3— Presentation
357
1.
4.402; 7.528, 586; 9.30, 668, 791; 10.96, 264, 356, 405, (714); 11.297, 456,
659; 12.365, 587.
358
2.
In 9.80ff. on the occasion of the metamorphosis of the ships, there is a report
of the conversation which the Great Mother had with Jupiter when Aeneas was
building the fleet; the scholia remark
sane
haec
narratio
tertii
libri
erat
,
sed
dilata
est
,
ut
hic
opportunius
redderetur
. . .
potest
igitur
aut

aut hysteroproteron [of course this narrative belonged to the third book, but it was
deferred in order to be related here at a more appropriate point . . . it may be regarded
as an omission (passing over in silence) or a hysteron proteron]. So this is concerned
with reference back, which is very rare; it is not a criticism of the unadorned brevity
of the narrative in Book 3, as Georgii thinks ( Aeneiskritik 394). Of course, Servius'
opportunius [at a more appropriate point] is an understatement; in the first-person
narrative of Book 3 the Olympian scene would have been quite impossible.
3.
An example, from the Telemachia,
Odyssey
2.382ff., which is narrated in
great detail: Athena brings Telemachus' travelling-companions together and bor-
rows Noemon's ship.
359 4. Diodorus, for example, often refers to the demands of

when he does not want to go into further detail: 4.5.4; 4.68.6; cf. 1.8.10; 1.9.4.
Dionysius finds that Thucydides lacks proportion in his narrative: de Thucyd . 13ff.
360
5.
The boldest example of this is probably 6.40:
talibus
adfata
Aenean
(
nec
sacra
morantur
iussa
viri
)
Teucros
vocat
alta
in
templa
sacerdos
[thus she ad-
dressed Aeneas. With no delay the Trojans offered the commanded sacrifice. The
Sibyl as priestess then invited them into the temple on the height]: there the sentence
is not even interrupted by the sacrifice of the seven bullocks and seven sheep. But
Virgil's main concern here was to get the action moving; a long interpolation would
have left the Sybil's first entrance isolated; also, in 236ff. there is going to be a
much more important sacrifice which would not have made any impression if it
seemed to be repeating the first. Less noticeable is 211:
vatis
portat
sub
tecta
Sibyllae
(
ramum
) [he carried it (the bough) to the home of the prophetic Sibyl]. In
contrast, the brief allusion
exin
bella
viro
memorat
etc. (890f.) [he next told him of
the wars . . . ] clashes with the narrative style completely and would surely have been
excised during revision: on this see Norden 44ff., who has not been rebutted by
Drachmann,
Nord
.
tidskr
.
f
.
filol
. XIII 128ff. The strangest thing is Drachmann's
assumption that Virgil inserted lines 890f. only from conscientiousness, so that the
continue
prophecy made by Helenus 3.458ff. should be fulfilled; but it is
not
fulfilled, since it
is Anchises who prophesies, and not the Sibyl as Helenus had said. There is doubt-
less a connection between the Sibyl's oracle at 83ff. and Helenus' prediction; since
the Sibyl's oracle is permitted to provide exact information and detailed advice on
conduct only on matters of ritual, one may question whether Virgil was right to use
for Helenus' prediction, in a slightly altered form, the lines specially written for
Anchises' prophecy. On the origin of the doublet 6.83ff. and 890ff. I disagree with
Norden: see below, p. 351f.
361
6.
It is significant that Apollonius, 4.1126f., does describe the preparations for
the nuptials of Jason and Medea in great detail, and also says what he thinks of it,
but skates over the actual event out of modesty, 1168:


though they melted in sweet love, they feared that the judgement of Alcinous might
be fulfilled].
362 7. Quintilian 6.2.32:

tur , quae non tam dicere videtur quam ostendere : et affectus non aliter , quam si
rebus ipsi intersimus , sequentur [

and evidentia , and which seems not so much to state as to show: and our emotions
will ensue just as if we were ourselves present at the events]. He then gives
examples from the Aeneid : excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa (9.476) [the
shuttle leapt from her hands and her skein of wool untwined]; levique patens in
pectore vulnus (11.40) [in the smooth breast the gaping wound]; the horse at Pallas'
funeral positis insignibus it lacrimans guttisque umectat grandibus ora (11.89) [his
trappings laid aside, walked weeping and wetting his face with great tear-drops].
Similar examples, above all in detailed descriptions: Troilus, hanging from his
empty chariot-seat, the reins still in his hands, his neck and hair scraping the ground,
his lance pointing backwards and drawing a furrow in the dust (1.477): Priam's
death: Neoptolemus drags him trembling, skidding on the blood of his slain son, as
far as the altar: he grabs him by the hair with his left hand, with his right he plunges
the sword into his side up to the hilt (2.550). Compare Achaemenides' account of
the Cyclops' ghastly meal with the narrative in the Odyssey , or - where instead of a
host of details the

lines about Tityos in Virgil (6.595) with those in Homer. Such passages are the best
illustration of Lucian's famous remark, De hist . 57, about Hellenistic detail:






