Aeneid

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Valerus redirects here. Valerus was also a bishop of Zaragoza (Spain) in ca. 277 AD.

The Aeneid (International Phonetic Alphabet English pronunciation: [ə'niːɪd]; in Latin Aeneis, pronounced [aɪ'neɪ.ɪs] — the title is Greek in form: genitive case Aeneidos): is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC (between 29 and 19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is written in dactylic hexameter. It is split into two "volumes" of 12 books, with books 1-6 being like Homer's Odyssey and 7-12 like his Iliad.

The hero Aeneas was already a subject of Roman legend and myth; Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas' wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous piety, and fashioned this into a compelling nationalist epic that at once tied Rome to the legends of Troy, glorified traditional Roman virtues and legitimated the Julio-Claudian dynasty as descendants of the founders, heroes and gods of Rome and Troy.

1 Time
2 Influence
3 Story
4 Context
5 Themes
6 Aeneid allegory
7 The history of the Aeneid
8 See also
9 Further reading
10 External links
11 Translation

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Time

Unlike Homer's Odyssey, no time is set for the events which take place during the Aeneid. Even the age of Aeneas's son, Ascanius, can not be a barometer for the events, as in Book 4 alone, he is pictured both as participating in the hunt, and being impersonated by Cupid as a baby in the arms of Dido, shooting arrows into her heart. Some suggest Virgil was being intentionally discreet with his use of time in the Aeneid.

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Influence

The Aeneid is one of a small group of writings in Latin literature that has, since ancient times, traditionally been required for students of Latin. Traditionally, after reading the works of Julius Caesar, Cicero, Ovid and Catullus, students would then read the Aeneid. As a result, many phrases from this poem entered the Latin language, much as passages from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope have entered the English language. One example is from Aeneas' reaction to a painting of the sack of Troy: Sunt lacrimae rērum et mentem mortālia tangunt—"These are the tears of things, and our mortality cuts to the heart." (Aeneid I, 462). The recounting of the fall of Troy in the second book has borrowed much from Homer's Iliad. Also the wanderings of Aeneas loosely parallel the journey of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Such plagarism by Virgil was acceptable at the time and even considered respectful. The influence is also visible in very modern work: Brian Friel's 'Translations' (a play written in the 1980s, set during the English colonisation of Ireland.) makes references to the classics throughout, and ends with a passage from The Aeneid:

"Urbs antiqua fuit - there was an ancient city which, 'tis said, Juno loved above all the lands. And it was the goddess's aim and cherished hope that here should be the capital of all nations-should the fates perchance allow that. Yet in truth she discovered that a race was springing from Trojan blood to overthrow some day these Tyrian towers - a people late regem belloque superbum - kings of broad realms and proud in war who would come forth for Libya's downfall."

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Story

Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 Galleria Borghese, Rome

Virgil begins his poem with a statement of his theme (Arma virumque cano…, "I sing of arms and the man...") and an invocation to his Muse (Musa, mihi causas memora…, "O Muse, relate to me the reasons…"). He then explains the cause of the principal conflict of the plot; in this case, the resentment held by Juno against the Trojan people. This is in keeping with the style of the Homeric epics, except in that Virgil states the theme and then invokes his Muse, whereas Homer invokes the Muse and then states the theme.

Also in the manner of Homer, the story proper begins in medias res, with the Trojan fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, heading in the direction of Italy. Juno stirs up a storm which is on the verge of sinking the fleet. Neptune takes notice: although he himself is no friend of the Trojans, he is infuriated by Juno's intrusion into his domain, and stills the winds and calms the waters. The fleet takes shelter on the coast of Africa, where Aeneas gains the favor of Dido, queen of Carthage, a city which has only recently been founded by refugees from Tyre and which will later become Rome's greatest enemy.

At a banquet given in the honor of the Trojans, Aeneas recounts the events which occasioned the Trojans' fortuitous arrival. He begins the tale shortly after the events described in the Iliad, and tells of the end of the Trojan War, the ruse of the Trojan Horse, the sack of Troy by the Greek armies, and his escape with his son Ascanius and father Anchises, his wife Creusa having been separated from the others and subsequently killed in the general catastrophe. She was later turned into a minor goddess. He tells of how, rallying the other survivors, he built a fleet of ships and made landfall at various locations in the Mediterranean (including Thrace, Crete and Epirus) before being divinely advised to seek out the land of Italy (also known as Ausonia or Hesperia), where his descendants would not only prosper, but in time rule the entire known world. The fleet reached as far as Sicily and was making for the mainland, until Juno raised up the storm which drove it back across the sea to Carthage.

