The Aeneid - Literary Notes

Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni,

Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longe

ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli;

• ‘urbs antiqua fuit’ - ‘long ago, there was a city’ - deliberately ambiguous - expect him to be talking about Troy or Rome - makes it all the more unexpected when we learn its Carthage

• ‘urbs…fuit, Tyrii’ - juxtaposition + caesura - heightens anticipation, more unexpected

• ‘Tyrii tenuere coloni’ - ‘Held by Tyrian colonists’ - EWO - pictorial image of the Tyrians holding the area

• ‘Karthago,’ - ‘Carthage’ - emphatic placement + caesura - conveys shock that he’s talking about Carthage, not Troy/Rome

• ‘Karthago, Italiam’ - juxtaposition + separated by caesura - highlights the hostility between the two

• ‘longe’ - ‘far off’ - emphatic placement' - emphasises great distance from the river Tiber

• ‘dives opum studiis asperrima’ - ‘rich in resources and most harsh in the pursuits of war’ - chiasmus

• ‘asperrima’ - ‘most harsh’ - superlative, ‘belli’ - ‘war’ - emphatic placement - makes Carthage look like a worthy adversary against Rome

quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam

posthabita coluisse Samo; hic illius arma,

hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse,

si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.

• ‘quam’ and ‘unam’ - both refer to Carthage at beginning and end of line - emphasises how Juno’s life is encapsulated in Carthage - it’s all she focuses on

• ‘terris magis omnibus’ - ‘more than all other lands’ - EWO - shows the extent of her love

• ‘coluisse’ - ‘cultivate/honour’ - strong vocab choice - normally used when mortals worship the gods - has been reversed - referencing a goddess for a mortal city

• ‘Samo’ - ‘Samos’ - delayed to end of clause - not as important as Carthage

• ‘coluisse Samo’ - juxtaposition - expect her to cultivate/revere Samos, not Carthage

• ‘hic…hic…hoc’ - polyptoton + anaphora - list of all the ways Juno values Carthage

• ‘arma’ (armour) & ‘currus’ (chariot) - military vocab - suggests that Juno will fight/take up arms against anyone who threatens Carthage

• ‘iam tum’ - ‘even then’ - emphatic inclusion, ‘tenditque fovetque’ - ‘both strived and cherished’ - polysyndeton - shows her relentless and futile resistance to what Fate has already ordained

• ‘si qua fata sinant’ - ‘if only the fates might allow it’ - fate is blocking her from getting what she wants both grammatically and literally

• ‘Fata’ - 'the Fates’ - personification - shows the inevitability of fate - not even Juno can override it as it’s so powerful

• ‘sinant’ - ‘might’ - conditional subjunctive - points to Juno’s delusion - fate can’t be changed

'progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci

audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;

hinc populum late regem belloque superbum

venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas.

• ‘sed enim’ - ‘however’ - emphatic inclusion + contrast with ‘iam tum’ - shows what is stopping her from getting what she wants

• ‘audierat’ - ‘she had heard’ - emphatic placement + pluperfect - suggest this was always set in stone and she’s known about it for a while but is still trying to change it

• ‘Tyrias…verteret arces’ - ‘come to overthrow the Tyrian strongholds’ - EWO - creates a pictorial image of the Tyrian strongholds being overthrown

• ‘populum late regem’ - ‘a wide ruling people,’ - what Juno wants for Carthage but can’t have

• ‘superbum’ - ‘proud’ - EP at end - contrasts with how Carthaginians are described as ‘asperrima’ - ‘very harsh’ - in war

• ‘venturum’ - ‘would come’ - future participle - emphasises the inevitability of the Romans coming

• ‘sic volvere Parcas,’ - ‘so the Fates spun’ - short, pithy phrase - shows the fates have the final say - non-negotiable

• ‘volvere’ - ‘spun’ - metaphor of the 3 fates ewaving

• ‘Parcas’ - ‘Fates’ - EP at end - fates have the final say

id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,

prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis

(necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores

exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum

iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,

et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.)

• ‘id metuens’ - ‘fearing this’ - present participle - suggests it’s a continuous action - striking as fear is not normally associated with the gods

• ‘veteris…belli’ - ‘Juno, remembering the long-standing war’ - EWO - Juno can’t escape the thought of it

• ‘veteris’ & ‘memor’ - juxtaposition - her memory is as long-standing as the war

• ‘caris gesserat Argis’ - ‘the war which she had waged on behalf of her beloved Argos’ - EWO - she is at the heart of the war

• ‘necdum etiam’ - ‘not yet’ - emphatic inclusion - shows her deep-rooted hatred - the Greeks won the war but she still wasn’t satisfied

• ‘dolores’ - ‘sorrows’ - EP - word used for extreme pain which Juno hadn’t really experienced - dramatic

• ‘exciderant anima’ - ‘had not fallen from her mind’ - metaphor - shows that it is strongly fixed in her mind

• ‘animo’ & ‘mente’ - ‘mind’ - variatio - emphasises this is all in her head

• ‘repostum’ - intensifying prefix ‘re’ - comes back again and again

• ‘animo…repostum’ - m alliteration - reflects how deep set it is in her mind

• ‘iudicium Paridis’ - ‘the judgement of Paris’ - EP - shows that this is the cause of all her anger

• ‘spretaque iniuria formae’ - injustice to her scorned beauty - EWO - seeing from Juno’s perspective so completely objective

• Paridis…honores’ - tricolon + polysyndeton - emphasises how many reasons she has to hate the Trojans

  • all the reasons she hates them are because they wounded her pride

his accensa super, iactatos aequore toto

Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,

arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos

errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum.

• ‘his accensa super’ - ‘incensed further by this’ - metaphor - describes Juno’s state of mind as destructive, wild and uncontrable

• ‘super’ - ‘further’ - emphatic inclusion - shows the extent of her rage

• ‘iactatos aequore toto Troas’ - ‘she was keeping the Trojans, tossed over the whole sea’ - chiasmus + enjambement - creates a pictorial image of them being tossed about

• ‘iactatos’ - ‘tossed about’ - promoted PPP - presents their lack of agency - weak and helpless - evokes Pathos for the Trojans

• ‘reliquias’ - ‘remnants’ - unflattering and negative description + pejorative word - seen as an annoyance

• ‘immitis Achilli’ - ‘pitiless Achilles’ - promoted adjective - shows the supremacy of the Greeks in comparison to the Trojans

• ‘arcebat’ - ‘she was keeping them away’ - imperfect - continuous action

  • positioning shows that ‘errabant’ (they were wandering) is a direct effect of ‘arcebat’

• ‘acti’ - ‘having been driven’ - PPP - lack of agency and shows the inevitability of fate

• ‘maria omnia circum’ - ‘around all the seas’ - i & m alliteration - heavy repetitive sounds - like they’re going around in circles

tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

• ‘tantae’ - ‘so great’ - E.P. - such a great trouble to make such a great people

Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum
vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,
cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore vulnus,
haec secum: ‘mene incepto desistere victam,
nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?

• ‘Vix e conspectu Siculae’ - they were so close to Italy - evokes Pathos