2— Invention
266 1. Cf. our earlier discussion of the countryfolk, p. 154. [BACK]
2. Addison has pointed out ( Spectator 351 [April 12, 1712]) how skilfully Virgil continue
has removed everything from the
prodigium
that might detract from the dignity of
heroic epic: 'the prophetess, who foretells it, is an hungry Harpy, as the person who
discovers it, is young Ascanius . . . . Such an observation, which is beautiful in the
mouth of a boy, would have been ridiculous from any other of the company.' This
remark is very much in the spirit of Virgil. Dionysius (1.55) puts the phrase into the
mouth of one of the
[boys] or
[tent-mates]. [BACK]
3.
te
,
mea
quem
spatiis
propioribus
aetas
insequitur
,
venerande
puer
[
you
,
267 whose age is not so far in advance of mine, admirable youth] says Ascanius to him
at 9.275. When he goes on to add
nulla
meis
sine
te
quaeretur
gloria
rebus
;
seu
pacem
seu
bella
geram
,
tibi
maxima
rerum
verborumque
fides
[never shall I desire
to win in my career any fame which you do not share, whether I am at war or peace,
and in all that I say or do I shall above all rely on you], Virgil is subtly hinting at a
relationship similar to that which existed between Augustus and his exact contem-
porary Agrippa. [BACK]
4.
He is introduced as
audax
[daring] on his first appearance (8.110, cf. 10.379,
458). [BACK]
5. For details see above p. 169. [BACK]
6.
Aristotle (
Rhet
. 2.12f.) gives a character sketch only of the
[young men]
and the
[older men]; the
[men in the prime of life] are
merely the
[mean] between these two, 1390a 29. [BACK]
7.
As, for example, Evander, who is modelled on Homer's Nestor; this charac-
teristic of his is very suited to the atmosphere of the whole of Book 8. Aristotle,
Rhet
. 1390a 6, mentions it as typical of
[older men]. [BACK]
268
8.
Livy 3.48.8: . . .
cetera
,
quae
in
tali
re
muliebris
dolor
,
quo
est
maestior
i
n
b
e
c
i
l
l
o
a
n
i
m
o
,
eo
miserabilia
magis
querentibus
subicit
[and other things
which grief makes women utter on such an occasion: for,
on
account
of
the
weak
-
ness
of
their
nature
, women are more inclined to sorrow, and therefore their
lamentations are correspondingly more pitiful];
parvis
mobili
rebus
animo
muliebri
(6.34.7) [a woman's nature, which it takes very little to upset]. The laments of
Euryalus' unfortunate mother are so heart-rending that the Trojan commanders have
her taken to one side to protect the morale of the army (9.498-502). We are re-
minded of the situation in Rome after the battle of Cannae, where the
clamor
lamentantium
mulierum
[the noisy weeping and wailing of the women] increased
the confusion, and the
patres
had to take care
ut
tumultum
ac
trepidationem
in
urbe
tollant
,
matronas
publico
arceant
continerique
intra
suum
quamque
limen
cogant
,
comploratus
familiarum
coerceant
[so as to bring the uproar and terror in the city to
an end, to forbid women from appearing out of doors, and force all of them to stay
inside their houses, and keep family mourning within reasonable limits] (Livy
22.55). Cf. also
Aeneid
11.147: when the mothers see Pallas' funeral procession,
maestam
incendunt
clamoribus
urbem
[their shrieking set the city ablaze with sor-
row]. [BACK]
269
9.
quam
super
adventu
Teucrum
Turnique
hymenaeis
femineae
ardentem
cu
-
raeque
iraeque
coquebant
(7.344) [who was already in a feverish turmoil with a
woman's thoughts of anxiety at the arrival of the Trojans and rage at the wedding
planned for Turnus]. [BACK]
10. Euryalus is a loving son, but the idea that he should preserve his own life for continue
the sake of his mother cannot hold him back from a dangerous situation which offers
him an opportunity to win glory. Evander is the very type of a loving father, but he
values his son's renown even above his son's life (8.55). [BACK]
270
11.
'
L
'
Andromaque
d
'
Hector
agenouillée
sur
une
tombe
vide
,
gardant
un
amour
unique
et
la
fidélité
du
coeur
dans
l
'
involontaire
infidélité
d
'
un
corps
d
'
esclave
[Andromache, the wife of Hector, kneeling on an empty tomb, keeping alive a love
that is unique, faithful in her heart even though her captive body is forced to be
unfaithful]' - Jules Lemaître,
Les
Contemporains
(Paris, 1886) 6.276. [BACK]
12.
The ancients were careful to note the way in which Homer characterized
Greeks and barbarians; there are an enormous number of scholia on this topic (R.
Dittenberger,
Hermes
40 [1905] 459-68); so too, for example, Plutarch
Quomodo
adolescens
29d, which is of course dependent on earlier interpretations of Homer.
Virgil seems to have played with the idea of drawing a similar contrast between the
civilized Trojans and the barbarian tribes of Italy,
populosque
ferocis
contundet
(1.263) [and shall overthrow fierce peoples],
gens
dura
atque
aspera
cultu
debel
-
landa
tibi
Latio
est
(5.730) [when you come to Latium you will have to defeat in
war a hardy nation, wild in its ways]; however, hardly any of this survived as an
active ingredient in the final version. [BACK]
13. See above pp. 6-7. [BACK]
271
14.
Servius on 11.700:
Ligures
autem
omnes
fallaces
sunt
,
sicut
ait
Cato
in
secundo
originum
libro
[all Ligurians are deceitful, as Cato says in the second book
of his
Origines
]. So too Nigidius ap. Servius on 11.715:
Ligures
qui
Appenninum
tenuerunt
,
latrones
insidiosi
fallaces
mendaces
[the Ligurians who live in the Ap-
pennines are brigands, tricksters, traitors, liars]. Cf. Cic.
Pro
Cluentio
72: Staienus
(
qui
esset
totus
ex
fraude
et
mendacio
factus
) [whose whole character was a tissue of
deception and mendacity] chose
Paetus
out of the
cognomina
of the Aelian gens
ne
si
se
Ligurem
fecisset
,
nationis
magis
quam
generis
uti
cognomine
videretur
[
to
avoid adopting the name Ligur; for that name might be taken to indicate the race that
he belonged to rather than his family]: this shows that it was a widely-held view. [BACK]
272
15.
