the recycled hero: a discussion of epic influences on virgil's characterisation of aeneas
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CL3201 Extended Essay Candidate Number: 0901915
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The Recycled Hero: A discussion of epic influences on Virgil’s characterisation of Aeneas
CL3201 Extended Essay Candidate Number: 0901915
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The
Introduction
What makes a hero last forever? Why are some heroic characteristics
attributed to a nation or a culture for all time? What makes Aeneas’ character
desirable to be studied year on year by academic scholars? It is arguably
impossible for any author to divorce himself and his writing from the cultural
expectations that are around at its inception. Everything from literary heritage
and philosophical ideals to political pressure and historical precedents weigh
down on the author’s shoulders when creating a volume. From my studies I have
formed the opinion that epic verse must represent the times and the civilization
that it is written for. Virgil, in choosing Aeneas as his hero, made a conscious
decision to incorporate his interpretation of the Aeneas cult into the foundation
story of Rome.1 The Aeneas myth is a complicated one and attempting to find
one version that can categorically be declared as the version that Virgil’s Aeneas
is based on is surely a hopeless task. My interests lie in the other literary
influences on his treatment of the popular character of Aeneas. How much of the
original named myth did he use? What parts did he ignore and to what point and
purpose? What other popular heroes were amalgamated into the mixture from
which eventually evolved Virgil’s Aeneas? From comparing the characteristics of
Virgil’s Aeneas to several other famous epic heroes, I hope to illustrate the
psychology of heroism that was present at the Aeneid’s conception and how these
preconceived expectations of what it means to be a Roman hero would have
played with Virgil’s narrative structure and ultimately the nature of this most
Roman of epics.
The political world during the writing of The Aeneid was one that was
dramatically changing for the Roman people. Virgil had his hands tied by recent
1 Gantz, T. 1993 ‘Virtually all the Black Figure examples were found in Italy, and while that is not a highly unusual situation, it may indicate already at this time 6th and 5th centuries a special interest in Aineias on the part of the Etruscans, possibly as a founder hero who came to their land.’ p. 716
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historical events and was forced, both politically and socially, into writing a new
ancestor tale to mark the occasion of the end of the civil war, a war that Virgil’s
audience and the generation before had had the horror of living through.
Reconstruction of the country and a boost to the national morale was one of the
top priorities of the political regime. The Augustan building program and the
moral reforms demonstrate strongly the princeps intentions. 2 High on the political
agenda was the notion of Roman ness or what it was to be to be a true Roman
citizen. Virgil had no choice but to incorporate a discussion of the Roman
national character into the epic and thus it became one of the most important
themes within The Aeneid.3 This in turn would have a dramatic knock on effect
on the personality of the main protagonist and his reactions to the situations that
he would encounter within the epic. If Augustus was the political unifier of Italy
then Virgil, through his literature, was writing an emotional mandate to unify his
countrymen.4
This essay does not attempt to comprehensively charter the internal
workings of Virgil’s thought processes; such an exercise would take a lifetime of
research and extrapolation and would inevitably remain conjectural. I aim to
merely illuminate some of the many similarities in the personality traits of several
key epic heroes whose fame precedes that of The Aeneid and the influence that
they had on Aeneas’ characterisation through Virgil’s familiarity with said works.
I begin, chronologically, at the beginning with a hero from Homer’s Iliad,
Achilles.
2 Brunt, P. A. & Moore, J M. 1967 Res Gestae Divi Augusti 6, 19 21 3 Toll, K. 1997 ‘I believe that Vergil thought the evolution of his people’s national identity was going through a particularly crucial formative phase, in which he aspired to make his poem participate. Thus he designed the Aeneid strategically to help the Romans meditate on the duties, problems, dangers, and possibilities of a new national identity. In what sense was it new, and why was Aeneas the right instrument to engage with it?’ p. 34 4 Bonjour 1975 ‘There was then a general need to reconstitute the Roman patriotism tattered by the partisans, to reunify Italian interests and Roman civic affairs. That was the political task of Augustus. But reintegration on the level of feelings? In the literary area, despite the noble efforts of Livy, that was the work of Vergil.’ p. 475
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Chapter 1
Achilles – The Iliad
‘If any right hand could have saved Troy then, mine would have saved it. Into your care she now commends her sacraments and her household gods. Take them to share your fate. Look for a great city to establish for them after long wanderings across the sea.’
Book 2.292 296, The Aeneid
The momentum of The Aeneid relies largely on one divine concept: fate. By
introducing the concept from the very beginning of the work, Virgil is setting a
dangerous route for his hero to take emotionally on his journey. The notion of
fate and the various reactions that one could imagine an epic hero experiencing as
a result of knowing about said fate creates a wholly different atmosphere in the
epic. If Aeneas had not known of his destiny, then The Aeneid would not have
been as interesting! But, as I will establish over the course of this discussion,
Aeneas is not an original epic hero in any way. Virgil enjoyed manipulating the
mythology of ‘the hero’ by pitting his poetic skills against his predecessor’s fame.5
Achilles too was well known by Virgil’s audience to be dominated by the
Moirae since birth and this, coupled with his maternal connection to the goddess
Thetis, should highlight an instantly recognisable comparison between Achilles
and Aeneas, with his own divine heritage from Venus. Without the assistance of
their respective parents, the characters simply would not have developed enough
personally to ensure an exciting continuation of the plotline. The god like status
of the two characters forms a pivotal part of the development of the character
in The Iliad, Achilles is one of only two human beings who are ‘god like’, the other
being Helen.6 The entire relationship between Hector and Achilles is always
weighted in favour of the latter as the former is entirely human; he is most closely
associated with the imperfections of the audience.7 Achilles is distant, a divine
figure that cuts the shape of a true hero after all, what human can achieve the 5 MacKay, L. A. 1957 6 Knox. B 1990 p. 129 7 Levin, S. 1949 ‘The Greeks of the Golden age were less touched by some parts of The Iliad than by others. They could and did slight one of the two leading personages Hector who moves most modern readers and even scholars far more than Achilles’ p. 37
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awe inspiring feats of Achilles? Virgil knew this. His audience wanted the
founder of Rome and Roman ness to be above the flaws that are inherent in
humanity. Divinity was necessary for the imitation of Homeric tradition and to
complete the Roman adaptation of Achilles.
But here we encounter a problem: Achilles is undeniably flawed. Divine
relationships can only be beneficial in certain situations, such as in epic battle.
When human interactions take place, divine status fails to help and the weakness
of their humanity emerges in the characters.8 An example of this stems from
Achilles relationship with the Greek king Agamemnon. Constant verbal jousting
demonstrates a distinct lack of respect for superiors and elders9, a trait that would
not have been popular to transmit in the model hero that was to become Aeneas.
