Aeneid Book 8- A real page Turnus

     If the Aeneid was a video game, book IIX would be leading up to the boss battle. Turnus, current king of the region of Italy where Aeneas is intending to set up his kingdom, has been rounding up the rowdy locals to fight the them, going to far as to find Diomedes, a famous Greek fighter, to finish off the last of the Trojans. Aeneas, meanwhile, is taking a nap.
      In his dream the god of the River Tiber (the central river of Rome) give Aeneas a few strange prophesies- that the gods are no loner trying to kill him (no guarantees about Juno though), that Aeneas will see a white cow (Alba...like Alba Longa... OOHH!!) nursing 30 piglets, as in the thirty years that it will take Ascanius to found Alba Longa... OMG! Tiberinus then gives Aeneas the strangest instruction of all- he tells the Trojan to go find some Greek allies, led by this guys called Evander, who is always at war with the Latins.
     When Aeneas wakes up from this weird dream to see the cow and piglets, which he imeditaly sacrifices to Juno. Make what you will of the symbolism here. Then Tiberinus stills the waters of the riverto the Trojans can sail to Arcadia. The Arcadians are making their own sacrifices to Hercules. When Evander and his son Pallas see the arriving Trojans, Pallas runs down to ask them what's going on. Aeneas explains, and Pallas invites the Trojans for dinner. Greeks and Trojans dining in harmony- who would have guessed? There's a huge feast and they agree that the common enemy are the Latins. It turns out that in ancient times (like, even more ancient), the Trojans and the Greeks actually got along really well!!
    There's some more foreshadowing about the future of Rome, because apparently everyone but Aeneas knows what's going to happen. Venus, Aeneas' mum, seduces Vulcan into making special armour for Aeneas for his upcoming battle. The scenes that later followed were incredibly interesting.
     Meanwhile, Evander and Aeneas organize who's going to command what portion of this new army. It's actually not terribly important. It plays out somewhat like picking teams for a dodgeball game.
    Then the moment we've all been waiting for: the unveiling of Aeneas' new, divine armour. There are many interesting parallels in this scene and that of the Iliad. While Vergil (WITH AN E!!)  constantly calls on Homer for inspiration, as the Aeneid is actually just a propagandist fanfiction, there is a specific scene where Achilles' goddess mother give him armour crafted by the Greek equivalent of Vulcan, the description is very, very important. And also a beautiful example of ekphrasis.
     It's filled in entirely with pictures depicting the history of Rome, even past the Augustan era (it gets vague after that, though). It begins in the center, with Rome's early history, Romulus and Remus, all the famous myths of the prehistory of Rome, etc. What was very interesting is that the shield even depicted the battle of Actium, one of the most definitive and fateful battles of Roman history- it decided whether Mark Antony and Cleopatra or Augustus would rule.
     Aeneas, although he does not understand much of what the shield is showing, decides he likes it. Soon, it will be time to face Turnus and his furor.
     
   

Aenid Book 4, one big spoiler.

In the continuing epic of the Aeneid, Aeneas lands on Dido’s island after a huge storm (created by Juno and Aeolus) and multiple shipwrecks. Venus/ Aphrodite, Aeneas’s mother, conspired with Juno that if Aeneas remains on Queen Dido’s island, Juno would stop trying to kill him. Venus sends down Cupid/ Eros, in the shape of Aeneas’s prepubescent son, to sit on Dido’s lap and seduce her. Lovely. Aeneas tells his tale of woe about the fall of Troy, and it’s all well and dramatic. The problem is, Dido swore to remain chaste and never to love anyone else after the death of her husband Sychaeus. That goes out the window. Her sister Anna encourages her to get it one with Aeneas, mainly because a strong alliance and a male leader would show everyone clamoring at Carthage’s door that Carthage is strong and able and well-protected.