It is well known that many readers have sensed this; though none has ex-
pressed it more concisely or fluently than Saint-Évremont (in
Réflexions
sur
nos
traducteurs
). But some of the customary criticisms are unjust (for example, that
Aeneas does not behave like Odysseus during the sea-storm; Virgil has provided a
perfectly satisfactory motivation for this); others are misguided, in that they accuse
Virgil of failing to portray a hero when he was not trying to do so. It is a quite
different question whether Virgil has succeeded in realizing his actual intention to
the full. [BACK]
273
16.
I am delighted that Leo refers to the view which underlies the discussion that
follows as an 'observation which is important for the interpretation of the whole
Aeneid
' (
Deutsche
Litteratur
-
Zeitung
[1903] 595); I hope I may be permitted to
mention this since
Kroll
,
Neue
Jahrbücher
21 (1908) 518, states that 'no support has
been forthcoming for this interpretation' of mine. [BACK]
274
17.
Aeneas is guilty, not because he abandons Dido - for he is obeying a divine
command - but because he betrays Dido's trust by entering into a relationship with
her when he must know that it neither can nor should become permanent. He is
therefore guilty of Dido's death and has to suffer heavily for it: the curses that Dido
continue
calls down upon him with her dying breath are fulfilled (4.652ff.). The chivalrous
nature of Virgil's conception of a man's obligations to a woman is clearly seen here;
275 Conway was, I believe, the first to point this out; see above p. 115 n. 40. [BACK]
276 18. Cf. also Plüss op. cit. p. 215 n. 25, 165. [BACK]
19.
Cf. Norden
ad
loc
., who points out that
praecipere
[anticipate] is a technical
term used by the Stoics: Cic.
De
Off
. 1.80f.:
fortis
animi
et
constantis
est
non
perturbari
in
rebus
asperis
. . . ;
quamquam
hoc
animi
,
illud
etiam
ingenii
magni
est
p
r
a
e
c
i
p
e
r
e
cogitatione
futura
et
aliquanto
ante
constituere
,
quid
accidere
pos
-
sit
in
utramque
partem
[it is characteristic of a brave and resolute spirit to remain
unperturbed in difficult times . . . ; yet it demands not only great courage, but also
great intellectual powers, to
anticipate
what is going to happen, by means of reflec-
tion, and to decide in advance what may happen for better or for worse]. [BACK]
20.
tristi
turbatus
pectora
bello
(8.29) [his whole heart agitated by the horror of
the war], where
turbatus
does not mean 'bewildered' but 'agitated', cf.
turbatae
277
Palladis
arma
(8.435) [arms for Pallas when she is aroused]. [BACK]
21.
disce
puer
virtutem
ex
me
verumque
laborem
,
fortunam
ex
aliis
. . .
te
animo
repetentem
exempla
tuorum
et
pater
Aeneas
et
avunculus
excitet
Hector
(12.435ff.)
['From me, my son, you may learn what is valour and what is strenuous toil: as for
what good fortune is, others must teach you that . . . in due time you must recall in
your thought the examples set you by your kindred. Your father was Aeneas and
your uncle was Hector. Let that be your inspiration']. He could not have adopted
such a tone in Book 2. I am well aware that a modern reader might wish that Virgil
had made his intentions more explicit. For example, at the beginning of Book 8, in
order to motivate the appearance of Tiberinus he has depicted Aeneas' anxious
mood in stronger terms than befits his overall intention. But because Virgil, as
narrator, never declares his intention in so many words, we should not assume that
he did not have one: he never makes any clear statements of this kind: he tells his
278 story and leaves the rest to the reader's judgement. [BACK]
22.
E.g. Truculentus; Demea in the
Adelphi
. The material that H. Steinmann,
De
artis
poeticae
veteris
parte
quae
est
(Diss. Göttingen, 1907, p. 1) has
collected from the scholia under the heading
de
morum
mutatione
(64ff.) [on charac-
ter change] refers almost entirely to the origin, growth and dwindling of
[emotions]. [BACK]
23.
I can now add in support of my view the article by K. Holl, 'Die schriftstel-
lerische Form des griechischen Heiligenlebens'
Neue
Jahrbiicher
29 (1912) 406 -
an excellent piece of work in so far as I am able to judge it. Here Holl analyses
Athanasius' biography of St Antony the Hermit as a means 'of illustrating his ideal:
the height of the goal that his hero achieves is shown by his ascent to it step by step.'
The closest precedent for this ideal is that of the perfect Gnostic in Clement of
Alexandria, and this in turn points back 'to a much earlier ideal, the Greek concep-
tion of the perfect wise man', in fact to the form in which this ideal was presented by
Posidonius - it is clear that it is reasonable to compare Virgil with Athanasius in this
respect. Holl regards Antisthenes' Heracles as the supreme example within the
literary development of the ideal figure: we may regard him as a precedent for
Virgil's Aeneas at least in so far as Antisthenes, like Virgil, cast his hero 'as a
standard of moral behaviour for mankind' (Wilamowitz,
Euripides
:
Herakles
I
2
continue
[repr. Darmstadt, 1959] 107): the idea that we have attributed to Virgil is therefore
not something totally unprecedented. [BACK]
279
24.
Seneca
Epist
. 41.2:
bonus
vir
sine
deo
nemo
est
;
an
potest
aliquis
super
fortunam
nisi
ab
illo
adiutus
exsurgere?
ille
dat
consilia
magnifica
et
erecta
[No
man can attain virtue without the help of god. Can anyone rise above the whims of
fortune unless he is aided by him? It is he who inspires us with splendid and lofty
advice]. This 'god' is within us; mythical imagery represents a god as a being with
whom a man is confronted. [BACK]
25.
