I gave a paper the other day on the "Third Eclogue" where I mentioned Horace's description of Vergil's early work as "molle atque facetum" (Satires 1.10.44), and discussed how some scholars have resisted translating "facetum" as "witty" (its obvious meaning in this context).
One of the audience was rather intrigued by this; he thought that there were lots of examples of humor in even the later work of Vergil; he cited the death of Palinurus as a thigh-slapper from the Aeneid. I was a little freaked out by this at first-- I'd always taken the death of Palinurus (and, in fact, most of the "Aeneid") with a straight face, and I sort of resented the possibility that I'd been hoodwinked by the urbane Mantuan. That's not a valid critical response, though. Besides, some humor isn't incompatible with an underlying seriousness (or vice versa). So my question for the list is: can any of you guys think of instances of humor (or potential humor) from the "Aeneid"? JMP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
