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History and revelation in Vergil's underworld*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

D. C. Feeney
D. C. Feeney
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Extract

Vergil's parade of heroes, a panegyric that becomes a threnody, is an odd blend. It is framed by an elaborate quasi-philosophical eschatology, whose relation to the parade is problematical. Much of the passage puts itself forward as high panegyric, yet certain sections are at variance with that tendency. The lament for Marcellus (868-86) is most commonly remarked upon; other passages are equally, or more, anomalous. Still, the massive self-assurance of the picture of the underworld has its own imposing conviction, so that although the disparateness of the contributing elements has been documented often enough, few have felt the need to dispute the question of whether the blend coheres as a single statement. One noteworthy reader of Vergil was, however, compelled to give minute attention to the implications of the historical vision in Book 6. Incidentally throughout the Bellum Ciuile, but especially in his own sixth book, with the vision of hell called forth by the agency of the witch Erictho, Lucan provides a provocative reading of Aeneid 6. His insights will be exploited in the discussion as a valuable stimulus to reflection and re-assessment; an appendix will give a more systematic account of his re-interpretation of Vergil.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 32 , 1986 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

NOTES

1. Cf. Büchner, K., RE 8A 1391Google Scholar. Important discussions by Clausen, W. V., ‘An interpretation of the Aeneid’, HSCPh 68 (1964) 139–47Google Scholar; Williams, R. D. in Martyn, J. R. C. (ed.), Cicero and Virgil (1972) 207–17Google Scholar; Griffin, J., ‘The Fourth Georgic, Virgil, and Rome’, G&R n.s. 26 (1979) 61–80Google Scholar; Tarrant, R. J., ‘Aeneas and the gates of sleep’, CPh 77 (1982) 51–5Google Scholar; above all, Johnson, W. R., Darkness visible. A study of Vergil's Aeneid (1976) 105–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. Bibliography on this disparateness in Solmsen, F., CPh 67 (1972) 31–3Google Scholar; cf. Horsfall, N. M., Antichthon 15(1981) 145CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3. Bibliography in Horsfall, N. M., Prudentia 8 (1976) 84 n. 102Google Scholar; note especially von Albrecht, M., WS n.f. 1 (1967) 156–82Google Scholar.

4. Norden's discussion is still indispensable (47-8). See further n. 11 below.

5. It is recognised by Johnson, , Darkness visible 105–11Google Scholar.

6. As is stressed by Annas, Julia, ‘Plato's myths of judgement’, Phronesis 27 (1982) 119–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar (a reference I owe to M. M. Mackenzie, whom I thank for help on these Platonic matters). The main Platonic passages are Gorg. 523a-27e; Phaedo, 112e-14c; Rep. 614b-21d; Phaedrus 245c-50c.

7. Although hope of this escape is not actually held out in the myth of Er.

8. The philosopher-king may be free from this corruption, but Plato seems to have become increasingly pessimistic on this score; see Annas, Julia, An introduction to Plato's Republic (1981) 106Google Scholar.

9. For praise of the inconspicuous life in such contexts, cf. Phaedo 82c-d, Gorg. 526c.

10. This is, as it were, a base version of the Platonic problem involved in why the Guardian should go back into the cave after attaining his own enlightenment (Annas, , Introduction 262–70Google Scholar). On these links between Cicero and Plato, see Boyancé, P., Études sur le songe de Scipion (1936) 147–60Google Scholar. Many writings on Cicero's Platonic debts are discussed by Schmidt, P. L. in ANRW I 4.309-10Google Scholar.

11. On the Platonic element, see the works cited by Solmsen (n.2). On the Ciceronian, see Norden 47; Klingner, F., Virgil (1967) 485–92Google Scholar; Camps, W. A., An introduction to Virgil's Aeneid (1969) 89–90Google Scholar; Lamacchia, R., RhM 107 (1964) 261–78Google Scholar.

12. cf. Austin 221.

