Vergil’s Aeneid
Elizabeth Coleman
Reading Vergil’s Aeneid
Dean Santirocco
Final Paper
28 April 2005
Pater Aeneas, Filius Ascanius: Fathers and Sons in Relation to Aeneas’ Quest for Pietas in Vergil’s Aeneid
In Book VI of Vergil’s Aeneid, Aeneas encounters at least three pairs of fathers and sons: Brutus and his sons, Marcellus the Elder and Younger, and Daedalus and Icarus. The concentration of these three father-son pairs illustrates the importance of parental relationships throughout the Aeneid. Loving father-son relationships play prominent roles in at least eight of the Aeneid’s twelve books.[1] However, the central father son relationship, between Aeneas and his son Ascanius, is best described as cold and distant. Aeneas’ relationship with his own son is problematic, particularly in light of these other caring father-son relationships. However, all of these father-son combinations (including Aeneas’ relationship with his own father Anchises) speak volumes about Aeneas as a father, Ascanius as a son and the correct way to lead the Trojan people. The relationships between Lausus and Mezentius, Evander and Pallas, Aeneas and Pallas and Aeneas and Anchises all reveal facets of Aeneas’ personality and the correct way to rule with pietas. Each father-son relationship in the Aeneid approaches perfection, yet none (including Aeneas’ relationship with his own son) ever achieve the perfect (or at least Vergilian) idea of filial and paternal love. However, a synthesis of the pitfalls and triumphs of each provides a picture of Vergillan perfection and the correct way to both parent and govern.
Lausus and Mezentius
After watching his father Mezentius be wounded by grief-stricken Aeneas (after the death of Pallas), Lausus first helps his father escape to safety, then faces the Trojan prince himself. When Aeneas sees the clearly inferior Etruscan standing against him, he mocks his opponent, telling him “Your loyalty has tricked you into
Reading Vergil’s Aeneid
Dean Santirocco
Final Paper
28 April 2005
Pater Aeneas, Filius Ascanius: Fathers and Sons in Relation to Aeneas’ Quest for Pietas in Vergil’s Aeneid
In Book VI of Vergil’s Aeneid, Aeneas encounters at least three pairs of fathers and sons: Brutus and his sons, Marcellus the Elder and Younger, and Daedalus and Icarus. The concentration of these three father-son pairs illustrates the importance of parental relationships throughout the Aeneid. Loving father-son relationships play prominent roles in at least eight of the Aeneid’s twelve books.[1] However, the central father son relationship, between Aeneas and his son Ascanius, is best described as cold and distant. Aeneas’ relationship with his own son is problematic, particularly in light of these other caring father-son relationships. However, all of these father-son combinations (including Aeneas’ relationship with his own father Anchises) speak volumes about Aeneas as a father, Ascanius as a son and the correct way to lead the Trojan people. The relationships between Lausus and Mezentius, Evander and Pallas, Aeneas and Pallas and Aeneas and Anchises all reveal facets of Aeneas’ personality and the correct way to rule with pietas. Each father-son relationship in the Aeneid approaches perfection, yet none (including Aeneas’ relationship with his own son) ever achieve the perfect (or at least Vergilian) idea of filial and paternal love. However, a synthesis of the pitfalls and triumphs of each provides a picture of Vergillan perfection and the correct way to both parent and govern.
Lausus and Mezentius
After watching his father Mezentius be wounded by grief-stricken Aeneas (after the death of Pallas), Lausus first helps his father escape to safety, then faces the Trojan prince himself. When Aeneas sees the clearly inferior Etruscan standing against him, he mocks his opponent, telling him “Your loyalty has tricked you into
Bibliography: vol. 244 (Bruxelles: Latomus, 1998). Adkin Neil, “A Virgilian Crux: Aeneid 8.342-43,” American Journal of Philology 122.4 Belfiore Elizabeth, “Ter Frustra comprensa: Embraces in the Aeneid,” Phoenix 38.1 (1998): Dewar Michael, “Mezentius’ Remorse,” The Classical Quarterly, 38.1 (1998): 261-262. Gotoff H.C, “The Transformation of Mezentius,” Transactions of the American Philological Association, 144 (2984): 191-218. James Sharon L, “Establishing Rome with the Sword: Condere in the Aeneid,” The American Journal of Philology 116.4 (1995): 623-637. Lloyd Robert B, “The Character of Anchises in the Aeneid,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philolgical Association, 88 (1957): 44-55. Merriam C.U, “Storm Warning: Ascanius’ Appearances in the Aeneid,” Latomus (2002): 852 860. Molyviati-Toptsis Urania, “Sed Falsa as Caelum Mittunt Insomnia Manes (Aeneid 6.896),” The American Journal of Philology, 116.4 (1995): 639-652. Petrini Mark, The Child and the Hero: Coming of Age in Catullus and Vergil (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Schleiner Winfried, “Aeneas’ Flight from Troy,” Comparative Literature, 27.2 (1975): 97 112. Spence Sarah, “The Polyvalence of Pallas in the Aeneid,” Arethusa 32.2 (1999): 149-163. (2001): 527-531. Tracy H.L, “‘Fata Deum’ and the Action of the Aeneid,” Greece and Rome 2nd ser. 11.2 (1964): 188-195. Vergil, Aeneid, trans. Allen Mandelbaum, (New York: Bantam, 1971).