However, despite Virgil being able to select the prime heroic attributes, he does
choose to make Aeneas more flawed. It has been argued that his flaws make him
less impressive that the Homeric heroes10 but it is, in my view, these small failures
to conform to the expected formulae that illustrate Virgil’s creative superiority to
Homer.
We find, similar to Achilles, that Aeneas loves to rebel. In the ‘Iliadic’
first half of The Aeneid, there are many instances of Aeneas not wanting to accept
his fate.11 In fact our hero’s first words are not ones of confidence with an aim to
boost morale, but ones of fear:
8 Ledbetter, G. M. 1993 ‘In a scene of extraordinary force and complexity Iliad 16.7 19 , the poet articulates the volatile emotions of both men in language that is rich with underlying tensions and associations. Achilles greets him with a simile that only ambiguously expresses the frame of mind from which the narrator tells us it springs. By comparing Patroclus to a little girl clinging to her mother's dress, Achilles mocks him, and yet the narrator tells us that Achilles' response is a gesture of pity.’ p. 481 9 Rieu, E. V. 1950 ‘His words infuriated Achilles. In his manly chest, his heart was torn whether to draw the sharp sword from his side, thrust his way through the crowd and disembowel Agamemnon… he was just drawing his great sword from his sheath, when Athene came down from the skies.’ 1.189 195 10 Stanford, W. B. 1968 ‘Aeneas is less impressive in personality; more impressive in destiny than Ulysses.’ p.136 11 In Aeneid 2 we see several consecutive examples of Aeneas refusing to accept his fate. Instead of leaving Troy on Hectors request he joins the fight 2.315 317 ; he is then reminded by Panthus that Troy is lost 2.324 ; despite knowing of Cassandra’s prophecy of the fall of Troy he continues to fight 2.345 ; Hecuba’s plea on the futility of fighting after the death of Hector is stated 2.520 ; it is not until the death of Priam that Aeneas realises the futility of fight not the same as acceptance of his fate and is reminded of Anchises 2.560 ; he yet again gets distracted by his furor towards Helen only to be told to escape by his mother, Venus 2.620 .
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Groaning, he lifted his hands palms upward to the stars and cried: ‘Those whose fate it was to die beneath the high walls of Troy with their fathers looking down on them were many, many times more fortunate than I…’
Book 1.93 96, The Aeneid It is this attitude that pervades his actions throughout the epic and displays
Virgil’s development of the Greek epic hero to the Roman style. It is not until
after the katabasis in Aeneid 612 that this becomes patently obvious when the
character finally accepts his destiny and responsibility to the future of Rome.
However, despite emerging from the underworld with a fresh and
honourable perspective, Aeneas reverts back to the Homeric reactions of Achilles
in the final scenes of Aeneid 12 with the unrestrained slaying of the defeated
Turnus. The similarity to Achilles again rears its ugly head and prompts the
question: why does Virgil include it? Heroic philosophical doctrine comments on
Achilles unrestrained thumos with Plato commenting on how bad a role model he
is13 yet in having such a powerfully unexpected reaction to the death of Pallas,
Aeneas is given a new level of humanity. Achilles’ rampage for Patroclus and the
eventual death of Hector are painted as being incredibly selfish and, as Socrates
points out, may even verge on the criminal.14 Following his ‘rebirth’ in medias res,
Aeneas has been cleansed of his Greek ness thus making his own rampage all the
more potent. His innocence and the inherent furor in defending the honour of his
comrade cannot be deemed to be out of character for a Roman with remarkable
parallels to Achilles.15
Within the characterisation of Aeneas, Virgil has imitated the fatalistic
elements and divine heritage directly from the Homeric model of Achilles.
12 Williams, R. D. 1964 ‘If the statement is to have any meaning, it is this: that the poetic requirement of the journey for Aeneas to live again through his past and the poetic requirement of the doctrine of rebirth to reveal the future are each more important to Virgil than the consistency of a single standpoint… at this point in Book vi Virgil has brought Aeneas right away from the ideas of the Homeric world of Troy to the spiritual climate of his own Rome.’ p.58 13 Hobbs, A. 2000 ‘Socrates wants to emphasise that Achilles is often wretched as well as unjust, a profoundly disturbed man whom no sensible person would want to emulate.’ p.207 14 Mackenzie, M. M. 1978 believes that the criminal nature of Achilles’ actions may not have been condemned in The Iliad but other subsequent societies clearly viewed it as such, as demonstrated by Plato. 15 Gross, N. P. 2004 ‘Similarly allusions to Homer both reinforce the degree of esteem in which Aeneas held Pallas and the association of the young man with Aeneas' past losses. Lines 45 8 also evoke Achilles' lament for Patroclus 11. 18. 324 7 thereby establishing a parallel between the grief of Achilles and Aeneas' own.’ p.144
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MacKay comments that, like Patroclus, Aeneas as a character suffers from the
weight of the obligation to follow in the footsteps of Achilles.16 But Virgil has
successfully used the context of his narrative to ensure that the negative
connotations attached to incorporating Achilles’ furor into ‘Roman Aeneas’ do
not prove detrimental to the audience’s empathy towards his hero.
16 MacKay, L. A. 1957 p.16
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Chapter 2
Hector – The Iliad
In imitating The Iliad, Virgil came across a predicament. It is one thing to
express fanaticism for Homer but it is another to fall victim to the weaknesses
inherent in adhering too closely to the famed formulae. Arguably the trickiest and
most important facet of any work is the conclusion. How to end a treatise that
echoes the greatest of epics and attempts to better them , without boring the
audience with a finale that was foreseen several hundred lines in advance, requires
both skill and audacity. The poetically calculated death of Turnus is testament to
this.
The passing of Turnus is the very last thing that Virgil’s narrative depicts;
yet Hector’s death in Iliad 22 is not. The lingering pause at the end of The Aeneid,
as is the case in the conclusion of Aeneid 3,17 provides what at first appears to be a
darkly confusing insight into Aeneas’ psyche. Hector is an old epic hero; he
honours the old traditions of the Greek world and attempts to defend the old
customs of Troy. With the death of Hector, Aeneas is appointed chief defender
of Troy, or more poetically, the protector of Trojan values. The despair that
Aeneas displays when we first meet him and the avoidance of his fate18, illuminate
the struggle between the Roman narrative requirements of the ‘new’ epic and the
old style of Greek heroism when depicting his internal thought processes.