13. Note 731-4 in particular, and the language of malaise and imprisonment to describe earthly life in 734 (clausae…corpore caeco) 736 (malum), 737 (corporeae pesles), 739 (malorum), 742 (infectum scelus). Very Ciceronian language here: cf. esp. Somn. 29.

14. Cf. (besides works in n.11) Boyancé, , Études 39–40Google Scholar; Alfonsi, L., Aevum 29 (1955) 375–6Google Scholar.

15. As we have recently been well reminded by Horsfall (n.2).

16. Thus Otis, B., Virgil. A study in civilized poetry (1963) 300–1Google Scholar; Solmsen (n.2); Clark, R. J., Catabasis: Vergil and the wisdom-tradition (1979) 182–3Google Scholar.

17. Note, especially, these words: miscet philosophiae figmenta poetica et ostendit tam quod est uulgare, quam quod continet ueritas et ratio naturalis.

18. Cf. Lipscomb, H. C., CW 2 (1908–1909) 116Google Scholar.

19. Cf. Lamacchia (n. 11) 263-6; Klingner, , Virgil 490–1Google Scholar.

20. By Lamacchia and Klingner.

21. A few great souls may eventually achieve a pure life in the aether (Austin 279-80), but most souls do not achieve this, and it is not the basis of the exhortation to statesmanship, as it is in Cicero.

22. On exempla, see Litchfield, H. W., HSCPh 25 (1914) 1–71Google Scholar; Pease on Cic. Nat. deor. 2.165.

23. Cf. von Albrecht (n.3) 176-7; Horsfall, N. M., ‘Virgil, Varro's Imagines and the Forum of Augustus’, Anc. Soc. (Macquarie) 10 (1980) 20–3Google Scholar; id., ‘The structure and purpose of Vergil's Parade of Heroes’, Anc. Soc. (Macquarie) 12 (1982) 12–18.

24. Horsfall points out to me that there must be links with the laudatio funebris which Augustus spoke over Marcellus (fragments in Malcovati, H., Caesaris Augusti Imperatoris Operum Fragmenta2 (1928) 53–4Google Scholar.)

25. Skard, O., ‘Die Heldenschau in Vergils Aeneis’, SO 40 (1965) 53–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Burke, P. F., ‘Roman rites for the dead and Aeneid 6’, CJ 74 (1979) 220–8Google Scholar.

26. Lucan. An Introduction (1976) 143Google Scholar.

27. Cf. MacMullen, R., Enemies of the Roman order (1966) 7–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Griffin, J. in Gold, B. K. (ed.), Literary and artistic patronage in ancient Rome (1982) 124Google Scholar.

28. On Cato and the Bruti, see Williams, G., Figures of thought in Roman poetry (1980) 18Google Scholar.

29. Note the interesting remarks of Martindale, C., G&R n.s. 31 (1984) 67Google Scholar.

30. Lands and peoples in Roman poetry: The ethnographical tradition (1982) 45–9Google Scholar.

31. On this ambivalent figure, see Thomas (n. 30) 64 n. 52; Litchfield (n.22) 51 n. 4.

32. Sen. Epist. 104.1; Mart. 6.43, 10.44.3 f., 12.57.1 f.

33. Epist. 1.11.7-8.

34. Cic., Plane. 23Google Scholar; Juv. 6.56-7, 10.100; Prop. 4.1.34 qui nunc nullimaxima turba Gobi; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4.53. On this theme of contrast between cities' former and present condition, see Gossage, A. J., G&R n.s. 2 (1955) 72–4Google Scholar.

35. Nissen, H., Italische Landeskunde (1883) 2.579Google Scholar.

36. On Cora's obscurity see Nissen 2.644. The disappearance of the towns of the Campagna was a general phenomenon: cf. Ashby, T., The Roman campagna in classical times (1927) 18–19Google Scholar.

37. As pointed out to me by Simon Goldhill. Norden and Austin (on 730) are, then, only half right to draw a distinction between the pride of Vergil and the realism of Horace (Epist. 1.11.7-8).

