Aeneid IV, 68-73

[Denise Davis-Henry]

I was wondering why Vergil chooses to place the nescius pastor in the woods of Crete.  Why that fabled island?  Is there some significance?
 
Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
 
Denise Davis-Henry
AP Latin

[John B. Van Sickle]

off the cuff, as it were, Crete fabled (cf. for, fari, fatum) among much else for taurophiliac queen & anomalously monikered progeny Minotaur, though biologic would have dictynnated Pasiphetaur:
myth messed that up....

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[Emmanuelle RAYMOND]

Just an hypothesis: something to do with Anchises's error of interpretation and the Trojan's desastrous trip in Crete?

2011/2/2 Denise Davis-Henry <ddavis...@msn.com>

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[Nelis]

Denise,

Can you get your hands on this article?

Morgan, Gareth (1994): "Dido the Wounded Deer", Vergilius 40, 67-8.

If I remember well, he proposes an answer to your question (but I have forgotten what he says!)

Damien

Le 2 févr. 11 à 16:05, Denise Davis-Henry a écrit :

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[Yvan Nadeau]

The arrow that (through a simile) wounds Dido in Aeneid IV is linked to the arrow that nearly proves fatal to Aeneas in Aeneid XII.  For the intertexts involved, see my "Safe and subsidized. etc" , Editions LATOMUS, Bruxelles 2004; the relevant chapter is Chapter 3, but that chapter is not fully understandable without reading Chapter 1.  The matter of Cretan arrows is again discussed in Chapter 5, which is centered on Hor. c. 1. 15.  Section 11 of that chapter is the most directly relevant, but the whole chapter consists of a close-knit argument and reading one section on its own might seem to beg all sorts of questions. 

I am sorry to refer to a work of my own, but there we are: that's where I try to explain what you are asking about.

yn

Yvan Nadeau
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[Connor, Donald]

R.D. Williams points out in his note on line 70 that archery is particularly associated witth Crete.

--

[Leofranc Holford-Strevens]

Exactly: the question is whether ‘Cretan’ is simply a conventional epitheton ornans like Tyrrhene for trumpets, or makes a point [sorry for the pun] and in the latter case what.

 

Leofranc Holford-Strevens
67 St Bernard's Road
Oxford usque adeone
OX2 6EJ scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter?

tel. +44 (0) 1865 552808 (home)/353865 (work) fax +44 (0) 1865 512237

[Mark Gutkowski]

In book 3 of the Aeneid, Anchises also references that Crete is the home of the Trojan's 'Great Mother', Cybele.  In book 10, the nymphs of Cybele, which were formerly the boats of Aeneas, will come to him as he sails and spur him to rush back in order to help Iulus in the fight against Turnus.  I don't know much about Cybele, but as she is responsible for turning the boats into nymphs and the boats are responsible for spurring Aeneas forth, I can't help think that there might be some sort of loose connection here to this goddess.

Mark.

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Subject: RE: VIRGIL: Aeneid IV, 68-73

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[John B. Van Sickle]

Parto toquere cydonia cornu | spicula

[falmouth]

uritur infelix Dido totaque uagatur
urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerua sagitta,
quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit               70
pastor agens telis liquitque uolatile ferrum
nescius: illa fuga siluas saltusque peragrat
Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis harundo.

1. Where we remain puzzled in such a studied text as Aeneid 4, I think it's reasonable to suspect that we're missing substantial parts of the evidence.

2. I feel sure that the main reference of Aen. 4.68-73 is to Valerius Cato's Dictynna, although the evidence has to be pieced together from scant remains. The influence of this poem would have been comparable to e.g. Catullus 64, Cinna's Smyrna and Calvus' Io and it was doubtless a poem of a similar type.

3. Valerius Cato's Dictynna undoubtedly told the story of Minos and Britomartis. The main evidence for the content of Valerius Cato's treatment is, I think (1) Callimachus Hymn 3.189-205, an important model; (2) [Verg]. Ciris 291-305, which likely reproduces some of Valerius Cato's own words verbatim (cf. Lyne (1978); Connors (1991)). I have quoted these in full below

ἔξοχα δ᾽ ἀλλάων Γορτυνίδα φίλαο νύμφην,

ἐλλοφόνον Βριτόμαρτιν ἐύσκοπον: ἧς ποτε Μίνως

πτοιηθεὶς ὑπ᾽ ἔρωτι κατέδραμεν οὔρεα Κρήτης.

