Galinsky 1968 Aeneid V and The Aeneid

Aeneid V and the Aeneid
Author(s): G. Karl Galinsky

Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Apr., 1968), pp. 157-185
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/293134
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AENEID V AND THE AENEID.*
In Memoriam K. F. C. Rose
Like the Eighth Book of the Aeneid, Aeneid V is one of th

episodic books of the epic. The central action of the Aenei
progresses even less in this book than it does in Aeneid VIII.
As a result, whatever scholarly attention the fifth Aeneid has
been able to attract has centered around the date of its compo
sition, and the verdict of most scholars has been that this par
of the epic seems to be a superfluous, late, and ill-fitting append-
age within the over-all design of the Aeneid.l More recently
interest has focused on the poetic, inherent unity of this book
Valid as these analyses may be, Book V cannot be considered
merely as a self-contained unit; since it is episodic and also on
of the longest books of the Aeneid, the answer to the critic
question about its necessity must be sought in its relation to th
epic as a whole. The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to sho
how Aeneid V is integrated into the epic, how it is related t
the theme of the Aeneid, and why Sicily was chosen as it
setting.
The fact that Vergil makes Aeneas land in Sicily twice has
often been criticized as awkward. For this still influential
opinion, it may suffice to quote the remarks of H. Nettleship
*The following works will be cited by the author's names only:

A. Alfoldi, Die trojanischen Urahnen der R6mer (Basel, 1957); M.
Monaco, II libro dei ludi (Palermo, 1957); B. Otis, Virgil. A Study
in Civilized Poetry (Oxford, 1964); V. P6schl, Die Dichtkunst Virgils
(2nd ed., Vienna, 1964); M. C. J. Putnam, The Poetry of the Aeneid
(Cambridge [Mass.], 1965); R. D. Williams, P. Vergili Maronis Liber
Quintus (Oxford, 1960); W. Wimmel, review of Monaco, Gnomon,
XXXIII (1961), pp. 47-54.
1 A survey of scholarly opinions is given by Monaco, pp. 1-24; cf.
Williams, pp. xxiii-xxx.
2 See especially Putnam, pp. 64-104. Putnam, in my opinion, somewhat
overstates the importance of the Palinurus episode for the unity of
the book, and his definition of the unifying theme of Aeneid V as "the
necessity of sacrifice through suffering" (p. 65) is not always ap-
plicable.
8 "The Story of Aeneas' Wanderings," J. Ph., IX (1880), p. 46. The
article is not listed by Monaco or Williams. For a well-put argument,
157
158 (. KARL GALINSKY.
It is difficult to suppose that so awkward a co

as this can have entered into the original p
Aeneid. As things now stand it might occur to
that the fifth Aeneid would naturally have fo
third, as the sixth might naturally have followed
Vergil had not, probably, at the time of his d
monized the Sicilian and Carthaginian episodes
satisfactory to himself.
A closer look, however, at the description of the

arrivals in Sicily suggests that they were carefull
contrast with and thus to complement each other
by virtue of the efforts of Palinurus, the Trojan
avoid the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis (III, 55
here follows his Odyssean model, with one importa
Anchises, and not Aeneas, who is the counterpart
remembers the earlier prophecy about these monstra
to a pattern of landing which R. B. Lloyd has so
analyzed for Book III,4 the Trojans then land in S
and also ignari (III, 568-9).
Even up to this point only the landing in Book
different. Although the fifth Aeneid heralds his r
chises, Aeneas also is about to come much more i
The increasingly active role he will play from now
sized at the very beginning of the Book (V, 1-4):
Interea medium Aeneas in classe tenebat

certus iter fluctusque atros Aquilone secabat
moenia respiciens, quae iam infelicis Elissae
conlucent flammis.
He holds his way certus, and not ignarus. Again there is a

storm, again the Trojans ships are fessas (29), but now the
Trojans are not helplessly exposed to the workings of the storm,
but of their own choice change their course to Sicily. Again
Palinurus is singled out, but now, in contrast to III, he turns
to Aeneas for advice and follows it. This is the first detailed
illustration of Aeneas' living up to his characterization in V,
1 ff. It has rightly been noted that these introductory lines are
different from mine, against this view, see R. B. Lloyd, "Aeneid III:
A New Approach," A. J. P., LXXVIII (1957), p. 149, n. 53.
4 Lloyd, op. cit., p. 146.
" AENEID " V AND THE " AENEID." 159
symbolic,5 but, I believe, not so much for Book V a

development in the central triad of the epic, wher
from one who formerly was multa cunctantem (I
man who confidently can say: ego poscor Olympo
The result of his command to Palinurus is swift an
(V, 32-4):
haec ubi dicta, petunt portus et vela secundi
intendunt Zephyri; fertur cita gurgite classis,
et tandem laeti notae advertuntur harenae.
In Aeneid V, the landing of the Trojans in Sicily thus is

associated with a certain mood-laeti.6 This is what differen-
tiates this arrival from most of those described in III and groups
it with the antithetical Trojan landings in Libya (I, 157-79
and Italy (VII, 1-36),7 and with their first landing in Sicily i
Book Three. The description of these four landings is no
merely factual, but evokes a certain atmosphere. And within th
framework of the antithetical landings in I and VII, the Sicilia
landings in III and V form the same deliberate antithesis
themselves.
The Sicilian locale of which the Trojans catch sight first is
Mount Aetna. Like the landing site in I, that in III is forbid-
ding, sinister, and threatening (III, 570-7):
portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens
ipse: sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis,
interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem
turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla,
attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit,
interdum scopulos avulsaque viscera montis
erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras
cum gemitu glomerat fundoque exaestuat imo.
Aside from the thematic parallels with the hostile shore in I,
159-68, the similarity between this description and that of the
5 Poschl, pp. 80-2; cf. K. Biichner, P. Vergilius Maro. Der Dichter

der Romer (Stuttgart, 1961), p. 352.
6 This mood is sustained throughout Book V, where the occurrence
of words connoting joy is most frequent; see P. Miniconi, "La joie dans
l'Eneide," Latomus, XXI (1962), pp. 565-8. Cf. VII, 36; III, 524.
7For a detailed analysis of the landings in Books I and VII, see V.
Buchheit, Vergil iiber die Sendung Roms (Heidelberg, 1963), pp. 173-87;
cf. PSschl, pp. 245-50.
160 G. KARL GALINSKY.
Cacus monstrum in Book VIII is remarkable.8 Not by

dence are the Trojans said to endure immania mon
583) during their first night in Sicily. More specifical
also gives the reason for the ominous behavior of the
(III, 578-82):
fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus
urgeri mole hac, ingentem insuper Aetnam
impositam ruptis flammam expirare caminis,
et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem
murmure Trinacriam et caelum subtexere fumo.
There can be little doubt about the symbolic meaning of

this description. As the winds, who personify disorder in Book
I, are shut in the cave of Aeolus, with the moles of the mountain
superimposed on them (I, 60-2)
sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris
hoc metuens molemque et montis insuper altos
imposuit
so Enceladus/Typhoeus, whom Vergil in VIII explicitly asso-

ciates with violence personified, i.e. Cacus,9 is held in check
by the moles of Mt. Aetna. Nor is this symbolic use of Aetna
unprecedented. For already in the Georgics the activity of the
volcano is singled out as one of the portents of that disharmony
and disorder which threaten the young ruler Octavian. Aeneid,
III, 570 ff. is an expansion and reworking of the passage from
the First Georgic (I, 471-3):
quotiens Cyclopum effervere in agros
vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam,
flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa!
The connotations are the same in both poems. There is no such
description in the Odyssey; Vergil's model was the First Pythian
Ode of Pindar the purpose of which was to celebrate the founda-
tion of a new city. Such a new city, Acesta, is founded in Book
V and thus, in spite of all its deliberate gloominess, the first
landing in Sicily already anticipates the happier achievement
8 See F. J. Worstbrock, Elemente einer Poetik der Aeneis (Miinster,

