It seems to me that it's more than just the fact that those whom Aeneas kills
are his enemies in battle. In Book 12, after the truce is broken, he goes
after Turnus alone (solum in certamina poscit, 467), just as he seems to in
Book 10 (te, Turne, superbum / caede noua quaerens, 514-15). In Book 10,
however, Aeneas is blinded by grief over Pallas and seems to forget his
mission--he is after Turnus, but he will kill anyone who gets in his way. (A
similar situation arises at 12.494-99, after Messapus throws a spear at the
increasingly frustrated Aeneas.)
Behind the Pallas-Turnus-Aeneas triangle is, of course, that of
Patroclus-Hector-Achilles from the Iliad. Aeneas' actions after the death of
Pallas, at least for a while, are modeled on those of Achilles after the
death of Patroclus (marked by asterisks):
**sons of Sulmo and Ufens--twelve Trojan youths (Achilles' vow, 18.336-37)
human sacrifice
**Magus--Lycaon (21.64-75, 100-103)
suppliant, offer of ransom rejected, time for bargaining is past
Haemonides
priest slain (like a sacrifice)
catalogue: Caeculus et al.
furit, ardenti, desaeuit
**Tarquitus--Lycaon (21.122-27)
denial of burial, abandonment of corpse to animals (spec. fish)
simile: Aeneas as Aegaeon
Aegaeon fighting against Jupiter (cf. Achilles facing gods, Aeneas
slaying a priest in regalia)
Even when Aeneas' actions are not explicitly based on those of Achilles, they
are still marked by a most impius (and Achillean) rage. It is only the death
of Lausus, who was defending his fallen father--not the sight of the living
Lausus, whom Aeneas seems to mock for his pietas--that brings Aeneas back to
his "normal" self. Aeneas now manages to quell his anger and grief. At
least, that is, until Book 12.
Stephen Smith
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