Poetic Appropriations in Vergil's Aeneid
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 8-9-2014 Poetic Appropriations in Vergil’s Aeneid: A Study in Three Themes Comprising Aeneas’ Character Development Edgar Gordyn University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Gordyn, E.(2014). Poetic Appropriations in Vergil’s Aeneid: A Study in Three Themes Comprising Aeneas’ Character Development. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2822 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Poetic Appropriations in Vergil’s Aeneid: A Study in Three Themes Comprising Aeneas’ Character Development by Edgar Gordyn Bachelor of Arts Texas State University, 2011 __________________________________________ Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Comparative Literature College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2014 Accepted by: Hunter Gardner, Director of Thesis Mark Beck, Reader Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Acknowledgements This work is owed entirely to my director, Dr. Hunter Gardner, and my reader, Dr. Mark Beck, both of whose guidance has proved vital to sustaining the project through to completion. Dr. Gardner’s enthusiasm for her field, her work, and her students is truly unequalled. Dr. Beck’s keen eye and mind are invaluable assets for any project. The faults remaining in this work are my own. ii Abstract In Vergil’s Aeneid, Aeneas’ character development into the leader of the new Roman race is depicted in light of three significant themes: the bees, whether they appear in the epic’s similes or in the prophetic vision in book 7, the theme of passion, particularly ira, and the theme of reason, whether in Aeneas’ spoken commands or in his increasingly purposeful actions in founding his intended city. These themes, I argue, are interdependent and together highlight Aeneas’ character development into a model Roman leader, as well as highlight significant depictions of Vergil’s vision of the model Roman state. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Bees and Politics ............................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2: Passion and Speech ...................................................................................... 23 Chapter 3: Politics, Passion, and Reason ........................................................................ 50 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 64 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 66 iv Introduction: Towards the Aeneid’s Tripartite Themes Of the numerous themes that comprise Vergil’s Aeneid, the development of the epic’s hero, Aeneas, is one of the most prominent. Aeneas’ wanderings and his uncertainty about his fate gradually evolve over twelve books to the point where his movements and resolve clarify into his focused purpose for establishing the Roman people. Although the labor of establishing Rome in the epic’s latter six books is dramatized as no easier than are Aeneas’ travails in the epic’s first six books, Vergil accentuates the development of Aeneas’ character and his authority to rule with three related themes: the bee similes and imagery, the theme of the human passional element, particularly ira, and the dual theme of speech and action. Each theme bears in important ways on the other two themes. The imagery of the bees represents Aeneas’ longed-for citizens who labor obediently to fulfill their leader’s governance, whether they do so as peaceful citizens constructing their city, or as relentless soldiers who destroy the cities of others. The bees first appear in one of the epic’s earliest similes, when Aeneas has his first view of an established city, Carthage. Here, the bees reflect Aeneas’ distant hopes for founding a city as well as his uncertain ability for achieving such a goal. The simile then resolves into a depiction of more actual figures in Aeneas’ mission when in book 6 the bees represent the future Romans which Aeneas will eventually engender. The bees next become, in a prophet’s interpretation, images for a conquering army which turns out in the epic’s narrative to be Aeneas’ own army taking its first major step in claiming Italy by invading Latium. The bees occur a fourth time in 1 another simile which depicts the comparably small event of a shepherd smoking bees out of a rocky den, in contrast to Aeneas’ purposeful and fierce charge against the Latins in the scene. The passional element is, naturally, an important motivator for key events in the narrative. Not only does passion, particularly ira, drive Juno to harass Aeneas to such an extent, but passion also motivates Aeneas in an important way: his rage (ira) at seeing Helen seeking protection at the altar of Vesta (I argue, following Jeffrey Fish, that the scene is authentic, and take the scene as a significant depiction of Aeneas’ ability to control passion for his more purposeful goals of managing a people rationally) is effectively deferred throughout the epic until Aeneas murders Turnus at the epic’s conclusion, thereby asserting his superiority as a leader. Vergil depicts passion as an especially destructive force when passion overrules Dido. Though Vergil does not exempt Aeneas from passion, he does emphasize a leader’s need to govern and even utilize passion in accordance with reason. Reason, Vergil’s third theme considered here, has what I take to signify a dual concept. Following the Greek logos, I take reason to mean both rational capacity and speaking capacity, or authority by reason and authority by speech. Vergil depicts Aeneas’ authority with respect to both uses of logos: initially by his ability to govern his men by speaking, then by his ability to govern them through action alone. The emphasis on logos evolves from the sort of performed rhetoric of speech—or, put another way, action effected through speech—to the more natural and cooperative understanding between citizens and their leader of their shared purpose. That Aeneas speaks more and acts less—or at least acts less purposefully—in the epic’s first half contrasts diametrically his ability to act more and 2 speak less in the epic’s latter half demonstrates, as Gilbert Highet has noted, Aeneas’ evolution into a leader whose purpose is so effective that his followers share this purpose naturally and without the need for speech—that is, they share it with their own innate reason as civilized individuals. Speech—logos, reason—evolves into action as Vergil depicts his model civilization—Rome—being founded and operating as easily as the bees in the first simile work in building up their metaphoric city. Scholars have written on these themes extensively, and their dialogue overlaps and interweaves in surprising and provocative ways. Sarah Spence’s discussions of both speech and passion provide valuable insights into Vergil’s development of these correlated and codependent if irreconcilable ideas. Karl Galinsky’s analysis of language and of the epic’s structure brings to light the ways in which Vergil highlights his important themes of language and speech at key moments in the narrative. Michael Putnam’s close treatment of important passages where Vergil looks both forward into his own epic’s development as well as backward to his predecessor Homer’s epics amplifies Vergil’s themes. Gilbert Highet describes crucial aspects of the epic’s speeches, which represent Aeneas’ development in telling ways. Yvan Nadeau emphasizes the theme of Aeneas’ character development into the ideal Roman leader by highlighting crucial links between Aristaeus’ character development in the fourth Georgic and Aeneas’ development in the Aeneid. Yasmin Syed opens an important dialogue regarding the epic’s potential effects on its audience, which underscores Vergil’s development of the two-part theme of speech and reason by suggesting the epic has a didactic purpose. Blending these and other scholars’ insights in the manner which I offer highlights a theme that is critical to Vergil’s apparent purposes for his epic, whether narrative or political. My focus here on logos and 3 civilization underscores a theme that would seem to be vital to any enduring work of epic poetry. 4 Chapter 1: Bees and Politics Vergil employs bee similes and imagery at four significant points in the Aeneid—at 1.418-38, at 6.706-12, at 7.59-70, and at 12.574-92—both in order to advance the narrative and to depict various stages of the development of Aeneas’ character. The similes are worth considering at length for the way they reflect Aeneas’ evolving resolve to found the Roman nation, as well as his capacity for governing it. This capacity consists largely in Aeneas’ dual ability both for utilizing