Vergil's description of Aeneas' shield in Book VIII recalls Homer, but here as elsewhere Vergil exploits the parallel not to emphasize the similarities between his vision and Homer's, but, rather, the differences. If you examine the imagery and language of the two passages closely, you'll notice that each offers a startlingly different conception of time: in Homer time is cyclical (images of the wheeling heavens, the changing seasons, the people joining together in a circle); the dilemma of the Homeric hero is timeless, eternally recurring. By contrast, time on Aeneas' shield is linear. Events occur at a determinable point in time; and the meaning of one event can only be established by reference to what precedes and what follows it. The suffering of Aeneas and the suffering he inflicts on others can be understood--his journey gains meaning--only when viewed in its proper place in a linear time-line that has as its culmination--its vindication--Augustus. In this sense, the Vergilian hero's dilemma is essentially "historical."
On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, David Wilson-Okamura wrote: > << message forwarded by listowner, David Wilson-Okamura >> > > From: "Timothy Mallon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 11:09:51 PST > > Remember though, that the *Homeric* Odysseus (presumably the one whom Aeneas > shadows in the first half of the A.) is neither bad nor unwise. > > The idea of a character having to change to keep aligned with a structure > seems at first blush at odds with how a writer would conceive of the > character. It is better to describe the first half of the A. as Odyssean in > situation or pattern, the latter as Iliadic. Aeneas is the same man > throughout, placed in different quandaries. > > The difference between Aeneas and Achilles is usually emphasized, on the > grounds that V. envisages that Rome will escape the kind of destruction that > caps human achievement in the _Iliad_, but I can't see much reason for > developing the Achilles/Hector ~ Aeneas/Turnus analogy, other than as > bringing forward a fundamental likeness. Had V. wished to emphasize > dissimilarity, he could have set the A.'s narrative frame a little later: > Iliad-style furor and conquest followed by the renewal of Italy. As it > stands, the A. seems to me to emphasize the notion of repetition or reprise > of situations and roles in different places and by different men. > > *************************************************** > > ecce non curo nec resisto nec reprehendo > > Augustinus, Confessiones, lib. XI cap. xx > > **************************************************** > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 10:10 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: VIRGIL: Shield in book eight > > <content snipped> > > the first half of Aeneis is an Odyssee (or an Anti-Odyssee); the second half > is > an Ilias (or an Anti-Ilias); so in the first half Aeneas is experienced, > "polytropos" like Odysseus, but in a good and wise form, because he is an > Anti-Odysseus there; for the second half he has to change his character, > because > he becomes to be an Achilleus (or Anti-Achilleus), stepping though blood > like an > old Greek hero of the Ilias. > > the terrible heroic end of these lines show accuratly that the poem has not > become ready. that is not the end of an epos, but an interruption, a brutal > one. > Aeneis is a fragment. > > grusz, hansz > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
