Dictaean fields of Crete Free Essay Example

(…) Tell us and many a victim will fall by my right hand before your alters. ’ This realisation demonstrates Aeneas’ obedience to the gods even when he was unsure of whether she was actually a goddess or not, but this showed his willingness to demonstrate reverence just in case she might be a goddess. However, his mother reveals her identity to him at the end of this passage, when she leaves and he notices how ‘her neck shone with a rosy light and her hair breathed the divine odour of ambrosia.

(He saw how) her dress flowed free to her feet and as she walked he knew she was truly a goddess’. At this point, he is upset that he is never allowed ‘to speak to (her) as (she) really’ is. Despite his continuing feelings of hurt at her apparent (to him) lack of care of his needs, he still obeys his mother, who, in book 2, tells him to ‘go and see where (he has) left (his) father, crippled with age, and find whether (his) wife Creusa is still alive, and (his) son Ascanius’, instead of ‘aveng(ing his) country even as it fell’ against the sexual corruption which Helen represents.

Sexuality connotes danger throughout the poem, as we see in book 3, in line 556, when Virgil uses sexual language to describe how, near Mount Etna, there is heard a ‘loud moaning of waters and grinding of rocks’, to pre-empt the danger that Aeneas and his men will experience at the cliffs of the Charybdis.

Aeneas’ unwavering obedience towards his mother, as he obeys her by rejecting his temptation to avenge his people, explicitly demonstrates his piety. Later on in book 2, Aeneas is evacuating his family from the burning city of Troy.

He intends to take the household gods with him, as they are sacred and so should be brought with them to the new city of Rome, however, he tells us that he is ‘fresh from all the fighting and killing and it is not right for (him) to touch them till (he has) washed in a running stream’. The way he honours the gods here, by not befouling their sacredness with his dirtiness from fighting, demonstrates his piety, as he tells his father to carry him (while he carries his father on his back).

Aeneas makes sacrifices throughout the poem to try and make the gods be favourable towards him, and in book 3, Aeneas tells us how he ‘was worshipping (his) mother Venus, the daughter of Dione, and the gods who preside over new undertakings; and sacrificing a gleaming white bull to the Most High King of the Heavenly gods (…) when (he) saw a strange and horrible sight’. Aeneas also sacrifices a ‘burnt offerings’ ‘to Juno of Argos’ and they ‘prayed to the sacred godhead of Pallas’ to carry them on safely from the land of the Greeks, which they ‘could not trust’.

Aeneas honours his duty to his future, and the future of his people by listening to Mercury’s warning, in book 4, that he should leave his love with Dido behind, and go and found Rome, as his fate dictates. Mercury tells Aeneas that he owes his son, Ascanius Iulus, ‘the land of Rome and the kingdom of Italy’, and that he is being selfish is staying at Carthage with Dido. Aeneas then ‘ordered (Mnesthus, Sergestus and brave Serestus) to fit out the fleet and tell no one’, so he could, theoretically, leave his love, Dido, in Carthage in order to pursue his destiny.

However, of course this does not go to plan, as she is female and so nothing gets past her, although Virgil does put it down to no one being able to ‘deceive a lover’. During the Funeral Games, which Aeneas holds in book 5 in honour of his deceased father, Anchises, we are told that while the men are all competing, the women are corrupted by Iris, sent by Juno, who disguises herself as Beroe.

Beroe was ‘the aged wife of Doryclus of Tmaros (… ) who had borne sons and been held in high regard. ’ Iris incites the Trojan women, tired of the endless sailing, to burn the ships. However, following this, Aeneas and his men ‘replaced the rowing benches, repaired the charred timbers’ and, after praying to ‘All-powerful Jupiter’, set sail again intent on fulfilling his destiny.

In book 6, when Aeneas visits his father in hell, he follows his father’s instructions, who at this point is addressing all of Rome, past and in Virgil’s present, to ‘govern the people of the world in (their) empire’, which is hugely obvious as propaganda, and in a way, excuses Augustus’ plan for world domination, in the same way that many countries throughout history have excused the invasions of other countries: by saying that it is fated and so they have no choice in the matter. Aeneas also honours his duty to his family.

