The Original Ending of the Aeneas Tale

J.F. Hall: Cato and Aeneas13 The Original Ending of the Aeneas Tale: Cato and the Historiographical Tradition of Aeneas John F. HaII Hoc dicens ferrum adverso subpectore condit fervidus art 3Ii solvunturfrigore membra vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignau sub umbras. (Verg.i4«i. 12. 950-52) So read the familiar lines which bring to a close Vergil's epic tale ofAeneas. Terrible in his triumph Aeneas towers over his prostrate prey, the vanquished Turnus, and is poised to drive home with powerful thrust the life-ending blow that will consign forever to the nether regions the shade of the Rutulian chieftain, angry and resentful in the frustration ofhis failure. Vergil's portrait of Aeneas, god-like in his invincibility, and Turnus, bloodied in the hopelessness of an all too apparent mortality, evokes from the readerboth wonderat Aeneas and sympathy forTurnus. And yet, the response most frequently met from students to whom I have taught the text has been a frustration of their own, not at Turnus' demise, but at the rapidity and abruptness of the ending—a sense of "what comes next?" Despite efforts to explain the dramatic value of so final a climax, or to offer as a premature epilogue the scene of Jupiter and Juno reaching an accord over a Trojan victory delimited by a promised linguisitic and cultural subordination of victor to vanquished,1 students remain stubbornly unreceptive of such attempts at defending Vergil's genius. All considered, perhaps they are right to question what kind ofpoet would leave his audience hanging—and to such a degree! Similar concerns and questions have, of course, not eluded the academic. The problem ofits ending has perhaps generated more comment than any otherin the Aeneid. It has been treated in terms of completeness, authorship, symbolism, and political significance.2 Still the explanations, the theories and conjectures all seem insufficient 1 - Verg. Aen. 12.791-842. 2 For example, R.D. Williams, The Aeneid of Vergil: Books 7-12 (London 1973) 320-24; M.C.J. Putnam, The Poetry of the Aeneid (Cambridge, Mass. 1965) 151-64; Hans-Peter Stahl, "Aeneas—an 1UnIMrOiC Hero' Hero?" Arethusa 14 (1981) 158-86; and S. Farron, "The Furor and VioUntia of Aeneas," AClass 20 (1977) 204-08. 14SyIIecta CIassica 3 (1991) Moreover, it is the intent of the present paper to raise yet other questions about the ending of the Aeneid. Is Vergil's final scene in harmony with the Aeneas tradition familiar to the Romans before Vergil? Can adherence to or departure from the established tradition be taken to suggest the poet's intent in so constructing his ending? Archeological evidence from Etruria reveals the popularity and wide-spread acceptance of the Aeneas legend among the Etruscans at an early date.3 Its transmission to the Romans at least by the time of Rome's Etruscan kings, seems certain.4 Declining interest at Rome in Aeneas and his cult was revived during the fourth century as a consequence of both the extension of Roman dominion over Latium, where the Aeneas legend had been established through Etruscan inroads,5 and subsequent increased contact with MagnaGraecia.6 How this process may have transpired is detailed in Galinsky's study on the subject.7 The presence ofAeneas legends in Italy, particularly in Etruria, was notedby a number ofGreek authors. The earliest to discuss Aeneas in this Italian context was Hellanicus, who in his Troica relates the flight and wanderings of Aeneas in such a way as to denote his association with the peoples ofItaly.8 3 Themost coherent surveyand analysis ofbotharchaeologicaland arthistorical evidence is GJC Galinsky, Aeneas, Sicily, and Rome (Princeton 1966) 113-40. Thorough, though very enthusiastic, is A. Alföldi, Die Trojanischen Urahnen der Römer (Basel 1957)passim. See also T.J. Cornell, "Aeneas and the Twins: The Development of the Roman Foundation Legend," PCPhS 21 (1975) 45 , 12-13; and J. Gage, "Veies et Ie thème des origines troyennes de Rome," Huit recherches sur les origines italiques et romaines (Paris 1950) 73-96. For Etruscans at Rome see also R. Bloch, The Origins ofRome (New York 1960) 85-110; H.H. Scullard, The Etruscan Cities and Rome (London 1967) 243

Archaeology · Art · Historiography · Classical Antiquity Studies · History

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