Soon enough Dido’s got it bad. With the conspiracy between Juno and Venus going on, it’s easy enough to whip up a storm. everyone scatters across fields and Dido and Aeneas take refuge in the same cave. Alone. The thunder roars and the nymphs howl, the goddess Juno is the pronuba and sure enough, they perform the… *ahem*... marriage rituals, and they’re married! At least Dido thinks so…

Rumour flies through the city. Literally. With as many tongues and eyes as feathers, screeching and growing with every word, until she walks with her feet on the ground and head in the clouds. She arrives in the land of king Iarbas, whose father is Jupiter, and Dido’s rejected suitor. Iarbas can’t decide if he’s more upset about being rejected, or losing Dido’s land and power. Either way he runs crying to daddy. And Daddy takes a good look at what’s going on down in Carthage.

Jupiter sends own the messenger Mercury to censure Aeneas and tell him to move his butt founding Italy/ Latium, after all, the Fates are ultimately in command. Aeneas realizes he’s cheating his son Ascanius/ Iulus (long story about that name) out of promised fields and kingdoms, and then TRIES TO SNEAK OUT OF CARTHAGE WITHOUT TELLING DIDO. *much outraged profanity*.

Dido finds out. Obviously. When she confronts Aeneas, he acquiesces, and admits his plan to leave, and LIES ABOUT TRYING TO SNEAK OFF. He says who can evade a lover’s notice? Liar. He explains that his (now dead) father keeps appearing in his dreams and telling him to get a move on, and then Mercury, and maybe it’s time to leave. He says this all very formally and stiffly and emotionlessly. Dido is NOT happy. Aeneas continues preparing to leave, rather relieved to be rid of Dido.

Then there are a bunch of weird portents and omens. Water on her alters turns to black and her wine into blood and she hears voices from her (original) husband's shrine. Pretty creepy stuff. Then Dido decides to kill herself, exactly as she had threatened to do when she first yelled at Aeneas. Abusive relationships 101. She tells Anna to make a funeral pyre on the beach, claiming that she just wants to burn all of Aeneas’s stuff, as one typically does. She starts second guessing herself, wondering if she should follow the Trojans (as Aeneas to so kindly did NOT offer)  but remembers her guilt of having betrayed the memory of Sychaeus, and decides to do it. Everyone sleeps.

When Dido wakes up she sees the Trojan ships leaving, and wishes she had killed Aeneas. She pray to curse them and that they all die and her people will become enemies with theirs (OMG! Foreshadowing! Gasp!). After Anna builds the funeral pyre, he makes her leave so she has some time alone with Aeneas’ memory. Then she climbs on top of the pyre and stabs herself to death. With Aeneas’ sword. Ouch. Anna, seeing this happening from afar jumps of the pyre to try to save Dido but it’s too late. Juno sends down the goddess Iris (also the goddess of rainbows and such) to take a lock of Dido’s hair so she can die. Dido dies and curses Aeneas with her last breath.

As he is sailing away, Aeneas sees the smoke of the funeral pyre and knows that Dido has killed herself. He doesn't seem to care much.

Caesar's De Bello Gallico (No spoiler alerts because it's history)

De Bello Gallico, written in the time of the consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar, is about his conquests in Gaul (modern day france and bits of Germany), as wel as ventures into Britain, and his political strife with the local leaders of the barbarians. It gives step by step accounts of every battle he fought while in Gaul, along with propagandistic reasoning as to why and the position the Romans stood in each one. I was written with semi-third person narration. While Caesar (usually) refers to himself in the third person, he uses “our” and “us” when speaking about the Roman military or the ill-fated republic. This creates a very us-versus-them mentality, which was particularly needed, because much of the information in De Bello is actually false. While the Gauls were frequently referred to as “barbari”(barbarians), they were not so at all. They had clearly organized walled towns, political factions, nobility, and were not nomadic. In fact, they were quite worthy opponents for the Romans, happened to be rather wealthy, and sitting on very good, easily protected, and fertile land.

De Bello opens with the famous line “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres”.  The first book begins to expand on the Helvetii tribe in northern Gaul, who are planning to uproot themselves and march through the Roman province, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake, and take over the other Gallic tribes, maybe even uniting them against a common enemy: The Romans. This poses a serious threat. The book continues to explain the geography and political history of the various Gallic tribes, especially on the relationship of a king, Orgetorix and Caesar. It is, as it turns out, quite complicated and strained.  

