1 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:08,425 We're going to turn now to some of the details in Book one. 2 00:00:08,425 --> 00:00:13,548 I want to focus on a couple of scenes there, to get us used to reading Virgil's 3 00:00:13,548 --> 00:00:16,621 poetry. We're going to see obvious examples, that 4 00:00:16,621 --> 00:00:21,743 of parallels between the stories that Virgil tells, and the story that we see in 5 00:00:21,743 --> 00:00:25,265 Homer's Odyssey. Just to point out a couple of these. 6 00:00:25,265 --> 00:00:29,939 There are wanderings, of course. Aeneas is moving around the Mediterranean, 7 00:00:29,939 --> 00:00:34,037 in a way that parallels Odysseus', nostos, his journey home. 8 00:00:34,229 --> 00:00:39,640 Aeneas is on his way to found a home, though, he's trying to find a place where 9 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:44,712 a home doesn't exist and create one, whereas Odysseus is trying to get back to 10 00:00:44,712 --> 00:00:49,890 a home that already pre-exists. Odysseus is trying to fight to regain his 11 00:00:49,890 --> 00:00:53,403 kingdom. Aeneas will have to fight mightily in 12 00:00:53,403 --> 00:00:57,146 order to gain a kingdom, one he didn't own before. 13 00:00:57,146 --> 00:01:02,739 Odysseus is harried by Poseidon. Aeneas is going to be harried also but in 14 00:01:02,739 --> 00:01:05,907 this case, by Juno. Odysseus is going to be protected and 15 00:01:05,907 --> 00:01:09,471 looked out after by Athena. In Aeneas' case, he'll be looked out, 16 00:01:09,641 --> 00:01:12,300 looked after and protected by his mother, Venus. 17 00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:14,733 There'll be lots of others for you to find. 18 00:01:14,733 --> 00:01:19,202 Keep in mind, though, with every parallel that you find, there's going to be some 19 00:01:19,202 --> 00:01:22,030 Virgilian twist. The parallels are not ever 100%. 20 00:01:22,030 --> 00:01:26,896 One of the great scholars of this whole material, a man named Niko Knauer who was 21 00:01:26,896 --> 00:01:29,724 here at University of Pennsylvania for many years. 22 00:01:29,894 --> 00:01:35,557 Wrote literally the book on looking at these parallels and talks about how even 23 00:01:35,557 --> 00:01:40,188 down to little pieces of sentences and vocabulary choices Virgil, is making 24 00:01:40,188 --> 00:01:44,960 references to Homeric backgrounds and each time he does he's tweaking it just a 25 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:47,943 little bit. There's never any lock step repetition 26 00:01:47,943 --> 00:01:52,238 that happens; borrowings but always changes and those changes are always 27 00:01:52,238 --> 00:01:56,294 interesting to have a look at. I thought an example of this would be 28 00:01:56,294 --> 00:01:58,918 worth our spending a little time looking at. 29 00:01:58,918 --> 00:02:03,631 Let's go to a famous scene in Book One where Odysseus has washed up onshore of 30 00:02:03,631 --> 00:02:08,224 Carthage and is trying to figure out what's happening in what he's seeing in 31 00:02:08,224 --> 00:02:10,610 front of him. And over the top of a hill. 32 00:02:10,610 --> 00:02:15,642 Well, he a, a beautiful site comes into his eyes for him and a companion, that are 33 00:02:15,642 --> 00:02:18,861 looking down and what hap, what's happening in Carthage. 34 00:02:18,861 --> 00:02:22,138 Meanwhile, the two men pressed on, where the pathway lead. 35 00:02:22,138 --> 00:02:26,995 Soon climbing a long a ridge that gave a view down over the city and facing towers. 36 00:02:26,995 --> 00:02:31,677 And he has found where lately hut's had been marvelous building, gateways, cabled 37 00:02:31,677 --> 00:02:35,480 ways and dinner wagons. There the Terriens were hard at work lane 38 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,816 courses for walls. Rolling up stones to build the Citadel 39 00:02:38,816 --> 00:02:42,854 while others picked up building sites and ploughed a boundary furrow. 40 00:02:42,854 --> 00:02:44,610 Laws were being enacted. Magic, 41 00:02:44,610 --> 00:02:48,912 Straignts of a secret Senate chosen. Here, men were dredging harbors, there 42 00:02:48,912 --> 00:02:53,450 they laid the deep foundation of the theater and quarried massive pillars to 43 00:02:53,450 --> 00:02:57,280 enhance the future stage. As bees in early summer and sunlight, in 44 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:02,113 the flowering fields hummed at their work and bring along the young full-grown to 45 00:03:02,113 --> 00:03:05,177 bee hood. As they cram cones with honey bringing all 46 00:03:05,177 --> 00:03:10,069 the cells with nectar or take newcomer's plunder or like troops alerted drive away 47 00:03:10,069 --> 00:03:13,900 the lazy drones and labor thrives and sweet time sends the honey. 