ing (by contrast with Homer), how many words would he have used to bring the
water right up to Tantalus' lips? And how many words to whirl Ixion round?];
(rightly understood by Dilthey, De Callim . Cyd . 22).
8. Sellar has made some good remarks about this, Virgil 410ff.
366
9.
extulerat
lucem
[had brought forth its light] is supposed to have been used at
11.183 because the passage goes on to deal with the
efferre
[carrying out] of the
dead;
Tithoni
croceum
linquens
Aurora
cubile
(4.585) [Aurora leaving the saffron
bed of Tithonus], because Aeneas is leaving Dido; on 2.801 Servius maintains that
surgebat
Lucifer
[the day-star was rising] refers to the fact that
de
patria
discedit
continue
Aeneas
i.e.
surgit
[Aeneas was leaving his homeland, i.e. was rising]. More on this
in Georgii,
Aeneiskritik
145, who again mistakenly sees criticism where there is
none, and also fails to recognize what is true in Pollio's remark.
10.
I will give just a brief note on this subject of variation; more than that
belongs to a theory of expression. Ancient epic follows the principle that events
which naturally recur without noticeable variation should always be reported in the
same way, with the same words. Apollonius already took care to avoid these stereo-
typed phrases; Virgil goes even further. When describing the making of the shield,
Homer always starts with the manufacturer, only varying - yes, Homer does vary
with deliberate art - the choice of verb. Similarly, Apollonius varies the standard
introductory formula in his description of Jason's garment (1.780ff.) Virgil begins
his description of the shield 8.628 with
fecerat
Ignipotens
. . .
fecerat
et
. . . [Vulcan had
made . . . he had also made . . . ],
addiderat
(637) [he had added], but then changes to
367 simple description:
stabant
(641) [there stood],
distulerant
(643) [had laid aside],
iubebat
(646) [he ordered],
aspiceres
(650) [you might have seen],
stabat
(653) [he
stood],
cernebat
(656) [he saw], and interrupts this only twice by returning to
Vulcan (
extuderat
. . .
addit
[665] [he had hammered out . . . he added],
fecerat
Igni
-
potens
[710] [Vulcan had made]), with whom he also concludes the whole (
fixerat
[726] [he had fashioned]). In the Homeric Catalogue of Ships the introductory
formula does frequently vary, for no obvious reason, and without avoiding exact
repetition. Apollonius (1.23ff.), uses variations wherever possible for all the words
of coming and going and amplifies plain positives with negative formulae, also
finding unusual forms for both, without aiming at any poetic effect. Virgil is more
like him than like Homer when he describes the leaders by their manner of arrival,
not by their outward appearance; we shall show below how he tries to make the list
more interesting in this way; in the introductory formulae, too, among the verbs of
coming and the negative formulae there are also visual images: Aventinus display-
ing his victorious horses on the grass (655); Messapus' peoples who have not fought
for many years are called to arms and once again he handles his sword (691);
Halaesus yokes the horses to the chariot (723); Turnus is a head taller than all the
others (783); not one introductory formula is repeated exactly, and even when the
content is nearly the same the sentence-structure is varied - this is made easier by
the small number of participants. However, variation is also sought in the naming of
the peoples and tribes; not only is this intended to contrast with the Homeric sim-
plicity of

helps to fill the reader's mind with pictures instead of loading his memory with
names (e.g. 797ff.: qui saltus Tiberine tuos sacrumque Numici litus arant Rutulos -
que exercent vomere collis Circaeumque iugum , quis luppiter Anxurus arvis
praesidet , et viridi gaudens Feronia luco ; qua Saturae iacet atra palus gelidusque
per imas quaerit iter valles atque in mare conditur Ufens [those who ploughed vales
beside Tiber and Numicus' holy banks, or worked with their ploughshares Rutulian
hills, Circeii's promontory, farmlands where Jupiter of Anxur presides, and Feronia,
in her green woodland's delight; and others who had homes where lies Satura's
black marsh and where chill Ufens seeks out his course low in the valleys till he
hides within the sea]). Ancient critics noticed the striving after variation and re-
marked perceptively that it was not necessarily an improvement on Homer: Macrob. continue
5.15.14:
in
catalogo
suo
curavit
Vergilius
vitare
fastidium
,
quod
Homerus
alia
ratione
non
cavit
eadem
figura
saepe
repetita
. . .
hic
autem
variat
velut
dedecus
aut
crimen
vitans
repetitionem
. . .
has
copias
fortasse
putat
aliquis
divinae
illi
simplicitati
praeferendas
,
sed
nescio
quomodo
Homerum
repetitio
illa
unice
decet
:
est
ingenio
antiqui
poetae
digna
enumerationique
conveniens
quod
in
loco
,
mera
nomina
rela
-
turus
,
non
incurvavit
se
neque
minute
torsit
deducendo
stilum
per
singulorum
varietates
,
sed
stat
in
consuetudine
percensentium
tamquam
per
aciem
dispositos
numerans
,
quod
non
aliis
quam
numerorum
fit
vocabulis
[in his catalogue Virgil
took care to avoid tedium, whereas Homer by a different reasoning did not avoid it
but frequently repeated the same formula. Virgil introduced variety, avoiding repeti-
tion as a vice or a fault. Some people may judge Virgil's abundance preferable to
Homer's simplicity: but somehow the repetition uniquely suits Homer, as worthy of
the genius of the ancient poet and appropriate to his catalogue: so that where he had
mere names to relate, he did not deviate or make minute contortions in refining his
style by varying the individual instances, but like a man conducting a military
review, he consistently lists the warriors ranged in line of battle and merely using
words for numbers]. However if this is supposed to imply a criticism of Virgil, that
368 would be to overlook the fact that Virgilian
variatio
[variation] is required, here too,
by the style of the whole epic, and that
repetitio
[repetition] would have had to be
regarded as affected, archaic and unbefitting his style; secondly, and more import-
ant, that Virgil is striving after visual effects, i.e. does
not
want to give a
straightforward list. How Virgil steers away from identical introductions in the
Games was noted above p. 123f.
369
11.
I recommend the description of the death of Apsyrtus (4.921ff.); see further,
for example, above p. 93 n. 44. One more parallel: we have already compared the
funeral of Idmon in Apollonius with the funeral of Misenus; the accounts of each
death are equally characteristic of the two writers. From Apollonius we learn (2.817)
that Idmon was a soothsayer but that his art did not save him. Idmon was walking by
the river when a boar (which is described in detail) dashed out of a reed-bed and
crashed into his hip, tearing through sinew and bone; he fell to the ground scream-
ing. The boar was killed by Pallas and Idas; the troubled companions carried the
dying Idmon to the ship; he passed away in their hands. The narrative may not be
very skilfully arranged, but it is completely clear and factual, displaying no attempt
to rouse pathos. In Virgil, the account of the actual event (6.162) is short and in the
form of a later recapitulation; all the weight is placed on the feelings of the other
participants. Aeneas and Achates had been warned by the Sibyl that they would find
a corpse on the shore; sad, and worried as to who it will be, they go to the shore;
there they see Misenus lying,
indigna
morte
peremptum
[dead by an unmerited
death]. What is then said in his praise -
quo
non
praestantior
alter
aere
ciere
viros
etc. [excellent beyond all others in stirring hearts with his trumpet of bronze], he had
been Hector's brother-in-arms, then the
fortissimus
heros
[most valiant hero] had
joined Aeneas' retinue - is not intended to stir our pity for the dead man but to make
us feel Aeneas' loss; the account of his death, including the word
demens
[in utter
folly], shows how Misenus' challenge seems to Aeneas, and with him the poet; he
then lingers on the feelings of the survivors:
ergo
omnes
magno
circum
clamore
fremebant
,
praecipue
pius
Aeneas
[so all in loud voices raised the cry, Aeneas the
continue
True above them all]; they then go
flentes
[weeping] to the burial. Apollonius, too,
avoids the stereotyped Homeric lines and, like Virgil, coins for example new para-
phrases for daybreak; but try and establish a connection between these paraphrases
and the situation! See 1.519, 1273; 2.164, 451, 722, 1288:


