Aeneid themes

• Composition


  The only Ancient biography of Virgil we have is by Donatus 'life of Virgil' this was written in the 4th century. This was based on a now lost earlier biography of Virgil by Suetonius, he was an early 2nd century writer. Suetonius has access to imperial archives, which gave him access to emperors letters and documentation. Donatus quotes these letters. Much of Donatus Life of Virgil is actually Suetonius in style and context. So despite the late data scholars do give a high viewpoint of this text.
• Virgil's Aeneid vs Homer's Iliad


  • There is greater creative freedom when writing due to the way Homer had to structure the Iliad in order to remember it
  • There will be greater complexity as writing gives both detailed planning and enables and editing process
• Composition of the Aeneid

  1. Took 11 years to finish

  2. Started in 30BC

  3. He died before completion in 19BC

  4. Virgil did not compose in order (non-linear)

  5. He could do each part as it seized his fancy

  6. The textual evidence is subtle and rather limited

  7. The Marcellus passage is clearly additional, added for political reasons

  8. Virgil almost certainly composed the epic in sections (episodically)
• Structure of the Aeneid


  • The whole epic deals with particular themes, these are present within the two main actions of the text (1-6) (7-12)
  • The subdivisions and books also have their own focuses, with a clear unity in the subdivision
  • The text is coherent and feels like it belongs as a whole
• Themes of the whole Aeneid


  • Exiled by fate
  • Aeneas' journey
  • Juno's anger
  • War/suffering
  • Single hero (Aeneas)
  • Divine will
  • Destination of noble Rome
• Books 1-6 vs Books 7-12

  • Books 1-6 are the journey (Odyssean)
  • Books 7-12 are the war (Iliadic)
• Subdivisions of the Aeneid


  • Books 1-4: Carthage + Dido
  • Books 5-6: The remaining wanderings/journey
  • Books 7-9: Preparation for war
  • Books 10-12: Fighting
• Augustus did use propaganda through his position as an anomalous, he rules Rome even when Rome rejected kings and lifelong dictators. He know that to survive he needed to present a carefully curated image of himself.
• Examples of Augustan propaganda

  • The Res Gestae Divi Augusti
  • The Ara Pacis
  • A coin (The Pax issue)
• Res Gestae Divi Augusti


  An epitaph in 34 paragraphs written for his own mausoleum, conveying the impression that Augustus was a military, political, legislative and moral genius
• Ara Pacis


  Commissioned by Augustus in 13BC and finished in 9BC, intended to glorify and legitimise the regime, expressing the Augustan virtue of Pietas and emphasising the achievement of peace
• Pax issue coin


  Shows Augustus as he wanted to be understood, with a legend proclaiming his descent from the divine Caesar
• Augustus developed a concept of propaganda as well as a clear awareness of its importance to the success of his regime.
• Virgil's relationship with Augustus


  According to Donatus' Life of Virgil, Virgil and Augustus were friends, with Maecenas helping Virgil obtain the emperor's favour, and Augustus was personally interested in Virgil's progress on the Aeneid
• Donatus claims that Augustus countermanded Virgil's express orders not to publish any of his works that he had not finished revising, suggesting Augustus had a vested interest in preserving the Aeneid.
• If the Aeneid was written as propaganda


  It would have focused on Augustan achievements in establishing peace and expanding the frontiers of Rome
• Examples of Augustan themes in the Aeneid


  • Book 1: Closing the gates of war, neutralising 'wicked' Furor, peace is stressed
  • Book 6: Anchises introduces Augustus as the one who will 'extend Rome's empire to a land beyond the stars'
  • Book 8: Despite the war, a scene of peace which is the triple triumph of Augustus, emphasising his conquest and glory
• Aeneas as a symbol of Augustus


  Aeneas is carefully associated with Augustus, as Augustus had claimed descent from the legendary hero
• The Aeneid could be seen as praise rather than pure propaganda, as it implies genuineness, gratitude and admiration for Augustus rather than just manipulation.
• However, the Aeneid may also contain subversive elements that undermine the propaganda, with Aeneas failing as a hero and the values of Pietas being portrayed as damaging and destructive.
• There are different possible interpretations of the Aeneid, including as propaganda, praise, or subversion, and the ambiguities in the text are important to these different readings.
• The gates of sleep Book 6 → Aeneas (symbol of Rome, Augustus) is a false dream that won't work
• The problem with this view is the apparent propaganda. The subversion argument has to deal with the fact that passages of the Aeneas seem to propagandise the regime
• Virgil's 'Two Voices'


  A public message which celebrated the regime, but there is also a private voice which is Vigil's own thoughts and feelings
• Possible readings of Aeneas


  • Propaganda
  • Praise
  • Subversion
  • Primarily a work of literature and secondarily propaganda
• Williams concept of Virgil's two voices shows how Virgil presented the Roman empire in the Aeneid through its success and the dictatorship and actions of Augustus to the Pietas and avoidability of tragedy
• Virgil's public voice


  Promotes the empire and is positive
• Passages promoting the empire


  • Book 8 - Shield scene, triumph of Augustus
  • Book 1 - Peace is the objective, gates of war closed
  • Book 6 - Duty, Aeneas starts a race which will bring empire to the world
  • Book 1 - The will of the Gods / fate, Jupiter validates the empire
  • Book 6 - Extent, the empire will be worldwide
• Virgil's private voice


  Expresses hostility
• Passages expressing Virgil's private voice


  • Book 4 - Love between Dido and Aeneas, Virgil's own emotions portrayed
  • Book 9 - Aeneas + war presented as destructive and tragic
  • Book 11 - Funerals
  • Book 6 - Golden Bayh, Aeneas' struggle with Bayh questions the reality of link between fate and empire
  • Book 4 - Dido symbolises Carthage, Aeneas the Roman empire, personal love affair an allegory about the evils of empire
  • Book 6 - The gate of sleep / false dreams, Aeneas going through the gates of Ivory is a symbol of the failure of empire to live up to its high ideals
• Virgil may not be trying to surpass Homer in his writing but he does build on the ideas and themes of Homers work, this can be seen through his characters and the plot lines
• Homeric influence on Virgil


  • Character of Aeneas reflects Achilles in the Iliad
  • Epic form, structure, content/themes, and techniques borrowed from Homer
• Virgil's debt to Homer was so wide-ranging and so deep, we might legitimately ask whether he was little more than a thief or plagiarist
• Virgil made clear borrowings from Homer but should not be described as a thief, he used Homer creatively and to create allusions
• Aeneas begins as essentially a Homeric hero, but over the course of the epic, he is required to exemplify the Roman spirit by undergoing a fundamental change of character
• Aeneas as an 'unheroic hero'


  He fails to fully adopt the new heroic ethic of pietas, and reverts to being a man of furor and ira, a classic Homeric hero
• Stahl launched an attack on the 'unheroic hero' thesis, suggesting the theorists allowed their own anti-imperial views to cloud their understanding
• Aeneas fails to rise fully to the challenge of duty to others. It takes him time to break from the old mentality; and in the end, the task proves too much for him
• Aeneas reverts in Books 10-12 to being a man of furor and ira, a classic Homeric hero, a man of impulsive battlefield action, rather than the man of duty
• Williams (1972) thinks that Aeneas has failed to learn the 'lessons' of the years since Troy