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The Relation of Aeneid III. to the Rest of the Poem
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Extract
From the time when Friedrich Conrads published1 the first systematic study of the method of composition employed by Vergil in the Aeneid it has been recogmzed that Bk. III. is especially involved in the contradictions existing between the various parts of the poem. It is not my purpose in this paper to attempt an exhaustive study of this aspect of Bk. III.; the industry of classical scholars in the last half-century renders needless further repetition of this sort. I wish merely to present a few suggestions which may help to reconcile the passages generally regarded as hopelessly contradictory.
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References
page 85 note 1 Quaestiones Vergilianae, Program des Gym-nasiums in Trier, 1863.
pate 85 note 2 From the Vita Vergilii Donatiana (Brummer, Leipzig, 1912), 11. 83–89Google Scholar (= Suetonius, Vita Ver-gili, 23–24), we learn that the poem was first sketched out in prose, and that Vergil worked on the various parts as he liked, not taking them in order.
page 85 note 3 Besides the early work of Conrads and of Ribbeck, (Prolegomena, Ch. VI., Leipzig, 1866)Google Scholar, a few of the later discussions are: Schüler, C.Quaestiones Vergilianae, Diss. Greifswali, 1883Google Scholar; Noack, F., Die erste Aeneis, Hermes, 27 (1892), pp. 407–445Google Scholar; Kroll, W., Studien ilber die Composi-tion der Aeneis. Jalirb. für hi. Philol., Supple-ment b. 27 (1902), pp. 135–169Google Scholar; Karsten, H. T., De Aeneidis Libro III., Hermes, 39 (1904), pp. 259–290Google Scholar; Gercke, A., Die Entstehung der Aeneis, Berlin, 1913Google Scholar; Crump, M. M., The Growth of the Aeneid, Oxford, 1920Google Scholar. I have not been able to consult the work of Sabbadini in this field. The epoch-making work of Conrads has not been accessible, but its substance seems to have been given in the work of his successors.
page 85 note 4 That Troy fell a little before the summer solstice is the common tradition (Dion. Hal. I. 63; Plutarch, Camillas, 19).
page 85 note 5 Since this effective episode was, apparently, a original with Vergil (Gercke, p. 37), it seems unlikely that he would have sacrificed it.
page 85 note 6 Cf. Hahn, E. A., On an Alleged Inconsistency in the Aeneid, Class. Weekly, XIII., pp. 210–212Google Scholar.
page 85 note 7 The similarity between the name of the Italian Thybris and that of Thymbris in the Troad has already been pointed out by Carcopino, , Virgile et les Origines d'Ostie (Paris, 1919), pp. 777–778.Google Scholar.
page 86 note 1 Since writing this I have come upon a briel note by Noack, , Hermes, 27 (1892), p. 408Google Scholar, n. 1, in which he seems to approve of this interpretation.
page 86 note 2 In Bk. V. 83, Aeneas himself applies to unriver the epithet ‘Ausonian.’ Now, Ausonia has been mentioned to Aeneas or by him seven times before this in the poem (III. 170–171, 378. 385, 477, 479, 496; IV. 349). Aeneas understands it to be a name for Italy, and Helenus has explained that the Trojans are to go to South Italy, but to the Italy beyond Sicily (III. 396–40); in lines 477–479 (III.) he calls the goal the remote part of Ausonia. Hence, Aeneas' reference to ‘the ever-retreating fields of Ausonia’ (III. 496–497), and the vagueness of his reference to Ausonian Thybris quicumque est (V. 83).
page 86 note 3 In Bk. I. Latium is spoken of as the goal by Aeneas (205) and by Ilioneus (554), though neither is represented as having heard the name in Bks. II. and III. It is, however, difficult to believe that they have not heard it in all the time which has elapsed since they learned that Italy was their goal; particularly would they have been likely to hear it in some of the unriver recorded discussions of their plans at Buthrotum. Moreover, the poet has himself been using Latium as the name of the goal (I. 6, 31), and Jupiter souses it in ver. 265, so that it would have been very natural to let Aeneas and Ilioneus use it. At this advanced stage of the wanderings, the ‘inconsistency’ seems to me of trifling account.
