1 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:09,991 As we meet Anchises in the underworld, we get to see the point the larger point of 2 00:00:09,991 --> 00:00:14,840 why Aeneas had to go down there. Yeah, we heard from several that he needed 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,688 to go down there, The things he needed to learn. 4 00:00:17,688 --> 00:00:22,415 But as we get down there and run into Anchises, we get the full thing laid out 5 00:00:22,415 --> 00:00:25,324 for us. In fact, we get a huge statement laid out 6 00:00:25,324 --> 00:00:28,294 for us. Anchises drops in basically statements 7 00:00:28,294 --> 00:00:33,203 about how the whole universe works. We hear out of his mouth a whole statement 8 00:00:33,203 --> 00:00:35,930 about the, the larger structure of the Cosmos, 9 00:00:35,930 --> 00:00:39,793 We hear it from a scientific standpoint. We hear history enter in. 10 00:00:39,962 --> 00:00:44,113 We're going to look at some detailed quotes from this quotations from the 11 00:00:44,113 --> 00:00:47,760 second part of Book six, in the second coming out Anchises' mouth. 12 00:00:47,929 --> 00:00:52,193 But a couple of words before we get there, on the background of this kind of 13 00:00:52,193 --> 00:00:55,335 literature. Virgil's working from precedence, multiple 14 00:00:55,335 --> 00:00:59,262 ones not, not necessarily Homeric interestingly, there surely are, of 15 00:00:59,262 --> 00:01:03,638 course, Homeric antecedents that we have been talking about, but there are closer 16 00:01:03,638 --> 00:01:08,183 ones for this part of Book six that come in other literary sources for him. 17 00:01:08,183 --> 00:01:12,615 Plato's Republic in Book Ten had talked about an underworld, the famous Myth of 18 00:01:12,615 --> 00:01:15,421 Er, Spelled E, R, if you want to look that up. 19 00:01:15,421 --> 00:01:20,584 A, a wonderful piece of Plato's Republic. Had a long narrative story about this 20 00:01:20,773 --> 00:01:25,684 soldier that dies and, and during his death, he has revealed to him, in his trip 21 00:01:25,684 --> 00:01:29,651 to the afterlife, Revealed to him the whole structure of the 22 00:01:29,651 --> 00:01:35,002 Cosmos and how everything works. Then in Cicero on the, the famous part of 23 00:01:35,002 --> 00:01:38,906 his own republic his final book called the Dream of Scipio. 24 00:01:39,095 --> 00:01:44,321 An episode well-known as The Dream of Scipio Cicero talks about again in the 25 00:01:44,321 --> 00:01:49,256 same way someone going to the afterlife and at that point, and, and, their being 26 00:01:49,256 --> 00:01:53,920 brought there as a visitor, at that point it's revealed to them the whole structure 27 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,641 of the Cosmos and how everything works. It's likely also that Virgil was familiar, 28 00:01:58,641 --> 00:02:03,249 by this time, with a genre of literature that was emerging out of the ancient Near 29 00:02:03,249 --> 00:02:07,970 East that was called Apocalypse. And it's true that some ancient Apocalypses talk 30 00:02:07,970 --> 00:02:11,567 about the end of the world, A very famous one, The Book of 31 00:02:11,567 --> 00:02:16,175 Revelations, that closes off the Christian Bible does this, but not all Apocalypses 32 00:02:16,175 --> 00:02:20,840 talk about the end of the world, they are literature that is based on Revelation or 33 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,010 Unveiling. The Greek term, apocalypse, comes from a 34 00:02:24,010 --> 00:02:27,787 root, apo, meaning away from or un and calypso means hide. 35 00:02:27,787 --> 00:02:31,430 So, an apocalypse is an unveiling of some hidden truth. 36 00:02:31,632 --> 00:02:36,961 In this genre of literature, it always happens that someone has a, a, a, hidden 37 00:02:36,961 --> 00:02:40,894 truth about how the universe works unveiled to him or her. 38 00:02:41,065 --> 00:02:45,946 Usually, what happens is there is a dream a visitation from a, a senior person, 39 00:02:45,946 --> 00:02:50,828 either in one's family, or in one's city comes down and scoops the person up in the 40 00:02:50,828 --> 00:02:55,142 dream and carries them off to either a mountain top or some place, some vista 41 00:02:55,142 --> 00:02:58,150 where they can see, you know, the structure of the whole cosmos. 