1963), p. 76 and n. 111.
9 See G. K. Galinsky, " The Hercules-Cacus Episode in Aeneid VIII,"
A.J.P., LXXXVII (1966), p. 38 and n. 45.
of the second in Book V. Furthermore, it is importan

that the landing near Mt. Aetna and the Cyclops epis
stops which Vergil added to the traditional landing p
Aeneas. Tradition knew of Aeneas' putting ashore
panum or Eryx. Vergil makes very brief mention of t
very end of Book III (707), but not until after the
description of the Achaemenides episode and the per
Sicily. The impression of gloom, violence, and hostil
was created by the Aetna passage still prevails: the Tr
ashore at Drepanum's inlaetabilis ora (III, 707). A c
mood is thus sustained, and this gives additional test
the unity of Book III.
More significant, however, is the fact that just as t
episode is not told by Vergil for its own sake, but is
larger symbolic framework, so the function of the Achae
story can be properly understood only against the bac
the Sinon story in II, and as an anticipation of futur
in the epic.10 This episode has often been criticize
reliance on that of Sinon, but it is, in fact, a rather d
recasting of the latter, just as the second Trojan la
Sicily in V is a different recasting of that in III.
Sinon betrays his true intent by blaming Fortuna be
mendacem finget (II, 79-80) and Priam merely looses h
after Sinon has told most of his story, Achaemenides
outset is portrayed as a man who deserves one's pity
10 Most scholars, especially J. W. Mackail, The Aeneid of Virgil
(Oxford, 1930), Appendix B, have considered the Achaemenides epi-
sode as "unessential"; cf. R. D. Williams, P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos
Liber Tertius (Oxford, 1962), p. 181: "But while Vergil may have felt
uncertain whether the episode was a proper part of the fabric of the
poem, we may still admire it as a stitched-on piece of brilliant colours.
It is a passage of rhetorical and grandiose writing, detached from the
immediate world of human experience . . . This was the kind of writing
the Silver Age loved . . . The boxing match in Aeneid V is another
such episode." The only dissenting voice is that of R. B. Lloyd,
"Aeneid III and the Aeneas Legend," A.J.P., LXXVIII (1957), pp.
397 f., who demonstrates that the story is a short epyllion the focal
point of which (639-40) "brings us to full circle to the words of Poly-
dorus' ghost at the beginning of the book," and thus contributes to the
unity of Book III. I doubt that this is the more important function of
the episode, nor is it "narrated in good part for its own sake." On
the boxing match, see below.
anda, 591). Without any questions, and before he h

his story, he is accepted by Anchises, who all but c
treaty with him (III, 610f.):
ipse pater dextram Anchises haud multa moratu
dat iuveni atque animum praesenti pignore firmat
The danger which confronted him is essentially th

the peril the Trojans had faced the day and night be
form of Mt. Aetna. Achaemenides was threatened b
monstrum ingens (III, 658; cf. immania monstra, 5
habitat is a murky cave and who iacuit saniem eructa
just as Mt. Aetna avulsa viscera montis/erigit eructa
The connection between these two descriptions is cl
tentional; another form of eructare occurs only in one
sage in the Aeneid.l This equation between mountai
is expressed somewhat later even more clearly by t
Aetneos fratres (678). Finally, while the Vergilian C
all the atrocious characteristics of the Homeric one,
the surrounding countryside with far greater frigh
Homeric model. Homer is content with a graphic d
of the Cyclops' reaction to his blinding (Od., IX, 39
ualEpSaaEov 8e /ucy' yp/%ev, rept 87aXE crerpri,

&uji;SLC 8Se eicravres aL7rero'vfLEO'.
Vergil, by contrast, does not dwell on the blind

Cyclops, but stresses his hostile pursuit of the T
Achaemenides (III, 672-4) :
clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omn
contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus
Italiae curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis.
Italy and Sicily both live in horror of this monstr

Even more vividly than in the list of Sicilian to
end of the book Vergil here is intent on bringing It
close connection with Sicily.
The Cyclops episode is concluded by Aeneas' repea
words with which Achaemenides had introduced him
"1 VI, 297, where it is used, significantly enough, for the

of Acheron. Cf. evomit in the Cacus story (VIII, 253) and th
of E. Norden, P. Vergilius Maro. Aeneis Buch VI, p. 115, n. 1
"AENEID" V AND THE "AEPNEID." 163
comes infelicis Ulixi (691). Such repetition in the H

manner is extremely rare in the Aeneid, nor is it used
a purpose. For the truth of Achaemenides' story was i
ately illustrated by the appearance of the Cyclops (vix
erat ..., cum ... 655), and the Cyclops, the traditional e
of the Greeks, soon also became the enemy of the Troj
though Achaemenides introduces himself as a former en
the Trojans, the primary purpose of the story is to est
definite link between Greek and Trojan heroes; the
prepares for the second half of the epic, Book VIII in pa
where Greeks and Trojans will face another common en
This is why Aeneas now purposely agrees with Achaem
and sympathetically calls Odysseus infelix, whereas Od
formerly was known as pellax (II, 90), durus (II, 7
(II, 261, 762), and saevus (III, 273). In Book II, Sinon,
catering to the feelings of the Trojans and especially of Priam,
called Odysseus scelerum inventor (II, 164) and emphasized
that (II, 97-8)
hinc semper Ulixes
criminibus terrere novis.
The honest Achaemenides, however, whose story reverses that of

Sinon, presents Odysseus as a righteous man who cannot tolerate
the crimes committed by a monstrum that does not abide by
human conventions (II, 626-9):
vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo
manderet et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus-
haud impune quidem, nec talia passus Ulixes
oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto.
In order that he might mete out just punishment, Odysseus has

to be goaded into action and be beside himself, just as Aeneas
insidiis subactus (XII, 494) is goaded into furor and ira (XII,
946) over the breach of the foedus and thus has to kill Turnus,
and just as Hercules in Book VIII is prodded into a frenzy
(furens animis, VIII, 228) after his inhuman (semihomo, VIII,
12 For a different interpretation, see Worstbrock, op. cit., p. 75: " Die
Begnadigung des Feindes ist die symbolische tberwindung der griech-
ischen Welt." But the historical background of the Sicilian setting has
to be taken into account; see below for details.
194) enemy, who indulges in cannibalism like th

(semperque recenti/ caede tepebat humus, VIII, 1
nothing inausum/ aut intractum sceleris dolive (VIII
This final portrayal of Odysseus in the Aeneid ough
one sceptical about the assertion that the Romans, a
the fifth century B. C., chose pius Aeneas as their anc
the more worldly-wise, shrewder, and less sacred O
In fact, the literary tradition before and even after
at pains to stress Aeneas' skilful and deliberate use of hi
whereas of all Homeric heroes, it is precisely Odyss
piety is set most strongly in relief by the poet.15 Od
never placed in any antithesis to Aeneas; already
knew of the two heroes coming to Italy together, a
foundation of Rome by both.16
The periplus of Sicily forms the last part of B
Since this was not part of the traditional Aeneas lege
13 So, for instance, F. Bomer, Rom und Troia (Baden-Baden, 1951),