1223; 4.183, 883, 978, 1168, 1711).
370
12.
The place where he goes furthest is probably 4.445ff. in the address to Eros:

great bane, a great curse to men . . . ].
371 13. 1.712, 719; 4.68, 450, 529.
372
14.
This
fortunati
ambo
[fortunate pair] is particularly effective as it contrasts
with the passage preceding it which has just moved us to pity the pair.
15.
Virgil has a similar insertion at 12.500:
quis
mihi
nunc
tot
acerba
deus
,
quis
carmine
caedes
. . .
expediat
[what god can now set forth for me in story all the
horrors, all the various deeds of death . . . ], to which he adds a personal expression of
feeling:
tanton
placuit
concurrere
motu
,
luppiter
,
aeterna
gentis
in
pace
futuras
[did
you indeed ordain that nations who were to live together in everlasting peace should
clash in such violence?]: here we see his religious sense clashing with his political
sympathies.
373
16.
Naturally this was particularly necessary in Aeneas' narrative, e.g. 3.280,
502; on the other hand, a well-motivated example is the allusion in Helenus' words
hac
casti
maneant
in
religione
nepotes
(409) [your descendants, if they would be
pure of conscience, must stay faithful to this rite].
17.
mox
Italus
Mnestheus
,
genus
a
quo
nomine
Memmi
(5.117) [he was to
become the Italian Mnestheus, and his name originated the family name of Mem-
mius] (also 121, 568, cf. 10.145).
18. That is the custom in Hellenistic aetiology: Norden 193.
374 19. Cf. Norden 113.
20. 4.283; 9.67, 399; 12.486.
21.
E.g. 10.133, 219, 322, 570. Servius on 4.152:
et
bene
hac
particula
utitur
;
facit
enim
nos
ita
intentos
ut
quae
dicuntur
putemus
videre
[he makes good use of
this particle, since he makes us so involved that we seem to see what is being
described].
376
22.
in
medias
res
non
secus
ac
notas
auditorem
rapit
[he hurries the reader into
the midst of events as if they were already known] (Horace,
Ars
Poetica
, 147).
23.


