1. Aeneas and the remnants of Troy flee over the Mediterranean Sea to Italy where the fates prophesized that Aeneas would be the founder of a great empire. Along the way across the sea, Juno shows her hate towards the Trojans and beguiles Aeolus to scatter and destroy the fleet by sending in a massive storm. Neptune hears the commotion above and quiets the seas and scatters the winds reminding that he is lord over the oceans and to spite Juno, grants the Trojans safe passage from then on.
The fleet is in horrible shape and searches for the nearest land in sight and happens on the Libyan coast and Venus shows Aeneas he should take his seven remaining ships to Carthage as well as beg Jupiter to make a hospitable greeting for them once the Trojans have arrived at the city. Jupiter complies but Venus is alarmed to discover that Carthage is firmly under Juno’s command. Venus usurps her control by sending down Cupid to make Queen Dido of Carthage desperately in love with Aeneas as soon as he arrives.
The Trojans arrive and are greeted hospitably by the Carthaginians. Aeneas recounts the fall of Troy and how he sailed off to Crete mistakenly thinking that the fabled prophesy meant to build a city there and not in Italy. A plague hits them in Crete and forces the fleet seaward again and in the dark land on the island of the Harpies. Upon landing they see many wild cows and goats and kill them in preparation for a feast. This angers the Harpies greatly and they place a curse on the fleet so that they will not reach Italy until they have known extreme hunger. The Trojans flee yet again just barely avoid an encounter with the blind Cyclops and finally land in Carthage.
The Trojans stay in Carthage for a while with Aeneas and Dido as lovers. Mercury warns him of his duties though and Aeneas is forced to depart. Dido is terribly upset by this and makes a pyre of all the remnants the Trojans left behind and seeing the fleet departing stabs herself with Aeneas’s sword and burns on the pyre.
The Trojans then sail to the Sicilian coasts and rest for a couple days in which Juno turns the women of the Trojans against the rest and attempt to set fire to the ships. Jupiter, taking pity on Aeneas, douses the fire at Aeneas’s request and later Aeneas is taken down to the underworld to see his father and the importance of him going to Italy. Aeneas sees the Golden Age of the Roman Empire and is invigorated upon returning.
The Trojans land on Italy and are greeted peaceably by King Evander of the Arcadians while met by great hostility from the other neighboring nations. A great war breaks out of which King Evander’s son, Pallas, is slain in battle by the leader of the opposing force, Turnus. Jupiter is angered by this bloodshed thinking that the Trojans would land peaceably and declares he will no longer aid either side. Aeneas’s forces are almost defeated but later get reinforcements from Tuscany and win the war. At the end, Aeneas deals Turnus a fatal blow and Turnus begs for mercy. Aeneas almost complies, but seeing Pallas’s belt on him, is angered and finishes him.
2. The theme of the novel is the preordination of Fate and how mortal lives are always subject to the will of the supernatural powers that control mankind.
3. The tone of the author seems almost boastful. There are many passages glorifying the future Roman Empire as seen here: “To cherish and advance the Trojan line. The subject world shall Rome's dominion own, and, prostrate, shall adore the nation of the gown. An age is ripening in revolving fate when Troy shall overturn the Grecian state,” Book I
4. Rhyme: Rhyme helped me out a lot throughout the books in the Aeanied if not to understand the flow of the book. The book is an epic poem consisting of rhyming couplets throughout.
Syntax: Again this helps with the overall flow of the book. It helped maintain the rhythm of the poem and an example can be seen just above.
Ok, beyond these literary elements helping the flow of the story, I have nothing as to help with the interpretation of it. I came in liking the Roman legends but got heavily bogged down in the ancient English that the poem was translated into two or three centuries ago. Any discussion at all on this post will help everyone including myself as to the understanding of the meanings and hidden messages of the poem. I know what happened and why it happened but got lost beyond that. I do apologize in advance for not being particularly helpful in this area.
How does the author's glorifying tone reinforce our recent study of epics and their heroes? Do you think the tone was as out-of-step with the ancient Greeks' daily conversations as it is with ours, or is it a reflection of the author's culture/values?
ReplyDeleteThe glorifying tone reinforces our recent study of epics and their heroes because epics were written to highlight the societal values of the culture the epic was written in. When writing this post the glorifying tone did not make sense to me then, but now looking at this from a new perspective with this information re-presented to me it makes complete sense that this tone is not too far out of step from the "norm" of the average Roman life. The Romans had little control and knowledge of their environment and therefore stated most occurrences as the will of the gods or fate.
ReplyDeleteThank you for clarifying and adding insight to this post.
Can you exemplify the theme of this story?
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story, Aeneas is guided by the will of the gods in the form of visions and journeys, or them showing up in his dreams. The gods tell him what to do and where he should go and Aeneas rarely makes major decision without the gods telling him how to decide.
ReplyDelete