pp. 47 ff.
14 For example, Aeneas is called SovXfq56pos more often than any other
character in the Iliad. vi-ros Achilles is contrasted with aatfppwv Aeneas
(II., XX, 264, 267). Lycophron calls him 8ovXaEs &ptrTOS (Alex.,
1235). Hector fights Achilles because of his own draa-aX1\il' (II.,
XXII, 104) and d& oeaT7ov Fiivos (II., XXII, 96), whereas Aeneas is
pushed into the fight with Achilles by a god. The opposition between
Aeneas' deliberation and the foolish and reckless behavior of Achilles
and Hector is worked out as carefully as that between Odysseus and
his companions in the Odyssey prologue. Flavius Philostratus (ed.
Kayser), II, p. 316 writes that the Trojans called Hector their "arm
and Aeneas, their "mind," and contrasts the wisdom of Aeneas with
the raging of Hector. Vergil's contemporary Dionysius stresses Aene
Xa77xCav'a, XOytL'cL6s, and vovs (I, 46, 2), which are contrasted with t
Greeks' failure to come up with a successful stratagem: of6ev 7rpo
/iUiXav'~vro (I, 46, 3).
15 Aside from the Doloneia, see Odyssey, I, 66 f., and the remarks of
W. B. Stanford, The Ulysses Theme (2nd ed., New York, 1963), p. 28.
Significantly, this trait of Odysseus was emphasized much in the
literary tradition: see Stanford, pp. 184, 190, 200, 208, 213, 230.
16 F. G. H., 4 F 84 = D. H., I, 72. For a discussion, see E. D. Phillips,
"Odysseus in Italy," J. H.S., LXXIII (1953), pp. 57 f. and the bibli-
ography listed there. For further similarities between Odysseus and
Aeneas, see Stanford, op. cit., p. 136, who makes the correct observation
that Aeneas is more impressive in destiny than Odysseus. But it should
be made clear that this applies only to the hero as we know him from
Vergil,
no doubt intended it as a tribute to Sicily or, as R. D.

has put it so well, "he associates the destiny of Italy
nearest neighbor (as he does in Book V)." 17
Before turning to Book V, let me summarize briefly
have found out about the first Trojan landing in Sici
entirely original with Vergil and, through imagistic pa
is integrated into a symbolic context that goes we
Book III. It is not an isolated episode, which exists fo
sake, but it is related to other parts of the epic. It is
because the symbolic function of the episode is wh
matters, I believe, that the poet is little concerned wit
such as the consistency of his chronology or the actual
of a harbor near Mt. Aetna. Like Libya in Book I, S
hostile and threatening shore for the Trojans in Book
are united with the Greeks in the face of a common
common monstrous enemy, and the destinies of Sicily
are linked. We will see the purpose of this soon, after
the role of Book V.
The fifth Aeneid introduces the central and most important
triad of the epic. There frequently is the tendency to divide the
Aeneid too rigidly into triads and/or an Odyssean and Iliadic
half; it is often overlooked that the poem also is a carmen con-
tinuum. Only a recent study 18 has revealed the extent to which
Odyssean models were used for the second half of the Aeneid.
Similarly, while Book V-the most "Iliadic" Book of the
"Odyssean" half-signals Aeneas' turning away from the past
of Troy and Dido and his progressively increasing orientation in
Books V to VIII toward his Roman mission, it also is firmly
linked to the preceding books, IV in particular. This is evi-
dent from its very first line: certus is a reminiscence of certus
eundi in IV, 554.19 Aeneas is explicitly said to look back
(respiciens, V, 3) to the conflagration in Carthage, which is the
symbol of Dido's fatal love and the fulfilment of her prophecy:
sequar atris ignibus absens (IV, 384). Now Aeneas indeed sees
17 Williams, op. cit., p. 205.

18 G. N. Knauer, Die Aeneis und Homer (Gottingen, 1964). Odyssean
motifs are concentrated especially in Aeneid VII and VIII, which is an
additional argument in favor of the tripartite structure of the epic.
19 So, rightly, Monaco, p. 41. Note also the contrast with incerti in
III, 7.
fervere litora flammis (IV, 567), and Dido's invo

607)20
Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras

has come true with grim irony. Furthermore, Ascanius, the
leader of the Trojan youth in that most Roman game, the lusus
Troiae (V, 571-2)
Sidonio est invectus equo, quem candida Dido
esse sui dederat monimentum et pignus amoris.
This recalls the boy's ride on horseback when he was hunting
with Dido (IV, 156ff.), and the connection between these two
passages has to be taken into account before Ascanius' role in
V is too narrowly related to his appearance in Book IX.21
Throughout Book V-and the examples given here are by
no means exhaustive-Vergil deliberately utilizes earlier motifs
and subtly recasts them in order to illustrate the different turn
of events and the change from the past to the future, which is
the central theme of the middle triad that links and is part of
both the "Odyssean" and the "Iliadic" half. Trojan-born
Acestes, who had been characterized simply as bonus in I,
195 and whose wine had provided some cheer for the Trojans
after their shipwreck, now (V, 40 f.)
gratatur reduces et gaza laetus agresti

excipit, ac fessos opibus solatur amicis.
Riches from the Orient, Troia gaza, were proverbial, and their
loss was singled out in the descriptions of the shipwreck off the
Libyan coast (I, 119) and the Greek conquest of Troy (II,
763). It was with similar riches, Tyrio murice in particular, that
Dido successfully catered to Aeneas (IV, 261-5), and Mercury
sternly rebuked him for this. The desire for such wealth was
a weakness not proper for the ideal Roman hero; already at the
end of the Second Georgic, such riches as the Sarranum ostrum
(II, 506) are contrasted with the humble joys of the agricola.
The same contrast recurs in Aeneid, V, 40 where the word gaza
20 Which can be properly understood only in the light of the preceding

lines 604-6, where Dido speaks of her desire to destroy the Trojans by
fire (faces, 604; flammis, 607).
21 As it is by W. A. Camps, " A Note on the Structure of the Aeneid,'
C.Q., IV (1954), p. 214.
"AENEID" V AND THE " AENEID." 167
is used for the third and last time in the epic

receives Aeneas with gaza agresti, which is almost
tion in itself were it not to foreshadow Aeneas' future riches in
agreste Latium; in the descriptions of Latium and the Latins
agrestis occurs most frequently in the Aeneid. More specifically,
it is Aeneas' host Evander, Acestes' counterpart in Book VIII,22
who bids the formerly wealthy Trojan to enter his humble abode
(VIII, 364-5):
aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum
finge deo, rebusque veni non asper egenis.
In the house of Evander, Aeneas then rests (VIII, 368)
effultum foliis, et pelle Libystidis ursae.

Again this is anticipated by the welcome Aeneas is given by
Acestes who appears (V, 37)
horridus in iaculis et pelle Libystidis ursae 23
and Acestes cheers the Trojans with his humble opibus. Latium,
therefore, begins in Sicily.
One of the most significant imagistic echoes, which links
Books IV and V and, at the same time, is used with subtly
changing connotations, is that of the divine messenger Iris and
her appearance. Glistening with the thousand colors of the rain-
bow she was sent by Juno to hasten the death of Dido (IV, 693-
4; 700-2):
tum Iuno omnipotens longum miserata dolorem

difficilisque obitus Irim demisit Olympo ...
ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pennis
mille trahens varios adverso sole colores
devolat et supra caput astitit.
One can hardly quarrel with the interpretation that Iris here
radiates her one thousand colors out of charis for the magnani-
22 For the similarities between Acestes and Evander, see Wimmel,

p. 51.
28 One of the rare occurrences of ALvaTrls is Callimachus, frag. 676
(Pfeiffer). Callimachus doubtless inspired Vergil's aetiological poetry
in Aeneid VIII, and the Evander episode therefore seems to have been
composed before the corresponding description in Aeneid V. I owe this
reference to Mr. E. V. George.
mously dying queen, and that some comfort and cons