himself] (schol. A on Iliad 20.40); see W. Bachmann, Die ästhet . Anschauungen
Aristarchs I (Nürnberg, 1902) 9f.
380
24.
The present discussion had reached its present shape when Zielinski's thor-
ough and important work appeared:
Die
Behandlung
gleichzeitiger
Ereignisse
im
antiken
Epos
,
erster
Teil
(
Homer
), in
Philologus
Suppl. vol. 8 (1899-1901) 40549. It
confirms many of my findings: for example, it supplies the Homeric analogy for
something which seemed most remarkable to me, the connection of Book 9 with
Book 8 (above p. 305). I should have liked to pursue this by comparing Virgil's
technique here with Homer's, but since Zielinski has already worked on this and
continue
plans to publish his findings I shall of course refrain from doing so. His expositions
have helped me to sharpen my conclusions.
384
25.
Virgil observes a very similar practice when the action moves to a place that
has to be described. For example, at 1.158 it does not say: they landed in Libya at a
place shaped by nature to be a peaceful harbour: there was a sheltered bay there,
etc.; Virgil says:
Libyae
vertuntur
ad
oras
.
Est
in
secessu
longo
locus
etc.:
huc
Aeneas
subit
[they set course for the coast of Africa. There is a haven there at the
end of a long sound etc . . . . Into it Aeneas moved up]. Cf. 3.13, 73, 210 (here the
name of the Strophades is given beforehand: this makes the new beginning in this
case all the more striking:
Strophades
stant
Graio
nomine
dictae
[the Strophades are
fixed, called by this Greek name], 570; 5.124; 7.170, 563; 8.416; 11.522). Also
comparable is
limen
erat
caecaeque
fores
(2.453) [there was a secret access through
a concealed entrance],
turris
erat
vasto
suspectu
et
pontibus
altis
(9.530) [there was
a tower, a dizzy sight from below, with high-level bridges]. Also in 7.601, a new
beginning,
mos
erat
Hesperio
in
Latio
[there was a custom in Latium, the western
land] etc. Cf. Norden 132. A different technique at 1.52; 7.83.
26. I am using Zielinski's terms, op. cit. 412.
386
27.
A peculiarly complicated example is to be found in Book 11, where four
actions (or strictly speaking five, but Aeneas' expedition does not come into con-
sideration) go forward in parallel. At 449 we hear that the Trojan cavalry is
advancing towards Laurentum. At 520 Turnus sends his men against them, and sets
out himself on a different path towards Aeneas: the latter action is followed to its
end (530f.):
huc
iuvenis
nota
fertur
regione
viarum
arripuitque
locum
et
silvis
insedit
iniquis
[hither the young leader hurried by tracks whose direction he well
knew. He seized the position and settled down to wait in the confined space of the
woods]: and since its later consequences are thus anticipated, it disappears now from
the picture. The other two, however, have to be thought of as proceeding further
while (
interea
[meanwhile]) the conversation of Diana with Opis takes place (532-
96); here the narrative shifts, and (597) returns to its steady advance:
at
manus
interea
muris
Troiana
propinquat
[meanwhile, a division of Trojans drew near to
the city wall]. However, in order not to have to shift again when the enemy is
mentioned, we remain on the Trojan side and
see
the enemy advance:
apparent
(605) [they appear]; after that the narrative can deal with both sides (
uterque
[608])
at once.
387 28. See section III (Speeches) 7, pp. 324ff.
29. On similar examples in Homer see Zielinski op. cit. 432ff.
388
30.
In particular the comparison with 1.374:
ante
diem
clauso
componet
Vesper
Olympo
[the star of evening would surely close heaven's gate, and set the day to
sleep, before the end] argues for it.
31.
There is no doubt that Virgil often uses
interea
in this sense (cf. Hand,
Tursellinus
,
seu
de
particulis
Latinis
commentarii
[Leipzig, 1829-45] 3.416); e.g.
6.703 certainly does not mean that Aeneas caught sight of the Lethean grove while
he was vainly trying to embrace his father, cf. also 3.568; 8.213; 9.159; 11.182 and
12.842 should probably also be understood in the same way. Ovid
Fasti
3.39:
dixerat
(
Silvia
)
et
plenam
non
firmis
viribus
urnam
sustulit
;
implerat
,
dum
sua
visa
refert
.
i
n
t
e
r
e
a
crescente
Remo
crescente
Quirino
caelesti
tumidus
pondere
continue
venter
erat
:
quominus
emeritis
exiret
mensibus
annus
restabant
nitido
iam
duo
signa
deo
[Silvia spoke, and lifted the urn with faltering strength: she had filled it
while recounting her vision. Meanwhile, as Remus and Quirinus both grew, her
stomach was swollen with its divine burden: the shining god still had two signs
remaining before the year could complete its months and make its exit]. Here
interea
bridges a space of ten months. Cf.
Fasti
3.465.
32.
Virgil took a different way out in 1.579, but still did not achieve total clarity.
The scene can only have been played out like this in the poet's mind: immediately
389 after Dido's words Aeneas and Achates, who had been veiled in mist until then,
become visible. Before that happens, however, we have to be told the feelings of
both of them; when he says
his
animum
arrecti
dictis
. . .
iamdudum
erumpere
urbem
ardebant
[her speech startled them . . . they had long felt eager to break free from the
cloud] he is really recapitulating, and we are doubtless intended to think of Achates'
words as simultaneous with those of Dido (to which he makes no reference). But in
order to make that perfectly clear, in 586 he should have shown that Dido's speech
was ending at the same time.
33.
The description which ensues also gives rise to objections. The recapitulation
at 10.148-56 had not dealt with everything: Virgil did not let slip the splendid
opportunity to insert here the catalogue of the Etruscan auxiliary troops, and he adds
to it the description of the night-voyage (156-62); we leave Aeneas and Pallas in an
inactive situation: Aeneas worried about the result of the war, Pallas at his side, free
390 of care about the future, looking at the stars and listening to the extraordinary
adventures of his new friend. After the catalogue, the appearance of the nymphs
should get the action going again; but instead of reminding us of the situation as it
was described before, and linking on to it, Virgil makes a fresh start and calmly
narrates that day is over, it is already midnight etc.; except that now Aeneas himself
sits at the helm, since his worries are keeping him awake, and oversees the man-
oeuvring of the sails. Of course, doing this, he can neither give himself up to worry
about the future nor make use of Pallas' company: the need to describe the same
situation a second time has led to inconsistency.
392
34.
10.148ff., where Virgil avoids a recapitulation in the pluperfect by starting
afresh at an earlier point and beginning a new continuous narrative, is discussed
above p. 306.
393
35.
Naturally this happens even more often with unimportant matters, such as
the coming and going of characters which is made clear by subsequent events;
Norden 145 has collected the examples of this in Book 6.
395
36.
Cf. the remarks in the scholia, particularly in Eustathius, collected in Adam,
Die
aristotelische
Theorie
vom
Epos
nach
ihrer
Entwicklung
bei
Griechen
und
Römern
(Wiesbaden, 1889) 41ff.
37.
I remind you of Callimachus' Hymn to Delos and the Bath of Pallas (also,
the crow in the Hecate told of both past and future things, Wilamowitz,
Gött
.
Nachr
.
[1893] 734), Theocritus' Heracliscus, Catullus' wedding of Peleus and Thetis,
Hera's prophesying in the Hellenistic source of Quintus' Oenone episode (Rohde,
Gr
.
R
. 110, 5 and above p. 36). This manner is at its most extreme in poems such as
Lycophron's
Alexandra
, and the
Apollo
of Alexander the Aetolian; the source of
Horace
Odes
1.15 also belongs here. One may doubtless assume that in countless
continue
poems which eulogized rulers by listing the deeds of their ancestors, or praised cities
by describing their