The best illustration of how Virgil intended the 'trials' of his hero to be
understood can be found in a passage in Seneca
Dial
. 1 (
de
Providentia
). 4:
pros
-
perae
res
et
in
plebem
et
in
vilia
ingenia
deveniunt
:
at
calamitates
terroresque
mortalium
sub
iugum
mittere
proprium
magni
viri
est
. . .
deus
quos
probat
,
quos
amat
,
indurat
,
recognoscit
,
excercet
(cf. 5.725, where Anchises addresses his son
nate
Iliacis
e
x
e
r
c
i
t
e
fatis
) . . .
verberat
nos
et
lacerat
fortuna
:
patiamur
;
non
est
saevitia
:
certamen
est
,
quod
si
saepius
adierimus
,
fortiores
erimus
.
solidissima
corporis
pars
est
quam
frequens
usus
agitavit
:
praebendi
fortunae
sumus
,
ut
contra
illam
ab
ipsa
duremur
.
paulatim
nos
sibi
pares
facit
.
contemptum
periculorum
adsiduitas
periculi
dabit
. . .
quid
miraris
bonos
viros
,
ut
confirmentur
,
concuti?
non
est
arbor
solida
nec
fortis
nisi
in
quam
frequens
ventus
incursat
.
ipsa
enim
vexa
-
tione
constringitur
et
radices
certius
figit
.
fragiles
sunt
quae
in
aprica
valle
creverunt
. [Success comes even to the common man, and to men of low intel-
ligence; but only a truly great man can triumph over the terrors and disasters that
beset the life of man . . . God hardens, inspects and disciplines those whom he loves
and approves (cf.
Aen
. 5.725 where Anchises addresses his son [son,
disciplined
by
the heavy burden of Troy's destiny]) . . . We may be thrashed and tortured by fortune:
we must put up with it. It is not cruelty: it is a contest; and the more often we are
involved in it, the stronger we shall be. The sturdiest part of the body is that which is
kept active by constant use. We should offer ourselves to fortune, so that we may be
hardened against her by fortune herself. Gradually she will train us to be a match for
herself. Constant encounters with danger will breed contempt of danger . . . why then
are you surprised that virtuous men are tossed hither and thither to develop their
strength? A tree is never sturdy unless it is constantly buffeted by the wind. For it is
precisely this violent agitation that makes it tighten its grip, and fixes its roots more
firmly in the earth. The vulnerable trees are those which have grown in a sheltered,
sunny valley]. [BACK]
280 26. p. 166. [BACK]
282 27. Cf. above p. 84. [BACK]
287
28.
In her love and longing for Aeneas
tota
vagatur
urbe
furens
(68) [she
roamed distraught through all her city], heedless of her
fama
(91) [reputation]; when
she hears what Aeneas intends to do,
totam
incensa
per
urbem
bacchatur
,
qualis
commotis
excita
sacris
Thyias
(300) [she ran in excited riot through the whole city,
like a Bacchant excited to frenzy as the emblems of Bacchus are shaken]; note the
intensification of the language; note also the poet's view that the way in which
Dido's despair (like Amata's) expresses itself is in her
[indecorous
conduct]: she forgets modesty and morality. In the
Ciris
the love-lorn Scylla, a
respectable young girl who would have concealed her love from all around her, is
continue
described as being 'like a Thracian maenad or a priestess of Cybele',
infelix
virgo
tota
bacchatur
in
urbe
[the unhappy maiden roamed the whole city like a Bacchant]
(
Ciris
167). Here is another example which shows how little the imitator understood
289 his model. [BACK]
29.
On the other hand, there is a great deal of action in Theocritus' first
Idyll
,
290 even when Daphnis himself is speaking. [BACK]
30.
Cf. Aristotle's analysis of
,
Rhet
. 2.7.1385a 17-21:
![]()
[kindness may be defined as helpful-
ness to someone in need, not in return for anything, and not for the advantage of the
helper himself, but for that of the person helped. Kindness is great if shown to
someone who is in extreme need or needs something important or hard to get, or
who needs it at an important and difficult juncture; or if the helper is the only, the
first, or the chief person to give help]. It would not be surprising if Virgil had used
analyses of this kind: think of Horace's
rem
tibi
Socraticae
poterunt
ostendere
chartae
[the pages of the Socratics will provide you with material] (
Ars
Poetica
291 310), and Kiessling's quotations from Cic.
De
Orat
. 1.12.53 in his note
ad
loc
. [BACK]
31.
I need only refer you to the rightly famous exposition of the religious content
of the
Aeneid
in Boissier,
La
religion
romaine
d
'
Auguste
aux
Antonins
1.248ff., and
can save myself the trouble of explaining how my interpretation relates to his. [BACK]
32. Suet. 17 Reifferscheid:
292
[epic is an account of the actions of gods, heroes and men]. [BACK]
33. A unique case, which stands alone, of clothing philosophical-theological
293 (actually Stoic) doctrine in mythical garb is Virgil's eschatology: for this see Nor-
den's introduction to Book 6, which, to my mind, has established beyond question
that Virgil follows Posidonius closely here. [BACK]
34.
omnipotens
(2.689; 4.220; 5.887 etc.); Allecto uses this epithet of Juno to
Turnus, although it is not true (7.428); the inhabitants of Soracte also regard Apollo,
their
summus
deum
[highest of the gods], as
omnipotens
(11.785, 790): that is an
ethnic belief. [BACK]
35.
hominum
rerumque
aeterna
potestas
(10.18) [eternal sovereignty over men
and over all the world];
qui
res
hominumque
deumque
aeternis
regis
imperiis
(1.229) [disposer, by eternal decrees, of all life human and divine];
rerum
cui
prima
potestas
(10.100) [who holds first authority over the world]. [BACK]
36.
sic
fata
deum
rex
sortitur
volvitque
vices
,
is
vertitur
ordo
(3.375) [so are the
lots of destiny drawn by the king of the gods: so does he set events to roll their
course]. In as much as the lord of fate is the king of the gods, then instead of
fata
Iovis
(4.614) [Jupiter's ordinances] one could say, less
accurately
,
fata
deum
[the
ordinances of the gods] (2.54, 257, 3.717, 6.376, 7.50, 239), almost equivalent to
'will of the gods', and then also, but quite exceptionally, of a single divinity:
fata
lunonis
(8.292) [the ordinances of Juno] are said to have imposed the labours on
Hercules. It is rhetorical antithesis in Juno's great monologue (7.293) when she says
fatis
contraria
nostris
fata
Phrygum
[my will opposed by the Phrygian destiny],
where
fata
means first 'will' and then 'fate'. Virgil felt the etymological connection
with
fari
[to speak]; this can be seen both from 1.261:
fabor
enim
. . .
et
volvens
continue
fatorum
arcana
movebo
[I shall speak . . . and turning the scroll of the Fates, awake
their secrets] and from the frequent equation with
fas
[divine law] (1.206; 2.779;
6.438; 9.96; 12.28) and opposition to
infandum
(7.583) [not to be spoken],
infandum
bellum
contra
fata
deum
[an unspeakable war contrary to the will of the gods], cf.
