Aeneid Secondary Scholarship

• 'Virgil uses the story of Aeneas as a way to explore the relationship between history and mythology.' - Farrell
• 'The poem is not just about the past, but also about the present' - Dyson
• ' Easy to sympathise ' - Morgan
• ' Fate is rigid and cannot be changed by Gods or man ' - Camps
• ' Virgil shows that there is no such thing as free will ' - Camps
• ' other than Jupiter, the Gods in the Aeneid are only concerned with their own agenda ' - Camps
• ' Dido matches Aristotles definition of a tragic heroine' - Harrison
• ' Book 6 is a journey from darkness to revelation ' - Jenkyns - reinforced by description of a flood of light
• ' (Aeneas) forced into a mission by circumstances beyond his control ' - Hardie
• ' Aeneas' main fault is feeling too much ' - Jenkyns
• ' The Gods caused Didos love, yet she chose to act upon it ' - Jenkyns
• ' Amata shares with Turnus the guilt of the war ' - Burke
• ' ideal Roman father figure ' - Nausbaum
• ' filled with guilt and remorse ' - R.D Williams
• ' pious Aeneas , respectful of his duty to God , man , country and family ' - Cowan
• ' model for the Emperor Augustus ' - Cowan
• ' displays virtues that are quintessentially Roman ' - Cowan
• ' the Aeneid was designed to meet a specific need, to justify Augustus questionable regime ' - Laird
• book 4 - 'independent work' - Nelis
• ' Dido is beautiful , generous and kind ' - Nelis
• ' Why does Dido suffer? ' - Pobjay
• ' Must Turnus be killed at the end ? ' - Pobjay
• ' Virgil ends abruptly, violent revenge and thoughts of clemency forgotten ' - Rutherford
• ' Turnus is hopeless due to manipulation of the Gods ' - Rutherford
• ' Aeneas is a pious hero ' - Edith Hall
• ' overcome by mad passions ( Aeneas killing Turnus ) ' - Buckley
• ' its the poets intentions to imitate Homer and to praise Augustus ' - Quesnay
• ' Dido is certainly a victim of circumstances and the Gods ' - Quesnay
• • Morrison - “The suitors are terrible guests and clearly violate the code of xenia”