enabled the greatest degree of flattery to be introduced without the speaker seeming
to be saying it himself. That is probably why Ennius, in the first book of his Annales ,
made use, like Virgil, of a prediction by Jupiter to show where the action would
finally lead. Apollonius, too, often has events being foretold although they lie
outside the framework of the poem: thus Glaucus (1.1315f.) predicts the future of
Heracles and Polyphemus, Hera (4.809f.) the union of Achilles with Medea, Jason
interprets the dream of Euphemus (4.1747); in other places (see L. Hensel, Weissag -
ungen in der alexandrinischen Poesie [Diss. Giessen, 1908] 54f.) the poet himself
points to the future. All this has to do not with the content of the poem but with the
people in it, in fact mostly the minor characters; it is therefore very different from
Virgil's technique as discussed above.
397
38.
84-6: the winds break loose,
insequitur
clamor
virum
(87) [there follows the
shouting of the men] etc.; 88-90: night and thunder-storm, 91: consequences for the
sailors, 92: for Aeneas, 94-101: his speech, 102-5: what happened next; 106-7: two
lines of description, then the action advances until 123.
39.
Look at the short description of the situation which Aeneas finds when he
wakes (310-12); also Virgil's refusal to give a detailed description of the scenes of
terror at 361.
398
40.
The description seems to have been inserted later, with the sole purpose of
introducing the series of kings, who had to be included in the poem in one way or
another. The temple is called
Laurentis
regia
Pici
(171) [the palace of Laurentine
Picus], whereas one had to deduce from 61ff. that Latinus was the first to settle the
area and had founded Laurentum. According to 177ff. the ancestors of Latinus
include Italus, Sabinus, Janus and Saturnus: only the last-named stands in the genea-
logy given in 47ff., and Faunus, who is named as Latinus' father there, is omitted
here. One should note that 194 follows on from 169 without a gap, and 192ff. only
repeat what was said in 168ff.
41.
10.496: Pallas' sword-belt: that is meant to be fixed in the memory because it
plays a role in Turnus' death later. 7.785: Turnus' helmet (the firebreathing
Chimaera symbolizing Turnus'
ardor
et
ira
[burning anger], the story of Io which
shows the revenge of Juno, Turnus' patron-goddess). On the portrayal of outstand-
ing individual pieces of armour, always serving to colour the action in a particular
way, see p. 162f. above.
400
42.
Since Virgil laid great importance on the steady advance of the action, I do
not believe that he failed to notice the 'fineness of his model', i.e. that the shield in
Homer is described in the making, not when complete; but the second alternative
postulated by Lessing can hardly be true either ('The things which he wanted to
show on the shield seemed to him to be of a nature which did not permit depiction');
even if the shield had been shown in the making, the prophecies could still not have
been shown as 'uttered by the god' but would still have to be 'explained by the
poet', just as happens in Homer. It remains true however, that Homer narrates and
Virgil - so far as
form
is concerned - is describing; that the action advances in
Homer and stands still in Virgil; Plüss' objections (270ff.) do not seem to me to
meet this point. But it has often been said that Virgil had to portray the shield as
continue
complete principally because he needed this description to round off his book;
moreover, as Plüss rightly remarks (284), this connects the depicted scenes more
closely with Aeneas than if the shield were shown to us in the smithy of the
Cyclopes.
401
43.
This is even more true of the whole shield, and the many attempts to recon-
struct it (yet another in W. Volkmann,
Untersuchung
zu
Schriftstellern
des
klassischen
Altertums
I [Progr. Breslau, 1906]; see below (p. 366 n. 9); his other
theories) are totally fruitless; one really should face the fact that this is a work of art
in a poetic, and not a concrete, sense, as Plüss and others have correctly explained.
Virgil himself has stated clearly enough in lines 626-9, particularly in
genus
omne
futurae
stirpis
ab
Ascanio
pugnataque
in
ordine
bella
[all the lineage of future
descendants, with the wars which they would fight in due order] (of which only a
very few are in fact named in what follows), that the shield contains a large number
of pictures which he will not describe in detail. I am pleased to find that Robert
(
Studien
zur
Ilias
[Berlin, 1901] 17) returns to the view that Homer, too, in describ-
ing the shield was only vaguely thinking of a real object, so that any attempt to
reconstruct that is also without basis. The 'kaleidoscopic' quality of many Homeric
images is absent in the descriptions of, for example, Apollonius (1.730ff.) and
Moschus (
Europa
44ff.); the figures and groups described there may not be visual
but they are always definite; that is also usually the case in Virgil.
402
44.
Daedalus
ipse
dolos
tecti
ambagesque
resolvit
caeca
regens
filo
vestigia
(6.29) [Daedalus himself guided the sightless footsteps by means of a thread and
unlocked the building's treacherous, winding ways].
ter
circum
Iliacos
raptaverat
Hectora
muros
exanimumque
auro
corpus
vendebat
(1.483) [three times he had
dragged Hector round the walls of Troy and he was selling his lifeless body for
gold].
Penthesilea
. . .
mediis
in
m
i
l
i
b
u
s
ardet
(1.491) [Penthesilea blazed . . . in the
midst of thousands].
45.
vidi
atro
cum
membra
fluentia
tabo
manderet
et
t
e
p
i
d
i
tremerent
sub
dentibus
artus
(3.626) [I have seen him chew their limbs, all dripping and blackened
with clotting blood, and their joints quiver,
still
warm
, as his jaws closed].
46.
Cf. also the case discussed above (p. 30) where, it is true, the apparition had
a different origin, but what we said about it will help us understand why Virgil did
not object to a lack of visual quality.
403 47. E.g. of the younger Ajax

with a linen corslet];


to Ilium] of Niseus,

the Abantes.
48.
Lausus 650, Aventinus 666, Catillus and Coras 674, Umbro 751, Turnus
785ff., Camilla 814ff.
49. Kaibel, Hermes XXII (1887) 511.
50.
Consider the conversations which Aeneas conducts in the Underworld with
404 Palinurus and Deiphobus (and, before the beginning of the second periegesis, with
Anchises), and compare them with the lengthy conversations of Odysseus with
Teiresias, his mother and Agamemnon.
406 51. Horace's judgement ( Ars Poetica 149): quae desperat tractata nitescere continue
posse
relinquit
[he leaves aside what he despairs of treating in such a way as to
make it shine] would therefore apply to Virgil even more than to Homer.
407
52.
Servius on 1.689:
sane
notandum
,
quod
interdum
ubi
inducit
minorem
festi
-
nantem
parere
,
maiori
respondentem
eum
non
facit
,
ut
hoc
loco
Cupidinem
,
ut
in
quarto
, '
ille
patris
magni
parere
parabat
imperio
'
et
in
septimo
'
exin
Gorgoneis
Allecto
infecta
venenis
' [it should of course be observed that sometimes when he
(Virgil) introduces an inferior hastening to obey, he does not present him replying to
his superior; as in this case Cupid, and in Book 4 'he prepared to obey the command
of the mighty father' and in Book 7 'straightway Allecto, charged with her Gorgon-
poisons']. Also schol. Veron. on 7.341:
haec
sine
ulla
lectionis
intercapedine
pronuntianda
sunt
,
quia

que illam perfecto officio induxit loquentem [these events are to be narrated without
any interval of speech, because he introduces this 'non-speaking character' because
of her haste to do harm and for that reason he introduces her as 'speaking' by the
performance of her duty]. Naturally it would not occur to any of the ancient critics
to criticize the introduction of 'mute characters' as Georgii (323) suggests:


introduce 'mute characters' into tragedy] (schol. Iliad 1.322), and there are plenty of
them in Homer. No fault is found with these passages; the ancient critics were
aware, as we are, that they were unusual, and they were looking, as we are, for an
explanation: it is to be hoped that ours is better than pointing to the festinatio [ haste ]
of the messenger.
408
53.
nate
,
meae
vires
,
mea
magna
potentia
solus
. . .
ad
te
confugio
et
supplex
tua
numina
posco
[Son, you alone are my strength, and all my might is in you . . . now I
appeal to you, and humbly pray to your divine majesty for aid] (Venus, 1.664);
hunc
mihi
da
proprium
. . .
laborem
,
hanc
operam
,
ne
noster
honos
infractave
cedat
fama
loco
[do a service for me, and grant me your efforts, to prevent my worship and my
renown from suffering injury and taking second place] (Juno, 7.331).
54.
This serves to achieve a definite effect in both cases: when Venus addresses
Amor we see not the mischievous boy portrayed by Apollonius but the cosmic
power, the god who is mighty despite his youth; when Juno pleads, we see how far
her hatred has driven her (
dubitem
haud
equidem
implorare
quod
usquam
est
[7.311] [I am not one to refrain from asking aid from any power, anywhere]): she
lowers herself to
plead
with the hated demon of hell.
409
55.
hic
qui
forte
velint
rapido
contendere
cursu
,
invitat
pretiis
animos
et
prae
-
mia
ponit
(291) [here he issued invitation and offered prizes to anyone who might
wish to compete in speed of foot];
protinus
Aeneas
celeri
certare
sagitta
invitat
qui
forte
velint
et
praemia
ponit
(485) [Aeneas forthwith invited any who wished to
compete with the swift flight of the arrow, and he named the prizes].
56.
9.737-9, 741f., 747f., 10.441-3, 449-51, 481, 581-3, 649f., 773-5, 811f.,
875f., 878-82, 11.715-7, 12.889-93 (this latter is the longest of these speeches: but
here Aeneas is trying to make Turnus stand and fight instead of running away),
894f. The scornful speech of Numanus (9.598-620), is long because of the situation.
57. E.g. 10.524-9.
414 58. A. W. Schlegel put it very well, Werke XI (Vienna, 1822-5) 193f.
59. When Hephaestus ( Iliad 18.394ff.) tells Charis the story of his rescue by continue
Thetis and Eurynome, it is not because she needs to know about it at that moment,
but because Homer's audience needs to be told the relationship of piety in which the
god knows that he stands to his petitioner.
415
60.
Juno speaking about Minerva's revenge on the Greeks (1.39), Venus' speech
about Antenor (1.242), about Dido (1.341), Dido's speech about Teucer's presence
in Sidon (1.619), Priam about Achilles (2.540), Achaemenides' speech containing
the story of Odysseus visiting Polyphemus (3.623), Neptune about the rescue of
Aeneas before Troy (5.803), the Sibyl about the Aloides and Salmoneus (6.582),
Charon about Hercules and Theseus (6.395), Latinus about Dardanus (7.205), Tib-
erinus about the Arcadian settlement (8.51), Diomedes about the

[homecomings] of the Greeks and the metamorphosis of his companions into birds
(11.261). Speeches which have narration as their sole or most important aim -
Sinon, Palinurus, Deiphobus etc. - naturally do not belong here.
61.
o
mihi
praeteritos
referat
si
Iuppiter
annos
,
qualis
eram
cum
primam
aciem
Praeneste
sub
ista
stravi
(8.560-1) [Oh, if only Jupiter would bring back to me the
years which are gone and make me as I was when beneath Praeneste's wall I
brought down their front rank] =
Iliad
11.670:


vigorous as I was when strife arose between me and the Eleans]. But the Homeric
tale extends over nearly a hundred lines, Virgil's over only seven lines, and as if to
make the insertion even less obvious, the sentence is continued at 568 from where it
left off.
416
62.
These lines cannot possibly be regarded as a parenthesis inserted into the
speech by the poet himself; that would be without parallel not only in Virgil but, as
far as I know, in the whole of ancient epic; and one will look in vain in Virgil for
similar peculiarities. And how was the ancient reader supposed to perceive that this
was the intention of the poet?
63.
The use of her name in 11.537:
neque
enim
novus
iste
Dianae
venit
amor
[for
this love which Diana bears to her is nothing new] and 582:
sola
contenta
Diana
aeternum
. . .
amorem
colit
[she finds complete happiness in Diana alone . . . and cher-
ishes unending love] might be acceptable, although in the following examples (such
as 12.56:
per
si
quis
Amatae
tangit
honos
animum
[by any regard for Amata which
can touch your heart]) the mention of the name is more justified since it creates
greater pathos (on this now see Norden 259f.). But we cannot understand it in
donum
Triviae
(566) [the gift to Diana], and it is completely incomprehensible that
Diana, who has protected young Camilla when she was summoned by Metabus,
does not say this of herself in the first person: I regard this as irrefutable evidence
that the narrative was not originally written for Diana to speak.
64. See p. 189 n. 52 above.
65.
Ribbeck considered from line 537
neque
enim
to 584
intemerata
colit
to be a
later addition. He has drawn the wrong boundaries, at the very least, since, as
Sabbadini (
Studi
critici
87) rightly emphasizes, the words
cara
mihi
comitumque
foret
nunc
una
mearum
(586) [she could have been one of my companions still, and
still dear to me] can never have followed directly upon
cara
mihi
ante
alias
(537)
[dear to me beyond all others]. Furthermore, if one did assume that the passage in
question was composed later, this would still not explain the strangely impersonal
continue
form of the narrative. Thus Sabbadini will be right to regard the narrative as com-
posed earlier than the rest of Book 11. However, the speech can never have
consisted only of lines 535, 536 and 587-94; the poet must have intended from the
start to explain the motivation of Diana's intervention. As far as I can see, this
leaves only the possibility that, because the material particularly attracted him,
417 Virgil wrote this little epyllion at an early stage of his work, before he had visualized
Camilla the warrior, the splendidly accoutred Volscian queen; and at that time he
did not spare a thought as to how the episode might be incorporated; that later, when
he was writing Book 11 and came to Diana's speech, he inserted the finished piece
as it was, without adapting it to the new context and to the new character which he
had given Camilla meanwhile. That he would not have left things like this can only
be a supposition, which stands and falls with my conviction of Virgil's conscien-
tiousness where artistry and technique are concerned.
418
66.
per
patrios
manis
et
spes
surgentis
Iuli
te
precor
,
hanc
animam
serves
gnatoque
patrique
[by your father's spirit and by all your hopes of Iulus now
growing to manhood, spare this life of mine for my son and for my father]. This may
be developed from Hector's plea (
Iliad
22.338)


