Aeneid VI, Lines 703 - 712

Question 1

Give a brief description about what is happening in these lines.

Answer 1

• So, after Aeneas has tried and failed to embrace his father, he looks around the part of the underworld where they are and he sees an idyllic, rural scene - a wooded valley, where the trees are rustling gently, with a river flowing through it past some dwellings.
• He also sees, by the banks of the river, a large and ethnically diverse crowd of souls. Virgil compares the number of those souls by the river to the bees that buzz around flowers in a summer meadow.
• Aeneas doesn’t know what is going on, and is seemingly a bit startled or shocked at the sight of the souls and he basically asks Anchises to explain it all to him

Question 2

“interea videt…praenatat amnem.”

Answer 2

• As we have seen previously, the pleasant pastoral landscape of Elysium stands in stark contrast to the grimness and gloom of the earlier descriptions of the entrance to the underworld.
• The interlaced alliteration of v and s in lines 703-4 evokes a sense of foliage rustling in the breeze, adding the beautiful nature of where the descendants are.

Question 3

“Lethaeumque…amnem.”

Answer 3

• The hyperbaton here, extending over the whole line, conveys a sense of the long gliding course of the river through this peaceful landscape.
• The river Lethe is again presented in very different terms from the other rivers of the underwolrd which have been described hitherto

Question 4

“innumerae gentes populique”

Answer 4

• The pleonasm of “gentes populique” here to underscore the sens of “innumerae”- there are large numbers of sould thronging aroun the Lethe.

Question 5

“ac veluti…murmure campus”

Answer 5

• In this simile the thronging souls are compared to bees in a calm summer meadow, settling on and flitting around flowers and filling the air with buzzing. It thus helps to evoke the pleasantness of the surroundings as well as the number and chatter of the souls.

Question 6

“floribus insidunt variis et candida circum lilia.”

Answer 6

• Virgil refers in two different ways to the flowers upon which the bees settle and around which they buzz, helping to evoke a picture of a meadow which is filled with flowers of different hues.

Question 7

“funduntur”

Answer 7

• This verb helps to suggest the number of bees and thus, correspondingly, of souls

Question 8

“horrescit visu subito…inscius Aeneas,”

Answer 8

• The positioning of this verb at the start of the sentence immediately after the simile helps to convey the sudden impact of the sight of souls upon Aeneas.

Question 9

“causaque requirit inscius Aeneas, quae… porro quive viri…ripas.”

Answer 9

• Virgil places emphasis on the fact that Aeneas is at a loss as to what he is seeing
  
  • He is said to ask for an explantation - “causas requirif”
  • He is described is ‘ignorant’ - “inscius”
  • He is said to ask repeated questions: “quae…qui…”