also implied by roscida.24 At the same time, this final
Book IV is Juno's admission of the failure of her plot
Dido and Aeneas with the help of Venus. The coopera
tween the goddesses in IV is replaced by a return to their
antagonism in Book V (779ff.). And, ironically, Di
to set the Trojan ships on fire (IV, 594, cf. 604-6) an
Aeneas die ante diem (IV, 620) now is inverted into i
site: ante diem (IV, 698) she perishes amid the burnin
of Carthage.
In Book V, Iris is not sent because Juno takes pity on the
long suffering of a mortal, but this time the goddess wants to
ease her own, long-standing grief (V, 606-10):
Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno
Iliacam ad classem ventosque aspirat eunti,
multa movens necdum antiquum saturata dolorem.
illa viam celerans per mille coloribus arcum
nulli visa cito decurrit tramite virgo.
It has rightly been noted that this passage is not merely a
thoughtless repetition of that in IV.25 Dido's wish to burn the
Trojan fleet now has seemingly been fulfilled. Yet the material
effect of the burning of the ships is negligible: only four ships
are destroyed and the Trojans-all of them-could still continue
their voyage to Italy without difficulty. More important is the
effect this incident has on Aeneas. As before in Carthage, where
he was scolded by Mercury as regni rerumque oblite tuarum
(IV, 267) because he wanted to stay, and where he was torn
between his conflicting feelings (IV, 447-8)
haud secus adsiduis hinc atque hinc vocibus heros
tunditur, et magno persentit pectore curas,
Aeneas now (V, 700-3)
casu concussus acerbo
nune huc ingentis, nunc illuc pectore curas
mutabat versans, Siculisne resideret arvis
oblitus fatorum, Italasne capesseret oras.26
24 So E. Wolff, " Der Brand der Schiffe und Aeneas' Wiedergeburt,"

M. H., XX (1963), p. 159. For the pleasant connotations of roscida see,
for instance, Censorinus, frag. 3, 5 (not listed by Wolff).
25 Wolff, op. cit., pp. 158 f.
26 Biichner, op. cit., pp. 356 f. considers this incident as "Aeneas'
most serious test," and compares his situation to that of the statesman
"AENEID" V AND THE "AENEID." 169
His decision is to build a city for the old and we

panions, and this signifies a further break with
same time, this city is consistently modelled on
whose site Aeneas will be familiarized in VII
actual founding will not be described in the Aen
nology that is used in describing the foundatio
specifically Roman: 27
transcribunt urbi matres populumque volent

deponunt (750-1)
interea Aeneas urbem designat aratro (755)
indicitque forum et patribus dat iura vocat
After being encouraged by the dream appearanc

and before he founds the city, Aeneas (V, 743-5)
haec memorans cinerem et sopitos suscitat ig

Pergameumque Larem et canae penetralia V
farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra.
Similarly, after the certain encouragement of th

Book Eight and after his introduction to Evander
ways is the counterpart of Acestes, Aeneas wor
without whose action Rome could not have been
541-4):
haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto

et primum Herculeis sopitas ignibus aras
excitat, hesternumque larem parvosque pena
laetus adit.
The foundation of Acesta, then, symbolically anticipates that

of Rome and Lavinium. The immediate cause for the founda-
tion of Acesta was, as we have seen, the burning of the ships,
which was symbolic rather than being materially effective. Now
there is little doubt that Vergil was familiar with Aristotle's
version of the foundation of Rome, which is quoted by Dionysius
in Cic., Rep., VI, 8, 8 who has lost the confidence of his people. Biichner
thus goes on to argue for an especially close connection between Books
V and VI. But in the Aeneid only a few deluded women rebel, and
Aeneas' crisis, aside from that in Book IV, is more comparable to that
in Book VIII; see below.
27 See the commentary of Williams ad loc.
of Halicarnassus (I, 72, 3). Besides, the numismatic a

ary evidence indicates that this version apparently
popular.28 The immediate reason for the founding
according to Aristotle, who perhaps used an earlier s
the burning of ships by Trojan women. So far from
the success of Dido's destructive designs, therefore, th
of the ships, which results in the foundation of a city,
the successful completion of Aeneas' fated mission.
parture from Dido and the conflagration in Cart
Aeneas for his task, so the burning of the ships foresha
more strongly that this task will indeed be complet
unable or unwilling to continue will not encumber A
more, and the foundation of the city in Sicily presa
ultimate, successful founding of a city in Italy. Onc
Juno's action ironically turns into the opposite of w
had intended. For good reasons, therefore, her epith
V is not omnipotens, as it was in IV, 693, but Saturn
prepares for Aeneas' arrival in Italy. These are the im
of the second intervention of Iris.
Because they have not been recognized, the appearance of the
snake at Anchises' grave has been misinterpreted seriously. The
'serpent appears and (V, 87-9)
auro
squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubibus arcus

mille iacit varios adverso sole colores.
This is certainly an intentional echo of Iris' appearance a few

lines earlier at the end of Book IV, and the description therefore
is also related to her second appearance in Book V (cf. especi-
ally 658). In striking contrast to the poet's own words-the
snake is innoxius (92) and makes the Trojans laeti (100)-it
has been contended that the description suggests "hidden vio-
lence," 29 or, at any rate, is "ambivalent." 30 The appearances
28 The significance of this tradition and its ramifications are lucidly
discussed by Alfoldi, pp. 9ff.; Hellanicus, F.G.H., 4 F 84; Da-
mastes, F. G. H., 5 F 3.
29 Putnam, p. 212. For the beneficent implications of a Vergilian
serpent metaphor, see Galinsky, op. cit., p. 45 and n. 61.
30 Wimmel, p. 53. Putnam's argument is rather similar to Wimmel's.
The most sensible discussion of the religious background of the tomb
ceremony is J. Bayet, "Les cendres d'Anchise: dieu, heros, ombre ou
serpent? (Virgile, En6ide V 42-103)," Aparchai, IV (1961), pp. 39-56.
" AENEID" V AND THE " AENEID." 171
of Iris do not support such an assumption. As we

her function at the end of Book IV clearly is ben
frees Dido from her agony and eases her painful de
For this reason alone a reminiscence of it in the d
the snake, which most probably personifies Anchis
be entirely out of place, especially since there is n
of Anchises' death in the Aeneid. For the death of Dido and
the burial of Anchises are analogous; although Anchises will
continue to guide him, he has ceased to exist as the visible and,
at times, oppressive symbol of Aeneas' past. Similarly, Iris'
second intervention ultimately turns out to be beneficent for
the Trojans. There is no reason, therefore, not to take the poet
at his word: the snake is a good omen.
Why, then, this link between Iris, who is sent by Juno, and
Anchises? The explanation is found, I believe, when we turn
to Aeneas' dream vision of Anchises. There Anchises encour-
ages his son after the burning of the ships by saying (V, 726-7):
imperio Iovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem

depulit, et caelo tandem miseratus ab alto est.
This is the last part of a sequence which began with Juno's

sending Iris, because she longum miserata dolorem (IV, 693),
which continued with the appearance of the Iris-like serpent,
and with Iris' second intervention (V, 606)
Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno
that led to the burning of the ships to which Anchises makes

explicit reference. As Juno commiserated with Dido and later
sent Iris from high heaven, so now Jupiter caelo tandem misera-
tus ab alto est (V, 727). A cycle has come to its end31 and
Aeneas' sights now more than ever before belong to the future
(V, 729-31):
lectos iuvenes, fortissima corda
defer in Italiam. gens dura atque aspera cultu
debellanda tibi Latio est.
31 For some good remarks on some more elaborate examples of this

kind of reversal, see M. von Albrecht, "Die Kunst der Spiegelung in
Vergils Aeneis," Hermes, XCIII (1965), pp. 54-64. The structural links
between the four passages are not unlike those between the four books
of the Georgics; cf. G. E. Duckworth, "Vergil's Georgics and the
Laudes Galli," A. J.P., LXXX (1959), pp. 229 f.
The four scenes are carefully balanced and form an in

framework pattern:
I Juno sends Iris (miserata, IV, 693) -

-Iris and Anchises
-- Iris sent by Juno
Jupiter sends Anchises (miseratus, V, 727)---I

