In a message dated 11/18/99 4:10:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Along with the problem of how Aeneas saw what he claims goes the sight of Priam's body lying on the shore, headless and some distance from the city. Unless Aeneas had binoculars with night vision, one must examine why Aeneas and Vergil include this detail. >> I have always loved this passage, but I and many others have taken it to mean that Troy has lost its leader rather than Priam his head. It is difficult for me to conceive that Priam could be described in (II.557) as ... iacet ingens litore truncus when Vergil has just shown us a Priam weak and long past his prime (II.507-511). The head, Priam, has been torn from the shoulders of Troy, which now lies, after its destruction, sine nomine. I suppose that Neoptolemus could have cut off his head and hauled him a few miles down to the seaside, prefer the symbolic interpretation. Alan Farnsworth Walton High School Marietta, Georgia ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
