The Aeneid
And the Augustan Ideology
Virgil’s Aeneid
Aeneas' Flight from Troy, 1598, Federico Barocci
Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE)
Virgil












B. 70 BCE in Mantua
55 BCE – studied literature at Milan and Rome
49 BCE – Retired to Naples to study philosophy
41 BCE – lost his farm through the reforms of Antony and Octavian
40 BCE - befriended and assisted financially by Maecenas
Wrote three major works: 1. The Eclogues, 2. The Georgics, 3. The
Aeneid
Eclogues ( 40 – 35 BCE) = pastoral poetry
Georgics (35-29 BCE) = panegyric of farm life and the character of
the Italian farmer
Aeneid (29-19 BCE) = epic poem modeled on Homer, story of
Aeneas’ flight from Troy and his journey to Italy in order to become
the progenitor of the Roman people
27 BCE – Young Romans given instruction in Virgil’s poetry
23 BCE – Virgil reads Aeneid 2,4, and 6 to Augustus and Octavia
19 BCE – Virgil dies while returning from Greece with Augustus;
Aeneid still unfinished; Ordered the Aeneid destroyed in his will but
Augustus chose to have it published
Composition and Style of the Aeneid
Literary influences and models:
 Homer: Aeneid connected to Trojan saga;
written in epic meter (dactylic hexameter)
 Aeneid a historical epic modeled on
Quintus Ennius’ epic the Annals
 Aeneid a more literary work than Homer’s
(No mnemonic devices; no oral elements;
intended to be read rather than recited
from memory)

Organization of the Aeneid





Divided into 12 books
Entire epic can be divided into two parts
Books 1-6 modeled on Homer’s Odyssey (The hero’s
wanderings at sea; encounters with mythical monsters;
voyage to the underworld; searching for a home)
Books 7-12 inversion of Homer’s Iliad (Warfare; Trojans
are besiegers and Latins are besieged; Aeneas vs.
Turnus = Achilles vs. Hector; story is about the
foundation of a city not the destruction of one)
Differences from Homer: 1. Aeneid not solely concerned
with the heroic exploits of characters. 2. Aeneid is a
“nationalist” epic, politically motivated
Summary of the Aeneid
Story of Aeneas’ flight from Troy to found the Roman
race
 Book 1: The shipwreck in Carthage
 Book 2: Recounts the fall of Troy
 Book 3: Trojans lost at sea; encounter terrible monsters
 Book 4: Dido and Aeneas
 Book 5: Funeral games in Sicily; burning of the Trojan
ships
 Book 6: Voyage to the underworld; Aeneas learns the
future greatness of Rome
 Books 7-11: Juno stirs Turnus and the Latins to war; war
between Trojans (with Etruscan and Arcadian allies) and
Rutulians
 Book 12: Juno appeased; duel between Aeneas and
Turnus; death of Turnus

The Roman Connection with Troy
Aeneas marries Lavinia, daughter of
Latinus.
 Aeneas founds Lavinium.
 Aeneas’ son (Ascanius, aka. Iulus) founds
Alba Longa.
 Alban kings; Aemulius & Numitor; Rhea
Silvia made pregnant by Mars; gives birth
to Romulus & Remus.
 Romulus founds Rome.

The Legend of Aeneas and the Trojan
Migration Before Virgil











Hesiod Theogony, 1019ff (700 BCE) associated Latinus with Italy
and the Etruscans – No association of Aeneas with Italy
Hellanicus of Lesbos (b. 490 BCE) – The first to record connection of
Aeneas with Italy
Thucydides, 6.2 associates Trojan settlers with Sicily and Italy but
does not mention Aeneas
Aeneas = venerated cultic figure in Eturia and Latium
All of Rome’s earliest writers claim Roman descent from Aeneas and
his Trojans
Cult centre at Lavinium (Varro, “ibi nostri penates sunt”)
Q. Ennius (239-169 BCE)
Q. Fabius Pictor (ca. 200 BCE) and M. Porcius Cato (234-149 BCE)
Accepted part of Roman historiography
Julius Caesar used the figure of Aeneas on his coins; claimed
descent from Iulus
For details of the stages of the development of legend see
Wiseman
Augustus and the Aeneas Myth




