DOCSLIB.ORG

A Study of the Types and Purpose of Dreams in Vergil's Aeneid By

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Study of the Types and Purpose of Dreams in Vergil's Aeneid By A Study of the Types and Purpose of Dreams in Vergil's Aeneid by Shawn McNeely A thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September, 1997 copyright O Shawn McNeely, 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*a of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services seMces bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 ûüawaON KIAW Canada CanarJa The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Ll'brary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or sell reproduire, prêter, distri'buer ou copies of this thesis in mirofonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic fomats. la forme de microfiche/t&n, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retams ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othemise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT By the time Vergil was writinq (40-19 B.C.) there was already a long tradition of dreams in ancient literature. From the beginning dreams were a topic of interest for poets, historians, and philosophers . We find in the literature of ancient Greece and Rome five main classifications of dreams: prophetic, anxiety, wish- fulfilment, oracular, and incubation. Other drean-types existed, of course, but these seem to have been the ones most employed by ancient authors, In the Aeneid Vergil employs anxiety-dreams six times, oracular-dreams three times, and the incubation-dream once. His choice, we may be sure, was in part detemined by the necessities of plot, and in part under the influences of authors such as Homer, Apollonius, Euripides, Lucretius and Cicero. Without sacrificinq narrative immediacy and the illusion of reality, dreams allow the Vergil to reveal not only simultaneous events, but also a characterts motions, with their causes and potential consequences. Vergil uses dreams in the Aeneid to great effect. Dreams introduce the three main characters in the epic, Aeneas, Dido, and Turnus. They motivate the actions of the characters and help to advance the plot to its conclusion. Dreams not only set Aeneas on his journey and mark his arriva1 in Latium, but they continually provide more information about his destination while on his journey. Dreams also bolster Aeneas' resolve in moments of emotional and physical crisis. In a grander and more enigmatic way, Book 6, as a sustained dream-vision, conveys to the reader, at least, Vergil's vision of both the tragedy and greatness of Rome's mission and history. CONTENTS Abstract Contents iii Preface Chapter 1 Dreams in Antiquity Chapter 2 A Classification of Dreams in the Aeneid Chapter 3 The Purpose of Dreams in the Aeneid Chapter 4 The Underworld as a Dream Conclusion Appendix Bibliography Vita PRE FACE 1 came upon the topic of Vergilts dreams while reading a commentary that suggested the dreams in the Aeneid were virtually the same as those in the Homeric epics. This struck me as an odd comment to make since Homerfs dreiuns do not advance the plot in the way Vergills do, nor are they as numerous. 1 have also found that when some aspect of the Aeneid is simply said to be part of the epic machinery, it is usually because it has not been examined closely enough. So, after doing some preliminary reading, and discovering that there was very little dedicated strictly to Vergills dreams, 1 decided to undertake the present task. 1 have stayed away from interpreting the dreams of the Aeneid for a few reasons. Primarily, though, 1 did not think it just to apply modern psychological theories to literary characters; since Vergil could not have been aware of such theories, he could not have been influenced by them. As far as abbreviations are concerned, 1 have tried to follow the example of 1 Vhnée Philologique. 1 have used C. Day-Lewis1 translation of the Aeneid, as it seems to be one of the best. For the rest, 1 have tried to use the readily accessible Loeb Classical Library, except for the v translation of Herodotusl Histories for which 1 followed the Penguin translation. 1 have used Richmond Lattimorers translations of Homer, which seem to me to contain the fewest errors . Finally, 1 would like to thank the following people for their support of rny research and the production of this thesis : Terry Smith, May Chan, professors Ross Kilpatrick, Tony Marshall, and Dietmar Hagel, and especially my wife Debbie, without whom none of this would have been possible. The earliest classification of dreams in the extant literature of ancient Greece and Rome is found in Homer's epic, the Odyssey.' From the beginning there was a need for those interested in dreams to distinguish between those dreams which foretell the future and those which do noL2 This dichotorny is exemplified in Homer's description of the gates of sleep (Od. 19.559-567) in which the poet differentiates between true and false dreams. According to the Homeric description, false dreams are those which tell of things which do not come to pass; in other words, false dreams are those which do not reliably predict the future. True dreams, on the other hand, reveal to the dreamer events that will come to pass and are therefore to be considered as predicative: lAccording to W. S. Messer, however, "Homeric vocabulary gives no hint of an elaborate