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 Recycled Hero: A discussion of epic influences on Virgil’s characterisation of Aeneas


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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."


16

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.


17

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


18

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


19

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


20

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


21

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


23

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


24

‘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


25

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


26

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


27

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


28

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


29

The

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the recycled hero: a discussion of epic influences on virgil's characterisation of aeneas

Documents

aeneas myth

evolved virgils aeneas

aeneas cult

roman hero

popular character of

aeneas character desirable

virgils audience

roman national character