Because of its link position between the Iliadic and Odyssea
halves and because it introduces the central part of the Aenei
Book V is particularly rich in associations for the whole ep
This may be illustrated by a few more examples before a con
clusion can be drawn.
As Heinze rightly observed,32 the miracle of Acestes' flaming

arrow refers to the foundation of Segesta. The allusion to this
event is linked by Vergil to the prodigium which leads Aeneas
finally to accept his mission without any more questioning. We
will see shortly that there is an intrinsic reason for this; mean-
while, it may suffice to note that just as Acestes receives an
embossed bowl, Aeneas in Book VIII first sees and later takes
possession of the embossed shield, which was made by Vulcan
in Sicily and symbolizes the fama et fata nepotum. Both in
Books Five and Eight, Aeneas' companions are stunned while
he is the only one who knows how to interpret the portents. In
Book V, this once more shows that Aeneas is coming into his
own by being able to do what Anchises formerly had to do for
him, although the process in Book V is not yet completed. For
Aeneas understands the implications of the omen only partially;
he knows that Acestes has been chosen to be a great ruler, but
Anchises later still has to tell him that Acestes will be ruling
over the new city, Acesta. In VIII, of course, Aeneas immedi-
ately arrives at a full and correct interpretation of the portent.
The parallels between the two passages, which occur at the same
place in both books, are certainly intentional:
attonitis haesere animis superosque precati

Trinacrii Teucrique viri, nec maximus omen
82 R. Heinze, Virgils Epische Technik (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1915), pp.

160-4.
abnuit Aeneas, sed laetum amplexus Acesten

muneribus cumulat magnis ac talia fatur:
" sume pater; nam te voluit rex magnus Olym
talibus auspiciis exsortem ducere honores.
ipsius Anchisae longaevi hoc munus habebis,
cratera impressum signis ..." (V, 529-36)
obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros
agnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis,
tum memorat: "ne vero, hospes, ne quaere profecto
quem casum portenta ferant: ego poscor Olympo.
hoc signum cecinit missuram diva creatrix,
si bellum ingrueret, Volcaniaque arma per auras
laturam auxilio. (VIII, 530-6)
The gift in Book Five (536-8), belonging

Anchises, still recalls the past:
. . quem Thracius olim
Anchisae genitori in magno munere Cisseus
ferre sui dederat monimentum et pignus amoris.
The gift in Eight (537-40), however, which is given by his

mother Venus, presages the future:
Heu quantae miseris caedes Laurentibus instant:

quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis ! quam multa sub undas
scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves,
Thybri pater! poscant acies et foedera rumpant.
The difference between the two passages, that between past and
future, sums up the development that takes place in the central
triad.
This development, as we have seen, is begun in the opening

lines of Book Five, which reflect Aeneas' break with the past
of Dido and Troy.33 Before the hero, however, can arrive at a
full awareness of what the future holds for him, he has gradually
to be freed from the bonds that tie him to the past. One device
by which Vergil effects this is to allude to mythological events
which convey a strong impression of the past, but are not
specifically connected with the past of Aeneas. At the same time,
just as Vergil projected contemporary events into the mytho-
S3 This is further confirmed by Putnam's (p. 68) observation that

Aeneas in V, 3 looks back (respiciens) to Carthage as he did when he
was leaving Troy (II, 741).
logical past,34 so mythological events of the dim past

ferred to the present of Aeneas and eventually even
anticipate the future.
Thus the boxing match between Dares and Entellus i
mind one of that between Eryx and Heracles.35 By
Entellus the brother of Eryx, Vergil telescoped the myth
combat into Aeneas' present. Vergil is sympathet
Sicilian in that he has him win over the Trojan Dare
outcome of the fight looks like a vindication of Eryx'
the hands of Heracles. The prize is an ox; Heracles had
wagered oxen against the land of Eryx. But in another respect,
Entellus acts like Heracles. Heracles returns the land; Entellus
does not keep the steer. Divinely inspired (cede deo, 467) he
fights fiercely (iras, 461; saevire animis acerbis, 462) against
a proud man, who further is characterized by dementia (465)
and, once more, an ox is at stake. The parallels with the fight of
Heracles against Cacus can hardly be overlooked.37 The latter
foreshadows the final combat between Aeneas and Turnus, and so
does the boxing match between Entellus and Dares.38 It is
modelled on the fight between Amycus and Polydeuces in the
Argonautica. Vergil used this model in only two other passages
in the Aeneid, and, not by coincidence, both are similes involving
Turnus. At the beginning of Book XII, setting the tone for his
behavior throughout the finale of the epic, Turnus is compared
to a raging lion (XII, 4-9):
Poenorum qualis in arvis
saucius ille gravi venantum vulnere pectus
tum demum movet arma leo, gaudetque comantis
excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis
impavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento:
haud secus accenso gliscit violentia Turno.
84 This was pointed out first by E. Norden, " Vergils Aeneis im Lichte
ihrer Zeit," N.J.A., VII (1901), p. 271.
s8 As told by Diodorus, IV, 23. See E. Sjoqvist, " Heracles in Sicily,"
Opuscula Romana, IV (1962), pp. 117-23.
36 Cf. G. M. Columba, " Virgilio e la Sicilia," Atti Acc. Palermo, ser.
III, XVII (1932), p. 243: "L'eroe del cuore di Virgilio non e il
Troiano, ma il Siciliano."
87 See Galinsky, op. cit., pp. 35, 41 ff.
8s This has been seen by Putnam, p. 215, although he relegates it to
a footnote and does not elaborate on it further.
" AENNEID" V AND THE " AENEID." 175
A related simile is used for Amycus, the Bebrycian antagon

the hero Polydeuces (Argonautica, II, 25-9):
8'EacSpaKev /uJLaO' EAXtas
(Tare XE(V Vr aKOVTL Tn UfvJleVO, OV T EV opEfro
avepes a,uctLrvovTat. o6 'iAAouevos rep o ,IXt
TWvV /LM EoT OVK AXEyet, crt 8So'crETaL oloOev otos
avopa TOdV, oSg plv TrviE 7rapoTraro01 v 8'coaCaoaac v.
The changes that Vergil wrought in adapting the sim

crucial. The lion that Turnus is compared to is not simp
wild lion, but a Punic one. Poenorum deliberately is pla
the beginning of the sentence, and leo is separated from
almost two lines.39 Turnus is identified with Rome's arch-en
Carthage. Nor is this surprising. For the poet anno
through Jupiter's speech in X, 11-14 that the Latin wars
second half of the epic anticipate the Punic wars. Furthe
the simile involving implacabilis (XII, 3) Turnus ends w
same phrase that marked the end of the first sequence of
in the epic, where Jupiter prophesied, at last, peace fo
Roman race (I, 294-6):
claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus
saeva sedens super arma et centum vinctus aenis
post tergum nodis fremet horridus ore cruento.
Turnus clearly is identified with Furor impius.4
Likewise, the simile likening Aeneas and Turnus to fig
bulls (XII, 715) was inspired by a comparison Apollonius
for the description of Amycus and Polydeuces (II, 88-9).
over, the simile in Aeneid XII also is a deliberate echo of
fight of Hercules against Cacus in Book VIII.41 The li
tween the combats of Dares and Entellus, Hercules and
and finally, Aeneas and Turnus is an intentional one wi
39 It may be more than a coincidence that the only other insta

an equally long separation between the participle (qualis)
noun is the simile which compares Aeneas to Apollo (IV, 143-
agrees well with the observation that Vergil apparently elabora
similes at a late stage of the composition of the Aeneid; see P
p. 124, with bibliography.
40 Already this beginning of Book XII, "Turnus' Book," sug
that there is much that Putnam's interpretation of it (Aeneas
for the worse) does not take into account.
" See Galinsky, op. cit., pp. 35 f.
plications that become progressively clearer. Furtherm

