Introduction to the Aeneid
quotes from Elaine Fantham in Ahl edition of translation
Order of Importance
First, we will discuss what Aeneas and the mythology
surrounding him was like before the Aeneid. (It’s pretty
messy and vague.)
Then, we will discuss why Vergil chose to write about
him and the significance of that choice.
Aeneas legend and some
problems
Only educated people would have been familiar with
the figure of Aeneas for several reasons:
Aeneas appears in the early Latin epics of Naevius (tells
of Aeneas and his father leaving Troy and someone asks
to hear about his escape {Dido?}) and Ennius (Aeneas
not named, but his father Anchises and his prophetic
wisdom discussed).
These poems survive in fragments, so we obviously we
only have part of the story of the poems themselves and
what other people have quoted.
Aeneas legend and some
problems
Aeneas appears in Iliad 5 and 20 (only rich Romans
would have learned Greek [via Homer])
In Iliad 5, Aeneas is attacked by Greek Diomedes, then
protected by Venus (his mother) and Apollo.
In Iliad 20, Aeneas challenges Achilles to a battle,
having been encouraged by Apollo. Saved by Poseidon,
who knows that Aeneas must live to continue the
Trojan line.
In both books, Homer shows that Aeneas is more
discrete than courageous.
Aeneas legend and some problems
There are some surviving pieces in the material culture
that suggest an early knowledge of Aeneas as a
character from Homer, not as a proto-founder of
Rome.
Some examples follow.
Terracotta figures (early 5th century
BCE) and vase paintings of Aeneas and
Anchises
Erich Gruen’s thoughts on
material remains
Aeneas was a favorite figure in Etruria. The clustering
of this activity in space and time suggests it was an
artistic fad, not a foundation myth. “They exhibit
interest in the tale of Aeneas’ escape from Troy and
perhaps reverence for the qualities of pietas displayed
in his deed, but they hardly prove that Aeneas was
reckoned as a founder hero in Etruria” (Culture and
Identity in Republican Rome, 22).
Gruen does not believe that the myth moved from
Etruria to Rome.
Erich Gruen wrote a lot of stuff
about Aeneas etiology (it is
complicated)
Why does the Trojan legend become so important for
elite Romans?
“[The embrace of Troy] enabled Rome to associate itself
with the rich and complex fabric of Hellenic tradition,
thus to enter that wider cultural world, just as it had
entered the wider political world. But at the same time,
it also announced Rome’s distinctiveness from that
world . . . Troy persisted as a symbol, not a current
reality . . . Romans could mold the Trojan image to
their own ends” (31).
Julius Caesar’s use of legend
In several coins that he issued, JC used the images of
Venus and Aeneas to promote his “divine heritage”.
Venus Genetrix obverse coin from
47/46 BCE
reverse of same coin with Aeneas
carrying Penates in hand and Anchises
on back
Caesar is smart
So, because he knew the only people who were familiar
with the Aeneas legend and JC’s divine heritage were
the rich people (who didn’t like him very much and
wouldn’t have been impressed with his lineage anyway),
he minted coins like this to solidify his reputation with
the poor people and make them aware of this
connection (Yes, that’s kind of ironic.)
Vergil’s life, poetry and
relationship with Octavian
Augustus
Vergil did not live a very exciting life because he was
rather sickly. Very highly educated because his family
was rich and he couldn’t join the military. Wrote two
poetry cycles before the Aeneid:
Eclogues: pastoral poetry modeled after Greek poet
Theocritus
Georgics: poetry about running a farm
Vergil’s life, poetry and
relationship with Octavian
Augustus
Some people think based entirely on their reading of
Eclogue 1 that Vergil’s family had their farm confiscated
when Octavian was trying to reward his soldiers with
land. They think that the young leader in the poem
who restores the shepherd’s pastures is Octavian and
that Vergil wrote the poem to inspire Octavian to give
his family back their farm. (Some really smart people
think this, so that is why I am telling you. I think
people can write fiction so well contextualized in their
own time that it seems as if the event actually had to
have happened.)
Vergil’s life, poetry and
relationship with Octavian
Augustus
Elaine Fantham on the Georgics: “The opening of this
poem in 4 books proudly invokes Octavian as Caesar,
destined to become a god, urging him to help the poet
bring comfort to the farmers . . .” (xvii). At the end of
Book 1, the narrator enumerates the difficulties facing
the farmer brought about by crappy weather and the
civil war instigated by JC. Only Octavian can provide
salvation.
Vergil’s life, poetry and
relationship with Octavian
Augustus
So Vergil is the poet with the best relationship with
Maecenas (Octavian’s arbiter elegentiae), has written
extensively about and to Augustus, and really is the
best poet of his generation. Fantham suggests it falls to
him to commemorate Octavian with some kind of epic
(since that was a Roman tradition). The current
situation was so messy though (no one would attempt
an epic about this particular civil war until Lucan
about 100 years later and no one looks like a hero in
it), Vergil had to go all the way back to Rome’s
founding in order to “praise Augustus through his
ancestry” (Servius).
Fantham is worth quoting here.
“ . . . by choosing to construct a narrative of
questioning and struggle around the Roman ancestor
who was known from Homer, but not known in too
much detail, the poet gave himself the scope to
construct an idealized founder and leader whose
sufferings and moral decisions would be both a model
to Augustus and to some extent a model of Augustus,
suggesting to the Roman public an interpretation of
their young leader’s achievements” (xviii). [You have
something prescriptive and descriptive here, which is
my favorite thing.]
some themes of the Aeneid
the cost of success, both in terms of human lives lost in
battle, and the toll of success on a leader’s psyche.
importance of lineage (which the Aeneid tries to
solidify) [the Julii always claimed there were 14
generations of Alban kings between Aeneas’ son
Ascanius and Numitor, the father of Romulus, and
Vergil’s account supports this.]