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Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: a Study of the Poem's Ideological Appeal and Reception

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Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: a Study of the Poem's Ideological Appeal and Reception Moore, Gardner Mary (2021) Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: a study of the poem's ideological appeal and reception. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/82148/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: A Study of the Poem’s Ideological Appeal and Reception Gardner Mary Moore M.A., M.Litt., M.Res Submitted for the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy School of Classics College of Arts University of Glasgow March 2021 © Gardner Moore, 22/03/2021 1 Abstract Employing a research method informed by Begriffsgeschichte, this thesis proposes a re- examining of pietas in Virgil’s Aeneid through a Stoic lens. It aims to show how Stoic philosophy underlines the Aeneid and Virgilian pietas. It illustrates how the Aeneid represents a unique intervention in the virtue’s history as a distinctly masculine quality characterised by Stoic submission to fate and suppression of emotion. In the character Aeneas, Virgil shows how philosophical ideas can be transmitted through individuals. Aeneas is characterised by a Stoic pietas that manifests in his willing service to fate and his subversion of personal feeling. The Aeneid unites social and political ideas of pietas with personal ones within a Stoic moral framework. We see the remarkable achievement in Virgil’s combination of public and private values in Aeneid VI, which serves a didactic function and unveils the benefit of pietas, a community-oriented virtue, for the individual. In Aeneid VI, the ideological coherence of the epic becomes clear, and we see pietas as a unifying behavioural trait for an ideal masculine Roman identity within an Augustan context. In the relationship between Aeneas and the fate of Rome, Virgil urges the reader to accept the overall merit in a Stoic worldview and disposition in relation to the city’s foundation narrative. The thesis examines the impact of this ideological coherence on subsequent literature. The reception of Virgilian pietas leads to Christian adaptations of the virtue related to religious faith and devotion to God, akin to what we might consider Christian piety. The shift from Virgilian pietas to Christian piety denotes a move from a politicised ideological virtue of civic service to a quality underlined by spiritual and religious devotion. This thesis determines that Virgil’s Stoic rendering of pietas is the ideological lynchpin of the epic, as well as the key to its ideological coherence. Virgil’s exceptional and powerful representation of pietas and a hero who embodies it completely has contributed to the lasting appeal of the Aeneid and its appropriation as a quasi- scriptural text by Christian authors, ensuring its continued preservation. 2 Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................... 1 Contents ...................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................. 7 1.1. Introduction to the Thesis ............................................................................. 7 1.2. Methodology and Literature Review ............................................................ 12 Chapter 2. Virgil’s Aeneid as a Stoic Epic ................................................ 15 2.1. Reading Philosophy and Stoicism in Virgil’s Aeneid ....................... 15 2.1.1. Stoic Philosophy in the Aeneid ................................................................ 17 2.1.2. Virgil’s Stoicism in Contemporary Philosophical Context ....................... 18 2.2. Stoicism, Fate, Free Will and the Divine ............................................ 21 2.2.1. Stoicism, Fate, Cause and Effect, Free Will and Assent ........................... 22 2.2.2. Stoicism, Fate, the Divine and Jupiter’s Prophecy in Aeneid I .................. 26 2.3. Stoicism, Emotion and Aeneid I as the Signal of a Stoic Epic......... 31 2.3.1. Emotion and the Stoic Aeneas ................................................................. 32 2.3.2. Aeneid I: Introducing a Roman Stoic Message and a Stoic Hero .............. 37 2.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3. Pietas as a Roman Value ......................................................... 44 3.1. Defining pietas and understanding Virgilian pietas ......................... 44 3.1.1. Virgilian Pietas, Duty, Iustitia and Clementia in the Aeneid..................... 45 3.1.2. Defining Virgilian Pietas Using Ancient Greek Sources .......................... 48 3 3.1.3. Ciceronian Representations of Pietas ....................................................... 51 3.2. Pietas in Virgil’s Rome ........................................................................ 57 3.2.1. Pietas and the Augustan Regime.............................................................. 57 3.2.2. Pietas, Religion and Reciprocity in the Augustan Regime ....................... 59 3.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 62 Chapter 4. Pietas in the Aeneid ................................................................. 64 4.1. Pietas, Stoicism and Pius Aeneas...................................................... 64 4.1.1. Pietas, Stoicism, Aeneas and Rome in the Aeneid .................................... 66 4.1.2. The Epithet Pius and its Significance for Aeneas ..................................... 69 4.1.3. Other Characters Recognise the Pietas of Aeneas .................................... 72 4.2. Pietas and Other Characters in the Aeneid ....................................... 78 4.2.1. Pietas and Secondary Characters ............................................................. 79 4.2.2. Pietas and Lausus .................................................................................... 82 4.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 87 Chapter 5. Stoicism and Conflicts of Pietas in the Aeneid ..................... 89 5.1. Virgil’s Hierarchy of Pietas: Family, Fate and Stoicism ................... 89 5.2. Exits, Women and Conflicts of Pietas in the Aeneid ........................ 92 5.2.1. Aeneid II: Aeneas’ Departure from Troy .................................................. 92 5.2.2. Aeneid IV: The Unique and Compelling Pietas of Dido ........................... 97 5.2.3. Aeneid IV: Aeneas’ Departure from Carthage .......................................... 99 5.3. Creüsa, Dido and Lavinia: Pietas, Amor and Marriage ..................... 102 5.4. Aeneid XII: Pietas at the Conclusion the Aeneid .............................. 105 5.4.1. About Turnus .......................................................................................... 106 5.4.2. Arguments in Condemnation of Aeneas’ Last Kill ................................... 108 5.4.3. Arguments in Praise of Aeneas’ Final Act ............................................... 111 4 5.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 113 Chapter 6. Aeneid VI: Overall Importance of Pietas and Stoicism ......... 115 6.1. The Significance of Aeneid VI............................................................. 115 6.1.1. Aeneid VI: Moral Lessons and Roman History ....................................... 116 6.1.2. Literary Influences on Aeneid VI: Republic X and Odyssey XI ................ 117 6.2. Geography and Philosophy in Virgil’s Underworld .......................... 119 6.2.1. Virgil’s Underworld Geography and the Importance of Philosophy ......... 119 6.2.2. Tartarus and Elysium ............................................................................... 121 6.2.3. Bodies and Souls: Punishment Versus Purification .................................. 126 6.2.4. Reincarnation in Virgil’s Underworld ...................................................... 128 6.3. Pietas in Aeneid VI and the overall Stoic message .......................... 130 6.3.1. Pietas in Aeneid VI .................................................................................. 130 6.3.2. Stoicism in Aeneid VI .............................................................................. 132 6.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 133 Chapter 7. Reception of Virgilian Pietas and its Christian Appeal ......... 136 7.1. Augustan Responses to Virgilian Pietas: Horace and Ovid ............ 137 7.1.1. Horace’s Odes ......................................................................................... 137 7.1.2. Ovid’s Metamorphoses ............................................................................ 141 7.2. Lucan’s De Bello
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