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==''Aeneid''==
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio163r.jpg|thumb|Ascanius shooting Sylvia's stag, in the 5th-century [[Roman Vergil]] manuscript]]However, in the ''[[Aeneid]]'', [[Virgil]] claims that Mezentius fought in the Italian Wars at the time [[Aeneas]] was alive. In the Aeneid, it is Aeneas who kills Lausus after harming Mezentius, who escaped while his son faced the Trojan king. When the news about Lausus' death reaches Mezentius, he comes back to face Aeneas, and is killed too. In this account, Ascanius does not participate in these deaths.

Nevertheless, Virgil shows Ascanius's first experience at war. In the ''Aeneid'', Ascanius is a teenager without real war experiences, but while besieged by the Italians, Ascanius launches an arrow against Numanus, the husband of the youngest sister of [[Turnus]]. After killing Numanus, Apollo comes and says to Ascanius:

''Macte nova virtute, puer:  sic itur ad astra,''
''dis genite et geniture deos.''

This phrase can be translated into English as: "Go forth with new value, boy: thus is the path to the stars; son of gods that will have gods as sons." or "Blessings on your fresh courage, boy, scion of gods and ancestor of gods yet to be, so it is man rises to the stars." In this verse, Virgil makes a clear reference to the offspring of Iulus, from whom [[Emperor Augustus|Augustus Caesar]] claimed descent. Therefore, in this verse Virgil refers to the [[Gens Julia]], the family of Augustus and [[Julius Caesar]], who was deified after his death.

[[File:Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia 1682 Claude Lorrain.jpg|thumb|''[[Landscape with Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia]]'' (1682), [[Claude Lorrain]]'s last painting]]
''[[Sic itur ad astra]]'' become proverbial, and several mottos use an ''ad astra'' phrase. After this episode, Apollo orders to the Trojans to keep Ascanius away from the war.

In this same episode Ascanius, before launching the fatal arrow in Numanus, prays to Jupiter, saying: ''Jupiter omnipotens, audacibus annue cœptis'' ("Omnipotent Jupiter, please favour my bold attempt"). The last part of the [[hexameter]] became the United States motto ''[[annuit coeptis]]''.

The name Iulus was popularised by [[Virgil]] in the ''[[Aeneid]]'': replacing the Greek name Ascanius with Iulus linked the Julian family of Rome to earlier mythology. The emperor [[Augustus]], who commissioned the work, was a great patron of the arts. As a member of the Julian family, he could claim to have four major [[Olympian gods]] in his family tree: ([[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]), so he encouraged his many poets to emphasize his supposed descent from Aeneas.