42 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:02,804 The whole history is read out at that point and the, the workings of the Cosmos 43 00:03:02,804 --> 00:03:05,926 are unveiled. So, these precedents are likely also to be 44 00:03:05,926 --> 00:03:11,262 behind Virgil's Book six here in addition to the materials from Plato's Republic and 45 00:03:11,262 --> 00:03:15,915 Cicero's Dream of Scipio, his closing off of his own work through a public. 46 00:03:16,096 --> 00:03:20,910 So, a lot of these genres are getting reworked in Virgil's treatment. 47 00:03:20,910 --> 00:03:24,943 Now, looking at the meat of what happens here, we hear from Anchises. 48 00:03:24,943 --> 00:03:29,276 He has us by the hand, he's leading us along, and he begins a, a series of 49 00:03:29,276 --> 00:03:31,984 observations on how the whole universe works. 50 00:03:32,164 --> 00:03:37,220 Starting right from the very beginning, an interesting one as, you know, this young 51 00:03:37,220 --> 00:03:37,881 boy, Aeneas. 52 00:03:37,881 --> 00:03:40,770 Father, Tell me how does it, how does it all work? 53 00:03:40,770 --> 00:03:44,862 And Anchises jumps right in. First then, the sky and lands and sheets 54 00:03:44,862 --> 00:03:46,788 of water, The bright moon's glow, 55 00:03:46,788 --> 00:03:51,843 The Titan sun and stars are fed within by Spirit and a Mind Infused through all the 56 00:03:51,843 --> 00:03:55,513 members of the world makes one great living body of the mass. 57 00:03:55,513 --> 00:03:58,161 From Spirit come the races of man and beast. 58 00:03:58,161 --> 00:04:02,012 The life of birds. Odd creatures the deep sea the deep sea 59 00:04:02,012 --> 00:04:06,827 contains beneath her sparkling surfaces. And fiery energy from a heavenly source 60 00:04:06,827 --> 00:04:11,220 belongs to the generative seeds of these so far as they are not poisoned. 61 00:04:11,220 --> 00:04:15,682 They are clawed by mortal bodies. Their free essence dimmed by earthiness or 62 00:04:15,682 --> 00:04:19,206 deathliness of flesh. This makes them fear and crave, rejoice 63 00:04:19,206 --> 00:04:22,318 and grieve. So, Anchises gives from the standpoint of 64 00:04:22,318 --> 00:04:27,485 a kind of starting scientific observation talking about the elements and the planets 65 00:04:27,485 --> 00:04:31,831 and the Cosmos, and a divine mind and spirit that flows through everything 66 00:04:31,831 --> 00:04:36,822 borrowing from different philosophical schools of his time including Stoicism and 67 00:04:36,822 --> 00:04:40,228 some others. He's building up a picture of the universe 68 00:04:40,228 --> 00:04:45,220 here Virgil, and putting in into the mouth of Anchises, an authoritative person and 69 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:50,323 letting Aeneas become educated on not just small things, but on the biggest things, 70 00:04:50,323 --> 00:04:54,867 How the whole cosmos function. This is the kind of message that Aeneas 71 00:04:54,867 --> 00:04:59,037 gets in the underworld. Now, as the story goes on, and as Anchises 72 00:04:59,037 --> 00:05:04,328 is continuously revealing the basic structure of things he soon enough gets to 73 00:05:04,328 --> 00:05:08,257 this person, doesn't he? And we have a pretty seamless movement 74 00:05:08,257 --> 00:05:13,380 from a discussion that would count as kind of scientific observation of how the 75 00:05:13,380 --> 00:05:16,326 universe is structured into an historical one. 76 00:05:16,326 --> 00:05:21,065 So, we move rather seamlessly from a cosmology and science, science, into 77 00:05:21,257 --> 00:05:23,434 history. We hear about Augustus. 78 00:05:23,434 --> 00:05:28,633 He will extend his power beyond the Garamants and Indians over far territories 79 00:05:28,633 --> 00:05:32,132 north and south of the zodiacal stars, The solar way. 80 00:05:32,132 --> 00:05:37,111 Where Atlas, heaven-bearing on his shoulders turns the night sphere studded 81 00:05:37,111 --> 00:05:41,148 with burning stars. At that man's coming even now the realms 82 00:05:41,148 --> 00:05:45,993 of Caspia and Maeotia tremble, Warned by oracles and the seven mouths of 83 00:05:45,993 --> 00:05:50,837 the Nile go dark with fear. The truth is even Alcides never traversed 84 00:05:50,837 --> 00:05:54,258 so much earth. Coming out of Anchises' mouth, talking 85 00:05:54,258 --> 00:05:57,585 about this man Augustus, and that closing statement. 