ENEAS, ENEE, ENYAS. Aeneas, the Trojan prince, was the son of Anchises and Venus and leader of the Dardanians in the Trojan War. Virgil's Aeneid (30-19 B.C.) tells the story of his adventures after Troy fell until he settled in Italy and founded Rome. Aeneid I and IV describe the visit to Dido, queen of Carthage, while Aeneid II-III contain Aeneas's relation of his adventures to the queen. This section on Dido becomes Chaucer's chief interest: Dido is a betrayed queen, and Eneas is a perfidious and treacherous guest (Heroides VII). Chaucer's view of Eneas is influenced by both Virgil and Ovid, mentioned in HF I.378-380, his first detailed narration of the story, but more by the latter poet. Heroides VII, Dido's letter to Aeneas, shows Aeneas as a fickle lover. Chaucer may have known Boccaccio's version in Amorosa visione XXVIII-XXIX, but this source is not certain. He probably also used an Italian translation of the Heroides by Filippo Ceffi (c. 1320-1330), a work widely read during the period as shown by the thirty-six manuscripts from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Duenna tells the Lover the story in RR 13173-13210, showing how Eneas is ungrateful for all the help Dido gives him in refreshing his sailors and his company; she calls him li traistres, "the traitor." In these versions Aeneas's treachery and fickleness are emphasized. This view is radically different from Dante's; he calls Aeneas de Romani il gentil seme, "of Romans the noble seed," Inf XXVI.60.
Eneas is "fals," MLI 64, BD 731-734. The story from Aeneid I and IV appears in HF I.162-467. Virgil stands on a pillar of tinned iron, the metals of Mars and Jupiter, for holding up the fame of "pius Eneas," HF III.1481-1485. "Fals Eneas" appears in LGW 924-1367. Eneas and Antenor eventually betray Troy, Tr II.1473-1484; this part of the story appears in Beno”t's Roman de Troie 24397-25713. [Achate: Anchises: Anne1: Ascanius: Creusa: Dido: Iulo: Turnus: Virgil]
Eneas, the ME and French variant, occurs most often, once initially, LGW 1128; twenty-six times in medial positions, HF I.165, 175, 231, 240, 320, 434, 440, 452; LGW 927, 976, 1015, 1023, 1062, 1097, 1103, 1108, 1124, 1137, 1144, 1153, 1158, 1206, 1226, 1232, 1243, 1252, 1285; fourteen times in final rhyming position, BD 732; HF I.217, 253, 286, 293, 356, 427, 461; HF III.1485; LGW 983, 1027, 1047, 1057. Enee, also a French variant as in RR 13174, occurs once, in final rhyming position, MLI 64. Enyas, perhaps a pronunciation variant, occurs once, in medial position, LGW 940. Eneydos, ME variant for Latin Aeneid, occurs three times, NPT 3359, HF I.378, LGW 928.