Book III

Book III

Dear SM Summer Reading Group,

"Hoist our sails to fate!" In Book III, Aeneas details the many ports of call in his journey from Troy. Here's a map to help you get a sense for the dimension of his travels. It's quite an exhausting list of landfall and start-up civilizations gone wrong!

Need to Know

• Aeneas truly has no idea where he is intended to found this new settlement for displaced Trojans. Clearly. Creusa, in ghost form, mentioned Hesperian, but what's a name without any context. Book III is a record of his failed attempts to find his new home. The "epic" wandering is reminiscent of another epic odyssey, The Odyssey, or the story of Odysseus' homecoming. The two journeys even parallel at some of the same rest stops along the way, encountering the Harpies and Polyphemus the Cyclops right after one another. I wonder if Aeneas spotted any Odysseus was here graffiti.
• You probably noticed that prophecy plays a large role in Aeneas' quest. What are some of the omens, oracles, and rites undertaken in a Book III and what impression does this give you of traditional Roman beliefs?
• Anchises gets Apollo's prophecy wrong when he guesses Crete, the home of ancestor Teucer, rather than Italy, the land of the second Trojan parent, Dardanus. The Trojans are sometimes referred to as Dardans and it's partially Juno's longstanding grudge against Dardanus that inspires the storm in Book I. Dardanus is the love child of Jupiter and Electra - good reason to be despised by the queen of the gods, Juno.
• Aeneas has the chance to catch up with Andromache, the former wife of great Trojan Hero, Hector, who was killed by Achilles during the Trojan War. After the war, Andromache was taken as part of Pyrrhus' bounty. Pyrrhus, remember, was the ruthless son of Achilles who slaughtered King Priam in Book II. The good news, Pyrrhus had it coming and was offed by Orestes, Agamemnon's son. That's another story. Andromache is now married to Helenus, a prince of Troy, who inspires Aeneas with his "little Troy" built on the Greek mainland. 

Poetry

I love "scudding on buoyant hulls thorough wastes of ocean" around ll.230. I can hear the endless blue waves as the prow of the ship breaks them. Consider the many allusions to the Odyssey in Book III. What does it do for the work to condense the journey into one book?

Old but True

Andromache's gifts for Ascanius in memory of her son Astyanax - old but true. Having lost her own son, she cherishes the sight of Ascanius, who was almost the same age as Astyanax and has a similar look about him. Losing a child in the ancient world was just as painful of an experience, despite the detachment suggested by research on population-depleting plagues and infant & childhood mortality rates nearing 75%. Andromache's longing for her son left in Troy is a good reminder of this.

Roman
Lots of superstition in Book III. We've got burial rites, oracles, omens, libations, votive gifts, and honorary Trojan games. What do you think it would be like to live under this tradition? How do the characters act to the performance and outcome of these rites?

Book II

Book II

Dear SM Summer Reading Group,

You may have noticed that Book I opened in the middle of an action scene - shipwrecked disaster for Aeneas and his men. This mid-action story telling technique is termed in media res, "in the middle of the matter". The technique is a great hook for a storyteller, it gets the reader involved in a conflict from the very beginning and builds interest in a resolution. In Book II, Dido convinces Aeneas to tell his story to her dinner crowd, a perfect opportunity for the storyline to catch the up to the point we've entered in media res.

Need to Know

• Aeneas is telling the story of the sack of Troy from his perspective, that of a Trojan noble man. The Iliad recounts events prior to the fall of Troy and The Odyssey references the Trojan horse that Odysseus devised, but this telling of the actual sack of the city from a Trojan perspective is unique to The Aeneid. It is possible that a third epic, a telling of these events, was extant at the time Vergil wrote The Aeneid, giving him a source to borrow from, but the text no longer survives.
• The Greeks are represented as cunning tricksters throughout the telling. If you've read The Odyssey, you know that Odysseus is famous for his ability to outsmart sad his wily nature. Sinon's deceit and the treachery of the Trojan Horse are less admirable and overall ruinous from the Trojan perspective. At one point, Aeneas is faced with the choice to adopt treachery as a strategy when he is presented with the opportunity to dress in agrees armor during the heat of the battle. His decision-making process further confirms His reluctance to "give in" to a Greek strategy, perhaps because he considers these actions outside of the rules of engagement.
• The twin snakes attacking Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons - woah. I'd be superstitious too. Remember that Laocoon is the one to speak the famous line, "Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, especially bearing gifts." He totally called it.
• Pyrrhus/Neoptolemus is Achilles' son. He ruthlessly kills Priam, the King of Troy, in his inner court. Priam's exchange with his wife and his feeble attempt to defend himself and the honor of Troy are indicative of the weary end of a ten year besiegement.
• Creusa, Aeneas' Trojan wife, is somehow lost and left behind in the family's escape. Iulus/Ascanius (same son, two names) and Anchises, Aeneas father come with Aeneas. The loss of Creusa, though terribly sad, in some way grants permission to Aeneas for a future life in a new land and the marriage alliance that will make this integration successful.