Following the trip to the Underworld in Aeneid 6, Aeneas emerges fully embracing
his responsibility to Rome and having discarded his previous Greek epic nature. 19
Comparisons are often made between Achilles’ emotions and Aeneas’ concluding
furor, and to deny such similarities would be foolish, but there are striking
similarities between Hector and Aeneas. The demise of Turnus can be seen to act
17 Lloyd, R. B. 1957 ‘The emotional strain which Aeneas feels in recalling Anchises' death brings his narrative to Dido to a natural close and nicely avoids the necessity of detail as to the circumstances.’ p.50. Rather than an Odyssean/Greek interpretation of grief, the Roman stoicism displayed by Aeneas acts as another characteristic difference between Homeric and Virgilian heroes. 18 See footnote n.10 above 19 See footnote n.11 above
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as a death knell to the Greek heroic code. Virgil, and thus Aeneas, must defeat
the ghosts of expectation which haunt them. As Achilles must defeat Hector to
fulfil his destiny, Aeneas must defeat Turnus to fulfil his. Despite the blood
relationship, Hector is called upon to metaphorically facilitate the founding of a
new Troy in Italy.
As Hector’s heir, clementia cannot be offered by Aeneas to Turnus. Instead
of a Homeric rampage and moral ambiguity20, Virgil enhances the humanisation
of the final scene to ensure that the dynasty continues.21 Hector died ‘at the hands
of his relentless Achilles’, but Aeneas claims victory over his very own Achilles, in
the shape of Turnus.22 Troy may have fallen after the death of Hector, but his
divinely supported successor redeemed the cause by slaying another Achilles in
another land.23 Troy needed to fall for Rome to rise; Hector needed to die for
Rome to live.
Throughout The Iliad and The Aeneid, the positive characteristics of
Aeneas and Hector and often aligned together.24 Iapyx25 and Andromache26 both
on separate instances make direct references to the two as being together, models
of manly virtue for the young Ascanius. And although both heroes are comparable
in honour, it is their personal interactions with women to which both epic
authors devote large portions of their work. The parting of Hector from
Andromache induces in a modern audience strong sympathies for the tragedy and
the romance that is interlinked in their relationship.27 The situation develops
when Hector returns from battle to visit his wife for what appears to be the last
20 West, D. 1974 ‘The psychological element on the other hand is explicit and important. Homer states what was seen; Virgil what was felt. The hesitation of Aeneas, his inclination towards mercy is a vital manifestation of the character of his prototype of Augustus.’ p.29 21 Galinsky, K. 1988 p.324 22 Spaeth Jr., J. W. 1951 p.280 23 West, D. 1991 ‘A second Achilles is already born in Latium, and he too is the son of a goddess.’ 6.90 91 24 e.g. Murray, A. T. 1924 6.72; 11.56; 17.333. 25 West, D. 1991 ‘I charge you, when in due course your years ripen and you become a man, do not forget, but as you go over in your mind the examples of your kinsman, let your spirit rise at the thought of your father Aeneas and your uncle Hector.’ 12.438 441 26 West, D. 1991 ‘What about your boy Ascanius? Does the old courage and manliness ever rise in him at the thought of his father Aeneas and his uncle Hector?’ 3.339 343. 27 Levin, S. 1949 ‘We would rather be like Hector; but are we as close to the feelings of the poet and his Achaean audience as their descendants were, who saw in Achilles alone the great hero of the Iliad?’ p.37
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time28 and expresses his regret at having to fight for his kingdom. The Trojan
hero tells us that he is fighting more for the love and safety of her than for his
father, mother, brothers or countrymen.29 This highly emotional scene captures a
glimpse into the mindset of the Homeric hero it is not about destiny or fighting
for the honour of one’s country, it is about something much simpler than that:
self preservation.30, 31 Hector comments in this scene that he has trained himself
to be a good warrior and to win battles for his father and his own glory. He
regards his wife with what can be undoubtedly described as love, but ultimately
ignores her tears of anguish in order to fulfill his own call of duty. This duty is
shared by all individual men in Ilium but is not labeled as divine destiny as is the
case in The Aeneid. Individually, Hector tells us, the men must protect their own
spheres of comfort, which ultimately combine to form the collective armed forces
of Troy.32 Virgil takes this model of how a hero interacts with women and adapts
it to suit the Roman purpose of his epic. Whereas Hector openly faces his wife’s
fears about the battle, Aeneas runs back into the fire in an emotional frenzy
attempting to find the missing Creusa. 33 When the ghost of Creusa appears, it is
her spirit that tells ‘Greek’ Aeneas that he must forsake the search for her body
and focus on the needs of his men and thus the greater good. Hector convinces
Andromache, but the roles are reversed here with Creusa calming Aeneas. In
both these scenes, utter chaos surrounds the characters, and their interactions
with their respective partners displays how the authors view them. For Homer,
28 Scott, J. A. 1914 ‘Hector is slain on the twenty seventh day of the action of the Iliad, or five days after the scene of parting. Of the five intervening nights three seem to have been spent in the city, presumably with his wife and son, and two outside the walls not far from the camp of the Greeks.’ p. 274 29 Rieu, E. V. 1950 ‘What distresses me is not only the thought of what the Trojans will suffer, or Hecabe herself, or lord Priam, or my brothers who, for all their numbers and bravery, will be brought down in the dust at enemy hands, but much more the thought of you, when you are dragged off in tears by some bronze armoured Greek, your freedom gone.’ 6.448 456 30 This view permeates all Greek heroes, including Odysseus: Stanford, W. B. 1968 ‘Ulysses’s ultimate loyalty was to his own interests in the wide sense, his family, his kingdom, his companions, and, while reluctantly engaged in the Trojan campaign, to the Greek cause.’ p.136 31 Rieu, E. V. 1950 6.440 447 32 Rieu, E. V. 1950 ‘War is men’s business; and this war will be the business of every man in Ilium, myself above all.’ 6.492 494 33 Gantz, T. 1996 ‘Homer says nothing of such a person, while both the Kypria fr 31 PEG and The Little Iliad fr 22 PEG appear to have called her Eurydike… Apollodorus knows of a Kreousa, daughter of Priam and Hecabe, yet here too there is nothing about Aieneias’ wife. Only in the Aeneid is she firmly assigned that status.’ p. 610
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Andromache gives Hector the opportunity to develop as a family man concerned
for the safety of his loved ones and not simply the warrior prince of Troy. For
Virgil, Creusa offers guidance and closure to Aeneas in a book that has otherwise