should be noted that a Sicilian (Entellus), a Greek (Herac
and a Trojan (Aeneas) fight in a similar way against s
opponents, the last of whom is explicitly compared to Poeno
qualis in arvis leo. This is more than a playful exercise b
poet. We will see shortly that it is merely the poetic reflect
the historical situation in Sicily in the third century B. C
So far from being "deliberately unreal," 42 the games
reality of their own in the context of the epic. The lusus Tr
for example, is put by Vergil to a use similar to that o
boxing match. The participants are the ancestors of fam
Roman gentes. The game itself was an institution fo
greatly by Augustus. It has roots that reach deep into th
the earliest archaeological evidence for it is the famous oi
of Tragliatella in Etruria, which dates from the late se
century B. C.43 It may be more than a coincidence that H
also is represented on this vase. The setting Vergil chos
the lusus in Sicily, and the connection between the isla
the game is further underscored by the reference to the Cr
labyrinth (V, 588-91). For the legend of Minos and Daed
was current in Sicily and perhaps even was more than a lege
By repeating this motif in Book VI, Vergil once more l
Sicily with the destiny of Italy and Aeneas. At the beg
of that book (VI, 14ff.) Aeneas admires the representatio
the doors of a temple built by Daedalus. Like all of Boo
this episode in VI at first seems to be nothing but an int
but it actually is far from purposeless and is as well inte
42 Putnam, pp. 66 f.
43 Discussed by G. Q. Giglioli, " L'oinochoe di Tragliatella," S
(1929), pp. 111-60, with plates 23-7. On the Troius lusus see
Biichner, op. cit., pp. 465-71, to whose bibliography should be ad
important article by J. L. Heller, "Labyrinth or Troy Town?,"
XLII (1946-47), pp. 123-39.
44 For a discussion of the archaeological and literary evidence, see
T. J. Dunbabin, "Minos and Daidalos in Sicily," P. B. S. R., XVI
(1948), pp. 1-18; G. Pugliese Carratelli, "Minos e Cocalos," Kokalos,
II (1956), pp. 89-104, and M. P. Nilsson, "The Historical Consequences
of the Decipherment of Linear B," Opuscula Selecta, III (Lund, 1960),
pp. 504 ff. All three scholars believe that the tradition of a Minoan
colony in Sicily is genuine. Contra, G. Becatti, "La leggenda di
Dedalo," M. D. A. I. (R), LX-LXI (1953-54), pp. 30 ff.
into Book VI45 as Book V is integrated into the epi

The labyrinth in VI is mentioned because of the ro
as a judge of the dead (cf. VI, 432). The traditiona
the story of Minos' pursuit of Daedalus and of his
Sicily, and Vergil's allusion to the labyrinth in Bo
that he was aware of this. Vergil honored the Sic
by transferring its setting, for the first and only tim
tradition, to Cumae, and thus he brought it into
nection with the central event of the epic: Aenea
Hades.
As Putnam has observed, the Troius lusus is imagistically
related to that scene on the shield of Aeneas which for the
Augustans was most emblematic of historical reality: Octavian's
victory at Actium over the ops barbarica of Antony and Cleo-
patra.46 Yet it should also be noted that the prodigium of the
flames playing around Augustus' temples (VIII, 680f.) is
meant to recall the lambent flame that encircled Ascanius/Iulus
in II, 683-4:
fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia mollis

lambere flamma comas et circum tempora pasci.
This passage, in turn, looks forward to the movement of the

snake at the tomb ceremony in V, 84-5:47
libavitque dapes rursusque innoxius imo

successit tumulo et depasta altaria liquit.
Likewise, the augurium maximum of II, 693-7, which sends
Aeneas on his mission
de caelo lapsa per umbras

stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit.
45 See P. J. Enk, " De labyrinthi imagine in foribus templi Cumani

insculpta," Mnemosyne, XI (1958), pp. 322-30. R. A. Brooks, "Discolor
Aura: Reflections on the Golden Bough," A.J.P., LXXIV (1953),
p. 261, n. 22, rightly cautions against cabalistic overinterpretations.
46 Putnam, p. 87, comparing V, 594 f. with VIII, 671-4, and V, 549
with VIII, 676.
47 These two parallels were noticed, for instance, by Otis, pp. 272 and
275. Otis, however, does not see the reason for the parallelism between
V, 525 ff. and II, 693 ff.-The parallel in Book II, of course, shows once
more that Vergil's affirmation that Anchises' snake is innoxius has to
be taken literally.
illam, summa super lambentem culmina tecti,

cernimus Ideae claram se condere silva
signantemque vias
anticipates the arrow prodigium of V, 525-8, which heralds the

founding of Segesta, which in turn anticipates that of Rome:
namque volans liquidis in nubibus arsit harundo

signavitque viam flammis tenuisque recessit
consumpta in ventos: caelo ceu saepa refixa
transcurrunt crinemque volantia sidera ducunt.
I have chosen these examples not merely to show how well the
Sicilian episode is integrated into the Aeneid-a list of further
links between this seemingly "episodic" book and the other
books of the epic has been compiled elsewhere 48-but how well
it is related to some of the most essential passages of the work.
Without being aware of the multiple connections between this
book and the others, Nettleship already sensed the importance of
the Sicilian episode and also tried to account for it:49
Vergil rightly seized upon the fact that Sicily was the
centre of the story of Aeneas. Legends of a Trojan settle-
ment there had been alive since the fifth century B. C., and,
what was more important for Vergil's poetical purpose,
Sicily was the meeting-point of Rome and Carthage. The
great idea which inspires the first part of the Aeneid, the
idea with which the poem opens, is that of bringing Car-
thage and Rome into a mythical connection.
In the proem, which is a symbolic anticipation of the whole

epic,50 Carthage and Rome are juxtaposed for the first time
(I, 13):
Karthago Italiam contra.
In Dido's curse, which is the triste augurium mentioned in the

prologue to Book Five, this opposition is echoed (IV, 628):
litora litoribus contraria.
The artistic indispensability of Book V, therefore, reflects the

indispensable historical role played by Sicily in the shaping and
48 Especially by Wimmel, pp. 50 f. (links to all the other books); cf.
Otis, pp. 270 ff. (mainly links to II and IX).
49 Nettleship, op. cit., p. 45.
50 As demonstrated by P6schl, pp. 23-41.
transmission of the Roman Aeneas and Troj

origins of the Trojan legend of Rome have been
lively scholarly debate to which I hope to co
Some scholars have argued that the Romans ad
their ancestor as early as the fifth century B.
others date the notion that the Romans were descendants of the
Trojans to the time of Pyrrhus.52 Whatever one's opinion on
this problem may be, it is essential, I believe, to take into
account that the adoption and development of the legend was
a gradual process. Even though Aeneas was known in Etruria
and Latium before the third century B. C., it was only in that
century, when Rome's expansive drive brought her in close con-
tact with Greece and her culture, that the Roman claim to
descent from Troy was found to serve as a close bond between
Greeks and Romans. The evidence for an earlier activation,
political or other, of the legend is ill-attested and contradictory.
Aeneas seems to have been a popular figure among the Etruscans,
Rome's enemies, but there is not a shred of evidence the Romans
appropriated him for themselves until, perhaps, late in the
fourth century B. C.
The event that brought the legend most sharply into focus and
greatly spurred its formative development was the Punic Wars.
One incident at the very beginning of the First Punic War
stands out here: in 263 B. C. the inhabitants of Segesta volun-
tarily took sides with the Romans after killing the Carthaginian
garrison. They gave as a reason for their action their and the
Romans' common descent from Aeneas.53 According to Thucy-
dides (VI, 2, 3), Trojans had landed in the northwest of Sicily
after the Trojan War. This tradition of a Trojan settlement in
that region, which is frequently mentioned in ancient litera-
ture,54 must have made the Segestans' claim appear more than
51 So especially BSmer, op. cit.