classification, under the general term 'dreamv of many types of experiences ...such as gradually took shape and, at a later period, was widely known ." The Dream in Homer and Greek Tragedy, p. 1. Into the Homeric classification could be added the 6vap / ~~o~pdichotomy, important in spelling out what dreams are not. Behr, Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales, p.173. And thoughtfuï Penelope addressed him: Stranger, surely dreams are inexplicable and hard ta interpret, and one does not reveal everything to people. For there are tsm gates of unsubstantial dreams; the one is constructed ftom horn and the other from ivory; those which go thzough the sawn ivory are deceptive, bearing unfulfilled messages; those which go throuqh the polished horn bring reaL +_hings to pass, whenever one is seen by mortals, This early epic division of dreams into two groups, prophetic and non-prophetic, remained ahost unchallenged as the standard classification of dreams, Save for a few refinements, until around the third century B.C. In the Homeric epics there is no question that either type of dreams, both prophetic and non-prophetic alike, are sent from one deity or another. The fifth century historian Herodotus, though he does not present any systematized classification of dreams, retains Homer's two-fold system; in doing so, however, he also provides an alternative to Horner's non-prophetic type. In Herodotus ' Histories, the prophetic dream-type still originates with a god, but no deities ever appear to the dreamer as they do in Homer; rather it is an agent of the divine who appears, just as the 05A&6ve~whoappears to Agamemnon in Book 2 (6-15) of the For a detailed study of dreams in Herodotus see Peter Frisch Die Traume bei Herodot, 1968. I'liad. By the fifth century B-C. it seems that there was a decline in the belief in the traditional gods,' and perhaps it was as a result of this apparent decline that Herodotus attributed the non-prophetic dream-type to the dreamer himself rather than to some external force. As Frtabanes explains to Xerxes, who had been complaining of a recurring dream, these dreams do not give the dreamer a false picture of events to corne, but instead reflect the dreamer's rnind and what he has been concerned with during the day: But these things are not divine, my boy, for the things which wander about to men in sleep are of such a sort as 1 shaZT teach you, being older than you by many years: often these wandering visions which are usual in dreams are what you think about during the day- Although he makes this assertion, ultimately the nature of the dream forces Herodotus to accept that even this dream is divinely sent. Homerts description of Achilles' pursuit of Hector around Troy seems to indicate that this type of dream, the anxiety-dream, was also known to Homer: ' Dodds, p-118. Herod. Hist, 7.16.18-22, predecessors, Plato too employed a two-fold classification distinguishing between prophetic and non-prophetic dream~.'~ Unlike Homer, though, Plato's prophetic dreams did not corne directly from the gods, but rather from a Aaipv péyas (Symp. 202d13), which acts as an intermediary between mortal, and immortals: A god does not egIe with a hm,but al1 dealings and discourse from the go& toward humans [and from himi~nstoward the gods] both those who are awake and asleep are through this [great spirit] . Plato ' s non-prophetic dreams, like Herodotus ' , also reflect to some degree the mind of the dreamer, but that part of the psyche that they reflect, however, is entirely different. In his description of the tyrant, Plato explains that a tyrant is a man who acts on those desires that ordinarily are expressed only through dreams. Dreams that loin his commentasy on Plato's Timaeus, Calcidius attributes a five-fold classification to Plato: dreams which result from physical causes (253), those that result from divine providence, those that result from the love that the gods have for humans (2541, those that reveal the future (255).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Narrative Strategies: Communication in the Plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles
    UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON PhD THESIS NARRATIVE STRATEGIES: COMMUNICATION IN THE PLAYS OF AESCHYLUS AND SOPHOCLES BARBARA LOUISE COWARD B!BL LONDON ProQuest Number: 10045693 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10045693 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT This thesis explores narrative theories and their application to ancient tragedy. It is divided into three sections: SECTION I argues that it is valid to apply narrative theory to drama. It then questions the view that narrative and drama should be understood as polarised modes of communication ("showing" versus "telling", in twentieth century terms). It argues for intrinsic advantages in message narrative. All narratives in tragic rhesis are then divided into two temporal categories (1) short- range narratives, including the "messenger speech" and (2) longer range narratives of portent, prophecy, dream and curse (PPDCs). Within the episodes of tragedy, a suspenseful structure is often built up by a juxtaposition of (1) and (2). SECTION II: AESCHYLUS' surviving work is fluid in structure. However, he shows a tendency to create suspense by the build-up of deliberate delays and deceits together with an ambiguous dream or prophecy.
