Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the ''Eclogues'' ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', Erulus is a king of

Praeneste Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

. At birth, he was given three souls (''animae'') by his mother, the goddess

Feronia Feronia may mean: * Feronia (mythology), a goddess of fertility in Roman and Etruscan mythology * Feronia (plant), ''Feronia'' (plant), a genus of plants * Feronia Inc., a plantations company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Fero ...

, who also tripled his ability to defend himself by giving him three sets of arms. Vergil tells his story through the Arcadian king

Evander Evander is a masculine given name. It is an anglicization of the Greek name Εὔανδρος (lit. "good man", Latinized ''Evandrus''). It has also been adopted as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Ìomhar (the Gaelic variant of the name Ivor) ...

, founder of

Pallantium Pallantium () was an ancient city near the Tiber river on the Italian peninsula. Roman mythology, as recounted in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' for example, states that the city was founded in Magna Graecia by Evander of Pallene and other ancient Greeks s ...

, who allies with the

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * '' Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 18 ...

immigrants led by

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Troy, Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus (mythology), Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy ...

. Evander regrets that the frailty of old age keeps him from fighting at Aeneas's side, and reminisces about the warrior deeds of his youth: Herakles Geryon Cdm Paris 202

No other literary source mentions Erulus; he may be Vergil's pure invention, based on the mythological figure

Geryon In Greek mythology, Geryon ( ; , genitive ), also Geryone (, or ), son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, the grandson of Medusa and the nephew of Pegasus, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far ...

, or given that his mother's cult is represented only sparsely in literary sources, he may belong to an archaic tradition to which no other reference survives. Some scholars have seen Erulus as an influence on

Spenser Spenser is an alternative spelling of the British surname Spencer. It may refer to: Geographical places with the name Spenser: * Spenser Mountains, a range in the northern part of South Island, New Zealand People with the surname Spenser: * Dav ...

's conception of Triamond's three-fold life in ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

''.Alastair Fowler, ''Spenser and the Numbers of Time'' (Routledge, 1964), p. 28, note
online.
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References

{{Reflist Kings in Roman mythology Characters in the Aeneid