294 1.251
infandum
of that which goes against Jupiter's commandment. [BACK]
37.
sed
fatis
incerta
feror
,
si
Juppiter
unam
esse
velit
Tyriis
urbem
Troiaque
profectis
(4.110) ['but I am subject to the Fates, whose design is obscure to me:
would Jupiter wish the Tyrians and the emigrants from Troy to own a city in
common?']. Also
nec
Iovis
imperio
fatisque
infracta
quiescit
(5.784) [neither the
fates nor Jupiter's own command can break her opposition] where both are set on an
equal level by the copulative
que
. On 10.31ff. see below n. 43. [BACK]
38.
7.313 (Juno is speaking):
non
dabitur
regnis
,
esto
,
prohibere
Latinis
atque
immota
manet
fatis
Lavinia
coniunx
:
at
trahere
atque
moras
tantis
licet
addere
rebus
['I shall not be allowed, I grant it, to bar Aeneas from his throne in Latium,
and Lavinia, by unalterable destiny, will still be his bride. Yet I may prolong the
process, and cause delay in events so momentous']. 11.587 (Diana makes no attempt
to rescue her dearly beloved Camilla):
quandoquidem
fatis
urgetur
acerbis
[since
295 fate now bears heartlessly against her]. [BACK]
39.
The development of Juno's attitude is worth studying. In Book 1 she still
believes that she can influence
fata
(i.e. Jupiter's will) by her own actions; in Book 7
she renounces this hope, but makes very little attempt to cool her vengeance, al-
though she must know that this does not comply with Jupiter's will; in Book 10 she
attempts to defend her action at first with sophistic argument, saying that it does not
contravene
fatum
; 10.611 she gives up all resistance of her own, but still hopes for a
change in Jupiter's intentions; at the end of Book 12 she finally abandons that hope
and only asks for
nulla
fati
quod
lege
tenetur
[what is not covered by any law of
296 fate]. [BACK]
40.
Seneca
Quaest
.
Nat
. 2.37:
nos
quoque
existimamus
vota
proficere
salva
vi
ac
potestate
fatorum
.
quaedam
a
diis
immortalibus
ita
suspensa
relicta
sunt
,
ut
in
bonum
vertant
,
si
admotae
diis
preces
fuerint
,
si
vota
suscepta
:
ita
non
est
hoc
contra
fatum
sed
ipsum
quoque
in
fato
est
[we too believe that prayers have force if
they do not impair the force and power of fate. For some things have been so left in
suspense by the immortal gods that they may turn to our advantage if prayers are
directed to the gods and vows are undertaken. As a result this is not opposed to fate
but is itself also in fate]. Nothing can happen, naturally, which goes against
fatum
;
when (4.696) it is said of Dido
nec
fato
merita
nec
morte
peribat
[she perished
neither by destiny nor by a death deserved], this is equal to
fatali
morte
[by a fated
death] in ordinary speech; see Norden,
Hermes
28
(1893) 375 n. 1. The opposite is
vivendo
vici
mea
fata
(11.160) [I have outlived my span, victor over my fate], which
nobody would take literally. [BACK]
41.
It is very difficult to decide what Virgil was thinking when he interpolated
into the last duel (12.725) the
psychostasia
[weighing of souls] modelled on Homer
(
Iliad
10.209f.): Jupiter places in the two pans of the scales
fata
diversa
duorum
,
quem
damnet
labor
et
quo
vergat
pondere
letum
[the differing fates of the two
champions, to decide which one should come happy from the ordeal, and whose
weight should bring death swinging down]. It is true that it is not stated that Turnus
continue
is now fated to fall: at 10.624ff. Juno was still allowed to hope that he might live,
and at 12.157 she still believes that it is possible; but if we therefore assume that
Turnus' fate is now finally being decided by Jupiter's will, then the image is not
very suitable, since the most that could happen is for the fight to remain undecided;
the total scheme makes it impossible for Aeneas to fall now to
letum
[death].
Nevertheless, that assumption does seem to be the only one possible; as the preced-
ing passage shows, Virgil is striving with all his means to make the reader feel the
same excitement and tension as the onlookers, who knew that this was the moment
of decision and waited breathlessly; in myth the symbol of this decision is the
psychostasia
, and the representation of this symbol seemed to Virgil so valuable for
his purpose that he ignored, or overruled, any reasons not to use it. Whether he had
noticed that Homer also had Zeus already surrendering Hector before the psychosta-
sia (167-85) we do not know. In any case here, too, Virgil's concern was to maintain
the tension, and therefore he deviates from Homer in not saying which way the
balance went; that will be revealed by the result. [BACK]
42.
tanton
placuit
concurrere
motu
,
Iuppiter
,
aeterna
gentis
in
pace
futuras?
(12.503) ['Jupiter! Did you indeed ordain that nations who were to live together
afterwards in everlasting peace should clash in such violence?']. [BACK]
297
43.
When (10.8) Jupiter says
abnueram
bello
Italiam
concurrere
Teucris
:
quae
contra
vetitum
discordia?
['I had withheld my permission for Italy to meet Trojans
in combat of war: why is there this rebellion against my prohibition?'] and then
adveniet
i
u
s
t
u
m
pugnae
,
ne
arcessite
,
tempus
['the
due
time for battle will come;
hasten it not'], and finally
quandoquidem
Ausonios
coniungi
foedere
Teucris
haud
licitum
(105) ['since it has not proved permissible for Ausonians to join in compact
with Trojans'], there is no doubt that this contradicts the prophecy given in Book 1
to Venus:
bellum
ingens
geret
Italia
populosque
ferocis
contundet
moresque
viris
et
moenia
ponet
(263) [he shall fight a great war in Italy and overthrow proud peoples.
