Virgil’s Aeneid
Honors 2101, Fall 2006
Bryan Benham
1
Outline
• Some Background
– Roman national epic
– Like Homer and not like Homer
• Books 1 & 2
– Juno’s wrath, Carthage, and the sack of Troy
• Books 4 & 6
– Dido’s love and the underworld
• Books 8 & 12
– Struggle and defeat of Turnus
• Closing Remarks
2
Virgil (70-19 BCE)
• Born near Mantua
• Studied philosophy,
medicine, poetry
• Eclogues, Georgics won
him fame and favor.
• Aeneid unfinished at
death
• Written for Augustus, as
national epic
3
Homer & Aeneid
Homeric Epics
• Oral, formulaic
Aeneid
• 2nd, Literary Epic
• Heroic Values:
Individual Honor
• Heroic Values: Stoic
Ideal, fate and duty
• Narrative Meaning
Transparent
• Narrative Meaning
Symbolic
– Images: animals,
weather, chaos/order
– History…Education
– Images: hunting, storms,
snakes, struggles
– History…Propaganda
4
History of Rome
Royal Period (800-509 BCE)
– Founding legends
– Overthrow of Etruscian kings
Republican Period (509-27 BCE)
–
–
–
–
Established res publica (SPQR)
Expansion and civil unrest
Julius Caesar rise and death
Octavian defeats Anthony
Principate of Augustus (27 BCE 14 CE)
Imperial Age (14-476 CE)
– Death of Augustus
– Split in 284 (Diocletian)
– Reunification by Constantine in
330
Byzantine Period (565-1453 CE)
– Continuation of Eastern Empire
– Fall of Constantinople to
Muslims
– Augustus as princeps and
imperator
– “Reconstitution” of Republic:
Pax Romana
5
History of Rome
Royal Period (800-509 BCE)
– Founding legends
– Overthrow of Etruscian kings
Republican Period (509-27 BCE)
–
–
–
–
Established res publica (SPQR)
Expansion and civil unrest
Julius Caesar rise and death
Octavian defeats Anthony
Principate of Augustus (27 BCE 14 CE)
Imperial Age (14-476 CE)
– Death of Augustus
– Split in 284 (Diocletian)
– Reunification by Constantine in
330
Byzantine Period (565-1453 CE)
– Continuation of Eastern Empire
– Fall of Constantinople to
Muslims
– Augustus as princeps and
imperator
– “Reconstitution” of Republic:
Pax Romana
6
Julius Caesar & Pompey
7
• Caesar and Pompey co-council
• Caesar’s success in Gaul
• Marched on Rome, Pompey
withdrawals
• Caesar effectively did away with the
crumbling Republic, instituting reforms
• Assassinated by Senators (44)
8
Octavian & M. Antony
9
• Triumvarate
• Antony marries Octavia, falls for
Cleopatra (Egypt), and falls out of favor
with Romans.
• Octavian defeats Antony in Egypt (31)
• Returns to Rome as Augustus (27)
• Rules as princept and imperator
• “Moral” Reforms…
10
11
12
Episodes from Aeneid
• Book I
– Prologue
– Juno’s Wrath
– At Carthage
• Book IV
– Passion of
Dido
– Aeneas’
Escape
– Death of Dido
– At Pallanteum
– Shield of
Aeneas
• Book XII
• Book II
– Trojan Horse
– Fate of Priam
– Leaving Troy
• Book VIII
• Book VI
– Travel to
Underworld
– Heroes of
Rome
– Conflict with
Turnus
– Death of
Turnus
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Book I
• Books 1-6 are
Virgil’s Odyssey
• Prologue
• Wrath of Juno
• Jupiter’s Prophecy
• In Carthage
• Aeneas and Dido
• Venus intervenes
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Prologue
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
has made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno’s unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war –
until he brought a city into being
and carried in his gods to Latium;
from this have come the Latin race, the lords
of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.
15
Prologue
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
has made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno’s unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war –
until he brought a city into being
and carried in his gods to Latium;
from this have come the Latin race, the lords
of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.
16
Prologue
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
has made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno’s unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war –
until he brought a city into being
and carried in his gods to Latium;
from this have come the Latin race, the lords
of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.
17
Prologue
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
has made him fugitive; he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores.
