![]() ![]() In a similar vein, but taking a slightly more systematic angle on Virgil’s selection, Alexander McKay argues that Virgil is doing something more than simply selecting his vignettes based upon their artistic potential and popularity. The colours and textures Virgil describes, such as the green of Mars’s cave, the gold of the Gaul’s hair and clothes, the blue swelling ocean surrounding the centre panel, and the rough thatching of Romulus’s cottage on the Capitol (perceptible to a 1 st century audience due to its frequent replacement on Augustus’s Palatine version, built to further his association with Romulus) were easily imaginable, especially given that many of the images described were popular subjects of Roman art. For David West, Virgil simply chose vivid, eye-catching scenes which were both artistically striking and popular, and that the reader could imagine working on a real shield. ![]() There have been numerous suggestions regarding Virgil’s selection criteria for the scenes that the shield holds. The events recorded on the shield, of course, will occur long after Aeneas’s own lifetime, but the war he embarks upon will start a chain reaction culminating in the glorious arrival of the Augustan age. He is filled with awe as he beholds scenes he is unable to understand, but must commit himself to setting in motion nonetheless. 296) and inspires Aeneas to pursue his fate. ![]() Venus’s gift to her son is more than simply a protection aid - it is an object that embodies the “legendary authentication of the Augustan principate” (David West, “ Cernere erat: The Shield of Aeneas,” p. Aeneas, unlike Achilles, still has his original armour, and there would be nothing to prevent him using it in the battle against Turnus and the Latins. Aeneas’s shield, on the other hand, has an entirely political function. Decorated with images of agriculture and peaceful city scenes, the shield provides a serene contrast to the bloody battles of the epic, and offers an optimistic image of post-war everyday life. Achilles’s shield is very much required for battle, as his original armour has been lost in battle. As David West points out, however, there are significant differences in the functions that these pieces of armour serve for their recipients and the overall aims of Homer and Virgil. The images represented on the shield embody the epic’s political message, and as Aeneas lifts the great shield into position, it is as if the entire fate of Roman glory rests upon his shoulders.Ĭomparisons have been frequently drawn between the shield given to Aeneas and that given to Achilles in the Iliad. While the narrative frames the gifting of the armour to Aeneas around Venus’s concern for his safety, this is hardly its central function. The shield provides something of a whirlwind history of Rome from its origins with Romulus and Remus, leading up to the claiming of its status as a world-leading power. The lengthy ekphrasis of the shield that follows expands upon its elaborate decoration, which features vignettes depicting various scenes from Rome’s future, the centrepiece being Augustus’s triumph at the battle of Actium, and the subsequent subjection of all nations under Rome’s glorious rule. Through a combination of Vulcan’s artistic sculpturing (we are told of the various metals, colours, and textures the shield contains) and the narrator’s descriptive skill, the ineffable is made comprehensible. ![]() The words that Virgil uses to describe the shield (a non enarrabile textum, an “unexplainable fabric”) convey that interpretation is dependent on the imagination of the reader – the shield needs to be seen in the mind as a tangible object. As Aeneas sits contemplating the upcoming war, Venus brings the armour to him, which consists of a helmet, sword, corslet (breast and back plate), spear, and most significantly a shield, which is the subject of arguably the most complex and thematically significant piece of ekphrasis in the poem. Aeneas’s divine mother, Venus (Cytherea), fretting over her son’s prospects in battle, commissions her husband, Vulcan, to forge a set of armour for him, that will be stronger than anything made by human hands. On the advice of the river god, Tiberinus, Aeneas has sought out an alliance with the Arcadians, a local tribe who are also frequently in conflict with the Latins. The conclusion of book eight of the Aeneid sees Aeneas and the Trojans preparing for battle against the Latins. ![]()
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