He shall establish for his warriors a way of life and walls for their defence]; not only
because the war was there prophesied as arranged by
fatum
, i.e. by Jupiter's own
will - one could, at a pinch, explain this by the fact that Jupiter's knowledge of the
future does not always have to coincide with his personal preferences, as in so many
theological systems, but also because there the war is teleologically motivated as an
integral part of Jupiter's plan: the necessity to force culture on the still barbarous
Latins. This motive was later dropped completely by Virgil. There is a contradiction
here; we should not try to cover it up, nor should we simply write it off as careless-
ness. We can explain it as the result of the difficulties described above; even Virgil
could not master them completely. The assembly of the gods has often been
criticized as a passage which imitates Homer in a mechanical, uncritical way, but I
would say that, on the contrary, it is just there that one can find evidence of a great
deal of heart-searching about the material and the form: this has been shown splen-
didly by A.B. Drachmann in his penetrating monograph
Guderne
hos
Virgil
(Copenhagen, 1887) 130ff., where the only thing that I find lacking is a more
detailed study of the actual role of
fatum
in the gods' speeches. Venus refers, on
behalf of her protégé, to
fatum
, which he learnt from an oracle, and which she
regards as identical with Jupiter's
iussa
[commands]; she regards Juno's actions as
an impertinent attempt to lay down new
fata
(34ff.). Juno, for her part, is careful not
continue
to cross Jupiter or attack his plans. She merely denies that
fatum
, which she admits
that Aeneas followed to Latium, had any effect on what he then proceeded to do
there, and makes him himself responsible for the resulting misfortune. Jupiter, who,
of course, is the highest authority in matters of
fatum
, could utter a command, stop
the conflict and end the war; but then the poem would be over. That is why Jupiter
has to choose to
allow
fatum
to be decided by the course of events, as if this could
convince Juno of her (real or ostensible) error better than his own word could. For
his part, all he will promise is not to interfere again, so that the test can proceed
298 without interference. Of course this also prevents the goddesses from taking a hand
in the battle. (Drachmann, [149f.] explains very clearly why this prohibition is not
expressly stated.) After Aeneas' successes, Juno declares herself convinced, in
299 answer to Jupiter's ironic question (606ff.). [BACK]
44.
It is probably to make this reference clear that
hoc
regni
(78) [this power] is
explained further by 1.80:
nimborumque
facis
tempestatumque
potentem
[you give
me power over storm-clouds and storms].
[Hera] is frequently identified with
[air]; Varro does so, and also
Iuno
and
terra
[earth]: Agahd,
M. Ter. Varr.
301
Antiqu
.
Rer
.
Div
. 2 p. 215. [BACK]
45.
fatalem
Aenean
manifesto
numine
ferri
admonet
ira
deum
tumulique
ante
ora
recentes
(11.232) [the anger of the gods, witnessed by the freshly made grave-
mounds before their eyes, already warned them that Aeneas was clearly by divine
302 warrant a man of destiny] (cf. 12.27ff.). [BACK]
46.
Remember Anchises' words
sequor
et
qua
ducitis
adsum
,
di
patrii
(2.701) ['I
follow, gods of our race, and wherever you lead, there shall I be']: or
divum
ducunt
qua
iussa
sequamur
(3.114) ['let us take the path shown by divine command'],
cedamus
Phoebo
et
moniti
meliora
sequamur
(188) ['Let us trust Apollo, accept his
warning and follow a better course']. Also Aeneas 4.340:
me
sifata
meis
paterentur
ducere
vitam
auspiciis
. . .
recidiva
manu
posuissem
Pergama
victis
['If my destiny
had allowed me to guide my life as I myself would have chosen . . . I should have
re-founded Troy's fortress to be strong once more after her defeat'] and
Italiam
non
sponte
sequor
(361) ['It is not by my own choice that I voyage onward to Italy']; but
then
mea
me
virtus
et
sancta
oracula
divom
. . .
fatis
egere
v
o
l
e
n
t
e
m
(8.131) ['my
own valour, holy oracles from gods . . . brought me here in
willing
obedience to my
destiny']. So Nautes had urged him, when he was thinking of remaining in Sicily,
fatorum
oblitus
[forgetful of the fates],
quo
fata
trahunt
retrahuntque
sequamur
(5.709) ['we should accept the lead which destiny offers, whether to go forward or
not']. Too late, Turnus goes the right way:
iam
,
iam
fata
,
soror
,
superant
. . .
quo
deus
et
quo
dura
vocat
Fortuna
sequamur
(12.676) ['at this very moment sister, fate is
prevailing over us . . . Let us follow where God and our own hard fortune call']. [BACK]
47.
intuemini
enim
horum
deinceps
annorum
vel
secundas
res
vel
adversas
,
invenietis
omnia
prospere
evenisse
sequentibus
deos
,
adversa
spernentibus
['Con-
sider the successes and the setbacks of this period of years, and you will find that
everything turned out well for those who complied with the gods and badly for those
who spurned them'] (Livy 5.51, from a speech of Camillus, one example from
303 many). [BACK]
304
51.
Of course this, too, did have some connection with contemporary beliefs:
Apollo is personally supposed to have literally led Augustus' ships to victory at
Actium. [BACK]
305
52.
Propertius 4.4.68 of Tarpeia:
nescia
vae
Furiis
accubuisse
novis
;
nam
Vesta
. . .
culpam
alit
et
plures
condit
in
ossa
faces
[not knowing, alas, that she has
lain down with new Furies: for Vesta . . . fed her guilt and buried more firebrands in
her bones], where Rothstein rightly draws a comparison with the Allecto scene. [BACK]
306
53.
Cauer (
Grundfragen
der
Homerkritik
2
, 339) asks: 'What natural causes? I
can't see any.' But they are not hard to see in what Allecto says: if one imagines that
her words are a soliloquy spoken by an offended Turnus, and that his answer is his
other, calmer, inner voice speaking, Allecto's consequent overwhelming
ira
[anger]
and its effect represent the victory of emotion - and all the psychological motivation
is present to drive Turnus to fight. [BACK]
307
54.
Propertius 1.3.45:
dum
me
iucundis
lapsam
Sopor
inpulit
alis
[until sleep
brushed my sinking form with his pleasant wings]. [BACK]
55.
These references to divine intervention, without further details -
Iuno
viris
animumque
ministrat
(9.764) [Juno gave him new spirit and new strength],
Iovis
monitis
Mezentius
succedit
pugnae
(10.689) [warned by Jupiter, Mezentius took up
the fight] etc. - do not contradict Homeric usage:
Iliad
16.656:
(sc. Zeus) [(Zeus) put a cowardly spirit into Hector];
Odyssey
19.479:
[for Athene distracted her attention] etc. [BACK]
308
56.
