ETERNITY VISIBLE: THE TRAGIC CYCLE OF HISTORY IN VERGIL’S AENEID by George Saad Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia December 2017 © Copyright by George Saad, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................................iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ............................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 E Pluribus Unum: Vergil’s Varied Arts................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 All the Years at Once: The Synthetic Historical Moment ..................................................................................... 11 1.3 Planting and Founding, Dissolving and Turning: Vergil’s Verbs as Historical Phases ......................................... 13 Chapter 2: Across the Turning Years — A Living Cycle of History ........................................................................... 19 2.1 Tragedy’s Return in German Romantic History .................................................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Living Nature and Historical Cycle in German Romanticism ....................................................................... 20 2.1.2 Nietzsche’s Historical Revaluations of Values .............................................................................................. 23 2.1.3 History’s Movement from Dionysian to Apollonian ..................................................................................... 25 2.1.4 History’s Awakening to the Fate of Zivilisation in Spengler ......................................................................... 29 2.1.5 Spengler’s Antiquity ...................................................................................................................................... 33 2.1.6 Aeneas’ Journey Per Extrema ....................................................................................................................... 35 2.2 Ring Composition and Moral Revaluation ............................................................................................................ 40 2.2.1 Transformation Through Ring Construction .................................................................................................. 40 2.2.2 Epic Epithets as Ring References .................................................................................................................. 44 2.2.3 A Pietas of Impermanence: The Aeneid’s Turning Moral Universe ............................................................. 46 2.2.4 Aeneas and Dido: Circles of Sacred Lies ....................................................................................................... 49 2.2.5 Nietzsche’s Affirmative Eternity ................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 3: Juno Raises Hell — A Cosmos in Chaos ................................................................................................... 55 3.1 The Morning Star Rises: Venus’ Radical Ascendance .......................................................................................... 56 3.2 Tradition Endures: Juno’s Conservative Resistance .............................................................................................. 62 3.3 Love’s Teary Birth: Venus the Tragic Mother ...................................................................................................... 64 3.3.1 Aeneas in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite ................................................................................................... 66 3.3.2 Venus Appears to Aeneas .............................................................................................................................. 68 3.3.3 Venus Seduces Vulcan ................................................................................................................................... 71 3.4 The Matron as Maelstrom: Juno’s Remembering Rage ......................................................................................... 74 3.4.1 Juno’s Cult and Kultur ................................................................................................................................... 76 3.4.2 Juno as Magna Mater .................................................................................................................................... 79 3.4.3 Iuno Evocata .................................................................................................................................................. 82 ii 3.5 Saturnia Iuno: Saturn’s Daughter and the Return of the Titans ............................................................................. 83 3.5.1 Saturn/Kronos in Hesiod ................................................................................................................................ 85 3.5.2 Freedom and Law Under Saturn .................................................................................................................... 88 3.5.3 Juno Between the Titans and Olympians ....................................................................................................... 91 3.6 From the Blood of Titans: Humanity’s Promethean Revolt .................................................................................. 92 3.6.1 Ascanius’ Ascent to the Stars ........................................................................................................................ 93 3.6.2 Mezentius’ Inhuman Cruelty ......................................................................................................................... 95 3.6.3 Nisus’ Theological Adventure ....................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 4: The Eyes Turning Over — The Revolutions of Fate ............................................................................... 100 4.1 Carthago Culta: Aeneas’ Tears at Juno’s Temple ............................................................................................... 101 4.2 Troia Soluta: Troy’s Final Disappearance from History ..................................................................................... 107 4.2.1 The Council of the Gods in Book 10 ........................................................................................................... 110 4.2.2 The Death of Palinurus ................................................................................................................................ 114 4.3 Graecia Voluta: Pallas Athena’s Turning Loom ................................................................................................. 118 4.4 Italia Condita: Roman Foundation, Italian Soil .................................................................................................. 129 4.4.1 A Troy of the Spirit ...................................................................................................................................... 129 4.4.2 The Social Wars ........................................................................................................................................... 131 4.4.3 Human Sacrifice Among Friends ................................................................................................................. 133 4.4.4 Turnus and Amata: The Bull and the Beloved ............................................................................................. 138 4.4.5 Juno Betrays Juturna .................................................................................................................................... 147 Chapter 5: Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 151 Appendix A – The American Experience .................................................................................................................. 153 Appendix B – Astrology ............................................................................................................................................ 157 Appendix C – Visuals ................................................................................................................................................ 160 Appendix D – The Historical Paradigm .................................................................................................................... 163 Appendix E – Rings and Cycles ................................................................................................................................ 164 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................. 172 iii ABSTRACT This thesis provides a comprehensive interpretation of Vergil’s Aeneid as an expression of cyclical time. In capturing the historical intensity