The Aeneid
Introduction
- Troy was in the north-west tip of Asia Minor
- 753BC city of Rome was founded
- Still resonates bc it’s a great poem
- ‘Story of a human being who knew defeat and dispossession, love and the loss of
love, whose life was ruled by his sense of duty to his gods, his people and his family’
- Humans behaving as humans still do e.g. Andromache’s grief when she meets
someone the same age as her son would have been (3.305)
- Not yet out of date
- 70BC Virgil was born
- 44BC Julius Caesar was assassinated
- 42BC Brutus and Cassius (assassinators) were defeated, Virgil had his estates
confiscated but won patronage of Maecenas
- 37BC Virgil published Eclogues
- 29BC Virgil finished the Georgics after Battle of Actium
- 19BC he died before finishing the Aeneid
- Augustus had promised peace, order, prosperity and moral regeneration, the
promise of a Golden Age
- Aeneid is praise, not flattery, by telling the story of Augustus’ ancestor and by direct
allusions to the emperor in prophecies
- A search for vision of peace for Rome
Book 12 Summary
- Aeneas and Latinus make a treaty that whoever wins the duel between A and Turnus
will marry Lavinia, and if A is defeated the Trojans will withdraw peacefully
- Juno causes Turnus’ divine sister Juturna to violate the treaty
- Aeneas is wounded by an arrow shot by an unknown, but healed by Venus
- Turnus is rescued by Juturna
- When Aeneas attacks the city of Latinus, Turnus returns to the field
- Jupiter and Juno are reconciled
- Aeneas wounds and kills Turnus as he begs for mercy
- ‘Let the Trojan and Rutulian armies be at peace. His blood, or mine, shall decide this
war’ (78-9) – Turnus
- Contrast between wildness of Turnus and maturity of Aeneas as he reassures his
allies and comforts his son
- Contrast also drawn at ratification of the treaty – Aeneas follows the golden rule by
addressing Jupiter immediately (only after the Sun, as a compliment to Latinus, the
god’s grandson) – Latinus instead addresses Jupiter last – piety
- Again when Aeneas in battle following violation of treaty tries to control his allies,
but Turnus immediately uses Aeneas being wounded to his advantage – Aeneas’
sense of justice
- Some readers find Aeneas cold and unsympathetic – doesn’t take his helmet off to
kiss his son after Venus heals his wound
- Would have easily caught Turnus if Juturna hadn’t taken his chariot to kill stragglers
Introduction
- Troy was in the north-west tip of Asia Minor
- 753BC city of Rome was founded
- Still resonates bc it’s a great poem
- ‘Story of a human being who knew defeat and dispossession, love and the loss of
love, whose life was ruled by his sense of duty to his gods, his people and his family’
- Humans behaving as humans still do e.g. Andromache’s grief when she meets
someone the same age as her son would have been (3.305)
- Not yet out of date
- 70BC Virgil was born
- 44BC Julius Caesar was assassinated
- 42BC Brutus and Cassius (assassinators) were defeated, Virgil had his estates
confiscated but won patronage of Maecenas
- 37BC Virgil published Eclogues
- 29BC Virgil finished the Georgics after Battle of Actium
- 19BC he died before finishing the Aeneid
- Augustus had promised peace, order, prosperity and moral regeneration, the
promise of a Golden Age
- Aeneid is praise, not flattery, by telling the story of Augustus’ ancestor and by direct
allusions to the emperor in prophecies
- A search for vision of peace for Rome
Book 12 Summary
- Aeneas and Latinus make a treaty that whoever wins the duel between A and Turnus
will marry Lavinia, and if A is defeated the Trojans will withdraw peacefully
- Juno causes Turnus’ divine sister Juturna to violate the treaty
- Aeneas is wounded by an arrow shot by an unknown, but healed by Venus
- Turnus is rescued by Juturna
- When Aeneas attacks the city of Latinus, Turnus returns to the field
- Jupiter and Juno are reconciled
- Aeneas wounds and kills Turnus as he begs for mercy
- ‘Let the Trojan and Rutulian armies be at peace. His blood, or mine, shall decide this
war’ (78-9) – Turnus
- Contrast between wildness of Turnus and maturity of Aeneas as he reassures his
allies and comforts his son
- Contrast also drawn at ratification of the treaty – Aeneas follows the golden rule by
addressing Jupiter immediately (only after the Sun, as a compliment to Latinus, the
god’s grandson) – Latinus instead addresses Jupiter last – piety
- Again when Aeneas in battle following violation of treaty tries to control his allies,
but Turnus immediately uses Aeneas being wounded to his advantage – Aeneas’
sense of justice
- Some readers find Aeneas cold and unsympathetic – doesn’t take his helmet off to
kiss his son after Venus heals his wound
- Would have easily caught Turnus if Juturna hadn’t taken his chariot to kill stragglers
