E.L.Harrison's essay 'Why did Venus wear boots?' (now reprinted in Hardi's 'Virgil: Critical Assessments' volume IV) analyses Venus' role as follows. She is disguised in order to conceal herself from other divine eyes: within her own order of being, she is acting as a spy in hostile territory. She appears as a huntress in order to initiate a series of events marked by hunting and wounding (often with erotic overtones) culminating in Dido's death. She abandons her disguise, causing Aeneas distress as he sees that he has been deceived, in order to increase his sense of loneliness and to make him vulnerable to Dido. She wears boots because boots symbolise tragedy, especially the role of a god setting a tragedy in motion. These points give us, I think, some insight into motivation. Taking them in reverse order - Venus this time has a plan which she now initiates and will see through. She knows that she has to operate with a care and guile which she never managed at Troy: she has to find inner resources to match those of Juno. She needs to make Aeneas understand that he is in a place where she cannot directly protect him: despite what he thinks, this is in a way the act of a loving mother. She intends and needs to reverse, as devastatingly as possible, the humiliation inflicted on her when she was wounded by Diomedes at Troy. Finally and most importantly she understands that this is the cardo rerum, the hinge of fate, as she says in l.672. If Rome is to be born, Carthage has to be set on the road to destruction: Rome is destined to rule the other cities; Carthage stands for the Junonian ideology of independent cities linked by a common morality and religion and Dido is the most attractive exponent of that ideology. So Dido, beause of her virtues not her faults, has to go. The friendly relationship between the two cities which seems like such a sensible idea to Ilioneus is quite unacceptable to Venus and she has to put a stop to it. It's all personal and it's all political: very understandable, very sympathetic, utterly terrifying. - Martin Hughes
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001, Josh Spero wrote: > Dear All, > > I have a few queries about Venus' motives in the > Aeneid and any help would be appreciated (this is not > for an essay, just general classical knowledge). > > Right, my questions: in Book One of the Aeneid, why > does Venus try to make Dido fall in love with Aeneas? > Jupiter has already ensured the Trojans will receive a > warm reception (c. 1.298-305), and if Aeneas stays in > Carthage, as Venus' plan implies he would, this plays > right into Juno's hands by delaying the founding of > Rome. Also, why does Venus not stop Aeneas and Dido > (in Book Four) making love which would surely delay > him further by involving him in a relationship? and > why is it left up to Jupiter to intervene (after > Iarbas' prayers) when surely it would be in Venus' > interests to send Mercury as soon as possible? > > Don't feel you have to answer all of these - I know > they're convoluted - but if someone could, I'd be > really grateful, because I just can't figure out > Venus' motives. > > With advance thanks, > > Josh Spero. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! > http://photos.yahoo.com/ > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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 >
