Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Wed, 14 Sep 2005 12:33:14 -0700
Which Vergil after all was not challenging. Besides, for the purposes of the plot he needed Aeneas to be wifeless when he arrived in Carthage; he could have made him a widower before the fall, but the loss described is more pathetic. (And Creusa, like its masculine counterpart Creon, was the favoured name for a genealogical item invented at need.)I suspect that Virgil intended Aeneas to be a hero Augustus would have viewed as ideal. The degree to which his epic is ironic has been the subject of much debate. I was taught (by a prof who ignored the irony) that Creusa dies so that Aeneas may found a new Troy via a new marriage. It was not wrong of Aeneas to tell Creusa to follow him; rather, it was an assertion of the patriarchal notion of male power, control, and continuity. One can always find another wife, after all. Creusa seems to cooperate with the patriarchal order when she appears to Aeneas after her death.
She does not accuse him, as Dido will; she just points him in the direction he must take to fulfill his mission.
And that is part at least of what she is there for.In both ancient and modern literature, it is the fault of 'Anglo-Saxons' to focus on characters as if they were real human beings to the exclusion of their function within the work of literature. It is easy enough to read Homer for real human beings; but was Vergil so concerned? Dido, who has negative features often overlooked, is 'real', or rounded, enough; but it is precisely when Aeneas steps out of the Idealized Roman to be an individual that he is, at least morally, most fallible: falling for Dido, killing Turnus. But there again, historical aetiology requires Dido to have ground for cursing him; and can anyone envisage Turnus settling down as either a private citizen or the First Minister of Aeneas' government without nurturing his resentment or being the focus for any malcontents? Neither poetically nor politically is the individual the be-all and end-all that English-speakers seem to wish.
Leofranc Holford-Strevens -- *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/353865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home)/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub