Aeneas'''' past.If she refuses to wed Turnus, Lavinia knows she will start a war - but her fate was set the moment the poet appeared to her in a dream and told her of the adventurer who fled fallen Troy, holding his son''''s hand and carrying his father on his back.