In book 1, Aeneas demonstrates his care for his son, Iulus Ascanius, whose name is interestingly similar to Julius Caesar’s. While Aeneas is banqueting in Dido’s palace in Carthage, Virgil tells us how all of Aeneas’ ‘thoughts were with his dear son Ascanius’ whom he had left with the ships, and so because of this, and how ‘a father’s love allowed Aeneas’ mind no rest’, he sent Achetes to bring Ascanius to the palace to be with him. His love for his son is also seen in book 2, when Aeneas is shepherding his family out of Troy while it burns.

Aeneas protects both his father Anchises and his son while leading them out of the burning ruins by carrying Anchises on his back, and taking Iulus’ hand in his own right hand, which is a demonstration of their equality. Aeneas respects the family rules, by asking his wife, Creusa, to walk behind the three men, and ‘follow in (his) footsteps’. However, despite Creusa having to follow the men ‘at a distance’, Aeneas is extremely loyal to her, and when he realises she is missing (admittedly this takes quite a while, as he never ‘look(ed) behind’ him), he runs back through the burning streets of Troy, ‘filling the streets with (his) shouts’.

It requires her appearing as a ghost to him to calm him down, and persuade him to follow his destiny, to ‘prosperity, (…) a kingdom and a royal bride’. In book 3, Aeneas listens to Helenus’ prophesy, and although she refers to the Trojan group as ‘sons of Dardanus’, he trusts Anchises’ (wrong) judgement that she is telling them to go to Crete, as Teucer did.

Anchises had forgotten that the Trojans had a double ancestry, and descended both from Dardanus and Teucer, and so when Helenus was calling them ‘sons of Dardanus’, she really meant go to Hesperia, not Crete a, as Apollo tells Aeneas that ‘Jupiter forbids (him) the Dictaean fields of Crete. ’ It is important to remember Mercury’s arguments to persuade Aeneas to leave his lover in Carthage and continue on his quest to found Rome. Mercury’s final argument is that if he has no thought for his own destiny he should not be selfish, and ‘spare a thought for Ascanius, (to whom he owes) the land of Rome and the Kingdom of Italy.’

Aeneas agrees to leave after this point, showing how he cares more for the welfare of his son’s destiny than his own. Aeneas honours his family even after their deaths. In book 5, dubbed the ‘Funeral Games’ Aeneas returns to Drepanum a year after his father’s death to honour his memory by holding games in his honour, including a boat race, a running race, a wrestling competition (which was swiftly and tactfully ended by Aeneas when it got too violent), an archery competition and a horse riding display led by Ascanius and the other boys.

In the beginning of book 7, Virgil describes how Aeneas honours Caieta, his nurse, and because of his honour, tribute is paid to her even in Augustus’ time. Virgil writes how Aeneas ‘duly performed the funeral rites and heaped up a barrow for the tomb’. The role of a nurse in Augustus’ Rome was strong; she would effectively become closer to the child than their own mother, which explains why Aeneas honoured Caieta in death more than he honoured his own wife, Creusa.

In book 7, Aeneas demonstrates his trust for his son, as he leaves him to defend their landing place at the mouth of the Tiber against the angry Latins, including Turnus, the angry ex-fiance of Lavinia, who Aeneas took from him, although it was written in the fates, so neither Lavinia nor Aeneas really had any say in it. Regardless of this, Aeneas still trusts his son, who gave Turnus an excuse to start the war, by shooting a pet deer of a local herdsman by arrow, unaware that the deer was favoured.

Virgil highlights the father-son relationship throughout his epic poem, especially in book 2, when Creusa tells him in her parting speech ‘do not fail in love for our son’. This reflects the relationship that Augustus had with his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. Augustus promoted the father-son relationship in Roman society, believing that it led to a more stable society if fathers were more involved with their sons. Augustus cared for his adoptive father greatly, and although he was unable to prevent the murder of him in 44 BC, Augustus ensured the exile of the perpetrators- Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus.