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AEQVOR: THE SEA OF PROPHECIES IN VIRGIL'S AENEID*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2014
Extract
In a well-known article, Hodnett pointed out that Virgil emphasizes the peacefulness and quiet of the sea, its immensity and limitlessness, in contrast to the view articulated by the Roman poets of the Republic, which presents the sea as deceptive and fearsome. Among the many terms used in the Aeneid to denote the sea, aequor stands out precisely because it is the term most frequently used by Virgil in place of the word mare.
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- Copyright © The Classical Association 2014
Footnotes
*
I am grateful to V. Cristóbal, C. Castillo, J.B. Torres, E. Reinhardt, and particularly to the anonymous CQ reviewer and to this journal's editor, B. Gibson, for advice that clarified the argument. My interest in aequor is due to one of my students, N. Alvarez Castro, who wrote a essay on ‘Aequor: its presence in similes in the Aeneid’. Some data were taken from there and are used with her consent.
References
1 Hodnett, M.P., ‘The sea in Roman poetry’, CJ 15 (1919), 67–82Google Scholar, at 71, recently echoed by Moreno, J. Luque, Mare nostrum: reflexiones sobre el léxico latino del mar (Granada, 2011), 17Google Scholar.
2 In terms of frequency of use, aequor is followed by mare, pelagus, fluctus, pontus, altum, fretum, uada, salum, sal, etc.; see Warwick, H.H., A Virgil Concordance (Minneapolis, MN, 1975)Google Scholar.
3 Varro, Ling. 7.1–2, 23; Cic. Acad. 2 (cited by Non. 65.2).
4 Ernout, A. and Meillet, A., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (Paris, 1959)Google Scholar; G. Aricò, s.v. aequor, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana 1.37–8.
5 Enn. Ann. 124, 505 Skutsch.
6 Lucr. 1.8; 2.1, 375–6, 766, 772, 781; 3.1002; 4.411; 5.266, 388, 1227; 6.440, 621, 623, 634.
7 Verg. Ecl. 9.57 : Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor; G. 3.201: ille uolat simul arua fuga simul aequora uerrens; G. 3.359: nec cum | praecipitem Oceani rubro lauit aequore currum.
8 Virgil's work includes a total of 110 uses of the word aequor, used most commonly to mean ‘sea’ (90 instances), with 20 uses referring to the ‘flatness of the land’.
9 Leumann, M., ‘La lingua poetica latina’, in Lunelli, A. (ed.), La lingua poetica latina (Bologna, 1974), 131–78Google Scholar, esp. 174–5.
10 Quint. Inst. 8.3.16.
11 Ancient critics drew attention to this criterion, above all in relation to dactylic poetry: Cic. De or. 202; Quint. Inst. 1.6.2; Serv. Ecl. 5.36.
12 R.G. Tanner, s.v. mare, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana 3.371–2; A. Borgo, s.v. pelagus, pontus, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana 4.4–6, 206–8.
13 These texts represent sixteen examples of aequor and constitute the basis for the present article.
14 On the difference between repetitions as compositional units and formulaic repetition as a form of transfer and the so-called tibicines, see Moskalew, W., Formular Language and Poetic Design in the Aeneid (Leiden, 1982), 73–80Google Scholar, 112.
15 Prophecies that do not contain the promise of a voyage and a land have not been included in this study: 1.257–96 (Jupiter to Venus); 2.289–95 (Hector to Aeneas); 3.94–8 (Apollo to Anchises in Delos); 3.245–57 (the Fury Celenus to the Trojans); 6.83–97 (the Sibyl to Aeneas); 6.756–853 and 868–86 (Anchises to Aeneas); and 12.834–40 (Jupiter to Juno).
16 Latin text from Mynors, R.A.B., P. Vergili Maronis: Opera (Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar; translations into English: Fairclough, H.R., Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid, Loeb Classical Library 63 and 64 (Cambridge, MA, 1916, rev. G.P. Goold, 2000)Google Scholar, with minor modifications.
17 The shades of the dead also possess the gift of prophecy in the Aeneid: see Serv. Aen. 10.470.
18 Aequora campi: Enn. Ann. 124 Skutsch; Lucr. 3.1002; aequora ponti/maris Lucr. 1.9; 2.772, 781; 4.411; 5.1001; 6.440, 628; maris aequor: Verg. Aen. 2.780, 3.495; ponti aequor: Verg. G. 1.469.