    [Show full text]
  • Proper Names
    PROPER NAMES Acca 820 Aurunci 318 Achaeans 266 Ausoniae 41; Ausonii 253 Acheron 23 Achilles 9f., 14-28, 438; and Hector's Bacchus, and music 737 corpse 72-7; and Patroclus 42-58; Bellipotens 8 Achilles and ritual slaughter 82; death Bitias 396 anticipated 43, 45f., 54 Butes 690 Acoetes 30 Aconteus 612 Calydon 270 Adriatic, names for 405 Camilla 432; biography 535-96; name Aeneas 2; account of earlier events 113, 543; tomb 594; guilt 586; death 114; ancestry of 305; bonus I 06; 794-835; place of, in book xi, xiif. bound to kill Tu. 178f.; burial and corpse 892; vanity of 782 Aen. I 08 -19; commander 2-4, Caphereus 260 14 -28, 36; conflict of duties 94; Casmilla 543 deification of 125; Diomedes and Aen. Catillus 640 243-95; diplomacy of I 09; and des­ Chloreus 768 tiny 232; Evander and Aen. 152; Chromis 675 fama and arma of 124; father 184; Cicero 122-32 fights Tu. 434; good king I 06; Cloelia 535-96 Hector and Aen. 289; imperator 79, Clytius 666 446; just 126; magnanimity of 127; Coras 465; 604 mementoes of Dido 72-7; mourner Cybelo 768 39f., 42 58, 34; feeling for Pallas 36; Cyclopes 263 returns to narrative 904; victorious Cyrene 535-96 4; warrior 126; warrior hero 282fi; weeps 29, 41 Dardanidis 353 Aethon 89 Dardanium 472 Agamemnon 266ff. Demophoon 675 Amasenus 547 Dercennus 850 Amaster 673 Diana 535-96, 537, 591; vengeance of Amazon 648 857 Amazones Threiciae 659 Dido and cloaks given to A en. 72-7; Amazons 535-96, 571, Appx.
    [Show full text]
  • Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal Timothy Hanford Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/427 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by TIMOTHY HANFORD A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 ©2014 TIMOTHY HANFORD All Rights Reserved ii This dissertation has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Classics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Ronnie Ancona ________________ _______________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Dee L. Clayman ________________ _______________________________ Date Executive Officer James Ker Joel Lidov Craig Williams Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by Timothy Hanford Advisor: Professor Ronnie Ancona This dissertation explores the relationship between Senecan tragedy and Virgil’s Aeneid, both on close linguistic as well as larger thematic levels. Senecan tragic characters and choruses often echo the language of Virgil’s epic in provocative ways; these constitute a contrastive reworking of the original Virgilian contents and context, one that has not to date been fully considered by scholars.
