Aeneid modern scholarship

Question 1

P. Hardie on Aeneas?

Answer 1

He has a boring personality because it has been pushed on him by fate

Question 2

P. Hardie on Dido?

Answer 2

She has to go from housewife to queen, in the afterlife she reverts back to housewife

Question 3

Camps on Aeneas?

Answer 3

He is like an automaton or puppet because he is controlled by exterior forces

Question 4

Camps on Turnus?

Answer 4

The audience is meant to sympathise with Turnus although he is fatally misguided and bloodthirsty

Question 5

J. Griffin on Augustan context?

Answer 5

Virgil doesn’t just flatter Augustus but inspires him to lead like Aeneas

Question 6

J. Griffin on war and death in the Aeneid?

Answer 6

The future of Rome is paid for by blood and suffering. The price for imperialism and for greatness is the soul

Question 7

J. Griffin on the end of the Aeneid?

Answer 7

The ending leaves a haunting and complex effect in tune with the rest of the poem. It is deliberate.

Question 8

D. Williams on Augustan context of the Aeneid?

Answer 8

Virgil reflects Augustus’ policies because they were also his. The two agreed that ‘pietas’, ‘revenge’, and ‘doing your duty’ were important

Question 9

D. Williams on book 6 of the Aeneid?

Answer 9

book 6 sees Aeneas’ character change from weakness and uncertainty to strength and willingness to succeed on his mission

Question 10

D. Williams on Aeneas and Homeric heroes?

Answer 10

He is different to a Homeric hero because he suffers for others

Question 11

S. Harrison on Juno?

Answer 11

“soap opera bitch”. She is like the other gods - petty, childish and trivial

Question 12

S. Harrison on war and death in the Aeneid?

Answer 12

There is a link between the theme of an early death and the death of Marcellus (23BC)

Question 13

K.W. Gransden on book 4 of the Aeneid?

Answer 13

it is like a Greek tragedy
- divine messengers/ intervention
- interaction of protagonists
- author = the chorus

Question 14

K. W. Gransden on family in the Aeneid?

Answer 14

The Aeneid is dominated by fathers and father-figures. Aeneas is called ‘pater’ as much as ‘pius’

Question 15

K. W. Gransden on war in the Aeneid?

Answer 15

the Aeneid argues for peace not violence. Virgil created a counterpoint to the warlike legends of Romulus. Aeneas wants peace and has pietas

Question 16

R. Jenkyns on Dido and Aeneas?

Answer 16

They are a self contained tragedy. It is neither of their faults

Question 17

R. Sowerby on Aeneas?

Answer 17

Aeneas is little more than a symbol. He is passive to the will of the gods and all his vital instincts and passions are subdued in the service of ideals

Question 18

R. Sowerby on Turnus?

Answer 18

he is more of a traditional Homeric hero than Aeneas. He is more like Achilles - selfish, looking for glory and is a foil for Aeneas.

Question 19

J.V. Muir on Aeneas and fate?

Answer 19

Aeneas has roles forced onto him by the plot of the Aeneid rather than having internal desires himself

Question 20

L. Morgan on the agency of mortals in the Aeneid?

Answer 20

“mortals in the Aeneid are puppets”

Question 21

L. Morgan on gender in the Aeneid?

Answer 21

The poem makes an effort to marginalise women. The most central characters are young men and Dido and Camilla only have a role to play in the poem when they are like men. Women who act like Roman women (e.g Lavinia) are barely in the poem

Question 22

B.W. Boyd on women in the Aeneid, specifically Camilla?

Answer 22

“the naming of a female last among the leaders is ominous, with its overtones of abnormality and weakness”
“a woman’s leadership has already once… been proven problematic”
“faithful passivity” best describes the key quality of a perfect Roman woman.

Question 23

T. S. Pattie on pietas and Aeneas?

Answer 23

Aeneas doesn’t have to do his duty. He actively practises pietas and accepts his divine mission rather than being forced into it.

Question 24

T. Franklinos on context of the Aeneid?

Answer 24

“the Aeneid is a literary monument which places Augustus Caesar right in the middle”

Question 25

Tarrant on the context of the Aeneid?

Answer 25

Virgil’s outlook was “ambivalence”

Question 26

Pattie on the civil wars?

Answer 26

the civil wars created “deep feelings of guilt” in the Roman world and “Virgil’s handling of his legendary material reflects these feelings”

Question 27

Quinn on Virgil and the context of civil war

Answer 27

Virgil knew that the audience would understand his allegorical references to Augustus and the civil war

Question 28

Morgan on Virgil’s portrayal of the civil war to his audience

Answer 28

“Virgil is trying to persuade his readers to think differently about the civil wars, they are ghastly, but they were necessary too”