Portrayal of Aeneas - Scholarship - Aeneid

Question 1

What scholarly quotes reference the portrayal of Aeneas

Answer 1

• Steele Commager
• Edith Hamilton
• Ogilivie
• Anderson
• J.W. Mackail
• R.D. Williams
• Jasper Griffin
• Hardie
• Guy de la Bédoyère
• Camps

only Moses Hadas do not mention (in the list of scholarship given)

Question 2

Who wrote
“He [Aeneas] is reborn, to be sure, as the ideal Roman incarnate”

Answer 2

Steele Commager

Question 3

Who wrote
“The cost to Aeneas himself… he become increasingly isolated from any human contact”

Answer 3

Steele Commager

Question 4

How did Steele Commager describe the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 4

• “He [Aeneas] is reborn, to be sure, as the ideal Roman incarnate”
• “The cost to Aeneas himself… he become increasingly isolated from any human contact”

Question 5

Who wrote
“The real subject of the Aeneid is not Aeneas… it is the glories of Rome and her Empires”

Answer 5

Edith Hamilton

Question 6

Who wrote
“ Aeneas is important because he carries Rome’s destiny”

Answer 6

Edith Hamilton

Question 7

Who wrote
“Aeneas and Dido are not only the hero and heroine… they are great lovers too”

Answer 7

Edith Hamilton

Question 8

How did Edith Hamilton describe/ interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 8

• ” Aeneas is important because he carries Rome’s destiny”
• “The real subject of the Aeneid is not Aeneas… it is the glories of Rome and her Empires”
• Aeneas and Dido are not only the hero and heroine… they are great lovers too”

Question 9

Who wrote
“The Aeneid is very much of a spiritual quest, which makes it unique in ancient literature. Only Virgil admits of the possibility that a character can change, grow and develop”

Answer 9

R.M. Ogilivie

In the early books Aeneas is unsure on much and seeks advice. BUT after book 6 and his visit to the underworld where he sees the future of Rome he develops self confidence

Question 10

How does Ogilivie interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 10

“The Aeneid is very much of a spiritual quest, which makes it unique in ancient literature. Only Virgil admits of the possibility that a character can change, grow and develop”

In the early books Aeneas is unsure on much and seeks advice. BUT after book 6 and his visit to the underworld where he sees the future of Rome he develops self confidence

Question 11

Who wrote
“Virgil, I think, has caught truth in his representation of angry, murderous Aeneas”

Answer 11

Anderson

Question 12

Who wrote
“Killing Turnus us a victory for the cause, but not for Aeneas. In his final struggle… Aeneas can only be the loser”

Answer 12

Anderson

Question 13

Who wrote
“[The killing of Turnus is] the final proof by Virgil that ‘pius Aeneas’ is not passive, but more tragic than Dido and Turnus together.”

Answer 13

Anderson

Question 14

How did Anderson interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 14

• “Virgil, I think, has caught truth in his representation of angry, murderous Aeneas”
• “Killing Turnus is a victory for the cause, but not for Aeneas. In his final struggle… Aeneas can only be the loser”
• “[The killing of Turnus is] the final proof by Virgil that ‘pius Aeneas’ is not passive, but more tragic than Dido and Turnus together.”

Question 15

Who wrote
“He [Aeneas] is loaded with responsibilities not his own… he hates bloodshed and had no joy in battle, yet he has to wage a sanguinary war.”

Answer 15

J.W. Mackail

Question 16

How did J.W. Mackail interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 16

“He [Aeneas] is loaded with responsibilities not his own… he hates bloodshed and had no joy in battle, yet he has to wage a sanguinary war.”

Question 17

Who wrote
“Aeneas belongs to the heroic age, yet he also has to be a proto-Augustan. Virgil’s problem is to depict a new kind of hero, a hero for an age no longer ‘heroic’.”

Answer 17

R.D. Williams

Question 18

How did R.D. Williams interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 18

“Aeneas belongs to the heroic age, yet he also has to be a proto-Augustan. Virgil’s problem is to depict a new kind of hero, a hero for an age no longer ‘heroic’.”

Question 19

who wrote
“The whole poem … - the story of a triumphant career which opens with the hero wishing he were dead, and ends with him forced to kill a helpless opponent in a storm of passionate rage - is itself an example of this calculated ambiguity.

Answer 19

Jasper Griffin

calculated ambiguity presumably in reference to pro or con Augustus

Question 20

How did Jasper Griffin interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 20

“The whole poem … - the story of a triumphant career which opens with the hero wishing he were dead, and ends with him forced to kill a helpless opponent in a storm of passionate rage - is itself an example of this calculated ambiguity.

Question 21

Who wrote
“The opptimists read in the violent death of Turnus the final victory of fate and piety over the irrational forces… a foreshadowing of the legitimate vengence of Octavian against the assasins of his adoptive father”

Answer 21

Philip Hardie

Question 22

Who wrote
“The pessimists see in Aeneas’ killing of a now defenceless Turnus the recrudenscence in the hero of the same furor that had overmastered him on the night of the sack of Troy”

Answer 22

Philip Hardie

recrudensence = the reoccurance of an undesirable condition

Question 23

How did Philip Hardie interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 23

• “The opptimists read in the violent death of Turnus the final victory of fate and piety over the irrational forces… a foreshadowing of the legitimate vengence of Octavian against the assasins of his adoptive father”
• “The pessimists see in Aeneas’ killing of a now defenceless Turnus the recrudenscence in the hero of the same furor that had overmastered him on the night of the sack of Troy”

Question 24

Who wrote
“Aeneas was a proto-Augustus figure”

Answer 24

Guy de la Bédoyère

Question 25

What was Guy de la Bédoyère interpretation of the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 25

“Aeneas was a proto-Augustus figure”

Question 26

who wrote:
“It is indeed clear that the figure of Aeneas is intended at times to evoke Octavian”

Answer 26

Camps

Question 27

How did Camps interpret the portrayal of Aeneas in the Aeneid

Answer 27

• “It is indeed clear that the figure of Aeneas is intended at times to evoke Octavian”
• “Up to this point in the story [book 6] he [Aeneas] has appeared often to be hesitant or disheartened; in what follows he is unhesitant and confident at all times. Hence ……. [book 6] is interpretated by many readers as a formative spiritual experience, from which the hero emerges purged from his earlier weakness and re-born…… But Virgil nowhere says anything to suggest …this”

2nd point should be paraphrased

Question 28

Who wrote:
“Up to this point in the story [book 6] he [Aeneas] has appeared often to be hesitant or disheartened; in what follows he is unhesitant and confident at all times. Hence ……. [book 6] is interpretated by many readers as a formative spiritual experience, from which the hero emerges purged from his earlier weakness and re-born…… But Virgil nowhere says anything to suggest …this”

Answer 28

Camps