    [Show full text]
  • Katabasis in Eliot's the Waste Land
    “I had not thought death had undone so many”: Katabasis in Eliot’s The Waste Land Research Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with research distinction in English in the undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University by Noah Mastruserio The Ohio State University May 2018 Project Advisor: Professor Sebastian Knowles, Department of English 1 Introduction Of the many works referenced in Eliot’s The Waste Land, Dante’s Divine Comedy holds the most prominent position. Eliot’s dedication to Pound on the title page alludes to a line from Purgatorio, and Dante makes an appearance in every section of the poem, either by direct quote or veiled allusion. Such an association brings Dante’s journey through the Underworld to the forefront of the mind when reading The Waste Land, and provides one of the easiest avenues toward unpacking the poem’s density. But I propose that the poem’s exploration of the Underworld extends beyond a kinship to Dante and toward a deeper structural and thematic debt to the narrative of the katabasis, the descent into the Underworld. I suggest that the five parts of The Waste Land can be united via a traditional katabasis narrative, a narrative of metamorphosis and self-refinement. The katabasis is only one of the many classical and mythological structures Eliot employs throughout the poem. Already thoroughly explored in criticism are his use of the Grail legend1 and the burial and rebirth of a dying god figure. Less so is the appearance of the katabasis in the poem. The poem’s debt to Dante is obvious, but the presence of katabasis extends beyond Eliot quoting pieces of Inferno.
    [Show full text]
  • Let's Think About This Reasonably: the Conflict of Passion and Reason
    Let’s Think About This Reasonably: The Conflict of Passion and Reason in Virgil’s The Aeneid Scott Kleinpeter Course: English 121 Honors Instructor: Joan Faust Essay Type: Poetry Analysis It has long been a philosophical debate as to which is more important in human nature: the ability to feel or the ability to reason. Both functions are integral in our composition as balanced beings, but throughout history, some cultures have invested more importance in one than the other. Ancient Rome, being heavily influenced by stoicism, is probably the earliest example of a society based fundamentally on reason. Its most esteemed leaders and statesmen such as Cicero and Marcus Aurelius are widely praised today for their acumen in affairs of state and personal ethics which has survived as part of the classical canon. But when mentioning the classical canon, and the argument that reason is essential to civilization, a reader need not look further than Virgil’s The Aeneid for a more relevant text. The Aeneid’s protagonist, Aeneas, is a pious man who relies on reason instead of passion to see him through adversities and whose actions are foiled by a cast of overly passionate characters. Personages such as Dido and Juno are both portrayed as emotionally-laden characters whose will is undermined by their more rational counterparts. Also, reason’s importance is expressed in a different way in Book VI when Aeneas’s father explains the role reason will play in the future Roman Empire. Because The Aeneid’s antagonists are capricious individuals who either die or never find contentment, the text very clearly shows the necessity of reason as a human trait for survival and as a means to discover lasting happiness.
    [Show full text]
  • Helen and Pandora: a Comparative Study with Emphasis on the Eidolon Theme As a Concept of Eris
    SOTEROULA CONSTANTINIDOU HELEN AND PANDORA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH EMPHASIS ON THE EIDOLON THEME AS A CONCEPT OF ERIS "In a small-scale society myth tends to be viewed as the encoding of that society’s concept of truth; at the same time, from the viewpoint of We­ stern civilization, myth has become the opposite of fact, the antithesis of truth” (Gregory Nagy, Foreword to R.P. Martin, The Language of Heroes. Speech and Performance in the Iliad, Ithaca and London 1989, ix) *. This work is a comparative study of the myths of Helen and Pan­ dora* 1 with emphasis on the eidolon theme as a concept of eris and on the interaction between mytkos and logos. My aim is to read this theme in a different perspective, i.e. as a device of strife; as such, the eidolon- eris concept is personified in Helen’s heroic figure and gives heioic saga a stimulating version about the Cause of the Trojan War! More­ over, the idea of the association of Helen and Pandora is put forward here, as both figures acquired the mythical details of an image, of a phantom, although each one with essential discrepancies: for example, Pandora’s existence was confined to that of a phantom, a false creation rather than a human being, from the very beginning, whereas Helen’s ccanti-myth” makes her trespass from the world of the real to that of the eidola, of the imitation of the real. Thus, the two mythologi­ ♦ I wish to thank Professors Deborah Boedeker and Kurt Raaflaub for their useful comments on a much earlier and brief version of this work presented at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C., in the summer of 1999.
