More Virgil--Aeneas in the Underworld
Please skim through the last half of Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil's story of Aeneas in the Underworld. Again, I'd like to have you pick out a line or two that illustrates well one of Virgil's "insights into the human condition." How does this line show Virgil's ideas on the meaning of life, life after death, politics, etc.?
posted by Ancient Art at 9:19 AM
13 Comments:
This is a place of Ghosts, of Sleep, and of drowsy Night, It is forbidden to carry live bodies on the ferry across the Styx. I was none too pleased to take Hercules as a passenger, or Theseus and Pirithous, although they were children of gods, and unchallenged in strength. The first came to carry off by force the guard dog of Tartarus in chains from the throne of the king himself, and dragged him away quivering with fear. The other two tried to snatch Pluto's mistress from her bedroom."
I chose this passage because it shows the reluctance of the farryman to take the living to the underworld. only the dead were ment to cross. The farryman needed adequate compensation and a branch from the tree of life was the toll.
I picked:
"As he said this a flood of tears poured down his face: three times there he tried to throw his arms round his father's neck: three times the ghost slipped through his hands' futile grasp, like a puff of wind, or sleep which flies away."
I chose this because here Aeneas is speaking with the ghost of his father. They were remembering memories that they had shared in the world of the living and Aeneas tells his father that he was there in the underworld because of a dream he had been having. Though when he tried to embrace his father's spirit, the ghost slipped away and could not be grasped. This is key since the living cannot touvh the dead. Spirits are fleeting, shapeless, bodyless, and invisible like the wind. Despite how much a person might want to be reunited with his loved ones who have died, he can't. You cannot talk with the dead or embrace them because thye have passed to some other world to which the living cannot follow. This is what Aeneas seems to be portraying. The dead are dead and all the living can do is move onward and leace the dead to rest peacefully.
Virgil's story of Aeneas's visit to the Underworld sounds like a mythological history of the Roman people. The story mixes Roman and Greek mythology together to form a unified history of the region.
It is also interesting to note the beliefs of the Romans of the afterlife. Anchises states, "the Universe is controlled by a mind. This mind or spiritus is in everything, and in all creatures, including man. Unfortunately, through prolonged contact with the body (which has sinned and committed crimes), in most men this spirit becomes tainted and corrupted. It needs therefore to be cleaned up before it can be re-issued to another body. Different sins are cleansed from the soul in different ways - we all find the punishment we deserve. Once purified, the souls remain in Elysium for a thousand years, after which they await the summons to rebirth." In essence, the Romans believe that the body must be purged of its corruption and then wait a millenium to be reborn. It sounds like the mix of the Roman Catholic's idea of purgatory, and reincarnation in Buddhism, mixed together.
"Among them was DIDO, queen of Carthage, who had fallen passionately in love with Aeneas when he was shipwrecked on her shores. Their affair had been ended on the orders of Jupiter, and Aeneas very reluctantly left to sail to Italy. Aeneas had not seen her since, and was shocked at her cruel fate: she had killed herself when she realised he had left her." This passage exemplifies virgil's ability to understand the human condition because he involves the greatest tool of the human condition: love. This passage reminded me of romeo and juliet because when dido cannot be with the one she loves she commites suicide.
Virgil’s Aeneid Book VI also capture the relationships between men and gods—in this way visiting the under world. Just like every civilization, there are questions of life and death that people wonder about. Religion, and in this case the Greek gods, seem to give an explanation as to what happens when one dies. In particular, at one point Virgil mentioned there was a place where souls were kept until they were reborn.
In a wooded valley through which the river Lethe flowed, Aeneas saw innumerable souls: they looked like bees in a meadow on a still summer‘s day. Anchises explained that they were souls who were waiting to return to earth and live a second time: they drink the water of Lethe to forget everything in their previous lives.
The idea of reincarnation was an explanation to the people as to what happens when one dies. These are mysteries that can never be confirmed completely, but explanations bring comfort to people.
I chose the line:
"As he said this a flood of tears poured down his face: three times there he tried to throw his arms round his father's neck: three times the ghost slipped through his hands' futile grasp, like a puff of wind, or sleep which flies away."
This quote accurately describes the intense emotions felt by those who have lost loved ones. Even more emotional are those who have lost close family member, such as a father. The emotion is intensified by Virgil's use of diction. For exmaple, the tears were not just tears, they were a "flood of tears," which is much more extreme than just "tears." Also, "his hands futile grasp," describes how desperate the son was to hug his father, how much he yearned to touch him. Moreover, this son missed and loved his father so much, he tried not one time to hug his father, but three times, which may be an indicator that human feelings of hurt and loss of a father do not quickly pass away with one attempt to hug, but the son is desperately in need of the father's touch to ease his pain. The loss of loved ones takes time to heal.
