Aeneid Scholarship
Aeneas and Dido - Jenkyns
-Jenkyns argues Virgil has conceived the story of Dido in the Aeneid as a self contained tragedy in the larger poem of the Aeneid
-Jenkyns believes Dido does not have a moral flaw, she is made supernaturally to fall in love with passion. Her moral struggle is
whether she should yield to that passion
-Virgil models his epic on the Odyssey and the Iliad
-Jenkyns claims that as a result of Dido's oath and Aeneas' burden of destiny the relationship failed, although it should not have.
Neither should be blamed for the failure.
-Jenkyns claims In the cave nature, the supernatural and human lovemaking all blur together
-Jenkyns argues that it isn't humanly right for blame to be allocated onto either of them, Virgil encourages us to share the emotions
of these characters and sympathise with them instead
Augustus and the Aeneid - Jenkyns
-Jenkyns claims Virgil did not write a poem of Augustus' glorious deeds but instead about the distant past in which Augustus appears as a future
figure only three times (with no mention of many of his achievements and victories).
-States the word Augustan has become a symbol of consummated civility
-States the poets granted Augustus immortality in the future
-Jenkyns believes by basing a poem in the distant past with brief glimpses to the present, Virgil did not have to discuss Augustus too much by
simply having him be a central figure who is depicted in three separate occasions
-Virgil put Augustus into the poem, not to describe his life and actions, but to put him into connection with a serious idea of governance and
the art of rule, which is also expressed through Aeneas.
-Aeneas can be despairing, inconstant, imperfect and anxious in a way Augustus himself could not have been portrayed in a praise poem
-The Aeneid praises Augustus for two things: the conquests of distant and remote peoples, the restoration of order, which Jupiter states in Book
1
-Jenkyns argues Virgil really believed in Augustus because he selected the things he deemed important and discarded others he thought less
significant
Aeneas and Heroism - Jenkyns
-Jenkyns states Those believe Aeneas to be a failure either believe Virgil has failed to make him sufficiently interesting or that Virgil
has intended to present someone who is imperfect and struggling
-Jenkyns conveys how Virgil has the models of Homeric heroes for his poem, Achilles/Odysseus however those men are only acting for
themselves whilst Aeneas has the burden of destiny imposed on him.
-Aeneas is one of the first of the new modern heroes, not a robust red blooded Homeric heroes
-Jenkyns describes how Virgil exhibits Aeneas, in the first half of the epic, experiencing ordinary human difficulty. However in the
second half of the poem he is irresistibly moving forward to victory
-Virgil displays Aeneas' act of human sacrifice in book 11 to convey how in some ways Aeneas remains a primitive red blooded warrior
with strong emotions (like Achilles)
-Jenkyns states the very last act in the poem is an act of passion on Aeneas' part
-Jenkyns believes the ideas that Aeneas is a Stoic hero / Aeneas is a Roman hero are incorrect
-Aeneas' faults are feeling too much: Human sacrifice/Dido/Death of Turnus
-Anchises addresses the Roman readers in his speech in book 6, although he is conversing with Aeneas he becomes excited whilst
talking of the glorious future of Rome and begins talking directly to the reader (referencing figures Aeneas does not know)
, Book 6 The Underworld - Jenkyns
-Jenkyns believes Virgil's simile "journey in the dark like a journey in the dark" can represent how at the start we and Aeneas are in
image/metaphor/reality confused and literally in the dark. The first things Aeneas sees are very vague (eg: death, fear, hunger) and
not personified like abstractions often are
-Virgil then has Aeneas move into a more picturesque underworld, describing images of the ferryman, sage, mud, the boat weighed
down by Aeneas
-Jenkyns claims Dido continues to suffer in the underworld, as does Palinurus who suffers at the decrees of the Gods
-Jenkyns argues Virgil makes the transition between his mythological, philosophical, spiritual underworld, this vision of the Roman future
very skilfully
-As Aeneas walks through the Ivory gate of false dreams it does not signify or suggest the trip to the underworld was a dream but
instead that we are moving on to the upper world and it's false dreams, we are moving forward to the second part of the poem
Books 7/8 The Italians - Jenkyns
-Virgil presents to the Romans the land of Italy through unfamiliar eyes, conveying how it's history has made it different
-In Book 7, whilst set in Latinus' city, Virgil twice uses the adjective Augustus (only times used in the epic), partly for it's sacral
character but to also make us think of modern Rome and the workings of history
-Ascanius' joke in Book 7 adds a touch of lightness and ordinariness into the epic, and later Ascanius accidentally starts the war by
killing another child's stage. Jenkyns argues Virgil places a sense of child likeness over this part of the poem
-Jenkyns states in Book 8 Virgil produces a picture of the prehistory of Rome which combines love of country, affection for the past
and a king (Evander) who is grand and humble at the same time
Is the Aeneid a pro- or anti-Augustan poem? - Marshall
-When in the Underworld, Marshall claims Aeneas revisits his past in reverse order to remind him and us of his journey so far. Palinurus
represents the voyage to Italy, Dido represents his stay in Carthage and the ghost of Deiphobus who reminds the reader of the sack
of Troy.
-These ghosts establish the human cost of the founding of Rome and remind both us and Aeneas of all which has been lost
-Marshall references Otis who argues Aeneas enters the underworld, driven by his past and pietas towards his father Anchises, but
once the shades of Dido and Deiphobus turn away Aeneas realises the past means nothing to him and he embraces his destiny which
lays ahead of him (lets go of his furor/embraces clementia)
-Marshall references Boyle who argues Aeneas descent into the underworld has a minor effect on him. He claims the Sibyl is forced to
constantly distract Aeneas so he does not linger onto the suffering, loss and devastation he sees there. As a result of this he claims
once Aeneas exits the underworld he has not learnt much of the experience and in Books 7-12 he is destined to reenact the horrors
of the Trojan War in Italy (inevitability of war/human failure)
-Marshall references Boyle who further argues, based off the fact Aeneas exits the underworld through the gate of false dreams, that
this signifies the ideal of empire, Anchises has highlighted in the Aeneid is a false hope that wont be recognised by either Aeneas or
Augustus
-Marshall claims Book 6 cant be interpreted as a straight forward celebration of empire, and notes on the fact that the parade of
heroes ends on a note of tragedy with the figure of Marcellus, an example of mortes immaturae (an example of the greatness that
might have been)
What is the nature of the relationship between Dido and Aeneas? - Marshall
-Marshall states that this is a story complicated by the pathos evoked for Dido as Virgil casts her into this role as a tragic heroine
-Marshall claims the plot of their love story mirrors the [lot that should be had by an ancient tragedy
-Marshall claims the cave scene is not a wedding but notes on certain elements which may justify Dido's version of events: The
presence of Juno and the nymphs, lightning flashes, Juno presiding over the ceremony, howling of nymphs (wedding hymn/tragic line
of distress)
-Marshall weighs up how Aeneas informed Dido of his fate, and consequently the fact that she should have known his fate laid