During the banquet, Dido realizes that she has fallen madly in love with Aeneas, although she had previously sworn fidelity to the soul of her late husband, Sychaeus, who was murdered by her cupidinous brother Pygmalion. Juno seizes upon this opportunity to make a deal with Venus, Aeneas' mother, with the intention of distracting him from his destiny of founding a city in Italy. Aeneas is inclined to return Dido's love, and during a hunting expedition, a storm drives them into a cave in which Aeneas and Dido presumably have sex, an event that Dido takes to indicate a marriage between them. But when Jupiter sends Mercury to remind him of his duty, he has no choice but to part. Her heart broken, Dido commits suicide by stabbing herself upon a pyre with a sword. Before dying, she predicts eternal strife between Aeneas's people and hers; "rise up from my bones, avenging spirit" is an obvious invocation to Hannibal. Looking back from the deck of his ship, Aeneas sees Dido's funeral pyre's smoke and knows its meaning only too clearly. However, destiny calls and the Trojan fleet sails on to Italy.

Aeneas's father Anchises having been hastily interred on Sicily during the fleet's previous landfall there, the Trojans returned to the island to hold funeral games in his honor. Eventually, the fleet lands on the mainland of Italy and further adventures ensue. Aeneas descends to the underworld through an opening at Cumae, where he speaks with the spirit of his father and has a prophetic vision of the destiny of Rome. Returning to the land of the living, he leads the Trojans to settle in the land of Latium, where he courts Lavinia, the daughter of king Latinus. A war ensues between the Trojans and some of the indigenous peoples of Italy, which is brought to a close when Lavinia's rejected suitor Turnus, king of the Rutuli, challenges Aeneas to a duel in which Turnus is slain.

This is where the Aeneid ends, although we know that it is incomplete. Virgil died before finishing his work, and many people have felt that the poem is not complete without an account of Aeneas' marriage to Lavinia and his founding of the Roman race. To fill this perceived deficiency, the fifteenth-century Italian poet Maffeo Vegio (also known as Mapheus Vegius) composed a "supplement to the Aeneid", which was widely printed in Renaissance editions of the work. Others, on the other hand, see the violent ending to the Aeneid as a typically Virgilian comment on the darker, vengeful side of humanity.

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Context

folio 22 from the Vergilius Vaticanus - flight from Troy

The work was written at a time of major change in Rome, both political and social. The Republic had fallen, civil war had ripped apart society, and the sudden return of prosperity and peace after a generation of chaos had badly eroded traditional social roles and cultural norms. In reaction, the emperor Augustus was trying to re-introduce traditional Roman moral values, and the Aeneid is thought to reflect that aim. Aeneas was depicted as a man devoted and loyal to his country and its prominence, rather than personal gains. He went off on a journey for the better of Rome. In addition, the Aeneid attempts to legitimize the rule of Julius Caesar (and by extension, of his adopted son Augustus and his heirs). Aeneas' son Ascanius is called Ilus (from Ilium, meaning Troy), is renamed Iulus and offered by Virgil as an ancestor of the gens Julia, the family of Julius Caesar. When making his way through the underworld, Aeneas is given a prophecy of the greatness of his imperial descendants. Furthermore, Aeneas receives weapons and armour from Vulcan, including a shield which illustrates the future of Rome and lays stress once again upon the emperors, including Augustus.

One might also note the relationship between the Trojans and Greeks in the Aeneid. The Trojans were the ancestors of the Romans according to the Aenead and their enemies were the Greek forces who had besieged and sacked Troy yet at the time the Aeneid was written the Greeks were part of the Roman Empire and a respected people, being considered cultured and civilised. This situation is resolved by the fact that the Greeks only beat the Trojans through the use of a trick, the wooden horse, not on the open field of battle and thus Roman dignity is saved.

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Themes

Nearly the entirety of the Aeneid is devoted to philosophical concept of opposition. The primary opposition is that Aeneas, as guided by Jupiter, representing pietas as in reasoned judgment, and piety, whereas Dido, and Turnus are guided by Juno, representing unbridled furor or mindless emotion, and fury. Other oppositions within the Aeneid include: Fate versus Action, Male versus Female, Rome versus Carthage, Aeneas as Odysseus in Books I-VI versus Aeneas as Achilles in Books VII-XII, Calm Weather versus Storms, and the Horned Gate versus the Ivory Gate of Book VI.