Vergil’s Aeneid is the perfect propaganda tool for the
Augustan Regime and its ideology
Connection through his adoptive father Iulius Caesar to
Romulus, Iulus, Aeneas, Venus – divine ancestry
provides divine sanction and legitimizes his and Rome’s
rule
His connection to Romulus emphasizes his image as the
second/third founder of Rome
Aeneas’ heroic qualities reflect Augustan ideology
Aeneas as an Epic Hero




As a hero lacks the selfish characteristics of the Homeric
heroes;
He shares physical characteristics of traditional Homeric
heroes: he is bigger, better looking, braver than ordinary
people, and queens fall in love with them, and they have
love affairs.
Aeneas is more concerned with the future of Rome
(good of the community) patriotism; pietas (for family,
gods, Rome)
For his duty to found the Roman people, he sacrifices
himself (his love for Dido)
Aeneas as the typical hero

“But queen Dido long since had been nourishing
deep in her veins the wound of a love that
gnawed her with hidden fire. There recurred to
her mind his great courage, the equally great
nobility of his descent; his face and his words
remained fixed in her breast; her concern gave
no rest to her limbs.” Vergil Aeneid, Book 4. 1-4. L. R. Lind,
translator

“There came up the Trojans and happy Iulus; Aeneas,
more handsome than any, had joined the company ..”
Vergil, The Aeneid, 4.135-6, L. R. Lind, translator
But: he has pietas – the quality of a
Roman hero

“ Then come, my dear father, let them place
you upon my back. I shall carry you on my
shoulder: your weight is not heavy. Let little
Iulus walk beside me, my wife keep her
distance a long way behind.” Vergil, Aeneid, Book
2. 748-751, L.R. Lind, translator

“But Father Anchises, deep in a blooming valley, ..When
he saw Aeneas approaching toward him through the
grass, he stretched eager hands toward his son, his
cheeks bathed with tears, and managed to utter this
word: “You have come at last, that loyalty (pietas) which
I knew has conquered your difficult course.” Vergil, The
Aeneid, book 6.687-694, L.R. Lind, translator
A Patriotic Hero

“ My queen, I shall never deny you are perfectly right
when you list all the favors you’ve done me. I shall never
be loth to remember Elissa, as long as my memory
holds, while my breath still governs these limbs. I shall
speak to the point,. I did not hope to conceal my
departure by shabby deceit (do not think that) nor ever
pretended to be your husband or entered such bonds. If
the Fates should allow me to lead my life at my will, and
it were my own to settle my cares as I wished, I should
cherish Troy city and first the remnants of my loved
ones. If Priam’s tall roofs remained, I should have
restored Troy’s citadel after the conquest. But Grynean
Apollo has ordered me to great Italy, to seize it
according to his Lycian prophecy: this is my love, this my
country.” Vergil, The Aeneid, Book 4.333-345 (L. R. Lind, translator)
Heroic Values and Augustan ideology

“In my sixth and seventh consulships, after I had put an
end to the civil wars, having obtained supreme power by
universal consent, I transferred the state from my own
power to the control of the senate and people. For this
service I received the title of Augustus by decree of the
senate, and doorposts of my house were publicly decked
with laurels, the civic crown was affixed to my doorway,
and a golden shield was set up in the Julian senate
house, which, as the inscription on this shield testifies,
the Roman senate and people gave me in recognition of
my valor (virtus), clemency (clementia), justice (iustitia),
and devotion (pietas).” (Augustus, Res Gestae, 34. Lewis & Reinhold,
1966)
Principal Themes in the Aeneid
Augustan Values (Clemency, Piety, Justice,
and Virtue) – all are values embodied in
the character of Aeneas
 Justification of the regime
 Justification of Rome’s empire
 Romanizing the Homeric epics

Justification of the Regime
The epic articulates the divine ancestry
and line between Aeneas and Augustus
 Justifies the war against Antony as a war
between Italy and Egypt (Roman values
versus decadence of the East)
 The rule of Augustus has been divinely
fated

The Julian Gens in the Aeneid

“But the boy Ascanius, who bears also the name
of Iulus – for he was Ilus while Troy’s kingdom
still stood – shall fulfill the rule of Aeneas in
thirty long years.” Virgil, Aeneid, 1. 269-273, L.R. Lind, translator

“A Trojan Caesar shall spring from a noble
source/To bound his rule with Ocean, his fame
with the stars, Iulius, a name descended from
great Iulus.” (Virgil, Aeneid, 1. 291-293 )