There is nothing wrong with this as such (see previous note); but if it is only
to be a straightforward divine intervention with no detailed description, Jupiter need
not send Mercury to Carthage, he could do it himself. Also, this is a most unusual
example in that the desired effect is not for the immediate present but for the future. [BACK]
57.
Plut.
De
tranquillitate
animi
465b:
[so also with such reasonings as offer help in
controlling the passions: wise men should give heed to them before the passions
arise so that, being prepared well in advance, their help may be more effective]. [BACK]
58.
Cauer objects (op. cit. 337) 'There is no process here which can be explained
in human terms', meaning that Aeneas is not persuaded and inwardly convinced as
Achilles was by Athena. It seems to me only too human that Aeneas follows the
command of the
, or let us say 'of duty', although the inclination of his heart
still pulls him in the other direction; in this struggle, the heart's inclination is not
won over but suppressed by force, and it could not be better symbolized than by the
fact that Mercury achieves his ends by divine authority, not by persuasion. [BACK]
309
59.
Iliad
1.220:
[back he thrust his massive blade once more into its scabbard, and did not
ignore Athene's words]: on which Plutarch
Quomodo
adolesc
. 26e comments
[rightly and honourably, because, although he could not completely
eradicate his anger, nevertheless before doing anything irreparable, he set it aside
and checked it by making it obedient to reason]. That this manner of interpreting
continue
was of much earlier date, even in Rome, goes without saying; for Hermes as
it
is enough to refer to Reitzenstein,
Zwei
religionsgeschichtliche
Fragen
(Strassburg,
1901). The equation is a standard one in Homeric exegesis:
sometimes equals
'speech', sometimes 'reason'. For example, Hermes is sent to accompany Priam on
the way to Achilles because
is the best soother of the
[emotions], schol.
Iliad
24.486; Zeus sends him to Aegisthus:
[he indicates the gift from gods to men of reason in
accordance with virtue] (schol.
Od
. 1.38); the
[moly] which Odysseus re-
ceived from Hermes is the
[perfect reason, with the aid of which he is unable to come to any harm]
311 (schol.
Od
. 10.305). [BACK]
60.
There is no parallel in Homer for the way in which the Great Mother reveals
herself in 9.110. A wonderful light breaks over the sky, people think they see
Idaeos
choros
[Idaean bands], and the goddess lets her voice be heard but does not become
visible or give her name. The only comparable feature is perhaps the voice of Apollo
which sounds from the
adyton
[shrine] on Delos (3.93ff.). This very thing however,
the voice of a divinity making itself heard from its sanctuary, is not infrequently
reported by the historians, e.g. Livy 6.33.5, Tac.
Hist
. 5.13, Cic.
De
Div
. 1.45.101. [BACK]
61.
Cf. Cauer op. cit. 343f., who here modifies his earlier attempt (disputed e.g.
by Robert,
Studien
zum
lias
353) to establish a chronological order of forms of
appearance. He now regards the appearance of the gods in their own form to be
312 archaic in most cases, and later imitation in others. [BACK]
62.
So, too, the apparition of the Penates, which stands on the boundary between
dream and waking vision, 3.172ff. [BACK]
63.
It is different in the case of Turnus and Juturna 12.631, 676; the two are
closer, brother and sister - Juturna was raised to the status of an immortal nymph by
Jupiter - and that may be the reason why Turnus recognizes her and speaks to her
313 without her immediately withdrawing from his sight. [BACK]
64.
There, as Leo,
Geschichte
der
lateinischen
Litteratur
1.179 n. 2 points out,
314 Ennius' dream of Ilia has served as a model. [BACK]
65.
n
e
c
s
o
p
o
r
i
l
l
u
d
e
r
a
t
,
sed
coram
adgnoscere
voltus
velatasque
comas
praesentiaque
ora
videbar
(173) [
This
could
be
no
dream
. I seemed to
recognize, there before me, their garlanded hair, and their lips as they spokel: for the
[waking vision, not a dream] of so many appearances which hover
between vision and dream, see Deubner,
De
incubatione
capita
quattuor
(Leipzig,
1900) 5 etc. [BACK]
66. Somn . Scip . 1.3.8; cf. Deubner 3ff. [BACK]
67.
curas
his
demere
dictis
(3.153) [relieved my anxiety with these words],
in
curas
animo
diducitur
omnis
(5.720) [his thoughts were distracted by every kind of
anxiety],
tristi
turbatus
pectora
bello
procubuit
(8.29) [his whole heart distracted by
316 the horror of the war, he lay down]. [BACK]
68. Mommsen, Staatsrecht 1.79 n. 1. [BACK]
69.
However Helenus is probably also an expert in the
praepetis
omina
pinnae
317 (3.361) [omens of the bird on the wing]. [BACK]
70.
See Drachmann op. cit.; there are also some good comments in G. Ihm,
Vergilstudien
I (Progr. Gernsheim, 1902).
break [BACK]
71.
aethere
summo
[heaven's height] and
vertice
caeli
[zenith of the sky] (1.223,
225);
superis
in
sedibus
(11.532) [dwellings on high];
caelo
alto
(10.633) [high heaven]. [BACK]
72.
Iovis
in
tectis
(10.758) [in the house of Jupiter],
tectis
bipatentibus
(5) [the
halls opening in two directions]. [BACK]
318 73. 1.663; 4.92; 5.780. [BACK]
319 74. Werke , 11.191. [BACK]
324
75.
Specially emphasized by
hic
primum
Fortuna
fidem
mutata
novavit
(604) [at
this moment Fortune first veered, and turned treacherously against the Trojans]. [BACK]
325
76.
This is not described but implied by line 405:
si
te
nulla
movet
tantae
pietatis
imago
[if the sight of fidelity so strong has no power to move you]. [BACK]
326
77.
magnis
exterrita
monstris
deriguit
visu
in
medio
(3.307) [unnerved by the
shock, suddenly, as she looked, she stiffened]. [BACK]
78.
obstipuit
primo
aspectu
(1.613) [at her first sight (of Aeneas) she was awe-
struck]. [BACK]
79.
procul
ex
celso
miratur
vertice
montis
. . .
occurrit
(5.35) [looking from a dis-
tant mountain-crest, he observed with wonder . . . and came to meet them]. [BACK]
80.
terrentur
visu
subito
cunctique
relictis
consurgunt
mensis
(8.109) [they were
alarmed at the sudden sight, and as one man they arose, leaving their banquet]. [BACK]
327
81.
ingentem
comitum
adfluxisse
novorum
invenio
admirans
numerum
(2.796) [I
was surprised to find their number increased by a great concourse of new arrivals]. [BACK]
328
82.
