Reflection on lines 559-587

In these lines, Aeneas has just finished watching Priam being murdered. He is examining the destruction around the castle when he sees Helen over by the hearth. A rage flares up inside of him, because she is the woman that can somewhat be blamed for the recent wars. He wants to take out his rage on her, and kill her to in a way, avenge all of the devastation, and when the lines end, he is on his way over to her.
Vocab:
- sumpsisse
- natosque
- totiens
- ultricis
- erranti
- aegra
Grammar:
- indirect question introduced by lustro
-  ablative absolute - line 578
- saltu - abl. of means
- igni - abl. of means
aris - abl. of place

Reflection on lines 588-620

In these lines, Venus gives a warning to her son to consider his family and also removes the mortal veil preventing his eyes from seeing the gods' destruction in Troy. Venus tells Aeneas to go back to his family to protect them, because Troy is definitely not going to make it. The gods are everywhere and they are causing utter chaos, but Venus promises to return her son safely to his home.
Vocab:
-refulsit
- invisa
- tuenti
- respice
- nimbo
Grammar:
- indirect question introduced by aspicies
- virisque - dative of reference
- saxis - abl. of separation
- ore - abl. of means
- pulere - abl. of manner

Precis for "Virgil in English Translation"

          Colin Burrow, in his essay, "Virgil in English Translation", implies that although there are many authors that translate Virgil's works, none of them can get the exact meaning of his words across. Burrow cites the works of many translators, and Virgil himself to show that no translation is ever as strong as the original text. Translators tend to add or imply their own personal emotions or ideas from their past experiences and beliefs to their work, tweaking Virgil's ideas just enough to where they are not exactly what he intended. There cannot be ONE accurate translation, because this personal insight will always occur along with many other misinterpretations. Burrow aims to target any reader of Virgil's works; however, this can apply to anyone who has ever read a translation of a text from any language.
          I thought this essay was particularly interesting, because it talks all about perception, which seems to be a topic brought up a lot in my life lately. I totally agree with Burrow when he argues that all translations are at least a little bit inaccurate, because perception and interpretation will definitely influence how a person reads a text, and then translates it for others to read. This article made me want to find other translations of the Aeneid and compare them to the one we have read by Ahl (although I actually don't have the time or the motivation to do that). Nevertheless, I thought this article was really intriguing and very relevant to the class and what we've been working on (especially translating on our own).

Precis for "Virgil and the cosmos: religious and philosophical ideas"

          Susanna Morton Braund, in her essay, "Virgil and the cosmos: religious and philosophical ideas", argues that although Virgil was not a member of any particular school of thought, he reflected through his writing "different ideas for different purposes in different contexts"(220). Braund looks at issues of physics and cosmology (and as a subtopic, gods and humans and nature), ethical issues, and eschatology in the Georgics, Ecologues, and Aeneid. She also examines the history of Virgil's various ideas and issues, and poets or philosophers he might have learned and borrowed from. Moreover, Braund also mentions Virgil's recurrent theme of uncertainty and questions, making his writing so hard to analyze and draw singular conclusions from. She covers many topics that readers question significantly without ever attempting to answer them.
          This article was pretty persuasive, and everything Braund talked about made logical sense. I liked that she used a lot of information from other authors and writers from history. However, I didn't find the parts about the Eclogues and Georgics overly helpful. There was a lot of interesting topics that the author covered within the chapter that are very interesting to many of Virgil's readers. The author also had a small section on Aeneas and Didio that could help with my research project. Personally, I think that this article was one of the most interesting ones we have read up until now.