52 See J. Perret, Les origines de la lUgende troyenne de Rome (281-31)
(Paris, 1942).
63 Zonaras, VIII, 9, 12; cf. Cicero, Verr., IV, 72; V, 83; D. S., XXIII,
5. For the relevant bibliography, see A.J.A., LXX (1966), p. 234,
n. 109.
54 See, for instance, Pseudo-Scylax, XIII (G. G. M., I, p. 21); Lyc

phron, Alex., 951-77 with the scholia; Apollodorus, F. G. H., 244 F 1
Strabo, VI, 2, 5, p. 272; XIII, 1, 53, p. 608; D. H., I, 52-3, 1.
credible, although Aeneas now is mentioned for the

This motivation of the Segestans was to find its way in
ture soon. There is a strong possibility that Naevius
used the Segestan incident to introduce into his epic
legend, which perhaps even was told by a Segest
assumption that the Greeks, in this instance and oth
the initiative in making the Trojan legend a political
in my opinion, not valid. For the action of the Segest
presupposes the realization that the Romans atta
importance to the Trojan descent and were quite
see it exploited politically. The organization of the ch
community centering around the cult of Aphrodite
Sicily as well as the Segestan coinage after 241 B. C
that Rome, by manipulating the legend for political
tried to appeal to the Greeks and tie them to Rome
as to counter the Carthaginian influence on the isla
initiative rested with the Romans at all times.
The Trojan legend in Sicily, therefore, was mobilized against

Carthage. No example illustrates this better than the cult of
the formerly Punic Aphrodite Erycina. After the end of the
first Punic War, and especially after her evocatio to Rome in
217 B. C., the Erycina was transformed into a truly Roman god-
dess. As Schilling has so brilliantly stated:57
Enfin d'une deesse cosmopolite, les Romains ont fait une
deesse nationale . . . A la venue des Romains, le caractere
oriental l'emportait, souligne qu'il etait par l'institution des
courtisanes sacrees . . . C'est ici qu'il faut peut-etre le plus
admirer la hardiesse imaginative des Romains. Loin de se
sentir genes par 1' "accaparement punique" de l'Erycine,
65 This is the contention of S. Mariotti, II Bellum Poenicum e I'arte
di Nevio (Rome, 1955), p. 27. A recent, concise discussion of the
various reconstructions of Naevius' epic is H. T. Rowell's review of
Strzelecki's Teubner edition of Naevius in A. J.P., LXXXVII (1966),
pp. 210-17.
56 See the detailed discussion of D. Kienast, "Rom und die Venus
vom Eryx," Hermes, XCIII (1965), pp. 478-89. On other instances
(Acarnania, Ilion, etc.) of the use of the Trojan legend as a means
of appealing to the Greeks, see Norden, op. cit., pp. 327 ff., and Alfoldi,
pp. 30 ff. That the initiative rested with the Romans is stressed by H.
Kirchner, Die Bedeutung der Fremdkulte in der romischen Ostpolitik
(Diss. Bonn, 1956), pp. 13 ff.
57 R. Schilling, La religion romaine de Venus (Paris, 1954), p. 244.
ils ont merveilleusement exploite l'ambiance t

pays des Elymes pour renverser la situation. E
la fiction troyenne, ils pouvaient revendiquer Ven
pour leur d6esse.
The Erycinian Venus became the ancestress of th

eventually of the entire Roman people.
In the Aeneid, the emphasis on Sicily within R
legend is the poetic reflection of Rome's nationa
When the Trojans are driven to Sicily in Book III
Romans were drawn unwillingly into the First Pu
an island held by an enemy. For good reasons, the
in Sicily is to recall that on the Libyan coast, for
the same: an inhuman monstrum before whom exterrita tellus
Italiae.58 Sicily, as we have seen, is continually linked with Italy
in the epic, and so was she in history. The foundation of that
brave Sicilian city, which in 263 B.C. had made the Romans
deeply aware of the implications of their claim to Trojan de-
scent, is commemorated in the Aeneid and linked with Rome.
Furthermore, throughout Book V Vergil is at pains to portray
Acestes as a second Aeneas.59 Sicily became Rome's first province
and was inseparably connected with Italy; the second landing in
Sicily anticipates the Trojans' arrival in rustic Italy, which, by
no coincidence, is explicitly referred to in V, 82 f.60
Vergil's endeavor continually to make the reader aware of the
close bond between Sicily and Rome also accounts for the many
parallels between Books V and VIII. Among several other ex-
amples, I have already mentioned the close relationship between
the prodigia in both books. Furthermore, the state of depression
that overcomes Aeneas in V after the burning of the ships is
similar to his quiet desperation in VIII, after Evander has
announced to him his future task (VIII, 520-2) :61
58 Compare Livy's description (XXI, 4, 9) of monstrous Hannibal
(inhumana crudelitas), and of the feelings of the Romans after the
battle of Cannae (territi, XXII, 57, 2).
9 For the details, see E. Swallow, "The Strategic Fifth Aeneid,
C. W., XLVI (1953), pp. 177-9; cf. Monaco, p. 108.
6o On the importance of the Tiber motif, see Buchheit op. cit., pp.
179 f.
1 Cf. Wolff, op. cit., pp. 161 f., who remarks: "Aber im achten
Gesang handelt es sich schon um das quale: hier im fiinften erst um
das num? und quid? "
vix ea fatus erat, defixique ora tenebant

Aeneas Anchisiades et fidus Achates,
multaque dura suo tristi cum corde putabant .
In V, Aeneas is comforted by the appearance of his f
VIII, by the signurn sent by his mother. And in
Aeneid, Aeneas is identified with Augustus (V, 72):
sic fatus velas materna tempora myrto
recalls the invocation to Octavian in the proem to t

Georgic (I, 28):
accipiat cingens materna tempora myrto.
In Book VIII, Augustus is identified with Aeneas (VIII,
678-80):
hinc Augustus agens Italos in proelia Caesar
cum patribus populoque, penatibus et magnis dis,
stans celsa in puppi
is an obvious reminiscence of
feror exsul in altum

cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis (III, 11-12)
and
iamque in conspectu Teucros habet et sua castra

stans celsa in puppi, clipeum dum deinde sinistra
extulit ardentem. (X, 260-2)
The prophecies of Anchises in Book V and Evande
VIII are both concerned with Aeneas' future task in
will have to wage war against a gens dura atque asp
(V, 730), which is personified by Mezentius in Evan
count (VIII, 481-2, 501). The convallis of Caere (
9), where Aeneas receives the shield from Venus, c
to the convallis where the funeral games are celebrat
V (287-8).62 Finally, the Cyclopes, who were the enem
Trojans in Book III, now work ad maiorem Romae g
they forge the armor of Aeneas.63 Although the wo
62 This was pointed out by B. Rehm, Das geographisch

alten Italiens, Philologus Suppl., XXIV, 2 (1932), p. 79.
68 This is very much in keeping with the tone of the central,
"Roman" triad of the epic; cf. G. E. Duckworth, "The Aeneid as a
Trilogy," T. A. P. A., LXXXVIII (1957), pp. 5 ff.
Vulcan was often associated with Mt. Aetna in the l

