Dr. Norman Prinsky

Humn. 2001 / Augusta State University

Notes & Questions on Vergil's Aeneid (Robert Fitzgerald translation)

Like Homer's Odyssey, Vergil's (or Virgil's) Aeneid has been translated many times into English, from the era of the English Renaissance until today. The translators have been the following (with form as V = verse, BV = blank verse, P = prose, along with the date of the translation; asterisk indicates particularly important translation):

The translation used in the most recent NAWM is that by Robert Fitzgerald, superlative translator, also, of both Homer and Sophocles. However, the excerpts in NAWM are misleadingly numbered, failing to indicate from what parts of whole books in the Fitzgerald translation they come when not the complete book. The excerpts from NAWM are as follows:

Book 1, lines 1-49 and 572-876 [the whole book runs to line 1031]

Book 4 (complete)

Book 6, lines 363-639 [the whole book runs to line 1222]

Book 8, lines 822-992 [the whole book runs to line 992]

Book 12, lines 1069-1298 [the whole book runs to line 1298]

Like Homer's Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid is named after the hero, and the work is markedly symmetrical. As the Odyssey is neatly divided between before Odysseus' homecoming (Books 1-12) and after his homecoming (Books 13-24), so the Aeneid is divided between before Aeneas' arrival in Italy to found the homeland that will become Rome (Books 1-6) and after his arrival (Books 7-12). Furthermore, Vergil (also spelled “Virgil”) consciously adapts many details and elements of Homer’s Odyssey (e.g., a god is tormenting Odysseus, preventing Odysseus’ speedy homecoming, and a goddess is tormenting Aeneas, preventing Aeneas’ speedy establishment of a second home). Also, Books 1-6 of Vergil’s Aeneid are fairly closely modeled (with some adaptations) on Homer’s Odyssey, while Books 7-12 of the Aeneid parallel (with some adaptations) Homer’s Iliad. Incidentally, the full Roman name of the author was Publius Vergilius Maro; some old-fashioned sticklers (including the author of these Notes and Questions) consequently use the spelling "Vergil" for the author's name, though the more widespread spelling is "Virgil."

Many paintings and sculptures by important artists have been done of material from Vergil's Aeneid, as the following (arranged chronologically, many of which may be clicked on, to view):

[Anonymous,] Ancient Roman Fresco

Raphael, [Aeneas, Anchises, Ascanius in] Fire in the Borgo (painting, 1514-1517)

G.L. Bernini, [Aeneas:] Flight from Troy (sculpture; 1618-1619)

Guercino Barbieri, The Death of Dido (painting; 1625)

Peter Paul Rubens, Death of Dido (painting, 1640)

Claude Lorrain(e), [Landscape with] Aeneas at Delos (painting, 1645)

Claude Lorrain(e), Landscape with Aeneas at Pallanteum (painting, 1650)

Antoine Coypel, Aeneas Saves His Father, Anchises (painting, 1700)

Antoine Coypel, The Death of Dido (painting, 1700)

Francesco Solimena, Dido Receiving Aeneas [and Ascanius] (1720's)

G.B. Tiepolo, Dido Receiving Aeneas and Ascanius (1757)

G.B. Tiepolo, Mercury Appearing to Aeneas (painting, 1757)
G.B. Tiepolo, The Death of Dido (painting, 1757)

G.B. Tiepolo, The Apotheosis of Aeneas (painting, 1765)

Michele Wauters, Dido and Aeneas (tapestry, 1790)

J.M.W. Turner, Aeneas and the Sibyl (painting, 1798-1800)

J.M.W. Turner, Dido Building Carthage (painting, 1815)

P.N. Guerin, Aeneas (with Ascanius) Telling Dido the Disasters of the City of Troy (c. 1815)

Equally as important are the musical compositions, in what is referred to as classical music or art music, based on or paralleling Vergil's Aeneid, such as the following (arranged chronologically):

Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (opera; 1687)

Niccolo Piccinni, Dido Abandoned (opera; 1767)

Niccolo Piccinni, Dido (opera; 1783)

G. Rossini, The Death of Dido (cantata; 1811)

Hector Berlioz, The Trojans (opera, 1863)

Deodat de Severac, Dido and Aeneas (symphonic poem; 1915)

Like Homer's Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid and comparable material has given us the English term "Trojan horse" (narrated in detail in the Aeneid, including the Laocoon incident, which provides the basis of one of the most famous ancient Greek sculptures), which has gained a whole new meaning in the computer age. Also, the etymology of the English word dido, though listed as uncertain in some collegiate dictionaries is suggested as derived from material about Dido (as in Vergil's epic) in some etymologies.

General Questions

G-A. How do Vergil's (or Virgil's) Aeneid (the literature), ancient Roman art, and ancient Roman music, all exhibit the following traits or characteristics, as compiled by Professor Walter Evans: (1) borrowing from other cultures, (2) emphasis on or embodiment of subordination to state state power, (3) emphasis on practicality, technology, or realism unencumbered by emotionalism, (4) emphasis on tradition or the ways of the forefathers (previous generation or previous generations)?