Then the Aedui enter (as usual) several serious battles with their surrounding provinces. However, the decide to bring in German mercenaries, true barbarians. Soon more and more germans are continuously migrating into Gaul, led by Ariovistus, and this poses a serious problem. Luckily for them, the Aedui are friends of Rome, so Caesar and his legions step in to help. Soon the Romans and Germans are in an all out war, and the Germans are crushed.

Starting in chapter XXII of book IV, Caesar  begins an assault on Britain. Although the infantry manage across the English Channel (simply called Oceanus by the Romans), the cavalry cannot. After much strategy and engineering, Caesar finally manages to put forth an attack on the Britons. Finally, with the Britons having been defeated (ablative absolutely!), they send their men back to fields. There is peace for a short time. However, a storm heavily damages Caesar’s war and cargo ships.  Vulnerable, the Britons assemble and attack, however they are finally routed by the Romans. We leave of at book IV with preparations being made to return to the main continent.

Caesar had many reason for starting his war in the first place. Although he explains some of them to us, threats to Rome and the like, he was also desperately wanting for money, and successful war brings in lots of it. In his term as consul, he spent almost all of it on elections and gaining the favour of the people. Now he needed more before he returned to Rome. As history knows, when Caesar returns he incites despicable and lamentable (according to Eutropius) civil war, which tears apart the country and ultimately brings the republic of Rome to and end.

THE AENEID BOOK I (read in Latin) ***spoiler alert, although they will really only make sense if you have already read the book***

     The Aeneid of Virgil, written during the rule of Augustus, was based primarily off of the Iliad and the Odyssey, following traditional epic style and following the adventures of a character who showed up in Homer's Iliad, Aeneas, and his son Ascanius, also called Iulus, which if taken for history was meant to propagate the idea that the Julian-Claudian empire of Rome was meant to be.
     The first line is immensely famous- Arma virumque cano- I sing of arms and man. Whereas traditionally epics have begun with an Invocation to the Muse, particularly in Homer,  Virgil does not introduce that until many lines later. Furthermore, when most epic poems credit the Muse for their story and art, Virgil, by saying cano, I sing, takes credit for his work, something completely revolutionary at the time. This makes Virgil the narrator of a story of which parts were probably passed down orally for decades or even centuries beforehand.
     Another thing that is interested is that at first the main character Aeneas, pious with a sense of duty, a king and great leader, his first words, are not exactly leader-like. He is wishing that he had died on the fields of Troy, rather than die during a great storm that Juno has stirred up with the help of king Aeolus. The Greeks and Romans believed that if a body was not buried properly, its soul would wander forever above ground rather than going down to live in the underworld. By dying on the bloody fields of Troy, he would have had a decent burial. By dying in a shipwreck, he is deprived of both a glorious death and a correct burial procedure. Fortunately, Aeneas is fated to go on to found a new city, so he is spared despite the wrath of mindful Juno.
     The next time Aeneas speaks, however, he is brave, bold, and tells his comrades to banish fear from their hearts. He pretends to be confident and sure, and, missing much of his fleet, goes to the top of a hill to scan the waters for their ships. there he kills seven stags to feed his men, one for each remaining ship. Aeneas, despite all his struggles and fear and weariness, is thinking of his men.
     The pace of the book is slow and fast, varying with the content. The best way to determine in the pace is the scansion. Since it is an epic, it is written in Dactylic Hexameter. This consists of spondees and dactyls. A line composed primarily of dactyls will be incredibly fast, whereas a line composed primarily of spondees will be slower, meandering.
     There is so much within the book it would be impossible to thoroughly analyze it, especially for an audience with no previous knowledge. Every literary device, every word, line, epithet, and adjective has a deep meaning that furthers the reader into this world. It is amazing how even today, hundred upon hundred of years later, I can still read this book, and find meaning, relate to its characters, appreciate its history, and ultimately love it the same way an ancient Roman would be able to. This connection to the past that  feel when reading The Aeneid, especially in the original language, this ability to produce the same feeling an unknown person from a lost time would have, if a gift. Virgil has truly created a piece of art.