dition, the fact that Aeneas' armor is made in S
not be entirely without significance. For in the cru
Punic Wars, Sicily had contributed decisively to Rom
ness of her Trojan origins and, as we have seen, Sicil
a pivotal role in the Aeneid. Finally, when Aeneas
shield, he ignarus imagine gaudet (VIII, 730). Ig
Trojans had first landed in Sicily (III, 469), laeti
time (V, 34). With Book VIII, therefore, a cycle has
its end. Considering the many parallels by whic
linked, it appears that the books which introduce an
the central triad must have been composed with a v
other.
What is more, Book V appears to have been writt
view to the epic as a whole. The sequence of events i
Aeneid is analogous to that in the entire epic.64 Boo
with a sea storm, the Trojans are driven to a foreign sh
they are received well and almost induced to stay.
them do stay on; this indicates that the Trojan
behind-occidit occideritque sinas cum nomine T
828)-and, at the same time, it anticipates the fou
new city in Italy. Iris tries to do on a small scale w
will attempt on a larger one later. The burning of
anticipates the equally unsuccessful one in Book IX
games beneath their gay surface foreshadow the w
second half of the epic. The footrace and the boxing
particular look ahead to the ultimate conflict in the
the combat of Aeneas and Turnus in Book XII. What was
sportive rivalry in Book V will become deadly seriousness in
XII (764-5):
neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur
praemia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant.
The significance, then, of the fact that Book Five is an Aeneid
in parvo and is thoroughly integrated into the entire epic,
emerges clearly. As the Sicilian episode epitomized and was
inseparably connected with the development of Rome's Trojan
legend, which it brought to full bloom, so the Sicilian book of
the Aeneid epitomizes the epic as a whole and is linked to its
84 Cf. Wimmel, p. 54.
every phase. It was in Sicily that the Romans beca

aware of the implications of their claim to Trojan d
is in Sicily that Aeneas begins to understand the im
of his mission. We do not know to what extent this was antici-
pated in the literary tradition before Vergil. At any rate, in the
Aeneid the emphasis on Sicily within Rome's Trojan legend is
the poetic reflection of the Roman national experience.
There can be little doubt that political calculation and cul-
tural ambition were the prime factors in the development of
Rome's claim to Trojan descent. The legend was adopted not
by the people, but by the few who were responsible for Rome's
policy. After being used for political purposes, the legend be-
came the genealogical prerogative of Rome's familiae Troianae.65
Long ago, A. Schwegler aptly observed that the legend did not
have the characteristics of a living popular tradition,66 and, more
recently, an authority on the Etruscans remarked that "in
Rome, the Aeneas legend was brought to the people from above,
and never took firm roots." 67 In spite of the Italic roots of
Aeneas, the adoption of the legend by Rome had had something
artificial about it. Vergil, therefore, deliberately stressed that
aspect of the Trojan legend which was most realistic for the
Romans: its mobilization against the Carthaginians during the
Punic Wars. And the poet was eminently successful in making
Aeneas the truly popular property of the entire Roman people:
soon after the publication of the Aeneid, the deluge of artifacts
sets in which attests the widespread popularity of the hero in the
next two centuries.68
Since discussions concerning the chronology of this "super-

fluous" book provided a starting point for this essay, it is only
fitting to conclude it with one final remark about this problem.
Because Book V plays a central role in the epic and is thoroughly
65 See, for instance, the discussions of Alfoldi, pp. 33 f., with the
relevant bibliography.
66 Rimische Geschichte, I (2nd ed., Tiibingen, 1867), p. 309.
67 R. Enking, " P. Vergilius Maro Vates Etruscus," M. D. A. I. (R),
LXVI (1959), p. 95.
68 For a list of references, see G. Q. Giglioli, "Osservazioni e monu-
menti relativi alla leggenda delle origini di Roma," B. M.I. R., XII in
B. C.A.R., LXIX (1941), pp. 3 ff., and K. Schauenburg, "Aeneas und
Rom," Gymnasium, LXVII (1960), pp. 184 f., with notes 81 to 88.
integrated into it, and because it is as it were an

parvo, the suggestion is attractive that it was com
comitantly with the entire epic.69 The description o
is likely to belong to an early stage of composition w
was still trying to establish his own poetic identity, us
as a model and also as a foil. Otis' analysis of the st
games has shown how well Vergil succeeded in that
the games epitomize the difference between Vergili
tive" and Homeric "objective" narrative.T0 But,
seen, some scenes from Book XII must have been in
mind already when he composed the boxing match o
Entellus, or perhaps the poet made the appropriate
Book V after writing Book XII. Book V in its entiret
was finished late, near the end of the composition of t
and this may explain some of the minor inconsisten
scholars have so arduously been trying to find.
G. KARL GALINSKY.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AusTIN.
69So Wimmel, p. 54. Cf. note 1, above, and the comments on

Monaco's book by G. d'Anna, II problema della composizione dell'Eneide
(Rome, 1957), pp. 127-9.
70 Otis, pp. 41 ff.

Galinsky 1968 Aeneid V and The Aeneid

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Aeneid V and the Aeneid

Author(s): G. Karl Galinsky

Like the Eighth Book of the Aeneid, Aeneid V is one of th

*The following works will be cited by the author's names only:

It is difficult to suppose that so awkward a co

A closer look, however, at the description of the

Interea medium Aeneas in classe tenebat

He holds his way certus, and not ignarus. Again there is a

symbolic,5 but, I believe, not so much for Book V a

In Aeneid V, the landing of the Trojans in Sicily thus is

5 Poschl, pp. 80-2; cf. K. Biichner, P. Vergilius Maro. Der Dichter

Cacus monstrum in Book VIII is remarkable.8 Not by

There can be little doubt about the symbolic meaning of

so Enceladus/Typhoeus, whom Vergil in VIII explicitly asso-

8 See F. J. Worstbrock, Elemente einer Poetik der Aeneis (Miinster,

of the second in Book V. Furthermore, it is importan

anda, 591). Without any questions, and before he h

The danger which confronted him is essentially th

ualEpSaaEov 8e /ucy' yp/%ev, rept 87aXE crerpri,

Vergil, by contrast, does not dwell on the blind

Italy and Sicily both live in horror of this monstr

"1 VI, 297, where it is used, significantly enough, for the

comes infelicis Ulixi (691). Such repetition in the H

The honest Achaemenides, however, whose story reverses that of

In order that he might mete out just punishment, Odysseus has

194) enemy, who indulges in cannibalism like th

13 So, for instance, F. Bomer, Rom und Troia (Baden-Baden, 1951),

no doubt intended it as a tribute to Sicily or, as R. D.

17 Williams, op. cit., p. 205.

fervere litora flammis (IV, 567), and Dido's invo

Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras

gratatur reduces et gaza laetus agresti

20 Which can be properly understood only in the light of the preceding

is used for the third and last time in the epic

effultum foliis, et pelle Libystidis ursae.

tum Iuno omnipotens longum miserata dolorem

22 For the similarities between Acestes and Evander, see Wimmel,

mously dying queen, and that some comfort and cons

24 So E. Wolff, " Der Brand der Schiffe und Aeneas' Wiedergeburt,"

His decision is to build a city for the old and we

transcribunt urbi matres populumque volent

After being encouraged by the dream appearanc

haec memorans cinerem et sopitos suscitat ig

Similarly, after the certain encouragement of th

haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto

The foundation of Acesta, then, symbolically anticipates that

of Halicarnassus (I, 72, 3). Besides, the numismatic a

squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubibus arcus

This is certainly an intentional echo of Iris' appearance a few

of Iris do not support such an assumption. As we

imperio Iovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem

This is the last part of a sequence which began with Juno's

that led to the burning of the ships to which Anchises makes

31 For some good remarks on some more elaborate examples of this

The four scenes are carefully balanced and form an in

I Juno sends Iris (miserata, IV, 693) -

-- Iris sent by Juno

Jupiter sends Anchises (miseratus, V, 727)---I

As Heinze rightly observed,32 the miracle of Acestes' flaming

attonitis haesere animis superosque precati

82 R. Heinze, Virgils Epische Technik (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1915), pp.

abnuit Aeneas, sed laetum amplexus Acesten

The gift in Book Five (536-8), belonging