Virgil; The Aeneid, Book 1

Some introductory notes: The translation I'm using is the revised H. R. Fairclough, found in vol. 63 of the Loeb Classical Library. It has the Latin on the left, and the English on the right. I LOVE these! The title clicks through to a site containing this exact text. I see that it has the first six books of the Aeneid, but seemingly not the last six, so I might switch over to the Project Gutenberg version for the link if this site has problems in the future. I will refer to line numbers in the Latin, since the English translation is oh-so-prosaic.

If I want to swear, I will. This is not Cliff's Notes. This is my personal interpretation of Virgil's poem, and when something reminds me of my life, or current events, or another book, or anything I feel like talking about, I will use it as a reference. This is for MY use, and if you like it, read it, and tell your friends. I will engage with people who have something to say about these texts, and I will occasionally place my open questions in bold text, meaning I don't know the answer to them, and I'd appreciate comments. If I'm asking a rhetorical question, I probably already know the answer, and if I don't, I probably don't care what you think, unless you are funny.

So, the Aeneid, Book 1. I'm given to understand that Virgil didn't finish the Aeneid, and wanted it burned after he died because it wasn't done yet. Thank the merciful heavens that Augustus Caesar was an interfering despotic literary gourmand. He forbade the burning of the text in opposition to Virgil's will. Crisis averted.

Virgil starts the whole thing off with the phrase "Arma virumque cano," meaning"Arms and the man I sing," which is a reference to the beginnings of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, in what I have to say is either brilliant writing, or a completely awful pun. The Iliad was about arms (battles), and the Odyssey about a man. The first thing I'm introduced to is the wrath of Juno at the Trojan remnant fleeing the broken towers of Ilium (Troy). Why IS Juno so mad at Aeneas? She was partial to the Greeks, I know, so since the Aeneid begins about twenty seconds after the sack of Troy, why would she be so upset? The Greeks won, man. Let it go.

Juno muses over the loss of so many Greeks, which might be why she's so pissed. I think it's intriguing that she mentions the Carthaginians at this point; the Phoenicians traversed the whole Mediterranean, making the Tyrians (Phoenicians in ethnic origin, so the progenitors of the modern Palestinians) who will settle Carthage go through some of the same experiences that the ancient Jews were going through at the time of Virgil's writing (resettlement by the Roman authorities, dispersal into a diaspora, etc.).

Ah so. Juno liked the Carthaginians, and knew that the ex-Trojans would be coming along to sack the city eventually (like hundreds of years later kind of eventually) during the Punic Wars. The implication is that Rome is the convergence of the efforts of all the Gods, when Juno starts talking about how Jupiter, Venus, and the others are conspiring against her to bring about the rise of the city of Rome and hence the destruction of her favorite children in Carthage.

Geez. It's possible I just have a sick mind, but we zero in on the heroes of our tale sailing the Mediterranean away from Troy, and they're "merrily plowing the foaming brine with brazen plow." [35] Sexual imagery, much? In Juno's mind, the Trojan remnant are raping the sea.

Hmm. So it was Minerva (Pallas Athena) who burned the Argive fleet because she was still angry at Paris over picking Venus (Aphrodite) as being the most beautiful.

So Juno (Hera) goes to talk to Aeolus, the king of the wind and of Aeolia, to get him to sink the Trojan fleet. She offers him Deiopea, the hottest of her seven Nymphs, and promises him really good sex for the rest of his life [72]. Ok. I'm thinking it's not me that has a sick mind at this point. I'm going to guess that if I think I'm seeing sexual imagery, it's probably because I'm seeing sexual imagery. Aeolus agrees, and sends the winds to sink the Trojans.

Orontes' ship is sunk (three ships are mentioned at this point). So is Ilioneus', son of Achates. Also in that ship were Abas and Aletes. At this point, Neptune gets pissed off at Juno and basically calls her a spoiled, entitled little wench. He's mad that Juno had anything to do with riling up the sea, since that's his province. Neptune calms the sea, and the Trojans head for the coast of Libya.

Ok, I guess there are seven ships, since once they've landed, Aeneas goes hunting with Achates, and kills seven stags "equal in number to his ships." [192]

He takes the beasties back to the shore--surely he had more help than just Achates--and gets his men sloshed on the wine that was fortuitously rescued from the ships. He tells his men that a better home waits for them in Latium where Troy will rise again. Kinda funny, since they're on the WRONG BLOODY SIDE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. He's also scared and depressed when making these promises.

Now the men start mourning and eating. Orontes is now declared officially dead, as is Amycus, Lycus, Gyas, and Cloanthus. There seem to be elements of funereal sacrifices in this meal on the beach, as they "flay the hides from the ribs" and so forth for burning them over fires. [211]

At this point, Jupiter (Zeus) and Venus are floating about in the sky overhead, and Venus pleads for mercy for her pet Trojans (she still likes them from the Judgment of Paris). So Jupiter promises Venus that her children will find a home in Lavinium (the city Aeneas will found), and his son Ascanius (Iulus --could this be the forerunner of the Julii?) will found Alba Longa, an intermediate city-state between Lavinium and Rome. Jupiter also promises that Juno will come to love the Romans. Hmm. Jupiter says that the "House of Assaracus" will eventually rule. Who are they? Jupiter also now foretells the birth of Julius Caesar. [288] Who the heck are the Teucrians? Anyway, Jupiter intervenes to make the Phoenicians welcome Aeneas, especially Dido.

