Aeneid Modern Scholarship

R.J Tarrant (Virgil’s engagement with politics)

Virgil engages with contemporary political reality in a serious and sustained way rather than constructing a poetic world that excludes or trivialises politics. Yet each also creates the means of preventing Virgil or his poetry from becoming simply a vehicle of political comment

R.J Tarrant (Aeneid taking politics into account)

The Aeneid can be seen as reflecting great political events at the time such as the creation of the principate, by setting the action of the poem in the heroic past but is narrated from the viewpoint of the present.

At three points a prophetic vision reveals events that lie far ahead in the future for Aeneas but which belonged to the past or present for Virgil’s audience.

R.J Tarrant (Old School vs New School)

There were two types of poetry at the time the Aeneid was written

Old School poetry - praising current important public figures and events

New school poetry - avoiding this and having more subtle and exquisite refinement

Virgil came to Rome after the death of Catullus and so was in the middle of this

A. Parry

Translator K. Guinach believed that virgil was an admirer of Princeps and his policies sought to promote the reconstruction that augustus had in mind

Parry disagrees, arguing that there is a sense of loss in the Aeneid when Aeneas loses his wife Creusa, Palinurus, Dido, Anchises which gives a mood to Aeneid of fustration, loss and sadness

P. Hardie (Aeneas)

What is seen as the colourless quality of Aeneas’ character is largely the result of the roles forced on him by the plot of the Aeneid

Rather than being strongly driven by internal desire or ambition, he is forced into a mission by circumstances beyond his control

R.O.A.M Lyne (Aeneas’ relationships with others)

Virgil seems disinclined to show Aeneas responding or relating to others.

Aeneas’ interaction with others is minimal. In general, it is Aeneas’ relationships that Virgil appears to neglect.

A.Parry (Aeneas’ destiny)

Aeneas from the start is absorbed with his own destiny which does not ultimately relate to him, but to something larger and less personal (The foundation of Rome)

Throughout he has no choice, he does not assert himself like Odysseus, he is always the victim of forces greater than himself, and one lesson he msust learn is not to resist them

R. Deryck Williams (Aeneas’ leadership)

Aeneas has to be a social man. Via his care for others he succeeds in leading his group or his society.

He is not aiming to achieve personal satisfaction by surpassing others in excellence but to use his qualities to achieve success for others.

We may all decide whether Virgil has been successful in his new creation, but must not judge Aeneas adversely because we think he ought to be like achilles

C.J. Mackie (Aeneas’ Characterisation)

Aeneas’ concern to facilitate fate is the cornerstone of his pietas

Grandsen (Aeneas)

Aeneas is a complex character, pious but also a great soldier, perhaps Troy’s greatest after Hector

Grandsen (Book 4, Dido)

Book 4 is like a tragedy, with scenes between the protagonists, divine messengers and interventions, with the author is chorus, not only narrating but commenting on the action

J. Griffin (End of the Aeneid)

There is no neat conclusion to the end of book 12, the effect is haunting, complex and in harmony with the rest of the poem and is deliberate

I. Gildenhard (relevance of the Aeneid)

Reading the Aeneid historically enhances the texts relevance. Raising issues of sexual ethics, the use and abuse of power, interaction with the other, imperialism, personal choice and historical necessity or rhetorical spin on the misrepresentation of facts to name a few.

Majority of which continue to matter today)

Y. Syed (Portrayal of cultures)

Virgil uses the Trojans, Latins and other foreign cultures to enable the Roman reader to work out what is really Roman about them

Y. Syed (Portrayal of Women and Cultures)

Women in particular come to symbolise their nations geographically

Lavinia representing the proper latin woman can be contrasted to the foreign, wilder and more chaotic Dido

Grandsen (Fate and free will)

Fate means that certain events have to happen but the exact time and circumstances in which they have to happen is not fixed

This bit of leeway allows mortals and gods a certain amount of free will to choose the exact time that event will happen

D. Ross (Fate and free will)

The Aeneid is not a poem about religion, yet fate and the gods are everywhere throughout the poem, seeming to be always in control

E. Oliensis (Sexuality)

In Rome all sexual relationships are characterised by their penetrability (active = higher status/senior partner vs passive = lower status/less senior partner)

It was frowned upon as a freeborn Roman man to play the passive role - Iarbas insults Aeneas by calling him effeminate (soft, being the passive partner)

E. Oliensis (Gender)

In the Aeneid there is a flip in relationships: e.g venus seducing Vulcan in book 8. Vulcan = faithful husband, playing the part of the dutiful roman housewife accepting Venus’ advances

Gender in Aeneid can follow Roman stereotypes - Feminine is associated with unruly passion, the masculine with reasoned mastery

C. Reilly (Gender)

Characters are portrayed in a way that is simultaneously a threat to traditional gender roles whilst also providing an example of ideal Roman values

This is especially the case for foreign female characters who embody certain Roman virtues but threaten standard cultural norms in ancient Rome

Dido and Camilla - possess Roman qualities but are doomed to fail in a world dominated by males

Virgil portrays women who step out of traditional gender roles as doomed to fail, even if they portray virtues that a Roman man should hold - holds true for Camilla, Dido and Penthesilea

Camilla is patriotic but is still doomed to die

W.H Semple (Portrayal of War)

Virgil in truth hated war despite needing to portray it in a somewhat positive light, as war and the making of empire was very positive for the Romans, particularly Augustus.

Evidence for Virgil’s hatred of war:

The Eclogues and Georgics - the civil wars left a deep mark, particularly in the sadness he feels at the destruction of human happiness and prosperity and at the desolation caused in the countryside

W.H Semple (Portrayal of Aeneas)

Aeneas must be portrayed as the primeval ancestor of Rome, a prototype in the historic qualities by which many great Roman soldiers and statesman and especially Augustus consolidated their country in strength, unity and peace

E. Adler (Portrayal of War)

The Italians had been constantly at war until Aeneas arrives and brings war to the surface and ends it entirely creating a conclusive and final peace

This peace is Aeneas’ contribution to the foundation of Rome

“He founds Rome by making a peace settlement in Italy”

Does not contribute via laws, politics, the site of the city or the city’s physical foundation