Virgil, The Aeneid Trans. Robert Fitzgerald

Like many high school children, I was given the opportunity to translate sections of the Aeneid, probably mostly in the first Six Books, and while memory does not serve, I cannot imagine some of the more erotic passages between Dido and Aeneas being on the syllabus. Other than the thrilling opening of the poem where the muse is invoked and Aeneas displays his decisive courage in evacuating his father, son, and wife (his wife was lost nonetheless in the chaos) from disintegrating and burning Troy, from my teenage years I best remember the Trojan horse sequence. This wonderful epic became a hook into the Greek Epics of the Illiad and the Odyssey in college years and beyond, and for enquiring minds, even though I was only a minor classicist, I answered many a question by reading the plays of Euripides. Although the story was not woven by so many different authors into one cloth, I pretended it was. When at last I had children of my own, little but avid for legends, I told them the stories of Aeneas and his band of brothers, of his son and father to prime the pump for the years when they would reach the grades when they could read their Latin and possibly dip into Greek. We saw the movie Troy together, and I embellished. Their minds were ready.

Unfortunately the blue ribbon schools in our district were reading literature that did not summon thoughts of duty, honor, and character. I was assured that the salacious literature was popular with teenagers, and that their prurient interest and knowledge of things sexual would motivate them to learn their genitve and ablative. So our lowest opinion of our own selves becomes the highest goal for our teens. The Aneid moves back home, and is taught only as the kids will tolerate it..."Oh, mom..." From Sallust as retold by my kid, I learn sexual acts and sentiments that I never thought of and hoped to forget quickly, with a priest's help if necessary. The desire to pass on the literature one loved was dealt a death blow if not a major postponement.

For reasons I do not understand in detail, Caesar Augustus wanted Virgil to write an epic poem showing that Rome had heroic Trojan origins. Virgil died just short of the mark and his manuscript had to be rescued.

The Greek gods and goddesses, especially the jealous goddesses, fought among themselves, adversely affecting the parties to the Trojan war--or more precisely, picking winners and losers of specific contests and battles. Much of the action of the war was decided by appeal to Zeus and Hera, and various acts of dissimulation by the goddesses. Male gods such as Hephaestus and Apollo also become involved. Homer presents much of the war as various celebrities fighting one another in individual combat, where the lucky parties are the ones where some divine intervention does not skew the results. The son of the King of Troy, Hector, kills the best friend of Achilles, Patroclus; Achilles loses his mind in grief, and vows extraordinary revenge. This is not rational from a military standpoint; it is all personalized. Hector was supposed to kill Greeks, but he kills the wrong Greek finally, and Achilles in turn not only kills Hector, but drags him around the walls of Troy in three circuits before giving him over for burial to his grieving father, King Priam. In the final battle of the Aeneid, Aeneas decides in a rage not to spare his primary rival Turnus because he recognizes the belt of his beloved friend Pallas being worn as a trophy by Turnus. Not the days long rage of Achilles, but nevertheless the rage of "you not only killed my best friend but decided to wear your joy in this killing on your person. I could spare you but I will not."

In the Aeneid, the battle for Latinium is much like the battle at Troy. Although many men and many tribes are involved, the telling is in the form of one individual combat after another. Reminiscent of the Illiad, the combatants are named, and the weapons and their wounds are told, including the lethal wound. Trophies are often taken, which is why the situation of Turnus is not extraordinary; he is blamed for doing what is the norm in combat.

If the battles in the Aeneid (mostly books VI--XII) are modeled on the Illiad, they are nevertheless rooted beautifully in the geography and scenery of southern Italy. They are unique to Virgil and beautifully told. Much is made of the different tribes who ally themselves with Aeneas on the one hand and Turnus on the other. The Eutruscans are portrayed as important allies of Aeneas' coalition.

The seafaring parts in particular, as well as explorations of Minos and Sicily and other lands not well known to the Trojan fleet are somewhat comparable to the Odyssey. The goddesses are able to scatter the fleet and cause the ships to wander for some time, but eventually the fleet makes landfall at Latinium. The major diversion where Aeneas's men receive hospitality is in Carthage, home of Queen Dido. There the fleet, once scattered, is united again in a safe harbor. Aeneas and Dido feel an attraction, but disagree whether a ceremony they enact is a friendship ceremony or a wedding. This apparently is a perennial quarrel between man and woman. Aeneas has intercourse with Dido but denies that it is anything more than friendship. When Aeneas leaves Carthage to pursue his dream of founding a nation in Italy, Dido commits suicide.

One of the most enchanting parts of the epic is when Aeneas holds funeral games for his father, Ascanius. They have races of ships, boxing (without gloves), and other manly contests to honor the dead. Much later, Aeneas keeps a promise to his father to literally "go through hell" to visit his father in the underworld. Although Ascanius is in the realm of the just enjoying his reward, Aeneas needs all of his courage to go through various terrifying places to visit his father. As our nun said while leading us through the epic "Pius Aeneas."

I get something tremendous from Virgil each time I read the Aeneid. I hope I have not spoiled the book for you, but instead have set you up for your own adventure. I do recommend Robert Fitzgerald's translation unless you are equipped to read the epic in Latin. --Mary Mahoney