86 00:05:57,585 --> 00:06:01,303 The truth is, even Alcides never traversed so much earth. 87 00:06:01,303 --> 00:06:05,935 In the back of your text, you've got a glossary just as you did in your 88 00:06:05,935 --> 00:06:10,110 translation of The Oddyssey. Have a look at who this Alcides is. 89 00:06:10,110 --> 00:06:12,990 Someone we know. Remember this guy? 90 00:06:12,990 --> 00:06:18,069 Well, Virgil is telling us something that is undoubtedly true, and that is a 91 00:06:18,069 --> 00:06:23,461 stunning thing to be true. This guy over here outdoes this guy over 92 00:06:23,461 --> 00:06:26,482 here. If we take the most glorious fantastic 93 00:06:26,482 --> 00:06:30,190 mythical legends of Heracles the Roman Hercules, 94 00:06:30,190 --> 00:06:34,858 And his dominion over the over the earth, and how far he traveled, 95 00:06:34,858 --> 00:06:39,733 And the amazing things he did. And all the, the labors that he completed. 96 00:06:39,939 --> 00:06:43,166 Well beyond what any human being is capable of. 97 00:06:43,166 --> 00:06:45,913 Well, guess what, Romans, Virgil is saying, 98 00:06:45,913 --> 00:06:51,337 We live in a time where real historical figures are doing things that are even 99 00:06:51,337 --> 00:06:54,290 grander than what myths can cough up to us. 100 00:06:54,290 --> 00:06:59,434 And, you've got to kind of hand it to them to these Romans. 101 00:06:59,434 --> 00:07:03,721 It's true. By now, history is, in actuality, outdoing 102 00:07:03,721 --> 00:07:07,462 myth. Fact and historical truth is outdoing 103 00:07:07,462 --> 00:07:11,269 mythological fantasy. So, Augustus, yeah, in, in truth is doing 104 00:07:11,269 --> 00:07:15,204 something that even Hercules could never have imagined doing. 105 00:07:15,398 --> 00:07:20,301 We go through a further discussion of what this Romanist is all about. 106 00:07:20,301 --> 00:07:26,043 We talk about avenging the, the, the Trojan ancestors of, of that being avenged 107 00:07:26,043 --> 00:07:28,817 by the Romans eventually conquering Greece. 108 00:07:28,817 --> 00:07:33,140 So, even though the Greeks might have felt like they've beat the, 109 00:07:33,140 --> 00:07:37,785 The precursor to the Trojans or precursor to the Romans back in Troy. 110 00:07:37,785 --> 00:07:42,847 Well, eventually, Rome gets its dominance. We hear about them, revenge, it was 111 00:07:42,847 --> 00:07:46,864 revenge for the theft of the Palladium and the rape of Cassandra. 112 00:07:46,864 --> 00:07:50,880 These things start to percolate back up the old crimes of Greece. 113 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:55,515 Then, we get to a point at the end of Anchises's speech where he makes very 114 00:07:55,515 --> 00:08:00,026 clear what this new thing that Aeneas is on the verge of beginning. 115 00:08:00,026 --> 00:08:04,537 What this new thing is all about. We need to know a little bit more about 116 00:08:04,537 --> 00:08:10,079 what is this Rome we're headed off to get started on and Anchises will lay it out 117 00:08:10,079 --> 00:08:13,012 for us exactly what new, what this new idea is. 118 00:08:13,012 --> 00:08:17,858 Others will cast more tenderly in bronze, their breathing figures I can well 119 00:08:17,858 --> 00:08:21,046 believe. And bring more life-like portraits out of 120 00:08:21,046 --> 00:08:24,106 marble. Argue more eloquently, use the pointer to 121 00:08:24,106 --> 00:08:29,271 trace the paths of heaven accurately and accurately foretell the rising of stars. 122 00:08:29,271 --> 00:08:32,841 Roman, remember, buy your strength to rule Earth's peoples. 123 00:08:32,841 --> 00:08:37,050 For your arts, are to be these. To pacify, to impose the rule of law, 124 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,050 To spare the conquered and battle down the proud. 125 00:08:41,050 --> 00:08:44,147 Wow. So, all of you Romans out there, if you 126 00:08:44,147 --> 00:08:46,594 are wondering, gosh, what does it mean to be Roman? 