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of High Ones, for
the savage Juno’s unforgetting anger;
and many sufferings were his in war –
until he brought a city into being
and carried in his gods to Latium;
from this have come the Latin race, the lords
of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome.
18
19
Juno’s Wrath
• Why is Juno so upset at Aeneas?
• What does she do?
• Compare Aeneas and Odysseus…
20
What do the different passages tell
us about the respective hero?
Aeneid (I.133ff.)
O, three and four times blessed
Were those who died before their fathers’ eyes
Beneath the walls of Try. Strongest of all
The Danaans, o Diomedes, why
Did you right hand not spill my lifeblood, why
Did I not fall upon the Ilian fields,
There where ferocious Hector lies, pierced by
Achilles’ javelin, where the enormous
Sarpedon now is still, and Simois
Has seized and sweeps beneath its waves so
many
Helmets and shields and bodies of the brave!
Odyssey (V.306ff.)
Three and four times blessed are the Danaans who
perished
in broad Troy bringing favor to the sons of Atreus.
How I wish I had died and met my fate
on that day when innumerable Trojans threw their
bronze-tipped spears
at me around the corpse of Peleus’s son
I would have received my funeral honors and the
Achaeans would remember my glory.
Now it is my fate to die a pitiful death.
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Jupiter’s Prophecy
• Aeneas and crew “survive” the storm
– What does the storm symbolize?
• Venus questions Jupiter
– What is Jupiter’s prophecy? (pp. 10-11)
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At Carthage
•
•
•
•
•
Aeneas meets Venus (disguised)
Dido’s story (pp. 13-14)
View of Carthage (p. 14f.)
First sight of Dido (p. 18f.)
Venus’ stratagem (pp. 23-27)
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Book II: Fall of Troy
• Trojan Horse
– Laocöon and Sinon (pp. 34-35)
– Fate of Laocöon (pp. 35-36)
•
•
•
•
•
Hector’s ghost (p. 37f.)
Priam’s fate (p. 45)
Anchise & family (p. 49f.)
Creüsa’s ghost (p. 53f.)
Departing Troy (p.54)
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25
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Federico Barrocci's Aeneas' Flight from Troy, 1598
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The fall of Troy by Johann Georg Trautmann (1713ﾐ1769)
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Next Time
Books 4 & 6
Dido’s tragic love for Aeneas
&
Voyage to the Underworld
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Book 4: Passion of Dido
•
•
•
•
The ‘marriage’ of Dido and Aeneas
Mercury’s visit to Aeneas
Dido confronts Aeneas, and his escape
Death of Dido
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Book 4: Questions
1. Why has Dido not remarried? Why does
she relent with Aeneas? What are the
consequences for Dido?
2. What is Dido’s reaction when she realizes
Aeneas plans to leave? How does Aeneas
deal with the confrontation?
3. How and why does Aeneas leave
Carthage? How does this reflect on his
character?
4. Why does Dido commit suicide? What is her
curse?
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Book 4: More Qs
• What images are recurrent in Book 4: hunting,
wounds, passions?
• What stoic ideals are represented by Dido and
Aeneas?
• Why is Dido a ‘tragic hero’? What is her character?
• Ultimately who is to blame for the romance and
subsequent suicide? Who does it benefit?
• How is Aeneas’ sense of piety and duty revealed in
Book 4? Compare this to Books 1 and 2.
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Book 6*: Underworld
• Entering the underworld
– Sibyl and golden bough
• Across the rivers
– Dido, Deiphobus, Tartarus and Elysium
• Punishment in the underworld
– Purgation and reincarnation
• Anchises and the future vision of Rome
– Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda
33
Sybil’s Prophecy
“I see wars, horrid wars, the Tiber foaming
with much blood. You shall have your Simois,
your Xanthus, and your Doric camp; already
there is in Latium a new Achilles –
he, too, son of a goddess. Nor will Juno
fail anywhere to hound the Teucrians…”
But when her frenzy is done,
Her raging lips are hushed, hero Aeneas
Begins: “None of the trials you tell of, virgin,
Is strange or unexpected: all of these
I have foreseen and journeyed in my thought.
One thing I ask: since here is aid to be
The gateway of the lower king and here
The marsh of overflowing Acheron,
May it be granted me to go before
The face and presence of my dearest father?” (p. 134-35)
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Book 6: Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How does Aeneas travel to the underworld? What
is the significance of the golden bough?