    [Show full text]
  • Faunus and the Fauns in Latin Literature of the Republic and Early Empire
    University of Adelaide Discipline of Classics Faculty of Arts Faunus and the Fauns in Latin Literature of the Republic and Early Empire Tammy DI-Giusto BA (Hons), Grad Dip Ed, Grad Cert Ed Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy October 2015 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................... 4 Thesis Declaration ................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7 Context and introductory background ................................................................. 7 Significance ......................................................................................................... 8 Theoretical framework and methods ................................................................... 9 Research questions ............................................................................................. 11 Aims ................................................................................................................... 11 Literature review ................................................................................................ 11 Outline of chapters ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Aeneid 7 Page 1 the BIRTH of WAR -- a Reading of Aeneid 7 Sara Mack
    Birth of War – Aeneid 7 page 1 THE BIRTH OF WAR -- A Reading of Aeneid 7 Sara Mack In this essay I will touch on aspects of Book 7 that readers are likely either to have trouble with (the Muse Erato, for one) or not to notice at all (the founding of Ardea is a prime example), rather than on major elements of plot. I will also look at some of the intertexts suggested by Virgil's allusions to other poets and to his own poetry. We know that Virgil wrote with immense care, finishing fewer than three verses a day over a ten-year period, and we know that he is one of the most allusive (and elusive) of Roman poets, all of whom wrote with an eye and an ear on their Greek and Roman predecessors. We twentieth-century readers do not have in our heads what Virgil seems to have expected his Augustan readers to have in theirs (Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, Apollonius, Lucretius, and Catullus, to name just a few); reading the Aeneid with an eye to what Virgil has "stolen" from others can enhance our enjoyment of the poem. Book 7 is a new beginning. So the Erato invocation, parallel to the invocation of the Muse in Book 1, seems to indicate. I shall begin my discussion of the book with an extended look at some of the implications of the Erato passage. These difficult lines make a good introduction to the themes of the book as a whole (to the themes of the whole second half of the poem, in fact).
    [Show full text]
  • The Wolf in Virgil Lee Fratantuono
    The Wolf in Virgil Lee Fratantuono To cite this version: Lee Fratantuono. The Wolf in Virgil. Revue des études anciennes, Revue des études anciennes, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, 2018, 120 (1), pp.101-120. hal-01944509 HAL Id: hal-01944509 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01944509 Submitted on 23 Sep 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Copyright ISSN 0035-2004 REVUE DES ÉTUDES ANCIENNES TOME 120, 2018 N°1 SOMMAIRE ARTICLES : Milagros NAVARRO CABALLERO, María del Rosario HERNANDO SOBRINO, À l’ombre de Mommsen : retour sur la donation alimentaire de Fabia H[---]la................................................................... 3 Michele BELLOMO, La (pro)dittatura di Quinto Fabio Massimo (217 a.C.): a proposito di alcune ipotesi recenti ................................................................................................................................ 37 Massimo BLASI, La consecratio manquée de L. Cornelius Sulla Felix ......................................... 57 Sophie HULOT, César génocidaire ? Le massacre des
    [Show full text]
  • Latin: Figures of Speech & Rhetorical Devices
    LATIN: FIGURES OF SPEECH & RHETORICAL DEVICES ALLITERATION (L., toward the same letters) Repetition of the same sound, usually initial, in two or more words. This term normally applies to consonants and accented initial vowel (magno cum murmure montis, Aeneid 1.55). ANAPHORA (Gk., carrying back) Repetition of a word, usually at the beginning of successive clauses or phrases, for emphasis or for pathetic effect. This figure is often accompanied by asyndeton and ellipsis (hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum..., Aeneid 1.16-17; ubi...ubi...ubi, Aeneid 1.99-100). APOSIOPESIS (Gk., becoming silent) An abrupt failure to complete a sentence, for rhetorical effect (Quos ego - , Aeneid 1.135). APOSTROPHE (Gk., turning away) Address of an absent person or an abstraction, usually for pathetic effect (o terque quaterque beati, Aeneid 1.94). ASSONANCE (L., answer with the same sound) The close recurrence of similar sounds, usually used of vowel sounds (amissos longo socios sermone requirunt, Aeneid 1.217). ASYNDETON (Gk., not bound together) Omission of conjunctions in a closely related series (don’t confuse with anaphora). CHIASMUS (Gk., marking with diagonal lines like a X) Arrangement of pairs of words in opposite order ABBA ELLIPSE (Gk., leaving out) Is the suppression of a word or of several words of minor importance the logical expression of the thought, but necessary to the construction. It allows for brevity, force and liveliness and often unconsciously supplied. ENJAMBMENT (Fr., the act of straddling) The running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines (ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est seditio, Aeneid 1.148-49).
