This is a tangential, maybe fanciful, comment on the arguments raised in
Llewelyn Morgan's 'Patterns of Redemption in V's Georgics' - Cambridge
1999. The sacrifices of civil war are seen as redemptive and
constructive, particularly if they are presided over by the right
historical figure -
I've just been reading (though it was published in 1997) Michael
Paschalis 'Virgil's Aeneid: semantic relations and proper names' (though
it was published in 1997 (Oxford), Michael Paschalis 'Virgil's Aeneid,
semantic relations and proper names' which studies the clues left in V's
wording to his
There is useful contribution to this question in Julia T. Dyson's 'King of
the Wood' (Oklahoma 2001) - a big improvement (for my money) on Frazer's
original arguments.
Dyson argues among other things that V clearly leads us to think that
Aeneas will die amid water. She particularly emphasises
I don't know if I can find anything out from Channel 5. The flaw in the
argument does indeed seem quite marked. I wasn't sure whether we were
asked to think that the plan for Augustus' succession was a climactic
stroke of genius (let's hope Saddam Hussein is no Caesar) or a wild
thought typical
A programme was shown on television the other night in the UK (Channel 5)
reporting on the investigation by a Rome police officer into Caesar's
death and on the forensic evidence which he sough to supply. He has
learned over the years that one should always investigate the victim.
Perhaps the
Augustan or non-Augustan or
ambivalent readings react to the details of the poem, in their
historical and literaary context to be sure, but without using context
or expectations as a trot to avoid confronting the words of the poem.
The part about Washington DC is fascinating.
M W Hughes wrote
This is mainly a reply to a reply of some time ago (I've been disrupted
by my wife's death). I mentioned the reference to
'pillars decorated with gold, barbarian-style' (A II 504; following, I
think, words attributed to Cassandra by Naevius and admired by Cicero) as
problem illustrating V's use of
I am generally in favour of looking at ancient literature with modern
methods: at least there is some useful terminology. I read an article
recently on focalisation - an example of useful terminology? some might
disagree - in the context of 'ope barbarica' in Aen.II (503-4). (I have
lost the
This may be a bit late - also I'm not able to check whether anyone else
has replied, so I apologise for any repetition.
A quick glance at my trusty Lewis and Short Latin dictionary tells me that
'anthrax', the Greek word for 'coal' was not the name of any specific
disease in classical Latin,
I have been having some email troubles and have tried to send this note
before, but since I have not received a copy I assume it got nowhere. So
I'm trying again: forgive any duplication.
THOMAS ON HONEY - HAS EGYPT CONQUERED ROME?
This is a comment on RF Thomas remarks (in the Hardie/Routledge
E.L.Harrison's essay 'Why did Venus wear boots?' (now reprinted in
Hardi's 'Virgil: Critical Assessments' volume IV) analyses Venus' role as
follows. She is disguised in order to conceal herself from other divine
eyes: within her own order of being, she is acting as a spy in hostile
territory.
There is an article by Susanna Morton Braund in the Proceedings of the
Virgil Society for 1998 about the good old question of Dido and Aeneas
and their conflicting states of mind. I certainly find the depiction of
their emotions successful and convincing. You ask for thoughts: my
thought would
I'm sorry not to have read Christine's article: it's an omission I will
make good soon. Meanwhile, like Matthew, I warm to the idea that Creusa
has a responsible role in what Neven rightly calls a military situation.
