Virgil: Aeneid Book XII

372 Pages·2012·10.057 MB·English

by  Richard Tarrant

CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS

VIRGIL
AENEID
BOOK XII
EDITED BY RICHARD TARRANT
CAMBRIDGE
VIRGIL
AENEID
BOOK XII
EDITED BY
RICHARD TARRANT
Pope Professor of Latin
Harvard Unwersity
AMBRIDGE
NIVERSITY PRESS

C
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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First published 2012
Reprinted 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Virgil.
[Aeneis. Liber 12]
Aeneid. Book XII / Virgil ; edited by Richard Tarrant.
pages cm. — (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics)
Introduction and commentary in English; text in Latin.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-30881-6
1. Aeneas (Legendary character) - Poetry — 2. Epic poetry Latin.. I. Tarrant, R. J.
(Richard John), 1945- editor, writer of added commentary. II. Title.
PA6803.B32T37 2012
873'.01 — dc23 2012012597
ISBN 978-0-521-30881-6 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-31363-6 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
CONTENTS
List of figures age vi
Preface
vil
List of abbreviations
᾽
Delay and pairing 3
'Themes concluded 5
(a) Juno’s anger 5
(b) The Trojan War replayed and reversed 5
(c) The war in Italy as a quasi-civil war 6
The afterplot 8
2 'urnus and Aeneas 9
3 The final scene 16
'The scene itself 17
Augustan ramifications 24
Wider implications 28
4 Sequels and continuations 30
5 Afterlife 33
6 Some aspects of Virgil's metre 37
7 About this commentary 42
8 The text 45
P VERGILI MARONIS AENEIDOS LIBER DVODECIMVS 55
Commentary 83
Appendix 342
Bibliography 344
Indexes
.2. 325
1 General
355
2 Latin words 361
FIGURES
Diomedes wounding Aeneas (Photograph O 2012 Museum of Fine
Ia
Arts, Boston). Attic red-figure calyx crater, early fifth century BcE,
attributed to the Tyszkiewicz Painter, depicting duelling scenes
from the Trojan War. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Catharine
Page Perkins Fund. page 342
Achilles killing Memnon (Photograph O 2012 Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston). Attic red-figure calyx crater, early fifth century BcE,
attributed to the Tyszkiewicz Painter, depicting duelling scenes
from the Trojan War. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Catharine
Page Perkins Fund.
343
PREFACE
I have described the aims and approach of my commentary in the Introduction;
here it is my pleasure to acknowledge the many debts I have incurred during its
long evolution.
My first thanks go to the series editors Philip Hardie and Stephen Oakley, who
read the entire manuscript and substantially improved it by their comments. With
great generosity Gian Biagio Conte and Richard Thomas read the commentary
and offered numerous valuable suggestions and corrections. A portion of the
commentary in an earlier form benefited from careful reading by E.J . Kenney
and P. E. Easterling.
For advice and information on specific points I am grateful to Ewen Bowie,
Cynthia Damon, Carlotta Dionisotti, Katherine Dunbabin, Catharine Edwards,
Christian Flow, Albert Henrichs, Tom Jenkins, Jennifer Ledig, Gregory Nagy,
Lara Nicolini, Silvia Ottaviano, Sergios Paschalis, Andreola Rossi, Mark Schief-
sky, Ben Tipping, and Tony Woodman. Special thanks to Miriam Carlisle for
alerting me to the possible relevance of the Tyszkiewicz Painter's vase (see
Appendix).
James Zetzel suggested that I include a section on metre in the Introduction,
but he bears no responsibility for its content. Alessandro Schiesaro secured for
me a copy of Alfonso 'TIraina's commentary (a work unfortunately hard to find
in this country), and Professor Traina himself kindly sent me a copy of the
second edition, containing an updated bibliography. Ian Goh carefully checked
references, and Lauren Curtis offered timely assistance in preparing the final
form of the commentary.
Kind invitations from various institutions gave me the chance to try out ideas
before committing them to print. I mention in particular the Scuola Normale
Superiore in Pisa, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies in London,
Ambherst College, Princeton University, Skidmore College, the University of
