Christine Perkell wrote: >
> Since Aeneas is carrying his father, who in turn holds the household > gods, and is holding his son by the hand, you can hardly argue that > Aeneas entrusts Creusa with everything important to him! Quite the > opposite! He is in physical contact with what is important to him (as he > conceives it) and to his mission = the state which he will found. This > is part of how Vergil characterizes Aeneas' values. I believe Vergil > puts these values into some question here in this passage, that he > suggests some of their limitations. The fact that some attentive and > sensitive readers do stumble over this and other related passages (that > put into question the SAME sorts of issues) "proves" that it is Vergil's > concern to raise these issues. Unless you want to argue that he is > careless and always careless in the same way. i think you are right about vergil's wish to 'raise these issues', however, i would not go so far as to say that he considers aeneas as entrusting nothing important to him to creusa, which you seem to be asserting. i would argue that we must consider this passage in terms of history, or rather, the force of history. romans and the study of history of course go together. in livy's account (_early history of rome_) we do not find this particular facet of the aeneas story, but we do find much worse filial impiety in the stories of amulins and numitor and romulus and remus... livy seems to be asserting a certain lamentation over the reality of civil war, but it seems to me that both he and vergil, and you can tell me if i am wrong, both lament but also embrace such impieties. that is to say, there is acceptence for what they take to be part of human nature. why else would romans wish to trace their roots back to not one, but two fratricides? to refocus on vergil, aeneas is carrying the past of a people upon his shoulders, he is running alongside, hand in hand, with the future. the present, if we disregard for a moment the notion of custodiat, is ultimately left behind. troy is burning, and their present must (must) now become a hope of things to come. aeneas is a reluctant hero because for vergil, being a hero means self-sacrifice. but that he is reluctant displays his pietas, which homer also comments on, and which the romans hold in the highest regard. but i love the idea of custodiat. in some sense, the present (both aeneas and creusa) is wholly involved and disolved in the mission. it is the nature of history that sometimes the innocent and the pious suffer. and, sunt lacrimae rerum. -matthew spencer ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