Aeneas is worried, though, and sets out exploring from the Libyan beach he's shipwrecked upon. He goes with Achates--and only Achates, this time; Virgil specifies--after hiding the fleet. He meets up with Venus in the form of a huntress in the woods, and Aeneas praises her beauty in terms very like those that Odysseus uses with Nausicaa, and probably for the same reasons. He wants to reassure this maiden that she isn't in any danger of being raped by Aeneas or Achates. Venus answers his queries about where they are by telling him that he's in the Punic realm, where Dido rules.

Damn. She really IS "unhappy" Dido. Her brother killed her original husband, Sychaeus. Fortunately, Dido filched Pygmalion's (her brother's) ready stash of gold, and took a fleet of dissidents to new Carthage. This is interesting. The refugees bought a "bull's hide" of land from the previous inhabitants. A bull's hide meant that they cut a bull's hide into VERY thin strips and encompassed as much land as they could with the strips. This might not be true--it might be an etymological muck-up. Phoenician for citadel = bosra; Greek for bull's hide = Beta upsilon rho sigma alpha

Hmm. When replying to Venus, Aeneas says he's looking for Italy, his "father's land." [380] In addition to being referential to "patria," the Roman word for "fatherland" in much the same way as the Russians have the "Rodina" or "motherland," this seems to me to be an attempt by Virgil to increase the historic claim to Italia.

Venus interrupts Aeneas as he's whining about how cold and hungry he is, and tells him to go to the queen's palace (why is this italicized?), and as she's turning away, Aeneas recognizes her as his mother. He wants to know why she won't just be straight with him. This is interesting--why WOULDN'T Aeneas suspect that a randomly helpful, stunningly beautiful goddess was his mother? OTOH, Venus is going back [415] to her temple on Paphos which smells fragrant and has flowers. Maybe she's only helping Aeneas because it amuses her to do so? She seems like a child with a new kitten.

So Aeneas goes to Carthage, where his fleet has been led by Venus and Jupiter, and sees the Carthaginians still in the process of building their citadel.

[446] "Sidonian Dido"? This must mean she's from the city of Sidon, not Tyre. I guess Tyre was the kingdom, and Sidon was the city she's from. Aeneas is walking through the city, and sees artisans working on depicting scenes from the Trojan War, interestingly enough. He bemoans to Achates (who seems to still be with him) the fact that his war has touched the whole earth. In the crowds, Aeneas sees his men, Antheus, Sergestus, Cloanthus, and the other Trojans. Aeneas and Achates choose not to make themselves known to the other Trojans, though. Aeneas wanted to know how they'd be received. This seems kinda cowardly, and not at all in the vein of the great Trojan heroes.

Ilioneus (the oldest) appeals to Dido as she's holding open court, in essence asking her for shelter and then safe passage to the shores of Italy (implying that the Trojans weren't there to make war on the Carthaginians). Dido grants it and asks if they want any help finding Aeneas. The cloud hiding Aeneas and Achates lifts magically at that point (Venus is SUCH the showboat), and Dido falls HARD.

At this point, it is mentioned for the first time that Anchises is Aeneas' father [617], and Ascanius is Aeneas' son [643].

Aeneas also tells Achates to bring some stuff back from the ships when he sends him down to the shore to tell Ascanius and the rest of their happy welcome. One of the items is a veil fringed with yellow acanthus flowers once worn by Helen. Venus gets to worrying, though, and wonders if the friendly welcome of Dido will last. So, she replaces Ascanius with Cupid (her son) and asks him to infest Dido with love (more like Obsession by Calvin Klein kind of love). Ooo, pretty. Oscula dulcia is Latin for sweet kisses. So, as Aeneas is feasting with Dido that night, the adorable child Ascanius (Cupid in disguise) comes into the hall (perhaps the fact that Ascanius is a child and was on the ships down at the shore is an excuse for Aeneas' cowardice earlier--he was more worried about his son than his friends).

Aeneas has given Dido the veil of Helen--what a gift! Dido "cannot satiate her soul." [713] What a way to describe love--or Eros, as the case may be. Dido takes Ascanius into her lap. Wow. What an image--the god of sexual passion IN HER LAP. Poor wench never had a chance. She prolongs the feast with entertainments, then begs Aeneas to tell the whole story of the Trojan War. Interestingly, she says [754] "tell us...of the treachery of the Greeks..." Everybody knows it was the treachery of the Trojans that started the whole thing, what with filching Helen from Menelaos and all. Perhaps the infestation of Eros has influenced her thought. After all, it was his mum that began the whole thing with the Judgment of Paris and giving Helen to a Trojan prince.

What a great experience! I'm definitely going to continue doing this.