It occurred to me that Virgil perhaps thinks of Camilla as arriving in Laurentum
only at this moment, which would be all the more fitting because he has not used her
in the fighting up to this point;
occurrit
portis
sub
ipsis
[she met him hard by the
gate] would fit in well with this, as would the opening words of Diana's speech
(555). The Homeric analogy would be the late entrance of Penthesilea. But even if
one ignored her inclusion in the catalogue (7.803), I believe that when Turnus
speaks of Camilla's support (11.432), he would expressly say that she had not
actually arrived yet. [BACK]
331
83.
For example, I feel that it was unnecessary to make Mercury prepare for
Aeneas' friendly reception in Carthage (1.297), since this reception could be ex-
plained satisfactorily in human terms; but one can also feel the same about the
motivation of Dido's love by the intervention of a god (cf. Boissier,
Nouvelles
promenades
archéologiques
303), and we only notice this example less because we
are familiar from other literature with the intervention of Amor. [BACK]
84.
Chrysippus in Plut.
De
Stoic
.
rep
. 47 (fr. 997); the
[perception],
which underlies an unhappy incident, is indeed divine, but not
[the self-sufficient cause of the intellectual assent of the
recipient]; for this the mortal is responsible. [BACK]
332
85.
There is no such divine motivation during the storm at the beginning of Book
5, but the participants themselves infer it:
hand
equidem
sine
mente
,
reor
,
sine
numine
divom
adsumus
et
portus
delati
intramus
amicos
(55) ['we have come to
land and entered this friendly harbour, and for my part I see in this the intention and
the will of the gods']. [BACK]
334 86. The speech of Appius, Livy 5.3-6, is a good example of this. [BACK]
87. A good example is the reception of Sextus Tarquinius in Gabii, Livy 1.53ff. [BACK]
336 88. The idea that Aeneas could simply look for the queen in her own palace continue
clearly did not occur to Virgil; he can only visualize the meeting as a ceremonial
audience, and for the scene a temple devoted to the
curia
[assembly], like Latinus'
building, 7.170ff. Aeneas could guess the function of the temple but hardly that
Dido was due to come at that very moment. [BACK]
338
89.
Virgil wants to show that the new arrivals are not complete strangers to the
king (he also knows that Dardanus is of Italic descent [5.205]); this is to prepare the
way a little for his rapid agreement and offer of marriage. Aristarchus had found it
extremely unlikely that Alcinous would offer Odysseus his daughter in marriage
when he hardly knows him: schol.
Od
. 7.311. [BACK]
340
90.
In the Doloneia it is different: there the enemy scouts are bound to come
upon the Greeks because they are on the same path; also this is no chance encounter,
since Dolon was sent out at this precise time. [BACK]
343
91.
Noack,
Hermes
27 (1892) 422, puts at least the opening of the Temple of
War on to the second day after Aeneas' arrival - this is very unlikely in practical
terms; the poet leaves the question open. [BACK]
92.
Until line 83 we think that we are hearing about one day only, and I cannot
see a different meaning for
instaurat
diem
donis
(63) [she celebrates the day with
offerings]. However,
nunc
. . .
nunc
[now . . . now] in 74 and 77 could refer to repeated
actions, and the words
aut
gremio
Ascanium
genitoris
imagine
capta
detinet
(84) [or
she held Ascanius close to her, under the spell of his resemblance to his father]
cannot possibly refer to the same night on which Dido
sola
domo
maeret
vacua
[she
mourned, lonely in the empty hall]: likewise, the statement (86ff.) that the construction-
work on the city has been interrupted - apparently because Dido takes no interest in
it any more - would only make sense if a longer period had elapsed. [BACK]
344
93.
Unless one assumed that the
prodigia
- e.g.
exaudiri
voces
et
verba
vocantis
visa
viri
,
nox
cum
terras
obscura
teneret
(460) [she heard cries, as of her husband
calling her, when night held the world in darkness] and
agit
ipse
furentem
in
somnis
ferus
Aeneas
(465) [she had nightmares of a furious Aeneas pursuing her] - occur as
early as before the first conversation with Aeneas, where Dido
praesensit
motus
futuros
(297) [divined his intended deceit in advance]. But this assumption finds no
confirmation in the poet's words. [BACK]
94.
The distance is approximately the same as that between Delos and Crete: that
takes three days making good speed (3.117). The even longer voyage from Drepa-
num to Cumae seems from Virgil's account to have been completed in a day and a
night, although here again we can only work this out ourselves because at 5.835
there is an indication of the time which the plot forced upon him. [BACK]
345
95.
But Virgil is careful not to place Segesta on the coast: at 1.570 and 5.35
Segesta is not mentioned. Uncertainty in geographical matters is illustrated by Ae-
neas' Thracian foundation (above p. 81): neither he nor the great majority of his
readers had any clear idea of this district. [BACK]
96.
The greatest haste is also so fully justified by the situation of the Trojan
camp that Deuticke's assumption (
Virgils
Gedichte
III
9
on line 147) that Virgil has
Aeneas spending one night in the Etruscan camp does not seem to me to be required
by the plot. Nor can I share his later objection (Appendix p. 287) that perhaps we
should not count days at all; the question of how many hours the Etruscan and
Arcadian horsemen have taken to come from Caere to the neighbourhood of the
continue
Trojan camp (10.238) will not have been considered by Virgil; but this is not on the
same level as the division of the action into particular days and nights. [BACK]
97.
One sunrise is omitted, on the day that the Trojans, as we have to assume,
stay in Caieta, 7.1; this is not reported, but is revealed partly by the apostrophe to
346 Caieta, partly afterwards when it is recalled at the moment of departure. There is
also no mention of the sunrise at the beginning of 6: that may have some connection
with the fact that Books 5 and 6 were not written consecutively. [BACK]
98.
tum
Stygio
regi
nocturnas
incohat
aras
(6.252) [now he began the nocturnal
altar-rite to the king of Styx];
adspirant
aurae
in
noctem
nec
candida
cursus
luna
negat
(7.8) [favouring breezes blew onwards into the night, and a radiant moon
blessed their voyage];
Thybris
ea
fluvium
,
quam
longa
est
,
nocte
tumentem
leniit
(8.86) [then did Tiber make smooth his heaving flood for the whole length of that
night]. [BACK]
99. Wilamowitz, Homerische Untersuchungen (Berlin, 1884) 87. [BACK]
100.