seen him behaving erratically. But despite offering different methods, both poets
achieve the same goal in proclaiming that the ultimate missions are more
important than the women to whom their heroes are married. Andromache is not
as important as the honour of Troy; and mourning Creusa is not as important as
leading the exodus to Rome. The emotions exhibited by Aeneas show a hero who
is not yet ready and who, at this early stage, grudgingly accepts his fate. But here
we categorically that the Roman nation is more important than the Roman self.34
34 Syed, Y. 2008 ‘In its political and cultural dimensions the Roman identity of The Aeneid is an ethnically inclusive concept of group identity that bears most resemblance to the modern concept of nationhood.’ p.227
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Chapter 3
Aeneas - The Iliad
The Aeneas whom we stumble across in The Iliad is a far cry from the
developed and sensitive character that we find in the epic of Virgil. He is touted
as being the prime Roman example of a pater familias35, a man who truly thinks of
his family and his state over his own material desires. This highly desirable trait
however has been forged on the back of several key assumptions that can be
argued to have developed from the Homeric characterisation of Aeneas.36
The role that Anchises plays in The Aeneid is one of old morality and
guidance for his young and inexperienced son. The images portrayed by Virgil in
the escape from the sack of Troy in Book 2 paint a vivid image of a son’s love for
his elderly father. What Roman reader could not feel morally inspired with by
poetic notion of the national hero, the ancestor of Augustus, carrying his father
on his back through the burning ruins and leading the future in the shape of his
son Iulus literally by the hand to freedom?37 As we have established in previous
chapters, Virgil is attempting to reconcile the two different worlds of Greek and
Roman literary expectation these are characterised not only in the events that
charter Aeneas’ development but also through his relationship with Anchises. His
father is resistant to the notion of escape and it is only with divine intervention
that Virgil is eventually able to coerce Anchises into joining the mission to
Rome.38 But Aeneas in The Iliad provides Virgil with limited blueprints from
which to build and to manipulate their relationship. The evidence that Homer
provides for this lies largely in the stock epithets so common in his work. Aeneas
35 Mackie, C. J. 1988 ‘The nature of the relationship between Aeneas and his men is emphasised in Vergil’s use of pater 5.348 and pueri 5.349 . Pater is used of Aeneas nine times in Book 5…The stress given to Aeneas’ paternal role… seems to be underlying the fact that Aeneas now has the role of pater familias.’ p.103 4 36 Sage, E. T. 1920 ‘In the list of Trojan aces, Aeneas, with 28 victories… Of the 28, Homer mentions only 6, but the period of the greatest martial activity on Aeneas’ part lies after the death of Achilles and so outside of Homer’s sphere.’ p.351 37 West. D. 2003 ‘Come then, dear father, up on my back. I shall take you on my shoulders. Your weight will be nothing to me. Whatever may come, danger or safety, it will be the same for both of us. Young Iulus can walk by my side and my wife can follow in my footsteps at a distance.’ 2.709 713 38 West. D. 2003 2.637 649.
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is constantly referred to in varying forms as the ‘son of Anchises’ and he uses this
epithet when introducing himself several times during the course of the epic.
However, he only once uses a positive adjective ‘I claim great hearted Anchises as
my father’39 when taunting Achilles in preparation for single combat. It is slightly
disconcerting to note that it takes imminent battle with a legendary hero for
Aeneas to verbally extol, albeit briefly, the kind nature of his pater. This shows a
distinct lack of importance in the mind of Homer to the paternal relationship
between Aeneas and Anchises. Aeneas is not the focus of this battle and, given
the lack of evidence of their relationship, we should turn to other examples for a
better defined picture of the kind of relationship that is demonstrated between
Anchises and Aeneas in The Aeneid.
For his epic, Virgil still needs an example of the Homeric Aeneas truly
caring for a father figure in order to attain his Augustan purpose. Other than
Anchises, the Trojan king Priam ranks high in honour and as a model for paternal
behaviour. Unlike the crippled Anchises, Priam’s relationship with his son Hector
is well defined. Aeneas’ interaction with Priam however does not seem to be one
of equality, despite Aeneas’ status as a Trojan prince. Gantz believes
that Aeneas’ interaction with Priam in Iliad 13 is one of bitter resentment over his
lack of status in Troy40:
Deciding that he Deiphobus had better look for help, he went after Aeneas and found him standing idle behind the lines: Aeneas always bore godlike Priam a grudge because Priam gave him such little respect, though he was as good a man as any.
Book 13.458 62, The Iliad
This display of resentment to the king shows a blatant disrespect to his nobility.41
The ‘godlike’ description that precedes Priam’s name elevates him to the same
status that Aeneas accords his own father, the ‘king of men’42 and ‘great hearted’43
Anchises. The exact reasons that Priam has for viewing Homeric Aeneas in this
39 Rieu, E. V. 2003 20.209 40 Gantz, T. 1993 p.561 41 It is worth pointing out here the similarity between ‘Achilles versus Agamemnon.’ See footnote no. 9 above 42 Murray, A. T. 1924 5.251 43 Rieu, E. V. 1993 5.467
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way are not explicitly stated, but Aeneas’ resentment of this otherwise highly
thought of leader is of detriment to his heroic character. But in The Aeneid, when
reporting the death of Priam at the hands of Neoptolemus to the audience in
Carthage, Aeneas presents one of the ‘most moving episodes of the poem’ with
what can only be described as a revered sense of respect for the fallen king, slowly
bringing the audience closer to Priam’s emotional perspective.44 Virgil has
ignored the Homeric contempt that was shown by Aeneas to Priam in
characterising his Roman hero. The quest to show that Romans should care and
respect each other can only be achieved if the model hero in Aeneas
demonstrates this behaviour.45 Aeneas has shown that he has loyalty to his familial
roots within The Iliad. Still in Book 13 we see Deiphobus plead with Aeneas to
avenge the death of his brother in law Alcathous, which he does not hesitate
doing.46 Deiphobus uses the same Greek argument as Hector47 to woo Aeneas to
the fray: by asking him to fight not for the honour of Troy but to save the body of
Alcathous because he helped to raise Aeneas as a child a matter of self
preservation.
One trait that does not illustrate a nature solely concerned with self
preservation is the facet of Virgilian Aeneas that becomes visible when we
compare him to the Homeric Aeneas: the use of pietas as a core personality trait.
