The Aeneid

The Aeneid

Aeneas as Hero

Differences in Epic Tradition

At once Aeneas, limbs limp in the chill of fear, groans and liftig both his palms toward the stars cries out: "Three, four times blest, my comrades lucky to die beneath the soaring walls of Troy-- before their parents' eyes! If only I'd gone down under your right hand--Diomedes, strongest Greek afield--and poured out my life on the battle grounds of Tory!... Flinging cries as a screaming gust of the Northwind pounds against his sail (Book I, Lines 113-117)

Compare with Achilles

Comparison of Cultural Values

What elements of the epic invocation did Vergil use?

What characterstics did Aeneas exhibit early on during the fall of Tory?

What characteristics seem to be championed by Aeneas at the end of Book II?

I who had never flinched at the hurtling spears or swarming Greek assaults--now every stir of the wind, every whisper of sound alarms me,

anxious both for the child beside me and the

burden on my back (1022)

Venus' Warning

"Run for your life, my son. Put an end to your labors. I will never leave you, I will set you safe

at your father's door." (1019)

Hector's Warning

Objectives

I dreamed I saw Prince Hector...But what outrage has mutilated your face so clear and cloudless once? Why these wounds... he calls out "Escape, son of the goddess, tear yourself from the flames!... Now, into your hands she entrusts her holy things, her household gods. Take them with you as comrades in your fortures (1010)

Hector's Warning Cont.

Out of my witz, I seize my arms--what reason for arms? Just my spirit burning to muster troops for battle, rush with comrades up to the city's heights, fury and rage driving me breakneck on as it races through my mind what a noble thing it is to die in arms. (1011)

Seeing their close-packed ranks, hot for battle, I spur them on their way: "Men, brave hearts, though bravery cannot save us--if you're bent on following me and risking all to face the worst, look around you, see how our chances stand... let us die, go plunging into the thick of battle. (1012)

How does Aeneas responding to Hector's advice?

Plot Summary: Fall of Troy

• To compare and contrast the epic traditions in the Iliad and the Aeneid.

• To examine how the cultural/social values of the Romans differed from those of the Ancient Greeks

The Fall of Troy: Cont.

Comrades, wherever Fortune points the way, wherever the first road to safety leads, let's soldier on. Exchange shields with the Greeks and wear their emblems. Call it cunning or courage: who would ask in war? Our enemies will arm us to the hilt (1013)

Significance?

Invocations

Qualities?

Iliad

Odyssey

Rage: Sing; Goddess, Achilles' rage,

Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

for dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.

Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--

The Greek warlord--and godlike Achlles

Speak, Memory-- Of the cunning hero,

The wanderer, blown off course time and again

After he plundered Troy's sacred heights. Speak

Of all the cities he saw, the minds he grasped,

The suffering deep in his heart at sea

As he struggled to survive and bring his men home

But could not save them, hard as he tried--

The fools--destroyed by their own recklessness

When they ate the oxen of Hyperion the Sun,

And that god snuffed out their day of return.

What elements are emphaszed in this invocation?

Aeneid

Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs

Ītaliam, fātō profugus, Lāvīniaque vēnit

lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō

vī superum saevae memorem Iūnonis ob īram;

multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem,

īnferretque deōs Latiō, genus unde Latīnum,

Albānīque patrēs, atque altae moenia Rōmae.

Mūsa, mihī causās memorā, quō nūmine laesō,

quidve dolēns, rēgīna deum tot volvere cāsūs

insignem pietāte virum, tot adīre labōrēs

impulerit. Tantaene animīs caelestibus īrae?

Wars and a man I sing--an exile driven on by Fate,

he was the first to flee the coast of Troy,

destined to reach Lavinian shores and Italian soil,

yet many blows he took on land and sea from the gods above--

thanks to cruel Juno's relentless rage--and many losses

he bore in battle too, before he could found a city,

bring his gods to Latinum, source of the latin race,

the Alban lords and the high walls of Rome.

Tell me Muse, how it all began. Why was Juno outraged?

What could wound the queen of the gods with all her power?

Why did she force a man, so famous for his devotion,

to brave such rounds of hardshop, bear such trials?

Can such rage inflame the immortals' hearts

What similarities and differences can you see in these invocations?