The Death Of Turnus (Paperback)

INTRODUCTORY NOTE AFTER the publication of Aeneas at the Site of Rome, I went on to the ninth and following books, relieving by such studies the constant anxiety of last winter and spring 1917-18. These last books of the Aeneid seemed to me to demand more knowledge of things Roman and Italian than the earlier ones and a long experience of life and thought in ancient Italy is my only real justification for attempting to illuminate any part of Virgils poems. Once more, then, I venture some observations on a single book, encouraged by much friendly correspondence and criticism. The choice of the twelfth book is explained by the fact that it is the only one of the last four which contains a complete story in itself, while at the same time it forms a magnificent conclusion to the greater story of the whole epic. I may add that it is in my judgment the poets most mature work, and reveah his mind more fully to those who study it closely than any other book but the sixth and I The Death of Turnus that its great wealth of detail and incident, its psychological subtlety, and the comparative difficulty of its language, give it a claim to closer study and more leisurely reflection than any other book in the poem. It is, indeed, so full of dctail and difficulty that it is not easy to grasp the story it tells and to keep it in thc memory. It may be of some use to the reader if, instead of a synopsis-still more bewildering than the poetry, 1 venture to suggest that the book falls conveniently into three parts or acts, of which the first and third are the shortest and most important, and thc second the longest and least interesting to a modern. In the first act down to line 215 we have the earnest endeavour of Aencas and Latinus to make a fair and lasting peace between Trojans and Latins, in accordance with the decrees of Fate. Turnus, however, claims his right to thc hand of Lavinia, and the right to dobattle for it with Aeneas and his furious anger, refusing all compromise, makes a satisfactory peace impossible without a single combat between himself and his rival. Aeneas and Latinus solemnly ratify the treaty with religious rites, but the single combat is to hc allowed, and its decision is to govern the fate of Italy. The second act 216-697 show, s this passionate individual misleading the Italians into a repudiation 2 The Death of Turnus of the treaty just concIuded they think he is unfairly matched with Aeneas they fancy that the omens are in their favour they outrage both civil and religious laws by rushing into the battle. Fighting goes on with varying fortune Aeneas is wounded and healed by his divine mothers heIp to the other side Juno sends divine aid in Juturna. At last the battle inclines against the Latins, Aeneas attacks the city of Laurentum itself, and the Latin queen Amata hangs herself in despair. Turnus is summoned to the point of danger as the last hope of the losing side. The third act 698-end contains the single combat of Turnus and Aeneas, interrupted in the narrative only by a sudden change of scene to OIympus, where Jupiter and Juno settle the course of the future history of Italy by a compromise honourable for both Trojans and Latins. But Tvrnus must first be conquered, for he represents the spirit of disunion and strife and a terrible messenger is sent from Jupiter to effect this by paraIyzing his energies, Aeneas has him at his mercy but wouId have spared him, if his eye had not caught the ill-omened spoil he was wearing, the belt of his victim Pallas, Evanders beautiful son..