38. J. R. Patterson informs us that Lucan is far less true to the facts of his contemporary reality than is Vergil; the ‘facts’ of literature count for more.

39. CQ n.s. 34 (1984) 185–91Google Scholar.

40. Cf. Syme, R., The Roman revolution (1939) 305–6Google Scholar; Weinstock, S., Divus Julius (1971) 176–85Google Scholar.

41. Cf. Syme (n. 40) 313-4; Wagenvoort, H., ‘The crime of fratricide’, in Studies in Roman literature, culture and religion (1956) 169–83Google Scholar; Fuchs, H., Der geistige Widerstand gegen Rom (1964) 85–7Google Scholar.

42. ‘The position of laetus gives the adjective marked emphasis’, remarks Austin, making a different point.

43. Enn., Ann. 92–4Google Scholar Skutsch; Ov. Fast. 4.841-4.

44. Cf. Büchner, , RE 8A 1391Google Scholar: ‘Der 2. Teil, der weitere Gestalten mustert, Könige nach Romulus und Helden der Republik, zeigt neben dem Stolz auch alles bedenkliche der römischen Geschichte’.

45. Cf. Suet. Jul. 6.1, ab Anco March sunt Marcii Reges. See here Wiseman, T. P., ‘Legendary genealogies in late-republican Rome’, G&R n.s. 21 (1974) 153–64Google Scholar (154 on the Marcii).

46. Fond. Hardt 17 (1972) 34–5Google Scholar.

47. RE 2R 28. 1562.

48. Cf. MacMullen, 8-10.

49. Cf. Luc. 5.207, ultores… Brutos; 9.17 f.

50. Similarly Austin ad loc; Knight, W. F. Jackson, Roman Vergil (1966) 368Google Scholar; William (n.1) 212-3.

51. cf. MacMullen, , Enemies 18Google Scholar.

52. cf. Litchfield (n. 22) 41-2; Wistrand, E., The policy of Brutus the tyrannicide (1981) 5–6Google Scholar.

53. Cf. [Sen.] Oct. 498 f.; Sen. Ben. 2.20.1 f.

54. Bell. Civ. 2.114;cf. Cic. All. 14.11.1; 12.2; 14.3.5. For evidence of the tryannicide's anima superba see Cic. Att. 6.1.7, 14.20.5; Plut. Brut. 34.7 f., 45.9. But he was a complex character (Syme, , Roman Revolution 58Google Scholar; MacMullen, , Enemies 6Google Scholar), and could be very charming: cf. Cic. Att. 14.17 A 5.

55. ‘Structure and purpose’ (n. 23) 12.

56. 13.

57. 12.

58. A grandson is occasionally mentioned as having also sacrificed himself in deuotio (Cic. Fin. 2.61).

59. Plut. Gracch. 8.5. The truth will have been less straightforward: see Stockton, D., The Gracchi (1979) 192, 200Google Scholar n. 15.

60. Norden (followed by Austin) refers us to M. Livius Salinator, victor at the Metaurus in 207. But this man was not a Drusus, and the distinction was drawn (Suet. Tib. 3.1.f.). The Horace passage which Norden and Austin cite refers to the other consul of the year, C. Claudius Nero, ancestor of Horace's addressee: quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus,/testis Metaurus flumen…, Carm. 4.4.37-8.

61. Thus Austin ad loc.

62. cf. Williams (n. 1) 208-9.

63. At least, such was the title Cicero gave his essay on old age (Att. 14.21.3; Amic. 4; Off. 1.151), and there seems to be an allusion to the usage in a punning passage of Lucan (6.789-90). How regular this nomenclature was remains uncertain; Cicero may only have used the title Cato Maior to avoid confusion with his Cato (on Uticensis). I am grateful to Jonathan Powell for help on this point.

