On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, david driscoll wrote:
> 3. The Teutonic Knights. Well hey, who wouldn't want
> to be one? I beleive that the question the Poles'
> Catholicism that has been cited probably refers to
> Orthodox incursions/conversions that had taken place
> in the part of Poland abutting Ukraine. I beleive the
> knights mandate pertained to the conversion of Baltic
> pagans, and the rolling back of Orthodox influence in
> Poland.
>
> By the bye; blaming the behavior of the Teutonic
> Knights or the Conquistadores on Vergil is a bit like
> holding Kant responsible for the Holocaust. It makes
> for interesting grad-seminars but is a bit beneath us,
> no?
I'm afraid I didn't make myself quite clear. I was citing examples of a
certain arrogant attitude that can be found in the Teutonic Knights and
the Conquistadors, among others; it is an attitude that can also be found
in the ancient Roman Empire, and in many _readings_ of Virgil's Aeneid all
the way up to the 20th century. I am _not_ arguing for some crude
cause-and-effect relationships. I do think Virgil has been _used_ in
support of aggressive and oppressive incursions of various kinds over the
past two millennia.
This all started off in response to someone who assumed that recent
readings of Virgil as a sensitive, compassionate soul with moral qualms
about imperialism were present also in the minds of past readers, and
could account for the linkage between Virgil and medieval Christianity (as
though the medieval Church was always kind and gentle). I was trying to
explain that such an outlook (toward Christianity or toward the
_Aeneid_) was uncommon in earlier times. That's all.
Randi Eldevik
Oklahoma State University
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