Before The Aeneid, the term pietas had not been the outstanding characteristic of
Aeneas, who appears in the legends and in Homer largely as a great warrior.48 In
his epic though, Virgil redefines pietas which links his hero to the divine concept
of fate49, thus ensuring that his narrative continues to its conclusion no matter
44 Mills, D. H. 1978 ‘Not only does he invite his audience to visualize the scene, he also suggests the impact it had upon the emotions of the aged king. Each of the three phrases is longer than the one preceding, and each focuses on an aspect that brings one closer and closer to the very center of Priam's palace: first the city; then the portals of the palace; and then finally the innermost chambers.’ p.159 45 Gill, C. 1998 ‘The full moral development involves a certain understanding of ‘self realisation’: namely, the realisation of that ‘self’ which is disposed to the benefit of others.’ p.326 46 Rieu, E. V. 1993 13.463 47 See footnote n.30 above 48 Galinsky, G. K. 1969 “Pius Aeneas” 49 Wofford, S. L. 1992 ‘In The Aeneid, pietas becomes the term of value used to indicate Aeneas’ not always willing submission to the structure of events ordained by fate for reasons he cannot
understand.’p.102
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what hurdles are erected, a homage to the invocation to Homer’s all knowing
Muses.50 But there is no real evidence of this trait existing in the Aeneas of
Homer. Not once in the entire Iliad is Aeneas described as being pius, although
on several different occasions the gods refer to his divine fate and proceed to
protect him by removing him from the course of battle.51 The most notable
example in Homer is the intervention of Poseidon in the single combat between
Aeneas and Achilles.52 In conference with the gods, Poseidon exclaims his dismay
at the imminent death of Aeneas and cites the following reasons to argue for his
survival. Firstly, Apollo has innocently manipulated Aeneas into a fight that he
could not survive. Secondly, he has ‘always given the most gratifying offerings to
the gods’, an indirect reference by Homer to his religious piety. Finally, although
Zeus now ‘hates Priam’s line’, he also cared deeply for his son Dardanus, a direct
ancestor of Aeneas. It is in this final reason where Poseidon refers to Aeneas’ fate
that we can see a clear progression from the human to the divine levels of
concern.53 Aeneas was tricked by Apollo disguised as Lycaon, a son of Priam, into
fighting Achilles; this is then taken to the next sphere of religious innocence and
generosity in sacrifices before being taken closer to the divine with direct
references to his familial relationship with Zeus with an ending on the highest
divine level: that of the fates. Galinsky believes that Virgil was the first poet to
dub Aeneas as pius54 under the watchful gaze of his ‘descendant’ Augustus.55
However, other sources tell us that this may not necessarily have been the case
with other sources of influence on our hero’s characterisation.56 Aeneas’ piety is
50 Shelton, K. J. 1983 p.17 18. Virgil is depicted several times in mosaics alongside Homer as a companion to the Muses. 51 Murray, A. T. 1924 e.g. 5.311 52 Rieu, E. V. 1993 20.293 352 53 Grant, M. 1971 ‘This shows why some divine intervention in the conflict, to put an end to his duel with Achilles, was a mythical and literary necessity. Homer knew that Aeneas was destined to escape, and so he had to protect him from fatal involvement in battle. Aeneas was unique among that Trojans in that he had a future as well as a past.’ p.68 54 Galinsky, G. K. 1969 ‘... the Augustan poet created the truly pius Aeneas’ p.20; ‘It was Vergil who finally created the truly pius Aeneas’ p.50; ‘The poet gave this pietas infinitely more connotations than originally it had had… Pius Aeneas is essentially his creation.’ p.61. 55 Galinsky, G. K. 1969 ‘…the programmatic quality of the first citizen, Augustus, and the ideal Roman citizen, Aeneas.’ p.58. 56 Holloway, R. R. & Putnam, M. C. J. 1971 ‘The Rhetorica dated by Caplan c. 86 82 B.C. gives, as an example of allegory ex contrario, "si quem impium qui patrem verberarit Aeneam vocemus."
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not explicitly stated by Homer, but the references to fate and his religious
behaviour clearly show an acknowledged reverence to the deities that Virgil could
have adopted.57
The anonymous auctor reveals two significant facts: that in a Roman rhetorical handbook dating from the 80s, Aeneas was already proverbial for piety, and that this piety was specifically connected with kindness toward his father, not only with his carrying of the sacra from Troy.’ p.281 57 Moseley, N. 1925 ‘Later Greek writers went even farther in this direction than Homer had, and were perhaps even more important in determining Vergil's choice of an epithet, for there is little in Homer about Aeneas and of course nothing in the Iliad about his escape from Troy or his later wanderings.’ p.392.
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Chapter 4
Odysseus - The Odyssey
For those reading Book 2 of The Aeneid with no experience of The Iliad and
The Odyssey, the way that Odysseus/Ulixes is characterised by Virgil would quite
easily be perceived as one of abject disapproval of his crafty nature. If we look
closer however, using a sophistic style of analysis, it becomes apparent that Virgil
disguises his own opinions on one of Homer’s chief protagonists by describing
him using the oratorical talents of only two characters: those of the Greek Sinon
and his very own hero, Aeneas.
In this book, Aeneas is telling Dido’s assembly of the defeat of the Trojans
by the Greeks and emphasises the underhanded way that this was accomplished.
In doing so, Aeneas describes Ulixes as ‘devious’58 and ‘a man not open to pity’59.
These epithets are understandable when viewed as the language used by a
defeated refugee about his enemy.60 Following this, we are introduced to Sinon’s
speech where we read his complete denunciation of the Greeks and in particular
the smooth tongued and ‘impious’ Ulixes.61 Here Aeneas leaves the narrative for a
short time as the descriptions flow from the mouth of Sinon. Virgil is here
writing as Aeneas who is telling the story through the point of view of Sinon’s
rhetoric, thus removing any definitive opinions that he has on Homer by voicing
it through his characters instead of himself as narrator. So it is unclear what Virgil
actually thought of Odysseus given the tricky way that he manoeuvers his
narrative. Stanford is of the opinion that there is a sense of ‘literary pietas’ at work
here where the reverence displayed by openly imitating Homer should not be
blackened by a cheap shot designed to make his own hero appear superior62. Such
58 West. D. 2003 2.45 59 West. D. 2003 2.8 10 60 Stanford, W. B. 1968 p.132 61 Hardie, P. 1998 p.70 62 Stanford, W. B. 1968 ‘Though Virgil never explicitly states any veneration for the father of epic, his mind was obviously steeped in homer’s poetry. Plagiarism was not regarded as a crime in those days. But a poet who with one hand borrowed and adapted a predecessor’s best lines and scenes and with the other blackened his most characteristic hero would be going, one feels, just
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a display would be detrimental to Virgil’s reputation and so may be a device to
please his Roman audience, whilst at the same time not insulting the model of his
work.63
When we look at specific examples of their behaviours, it is striking how
similar the characterisation of both characters is. On washing up on the shores of
Scherie, and following his encounter with Nausicaa, Athene enhances Odysseus’
appearance and shrouds him in a ‘thick mist’64 to protect him on his journey to
supplicate King Alcinous via Queen Arete. Hidden by the mist, Odysseus throws
his arms around Arete’s knees before the mist is dispersed and, with the
banqueters staring, they listen to his petition. Aeneas is similarly covered by
Venus’ divine mist for protection65 as he ventures towards the palace of Dido in
Carthage. The removal of the mist in Homer occurs moments before the act of
supplication is about to commence. Here Virgil chooses to clear the cloud after
Dido has already offered the Trojan men sanctuary. Homer marks the verbal act
of supplication with a distinct style of body language suitable to a lower class of
being begging for assistance. This shows a level of respect for the laws of xenia
which are a crucial theme throughout The Odyssey but this is not the case with
Aeneas. A typically stoic characterisation with the Roman hero standing back
behind his men, waiting for the group to be saved before revealing himself to the
doomed Queen. Odysseus has no men and is looking out for his own self interest
and thus surely has no need to appear strong66. He can and will do anything to get
home to Ithaca. Aeneas has a different agenda; he must remain a firm leader to
his men and cannot be seen to physically beg for assistance from a woman, even if
she does happen to be the sole ruler of a kingdom.67 The different cultural
too far. Pietas has its place in literature as well as in patriotism; and Virgil was the least likely of the Roman poets to violate it.’ p.131. 63 Sellar, W. Y. 1970 ‘The bitterness of national animosity is apparent in his exhibition of Ulysses and Helen… They full truth of Homer’s delineations of character was apparently not recognized by the most cultivated of his Roman readers.’ p.334 64 Rieu, D. C. H. 1991 7.15 65 West. D. 2003 1.411 66 Pedrick, V. 1982 ‘The Phaeacians prove to be even more hospitable than the princess once they recover from the surprise of Odysseus' appearance, but still the hero must undergo an elaborate humiliation at Arete's knees.’ p.138 67 Oiliensis 1997 ‘Virgil associates the feminine with unruly passion, the masculine with reasoned
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mindsets of the authors here synchronise perfectly with the narrative demands of
the characters.