What rivers must he cross? How are the souls
conveyed across the rivers?
Who does he meet? (Achilles and Dido) How do
the meetings turn out?
What is the purpose of punishment in the
underworld? How does this compare with other
tales of the underworld?
What news does Aeneas receive from Anchises?
How does Aeneas return to the world of the living?
35
36
• Golden Bough, p. 136-137, 144.
• Entering the underworld, p. 139ff.
– Jaws of Orcus, Treat of empty dreams, Acheron,
Charon, Styx, Cerberus, Minos…
• Across the river: p. 145ff
– Field of Mourning, Dido (145-46; cf. Odyssey
XI.541-567), Deiphobus (147-48), roads to
Elysium and Tartarus, punishments of iron tower
(149f; cf. Myth of Er)…
• Groves of Blessedness: p. 151ff
– Anchises (153ff), Lethe (154-55), future of Rome
(155ff)
37
Future of Rome
• Silvius (by Lavinia)
• Romulus
• Caesar (line of Iulius; Augustus)
“but yours will be the rulership of nations,
remember, Roman, these will be your arts:
to teach the ways of peace to those you conquer
to spare defeated peoples, tame the proud.” (158-59)
• Marcellus*
• Gates of Sleep (Horn and Ivory)
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Books 8 & 12
• Books 6-12 are Virgil’s Iliad: Sybil’s prophecy
• Turnus and Aeneas vie for the hand of Lavinia, daughter of
Latinus, king of Latium. Latinus offers Lavinia to Aeneas
because of prophecy. Turnus is enraged, by Juno. War ensues.
• Truce is imposed so that Turnus and Aeneas can decide the
issue in single combat, but Juno’s meddlings incite war again.
Aeneas is injured, but cured my his mother, Venus. *Jupiter and
Juno agree on a pact (325-27).
• *Aeneas disarms Turnus, intends to spare his life, but is
overcome by rage upon seeing the belt of Pallas (Evander’s
son) and kills Turnus (329-31); a portent of Rome’s future?
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• What is your impression of the Aeneid?
• Favorite parts?
• Why consider this a “national epic” of
Rome? Was it propaganda?
• What kind of hero is Aeneas?
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Some Paper Topics
•
In Book I of the Aeneid, the hero Aeneas is presented as a new kind of hero, one motivated by duty. Compare
Aeneas to either Achilles, Odysseus, or Gilgamesh, who do what they please and often get the gods to aid them.
Why are the such different sorts of heroes? How does Aeneas compare with Hector or Moses? Use specific
examples from the texts to support your ideas.
•
Compare Calypso and Circe in the Odyssey (Books V and X) to Dido in the Aeneid (Books I and IV). Concentrate
on how they delay the hero’s journey. What are the similarities and differences? Explain and support your ideas
using specific examples form the texts.
•
Compare Aeneas’ journey to the underworld with that of either Gilgamesh or Odysseus. In what ways are they
similar or different? Using specific examples from the text make an interesting point about this comparison.
•
In Book IV of the Aeneid Dido falls in love with and is then abandoned by Aeneas. As a result she commits suicide.
Using a careful analysis of the text, who would you say is responsible for these events? Is Aeneas? Venus? Juno?
Or even Dido herself? In the course of your analysis, determine how sympathetic the reader is supposed to be
toward Dido? Or Aeneas?
•
Fate is a crucial concept in the Aeneid. Look for places in the text were it is mentioned and discuss what you think
Virgil meant by “fate.” Do you think his concept of fate is like other uses of fate in our readings? Is this a uniquely
Stoic idea? Why do you think Virgil uses fate as a prominent theme? Use specific passages from the text(s) to
support your ideas.
•
Compare the ideas of how to be a good person that you find in the Aeneid with those from some of the
philosopher’s we have discussed (Plato, Aristotle, and the Epicureans). If you are especially motivated, compare
the ideals in the Aeneid with the ideals espoused in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Use specific textual references
to support your ideas.
•
Violence and rage play a prominent role in the Aeneid. Explore the importance (both good and bad) of violence or
rage as it has been used in this and other texts we have discussed. For example, the Oresteia discusses the
necessity and horror of violence when carrying out justice; how does this compare with violence in the Aeneid?
How does the ancient treatment of violence compare with contemporary views?
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