Aeneas and Book VI of the "Aeneid"

Paper Summary:

The paper begins by emphasising the importance of Book VI of Virgil's "Aeneid" to the epic as a whole and sketching Aeneas' more mature character at the start of the book. It discusses his meetings with old acquaintances in the underworld and the effect of these on him. After dealing with the comparisons to Homer and discussing the "Augustan propaganda" label, it analyses the message of the Show of Heroes and its inspiring effect on the hero.

From the Paper:

"Furthermore, the most effective example of ad hominem poetry is the sorrowful and slightly speech-deflating lament for Marcellus in lines 868-886, Augustus' own adopted son. The eulogy for him would have commemorated his recent death in battle and been especially effective in impressing and moving Augustus (his sister Octavia, Marcellus' mother, reportedly fainted when the passage was recited). In literary terms, the dramatic, emphatic mention of Marcellus would have set up the later deaths of other such young, valiant warriors such as Euryalus and Pallas, and even would have heightened the pathos of their deaths with reflected glory and sympathy."

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