Incipit: Modern-Day Epigraphy (on brass tokens) + Tu qui perleges vivas valeas amas ameris [inscription in marble, Rome]; usual epitaph formula is S.T.T.L. or sit terra tibi levis "may the earth be light on you."
I. Translation Aen. I: 441-491.
II. Exegesis and Analysis:
A. commencing a special kind of metaphor/simile, namely an ekphrasis (Greek, meaning 'extended speech')--a work of art described in poetic detail and meant to suggest a symbolic or allegorical meaning; this entire passage is an ekphrasis. Other famous ekphrases (pl.) in literature: 8th c BCE Homer Iliad 18, Hephaestus forges Achilles' shield; John Keats, "Ode to a Grecian Urn" [1819/20].
B. Consolidating scansion--watch out for what comprises a 'long' syllable (review with Sarah, since that helped for the Latin subject exam for last weekend's SAT).
C. Golden Line and chiasmus 'pivoting' around cardo (I:449); launched a discussion of how consicious Vergil might have been about such subtle word-placement, and what the implications are for a literary vs. an oral epic work.
D. epithets and patronymics--a patronymic is a special kind of epithet ("a PROPER name that stands in for another proper name") that describes a character by his or her ancestry. Example: Atreus fathers Agamemnon and Menelaus, therefore both Agamemnon and Menelaus together are "Atreides" (nom. pl., I:458 "Atridas" acc. pl.) The "-id-" syllable between the stem ("Atre-") and the ending ("-us" in Atreus' name) is the clue that the person described is a son or daughter. The "-es" ending in the new patronymic is a Greek third declension pattern, and therefore will be declined according to the Latin third declension as well. What poetic effect do you think is created when you name a character according to his/her ancestor?
E. synaesthesis (συναίσθησις; Greek, meaning "perceived together")--where one human sense (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) is described in terms of another sense (pictura pascit, I:464).
F. anaphora: Achilles (I:458, 468, 475 ["Achilli"] 484); hac...hac I:467 & 468. What are the differing effects of these two sorts or repetitions in each section?
G. Hellencisms: Eos, peplos, Pallas (dawn, ritual gown of the cult statue, Pallas Athene rather than Minerva)
On the Dock for Thursday: Aen. I:492-519; preview of upcoming assessments a. one interpretive (simile of the bees) and the other b. comprehensive translation and analysis of Aeneid I.
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