On the Republic, I suppose that the key text is 'Secretosque pios, his dantem iura Catonem' - VIII, 670. Gibbon took this as an indication of V's Republican sympathies, since Cato was certainly the hero of the falling Republic. (Among recent writers see Eckart Lefevre in 'V's Aeneid' edited by HP Stahl, 1998.) The verse about Cato could, I would think, be taken in an Augustan sense - meaning that the Republican system would be fine among the secluded and virtuous few, but is no longer sustainable in the days of vast empire. On the other hand, the words hint that good Romans have sympathies that they keep secret. Julia Dyson 'King of the Wood' (2001) has some interesting remarks on the Aeneid and the 'mystery story' genre, with layers of meaning to be uncovered.
My inclination, for what it's worth, is to suppose that there are three, rather than just two, layers levels of meaning in V's work: 1. Praise of the dual imperium, of the Romans over their great empire and of the Caesars over the Romans. 2. Exposure of the violence and cynicism inherent in both aspects of the imperium: note how women are so often the victims. 3. Religious acceptance of the fate of Rome. As had been said in the Georgics, it is not God's will that there be an easy way. The Caesars will play a more significant and tragic role in history than even they suppose: Marcellus represents them more than they understand. - Martin Hughes On Thu, 22 May 2003, serwickb wrote: > I do believe that there is much to say about the nuances of Virgil's words. My > argument on the Aeneid, is that much of it is really anti-Augustan, though it > comes off on the surface as propoganda for the principate. i wouldn't say it > was necessarily republican, but anti-war in one of the deepest sense. even the > lines that you refer too VI:826, doesn't deal with what Ronald Syme would call > gloriae, but rather calls for one to "throw away your sword" (fitzgerald > translation) now there's a dilemma with reading the aeneid the way i suggest. > on one hand, i think that the aeneid should not be read too allegorically > (though, as you imply, there is a great deal of historical allegory in it). > allegorical readings are the main sources of misreadings in homeric works. on > the other hand, it would be a mistake to believe that virgil did not have a > profound sense of the platonic connection between words and logos. even in the > latinized form, there is a strong connection between sense and sentence. > therefore, to compromise these two approaches, i believe that one must see > Virgil as a writer- and what does all writing, wish to do- to demonstrate > something- to reveal something layer by layer. virgil's work, more than homer, > was a literary epic that is capapble more of using rhetorical device, because > of its written medium, but its message may still be plainer than what we are > making it out to be. sure- there are conflicting interpretations, but the true > interpretation of the book, is the one that is consistent throughout. the > challenge of literary or historical interpretation of the aeneid is the > difference between cohesion and contradiction. one must look beyond the > propoganda facade, and behind that is a layer consistent throughout the book, > contradictory to the propoganda. it goes beyond words and has to deal with > actions. in a sense it is an example of everything that challenged the greeks- > the difference between nomos and physis, between thought and action, between > opinion and knowledge. one layer of the aeneid, there is all the former- this > is the propoganda layer. on another layer, quite plain for those who wish to > seek it, and quite consistent, there is the latter of those greek challenges. > all in all it is presented as the difference between thought and action. > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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 > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
