Lecture notes
Omens and Prophecies in the Aeneid
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Details and notes on the omens and prophecies in Virgil's Aeneid
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Jupiter’s prophecy1.259ff “You can be sure that the destiny of your descendants remains unchanged.
You will see the city of Lavinium and its promised walls. You will take great-hearted
Aeneas up to the stars of heaven …He will wage a great war in Italy and crush fierce
tribes. He will built walls for his people and establish their way of life, until a third
summer has seen him reigning in Latium and a third winter has passed after the
subjection of the Rutulians. But the reign of his son Ascanius…shall last while the
months of thirty long years revolve, and he shall transfer his kingdom from its seat at
Lavinium and build a city with powerful fortifications at Alba Longa. Here the rule of
the race of Hector will last for three hundred long years until Ilia the priestess queen,
heavy with the seed of Mars, shall give birth to twin sons. Then Romulus shall receive
the people, wearing with joy the tawny hide of the wolf which nursed him…he shall
give his own name to his people, the Romans. On them I impose no limits of time or
place. I have given them an empire that will know no end…the people of Rome, the
rulers of the world, the race that wears the toga…from this noble stock there will be
born a Trojan Caesar to bound his empire by Oceanus at the limits of the world…He
will be called Julius, a name passed down to him from great Iulus….wars will be laid
aside and the years of bitterness will be over….The dread Gates of War…will then be
closed”
-Dido’s vision of Sychaeus
1.354ff ‘One night there appeared to her in a dream the very ghost of her unburied
husband…pointed to the altar where he had been killed and revealed the whole
horror of the crime…He then urged her to escape…This moved Dido to plan her
escape and gather followers, men driven by savage hatred of the tyrant’
-Venus (as the Spartan girl) proves her words are true with a portent
1.390ff “I can tell you that your comrades are restored and your fleet returned to
you…Look at these twelve swans flying joyfully in formation…Just as they have come
, to their home and their flock has circled the sky…so your ships and your warriors are
already in port…”
-Laocoon killed by sea serpents
2.204ff ‘there came over the calm water from Tenedos…two serpents learning into
the sea in great coils and making side by side for the shore…they made straight for
Laeocoon…the two serpents seized his two young sons…when Laocoon came to the
rescue…they seized him…they [the Trojans] said that Laocoon had been justly
punished for his crime. He had violated the sacred timbers by hurling his sinful spear
into the horse’s back, and they all shouted together that it should be taken to a
proper place’
-Hector’s ghost’s prophecy
2.289+ff “You must escape, son of the goddess. You must save yourself from these
flames,,,you have given enough to your native land and to Priam…into your care she
[Troy] 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 wonderings across the
sea.”
-Ascanius’ head in flames and Jupiter’s sign
2.683ff ‘a light began to stream from the top of the pointed cap he was wearing and
the flame seemed to lick his soft hair and feed round his forehead without harming
him…Father Anchises, looking joyfully up to the stars of heaven and raising his hands
palms upward, lifted his voice in prayer: “O All-powerful Jupiter…confirm this omen.”
…a sudden peal of thunder rang…a star fell from the sky’
-Creusa’s prophecy
2.780ff “Before you lies a long exile and a vast expanse of sea to plough before you
come to the land of Hesperia where the Lydian river Thybris flows with smooth
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