ἣ δ᾽ ὁτὲ μὲν λασίηισιν ὑπὸ δρυσὶ κρύπτετο νύμφη,

ἄλλοτε δ᾽ εἱαμενῆισιν: ὃ δ᾽ ἐννέα μῆνας ἐφοίτα

παίπαλά τε κρημνούς τε καὶ οὐκ ἀνέπαυσε διωκτύν,

μέσφ᾽ ὅτε μαρπτομένη καὶ δὴ σχεδὸν ἥλατο πόντον

πρηόνος ἐξ ὑπάτοιο καὶ ἔνθορεν εἰς ἁλιήων

δίκτυα, τά σφ᾽ ἐσάωσαν: ὅθεν μετέπειτα Κύδωνες

νύμφην μὲν Δίκτυναν, ὄρος δ᾽ ὅθεν ἥλατο νύμφη

Δικταῖον καλέουσιν, ἀνεστήσαντο δὲ βωμούς

ἱερά τε ῥέζουσι: τὸ δὲ στέφος ἤματι κείνωι

ἢ πίτυς ἢ σχῖνος, μύρτοιο δὲ χεῖρες ἄθικτοι:

δὴ τότε γὰρ πέπλοισιν ἐνέσχετο μύρσινος ὄζος

τῆς κούρης, ὅτ᾽ ἔφευγεν: ὅθεν μέγα χώσατο μύρτωι.

Οὖπι ἄνασς᾽ εὐῶπι φαεσφόρε, καὶ δὲ σὲ κείνην

Κρηταέες καλέουσιν ἐπωνυμίην ἀπὸ νύμφης.

(Callimachus Hymn 3.189-205)

'o mihi nunc iterum crudelis reddite Minos,

o iterum nostrae Minos inimice senectae,

semper aut olim natae te propter eundem

aut amor insanae luctum portauit alumnae.

tene ego tam longe capta atque auecta nequiui,  290

tam graue seruitium, tam duros passa labores,

effugere, o bis iam exitium crudele meorum?

iam iam nec nobis aequo senioribus ullum,

uiuere uti cupiam, uiuit genus. ut quid ego amens

te erepta, o Britomarti, mei spes una sepulcri,  295

te, Britomarti, diem potui producere uitae?

atque utinam celeri nec tantum grata Dianae

uenatus esses uirgo sectata uirorum,

Cnosia nec Partho contendens spicula cornu

Dictaeas ageres ad gramina nota capellas. 300

numquam tam obnixe fugiens Minois amores

praeceps aerii specula de montis iisses,

unde alii fugisse ferunt et nomen Aphaeae

uirginis assignant, alii, quo notior esses,

Dictynam dixere tuo de nomine Lunam. 305

4. The story is essentially this: Britomartis is the virgin huntress, the Cretan Diana; Minos falls in love with her; he hunts her throughout the wilds of Crete; on the point of being caught, she throws herself off a cliff (and is saved by sailors' nets - diktua - or metamorphosised). We can easily guess the sort of themes that Valerius Cato's poem will have explored: Britomartis, the huntress, becomes the hunted, pursued by the lustful Minos; the physical hunt as a trope for (rejected) love; the wound inflicted by the huntress's arrows as a trope for the Amor's wounds and arrows. 

5. The connection with Aeneid 4.68-73 at the most general level is thus fairly obvious: this will have been the most well-known treatment of hunting in Crete in previous Latin literature; more specifically, hunting as a trope for love, is, of course, singularly apposite in the context of Aen. 4.68-73.

