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Nox Erat…: Sleep and Visions in the Aeneid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2009

C. J. Mackie
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Extract

It is a common view in Vergilian scholarship that when Allecto (as Calybe) comes to rouse Turnus into battle against the Trojans (Aen. 7.4O6ff.) he is essentially predisposed to Allecto's violent point of view. His abrupt rejection of ‘Calybe's’ appeal is often taken to be the first sign of an innate and hostile arrogance on his part. Sometimes it is added that he is, by nature, a more irrational person than Amata. I provide here one such view: ‘But whereas Amata had to be made mad to make her act irresponsibly in flagrant disregard of her duty as wife and queen, Turnus is an easier case: the irrational element is already there; all Allecto needs to do is touch it off (Heroic Impulse) by representing to Turnus that his honour has been affected’. The subject of Turnus' dealings with Allecto is well-trodden ground, but I offer here two small but not unimportant points which have not drawn very much attention. The first concerns Allecto's task in Latium, the second Aeneas at Troy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , April 1991 , pp. 59 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1991

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References

NOTES

1. In this argument a lot depends on the use of inridens, 435, as well as Turnus' sentiments at 443–4: cura tibi diuum effigies et templa tueri; bella uiri pacemque gerent quis bella gerenda. My own view is that inridens picks up Allecto's, address to Turnus as inrise (425)Google Scholar ; he laughs at the suggestion that he is being laughed at. Turnus' final words to ‘Calybe’ no doubt express his annoyance at being awakened for no good reason in the middle of the night. They are in any case characteristically Homeric and very Roman sentiments (see Coleman, R., G&R 29 [1982], 151)Google Scholar.

2. Quinn, K., Virgil's Aeneid, a Critical Description (London, 1968), p. 181Google Scholar . See more recently Schenk, P., Die Gestalt des Turnus in Vergils Aeneis (Königstein/Ts., 1984), pp. 27ff., 288ff.Google Scholar , who pursues a similar line. Schenk (p. 28 n.l; 34ff. and passim) makes much of Turnus as an audax hero (e.g. 7.409; 9.3) and contrasts him with pius Aeneas. Servius, ad. 8.110, has a more balanced view.

3. Turnus himself says (436–7) that he is aware but unconcerned about the fleet's arrival.

4. At 4.522–59 the peaceful sleep of everyone at Carthage, especially Aeneas, is contrasted with the agony of Dido's insomnia (note too 4.465ff.). The clarity and certainty of Aeneas' state of mind are reinforced at Mercury's, second appearance: Aeneas celsa in puppi, iam certus eundi carpebat somnos… (4.554–5)Google Scholar . Cf. carpebat, 4.555 and 7.414.

5. It is perhaps reasonable to infer that Amata's infection, like Turnus', takes place in the dead of night. The fact, therefore, that Amata is awake (like Dido, 4.522ff.) gives added emphasis to the state of her mind.

6. Cf. the Dira at 12.861ff. who changes into the shape of the small black bird of death. She then flies into Turnus' face and beats her wings against his shield. As in Book 7 it is partly the sight and the sound of the demon that terrify and weaken him (cf. the owl at Carthage 4.462f.). Turnus is infected by a demon at the beginning of Book 7, and brought to defeat by one at the end of the poem.

7. Note the fact that the Turnus episode is characterized by a verbal exchange between the two (421–34; 436–44; 452–5), whereas Amata's infection is characterized by the silence with which it takes place. Amata's ignorance of what is going on (7.350) is not unlike Dido's (1.717ff.).

8. The eventual states of mind of Amata and Turnus become notably similar. Amata is likened to a spinning top (7.378ff.) and Turnus to boiling water in a cauldron (7.462ff.). It is the demon's effort in getting them to this state that differs.

9. Schenk (above, n.2), pp. 260ff. and 333ff. tries hard to explain and justify Aeneas’ initial (and later) furor. No such justification is necessary. The point is that his initial impulse is for war and that of Turnus is for restraint.

10. Note the fact that Aeneas, by fighting to save Troy (2.314ff.), indirectly and unwittingly fights against Jupiter (ipse pater Danais animos uirisque secundas sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma, 2.617–8).