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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 22:35:23 +0100
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From: Leofranc Holford-Strevens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: VIRGIL: death by water
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In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Butrica <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
Augustine writes: 'Sed Aenean, quoniam quando mortuus est non conparuit, deum sibi fecerunt Latini'Yesterday I received the following message from Tom Bestul, my old Anglo-Saxon teacher:
I am editing a commentary on Proverbs by Alexander Nequam (d. 1217), and have encountered what seems to me a very curious statement about Aeneas, namely that he drowned in the battle with Turnus, and this fact was covered up by Virgil:
Eneas conflictum Turni sustinere non ualens, phaselum intrare coactus est et sic submersus, licet Eneis virgiliana ueritatem historie ob gloriam Romani nominis commutauerit.
I've checked the usual places; Servius, Augustine, Orosius, Bernard Silvestris, etc., and can find the tradition that Aeneas died in the climactic battle, and that his body was nowhere to be found (Serv ad Aen 4.620, e.g).
But I can't find a source for Nequam's claim that Aeneas was forced into a boat and drowned (I believe drowning is the intended meeting, rather than mere submersal (like Turnus, earlier), since the account is included in a list of other notables who drowned, such as Osiris and Frederick Barbarossa).
I had a few ideas, most of which had occurred to him already:
1. Livy 1.2 states that the site where Aeneas died is above the river Numicus.
For death by drowning, see
2. Ovid, Met. 14 says that the mortal part of Aeneas was washed away in the Numicus. This is probably the most important source for the tradition that Aeneas drowned. -- Might check a good commentary on this passage to see if it gives any cross-references.
3. Servius, in Aen. 1.259, 4.620 (which records the bizarre tradition that Aeneas fell into the river while sacrificing, as does Servius auctus on 12.794), 6.88, 7.150 and 7.797 (which claim that the body _was_ found in the river, contradicting what he says elsewhere), and 12.139 (which doesn't mention the death of Aeneas, but says that the water for all Roman sacrifices came from the Numicus; this explains the tradition that Aeneas fell into the river while sacrificing).
4. Tibullus 2.5.43-44 has "illic sanctus eris cum te ueneranda Numici / unda deum caelo miserit indigetem," where te = Aeneas. Tibullus doesn't say how Aeneas came to be in the worshipful wave of Numicus, but this is pretty good evidence that the death by water tradition is older than Virgil. -- Might check a good commentary on this passage to see if it gives any cross-references.
What I can't explain is Alexander's reference to a boat. Servius auctus (in Aen. 1.259 and 12.794) says that Aeneas may have fallen into the river while fleeing Messapus or Mezentius. Bits of Servius auctus did circulate in the Middle Ages, but not widely, and that doesn't really solve the problem anyway.
A possibility: Alexander is conflating the death by water tradition with Aen. 10.653, in which Turnus is lured into a boat by a phantom-Aeneas, in order to draw him away from the fighting and save his life.
-- Does anyone have a better source for "phaselum intrare coactus"?
Maybe not better, but Smith's commentary on Tibullus identifies Augustine's City of God (18.19) as quoting Varro on the subject of Aeneas' death;
Justin 43.1.10 also dealt with the death of Aeneas;It does not; §13 does: Bellum deinde aduersus Mezentium, Etruscorum regem, gessit, in quo cum ipse occidisset, in locum eius Ascanius filius successit, qui Lavinio relicto Longam Alba, condidit, quae CCC annis caput regni fuit.
and so apparently did an anonymous work called the Origo gentis romanae 14.2;
This survives in two fifteenth-century MSS: Brussels, KBR 9755-9763, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Canon. class. Lat. 131; another MS existed in the sixteenth century but is now lost. I quote ch. 14 entire:
(1) Igitur Aeneam occiso Turno rerum potitum. Cum adhuc irarum memor Rutulos bello persequi instituisset, illos sibi ex Etruria auxilium Mezentii regis Agillaeorum asciuisse ac implorauisse, pollicitos, si uictoria parta foret, omnia quae Latinorum essent Mezentio cessura. (2) Tum Aeneam, quod copiis inferior erat, multis rebus quae necessario tuendae erant in urbem comportatis, castra sub Lauinio collocasse praepositoque his filio Euryleone, ipsum electo ad dimicandum tempore copias in aciem produxiise circa Numici fluminis stagnum. Ubi cum acerrime dimicaretur, subitis turbinibus infuscato aere, repente caelo tantium imbrium effusum, tonitrubus etiam consecutis flammarumque fulgoribus, ut omnium non oculi modo praestringeretur, uerum etiam mentes quoque confusae essent. Cumque uniuersis utriusque partis dirimendi proelii cupiditas inesset, nihilo minus in illa tempestatis subitae confusione interceptum Aeneam nusquam deinde comparuisse. (3) Traditur autem, non prouiso quod propinquus flumini esset, ripa depulsus forte in fluuium decidisse atque ita proelium diremptum. Dein post apertis fugatisque nubibus, cum serena facies effulsisset, creditum est eum uiuum caelo assumptum. (4) Idemque tamen post ab Ascanio et quibusdam aliis uisus affirmatur super Numici ripam eo habitu armisque quibus in proelium processerat. Quae res immortalitatis eius famam confirmauit. Itaque illi eo loco templum consecratum appellarique placuit Patrem Indigetem. (5) Deinde filius eius Ascanius, idem qui Euryleo, omnium Latinorum iudicio rex appellatus est.
Drowning but no boat.
Another possibility is that the boat is simply Neckham's own elaboration of the scenario; presenting "the real story" that was covered up by Virgil might equally hint at an attempt to flatter someone who died by drowning (or someone who lost a relation by drowning)
Could well be; or does anyone know of anyone else from whom the story might have been transferred?.
Leofranc Holford-Strevens -- *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ
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