6. But one can be yet more specific about the connection between Aen. 4.68-73 and Valerius Cato's Dictynna: DServ. on Aen. 4.73 reads: 'Dictaeos: Cretenses. Cervae vulneratae dictamnum quaerunt [qua gustata ferae vulneribus tela depellunt: ut in Aen.12.414 legimus

purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris / gramina]'. The commentator is explaining the epithet Dictaeos as meaning Cretan, because 'wounded deers seek dittany' making an etymological connection between 'dictamnum' and 'Dictaeos'. But the comment provokes thought for two reasons: (i) one would more probably expect the etymological connection to be the other way around - i.e. dittany, so-called because it grew around Mt. Dicte in Crete; and (ii) while the prompt for the comment is simply to explain Dictaeos as Crete, it actually explains the narrative content of the simile: for the simile is talking about deers wounded in Crete. Connors (1991) coming at the issue from the opposite direction (i.e. she adduces Aen. 4.68-73 and the Servian comment to explain Ciris 300 and connect it to Valerius Cato), notices the same point; she also notes the similarity between 'incognita...gramina' (Aen. 12.414) and Ciris 300 'ad gramina nota'. So, this all together, reinforces the suggestion that not only did Valerius Cato's Dictynna deal with hunting in Crete in an amatory context, but it also contained reference to wounded deers seeking dittany. So the 'wounded deer' of Aen. 4.68-73, we should be yet more sure, comes from Valerius Cato's Dictynna.

7. A further Servian comment, not noticed by Connors clinches the point: this is DServ. on Aen. 3.171: 'Dictaea; Dictaeus mons Cretae est, [ubi herba Dictamnos nascitur, quae admota vulneribus, ferrum inhaerens solet expellere, qui mons] dictus [est] a Dicte Nympha, quae illic colitur, [quam cum Minos rex amaret et insequeretur per loca avia, illa se amore castitatis praecipitem dedit et excepta piscatorum retibus in vita reducta est, a qua rex abstinuit, et nomine eius Dictaea loca appellari iussit, in hoc monte] (in quo) dicitur altus Iuppiter: ut (G. 4.152) "Dictaeo caeli regem pavere sub antro. Negat tibi Iuppiter arva" ex definito. Et bene Iuppiter: quasi ipse qui Cretensibus praeest.". Here, although Britomartis is not mentioned by name, DServ. is obviously explaining the Britomartis story. This comment also explains the more compressed comment at Aen. 4.73 - 'dictamnum' derived from Mount Dicte, derived from the nymph Dicte (=Britomartis). We can also suspect that the original commentator actually knew the Latin text of Valerius Cato's Dictynna: compare Ciris 302 'praeceps... iisses'[1]  with 'praecipitem dedit'. But the most important point is that here 'dictamnum' - i.e. that which cures the (arrow/spear) wounds of deer - is specifically connected with the Britomartis story, and, therefore, will almost certainly have been part of Valerius Cato's Dictynna.

8. And the purpose of such an allusion at Aen. 4.68-73? Obviously, without specific knowledge of Valerius Cato's poem this is near impossible to recover fully, but (i) the scene in Valerius Cato surely had an erotic context, or played against, an erotic situation - i.e. Minos pursuing Britomartis (=Diana) - (e.g. dictamnum can cure the arrow wounds of deer, but there is no medicimina for the arrow wounds of love); (ii) we should surely remember how Dido was introduced in Book 1, likened to Diana (=Britomartis) (1.498-504); and (iii) it is surely relevant that Britomartis committed (attempted?) suicide in order to preserve her chastity (compare - Aen. 4.28-29 - and contrast Dido) to escape the unwelcome amatory attentions of Minos.        

[1] If 'iisses' is the correct reading - see Lyne ad loc.

[Mark Gutkowski]

I completely buy into the Valerius Cato allusion--thank you for taking the time to source the whole thing. It was exciting to read.

I'm going to throw one more thing into the mix about Crete, Cybele and ditanny which might emphasize or perhaps expand in some way a point that you make in #6. In book XII of the Aeneid, Venus uses dittany from Mt. Ida on Crete in order to heal Aeneas' wound. The deer who is seeking dittany to heal itself in the Valerius Cato allusion is then taken up by Vergil in two places--the book IV simile, but also towards the end of Book XII. Perhaps Vergil is attempting to connect to that same wounded deer from book IV, i.e.: Dido and thereby the story of Britomartis, to Aeneas in some way in the end?

Mark.

-----Original Message-----
From: mant...@googlegroups.com on behalf of falmouth
Sent: Wed 2/2/2011 5:24 PM
To: mant...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: RE: VIRGIL: Aeneid IV, 68-73

uritur infelix Dido totaque uagatur
urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerua sagitta,
quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit 70
pastor agens telis liquitque uolatile ferrum
nescius: illa fuga siluas saltusque peragrat
Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis harundo.

