Dies Lunae
a.d. X Kalendas Martias

Lege Latine: Aen. 2.506-558

Lege Anglice:

Aen. 2.241-505 (Mandelbaum, pp. 36–45)
Georgics 3 (esp. 3.471–567--pp. 114–118)

Scribe: Parsing Sheet

Meditare:

Aeneid: the sack of Troy begins and ends with a ghost visiting Aeneas. Who appears to warn him of the attack and what else does he reveal about Aeneas' future?

Describe Aeneas' mindset when he first sees the palaces of Deiophobus and Ucalegon in flames. What motivates his decision to fight?

The simile Aeneas uses to describe Androgeos' realization that he has been trapped by the Trojans is strikingly similar to the simile at the start of the battle in Iliad III. Why allude to this simile now?

"Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank in fear of his life under cover of his men. As one who starts back affrighted, trembling and pale, when he comes suddenly upon a serpent in some mountain glade, even so did Alexandrus plunge into the throng of Trojan warriors, terror-stricken at the sight of the son Atreus." (Butler trans.)

Note that Pyrrhus' appearence is described with yet another snake simile.

Georgics: Note the sudden ending of the description of the Noric animal plague. In part, this emulates the abrupt ending of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (outline). This is the second moment in the Georgics where nature has gone awry; compare it to the omens at the conclusion of Book I; and the guarded (perhaps clouded) optimism in the praise of the rustic life at the conclusion of Book II.

Memento: Probatiuncula Quinta

Dies Mercurii
a.d. VIII Kalendas Martias

Lege Latine: Aen. 2.567-621 (I recommend reading 2. 624-631 also)

N.B. Emendanda in 2.616, nimbo for limbo; and the a in saeva should be short.

Lege Anglice:

Aeneid 2. 634–698 (Mandelbaum, pp. 49–51)

Scribe: Aen. 2.588-595 (on Scanning Worksheet)

Meditare:

Literary Term of the Day: Synchysis [1] [2]. Locate at least one example of synchysis in the speeches of both Aeneas and Venus.

Aeneid: How do you judge Aeneas' initial desire to kill Helen? Is it in keeping with his character?

What simile does Aeneas use (remember that he is narrating this passage) to describe the collapse of Troy (2. 624-631)?

Why does Anchises refuse to leave? Why can't Aeneas leave him behind, even if it means the death of his entire family? What persaudes him to depart at last?

Dies Veneris
a.d. VI Kalendas Martias

Lege Latine: Aen. 2.699-744

Lege Anglice:

Aeneid 2. 745–804 (Mandelbaum, pp. 53–54)
Georgics 4 (esp. 3.417–567--pp. 138–143)

Scribe: Parsing Sheet

Meditare:

Literary Term of the Day: Polyptoton

Georgics: Aristaeus’ bee plague is the third moment in Georgics when nature has been corrupted The bee plague combines aspects of both the omens in Book I and Noric animal plague in Book III, but also includes some significant differences. Can the Aristaeus story be said to be optimistic? How does the Orpheus tale illuminate the power and limits of poetry?

Aeneid: Although in hindsight Aeneas' plan to have Creusa follow was mistaken (and of course the plot demands that Aeneas had to be unmarried when he arrived at Carthage), giving him the benefit of the doubt, why would he have his wife follow behind?

In earlier versions of the Troy myth, Aeneas' wife was called Eurydice (a different Eurydice than Orpheus' Eurydice). What similarities do you detect witht this episode and the talk of Orpheus and Eurydice in Georgics IV?

In a twist on dying prophecy (cf. Patroclus and Hector in the Iliad), Creusa's ghost prophesizes Aeneas' future (the second chronologically after Hector's in 2.293f.). What does she reveal?

Note that the book ends, symbolically, with daybreak and a voyage.