Anna says
indulge
hospitio
causasque
innecte
morandi
,
dum
pelago
de
-
saevit
hiems
et
aquosus
Orion
,
quassataeque
rates
,
dum
non
tractabile
caelum
(51)
['Entertain your guest freely, weaving pretexts for keeping him here while his ships
are still damaged, and winter and Orion the rain-bringer spend their fury on the
Ocean under a forbidding sky']. [BACK]
101.
quin
etiam
hiberno
moliris
sidere
classem
,
et
mediis
properas
aquilonibus
ire
per
altum
(309) ['You labour at your fleet under a wintry sky, in haste to traverse
the high seas in the teeth of the northerly gales']. On 3.285 see n. 102 below. [BACK]
102.
This is probably due to the general idea that sea-voyages are made in the
summer. Or did Virgil (as Ribbeck thought) extend to an individual year the idiom
whereby
aestas
is
used to mean 'year'? Sophocles does something similar with
[season of tillage]
[the past
347 season/year as to length of time] (
Trach
. 69), alongside
[twelth
season/year] at 825); but I know no Latin parallels. From 1.535:
cum
subito
adsur
-
gens
fluctu
nimbosus
Orion
in
vada
caeca
tulit
[when suddenly at the rising of
Orion, star of storms, the seas ran high and carried us onto invisible shoals] it has
been deduced that Virgil is indicating summertime, in agreement with 755, because
Orion rises at midsummer (Ovid Fast. 6.719); but
adsurgens
[rising] will hardly
refer to the actual rising of the constellation, but rather to its threatening upsurge as
in
adsurgit
ira
[anger rises] etc.), by poetic analogy with the swelling tide (
fluctibus
et
fremitu
adsurgens
Benace
marino
[you, Benacus, surging with waves and roaring
like the sea] [
Geo
. 2.160]). Virgil was certainly not thinking of a particular date
when Orion rises, let alone (as Heyne suggests) working out its time for the latitude
of Carthage; all he knows of Orion is that it belongs to the
horrida
sidera
[fierce
constellations] (Pliny
N
.
H
. 18.278) and he uses it appropriately, in the same way as
other Roman poets do (Gundel,
De
stellarum
appellatione
et
religione
Romana
348 [Giss, 1907] 181), when he is speaking of a storm. [BACK]
103.
This is Schüler's view,
Quaest
.
Verg
. 6 (cf. also Deuticke in his appendix to
3), and he also provides a good rebuttal of Conrads' attempt to fit the wanderings
349 into a mere two years. [BACK]
104.
If he had written
octava
[eighth] this would have indicated that he had
actually calculated it; the number seven is one that Virgil uses very often (as does
continue
Homer: Diels,
Festschr
.
für
Gomperz
[Vienna, 1902] 10); seven times the snake
coils round the tomb of Anchises (5.85), from seven oxhides the
caestus
[leather
boxing-thongs] of Entellus is manufactured (404), seven Athenians had to be sent to
the Minotaur every year (6.21), with seven ships Aeneas lands in Libya (1.170),
seven layers make up the shield of Aeneas (8448) and that of Turnus (12.925),
seven sons of Phorcus fight against Aeneas (10.329), twice seven nymphs belong to
Juno (1.71). After seven, the round numbers nine and twelve are used most fre-
350 quently; the number eight does not occur in Virgil at all. [BACK]
105.
On the chronological liberties that Virgil takes in the treatment of the
tradition see also above p. 199f. [BACK]
106.
See also Plüss 81 on the carelessness with which the distances on the
Trojan plain are dealt with in Book 2. Tryphiodorus is much more careful in this
matter: when the horse is pulled into the city
(328) [the long way grew heavy, torn with
351 rivers and unlike the plains]. [BACK]
107.
Norden (133ff.) shows that the information about the Sibyl's Cave and
Apollo's temple which Virgil gives in 6 are quite compatible with the real locality;
but unless he knew that locality a reader would hardly be able to visualize a clear
picture of it. On the vagueness of Virgil's topography of the Underworld see Norden
207, 215, 266: here too there is nothing to indicate that the poet did not visualize it
clearly himself; but he is not interested in helping the reader to visualize it. [BACK]
108.
Münzer has rightly pointed out (
Cacus
der
Rinderdieb
[Progr. Basel 1911]
22) that there is a lack of clarity in the way that the scene is imagined in the Cacus
story:
aerii
cursu
petit
ardua
montis
(8.221) is only intended to mean, in my opi-
nion, 'he ran up to the steep high mountain', i.e. in the direction of the cave; but
from which point Cacus
speluncam
petit
[makes for his cave] we are not told, and
352 the visual aspect of the whole scene suffers from this. [BACK]
109. On the fleet's separation from the camp see above p. 192 n. 62. [BACK]
110.
Left and right cannot of course be meant from the standpoint of the Trojans
as they face the enemy. The enemy had surrounded the entire wall in the night
(
obsidere
portas
cura
datur
Messapo
et
moenia
cingere
flammis
[9.159] [Messapus
was assigned the duty of posting pickets to watch, blocking the gates, and girding
the walls with a circle of watch-fires]: this field-camp is called
Laurentia
castra
[the
353 camp of the Laurentines] [10.635, 671, cf. 9. 371,451]); when they now advance to
storm the camp, whichever side they approach is 'in front' of the defenders. More-
over if Virgil, as I assume, did name left and right from the Tiber's current, this was
not because he was familiar with naming river-banks left and right as we do (cf.
Stürenburg, 'Die Bezeichnung der Flussufer bei Griechen und Römern', in:
Festschr. der 49. Philologenvers. [Dresden, 1897] 289), but because he is in Rome
354 and following the course of the Tiber down towards Ostia in his thoughts. [BACK]
111.
Of course local historians have succeeded in locating this grove precisely: it
lay about one kilometre outside the city on Monte Abetone near the course of the
Vaccino. See Rosati,
Cere
e
suoi
monumenti
(Foligno, 1890) 13.
break [BACK]