This is the role assigned to the second officer in a Roman
military century, the
The reference - sorry, I should have given it! - is Sergio Casali 'Facta
Impia', Classical Quaterly New Series 49, 1999, pp. 203-11. - Martin
Hughes
On Mon, 27 Sep 1999, Christine Perkell wrote:
Hello Everyone
I seem to have missed the Casali reference to which M. Hughes gave a most
I'm grateful for the note of Abelard's view of EVIII, though I don't think
that Alphesiboee is the name of the enchantress - Alphesiboeus is the name
of the shepherd-poet who describes the scene of enchantment. Coleman, in
the Cambridge Classics edition, favours the idea that the enchantress
This is an eccentric reply, in that I want to concentrate a) less on
the epic hero than on the situation of political corruption which calls
for V-style heroism b) on Roman elements in modern popular epic. Perhaps
it's eccentric in other ways too. V is interested, of course, in the
corruption and
I suppose that it's hard, if you regard a book as in some way a fount of
wisdom, not be impressed or jolted if you open it at a passage which
engages with your mood, wishes or fears. Certainly I find this. There is
rather a good study of the matter in M.R.James' short story 'The Ash Tree'
-
I keep on thinking that the 'epic energy' of these days has been
transferred, for good or ill, to films. There may be some point in
examining modern conceptions of political heroism in the Star Wars or
James Bond cycles. Not that I can think of a modern fictional character,
depicted in any
1. I have read the Eranos article with great interest, though in the end
I remain attached to the traditional text. The proposal is to detach the
first four of the six 'Gates of Sleep' lines and associate them
with the mysterious elm tree of the Vestibule, where vana somnia -
'deceptive dreams',
These are some (fanciful?) thoughts following the comments on Helen's
real or apparent abduction and on V's use of Homer's Helen. I think V
definitely excludes the idea that Helen was ever a victim, genuinely
abducted either by Paris at the outbreak of war or seized agaist her will
by Menelaus
The two similarities (Daedalus-Aeneas/Daedalus-Virgil) are linked by the
lines 'ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis' (of Aeneas, V 868) and 'ipse
dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit, caeca regens filo vestigia' (of Daedalus,
VI, 29). The hero and the artist/poet 'take personal charge' in
situations
Sorry for delay. The essay is entitled 'Critical Observations on the
Sixth Book of the Aeneid' (1770) and is accessible in Patricia B. Craddock
(ed.) 'The English Essays of Edward Gibbon' (Oxford, 1972). - Martin
Hughes
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, David Wilson-Okamura wrote:
At 10:37 PM 2/25/99
I was thinking of Austin's remark that Aeneas' vision of the gods during
the Fall of Troy shows them in demonic form. There is indeed something
extraordinarily shocking about seeing 'the Father himself' (l.617) so
committed to destruction. Yet Aeneas and his family do not hesitate in
the next
I hope I may join belatedly in this discussion (it's been a busy time
recently!) I'm glad that Servius is vindicated in calling 'amarus'
epitheton naturale. Still, I don't think that the existence of the
literal meaning prevents the word's contributing to the melancholy of the
scene - the faces
The end of Aen.VIII
Talia per clipeum Volcani dona parentis
miratur, rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet
attollens umero famamque et fata nepotum.
'Such, throughout the shield, were the gifts of Aeneas' parent. He
wondered at them and, though he could not know the reality, was moved by
the image to
It might be helpful, before turning to the Aeneid, to consider the
earlier poems. Eclogue VIII (following Theocritus Id. 2) where women
are attributed some kind of magical power, is an important starting point.
It is perhaps significant that the witch draws her lover Daphnis 'ab
urbe', from the
There is surely some irony here: the apparition (is it really Mercury?)
makes the famous remark about the untrustworthiness of women in order to
persuade Aeneas to disregard the trust which a woman had placed in him.
The passage may be more PC than it looks! I'd like to echo David's
disagreement
-960729.980916200256.8592B-
[EMAIL PROTECTED], M W Hughes [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes
(Thanks to Leofranc for correcting my remark about chronology). I have
been thinking recently about the message to his own time which Syme
wished to convey: the dedication 'Parentibus patriaeque' suggests
(Thanks to Leofranc for correcting my remark about chronology). I have
been thinking recently about the message to his own time which Syme wished
to convey: the dedication 'Parentibus patriaeque' suggests that there
certainly is a message. The Roman Republic/British Empire both stand
menaced
A late comment on rivers. The natural role of rivers in refreshment and
sustenance also appears, alongside their more solemn role as boundaries,
in Aen.vi. The forceful Eridanus, a very different river from the marshy
and sinister Styx, refreshes the virtuous spirits (659). The following
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