Aeneid 1 presents the Romans as the lords of the world, and the heirs of a destined imperium sine fine (1.279-282). In a stunning deviation from the normal epic conventions, Anchises in his prophecy calls them out by name, tuRomane (6.851), addressing everyone from Aeneas illustrious descendant Augustus down to the humblest member of the poems audience. In the Aeneid, the people cannot afford to serve as they do in Homeric poetry more or less solely as accessories to the sense of fame and honor (the kleos) of individual heroes. In an epic in which the man in the crowd of both past and present has a stake, the Trojan people, as the precursors of the Roman people, must serve as a character in their own right.
To this end, an analysis of the attributes of the various crowds of the Aeneid reveals that they more closely resemble the dangerous and unruly crowds of Romes history than any of the fanciful crowds of the epic universe. This affinity is clear from the outset: the first simile of the poem compares the calming of the upstart winds by Neptune to the calming of an ignobile vulgus by a respected statesman (Aeneid 1.148-153). In his picture of the Trojans, the soon to be incorporated Italians, and other crowds, both human and divine, Vergil has painted a comprehensive picture of the quest to found the Roman race (Romanam condere gentem, 1.33) by telling the story of the ancestors of that race, the sometimes ignobile vulgus who are destined to become the rerum dominos. In the realm of epic poetry, the crowds of Vergil are exceptional. With a better picture of this entity that plays so decisive a role in the history of the nation, the Aeneid can be viewed not merely as an Augustan epic, but a fully Roman one.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-06262011-213346 |
| Date | 29 September 2011 |
| Creators | O'Bryan, Erin Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Professor Mark Possanza, Professor Mae Smethurst, Professor Dennis Looney, Professor Andrew Miller |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-06262011-213346/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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