>-- Messaggio originale --
>Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 13:04:42 +0000 (GMT)
>From: M W Hughes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: VIRGIL: Numbers and sacrifices
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>This is a tangential, maybe fanciful, comment on the arguments raised in
>Llewelyn Morgan's 'Patterns of Redemption in V's Georgics' - Cambridge
>1999. The sacrifices of civil war are seen as redemptive and
>constructive, particularly if they are presided over by the right
>historical figure - Augustus as Great Leader and (in effect) High Priest.
>Morgan pays great attention to the Katabasis of Aristaeus and revives some
>of the arguments of The Golden Bough, itself a study of the constructive
>possibilities of human sacrifice.
>
>I wanted to refer to one feature of the sacrifices surrounding the
>Katabasis of Aeneas, that is the sometimes careful-seeming enumeration
of
>sacrificial victims.
>
>The appropriate number of sacrifices is set on Minoan authority as 7 +
7,
>male and female. Minos demanded that of the Athenians and the Sibyl
>demands it of Aeneas (substituting animal victims). Another principle,
1
>and 1 only for many, has appeared in Neptune's speech in Book V.
>
>Neptune's full prescription seems at first to be satisfied when Palinurus
>falls overboard, but on closer inspection this is not so, since Palinurus
>is not 'lost in the vortex, and sought for': he falls into a calm sea and
>dies on land. Misenus, having seemed safely to reach land, then slips,
is
>sucked down and is anxiously searched for.
>
>Yet another number, 6, appears in Book VI 243, where the sacrifice is of
>4
>oxen, one lamb and one heifer. Is the implicit request to the gods to
>accept 6 for 7 a plea for divine mercy, or an offer by Aeneas himself to
>be the 7th victim if need be?
>
>In his Katabasis Aeneas encounters two groups of victims, but the right
>numbers, 7 + 7, seem to be missed both times. There are 8 Noble Women
who
>died for love. The 7th is Caenis, whose return to her true form is a sign
>of hope, but the 8th is the angry and vengeful Dido, suggesting that
>Aeneas/Augustus himself is responsible for sacrifice that has become
>excessive. Then come the 9 warriors who died for Troy - the number creeps
>up. (If you add the Greek warriors of the older generation, there are
>12).
>
>When we compare this with the other mismatched number, 1 for many becoming
>more than the promised 1, our confidence even in divine control of
>sacrifice is shaken. Even if the gods are apparently explicit, there is
>always a hidden meaning.
>
>Is this numerical slippage V's way of pointing out that when you start
the
>process of human sacrifice you cannot stop it where you expect - it's
>always worse than you think that it will be. At this rate, there is
>always something false about the idea of leading and controlling the
>sacrifice for the common good and the redemption of the state. This idea
>would point to a less positive view of Augustus' high priestly role than
>Morgan indicates.
>
>- Martin
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I thank M. Hughes for having raised the problem of Number in Virgil?s poetry.
It has been discovered and documented for long time, but I think it is still
a very fascinating field for V?s scholars. Many examples have been discovered
and it?s a proof of the different comprehension?s levels of V?s works. The
Augustan cultured public shouldn?t be indifferent to this numerology and
I think they based they judgement on it too. As one of innumerable possible
examples, I?ll cite this one from book II:
?quater ipso in limine portae
substitit atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere.
(Book II,
242-243)
Quater is cited two times in these lines, because number four is connected
to sacrifices to underworld?s gods. This symbol is amplified by the fact
the Horse tripped up on the city?s threshold, an evident sign of bad fortune,
and by the weapons rumbling inside the horse. If we mix these three symbols,
we?ll have a shocking prophecy of the future massacre.
Stefano Vitrano
Stefano Vitrano
C.E.I. school, Palermo, Italy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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