G1.  (G1a) What parallels and contrasts are there between the formulation of the missions of Odysseus and Aeneas in the openings of Homer's and Vergil's epics, respectively? (G1b1) One additional meaning in the reference to Lavinia in the opening lines of Book 1 of Aeneid is that this name is also the name of the Latin (= native Italian) Princess whom Aeneas must marry in order to help found what will become the Roman empire. Since the Trojans are moving into and taking over land already settled by various groups already inhabiting Italy, such a marriage suggests firming of and acknowledging alliances or mergers between peoples. (G1b2) How does Vergil treat the issue diplomatically -- for purposes of rhetoric and persuasion -- of the Trojans in some sense taking over the land already inhabited by various groups? (G1b3) What parallels are there between Vergil's treatment of the material mentioned in the immediately preceding sectdion (b2) and the establishment and extension of the Roman empire in actual history up to and including the time of Augustus Caesar? (G1b4) How would a modern American poet have a similarly challenging rhetorical problem in writing an epic about the establishment and extension of the United States, from its beginnings in the Thirteen Colonies to the inclusion of the 48 states (prior to inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii)? How would treatment of various early inhabitants of the territory that was to become the United States -- e.g., native Americans (various Indian tribes) and Spanish -- be comparable to how Vergil needed to treat various peoples inhabiting Italy before the Trojan arrival, since both sets of these original inhabitants became inhabitants (and usually citizens) of the new, extended country or empire? (G1b5) What is the term in American history used to refer to the belief that the United States was destined to extend "from sea to shining sea" in the 48 states (prior to inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii)?

G2.  What parallels and contrasts are there between what main god or goddess is persecuting Odysseus and Aeneas, and why, as stated in the openings (and later) of Homer's and Vergil's epics, respectively?

G3.  (G3a) What key component of (and word referring to) art or architecture recurs repeatedly in Book 1 of the Aeneid, and throughout the work? (G3b) What symbolism or meanings does this component and word have in the work and in Roman history and culture, up through the time of Augustus Caesar? (G3c1) The Latin words for this key component of art or architecture are murus (also, muris, muros, and murorum) and moenia (also, moenibus). (G3c2) How is the first term buried in the etymology of the English words intermural and intramural? (3c3) Some English translations use the term city or town rather than what either of the Latin words previously cited (muros or moenia) means literally -- one of the problems of translations of this work.

G4.  (G4a) How in Books 1 and 4 (and other excerpts in NAWM) is Aeneas shown to be group oriented more than a loner? (G4b) How does this aspect of Aeneas compare or contrast, in specific ways, with Odysseus in Homer's epic? (G4c) The epithets* (review what the term epithet means in literature, and especially epic) for Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey are polymetis (or polumetis), "of many counsels or plans"; polymechania (or polumechania), "having many resources, or much inventiveness"; and polytropos (or polutropos), "of many turnings or twists." How do these epithets for Odysseus compare or contrast with those for Aeneas: pius (= "pious") and pater (= "father")? What values in or ideas about Roman culture and history are suggested by these repeated epithets for Aeneas? (G4d) How does Aeneas' epithet pater relate to the famous depiction of how Aeneas exited from the burning Troy (called attention to by the NAWM editor, as well as in the painting by Raphael and sculpture by Bernini cited and illustrated above)? (G4e) How does the character Achates, both in his epithet and whom he always accompanies, reveal important features and values of Aeneas?

G5.  What themes does the recurrent imagery of fire help express or convey in (the NAWM excerpts of) the Aeneid?

G6.  (G6a1) In what passages, and how, are Vergil's stoicism and "Vergilian sadness" expressed? (G6a2) How do the recurrent Latin words lacrimis, lacrimans, and lacrimae -- used 59 times in Vergil's Aeneid, and related to the English words lachrymose and lachrymal -- relate to Vergilian sadness? (G6b) How does the passage describing Aeneas' response to his view of Priam in the murals in the temple in Dido's land (Book 1) connect to Vergil's view of life (1. 459-462 in the Latin text; click here for various translations of the passage)? (G6c) Why, with regard to his philosophy of stoicism, does Vergil disapprove of the manner of Dido’s death? How does Vergil portray Dido’s death as less than romantic? (How will this concept or idea be paralleled by the death of Emma Bovary in Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, probably unwittingly?)

G7.  How (in the NAWM excerpts) does Vergil's epic function as implied propaganda about Rome, Roman history, and Augustus Caesar?

Specific Questions

S1. [1.572-96] (S1a) In 1.572-596 (first view of Tyre by Aeneas and Achates), how are the importance of building, architecture, work and productivity, law-giving, commerce, war, and literature conveyed? (S1b1) How is the simile describing the working of the Tyrians an epic simile? (S1b2) How does the epic simile referred to in the immediately preceding question suggest values, ideas, and ideals of Roman culture?