Going elsewhere, I had a chance to browse _Il libro terzo dell'Eneide_, a cura di Pier Vincenzo Cova, Vita e pensiero: ? (I lost the year of publication).
Cova stresses how Vergil had to face a problem of narrative structure (each stop has a similar form: travel -- arrival -- being there -- departure -- travel). In Book 3 even Vergil's repetitions (which are not many) send certain _signals_ to the reader. The question to ask is, I believe, how successful was Vergil both in _variatio_ and in _repetitio_. There is also, as you well know, the striking Achaemenides episode, Aeneas in the footsteps of Ulysses (which prompted Ovid to engage in a dialogue with Vergil). Finally, Book 3 is put between two dramatically and emotionally charged (and homogeneous) books. Fragmented and episodic structure of 3, (which does not, as we have read, lack a central idea, or motivation) therefore, plays an almost musical role -- like a scherzo in a symphony. Yours, Neven ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