64. Ahl first pointed out the problem (Lucan 140).

65. It is typical of Vergil's manner in this section that the unproblematic Cossus should be mentioned in the same breath; cf. esp. 824-5.

66. See Ahl, , Lucan 140–1Google Scholar.

67. Cf. von Albrecht (n.3) 168.

68. See Norden on 842; RE 2A.1409.

69. Cf. Cic. Off. 2.43, Fin. 4.65, Har. 41; [Sen.] Oct. 882-9 (this last passage links the Gracchi brothers and the younger Drusus as examples of demagogic degeneration within a family).

70. Gn. et P. Scipiones, duo fulmina nostri imperii, Cic., Parad. 12Google Scholar; Balb. 34; Sil. 7.106-7; geminos… Scipiadas, 13.382-4; 15.3-4, 16.87.

71. See Pease on Cic. Nat. deor. 3.80; cf. Planc. 25, quis Gn. et P. Scipionibus, quis Africano?

72. See Skutsch, O., Studia Enniana (1968) 145–50Google Scholar. Austin's note expounds the pun, which depends on the similarity between the Greek words for scipio, ‘staff’ (σκῆπτρον) and fulmen, ‘thunderbolt’ (σκηπτός).

73. cf. Suet., Jul. 59Google Scholar; Plut. Caes. 52.2; Dio 42.58.

74. Suas. 7.7; Epist. 24.10.

75. 6.309-11, nec…Poenorumque umbras placasset sanguine fuso/Scipio.

76. ‘The Fourth Georgic’ (n. 1) 65-6.

77. Cf. Johnson, , Darkness visible 108Google Scholar.

78. Convincingly argued by Otis, , Virgil 303–4Google Scholar, and Horsfall, , ‘Structure and purpose’ (n.23) 15–16Google Scholar.

79. Cf. von Albrecht (n. 3) 178-9; Tracey, S. V., CJ 70 (1975) 38Google Scholar.

80. n. 1.

81. Cf. Cic., Somn. 14Google Scholar. immo uero…hi uiuunt, qui e corporum uinculis tamquam e carcere euolauerunt, uestra uero quae dicitur uita mors est.

82. On this see Earl, D., The moral and political tradition of Rome (1967) 59–79Google Scholar (a reference I owe to I. M. LeM. DuQuesnay). Note too (as Professor Reeve pointed out in discussion) how the next book opens with the fama, honos, and nomen of Aeneas' nurse Caieta – si qua est ea gloria (7.4).

83. Cf. especially Griffin (n.l) 68; and Johnson, Darkness visible 105–11Google Scholar, for an excellent discussion of Vergil's use of perspective here.

84. Aen. 10.467; cf. Aen. 1.227, Donatus I 6.1ff. (Georgii).

85. Thus Guillemin, A., ‘L'inspiration virgilienne dans la Pharsale’, REL 29 (1951) 214–27Google Scholar; Paoletti, L., ‘Lucano magico e Virgilio’, A&R 8 (1963) 11–26Google Scholar; Narducci, E., La provvidenza crudele. Lucano e la distruzione dei miti augustei (1979) 54–62Google Scholar.

86. The Cambridge history of classical literature 2, edd. Kenney, E. J. and Clausen, W. V. (1982) 543CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

87. Cf. von Albecht (n. 3) 178-80. Panegyrics naturally look to the future, to the influencing of future events: see Kennedy, G., The art of rhetoric in the Roman world (1972) 260Google Scholar.

88. So claims the tradition used by Tacitus: Gracchi et Saturnini turbatores plebis, nee minor largitor nomine senatus Drusus, Ann. 3.27.

89. I thank S. E. Hinds for pointing out the role of Catiline to me.

90. Such play appears irresistible. Note Vergil's arrangement in Georgics 2.169-70.: magnosque Camillos,/Scipiadas duros bello et te, maxime Caesar. That is, magni, maior, minor, maximus.

91. See Horsfall (n. 3) 89 on this process (of which the Aeneid is only one contemporary example).