Reflection on lines 269-297

In these lines, Aeneas sees Hector in his dreams. He describes his appearance as depressing and chaotic, and very different from that of when he was a great victor. However, the voice that is now present in the epic is first person, and it could mean either the narrator OR Aeneas is speaking. The narrator/Aeneas cries out to Hector and asks him what happened to him, but Hector does not answer his questions. He tells Aeneas to flee from Troy, because it has been taken over by enemies. Aeneas is now to find a new home for the Trojans, one where they will be safe and happy, away from the now destroyed Troy.
Vocab:
- divum
- perque
- sanguine
- cerno
- puppibus
- tenuere
- eripe
- quaere
- flammis
Grammar:
- mihi - dative of reference or interest
- quo - ablative of time when
- Danaorum puppibus - dative of direction or reference
- Hector exspectate - vocative
- nate - vocative
- dea - abl. of separation
- his penatibus - dative of reference

Precis for "Rome and its traditions"

          James Zetzel, in his essay "Rome and its traditions" (10-11-12) claims that throughout the Aeneid, Virgil includes "descriptions of Rome and Italy's past and present" that although significant, may be misleading (Zetzel 189). Zetzel finds instances in almost every Book in the epic that have some relevance to describing Romans, and their major historical events, and even Italy as a whole. He examines 3 major prophecies in the epic, which show Virgil's own view of Rome, and those are Jupiter's prophecy to Venus, Anchises' disclosure to Aeneas, and Vulcan's gift to Aeneas, the shield. Zetzel says that although Virgil did his research and did acquire historical information based off of other  authors and poets, he also made up some of his characters and events himself. Because of this, other inconsistencies in the epic, and also Virgil's emphasis on perspective and uncertainty, Zetzel argues that history has no concise solution and no real truth, and the reader is able to make what he or she will of Rome's history.
          I thought this article was pretty convincing. I really liked the whole idea of perception and the mysteries of Rome's past. I didn't realize how many connections there were to history throughout the Aeneid, as I had only spotted the obvious ones; however, the ones that the author pointed out to me made sense and were relevant to Virgil's writing. I also did not pick up on all of Virgil's inconsistencies that were pointed out to me within this essay, which also made a lot of sense. I thought this article was interesting because it examined a unique topic; however, the title was misleading because when I think of traditions, I think of customs, holidays, and even attire, and not necessarily history.

Reflection on lines 216-249

In these lines, Laocoon's death is described in detail. After he runs to try to save his children, he is brutally killed by the serpents. The other Trojan's believe that Laocoon is just paying for his crime (stabbing the horse) and therefore decide to take the horse within their walls. The people are praising the horse and taking it as a good omen and are totally blind to the cruel intentions of it.
Vocab:
-subeuntem
- tela
- sidera
- orandaque
- numina
- quater
Grammar:
- 209 - ablative absolute
- Laocoonta - accusative - Greek form
- 223 - simile
- cunctis - dative of reference
- collo -ablative of separation
- utero - ablative of source or separation

Precis for "Poetry and Power"

          R. J. Tarrant, in his essay, "Poetry and Power: Virgil's poetry in contemporary context" (11-4-12) asserts that all of Virgil's works, especially the Aeneid, have some sort of political criticism embedded within them. The author examines each of Virgil's three major poems, the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid individually, but also cumulatively to prove this point. He looks at specific events and themes in each poem that relate to the social and political issues at the same time they were written. Tarrant also examines other ancient poets that Virgil may have been influenced by, or have worked with that also produced political poetry. The author tries to prove that Virgil is indeed "a politically engaged writer" in order to help the reader acquire a better analyzation of his poetry and how it was perceived by readers in his time (169). Tarrant looks to target an audience composed of those who have read Virgil's or other ancient poet's works.
          This article was pretty convincing, as the author brought up a lot of good points about how each of Virgil's works could be interpreted as a political text. Not only did he look at  the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid individually, but he related them collectively and talked about some of Virgil's continuous political hints. He also brought up a lot of good points about the Aeneid, (some of which we have examined in class), and by giving the reader the history on these certain parts, enables them to look at those parts as politically and socially critical. Personally, the most interesting part for me was when Tarrant talked about Virgil's apparent views on war.