If the Aeneid was a video game, book IIX would be leading up to the boss battle. Turnus, current king of the region of Italy where Aeneas is intending to set up his kingdom, has been rounding up the rowdy locals to fight the them, going to far as to find Diomedes, a famous Greek fighter, to finish off the last of the Trojans. Aeneas, meanwhile, is taking a nap.
In his dream the god of the River Tiber (the central river of Rome) give Aeneas a few strange prophesies- that the gods are no loner trying to kill him (no guarantees about Juno though), that Aeneas will see a white cow (Alba...like Alba Longa... OOHH!!) nursing 30 piglets, as in the thirty years that it will take Ascanius to found Alba Longa... OMG! Tiberinus then gives Aeneas the strangest instruction of all- he tells the Trojan to go find some Greek allies, led by this guys called Evander, who is always at war with the Latins.
When Aeneas wakes up from this weird dream to see the cow and piglets, which he imeditaly sacrifices to Juno. Make what you will of the symbolism here. Then Tiberinus stills the waters of the riverto the Trojans can sail to Arcadia. The Arcadians are making their own sacrifices to Hercules. When Evander and his son Pallas see the arriving Trojans, Pallas runs down to ask them what's going on. Aeneas explains, and Pallas invites the Trojans for dinner. Greeks and Trojans dining in harmony- who would have guessed? There's a huge feast and they agree that the common enemy are the Latins. It turns out that in ancient times (like, even more ancient), the Trojans and the Greeks actually got along really well!!
There's some more foreshadowing about the future of Rome, because apparently everyone but Aeneas knows what's going to happen. Venus, Aeneas' mum, seduces Vulcan into making special armour for Aeneas for his upcoming battle. The scenes that later followed were incredibly interesting.
Meanwhile, Evander and Aeneas organize who's going to command what portion of this new army. It's actually not terribly important. It plays out somewhat like picking teams for a dodgeball game.
Then the moment we've all been waiting for: the unveiling of Aeneas' new, divine armour. There are many interesting parallels in this scene and that of the Iliad. While Vergil (WITH AN E!!) constantly calls on Homer for inspiration, as the Aeneid is actually just a propagandist fanfiction, there is a specific scene where Achilles' goddess mother give him armour crafted by the Greek equivalent of Vulcan, the description is very, very important. And also a beautiful example of ekphrasis.
It's filled in entirely with pictures depicting the history of Rome, even past the Augustan era (it gets vague after that, though). It begins in the center, with Rome's early history, Romulus and Remus, all the famous myths of the prehistory of Rome, etc. What was very interesting is that the shield even depicted the battle of Actium, one of the most definitive and fateful battles of Roman history- it decided whether Mark Antony and Cleopatra or Augustus would rule.
Aeneas, although he does not understand much of what the shield is showing, decides he likes it. Soon, it will be time to face Turnus and his furor.