It is commonly noted that Virgil moulded the first half of his epic on The
Odyssey and the second on The Iliad68 and, with the personal interactions that both
Odysseus and Aeneas have in common, it can be argued that a large part of
Aeneas’ character has been poetically lifted from the personality of Odysseus.
The concept of the journey is something typical to storytelling69 and is used in
both epics, but the reasons that our heroes have for their travels are different. For
Odysseus, he is travelling to his homeland after many years at war; he is going
back to his past glory. Aeneas on the other hand is going forward, to find a new
and as yet undiscovered home for his people. But despite the differences in their
motivation, an example of a scene that stands open to comparison is their dual
visits to the Underworld. For Odysseus’ nekyia, he must consult the soul of the
prophet Teiresias to discover how he should return home. Aeneas must emerge
from his katabasis with the guidance of the Sibyl of Cumae to discover what his
father Anchises prophesies for his future in Italy. Both are visiting the
underworld for guidance, and a superficial analysis displays an obvious
comparison between the support offered by both the aged Teiresias and Anchises
to their respective heroes. But it is the behaviours of the heroes that are of
interest here. On seeing the shade of Ajax, Odysseus directly confronts him about
the hostility that is displayed, claiming that it was the ‘gods that made them a
curse to us Argives’70 and that Zeus in particular should be blamed for his death.
The conclusion to this arrogant display of remorselessness is evident from his
closing spoken words to Ajax:
“Draw near, my lord, and hear what I have to say, curb your anger and conquer your obstinate pride.” ‘So I spoke. He made no reply but went away into Erebus to join the souls of the other dead. There, for all his bitterness, he might yet have
self mastery. In narrative terms, this tends to mean that women make trouble and men restore order.’ p.303 68 Stewart, D. J. 1972 ‘the Aeneid is modeled, superficially, on both Iliad and Odyssey, and at a deeper level, follows the Odyssey in being the story of a man forced to introspection in order to find out who he is through the agency of his experience.’ p.25 69 Booker, C. 2009 p.89 70 Rieu, D. C. H. 1991 11.555
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spoken to me, or I to him, had not the wish to see the souls of other dead men filled my heart.’
Book 11.560 66, The Odyssey
In this rhetorical performance to the Phaeacian court, Odysseus portrays the
ending of this one sided conversation as being largely his own decision. Ajax left
because he was bitter, but Odysseus was planning to do so anyway because he saw
other ghosts that he wanted to speak to arguably a childish way to behave given
the situation.71
Aeneas on his silent encounter with the spurned lover Dido acts in a
similar vein. In this instance though, it is the narrator that holds the narrative of
the scene rather than the first person description of the hero. In speaking ‘sweet
words of love’ to Dido coupled with the emotive language that follows, Virgil is
attempting to re establish the heroic credentials of an Aeneas who, until this
point, did not have complete forgiveness72 for his contribution towards the death
of Dido. Like Odysseus, Aeneas attempts to shifts the blame for his actions. But
instead of crafty verbal techniques, Aeneas pleads ignorance:
“I could not have believed that my leaving would cause you such sorrow. Do not move away. Do not leave my sight. Who are you running from? Fate has decreed that I shall not speak to you again.” With these words, Aeneas, shedding tears, tried to comfort that burning spirit, but grim faced she kept her eyes upon the ground and did not look at him.’
Book 6.464 70, The Aeneid
It is Dido’s ideal status as an una vira that ensures the outcome of this
interaction, as she runs into the arms of her first husband Sychaeus. Ajax
represents the one unresolved relationship for Odysseus, and Dido stands silent
in her refusal to respond to Aeneas’ advances.73 The two heroes both attempt to
manipulate their victims. Both can be said to have died indirectly because of
those attempting to placate them, but the difference in the approach from each
hero heroes can be clearly seen. Where Odysseus fails at the human interaction
with Ajax, Aeneas seems to be genuinely attempting to reconcile his ignorance
71 Yeames, H. H. 1913 p.146 72 Permission to ‘pursue Dido’ was provided by the shade of Creusa see Chapter 2 . Clemency for his contributions to the death of Dido had not yet occurred. 73 Spence, S. 1999 p.94
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with his role in the suicide of Dido. The Greek hero blames godly interference;
the Roman hero who has a more direct case for divine intervention74 also takes
this route.75 Both are attempting to remove a stain from their character, with
Odysseus aiming to improve his chances of receiving aid from the listening
Alcinous, and with Virgil attempting to reiterate the fated nature of the incidents
that occur in Book 4 to induce audience sympathy towards his recycled hero.
Scholars have noted that registers such as the Virgilian link with Ajax are
constantly used throughout the epic. When alluded to, as in this case, then the
primary text that is being read seems to be an all encompassing survey of
greatness.76
74 West. D. 2003 ‘The ruler of the gods above, send me…you owe him the land of Rome and the kingdom of Italy.’ 4.270 278 75 West. D. 2003 ‘It was the stern authority of the commands of the gods that drove me on.’ 6.461 76 Panoussi, V. 2002 ‘I argue that Vergil's allusive annotation to Ajax both as a tragic persona and as a Homeric hero has important repercussions for the intertextual program of the poem, since it reveals the presence of a tragic register in the Aeneid which operates in dialogue with the Homeric allusive register.’ P. 102
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Chapter 5
Jason - The Argonautica
Venturing away from Homer, Apollonius of Rhodes offers us Jason as a
suitably epic individual to continue the search for heroic influences on the
characteristics of Virgil’s Aeneas. The Argonautica is not a typical epic, but in
being different mirrors a set of core themes which are inherent within The Aeneid.
It exploits the collective memory of the readers and pays great regard to the
places that the characters visit, with each location triggering a vast array of bonus
details. Nelis argues that the themes of ethnicity, space, colonisation, and
representations of alien cultures are more clearly visible here than in any Homeric
work.77 Whilst it has been commented that Jason lacks the dignity of a traditional
epic hero78, the arguments tend to revolve around his lack of impressiveness as a
solitary leader. As has been commented previously, Aeneas is also seen as being
‘less impressive’ than the Homeric heroes79, which prompts the question why
are Jason and Aeneas lacking in impressiveness?
A harsh argument to answer this is supplied by Hadas with a discussion of
Jason’s lack of independence as a leader, leading him to be perceived as being
imbecilic.80 Both Aeneas and Jason rely on the direct actions of other characters
to propel the narrative forward in their stories, with very few events occurring
because of the decisions of the individual. Whereas in The Odyssey we can see a
level of divine intervention that is seen to only sporadically prod the narrative
along, Apollonius instead uses the various characters and in particular gods to
consistently energise huge segments of the story arc. At the start of Book 3,
Athena and Hera decide amongst themselves how they will return the Golden
77 Nelis, D. 2001 78 de Grummond 1977 cites several scholars objecting to Jason as an epic hero. George W. Mooney 1912 ; F. A. Wright 1932 ; E. A. Barber 1949 . 79 See footnote n.5 above 80 Hadas, M. 1936 ‘When vigor or decision is required, Jason is imbecile; his success comes only from the help of women, in the Argonautica from the intervention of Hypsipyle, Medea, Arete.’ p.167
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Fleece back to Hellas.81 There is no mention of Jason and there is no mention of
an all controlling Virgilian style of fate; the two goddesses merely decide
everything. They even go so far as to describe the mortal Argonauts as being
incapable of completing the task by themselves.82 This level of interference is
even displayed by Aeneas’ mother Aphrodite when she enchants the sorceress
Medea into falling in love with Jason in order to aide him in ‘his’ quest.83 Without
Athena helping to build the Argo, and without the actions of these goddesses in
their manipulations of the mortals, the story would simply collapse. Virgil takes
the notion of godlike interference, especially with the actions of Venus, and
reuses them for his own epic. Comparable scenes must include analysis of the two
‘cave marriages’ that occur in both The Aeneid and The Argonautica. After
discussion with Alcinous, Jason is told by Queen Arete that the only way for
Medea not to be sent back to her father was to ensure that she ‘shared a
husband’s bed’ in order for a ‘love sanctioned marriage’ to be recognised.84 In a
ritualised fashion involving sacrifices and libations, the Argonauts start to prepare
the marriage bed of Medea and Jason in a nearby cave linked to Dionysian
Macris. A similar agreement is made between Venus and Juno who in The Aeneid
take the roles of Alcinous and Arete. With both parties assenting to the union of
Aeneas and Dido, a storm forces the pair into a cave whilst out hunting.85 With
Dido ‘no longer keeping her love as a secret’ the two are witnessed as being
married by Juno. Both scenes accentuate the change in weather alongside the
involvement of nymphs in the ceremony. Whereas Apollonius refers to ‘ambrosial
rays’ and the nymphs ‘gathering flowers’ in honour of the marriage, Virgil chooses
to emphasise the chaotic storm and the ‘wailing on the mountain tops’. The
humanity is taken away from our male heroes, with the narrative commentary
focusing on the external events that surround their actions. The arguably
81 Hunter, R. 1993 ‘What must we do? Can you devise a trick by which they might take Aietes’ golden fleece back to Hellas?’ 3.11 13 82 Hunter, R. 1993 3.14 16 83 Hunter, R. 1993 3.170 84 Hunter, R. 1993 4.1152 85 West, D. 1991 4.160174
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‘grotesque’ way that these marriages are depicted86 are stylistically similar in
narrative goals. This scene does not explicitly give us an insight into the
characters of Jason and Aeneas but, by taking the attention of the readership
away from the first person perspectives, we see a distinct lack of autonomy. We
are privy to how the characters are truly being manipulated with the authors
directing our gaze to the theme over the individual. Apollonius shows us that
Jason is coerced into marriage by the dictums of the Phaeacians, Colchians; thus
mortal law and his own safety ensure his cave marriage to Medea. Virgil’s
overarching Roman theme of fate is consciously used by Venus to ensure that
Aeneas is too kept safe until Jupiter’s prophecy87 is carried out with his inevitable
departure from Carthage.
This similarity does contain an element of despair in both characters
they seem to have no control over their lives. While Aeneas has no real choice
but to obey his fate no matter how much he attempts to rebel , Jason is seen to
openly accept and abuse his reliance on others. Both heroes however are written
as acknowledging the inherent frustration present, a trait not readily displayed by
other epic heroes. Consistent examples from Apollonius use the different forms
of the epithet ‘despair’ to refer to Jason throughout The Argonautica.88 Aeneas also
demonstrates this trait when he refuses to accept his fate and openly ignores it89
alongside his first words, which are ones of weakness. After the storm in Aeneid 1,
Aeneas delivers a morale boosting speech to his shipwrecked people with Virgil
writing soon after that, although he spoke words of encouragement, ‘he was sick
with all his cares. He showed them the face of hope and kept his misery deep in
his heart’90. Was this detail entirely necessary? Fränkel argues that Jason was not
86 Weber, C. 2002 ‘The similarity between Aeneas… is further enhanced when the Trojan king withdraws to a cave and there takes part in a grotesque wedding… the self indulgence and lewd behavior of Dido and Aeneas.’ p.335 87 West, D. 1991 ‘You can be sure that the destiny o your descendants remains unchanged. You will see the city of Lavinium and its promised walls.’ 1.256 296 88 Hadas, M. 1936 p.167 e.g. 1.460 62; 2.408 10; 3.422 25; 4.1316 18. 89 See footnote n.11 above 90 West, D. 1991 1.207 209
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depressed, he just looked like it. 91 If we follow this argument, then Apollonius
has consciously left out the narrative details that ensure the audience
comprehend the difference between that which is vocally expressed by the
characters and their internalised thoughts. Virgil has taken the psychologically
flawed nature of Jason92 and adapted it with narrative explicitness for ease of
interpretation and ease of acceptance of the Roman ideals that he is trying to
express elsewhere in the poem.
