Arbieroo reviewed The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro (Penguin classics)
Review of 'The Aeneid' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Starting this with the Iliad still pretty fresh in my mind did it no favours; Homer casts a long and deep shadow.
Virgil's aim was bold, ambitious and entirely propagandist - he wanted to create an epic, mythic origin story for Rome and Romans and along the way laud Roman history and chose Homer as his model. In many respects his pastiche is spot-on. He creates an Iliad and an Oddysey for his hero, Aeneas, though he swaps the order, making him wander the Meditereanian world first and fight a war second. Homer's switching between divine and mortal action is also present - the gods keeping their petty squabbling family shtick up on Olympus and their great majesty when meddling in the lives of mortals - which they do here, as in the Iliad. Virgil even matches much of the style of Homer, with the extended metaphorical flourishes and descriptions …
Starting this with the Iliad still pretty fresh in my mind did it no favours; Homer casts a long and deep shadow.
Virgil's aim was bold, ambitious and entirely propagandist - he wanted to create an epic, mythic origin story for Rome and Romans and along the way laud Roman history and chose Homer as his model. In many respects his pastiche is spot-on. He creates an Iliad and an Oddysey for his hero, Aeneas, though he swaps the order, making him wander the Meditereanian world first and fight a war second. Homer's switching between divine and mortal action is also present - the gods keeping their petty squabbling family shtick up on Olympus and their great majesty when meddling in the lives of mortals - which they do here, as in the Iliad. Virgil even matches much of the style of Homer, with the extended metaphorical flourishes and descriptions of brutal injury and death in battle.
So why is the Aeneid really not as good (whilst still worth the time to read)? It took me a while to figure it out, but the conclusion I came to is character. The Iliad is driven entirely by action determined by character. The opening squabble between Menelaus and Achilles is followed by a sulk that only the death of Achilles' best-loved friend can end. These events are entirely predicated on the egos of both characters. Contrast Hector and Paris, brave noble warrior and cowardly borther who won't genuinely accept responsibility for causing the most brutal war in "history." Meanwhile Aeneas remains mostly a cypher, just doing what he is told the gods expect of him -and the gods! Juno, Venus and Jupiter are pale imitations of Aphrodite, Hera and Zeus. Even Helen gets more depth, subtlety and motivation than poor Lavinia, with her one line of dialogue.
The abrupt end of the unfinished story doesn't help but at least there's some resolution.
All of that said, being lesser than Homer seems to be the fate of all subsequent epic poets and The Iliad is so good that being not nearly as good doesn't preclude still being remarkable and justly famous.