48 00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:20,170 Aeneas said how fortunate these are whose city walls are rising here and now. 49 00:03:20,170 --> 00:03:24,680 So what we've got in this scene is something that we've seen in Homer. 50 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,250 Multiple times that this idea of the approach to an unknown. 51 00:03:29,250 --> 00:03:31,879 Village. The, landing on an unknown shore and 52 00:03:31,879 --> 00:03:36,181 making an approach to a village. Aeneas had just done that so on the one 53 00:03:36,181 --> 00:03:40,005 hand we can say, sure. But there also seems to be a parallel here 54 00:03:40,005 --> 00:03:42,276 with Odysseus landing on Scyrea. Right? 55 00:03:42,276 --> 00:03:47,116 There's a grand citadel that he's looking at; it's quite marvelous and amazing to 56 00:03:47,116 --> 00:03:49,865 him. So there's parallels there that are quite 57 00:03:49,865 --> 00:03:52,852 obvious. But look a little bit more closely and we 58 00:03:52,852 --> 00:03:55,960 can locate a couple of really important differences. 59 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,859 Remember when Odysseus is standing there at the threshold in Scyrea how amazed he 60 00:04:00,859 --> 00:04:04,519 is by the wealth. He sees this beautiful of shiny things, 61 00:04:04,519 --> 00:04:10,310 gold and silver and lapis, blue things. The gorgeous stones around him, the 62 00:04:10,310 --> 00:04:14,198 materials, the fine craftsmanship and workmanship. 63 00:04:14,198 --> 00:04:20,307 He's amazed by the careful craft, the extreme wealth that he sees in front of 64 00:04:20,307 --> 00:04:23,560 him. These are the things that he admires. 65 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,579 What does Virgil have Aeneas admire? Aeneas admires the orderliness of this 66 00:04:28,579 --> 00:04:32,060 whole thing. They're, the building of the walls is, to 67 00:04:32,060 --> 00:04:35,406 him, amazing. They're working like bees together in 68 00:04:35,406 --> 00:04:39,756 perfect unison and harmony. They're bringing good things to store, 69 00:04:39,756 --> 00:04:44,441 they're organizing things, they have a, a senate set up and laws set up. 70 00:04:44,441 --> 00:04:49,997 Each of these templates, Virgil's looking at different aspects of the ordering of a 71 00:04:49,997 --> 00:04:55,284 society, architecturally, in a civic way, according to legal structures, according 72 00:04:55,284 --> 00:04:59,584 to political structures. It, Aeneas is having a hug wash of 73 00:04:59,584 --> 00:05:04,786 admiration, not just for wealth. For example a wash of admiration for a 74 00:05:04,786 --> 00:05:08,500 carefully constructed society that's going to work well. 75 00:05:08,669 --> 00:05:12,390 This is a classic way that Virgil, yes, draws on Homeric precedents. 76 00:05:12,390 --> 00:05:16,957 But always turns them in some kind of interesting way, to add to his own story 77 00:05:16,957 --> 00:05:21,073 and the story that he tells. It's helping us to mark the ways in which 78 00:05:21,073 --> 00:05:25,697 Aeneas is quite different from Odysseus. There are some ways in which they are the 79 00:05:25,697 --> 00:05:28,460 same. But this marks for us, early on, one theme 80 00:05:28,460 --> 00:05:31,279 that we're going to see repeated over and over again. 81 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,846 Whereas Odysseus is constantly trying to traverse boundaries and jump over walls. 82 00:05:36,015 --> 00:05:39,116 Aeneas is trying to find boundaries and secure them. 83 00:05:39,116 --> 00:05:43,165 And make sure that there is stability and order in the world. 84 00:05:43,165 --> 00:05:47,515 We'll see this difference between the two of them over and over again in the stories 85 00:05:47,515 --> 00:05:50,634 that we see. Also in book one, I wanted to pay some 86 00:05:50,634 --> 00:05:54,917 attention to a scene that happens with us, a poet called Iopas. 87 00:05:54,917 --> 00:06:00,124 You'll remember that in the Odyssey we looked, paid careful attention to scenes 88 00:06:00,321 --> 00:06:03,313 that featured Homer's treatment of Demoticus. 89 00:06:03,313 --> 00:06:07,362 Remember, Demoticus was a bard, and Homer's treatment of Demoticus gave us a 90 00:06:07,362 --> 00:06:10,170 window into what Homer thought poetry was all about. 