Despair and helplessness are unworthy traits for any epic hero, writes
Virgil commentator Servius, who claims that he does not understand why an
author would ever write such weaknesses into the makeup of his hero.93 De
Grummond argues that Virgil was undoubtedly influenced by Apollonius’
characterisation on this front94; to create a more complex and flawed hero is to
move away from the idealised warriors of Homeric epic and into a more unique
form of analysis of the Roman national identity. Servius makes the mistake of
thinking that Odysseus is the only heroic model for Aeneas; something that
hopefully I have demonstrated is far from likely in my discussion thus far.
91 Hunter, R. L. 1988 ‘Just as in life actions do not necessarily reveal motives, so in literature we may need privileged, authorial information to help us to interpret action or, in Jason's case, nonaction. If a poet refuses to provide that information, he places us in the position of viewers of a painted scene and forces us to confront the very fragile basis upon which interpretations of mood and motive are made.’ p.443 92 de Grummond 1977 ‘Thereafter almost any appearance of Jason, chosen at random, will serve as an illustration of the despairing and helpless hero; despair and helplessness are constant characteristics in his makeup, ever near the surface and ready to reveal themselves: they are essential to the poet's concept of his hero.’ p.230 93 de Grummond 1977 p.228 94 de Grummond 1977 ‘Virgil was influenced, of course, by the ideas of Callimachus, Theocritus, and other Alexandrians, but his reexamination of the narrative and psychological possibilities of the epic hero was inevitably stimulated chiefly by Apollonius.’ p.228
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Summary and
Conclusion
The goal of this essay is to illuminate some of the many similarities in the
personality traits of several key epic heroes whose fame precedes that of The
Aeneid and to look at the influence they had on Aeneas’ characterisation. By
comparing and contrasting select scenes from each of the pre Virgilian heroes, we
have been able to discover the similarities and differences between them and
Aeneas.
Aeneas is far from the perfect hero with his inherent character flaws and
argued inconsistency of his articulated values95 being far from that of the idealised
heroes preceding his creation. In the first chapter I looked at Aeneas against
Homer’s Achilles and his relationship with divine fate and anger in battle, here
acknowledging Virgil’s conformity to the expected norms of epic convention
before adapting them to suit his own literary purpose. The fatalistic elements and
divine heritage of Aeneas have been commented on, as being directly lifted from
Achilles in order to be incorporated into the best of the Roman qualities.
Chapter 2 continued on in The Iliad to look at the flawed human leader Hector.
By moving on from the anger of Achilles to Aeneas’ part in the death of Turnus96
and similarities between this poetic situation with the death of Hector, I was able
to look at the symbolism which Virgil derived from this comparison to ground his
epic story in the Homeric past. Examining definitions of Greek and Roman
heroism and both heroes’ relationships with the place of women in their lives
displayed a clear division between the importance of the state over the individual
in the Augustan epic. Lessons in old morality and the conflict between the two
cultures were explored in the analysis of Homeric Aeneas in Chapter 3. How both
figures of Aeneas react to their familial pressures and the different role that piety
95 Kallendorf. C. 2007 p.vi 96 van Nortwick, T. 1974 ‘Thus in killing Turnus Aeneas may be said to be putting to rest in Turnus and in himself that anachronistic Achillean heroism which is to be replaced by pietas, the corner stone of the new civilization of Rome.’ p.313
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plays in both epics were central to understanding the changes made to and
similarities that Virgil lifted from Homer. Chapter 5 followed the conscious
ability of assessing one’s place and image in the story in comparing Aeneas to
Odysseus in The Odyssey, by looking at the physical behaviours and rhetorical
devices exhibited when acting as ambassadors to foreign kingdoms and when
journeying through the Underworld. The differences in approach display a sense
of Roman pride in culture that shows dominance over Greek nature where we see
Virgil enhancing the Homeric code for the benefit of his character. The final
chapter used Jason from Apollonius’ Argonautica to demonstrate that the
perception of a flawed nature in Aeneas was also lifted from another source. By
focusing on the lack of expression and emotional maturity demonstrated here,
evidence was provided to show the wide range of sources that Virgil used as a
heroic model for Aeneas.
By using all of these underlying registers, Virgil is attempting to pay
homage to the works that he is alluding to. By advancing their popularity he is
advertising his own superior skill of imitatio.97 A symbiotic relationship of poetic
pietas is on show here in honour of the literary discussion of Roman ness. But
Virgil does not use these registers one at a time; he uses them all at once. Aeneas
is not an original hero; he is not based on one typical ‘model’. His personality and
behavioural traits appear to be lacking in impressiveness not because of his failure
to conform to epic convention but because it does conform but only in parts.
Aeneas does not display heroic characteristics constantly; he acts in certain ways
in certain situations. He is a Frankenstein of Virgilian interpretation. His
character is amalgamated from every influence imaginable, so that his personality
is so complexly layered that it is insulting to identify his model as being derived
from one sole character, philosophical treatise or political purpose at any one
time.
On one hand Virgil has been insulted by Graves for being simplistic and
97 Hinds, S. 1998 p.34
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pliable, with a stubborn lack of imaginative freedom because of the extent of his
incorporation of external heroes.98 On the other end of the spectrum he has been
praised for reconciling the social demands of his Roman audience with the epic
expectations from previous texts. The Iliad and The Odyssey especially have been
declared as epics of human life, with the Aeneid being the epic of national glory.99
Whatever the opinion, it can be universally agreed that every reader,
according to his/her ideological situation, will configure the characteristics of
Aeneas in a different way.100 What is important is that the timelessness of the The
Aeneid is found in these different configurations. By including references to
previous heroic incarnations in the characterisation of Aeneas, we may not have
the most impressive epic hero but we definitely have the most entertaining. The
integration of Achilles, Hector, Odysseus and Jason into the idea of Rome101 into
the shell of the Aeneas myth gives us true literary value. All of the entertaining
facets of the epic hero have been rolled into one national tale, a pleasure not seen
before the emergence of Virgil’s recycled hero.
98 Stewart, D. J. 1972 p. 649 99 Sellar, W. Y. 1919 p.50 100 Laird, A. 1997 p.289 101 Wassermann, F. M. 1952 p.288
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The
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