Virginia, and Washington and Lee University. Audiences on those occasions
have been most helpful in their comments.
I am grateful to Denis Feeney, Andrew Feldherr, Tim O'Sullivan, Miriam
Carlisle, Deborah Beck and Pat Larash for giving drafts of the commentary
trial runs in their classes. Long before this commentary was written, the stu-
dents in my own Aeneid classes at the. University of Toronto helped me to
appreciate the enormous richness of this book of Virgil. To have had the
opportunity to comment on it for a wider audience has been a privilege and
a Joy.
As a graduate student I had the good fortune to be supervised by Roger
Mynors while he was working on his OCT text of Virgil and his commentary
Vil
viil PREFACE
on the Georgics. At the time neither of us imagined that I would one day write a
commentary on Virgil; my hope now 1s that he would have found something of
value in what I have done.
June 2011 Cambridge, MA
ABBREVIATIONS
Titles of ancient works are abbreviated according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary
(3rd revised edn, Oxford 2003), as are titles of secondary works and collections
but with the following additions and variations:
ALL Archiv für lateinische Lexicographie (Leipzig 1884—1908)
EV Enciclopedia virgiltana (Rome 1984—91)
GLR H. Keil, ed., Grammatici latini, 8 vols. (Leipzig 1857—80)
K-S R. Kühner and C. Stegman, Ausführliche Grammatik der latemischen
Sprache, zweiter Teil (Hanover 1971)
OLD P. W. Glare, ed., Oxford Latin dictionary (Oxford 1968—82)
O. Ribbeck, Tragicorum romanorum fragmenta, 2nd edn (Leipzig 1871)
R'Z
RG Augustus, Res gestae
1LL Thesaurus linguae latinae (Leipzig 19oo-)
WF W. Warde Fowler, 7/e death of Turnus (Oxford 1919)
Copyrighted matcrial
INTRODUCTION
1 STRUCTURE AND THEMES
Book 12 15 the longest book of the Aened, but also one of the most highly
concentrated. The action unfolds within a single 24-hour period and focuses
almost exclusively on the combat between Aeneas and Turnus that will determine
the outcome of the war between Trojans and Latins. T. agrees to meet A. in the
opening scene, but the decisive encounter is repeatedly deferred and does not
take place until the end of the book. After T. is wounded and his plea for mercy
is rejected, the book ends with T.’s death at A.'s hands. The only part of the book
that does not relate directly to the duel or its delaying 1s the conversation between
Jupiter and Juno in 791-842; although it 15 essential in determining I'’s fate, that
episode looks beyond the immediate circumstances to the union of Trojans and
Latins that will follow A.’s victory.
An outline of the action may serve as a point of reference for the following
discussion:
I-80 Latinus and Amata try to dissuade T. from meeting A. in single
combat. T. 1s not deterred: he calls a truce and challenges A.
81-112 T. and A. arm.
113—33 The field 1s prepared; both sides gather to watch the duel.
134-60 . Juno encourages Juturna to subvert the truce.
161—15 The preparations continue; oaths are sworn by A. and Latinus.
216-310 — Juturna disguised as Camers urges the Rutilians to break the truce; a
general melee ensues.
311-82 A. is wounded, and T. goes on the offensive.
383—440 . A.'s wound is miraculously healed; he returns to the field.
441—99 X A.pursues T., but Juturna, disguised as Ts charioteer Metiscus, keeps
him out of A.'s reach. A. is attacked by Messapus and, enraged, begins
to kill the enemy indiscriminately.
500—53 X L and A. deal slaughter all around them.
554-92 . Venus prompts A. to attack the city of Latinus; panic erupts among
the besieged inhabitants.
593—611 Amata commits suicide.
614-96 . T. rejects Juturna's efforts to protect him and resolves to die nobly;
learning from Saces of the city's plight, he rushes to meet A. alone.
' At 950 lines - 952 in the conventional numbering, but what would be lines 612-13
are bracketed by all editors — 1t is significantly longer than the next longest book, 11 (915
lines), and would remain so even if 882—4 are bracketed, as suggested in the commentary.
Further discussion and supporting evidence for points made in the Introduction will often
be found at the relevant places in the commentary; I have not included cross-references
where thev can be readily inferred.