Aeneid Scholarship

Morwood on optimism and pessimism

the tension between optimism and pessimism is an apt reflection of the times in which it was written

Poschl on symbolism

everything, every gesture, movement, and image becomes a symbol of the soul

Williams on Book 2

the most intense, and where the concept of destiny is at its strongest

Williams on Book 3

there is no intensity, just long endurance

Griffin on Book 12’s ending

deliberately haunting, complex, and in harmony with the rest of the poem

Muir on Virgil’s task

to connect an ancient, unfamiliar, and heroic past with a sophisticated urban culture

West on catalogues

many Romans had ties with the country districts of Italy and would have been moved by this celebration of their local cultures

Williams on Homer

far and away the most important literary source

Ross on being human

to be human is to experience failure and suffer defeat

Williams on creating a hero

Virgil had to create a hero for an age no longer heroic

Williams on Virgil’s hero

characterised by a willingness to subordinate his own individual personality to the needs and requirements of his duty

Duckworth on Aeneas’ mistakes

Aeneas does falter, and more than once

West on Aeneas

a human being who knew defeat and dispossession, love and the loss of love, whose life was ruled by his sense of duty, even if it was hard and he wearied of it

Morwood on Aeneas

a leader in a new mould, with a profound sense of social responsibility

Jenkyns on Aeneas

out of his depth

Ross on Aeneas

an emblematic automoton, a wooden puppet lacking in genuine human emotion

Morwood on Dido and Aeneas

Aeneas acts very much unlike a Roman, but he makes no commitment

Hardie on Aeneas

he is forced into a mission by circumstances beyond his control

Parry on Aeneas

he is always the victim of forces greater than himself and must learn not to resist them

Lyne on Aeneas’ relationships

Virgil neglects Aeneas’ relationships

Williams on Dido’s story

it is Dido’s complete tragedy, not the triumph of the Roman mission, which remains in the mind

Morwood on Dido

she has more than just a physical attraction to him; she is in love with everything about him

Williams on Dido as a leader

she shows all the qualities of an effective leader until the intervention of Venus

Williams on Dido in the first half of Book 4

wholly absorbed in her passion, intensely arousing sympathy

Williams on Dido in the second half of Book 4

a terrifying personification of hatred, fury, and vengeance, who arouses terror instead of sympathy

Duckworth on Turnus

a tragic character both because he is a brave man devoted to a doomed cause and because he cannot live up to his own ideals

Williams on Turnus

essentially a hero of the Homeric kind

Williams on Turnus’ attitude to his fate

his acceptance is noble and heroic

Williams on the Aeneid’s ending

focused on the death of Turnus rather than the triumph of Aeneas

Duckwowrth on Nisus

exemplifies freedom from divine motivation

West on Nisus and Euryalus

exemplars of what Aeneas is not

Duckworth on Nisus and Euryalus

the clearest instance of individuals making their own decisions and doing the wrong thing through misguided motives

Morwood

Virgil equates Priam with Pompey through his decapitation on the beach, raising difficult political issues

Morwood on Deiphobus

a visual emblem of the last night of Troy

Williams on Latinus

an extreme foil to the Turnus’ impetuosity

Williams on Amata

an unstable character of violent emotion

Williams on Lavinia

a plot device with no personality at all

West on Mezentius

a villain through and through, but when his life swings towards tragedy, Virgil extends sympathy

Gransden on Drances

characteristically ambiguous

Williams on Camilla

a strange mixture of pastoral idyll and the violent heroic world

Duckworth on Camilla

to blame for her own death, with a woman’s love of beautiful objects

Parry on Aeneas’ destiny

Aeneas is from the start absorbed in his destiny, which does not relate to him, but to Rome, and he has no choice in this matter

Duckworth on Aeneas’ feelings

he is a worthy hero who does not lack strong feeling, but has subordinated his emotions to the will of the gods

Semple on the portrayal of war

it must be at least somewhat positive, as war was the making of Rome and Augustus

Semple on Virgil’s thoughts on war

Virgil is not a man of war, and he hated it

Williams on the portrayal of the defeated

Virgil has such sympathy for the defeated that it seems to conflict with the triumph of Rome’s achievement

Syed on other nations

Virgil uses foreign cultures to enable the Roman reader to work out what is really Roman about themself

Syed on foreign women

women symbolise their nations

Duckworth on Aeneas after the vision of future Rome

dedicated but very human

Williams on Aeneas’ attitude to heroism

he is trying to modify the Homeric model into something less exciting but more civilised

Mackie on Aeneas’ pietas

his general concern to facilitate fate is the cornerstone of his pietas

Duckworth on impiety

Mezentius, not Turnus, represents impiety

Williams’ definition of furor

the irrational, impulsive element of a man

Williams on the death of Turnus

justified, as he represents a barbaric way of life with no place in the new civilisation

Morwood on Jupiter’s role

responsible for the execution of fate

Morwood on fate

what is fated will happen, but it can be delayed or modified

Duckworth on free will

humans are free agents; they make their own decisions and suffer if they are wrong

Ross on fate and the gods

everywhere throughout the poem, always in control

Williams on faith

the Aeneid is a religious poem above all else

West on Jupiter

sometimes all-powerful lord of the universe, sometimes head of a rowdy family

Williams on Venus

the protector of the Roman mission

Williams on Juno

implacably hostile to the Trojans

West on Dido’s death

engineered by Juno and Venus for their own ends

West on Juno

the greatest liar in the Aeneid

Duckworth on death

Virgil stresses the effect of death on loved ones

Highet on Venus

not so much a goddess of sexual love as a protective lover

Oliensis on penetration

all sexual relationships were characterised by their penetrability

Oliensis on gender

the feminine is associated with unruly passion, and the masculine with reasoned mastery

Oliensis on virtuous women

they prove their virtue by submitting to the masculine plot of history

Reilly on gender

characters both threaten Roman gender norms and exemplify Roman values

Griffin on Augustus

he illegally climbed to tyranny by slaughtering enemies and destroying the constitution

Williams on patriotism

there is tension between optimistic patriotism and the continued existence of sorrow and suffering

Williams on Virgil and Augustus’ political ideology

only by a return to the virtues of the past could Rome recapture her identity

Griffin on Virgil’s message to Augustus

Virgil pressures Augustus to virtue by creating a model in Aeneas

Griffin on how Virgil portrays Augustus

through allegory and glimpses of the future

Griffin on the Actium scene

the east-west dichotomy evades the problems of civil war

Parry on the poem’s mood

frustration, loss, and sadness

Guinach on Virgil’s intention

to promote the reconstruction that Augustus had in mind

Tarrant on Virgil’s politics

the Aeneid simultaneously seriously engages with contemporary political realities and maintains distance from them

O’Rourke on Aeneas’ return

it must be told from the Italian perspective because of the violent language used

Morgan on Aeneas’ behaviour after the death of Pallas

morally difficult for us, and more so for the Romans