page 86 note 4 After locating the nemus Gryneum, Servius adds (ad ver. 345): ‘Inde ergo nunc epitheton dedit, licet in Delo acceperit oraculum.’ On ver. 346 he writes: ‘LYCIAE SORTES nee hinc accepit responsum, sed sic dixit “Lyciae,” ac si diceret Apollineae.’
page 86 note 5 Dion. Hal. says (I. 55) that it was the Erythraean Sibyl who told the Trojans to sail towards the setting sun until they came to a land where they would eat their tables.
page 87 note 1 Servius ad libr. IV, 143: ‘Hibernam Lyciam …: nam constat Apollinem sex mensibushiemalibusapud Pataram, Lyciaeciuitatem, dare responsa: unde Patareus Apollo.’
Heinze, , Vergils Epische Technik (Leipzig, 1902), p. 84Google Scholar, calls attention to the fact that Apollo, tradiespecially his Delphic oracle, played an important rô1e in the sending out of colonies.
Schuler, , Quaestionts Vcrgilianae, p. 10Google Scholar, n. 1, offers another explanation of ‘Lycian’: ‘Atque Lycios hoc loco esse Lycios Homeri et Lyciis quoque sortibus oraculum Apollinis Troiani non Patarei significari persuasit mihi Wilamo-witzius.’
page 87 note 2 This is a marked departure from the tradition handed down by Dion. Hal. (I. 49–53), wh speaks of many temples to Venus being founded in the course of the wanderings.
page 88 note 1 In the first and last cases, the Carthaginian episode and the final battle, Venus is the foil of Juno, who defends her favourite, Dido (in person), and Turnus (through Juturna); in the second case the rôle of Venus is slight and indirect, as compared with that of Apollo's prophetess.
page 88 note 2 Note especially the mater of VIII. 370 and the Veneris iustissima cura of X. 123. The cry of Venus in I. 407–408 does not necessarily imply Venus' frequent guidance of her son.
page 88 note 3 See footnote 1, p. 87.
page 88 note 4 Heinze points out (l.c. pp. 94–96) that at first the wrath of Poseidon seems the chief cause of the wanderings of Odysseus, but that, as the story advances, it is even less prominent than is the wrath of Juno in the Aeneid.
page 89 note 1 At Delos he declares the ‘ancient mother’ must be Crete (XII. 103–117); in Crete, because of the pestilence, he advises returning to Delos (143–146): when the Penates finally explain that Italy is the mother of the Trojan race, it is to Anchises again that Aeneas submits their revelation (179–188).
page 89 note 2 This is indicated by Aeneas' anxious remark to Helenus (III. 365–368), and, particularly, by Helenus' reply (394–395).
page 89 note 3 Vergile et les Origines d'Ostie (Paris, 1919), Livre III., pp. 391–557Google Scholar.
page 89 note 4 Carcopino's interesting argument for Lavinium as the city of Latinus, and for Aeneas' founding of Lavinium as a mere reconsecration of the existing city (l.c. Livre II., pp. 171–387), need not concern us here. It is the site of New Troy (not of Lavinium or of Alba Longa) which is indicated by the portent of the sow.
page 91 note 1 P. Vergilius Maro, Leipzig, 1786, ed. tertia, , Excursus II. on Aen. III., p. 578Google Scholar. n.
page 91 note 2 June is probably indicated by Aen. I. 535.
page 91 note 3 Hiemps, in Bk. IV. 52, is, as Servius says, obviously equivalent to tempestas, but much certain is Heyne's suggestion that in 1. 309 we have a reference to the ctesiae of July and August.
page 91 Pp. 573–580.
page 91 note 5 Pp. 29–30.
page 91 note 6 6 Int. to Aen. III.