    [Show full text]
  • Print Format
    Giovanni David (Gabella 1743 - Genoa 1790) The Discovery of Romulus and Remus bears partly erased old attribution: ‘Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Venezia 1687 - 1767’ (lower right of backing sheet) pen and grey ink and brown and grey wash, over black chalk 32.2 x 45.4 cm (12⅝ x 17⅞ in) The myth of Romulus and Remus and their subsequent foundation of Rome was of acute interest to Italian artists and their patrons. The scene captured in this exquisite drawing by Giovanni David focuses on the discovery of the twins by a shepherd. The sons of Rhea Silvia and Mars, the God of War, Romulus and Remus calmly suckle from the she-wolf that became irrevocably linked in legend to Rome’s origins. The twins’ great-uncle, Amulius had dethroned their grandfather, Numitor, the rightful king of Alba Longa - which would become Rome. Fearing that his niece Rhea Silvia’s children could threaten this position, Amulius compelled her to become a Vestal Virgin and swear an eternal vow of chastity. The God Mars, however, is said to have seduced Rhea Silvia in a wood and by him she became pregnant with the twins. In fury, Amulius ordered that she be buried alive, following the conventional punishment meted out to Vestal Virgins for subverting her sacred oath, and that the twins be killed. The servant who was ordered to undertake this deed could not bring himself to kill such innocents and instead settled a basket with them inside onto the River Tiber. The river god, Tiberinus protected the twins and eventually set them down in the roots of a fig tree where a she-wolf, Lupus, nursed them.
    [Show full text]
  • Virgil, Aeneid 11 (Pallas & Camilla) 1–224, 498–521, 532–96, 648–89, 725–835 G
    Virgil, Aeneid 11 (Pallas & Camilla) 1–224, 498–521, 532–96, 648–89, 725–835 G Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and commentary ILDENHARD INGO GILDENHARD AND JOHN HENDERSON A dead boy (Pallas) and the death of a girl (Camilla) loom over the opening and the closing part of the eleventh book of the Aeneid. Following the savage slaughter in Aeneid 10, the AND book opens in a mournful mood as the warring parti es revisit yesterday’s killing fi elds to att end to their dead. One casualty in parti cular commands att enti on: Aeneas’ protégé H Pallas, killed and despoiled by Turnus in the previous book. His death plunges his father ENDERSON Evander and his surrogate father Aeneas into heart-rending despair – and helps set up the foundati onal act of sacrifi cial brutality that caps the poem, when Aeneas seeks to avenge Pallas by slaying Turnus in wrathful fury. Turnus’ departure from the living is prefi gured by that of his ally Camilla, a maiden schooled in the marti al arts, who sets the mold for warrior princesses such as Xena and Wonder Woman. In the fi nal third of Aeneid 11, she wreaks havoc not just on the batt lefi eld but on gender stereotypes and the conventi ons of the epic genre, before she too succumbs to a premature death. In the porti ons of the book selected for discussion here, Virgil off ers some of his most emoti ve (and disturbing) meditati ons on the tragic nature of human existence – but also knows how to lighten the mood with a bit of drag.
    [Show full text]