but it is characteristic of Virgil to have developed the simple thought, 'I beg you for
the sake of what you hold most dear' into something completely different.
420
67.
This is usually a term of contempt applied by enemies to the Trojans: Juno
4.103 and 7.294; Amata 7.358, 363; Allecto 7.430; Turnus 7.579; 9.134; 11.403;
12.75, 99; Numanus 9.599, 617; the matrons of Laurentum 11.484.
421
68.
This observation was also used by the interpreters of Homer, to explain
contradictions between what someone said and the rest of the narrative: schol.
Iliad
18.175:



mutilate Patroclus, one must realise that she is not revealing the truth but motivating
him to be angry with the barbarians]. Hera's dispatch of Iris to Achilles is the model
for the scene in Virgil (9.1ff.), the dispatch of Iris to Turnus for the purpose of

Homeric

p. 305.
422 69. A real


to achieve something quite different from what it says, cf. Servius on 33, 42, 60.
Servius also regards as rhetorical Latinus' speech (11.302ff.), which conceals an
attack on Turnus: on 11.312: excusatio haec ostendit obliquam esse in Turnum
orationem Latini [this releasing from blame indicates that Latinus' speech is ob-
liquely directed at Turnus], i.e. a

end of Turnus' speech, on 11.434 he says utitur ductu (

promittit se singulari certamine dimicare velle , cum nolit [he is making use of a
leading argument (posturing): for he obliquely professes to wish to fight in single
combat, when in fact he does not].
70.
Italiam
petiit
fatis
auctoribus
,
esto
,
Cassandrae
impulsus
furiis
(10.67f.) [the
fates encouraged him to sail for Italy. All right! He was actuated by Cassandra's raving].
break
423
71.
E.g. Quintil. 2.17.20:
orator
cum
falso
utitur
pro
vero
,
scit
esse
falsum
eoque
se
pro
vero
uti
;
non
ergo
falsam
habet
ipse
opinionem
sed
fallit
alium
.
nec
Cicero
,
cum
se
tenebras
offudisse
iudicibus
in
causa
Cluentiana
gloriatus
est
,
nihil
ipse
vidit
[an orator, when he substitutes falsehood for the truth, is aware of the falsehood and
of the fact that he is substituting it for the truth. He deceives others but not himself.
When Cicero boasted that he had thrown dust in the eyes of the jury in the Cluentius
case, he was far from being blinded himself].
72.
On 9.136:
sunt
et
mea
contra
fata
mihi
[I have a destiny of my own]. If in
fact this does refer to a particular divine command and not merely to a general belief
that right will prevail, then Turnus could well be referring to the command given to
him by Juno in a dream:
ipsa
palam
fari
omnipotens
Saturnia
iussit
(7.428) [the
Saturnian queen, the almighty, herself commanded me to say this], as well as to Iris'
warning which promised victory (9.6ff.). On the other hand, Servius is perhaps right
to see a deliberate untruth in the report of the Latins to Diomedes
multas
viro
se
adiungere
gentes
(8.13) [that numerous peoples were joining Aeneas]: though per-
haps it would be even closer to the truth to call it a deliberate exaggeration and
distortion of what the Trojan messenger Ilioneus said at 7.236ff.:
multi
nos
populi
. . .
et
petiere
sibi
et
voluere
adiungere
gentes
[many nations and races have
sought alliance and wished to join us].
73. Schol. on Iliad 1.299:

taking her away after giving her] as against the attempt of Zenodotus to do away
with the


[since you (singular) wish to take her away]:


all of them together as if he was unaware who was responsible for taking her away]
(following the reading of Lehrs and Friedländer).
424
74.
Pallas
exurere
classem
Argivum
atque
ipsos
potuit
submergere
ponto
(1.39)
[Pallas Athene was able to gut the Argives' fleet with fire and drown all of them].
75.
For further examples I am now able to refer you to Norden's analysis of the
speeches in Book 6. However, I consider that Norden applies the rhetorical
sche
-
mata
[figures] too rigorously. I believe that Virgil himself would not have felt that it
suited his own style to compose the
sermones
[conversations] of his characters
according to the
schema
of the
orationes
[rhetorical speeches]. When, in a conversa-
tion, one of the two participants, before giving his own message or presenting his
own story, immediately replies to the other's words, as for example Aeneas to the
Sibyl (103-5) or Palinurus (347f.) and Deiphobus (509f.) to Aeneas, it can hardly be
called a proem in the technical sense; nor do I think that lines 116-23 in Aeneas'
speech, which are very closely connected with 110-16, or Palinurus' requests to
Aeneas 363-71, can be regarded as separate from the actual

called an epilogue. When Palinurus starts by refuting Aeneas' mistaken assumption,
425 and then narrates what has really happened to him and what he is now suffering, and
finally adds the plea to be rescued from his misery, this arrangement arises directly
from the subject-matter and there is no need to explain it by reference to rhetorical
doctrines; nor do I believe that Deiphobus' narrative (509-30) would have turned out
any differently if Virgil had never heard of any rules concerning