91 00:06:10,170 --> 00:06:15,793 Well, in that way we can also turn to the Song of Iopas that shows up toward the end 92 00:06:15,793 --> 00:06:20,880 of Book One and it's, look to it, for, as a way into understanding what Virgil 93 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,432 understands poetry to be. Virgil is of course aware of the Demodocun 94 00:06:25,432 --> 00:06:31,055 background that he's drawing from and he's aware of the tradition that existed even 95 00:06:31,055 --> 00:06:36,009 in antiquity, not just in our class, that looked to Demodocus as a way into 96 00:06:36,009 --> 00:06:41,030 Virgil's, Homer's ideas on poetry. And now Virgil's going to present his own 97 00:06:41,228 --> 00:06:46,462 story of a, of a poet as a way as self consciously into his own idea of what 98 00:06:46,462 --> 00:06:49,510 poetry is all about and look what he presents. 99 00:06:49,510 --> 00:06:54,868 And Lord Iopas with flowing hair, whom giant Atlas taught, made the room echo to 100 00:06:54,868 --> 00:06:58,802 his golden lyre. He sang the strained moon and toiling sun, 101 00:06:58,802 --> 00:07:02,465 the origin of mankind and the beasts, of rain and fire. 102 00:07:02,465 --> 00:07:06,331 The rainy Hyades, Arcturus, the great bear and little bear. 103 00:07:06,331 --> 00:07:11,893 The reason winter suns are in such haste to dip in ocean, or what holds the nights 104 00:07:11,893 --> 00:07:15,285 endless in winter. Tyrians, at this, redoubled their 105 00:07:15,285 --> 00:07:17,320 applause. The Trojans followed. 106 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,690 So what's Virgil telling us that poetry is all about? 107 00:07:20,690 --> 00:07:23,770 I-, in Virgil's accounting, it seems to be pretty much like. 108 00:07:23,770 --> 00:07:28,034 The story of the whole universe. We've got a large cosmological 109 00:07:28,034 --> 00:07:33,804 understanding of the importance of poetry. Poetry talks about things like the shape 110 00:07:33,804 --> 00:07:37,823 of the universe. It talks about the elements of rain and 111 00:07:37,823 --> 00:07:40,546 fire. It talks about the constellations of 112 00:07:40,546 --> 00:07:45,020 Arcturus and the Great Bear. It talks about why winter suns depart 113 00:07:45,020 --> 00:07:49,688 early from the daytime. All of these things are going to be in the 114 00:07:49,688 --> 00:07:54,357 background of what poetry is all about. Virgil, I think here, is giving us an 115 00:07:54,357 --> 00:07:57,120 invitation to say, when you look to my poetry. 116 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,944 You should imagine me as a poet, trying to tell you a story of the entire cosmos. 117 00:08:01,944 --> 00:08:05,787 Virgil has larger ambitions, if possible, I think it is. 118 00:08:05,787 --> 00:08:09,772 Larger ambitions for poetry, I think, even than Homer did. 119 00:08:09,772 --> 00:08:15,536 For Virgil, it would be possible to use poetry to convey structures of the cosmos. 120 00:08:15,536 --> 00:08:20,446 It's something, sure, that Homer touched on, in as we have talked about. 121 00:08:20,446 --> 00:08:25,783 Generators of interpreters after Homer, especially those of the allegorical 122 00:08:25,783 --> 00:08:30,978 school, understand that his poetry does give a window of these large, huge 123 00:08:30,978 --> 00:08:32,900 cosmological questions. But. 124 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:36,900 Virgil here I think is self consciously telling us, I'm going to. 125 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:41,401 You could purposefully create a poem that can be read by every a lens you could 126 00:08:41,401 --> 00:08:44,046 imagine. It will be as rich as you possibly can 127 00:08:44,215 --> 00:08:47,422 make it out to be. In a way it reminds me a little bit of 128 00:08:47,422 --> 00:08:51,980 what happens in modern poetry, for example, with figures like James Joyce. 129 00:08:52,149 --> 00:08:56,594 James Joyce is constantly giving us a nudge to say, go ahead and read into this 130 00:08:56,594 --> 00:09:00,308 because you're going to find tremendous amounts of deep meaning here. 131 00:09:00,308 --> 00:09:04,359 I think Virgil's doing the same thing with this opening his of Book one. 132 00:09:04,528 --> 00:09:05,100 Read. Hard. 133 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:08,353 Read carefully and you'll find grand truths in my story. 134 00:09:08,527 --> 00:09:12,709 Homer's leading us down that path. Or, Virgil's leading us down that path. 135 00:09:12,883 --> 00:09:17,297 From here, we'll turn to book two, and have a look at Virgil's representation. 136 00:09:17,297 --> 00:09:21,363 Really, the, most authoritative representation from all of antiquity, 137 00:09:21,363 --> 00:09:25,720 about the Trojan Horse and the events surrounding the end of the Battle of.