Pietas, mentioned above, was possibly the key quality of any 'honourable' Roman, consisted of a series of duties: duty towards the Gods (hence the English word piety); duty towards one's homeland; duty towards one's followers and duty to one's family - especially your father. Therefore, a further theme of the poem explores the strong relationship between fathers and sons. The bonds between Aeneas and Ascanius, Aeneas and Anchises, Evander and Pallas, Mezentius and Lausus are all worthy of note. This theme reflects Augustan moral reforms and was perhaps intended to set an example for Roman youth.

The major moral of the Aeneid is acceptance of the workings of the Gods as fate through the use of pietas or piety. Virgil, in composing the character of Aeneas alludes to Augustus, suggesting that the gods work their ways through humans; using Aeneas to found Rome, Augustus to lead Rome, and that one must accept one's fate.

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Aeneid allegory

Among the most debated theories in the Aeneid include if Virgil meant to have the so-called "hidden message" or allegory within the poem. The first section in question is:

"There are two gates of Sleep, one said to be of horn, whereby the true shades pass with ease, the other all white ivory agleam without a flaw, and yet false dreams are sent through this one by the ghost to the upper world. Anchises now, his last instructions given, took son and Sibyl and let them go by the Ivory Gate." (Italics added for emphasis)

(Book VI, Lines 1211-1219, Fitzgerald Trans.)

This section has been interpreted to mean that Aeneas left Hades to go back up to the mortal world through the gates of lies, and suggests for the rest of the entire Aeneid, all of his actions are false. Indeed, this concept has been extended to mean that the entire world since the founding of Rome is but a lie.

The second section in question is:

"Then to his glance appeared the accurst swordbelt surmounting Turnus' shoulder, shining with its familiar studs - the strap Young Pallas wore when Turnus wounded him and left him dead upon the field; now Turnus bore that enemy token on his shoulder - enemy still. For when the sight came home to him, Aeneas raged at the relic of his anguish worn by this man as trophy. Blazing up and terrible in his anger, he called out: 'You in your plunder, torn from one of mine, shall I be robbed of you? This wound will come from Pallas: Pallas makes this offering, and from your criminal blood exacts his due.' He sank his blade in fury in Turnus' chest..."

(Italics added for emphasis) (Book XII, Lines 1281-1295, Fitzgerald Trans.).

This section has been interpreted to mean that for the entire passage of the poem, Aeneas who symbolizes pietas (reason) in a moment becomes furor (fury), thus destroying what is essentially the primary theme of the poem itself. Many have argued over these two sections, some have claimed that Virgil meant to change them before he died, others find that the location of the two passages, at the very end of the so-called Volume I (Books I-VI, the Odyssey), and Volume II (Books VII-XII, the Iliad), and their short length which contrasts with the lengthy nature of the poem, are evidence that Virgil placed them purposefully there.

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The history of the Aeneid

The poetry of the Aeneid is polished and complex; legend has it that Virgil wrote only three lines of the poem each day. Although the work is complete, with the same length and scope as Homer's epics which it imitates, it does appear unfinished: a number of lines are only half-complete, and the ending is generally felt to be too abrupt to have been intentional. It is common, however, for epic poems to have incomplete, disputed, or badly adulterated text, and because it was composed and preserved in writing rather than orally, the Aeneid is more complete than most classical epics. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether Virgil intended to complete such lines. Some of them would be difficult to complete, and in some instances the shortness of the lines adds to the dramatic finality of the sentence.

Legend has it that Virgil left instructions for the Aeneid to be destroyed upon his death, due to its unfinished nature, and because he had come to dislike one of the sequences in Book VIII wherein Venus and Vulcan have marital relations; he supposedly had intentions of altering this sequence to conform better with Roman virtues. Augustus, however, ordered that the poet's wishes be disregarded, and after minor modifications, the Aeneid was published.

In the 15th century, there were two attempts to produce an addition to the Aeneid. One was made by Pier Candido Decembrio (which was never completed) and one was made by Maffeo Vegio, which was often included in 15th and 16th century printings of the Aeneid as the Supplementum. Among the most famous translation of the Aeneid is the English translation by the 17th-century poet John Dryden. Although it takes numerous, significant liberties with the text, along with the addition of a very non-Roman rhyme scheme, it is thought to be one of the very few examples of a poetic translation that retains the power and flow of the original in a new language, and it is often regarded as a classic in its own right. In 1981, the late Library of Congress Poet Laureate Robert Fitzgerald translated the Aeneid into English. This version is noted for its archaic word choice, its simplicity, and its truthfulness to the original.

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