logue] and


of the art, I do not mean special instructions about the arrangement and execution of
the
partes
orationis
[parts of a speech] so much as the general rules, that there must
be a
lucidus
ordo
[clear arrangement], that the end needs a climax, etc.
76.
If Virgil, as Servius reports, recited lines 323-6
ingenti
adfectu
[with great
feeling], one can be sure that at the words
saltem
si
qua
mihi
de
te
suscepta
fuisset
426
ante
fugam
suboles
(327) [at least, if I had a son of yours, conceived before you
left . . . ] he changed to a completely different tone of voice, softer, more tender,
melancholy.
77.
When (4.337), after Aeneas has started by expressing his gratitude, he intro-
duces his actual defence with
pro
re
pauca
loquar
[I shall speak briefly of the facts],
this exception is well motivated: he was on the point of losing control -
dum
memor
ipse
mei
,
dum
spiritus
hos
regit
artus
[for as long as I have consciousness and breath
of life controls my movement] - and is, as it were, reminding himself to keep calm
and to explain.
78.
When he turns away from Drances; this is the transition to the second part:
nunc
ad
te
et
tua
magna
,
pater
,
consulta
revortor
[now, sire, I return to you and to
your weighty proposal], and then discussion of three possibilities:
si
. . . (411-8),
sin
. . .
(419-33),
quod
si
. . . (434-44).
427
79.
See the material in C. Hentze, 'Die Monologe in den homerischen Epen',
Philol
. 63 (1904) 12ff. Leo's discussion of the question ('Der Monolog in Drama',
Abh
.
d
.
Gött
.
Ges
.
d
.
Wiss
. X. 3 [1903] 2ff.) has led me to a thorough reappraisal.
80.
For example, Penelope's lament (
Od
. 20.61), which is really a soliloquy but
is introduced as a prayer to Artemis.
81. E.g. Iliad 2.3, 10.5, 14.16, 16.646, Odyssey 4.116.
82.
Iliad
11.404 Odysseus, 17.91 Agamemnon, 21.553 Agenor, 22.99 Hector:
the decision is introduced each time by the line

428

that a

the speaker finishes the expression of his feelings by coming to some sort of deci-
sion, as in Achilles' expression of amazement ( Iliad 21.54ff.:


spear]), and other examples mentioned in the next note.
83.
Iliad
18.6: Achilles faced with the news of the death of Patroclus; 21.54:
Achilles at the sight of Lycaon, believed dead; and, very similar, 20.344: after the
departure of Aeneas; 22.297: Hector after the disappearance of the supposed Dei-
phobus: here the monologue is not explicitly designated as such; he says merely


words are explicitly described as an address to the

84.
On the other hand, Achilles' words (
Iliad
20.425f.), introduced with the
words

nuinely emotional cry, not a monologue.
85.
The necessary words at the end of Poseidon's action are clothed in the form
of an address to the distant Odysseus, like Zeus' address to the distant Hector (
Iliad
17.201), and, shortly after, to Achilles' horses.
86.
It is certainly also intended to be regarded as an intensification when in Book
1 we are told Juno's thoughts (
haec
secum
[37] [these words to herself],
talia
continue
flammato
secum
dea
corde
volutans
[507] [debating so with herself in her fiery
429 brain]), whereas in Book 7 we hear her actual words (
haec
effundit
pectore
dicta
[297] [she spoke a torrent of words],
haec
ubi
dicta
dedit
[323] [having spoken so]):
Virgil makes a sharper distinction than Homer between this monologue forced out
by emotion, and her calm, reflective conversation with herself.
87.
An even closer comparison than with Euripides is with Seneca, for example
in the monologue of Juno which begins the
Hercules
: that probably indicates that
Virgil has learnt something from post-Euripidean tragedy.
88.
Here, too, the arrangement is very calculated and schematic, particularly in
Book 7: (1) Establishing the theme of
indignatio
: 293, 294. (2) A backward glance
at what has happened, divided into two parts by the

tion] at credo (297f.) [I suppose]): Aeneas in Troy 294-7, Aeneas on his wanderings
299-303. (3) Result for the present time, with an argumentum ex contrario [argu-
ment by contrast]: 304-10. (4) Prediction of the future: 310-22.
89. On the monologue of Aeneas interpolated at 2.577 see above p. 26f.
90. 3.464, 636, 770; 4.30.
430
91.
E.g. 5.700-3; 9.399-401; using indirect speech and then continuing in the
form of a report: 4.283ff., in imitation of the Homeric


this seemed to him the better course].
92.
Iliad
24.725 etc. over Hector's body, cf. 19.287, 315 over the body of
Patroclus. 22.430:

women in vehement lamentation], 476 (Andromache)


women].
431
93.
Aeneas' brief words after the death of Palinurus (5.870f.) may also be cited
here.
94.
In individual cases, it will still not always be easy to distinguish between
traditional elements in the poetic language, and borrowings from the theory and
practice of fine writing. For example, Norden (386) believes that the influence of
rhetoric on Latin writers is shown by Virgil's frequent habit of putting together
several nouns, each qualified by one adjective, in such a way that two such pairs of
words often contrast with each other, or form a chiasmus. But when I see this
stylistic device used often by Theocritus in his non-bucolic poems (e.g. 17.29, 32,
34f., 37; 18.26ff., 43ff.; 22.40ff.), and never more often - together with chiasmus -
than in the short Aeolic

432 used to such an extent as it is in Catullus, particularly in the glyconics of his
marriage-song (61, 9-13, 101-9), it seems to me that a different explanation is called
for. (See now R. Gimm, De Vergili stilo bucolico quaest . sel . [Diss Leipzig, 1910]
63). Moreover, as far as I can see, the doubling and piling-up of adjectives serves
quite different purposes in oratory, for example that of Cicero, and in the poetry of
Theocritus and the Roman

antithesis or


95.
The ancient critics were even worse in this respect; there is nothing more
unsatisfactory and boring than, for example, Macrobius' discussion of Virgilian
pathos from the standpoint of the rhetoric of the schools.
break
433
96.
However, as time passes I have become very doubtful whether in these cases
one should not regard the epideictic poem rather than the epideictic speech as
Virgil's model. But this question cannot be pursued here; I hope to deal with it
thoroughly in another context.
97.
I therefore consider it misguided when, for example, Penquitt explains, in the
dissertation mentioned above (p. 112 n. 33), that in writing the speeches of Dido
(4.307ff. or 534ff.) Virgil was following
declamatorum
scholasticorum
praecepta
de
suasoria
data
[the rules of scholastic declaimers on the subject of persuasive
speeches], just because the separate thoughts can be listed under the well-known



possible] etc. One would only be able to say that it follows the rules of rhetoric if, as
434 is sometimes possible with Ovid, one could show that the whole structure of the
speech is governed by these

sentence of a suasor [advocate] in the present-day German Reichstag as

[just],

rhetoric. break