1. Where we remain puzzled in such a studied text as Aeneid 4, I think it's
reasonable to suspect that we're missing substantial parts of the evidence.

2. I feel sure that the main reference of Aen. 4.68-73 is to Valerius Cato's
Dictynna, although the evidence has to be pieced together from scant
remains. The influence of this poem would have been comparable to e.g.
Catullus 64, Cinna's Smyrna and Calvus' Io and it was doubtless a poem of a
similar type.

3. Valerius Cato's Dictynna undoubtedly told the story of Minos and
Britomartis. The main evidence for the content of Valerius Cato's treatment
is, I think (1) Callimachus Hymn 3.189-205, an important model; (2) [Verg].

Ciris 291-305, which likely reproduces some of Valerius Cato's own words *
verbatim* (cf. Lyne (1978); Connors (1991)). I have quoted these in full
below

????? ?? ?????? ????????? ????? ??????,
????????? ??????????? ????????: ?? ???? ?????
????????? ??? ????? ?????????? ????? ??????.
? ?? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????,
?????? ?? ???????????: ? ?? ????? ????? ??????
??????? ?? ???????? ?? ??? ??? ???????? ???????,
????? ??? ?????????? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ??????
??????? ?? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ??????
??????, ?? ??? ???????: ???? ????????? ???????
?????? ??? ????????, ???? ?? ???? ????? ?????
???????? ?????????, ??????????? ?? ??????
???? ?? ???????: ?? ?? ?????? ????? ??????
? ????? ? ??????, ??????? ?? ?????? ???????:
?? ???? ??? ????????? ???????? ???????? ????
??? ??????, ??? ???????: ???? ???? ?????? ??????.
???? ?????? ????? ????????, ??? ?? ?? ??????
???????? ????????? ????????? ??? ??????.
(Callimachus Hymn 3.189-205)

4.68-73 and Valerius Cato's Dictynna: DServ. on Aen. 4.73 reads: '*
Dictaeos: *Cretenses. Cervae vulneratae dictamnum quaerunt [qua gustata

ferae vulneribus tela depellunt: ut in Aen.12.414 legimus

*purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris / **gramina*]'. The commentator

Britomartis (=Diana) - (e.g. *dictamnum* can cure the arrow wounds of deer,
but there is no *medicimina* for the arrow wounds of love); (ii) we should

surely remember how Dido was introduced in Book 1, likened to Diana
(=Britomartis) (1.498-504); and (iii) it is surely relevant that Britomartis
committed (attempted?) suicide in order to preserve her chastity (compare -
Aen. 4.28-29 - and contrast Dido) to escape the unwelcome amatory attentions
of Minos.

[1] If 'iisses' is the correct reading - see Lyne ad loc.

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[Yvan Nadeau]

Yes, dittany, Aeneas' arrow-wound in Aeneid XII, Medea, all come into it, Vergil's main point being that the arrow that strikes Aeneas in XII is to be associated with the wound Aeneas' metaphorical arrow deals Dido in Aeneid IV. 

yn

Yvan Nadeau
yvann...@btinternet.com
3/13 Forrest Hill
EDINBURGH EH1 2QL
0131-225-8240
http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/staff/hon_fellows/ynadeau/index.html

[falmouth]

Yvan, I'll have to read your book. Do you also see the connection with
the Britomartis story and Valerius Cato, in the complex involving
dictamnum? If this is correct, I'm not sure that it's well-known. I do
remember reading O'Hara (1993) ' "Medicine for the Madness of Dido and
Gallus," Vergilius 39 (1993), pp. 12-24 who argues for the influence
of Gallus in this simile, but I think he's partially misled by
assuming that 'Partho torquere cydonia cornu / spicula' in Ecl. 10
comes from Gallus rather than from Valerius Cato (which is not to say
that Gallus cannot have echoed Valerius Cato; on the contrary, I think
he may well have done).

On a wilder sidenote, having seen O'Hara connect dictamnum with
Gallus, I've never been able to read Gallus Fr. 1 'uno tellures
dividit amne duas.' without 'noticing' a possible pun in 'uno tellures
divi - *ditamne* duas' - the most persuasive argument as to the
context of this line is that it refers to Io's wanderings stung by the
oestrus (i.e. referring to Calvus' Io), but a parallel reference to
Valerius Cato's wounded deer (for the stories are easliy parallelled),
could comfortably have appeared in the immediate vicinity.