127 00:08:46,594 --> 00:08:50,290 Remember, at the beginning of our discussion of the Aeneid, we talked about 128 00:08:50,290 --> 00:08:55,619 this tumult, a historical tumult that had been happening during Virgil's time. 129 00:08:55,619 --> 00:09:01,308 The difficulties they'd been through, the decades and decades of civil war, the 130 00:09:01,308 --> 00:09:05,982 upheavals, the militarism. And as a Roman, you and I might have been 131 00:09:05,982 --> 00:09:09,842 a little bit worried about what Romanist is, is all about. 132 00:09:09,842 --> 00:09:15,261 We've might have said to ourselves, well, is to be Roman only to be war hungry, 133 00:09:15,261 --> 00:09:20,273 fratricidal militarist. Well, here we're hearing right out of 134 00:09:20,273 --> 00:09:24,942 Anchises's mouth, in this moment of revelatory truth about the way the whole 135 00:09:24,942 --> 00:09:29,766 Cosmos is structured, bleeding into history, moving into an identity of Rome, 136 00:09:29,766 --> 00:09:34,456 this is what it is to be Roman. The point of all of this, you Romans, is 137 00:09:34,456 --> 00:09:38,735 to make the Earth work right. That's what you're suppose to do. 138 00:09:38,947 --> 00:09:45,317 Now the historical import of this message is without question extremely powerful. 139 00:09:45,530 --> 00:09:50,980 Virgil through this figure of Aeneas and through his story, as he tells it, 140 00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:55,634 Pretty much succeeds in giving the Romans a new identity, a, an identity of sense of 141 00:09:55,634 --> 00:09:59,513 self that they can hang on to. It sticks, in other words Virgil's 142 00:09:59,513 --> 00:10:03,558 project, and the project that is undertaken and, and supported by those 143 00:10:03,558 --> 00:10:06,273 around him in positions of political power. 144 00:10:06,439 --> 00:10:08,877 The sense of what it is to be Roman changes. 145 00:10:08,877 --> 00:10:14,030 And I think it would have to be you'd have to be a little bit unkind to say that it 146 00:10:14,030 --> 00:10:17,909 doesn't change for the better. And it probably in, in the longer scheme 147 00:10:17,909 --> 00:10:23,136 of things is a little bit better to talk about the Roman as having this as their 148 00:10:23,136 --> 00:10:26,492 best side. Virgil is able to get that sense of them 149 00:10:26,492 --> 00:10:31,178 and make it strong and make it regnant. Now, the, the, the message though, of 150 00:10:31,178 --> 00:10:36,117 course that Virgil is carrying across, He never gives us anything straight 151 00:10:36,117 --> 00:10:39,980 without taking a little bit away. Recall how our book ends. 152 00:10:39,980 --> 00:10:45,738 Here we've got a wonderful a, a picture of the sort of center of Romanist is and what 153 00:10:45,738 --> 00:10:51,921 it's all about and having been through a clear discussion of Rome's power, and its 154 00:10:51,921 --> 00:10:57,153 way, and its ability to bring peace to people Virgil has this whole grand 155 00:10:57,153 --> 00:11:03,350 statement of things enter or leave from the underworld in a way that makes us 156 00:11:03,350 --> 00:11:08,403 wonder, just what he intended. We exit, as you recall from this whole 157 00:11:08,403 --> 00:11:13,872 scene after this largest statement about Romanist and how grand it is and, how, 158 00:11:13,872 --> 00:11:18,579 science has given way to history and how history has overtaken myth. 159 00:11:18,579 --> 00:11:24,324 All of this exits, the grandest statements that Virgil pronounces, all of this exits, 160 00:11:24,324 --> 00:11:28,927 out of the Gate of False Dreams. Now, what are we supposed to make of this. 161 00:11:28,927 --> 00:11:32,886 Well, in a classic Virgil, Giving us some sense of surety then taking 162 00:11:32,886 --> 00:11:36,089 it away. It's not exactly clear and scholars have 163 00:11:36,089 --> 00:11:41,445 never had any settled opinion on what this statement about that Virgil's making of 164 00:11:41,445 --> 00:11:44,648 having Aeneas exit through the Gate of False Dreams. 165 00:11:44,822 --> 00:11:49,131 But we surely know that it's a destabilizing gesture and all those things 166 00:11:49,131 --> 00:11:51,693 before us that we thought were fully stable. 167 00:11:51,868 --> 00:11:56,409 We've got a place of questionmark after them now in typical Virgilian fashion. 168 00:11:56,584 --> 00:12:00,020 The world is not quite so simple as we thought it might be.