In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
David Wilson-Okamura <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>From: Adrian Pay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 23:53:19 -0000
>
>I find Mezentius a very interesting character in the Aeneid. One bit that's
>particularly striking is lines 10.689f "At Iovis interea monitis Mezentius
>ardens / succedit pugnae Teucrosque invadit ovantis" ("But meanwhile on the
>*instructions of Jupiter* burning Mezentius...". Now have a look at the
>scene where Jupiter replies to the complaints of Juno and Venus at the
>beginning of book 10. Jupiter says at 104ff that he will be completely
>impartial in the coming fight - "Tros Rutulusne fuat, nullo discrimine
>habebo ... rex Iuppiter omnibus idem" and he swears this by the Styx.
>
>The way I read it, bits like this undermine the superficial picture of a
>"moral" Jupiter; the deaths of both Trojans and Rutulans are part of the
>plan of Jupiter, just like the "countless deaths of Greeks" are part of
>Zeus' plan in the Iliad (1.1 and elsewhere).
>
>Have a look also at the bit where Jupiter holds up the scales to decide
>whether Turnus or Aeneas is to die (12.725ff). And its by *Jupiter's* th
>rone that the Dirae sit (one of whom is sent against Turnus) not, as one
>might expect, Juno's.
>
>I think you're quite right that this is intimately connected with Vergil's
>Augustan agenda. Generally speaking there is a balance in the Aeneid
>between patriotic pro-Augustan stuff (which I find a genuine and integral
>part of the poem) and a deep exploration of the negative side of
>imperialism.
Very well put.
>The death of Turnus is an excellent example - it is the
>crowning moment of the Aeneid and marks both Aeneas' success and the
>founding of Rome, but the tone is disquieting. Homer's Iliad finished with
>the incredible scene of reconciliation between Achilles and Priam - the old
>Trojan king eats with the Greek who killed and mutilated his best son and I
>think Vergil wanted his readers to bear in mind how that epic finished.
>Remember as well Anchises words to Aeneas at 6.852f "Remember, Roman, to
>rule over peoples with 'imperium' (these will be your arts), and to add
>civilized values to peace, *to spare those who are thrown down* ["parcere
>subiectis"] and war against those who are arrogant". And Aeneas almost does
>have mercy on Turnus (lines 12.938ff). But it is noticing Pallas' belt
>which incenses him ("saevi...doloris"; "furiis accensus et ira terribilis";
>"fervidus" - words with great resonance through the Aeneid).
>
>I hope some of that will be thought provoking.
>
>Adrian Pay
Indeed. The problem I have with much Vergilian comment is the demand
that gods, and men, live up to Platonic (sometimes even Christian)
expectations; as if what was good enough for Homeric gods and heroes
weren't good enough for Vergil. It is true that V. could not wipe away
700 years (shall we say) of intellectual and religious development; but
he was also an epic poet, who was entitled to the Homeric conceptions
whenever they served his turn. A furher complication is that he was a
Roman with Roman expectations of how men and gods should behave, above
all in relation to the cause of Rome. Here indeed is one of the
complexities of the Dido episode: _pius Aeneas_ behaves like a true
Roman, but the gods are not the Roman collective of _di inmortales_, but
individual Homeric deities with their own agendas. (The contrast is
grossly oversimplified, but I think there is something in it.)
Leofranc Holford-Strevens
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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)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work)
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