Poetry
How about foreshadowing in Book II? There is plenty of ground work laid for later events in the text. The prophecy of Iulus' head on fire and Creusa's ghost propel Aeneas forward. The retelling of a well-known story (to all first century and many twenty-first century readers), creates a nice dramatic irony where the audience knows what will happen before the events are told by the story teller, and perhaps before the story teller himself fully realizes their implications.

Old but True
Family relationships, father/son & husband/wife, play out in the emotionally charged moments recalled in Book II. Hecuba's feeble attempts to dissuade Priam from acting in pride, Anchises debate with Aeneas, and Creusa's hectic fear and parting message (in ghost form), present a relatebale pathos or emotional appeal that may have left you feeling sympathetic. What did you notice about these family dialogues? What seemed to transcend time and what did not?

Roman
How about all of this prophecy? You've got soothsayers, priests, rituals, ghosts, burning halos - you name it, Book II probably has it (more to come in Book III). What's the reason for all of this? Where does prophecy come from and how does it gain legitimacy? What are superstitions or prophecies that exist today? Why do people choose to believe in them, should they believe?

Book I

Dear SM Summer Reading Group,

Hopefully by this point you've had the opportunity to start reading and are well on your way. I wanted to point out a few things about Book I.

Need to Know

• Aeneas is Trojan. He fled the city if Troy once the Greeks took it after a ten year siege. Clever Greek Odysseus snuck Greeks within the walls of Troy with his Trojan Horse. Aeneas and his men barely got out in time (more about that in Book II).
• Juno brought on the storm that kicks off the action. She's miffed that she has been unable to prevent Aeneas from reestablishing the Trojan race in Italy. She is a supporter of the Greeks and the city of Carthage. Athena got to punish Ajax, why can't Juno punish Aeneas (ll.50)?
• The goddess Venus is Aeneas' mother. That's why she comes to help him when he lands in Carthage. She's in disguise and he does not know that the young huntress with whom he is speaking is actually his mother until she leaves. She's kind of helicopter momming in Book I especially with the quick total make-overs that she does for Aeneas and his son Iulus/Ascanius. She's just trying to be helpful.
• Dido is the Queen of Carthage. In fact, she's building Carthage right now (ll.520). Dido originally fled from Tyre in the Levant (Phoenicia) to found Carthage in North Africa. Does that fated quest sound familiar? What a good person for Aeneas to get to know at this point in his journey...

Poetry
What have you noticed about the style of the writing now that you have begun reading? Any favorite lines or passages? How about the similes? Did you catch those? What is being compared?

Old but True
What stuck out to you as relatable human experience? You probably have not been sent on an epic quest to found a new city yet (not sure about the incoming students in our group), but have you ever thought that something in your life was just "meant to be"? What role does fate, destiny, or design have in your life, if any? How about Aeneas as a leader? Is he human or is he epic? Does he have traits that we might hope for in a leader in the modern sense of the role? Does he have flaws?

Roman
Jupiter/Jove comforts Venus by reading her the fate that has been spun for Aeneas and the Trojan people. He tells her that their race, their family line, the Roman people, will be limitless in space and time (ll.233). It's hard not to think about the fact that this prophecy, written by Vergil in the 1st century AD, was either commemorating achievement or setting an expectation for the city and it's people. What are your initial impressions of the Roman tradition? What does it mean to be Roman and from where might this feeling come?

You've also had a great introduction to some of the major Roman gods in Book I (Juno, Neptune, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury). What do you think about them? How does an artifact of "mainstream" Roman culture represent divinity? How might a Roman reader think of these gods?