For the most part, Book III deals with the Trojans's search for their promised homeland, covering almost their entire voyage up to the moment when the storm raised by Aeolus drives them away from their nearby goal of Italy. The ghost of Creusa, whom Aeneas encountered toward the end of the preceding book, had called Italy by its Greek name, Hesperia, but Aeneas does not remember this name during the earlier stages of his voyage, even though it had been entrusted to him under such momentous circumstances. Only after the Trojans's failed attempt to settle on Crete does he fix Italy as his true destination.
While Book III has dramatic moments, it constitutes a relatively placid interlude between two episodes of great intensity — the account of Troy's destruction, with its descriptions of violence and bloodshed, and the tragic story of Dido's passionate love for Aeneas. As such, it resembles Book V, which deals with the stage of the voyage that follows Dido's death and precedes another high point of the Aeneid, Aeneas's encounter with the sibyl at Cumae and his descent into the underworld. Books III and V, then, create with the others an overall rhythmical pattern that adds variety of pace to the epic poem's narration.
Although Book III deals with subject matter that may seem more prosaic and uneventful than that of other books, it contributes greatly to the development of the Aeneid's national theme by depicting what Virgil considered unique, important Roman virtues, superimposed on a legendary past. Aeneas's "Roman" qualities are shown especially in his attitude toward Anchises, to whom he constantly gives all his dutiful respect, which the Romans, as members of a patriarchal society, especially valued as an important aspect of pietas. Virgil makes a point of telling us that it was Anchises who gave the order to sail from Troy, and that Aeneas consulted his father in Thrace after the hero's ominous encounter with the spirit of the murdered Polydorus, and again on Delos and on Crete. As we shall see, Anchises's authority will be strengthened after his death, for he will be Aeneas's guide in the underworld, and he will predict Rome's future greatness.
