Death and the Optimistic Prophecy in Vergil's AENEID

220 Pages·2014·5.64 MB·English

by  James J. O'Hara

Death and the
Optimistic Prophecy in
Vergil's Aeneid

Death and the
Optimistic Prophecy in
Vergil's Aeneid
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JAMES]. O'HARA
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
P R I N C E T 0 N, N E W J E R S E Y
Copyright© 1990 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford
All Rights Reserued
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publiration Data
O'Hara,JamcsJ., 1959-
Death and the optimistic prophecy in Vcrgirs Aeneid I
James J. O'Hara.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-691-60657-6
r. Virgil. Aeneid. 2. Aeneas (Legendary character)
in literature. 3. Prophecies in literature. 4. Death
in literature. I. Title.
PA6825.034 1990
H73'.or-dc2o 89-24180
Publication of this book has been aided by the Whitney Darrow Publication
Reserve Fund ofPrinceton University Press
This book has been composed in Linotron Bembo
Princeton University Press books arc printed on <~cid-free paper,
<~nd meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library l<.csourccs
10 9 R 7 c\ 4 2
For my father and mother,
and for Diane

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS lX
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT AND FOOTNOTES Xl
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER ONE. Orontes, Palinurus, Anchises, and
Pallas: Prophecy and Deaths "Before the Eyes of
Aeneas" 7
Orontes 7
Palinurus 16
Anchises, and Aeneas' Sacrifices to Juno 24
Pallas 39
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER ONE. TYPICAL FEATURES
OF PROPHECY SCENES 54
CHAPTER TWO. The Gods and "the Confidence of
Bold Turnus" 61
Allecto 62
~ ~
Cybele and the Ships; Turnus and Aeneas 74
The Augur Tolumnius 85
CHAPTER THREE. Prophecy and the res laetae That
Await Aeneas 88
Anchises and Jupiter 91
The Curse of Dido 94
Burial and Immortality 104
Deception in the Worlds of Aeneas and Vergil rr6
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER THREE. INCONSISTENCIES
IN PROPHECIES AND THE "sOLUTION FROM
THE CHARACTER SPEAKING" 123
r:HAPTER FOUR. The Prophecies ofRome
Jupiter and Venus
Anchises and Aeneas and the Parade of Heroes
VII
CONTENTS
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER FOUR. THE SHIELD OF
AENEAS I73
CHAPTER FIVE. Vergil as Poet-Prophet of the Aeneid 176
BIBLIOGRAPHY 185
INDEX LOCORUM 199
INDEX RERUM ET NOMINUM 205
VIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Friends, teachers, and colleagues have provided invaluable as
sistance as I worked on this book. The Horace H. Rackham
School of Graduate Studies and the Department of Classical
Studies at the University of Michigan provided fellowships
that helped with the writing of the earliest versions, and Wes
leyan University provided several grants that facilitated the
substantial later revisions. In Ann Arbor, Charles Witke,
Ralph Williams, Ludwig Koenen, and later R.O.A.M. Lyne
(two chapters on very short notice) offered valuable com
ments and advice, as did audiences at the College of the Holy
Cross, Vanderbilt University, Bowdoin College, and meet
ings of the Classical Association of Atlantic States and the
American Philological Association.
Special thanks go to those who have read more than one
version of the manuscript: without the help of Mark Petrini,
David Konstan, Michael Putnam, and my colleague Michael
Roberts, my arguments would be both less interesting, and
less convincing. Joanna Hitchcock has made working with
Princeton University Press a pleasure; the two anonymous
readers for the press also made extremely helpful comments.
I am most grateful to Professor David Ross, for his teaching
and advice over the years, and for his warm encouragement
and stern criticism as I worked on this project: patria nobis sup
peditat praecepta. Finally I thank those to whom this work is
dedicated: my mother and late father, for their years of love
and support; and Diane Juffras, for being my best and most
diligent reader, and for unfailing support during all the time I
have worked on this book.
IX