19 Serv. Aen. 1.530: aut enim Hesperiam solam dicis et significas Italiam, aut addis ultimam et significas Hispaniam, quae in occidentis est fine.
20 On the repetition of Ausonia, Hesperia, Italia, and Thybris as keywords in the prophecies, see Moskalew (n. 14), 111–12; Virgil plays on the scepticism and lack of understanding among the Trojans as regards the prophecies. Hence, a certain dramatic tension is generated between the future as revealed in the prophecies and what the characters presume may be the case. This may also explain the inconsistency between this passage and the beginning of Book 3: incerti quo fata ferant, ubi sistere detur (3.7).
21 Virgil has taken over Enn. Ann. 163 Skutsch; Lucr. 5.271, 6.637.
22 Lydia regna in 8.479–80.
23 Austin, R., P. Vergilii Maronis: Aeneidos: Liber secundus (Oxford, 1964), 283Google Scholar; Paratore, E., Eneide (Rome, 1990–7), 1.362Google Scholar.
24 Opima, a hypallage of uirum; see Austin (n. 23), ad. loc.
25 3.171 (the Penates to Aeneas); 418, 496 (Aeneas to Helenus and Andromache); 4.311 (Dido to Aeneas); 8.38 (Tiber to Aeneas); and 9.100 (Jupiter to his mother, Cybele-Berecyntia).
26 This next sequence begins with the prophecy of Apollo to Anchises (3.97): hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris, followed by the prophecy of Cassandra to Anchises (5.637–8): ‘hic quaerite Troiam, / hic domus est’ inquit ‘uobis’. It is followed in turn by Aeneas's recollection of the omen of the tables as a sign of having arrived at his homeland, ‘salue fatis mihi debita tellus | uosque’ ait ‘o fidi Troiae saluete penates’. | hic domus, haec patria est (7.120–2), and comes to a close with the god Tiber's assurance that they have arrived at the long-awaited arua and domus (8.38–9): exspectate solo Laurenti aruisque Latinis, / hic tibi certa domus.
27 Other passages in which the adjective tumidus appears are Verg. Aen. 5.125, 8.671, 11.393.
28 Serv. Aen. 3.167 confirms Virgil's version of the origins of Dardanus, by citing a legend in which Dardanus was the son of Corythus and left the city named after his father, setting out in the direction of Troad.
29 Ausonia is a poetic term for Italy; the name comes from Auson, son of Ulysses and Circe or Calypso: Serv. ad Aen. 3.171.
30 Serv. Aen. 1.380, 3.167, 7.209, 10.719; Serv. auct. Aen. 3.170.
31 M. Cancellieri, s.v. Ausonia, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana 1.421–2.
32 Williams, R.D., P. Vergilii Maronis: Aeneidos: Liber tertius, comm. (Oxford, 1962)Google Scholar, ad loc.
33 3.459: et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem; 6.892: et quo quemque modo fugiatque feratque laborem. Duckworth, G., Foreshadowing and Suspense in the Epics of Homer, Apollonius, and Vergil (Ann Arbor, MI, and London, 1933), 104, 115Google Scholar, maintains that this discrepancy is not an oversight or mistake; rather, it is a narrative device on the poet's part to mask the death of the old man until the time is right. See also O'Hara, J.J., Death and the Optimistic Prophecy in Vergil's Aeneid (Princeton, NJ, 1990), 28Google Scholar.
34 When Anchises tells them of the destination of their wandering voyage (3.182–6), he recalls that Cassandra had often spoken to him of Hesperia and the Italic kingdoms, but he did not pay attention. This remark would appear to confirm what was noted above (n. 20) regarding the Trojans’ sceptical attitude to the prophecies.
35 Cf. n. 26 above.
36 Servius ad loc. interprets aequor metaphorically, a reading that a number of scholars including Conington and Warde Fowler regard as too modern; cf. Paratore (n. 23), ad loc.
37 Secare is joined to aequor at 8.96, 674; 9.103, 222.
38 In contrast with the benevolent stillness of the Tiber here, see Aen. 8.330–2, where the decision of the Italians to name the river after the monstrous king Thybris suggests the other aspect of the river, i.e. its capacity to flood and to destroy the surrounding land.
39 Virgil is the first epic poet to pause the plot so as to provide a detailed description of a prophecy immediately before its fulfilment, thus creating a brief burst of dramatic tension: Duckworth (n. 33), 42–3.
40 Cf. Verg. Aen. 1.278–9: His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono | imperium sine fine dedi. Nevertheless, it cannot be concluded, as Saint-Denis, E., Le Role de la mer dans la poésie latine (Lyon, 1935)Google Scholar, 484, argues, that Virgil articulates a sense of ownership of the sea.
41 Regarding the origin of the epithet ‘Berecyntia’ for Cybele and the cult of Cybele-Rea in Rome, see the commentary by Paratore (n. 23) in volumes 3 and 5 to 6.784 and 9.82.
42 10.220–21: quas alma Cybebe | numen habere maris nymphasque e nauibus esse; cf. 9.101–2, 117.
43 Eden, P.T., Virgil: Aeneid VIII (Leiden, 1975), 178Google Scholar, came to a similar conclusion, though without detailed elaboration.
44 However, the consensus among commentators on this point is that the reference is to a single sea. Most see the image as a concentric circle (circum, in orbem) around the central scene; whereas Becker, C., ‘Der Schild des Aeneas’, WS 77 (1964), 111–27Google Scholar, holds that the sea is around all the scenes and on the outer edge, functioning as a kind of backdrop, haec inter.
45 On Homer's influence in the shield of Aeneas, see Becker (n. 44); Binder, G., Aeneas und Augustus: Interpretationen zum 8. Buch der Aeneis (Meisenheim am Glan, 1971), 213Google Scholar; West, D.A., ‘Cernere erat: the shield of Aeneas’, in Harrison, S.J. (ed.), Oxford Readings in Virgil's Aeneid (Oxford, 1990), 295–304, at 295Google Scholar.
46 Aequora uerrere, an image of smoothness applied to the sea, also found at Verg. G. 3.201: aequora uerrens (Aquilo) and Aen. 3.290: certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora uerrunt (= 5.778); it comes from the Latin poetic tradition (Enn. Ann. 377 Skutsch: uerrunt extemplo placide mare) and is linked to aequora in Lucr. 5.266 (=5.388), 1227; 6.624; and in Cat. 64.7: caerula verrentes abiegnis aequora palmis. See Wigodsky, M., Virgil and Early Latin Poetry (Wiesbaden, 1972), 49–50Google Scholar; Luque Moreno (n. 1), 115.
47 [Hes.] Sc., 207–12; Gransden, K.W., Virgil: Aeneid VIII (Cambridge, 1976), 174Google Scholar; Faber, R., ‘Virgil's “Shield of Aeneas” (Aeneid 8.617–731) and the shield of Heracles’, Mnemosyne 53 (2000), 49–57, at 54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
48 The Homeric hymn to Apollo (Hym. hom. 3.400–3, 494–7) links the epithet Delphinius to the miracle in which Apollo turned himself into a dolphin to draw priests from Crete to his sanctuary on Delphos.
49 Cf. Prop. 3.11. 69–72, where the poet remembers Apollo Leucadius because of the proximity of the battle of Actium, but invites a sailor to keep in mind Caesar (i.e. Octavius Augustus) in toto Ionio. On Apollo and Augustus, see Miller, John's recent monograph: Apollo, Augustus and the Poets (Cambridge, 2009), 66–75Google Scholar, on this passage.
50 Also of Neptune, Venus, and Minerva (8.699–700).
51 This intention appears particularly in the formula stans celsa in puppi (8.680), in which the shield depicts Augustus readied for combat and which is applied both before and afterwards to Aeneas in 4.554 and 10.260 (in the latter instance, Aeneas goes upriver to confront the Rutulians on the word of the nymph Cymodocea). It is also applied to Anchises at 3.525: see Moskalew (n. 14), 136–7; Gurval, R., Actium and Augustus (Ann Arbor, MI, 1998), 210–11Google Scholar.
52 Gransden (n. 47), 179.
53 Gurval (n. 51), 244.