"This is the man, he is the one you have so often heard promised to you, Augustus Caesar, son of god, who shall re-establish a Golden Age in Latium, over the lands once ruled by Saturn. He shall increase the empire's bounds beyond the Garamantes and the Indians. There lies land beyond the stars, outside the annual orbit of the sun, where Atlas who supports the sky on his shoulders spins the dome of heaven studded with fiery stars. Already the kingdoms of the Caspian Sea and the land of Maeotis shudder at the gods' oracles that foretell his arrival, and the panic-stricken delta of the seven-branched Nile quakes.
Even Hercules did not cover so much of the earth, though he speared the brazen-hoofed deer and brought peace to the glens of Erymanthus and made Lerna tremble with his bow.
Nor did Bacchus, who steered his chariot to victory with vines for reins, driving his tigers from the high peak of Nysa."
The Romans had great respect for their ancestors. Their stories of how rome was founded show this very well. It romantises there heroic deeds and points to them as things that should be emulated. it is important for a people to be proud of their past, so that they want to continue their culture. At the same time you dont want the feeling that the cultures best times are behind them. you want to feel like the old times were good but now things are going to be getting even better. He is able to account for both of these needs by saying. our rules right now are the best ever because they come from a time even before the founders of rome. This is a very cleaver loop hole.
"It was the picture I had of you, father, the sad picture constantly appearing before me that drove me on to pass these barriers. My ships are at anchor in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Let me take your hand, let me, father. Don't shrink from my embrace."
This was Aeneas's response when his father asked him how he had managed all the terrors of the underworld. Aeneas loved his father so much that he would do anything, even face death, to see him again. Aeneas wanted to be with his father again so bad that he risked his own life to get to him. This shows that the Romans respected their elders, especially their parent's. There was a close bond between father and son, mother and daughter and the Romans took that bond seriously.
I chose the lines "The swelling rage in his heart subsided. No more need be said: dumbstruck at the sacred offering, the fateful branch, seen after so long a time, he nosed his blue vessel round and came in to land."
I think that this demonsrates well life. Sometimes people fill with rage just asumming things to be the truth they never get to know the actual truth. The man saw the fateful branch and the sacrifice that a son was willing ot make to his father and then let go of the rage. Sometimes it take a lot to let go of anger.
"Unfortunately, through prolonged contact with the body (which has sinned and committed crimes), in most men this spirit becomes tainted and corrupted. It needs therefore to be cleaned up before it can be re-issued to another body. Different sins are cleansed from the soul in different ways - we all find the punishment we deserve."
I thought that this passage was very interesting because it showed that the Romans believed that everyone must be accountable for their actions in life. It also points out that all people are born pure, as it is required that all souls be cleansed before being reissued to a new body.
"It was the picture I had of you, father, the sad picture constantly appearing before me that drove me on to pass these barriers. My ships are at anchor in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Let me take your hand, let me, father. Don't shrink from my embrace."
As he said this a flood of tears poured down his face: three times there he tried to throw his arms round his father's neck: three times the ghost slipped through his hands' futile grasp, like a puff of wind, or sleep which flies away.
this shows that Virgil can understand the desire to have something so much, to desire it will all that is one's heart. then experience the torment as the leap is made for what is right in front of him, to only have it torn away brutally and coldly.
The whole conversation between Aeneas and his father shows how Virgil had insight into life and what people want from it. He discussed all that Aeneas will leave behind when he leaves the Underworld. It shows that people shouldn't dwell on death but focus on what they leave behind as a true measure of themselves.
The ferryman, who had already spied them from the waters of Styx as they approached through the silent wood and directed their steps towards the river bank, went on the verbal offensive and rasped at them, unprovoked
I remember hearing about this ferryman in Greek literature. Seems the ferryman is associated with the trip to the afterlife. The journey almost seems like a dream in which many outrageous things happen. The Queen of Carthage falls passionately in love with Aneas, Hercules steals the guard dog of Tartarus, his father can’t be grasped, and the fact that it seems like many years are spent in this place.
I feel Virgil is using what he knows of the afterlife to give Aneas the ability to achieve fetes that he did not get the chance to do while living, and to resolve any unfinished desires the hero had while living.
-Nate Mills
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