This race and your Romans, Here Caesar and all of the
clan of Iulus will come to the great vault of heaven. This
man, this is he whom again and again you have heard in
the promise of prophecy, Caesar Augustus, son of a
god.”
Vergil, Aeneid, 6. 795-798, LR. Lind, Translator
Rome’s Destiny

Jupiter: “For these I shall set no limits of time or
possessions; I have given them endless power. Vergil,
The Aeneid, 1. 282-284

“Others will fashion the molten bronze with more skill
)at least I believe this), will carve from marble live faces,
will plead cases better, and sketch out the paths of the
heavenly bodies with pointers, and forecast the rising of
stars. You, Roman, remember to govern the peoples
with power (these arts shall be yours), to establish the
practice of peace, spare the conquered, and beat down
the haughty.” Vergil, Aeneid, 6.856-862, L.R. Lind, translator
Justifying the Past – The Enmity with
Carthage

Dido to Juno: “ ..and hear my request. ..Then O
Tyrians, exercise hate toward his race and
posterity and give this reward to my ashes. Let
there be no love, no treaty between his people
and ours. Let some avenger arise from these
bones of mine to harry the Dardan settlers with
fire and sword now or in future, whenever they
grow to strength. Let shore be opposed to
shore, our waves against theirs, our arms
against theirs; let them and their offspring
fight.” Vergil, Aeneid 4. 619-637, L.R. Lind, translator
Justifying the Regime
The Shield of Aeneas


“In the middle a bronze-clad fleet at the battle of
Actium. You could have discerned all Leucate aboil with
ranked ships, the waves shining in gold. Here was
Caesar Augustus, who led the Italian navy, with the
Senate, the People, the Little Gods and the Greadt,
standing high on the stern; twin flames flashing out at
his temples; on his head shone the star of his father. At
one side Agrippa with the help of the winds and the
gods led his towering squadron, the proud ensign of
war, the beaked naval crown, on his temples. Here
Antony sailed with barbarian forces and varied arms,the
victor from lands of morning, the Red Sea and farthest
Bactria; his Egyptian wife - O sinful! – came following.”
Vergil, The Aeneid, 8.685-700, L. R. Lind, translator.
The Gods become Roman Gods
The Shield of Aeneas

“ The queen in the middle with her ancestral sistrum marshalled her fleet;
not yet did she see twin asps at her back. Dog-barker Anubis and the
monsters of all kinds of gods held their weapons against Neptune and
Venus, against Minerva. Mars raged in the middle of battle, embossed in
steel, and fierce Furies out of the heavens; and Discord, striding in tattered
robes, rejoiced. Bellona came after her, swining a bloody whip. Apollo of
Actium, viewing the scene, bent his bow from above Each Egyptian, every
Indian, all the Arabs and all the Sabaeans turned tail in fear. The queen
herself could be seen, having called on the winds, to set sail as she loosed
the slackening ropes more and more. The Mighty-With-Fire had pictured
her, pale at the death which was coming, amid the slaughter as she sailed
through the waves rolled up from the West-North-West. Before her the Nile,
grief-stricken in that huge body, spread open his robe and called her with
all of his garments to rest on is blue bosom, the vanquished to hide in his
secret streams. But Caesar, borne through Rome’s walls in a triple triumph,
was making a deathless vow to Italian gods: He would build three hundred
great temples throughout the whole city…” Vergil, Aeneid, 8. 706-727, L.R.
Lind, translator
Troy Returns to Italy
Apollo: “ Long-suffering Dardanians, the land
which first bore you from parent-stock will take
you back with joyful breast. Seek out your
ancient mother.” (Aeneid 3.107-110)
 King Latinus: “.I remember – the story has
grown somewhat dim with the years – that the
elder Auruncans were accustomed to tel how
Dardanus, risen among these fields, had
travelled to Idaean cities of Phrygia and
Thracian Samos, now called Samothracia.
(Aeneid 7.218-221)


The Gods of the Aeneid
Fate plays a very important role
 The gods have a very ambiguous role, they are
the guardians of morality, justice, law and order
 We can see many influences by philosophy on
views of gods, death and the afterlife in the
Aeneid.
 Everything is controlled by Fate – divine cosmic
order with no room for individual free will.

The Divine Cosmic order
Jove: “Do not fear, Cytherea; the fate of
your people remains unchanged. You will
see the city and promised walls of
Lavinium rise”. (Aeneid, 1. 265-266)
 “for these (the Romans) I shall set no
limits of time or possessions; I have given
them endless power.” (Aeneid, 283-285)
