How does Jupiter try to convince Juno to drop her pursuit of Aeneas in lines 791-806?
Virgil causes Jupiter’s speech to be highly persuasive and oratorically advanced in order
to convince Juno to drop her pursuit of Aeneas. The author uses the epithet ‘rex
omnipotentis Olympi’, ‘the king of all-powerful Olympus’, to show his authority over all
gods, including his wife, implying this will be a successful speech. Firstly, he begins with
rhetorical questions which he continues to answer himself, in order to show his desperation
for her to become less involved through the abrupt and impatient nature of his
interrogatives. He begins by asking two similar questions – ‘qua iam finis erit, coniunx? quid
denique restat?’, ‘What will be the end now, wife? What will remain in the end?’ – in order
to cause her to consider the consequences of her interference. He also uses the intimate
address of ‘coniunx’, ‘wife’, to cause this to be a more personal plea.
He then progresses to explain that her pursuit of Aeneas is pointless, through use of the
tricolon describing his inevitable fate: ‘Aeneas is destined for heaven as an Indiges and to be
raised to the stars by fate’, ‘indigetem Aenean… deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli’. This,
which ‘you yourself know and you confess that you know’ (‘scis ipsa et scire fateris’), with
the emphatic pronoun ‘ipsa’, yourself’ and the polyptoton of ‘scis’/’scire’, ‘you know’/’that
you know’, adding force to his argument, shows that no matter how she involves herself,
the eventual idolisation of Aeneas will occur. This is also shown through the promoted noun
‘idigetem’, ‘Indiges’, which is given metrical emphasis, parring him with others who have
received this apotheosis such as Romulus in Ennius’ texts, expressing the utter hopelessness
of Juno’s involvement, and his consequential argument that she should simply drop her
pursuit.
Jupiter continues to directly comment on the actions Juno has taken thus far, returning to
the interrogative form to ask: ‘Was it just for a god to be defiled by a mortal wound, or that
the snatched sword (for what power would Juturna have without you?) to be returned to
Turnus and those conquered to gain new strength?’, ‘mortalim decuit… victis?’. Whilst this
draws attention to the wrongdoings she has committed, such as causing ‘a god to be defiled
by a mortal wound’, ‘mortalim decuit violare volnere divom’, with the antithetical
‘mortalim’, ‘mortal’, and ‘divom’, ‘god’, framing the line to show the unusualness of this
inverted idea, he also uses a possibly sarcastic yet flattering digression. He asks, ‘for what
power would Juturna have without you?’, ‘quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?’,
simultaneously showing that he knows his wife is the one who told Juturna to retrieve the
sword, and that he believes she would not have been able to do this without Juno, thus
complimenting her. In this way, he appeals to her egotistical side, hoping that this will
persuade her to drop the pursuit.
The final part of Jupiter’s speech asserts his power over her, implying that even if she
does not want to, she will bend to his command. His changed tone uses a pair of
imperatives – ‘desine’, ‘cease’; ‘inflectere’, ‘give way’ – as he orders her to listen to
‘precibusque… nostris’, ‘my entreaties’, with the pronoun ‘nostris’ being used to show his
sincerity with the poetic plural. Although this shows his seriousness, it is also a polite
entreaty, thus not undermining her own power too greatly so as not to offend her.
Furthermore, he provides two contrasting possible responses to her not listening to him:
‘lest such great grief consume you in silence and lest bitter anxieties keep coming back to
me often from your sweet lips’, ‘ni te tantus… recursent’. In this way, he displays the range
of negative consequences if she refuses his orders, using the intensifier ‘tantus’, ‘such great
(griefs)’, to prove the extent of her own personal suffering. This could also be a seductive
Virgil causes Jupiter’s speech to be highly persuasive and oratorically advanced in order
to convince Juno to drop her pursuit of Aeneas. The author uses the epithet ‘rex
omnipotentis Olympi’, ‘the king of all-powerful Olympus’, to show his authority over all
gods, including his wife, implying this will be a successful speech. Firstly, he begins with
rhetorical questions which he continues to answer himself, in order to show his desperation
for her to become less involved through the abrupt and impatient nature of his
interrogatives. He begins by asking two similar questions – ‘qua iam finis erit, coniunx? quid
denique restat?’, ‘What will be the end now, wife? What will remain in the end?’ – in order
to cause her to consider the consequences of her interference. He also uses the intimate
address of ‘coniunx’, ‘wife’, to cause this to be a more personal plea.
He then progresses to explain that her pursuit of Aeneas is pointless, through use of the
tricolon describing his inevitable fate: ‘Aeneas is destined for heaven as an Indiges and to be
raised to the stars by fate’, ‘indigetem Aenean… deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli’. This,
which ‘you yourself know and you confess that you know’ (‘scis ipsa et scire fateris’), with
the emphatic pronoun ‘ipsa’, yourself’ and the polyptoton of ‘scis’/’scire’, ‘you know’/’that
you know’, adding force to his argument, shows that no matter how she involves herself,
the eventual idolisation of Aeneas will occur. This is also shown through the promoted noun
‘idigetem’, ‘Indiges’, which is given metrical emphasis, parring him with others who have
received this apotheosis such as Romulus in Ennius’ texts, expressing the utter hopelessness
of Juno’s involvement, and his consequential argument that she should simply drop her
pursuit.
Jupiter continues to directly comment on the actions Juno has taken thus far, returning to
the interrogative form to ask: ‘Was it just for a god to be defiled by a mortal wound, or that
the snatched sword (for what power would Juturna have without you?) to be returned to
Turnus and those conquered to gain new strength?’, ‘mortalim decuit… victis?’. Whilst this
draws attention to the wrongdoings she has committed, such as causing ‘a god to be defiled
by a mortal wound’, ‘mortalim decuit violare volnere divom’, with the antithetical
‘mortalim’, ‘mortal’, and ‘divom’, ‘god’, framing the line to show the unusualness of this
inverted idea, he also uses a possibly sarcastic yet flattering digression. He asks, ‘for what
power would Juturna have without you?’, ‘quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?’,
simultaneously showing that he knows his wife is the one who told Juturna to retrieve the
sword, and that he believes she would not have been able to do this without Juno, thus
complimenting her. In this way, he appeals to her egotistical side, hoping that this will
persuade her to drop the pursuit.
The final part of Jupiter’s speech asserts his power over her, implying that even if she
does not want to, she will bend to his command. His changed tone uses a pair of
imperatives – ‘desine’, ‘cease’; ‘inflectere’, ‘give way’ – as he orders her to listen to
‘precibusque… nostris’, ‘my entreaties’, with the pronoun ‘nostris’ being used to show his
sincerity with the poetic plural. Although this shows his seriousness, it is also a polite
entreaty, thus not undermining her own power too greatly so as not to offend her.
Furthermore, he provides two contrasting possible responses to her not listening to him:
‘lest such great grief consume you in silence and lest bitter anxieties keep coming back to
me often from your sweet lips’, ‘ni te tantus… recursent’. In this way, he displays the range
of negative consequences if she refuses his orders, using the intensifier ‘tantus’, ‘such great
(griefs)’, to prove the extent of her own personal suffering. This could also be a seductive