We surely do have to connect Aeneas' arrow-wound in Bk 12 to the deer
simile in Book 4 as both being part of this complex revolving around
dictamnum, but I remain unsure as to the point in Book 12. I wonder
whether the idea is to surreptitiously reinforce the erotic overtones
[1] of Turnus' and Aeneas' fight (i.e. Turnus is fighting out of love
for Lavinia; Aeneas out of love for ... the dead Pallas). Presumably
or perhaps, the wounding of Silvia's stag is also part of this
complex.

[1] NB the involvement of Venus - and 'Hic Venus *indigno* nati
con*cussa* *dolore*' 12.411 - cf. 'amore percussum gravi' Hor. Epode
11.2 (from Gallus? - see Luck (1971); and 'indigno cum Gallus amore
peribat?' Ecl. 10, again from Gallus.

On Feb 2, 11:49 pm, Yvan Nadeau <yvannad...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Yes, dittany, Aeneas' arrow-wound in Aeneid XII, Medea, all come into
> it, Vergil's main point being that the arrow that strikes Aeneas in XII
> is to be associated with the wound Aeneas' metaphorical arrow deals Dido
> in Aeneid IV.
>
> yn
>
> Yvan Nadeau

> yvannad...@btinternet.com

> 3/13 Forrest Hill
> EDINBURGH EH1 2QL

> 0131-225-8240http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/staff/hon_fellows/ynadeau/index.html

>
> On 02/02/2011 22:24, falmouth wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > uritur infelix Dido totaque uagatur
> > urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerua sagitta,
> > quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit               70
> > pastor agens telis liquitque uolatile ferrum
> > nescius: illa fuga siluas saltusque peragrat
> > Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis harundo.
>
> > 1. Where we remain puzzled in such a studied text as Aeneid 4, I think
> > it's reasonable to suspect that we're missing substantial parts of the
> > evidence.
>
> > 2. I feel sure that the main reference of Aen. 4.68-73 is to Valerius
> > Cato's Dictynna, although the evidence has to be pieced together from
> > scant remains. The influence of this poem would have been comparable
> > to e.g. Catullus 64, Cinna's Smyrna and Calvus' Io and it was
> > doubtless a poem of a similar type.
>
> > 3. Valerius Cato's Dictynna undoubtedly told the story of Minos and
> > Britomartis. The main evidence for the content of Valerius Cato's
> > treatment is, I think (1) Callimachus Hymn 3.189-205, an important
> > model; (2) [Verg]. Ciris 291-305, which likely reproduces some of

> > Valerius Cato's own words/verbatim/ (cf. Lyne (1978); Connors (1991)).

> > I have quoted these in full below
>

> > ἔξοχα δ᾽ ἀλλάων Γορτυνίδα φίλαο νύμφην,
> > ἐλλοφόνον Βριτόμαρτιν ἐύσκοπον: ἧς ποτε Μίνως
> > πτοιηθεὶς ὑπ᾽ ἔρωτι κατέδραμεν οὔρεα Κρήτης.
> > ἣ δ᾽ ὁτὲ μὲν λασίηισιν ὑπὸ δρυσὶ κρύπτετο νύμφη,
> > ἄλλοτε δ᾽ εἱαμενῆισιν: ὃ δ᾽ ἐννέα μῆνας ἐφοίτα
> > παίπαλά τε κρημνούς τε καὶ οὐκ ἀνέπαυσε διωκτύν,
> > μέσφ᾽ ὅτε μαρπτομένη καὶ δὴ σχεδὸν ἥλατο πόντον
> > πρηόνος ἐξ ὑπάτοιο καὶ ἔνθορεν εἰς ἁλιήων
> > δίκτυα, τά σφ᾽ ἐσάωσαν: ὅθεν μετέπειτα Κύδωνες
> > νύμφην μὲν Δίκτυναν, ὄρος δ᾽ ὅθεν ἥλατο νύμφη
> > Δικταῖον καλέουσιν, ἀνεστήσαντο δὲ βωμούς
> > ἱερά τε ῥέζουσι: τὸ δὲ στέφος ἤματι κείνωι
> > ἢ πίτυς ἢ σχῖνος, μύρτοιο δὲ χεῖρες ἄθικτοι:
> > δὴ τότε γὰρ πέπλοισιν ἐνέσχετο μύρσινος ὄζος
> > τῆς κούρης, ὅτ᾽ ἔφευγεν: ὅθεν μέγα χώσατο μύρτωι.
> > Οὖπι ἄνασς᾽ εὐῶπι φαεσφόρε, καὶ δὲ σὲ κείνην
> > Κρηταέες καλέουσιν ἐπωνυμίην ἀπὸ νύμφης.

