It is not just the pronoun "illi" but the particle "ast" in the lines in question which assure us that the logical subject has switched from Aeneas to Turnus, and thus that it is Turnus who dies. A better place to start from if you want to look for reflections of Aeneas' character in dying Turnus is the nice parallel between Turnus' limbs being undone by cold here (solvuntur frigore membra), and Aeneas' limbs being undone by cold the very first time he appears by name in the epic, in 1.92:
extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra Is it just cynical irony or poetic justice that Turnus should now be the one losing his vital heat, while Aeneas burns with wrath? I leave it to you to say. You can find good discussion of this parallel in e.g. M.C.J. Putnam's Virgil's Aeneid. Interpretation and Influence (Chapel Hill 1995) pp. 3-4 et passim. Phil Thibodeau University of Georgia >Hans, you've hit the nail just off to the side of its head. I never >claimed that "ille" might literally be Aeneas. Of course Aeneas kills >Turnus. But you forget that the _Aeneid_ is poetry, and its syntax >should not be treated as if it were prose. Therefore, yes, demonstrative >to the distant person--Turnus; yet, i am sorry, i cannot help but >simultaneously think of aeneas, who is himself quite 'distant' in this >scene. aeneas buries his sword in turnus' breast, but the other's (the >other aeneas) limbs grow cold... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
