VIRGIL’S THE AENEID

➢ Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC)

➢ 12 Books epic poem
➢ Describes the early mythology of the founding of Rome
➢ Virgil died before its completion, but the Roman Emperor
Augustus ordered it to be published
➢ Aeneas, a Trojan prince - son of Venus and Trojan aristocrat
Anchises, escapes from Troy and sails the Mediterranean
searching for a new home and enduring many ordeals on the way.
➢ Written in dactylic hexameter like The Iliad and The Odyssey,
during 30-19 BC.
➢ Themes of conflict and renewal relating to the political context of
the period
➢ Various allusions to/appropriations of The Iliad and The Odyssey
○ Funeral games
○ Meeting souls in the Underworld
○ Divine intervention/assistance
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
The Invocation of the Muses
“I sing of arms and the man, he who, exiled by fate,
first came from the coast of Troy to Italy, and to
Lavinian shores – hurled about endlessly by land and sea,
by the will of the gods, by cruel Juno’s remorseless anger,
long suffering also in war,
until he founded a city and brought his gods to Latium: from that the Latin
people came, the lords of Alba Longa, the walls of noble Rome.
Muse, tell me the cause: how was she offended in her divinity, how was she
grieved, the Queen of Heaven, to drive a man, noted for virtue, to endure such
dangers, to face so many trials? Can there be such anger in the minds of the
gods?”
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
Story
➢ Aeneas and his fellow Trojans - fled from
the burning Troy - sails in the
Mediterranean to Italy
➢ Their ship is destroyed in a storm and
they found themselves in Carthage.
➢ The queen of Carthage, Dido welcomes
them and listens Aeneas’s account of the
Trojan War and their travels.
➢ Dido falls in love with Aeneas and they
live together for a period until Gods
remind Aeneas that he sailed to found a
new city, Rome.
➢ Once Aeneas’s leaves, Dido kills herself
with the sword he left behind.
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
Story
➢ On his journey to Italy, another storm
directs Aeneas and the Trojans to Sicily.
➢ In Sicily, they hold funeral games for the
memory of Aeneas’s father Anchises who
died on the way to Carthage.
➢ Here, some of the Trojans feel tired and
they decide to settle down in Sicily.
➢ Having seen his father in his dream,
Aeneas continues his journey to Italy and
once there, he descends to the
Underworld.
➢ There, he visits his father who shows him
future history and heroes of Rome.
➢ Aeneas understands the importance of his
mission and goes to the region of Latium.
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
Story
➢ The Trojans are first welcomed in Latium as King
Latinus thinks that Aeneas is the foreigner that his
daughter Lavinia is to marry, according to the
prophecy.
➢ However, Latinus’s wife Amata wants her daughter to
marry Turnus, a local suitor.
➢ Turnus wages war against Aeneas.
➢ Aeneas sails up north to gather military support. His
mother Venus also brings him weapons for the
upcoming war.
➢ Aeneas returns to find his countrymen fighting
Turnus who attacked in his absence. The carnage
continues.
➢ The war ends with a duel between Turnus and Aeneas
who slays his opponent.
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
AENEAS
➢ the son of the Trojan mortal Anchises and Venus, the
goddess of beauty and erotic love
➢ receives divine protection
➢ chosen to survive the siege of Troy and to lay the
foundations of the Roman Empire
➢ as a Trojan leader, Aeneas respects prophecy and acts
according
➢ a graceful hero and a worthy recipient of the honor and
favor of the gods
➢ his compassion for the sufferings of others is another aspect
of his heroism.
➢ as the story progresses, Aeneas grows as a compassionate
leader
➢ his commitment to his historical role increases after Book
VI
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
AENEAS
Pietas
➢ "Dutifulness" More than religious piety; a respect for the
natural order socially, politically, and religiously. Includes the
ideas of patriotism and devotion to others.
Aeneas = ‘famous for his pietas’ & ‘pius Aeneas’
➢ a figure of great piety, just as Ulysses was known for his
cunning and Achilles for his rage in battle
➢ Pietas for family and the gods
○ escorts his father and son out of Troy, bearing his elderly
father on his back.
○ earnestly seeks to find out the Gods wishes and conform
to them as fully as possible
○ commitment to obey fate rather than indulge his feelings
of genuine romantic love
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
AENEAS
Pietas
➢ Pietas for his followers
○ His first act when he lands safely in north Africa after
surviving the storm in Book 1 is to find high ground to see if
he can spot any survivors from the other ships in his fleet;
○ next he goes hunting, making sure that he shoots enough
meat for all those with him.
○ He is aware that his followers are in low spirits, and makes
efforts to comfort them and to conceal his own anxieties.
➢ Aeneas appears to be the ideal Roman leader: able to take charge
yet concerned with the greater good of the group rather than his
own personal self-interest.
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
THE GLORY OF ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS
➢ The Roman Empire, the reign of Emperor
Augustus
(27 BC - 14 AD)
➢ To write a myth of Rome’s origins that would
emphasize the grandeur and legitimize the
success of an empire that had conquered most of
the known world
➢ Rome at the center of the poem.
○ the city comes to symbolize for Aeneas the
highest point of his eventual achievement
○ stands as an embodiment of a new home
○ a home is the source of identity
➢ Virgil foreshadows the coming of Augustus:
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
Now fix your sight, and stand intent, to see
Your Roman race, and Julian progeny.
The mighty Caesar waits his vital hour,
Impatient for the world, and grasps his promis'd pow'r.
But next behold the youth of form divine,
Caesar himself, exalted in his line;
Augustus, promis'd oft, and long foretold,
Sent to the realm that Saturn rul'd of old;
Born to restore a better age of gold.
Afric and India shall his pow'r obey;
He shall extend his propagated sway
Beyond the solar year, without the starry way,
Where Atlas turns the rolling heav'ns around,
And his broad shoulders with their lights are crown'd.
The Aeneid, Book VI
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
THE GLORY OF ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS
➢ Augustus went on to restore peace in Rome after a century of civil war. The obvious parallel in the
Aeneid is that Aeneas is seeking to continue the Trojan line out of the chaos of a ruined Troy.
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
VIRGIL’S LEGACY
➢ regarded as the most significant writer of antiquity
throughout the Middle Ages and into the
Renaissance.
➢ inspired poets across languages, including Dante
in Italian, Milton in English, and an anonymous
French poet who reworked the Aeneid into the
medieval romance Le Roman d’Eneas.
➢ viewed as a pagan prophet because several lines in
his works were interpreted as predictions of the
coming of Christ.
➢ Modern critics judged Virgil’s poetry in relation to
that of his Greek predecessors:
 VIRGIL’S THE AENEID
VIRGIL’S POETRY IN COMPARISON TO HOMER’S
➢ Virgil’s poetry is weak in comparison to Homer’s.
➢ Virgil’s poetry does not possess the same originality
of expression as Homeric epic poetry.
➢ The Aeneid shares with the Iliad and the Odyssey a
tone of ironic tragedy, as characters act against
their own wishes, submit their lives to fate, and
often meet dark ends.
➢ Virgil distinguished himself within the epic
tradition of antiquity by representing the broad
spectrum of human emotion in his characters.