> > '/Dictaeos: /Cretenses. Cervae vulneratae dictamnum quaerunt [qua

> > gustata ferae vulneribus tela depellunt: ut in Aen.12.414 legimus

> > /purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris / //gramina/]'. The

> > Minos pursuing Britomartis (=Diana) - (e.g. /dictamnum/can cure the
> > arrow wounds of deer, but there is no/medicimina/for the arrow wounds

> > of love); (ii) we should surely remember how Dido was introduced in
> > Book 1, likened to Diana (=Britomartis) (1.498-504); and (iii) it is
> > surely relevant that Britomartis committed (attempted?) suicide in
> > order to preserve her chastity (compare - Aen. 4.28-29 - and contrast
> > Dido) to escape the unwelcome amatory attentions of Minos.
>
> > [1] If 'iisses' is the correct reading - see Lyne ad loc.
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google

> > Groups "Mantovano" group. To post, send email to mantov...@virgil.org.

[Martin50]

The Cretan imagery certainly needs to be assessed with reference to
archery but O'Hara (Inconsistency in Roman Epic) points out that Crete
was famous for something else, that is lies, and that this bit of fame
raises questions about Jupiter, the Dictaean King.
The deceptions practised by Rhea with her stone and the Curetes with
their clashing shields were crucial to Jupiter's rise to power but it
was all for a moral purpose and Jupiter has a moral principle, that
there should be no easy way. This principle much in evidence in A12,
where there is certainly no easy way for Aeneas, which implies that -
even where V makes a point of raising the question 'casusve deusve?' -
it must be Jupiter's hand that guides the arrow. The principle of 'no
easy way' makes it very difficult for Jupiter to offer fully credible
reassurance - you make the way easy in some sense if you explain how
the obstacles can be overcome.
So Venus' decision to hunt Dido down like a deer seems to spring from
her mistrust of Jupiter's reassurances. She uses a psychological
arrow but also arranges physical contact through Cupid, a contact
which functions like a poison on the dart, and the attack results not
so much in Dido's believing lies that are told to her (unless we take
the unusual view that Aeneas is lying about the fall of Troy) but in
gradual readiness to deceive herself, particularly about the
questionable 'pretext of marriage'.
When Aeneas is shot Venus, acting with a plain disobedience to Jupiter
that he is prepared for reasons of his own to overlook, again arranges
physical contact through her medical cocktail of dictamnum, ambrosia
and panacea. (It seems a shame we can't get hold of it - Conington
arranged a report from a traveller in Crete who mentioned that dittany
was still regarded (unless the Cretans were lying?) as useful in
staunching the flow of blood.) Cretan treatment for a Cretan wound -
an appeal to the idea that the problem and the cure are part of the
same system. Where Dido's wound was aggravated, Aeneas' wound is
relieved - though this is treatment rather than full cure. The arrow
falls out and the blood clots (perhaps the Cretans weren't lying) but
Aeneas is still 'saucius'. Gradually, through stages and reversals,
he attains to a passionate conviction about the right thing to do -
kill Turnus. We always notice the passion here but Aeneas is also
showing a kind of mental clarity which brings him in line with what we
already know is necessary under Jupiter's decree. Turnus is also
shown, not in time to save his life but in time to show that there is
a lot in common between him and Aeneas, as reaching mental clarity by
an even more difficult or brutal route.
We are left to ponder where the truth lies - was the right thing
done? Even more important, have we now, gradually as we have read on,
understand the Dictaean King's real meaning in his remarks about the
fate of Rome to the other gods, which are also the poet's remarks or
prophecies to his readers? Is the poem an arrow striking us with
dangerous illusions or a useful bunch of woolly-leaved dittany keeping
illusion within limits?

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