And this is the second ecphrasis in Book VI.Īnchises describes to Aeneas a veritable pageant of Roman heroes who will reward Aeneas’s journey to Italy. But Anchises is entertaining himself by counting the descendants of the Roman race. After passing the hell of Tartarus and arriving at the heaven of the Elysian fields, Aeneas and the Sibyl meet some Trojan heroes, warriors, and singers who are pursuing the occupations they followed in life. The last section is connected with the glory of the future. This is especially brought home to him by Dido, who now coldly rejects him just as he rejected her. Aeneas is sorrowful and desolate, but he cannot change things. He meets three ghosts: Palinurus, a Trojan helmsman who was swept overboard by the god Sleep near the end of the journey to Italy and cannot cross the Styx–Aeneas feels guilty Dido, who will not speak to him and glides away, despite Aeneas’s begging for forgiveness and Deiphobus, a Trojan hero, Helen’s second Trojan husband after Paris’ death, who was killed by her bloody betrayal to Menelaus. He also refers to Plato (the Phaedo, the Republic, etc.), Cicero’s Dream of Scipio, and even Aristophanes’ comic riffs on heroes in the Underworld, The Frogs.
Virgil has drawn on material from the 11th book of the Odyssey, Odysseus’ visit to the underworld.
And it immediately grows back on the tree. He needs the bough to enter the underworld. Aeneas breaks off the golden bough, a symbol of life and death. Some believe that this absence of the son in the engravings is a kind of reversal of the absence of Aeneas in Anchises’s underworld: Daedalus’s son is dead, presumably in the underworld Aeneas’ father Anchises is dead, in the underworld.Īfter prayers, sacrifices, and the funeral proceedings for Misenus, who has died seemingly at random, reminding us of the brevity of life, is the mystery of what Aeneas is about to undergo, a visit to death and return. Here the engravings are more remote, mysterious, and we also see the absence of a portrayal by Daedalus of his son Icarus’s death. There Aeneas was overcome by depictions of the Trojan War on the walls of the temple of Juno, but here we do not feel that emotion. “This time does not demand those sights you are gazing on.” (This is not the time for sighteseeing.)ĭaedalus’ engravings of the labyrinth, the death of Minos’ son, and the Minotaur are an ecphrasis, such as we saw in Book I.
Non hoc ista sibi tempus spectacula poscit. Why? Is it too dream-like? Is the underworld more real? On the doors of the temple are Daedalus’ (mythic) engravings the Sibyl immediately tells Aeneas not to linger. The mention of Cumae would have evoked recognition, due to Augustus’ recent restoration of the temple. Ecphrasis is an epic convention, and of course Virgil has crafted many beautiful, vivid ecphrases in The Aeneid.Īeneas lands at Cumae in Italy, the site of the temple of the Sibyl, Apollo’s priestess and oracle. And Catullus in Poem 64 describes the detail on a coverlet. Virgil would also have been familiar with the ecphrasis in some lesser known ancient poetry, Apollonious’ The Argonautica, which describes details on Jason’s cloak. Virgil looked to the brilliant ecphrases in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey for inspiration: Homer’s most famous ecphrasis occurs in Book 18 of the Iliad, a delineation of the engravings on Achilles’ shield, made by the god Haephaestus for Achilles. Ecphrasis is a Greek word simply meaning description, and is used in poetry to describe an artifact or work of art in such a way that it makes a meaningful comment on the text, or illumines it in some way. We do not, however, commonly talk about ecphrasis. In English literature, we take for granted many of the conventions of classical literature, among them characterization, plot, speeches, similes, metaphors, imagery, and symbols. In Book VI Aeneas is entranced by two ecphrases and two gates. It is divided into three parts: Aeneas’ arrival at Cumae and preparations for the descent (1-263) the journey through the underworld to Elysium (264-678) and the interview with Anchises about the nature of life beyond the grave and the vision of greatness of Rome’s future through a pageant of Roman heroes (679-end). Or does he? Why does he return through the ivory gate–the gate of false dreams–rather than the horn gate–the gate of true dreams? This extremely philosophical and mystical book raises many questions. Aeneas must descend into the underworld–the world of the dead–before he can acquire the knowledge to live in Italy. Aeneas has completed the journey to Italy, but has not yet fought a war to establish a place for the Trojan refugees.