Dies Lunae
a.d. VI Kalendas Apriles

Lege Latine: Aen. Bk. 5.838–end; Bk. 6.1–5a

Lege Anglice:

Aen. 5.1–837 (Mandelbaum, pp. 93–123 [vv. 1–1102])

Meditare:

What do the Trojans suspect the glow from Carthage is as they sail away?

Does Euryalus win the footrace fairly? The controversy over the footrace is similar to that seen during the chariot race in the funeral games for Patroclus. How does Aeneas handle the inflamed tempers of his companions? What does this reveal about the leadership skills and style of Aeneas?

With what brutal act does Entellus emphasize his victory over Dares?

How does Iris convince the Trojan women to burn their ships? What false prophecy from Cassandra does she deliver? Who sees through Iris’ disguise? How does Iris shock the women into complying? Does Aeneas even contemplate that the women might have burned the ships under their own will? What does the abandonment of the Trojan women symbolize? How will any future settlement necessarily be different than those Aeneas has attempted before?

What does Palinurus’ death say about the workings of the gods and fate? How does the narrator characterize Palinurus (see esp. line 1110).

Praesentio: [Katie]

Estevez, V. 1982. "Queen and City: Three Similes in Aeneid IV," Vergilius 20, 25-28 and Moorton, R. 1990. "Love as Death: The Pivoting Metaphor in Vergil's Story of Dido." CW 83, 153-166.

Memento: Probatiuncula Nona

Dies Mercurii
a.d. IV Kalendas Apriles

Lege Latine: Aen. 6.5b–53a

Scribe:

Scan 6.14–19 (Scanning Worksheet)

Meditare:

Book 6 opens with an echo of death and death will dominate this book. Does it influence your reading that it is a death as senseless as that suffered by Palinurus (and also Misenus) that introduces this otherwise majestic, optimistic, and patriotic book?

Daedalus, the first man to fly and the master craftsman of antiquity, carved the reliefs on the entrance to the Sibyl’s cave. What couldn’t he finish? What is the significance of the narrator interrupting the Trojans’ viewing of the sculpture? How does this differ from the ekphrasis (the description of a work of art in another work of art) in Book II?

Dies Veneris
pridie Kalendas Apriles

Lege Latine: Aen.6.103–155

Lege Anglice:

Aen. 6.53b–102 (Mandelbaum, pp. 133–134 [vv. 77–141])

Scribe: Parsing Sheet