Virgil's Georgics: Lines 380-410 Notes Flashcards
Where else is Proteus’ story told?
Homer’s Odyssey 4 (pre Virgil) and Ovid’s Metamorphoses ( post Virgil)
What is ecphrasis?
Setting a scene by painting a picture for the audience and then locating the action within
Where is ecphrasis seen here?
Lines 387-390 ‘est… hic’
Where is the Isle of Carpathos?
Between Crete and Rhodes in the Mediterranean sea south west of Turkey
Where is the Carpathian sea?
Around the Island of Carpathos
What is Proteus’ chariot pulled by?
Sea horses
How does Virgil describe the sea horses?
Using hendiadys
What are the sea horses described as?
A cross between fish and horses
Emathia roughly describes which area?
Thessaly and Macedonia
What was Pallene?
A town in south east Macedonia
According to myth, what does Proteus have to do with Pallene?
It was his homeland or he moved there from Egypt
Who is Nereus?
A major deity of the ocean. Father of the Nereids
What does ‘trahantur’ in this instance?
‘Are destined’
How is ‘trahantur’ a metaphor?
Drawing out the threads of fate
What role does Proteus act for Neptune?
The head herdsman for Neptune’s fish flock
What does Proteus actually give Aristaeus?
The cause of the issue, not the remedy
What is the remedy to Aristaeus’ problem?
The Begonia method
What does the heat of Proteus’ environment contrast with?
The cold environment of Orpheus landscape
Who influenced this passage?
Homer
What does this passage start with?
Calm and serene description of nature
How does the calm and serene description of nature change?
It becomes chaotic and unnatural when Proteus awakes
What is the basic meaning of ‘horridus’? What is the meaning used?
Bristling and bristling
What technique is used as Proteus shapeshifts?
Polysyndeton
What does the polysyndeton do?
Builds up terrifying images as Proteus shapeshifts
What makes is recognise the cunning ways of Proteus?
The use of diction as it is hard to imagine how one would tighten chains around flames or water?
Which word in line 387 is onomatopoeic?
Gurgite
What is the effect of the synchesis in lines 388-389?
Gives impression of rough waters
What does venerate mean?
Worship
Why does Aristaeus need to chain Proteus?
Stop him shape shifting
What sort of colour is tawny?
Mustard
What does tenuous mean?
Thin
What is significant about the word ‘excidet’ on line 410?
It has quite literally slipped off the line
In the Homeric version, what is Menelaus warned about Proteus?
Proteus will turn into all creatures of the Earth and fire and water
What actually happened when Menelaus confronted Proteus?
He turns into a lion, leopard, serpent, boar, water and a tree
What does Cyrene warn Aristaeus about Proteus?
He will turn into a boar, serpent, lioness, tigress, fire and water
What does Proteus actually turn into in the Virgilian version?
Fire, beast and water
What is diction?
The mark of quality of writing. The selection of certain words or phrases that become peculiar to a writer
What is Maeonian wine?
An exotic wine from Lydia
Where is Lydia?
Modern Turkey (western region)
What are nymphs of the forest called?
Dryads
What are nymphs inhabiting streams called?
Nereids
When Virgil used Bacchus to represent wine, where else is this seen?
Using Vesta to represent the hearth on line 384
What sort of subjunctive is ‘libemus’?
Iussive subjunctive
Where is there anaphora in this section?
‘Quae… quae’ line 383
Why are they worshipping Ocean?
They live in the sea
What sort of technique is it to use a God to represent an object?
Almost personification
What is the ‘good omen’ Aristaeus received?
When you sprinkle a little nectar on the hearth and the flame shoots up
