Analysing Virgil
Aeneid Book 2 Stylistic Features
Today I am going to show you how I would analyse a passage of Virgil, specifically Aeneid Book 2.
In a previous post, I covered the life and works of Virgil, focusing on his impact on Roman literature. Today, I will analyse a passage from the Aeneid that is six lines long and discuss the stylistic nuances and language choices that define Virgil's writing.
The Epic of Rome: The Aeneid
The Aeneid, penned between 29 to 19 BC, stands as Rome's answer to Homer. Homer, the legendary Greek poet renowned for the Iliad and the Odyssey, was a foundational figure in literature. The Romans, always wanting to outdo the Greeks but lacking their own epic poem, found a suitable author in Virgil. The Aeneid is Rome’s foundation story, chronicling the city’s origins and the formation of the Roman race.
Today, we will delve into a segment of Book 2, my personal favourite. This book captures the adventurous tale told by Aeneas to a Carthaginian queen called Dido. He spins the narrative with dramatic flair, possibly to engender the sympathy and therefore aid of the powerful queen. He recounts how Troy finally fell to the Greeks, a story that begins with the infamous Trojan Horse trick, the master stroke thought up by Odysseus.
The Greeks, unable to breach Troy after ten years besieging the city, devised a cunning plan: they sailed away from the city and left on the beach a huge wooden horse. The Trojans, believing the Greeks had departed and the war was over, brought this massive wooden structure within their city walls, celebrated throughout the day, and passed out that evening, feeling safe for the first time in ten years.
Unbeknownst to them, Greek soldiers lay hidden inside, setting the stage for Troy’s downfall. In the dead of night, they crept out of the horse, and opened the gates to the city. The rest of the Greeks sailed back from around the headland where they'd been hiding in their ships, and unfortunately for the Trojans, it didn't go very well.
The Dream of Hector
Aeneas recounts how he managed to survive the brutal destruction of Troy. He tells Dido about the dream he had that night, during which his deceased cousin Hector, once Troy's crown prince, appeared to him. In this dream, Hector implores Aeneas to flee, offering a prophetic warning.
NB: To the Greeks and Romans, dreams, especially those featuring the dead, were seen as divine, often revealing the future.
He comes to Aeneas to tell him to run, to flee, to take what he can of his people and get away from Troy. So this gives Aeneas sort of a way out - he has a reason for not staying to fight against the Greeks, because it was a lost cause. And Aeneas, his small son and his father successfully make their way out of the city and round up a large band of refugees. They all set sail and end up at Dido’s court.
The Passage
Let us examine the short section where Hector appears to Aeneas. This emotive passage, found midway through Book 2, is as follows:
tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris
incipit, et dono divum gratissima serpit.
in somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector
visus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus,
raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento
pulvere, perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.
It was the time when the first rest begins for weary mortals,
and it creeps on, most welcome, by the gift of the gods.
Look, in my dreams, before my eyes, the very wretched Hector
seemed to appear to me, and to be shedding plentiful tears,
having been dragged by a chariot, as he once was, and black with blood
and dust, and his swollen feet pierced through with thongs.
I’m going to go through this in couplets, so stick with me!
Lines 1-2
tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris
incipit, et dono divum gratissima serpit.
Overview: the Trojans are having their first rest after the ten year long war.
First of all, tempus erat, “it was the time”. We know that something is going to change here. A word that's at the beginning or end of a line can be emphatic. It's called emphatic positioning. You put a stress on it. tempus erat shows us that something is about to change.
quo prima quies, “the first rest”. This is emphasizing how long the Trojans have been waiting for this moment. This is the first time in 10 years they can actually rest.
mortalibus aegris “weary mortals”. They're weary (aegris) because they've been fighting for ten years. But aegris also has the idea of a sickness, they’re worn out by this illness. They are sick at heart. And mortalibus gives off the idea that they're human, but more importantly that they are mortal. Which means that they can die. So this is a slight sense of foreshadowing: that the weary mortals in Troy are sleeping and therefore are not ready for what is coming, and it may lead to their doom.
gratissima - it's “most welcome”, this first rest (prima quies). They've waited for this for so long. gratissima is what's called a superlative, so this highlights how needed this rest had been.
In the second line I have incipit (begins) and serpit (creeps on). These are both verbs, and they bookend the line, so they're at the beginning and end of a line. It is always good to have two verbs in one line, especially Present Tense verbs, because you can talk about the amount of action that's going on. The Present Tense makes the section sound more vivid. The rest has just begun and the most welcome gift from the Gods creeps on. I think this second part, the creeping on of the gift from the gods, has quite an omninous tone.
dono divum “the gift from the gods” has alliteration, which draws attention to the phrase. It may be that this is talking about the quiet rest, the first rest... Or is it that the Greeks are creeping through the city? The gods are against the Trojans on this night, and so this is heavy foreshadowing.
Fair Warning: You may notice at some points during this that I reach a little bit far, and that's because I love analysis of Latin poetry. Weirdly didn't enjoy English analysis in school, but always loved Latin poetry. So I'm going to go too far. You do not have to go this far.
Lines 3-4
in somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector
visus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus,
Overview: Aeneas describes his dream of Hector, who appears before him, weeping.
in somnis, “in my dreams”. Again I have emphatic positioning of this phrase, it's at the beginning of the line. This is telling us straight away that Aeneas is asleep, and that he knows he is dreaming. That doesn't make it any less real for him.
ecce, “look!”. Virgil, using Aeneas’ words, is drawing our attention to what he's about to say next. Something important is going to happen, which heightens the tension in this sentence.
ecce ante oculos “look, before my eyes”. When this is read aloud, this is pronounced “ek-ant-oculos” because it's something called elision. If a word ends with a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel, you lose a syllable. It makes the phrase very pacey, he's almost tripping over his words when he's remembering this dream. This also increases the tension.
maestissimus, “very wretched”, is a superlative again. This increases our pathos (sympathy) with the character, but we still don't know who we are talking about!
This has been delayed. Hector is right at the end of the line, so this creates in us a sense of tension. We have to wait until the end of the line to find out who it is who has appeared in Aeneas's dream.
visus “he seemed”. Again this is linked to the “in my dream”. Aeneas knows it's not true but it feels very real. It's at the start of a line, so it's emphasised, it's emphatic positioning.
largosque effundere fletus, “and shedding plentiful tears”: this is also elision. You say “largos-kwe-fun-de-ray”. There is the same idea of Aeneas tripping over his words, rushing to get this description out. You feel sorry for Aeneas that he has seen this vision of his cousin in quite a kind of horrible state. Hector is weeping many tears. He's weeping for the state of Troy. He was the crown prince, and he wants to keep his city safe, but he can't because he's dead. And so he's come to his cousin. Um, so something bad is about to happen.
Lines 5-6
raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento
pulvere, perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.
Overview: a detailed description of Hector, shown as he was after being killed by Achilles, who dragged his dead body around the city walls of Troy while Hector’s family watched in despair from the walls.
raptatus, “having been dragged”. This is a perfect passive participle. This is the beginning of the line and it is shocking. Until this point we didn’t know what he looked like in the dream. But now we know that he has the wounds from when he was killed brutally by Achilles and his body was effectively desecrated.
NB: Everyone in Rome would know what this bigis (the chariot) was referring to. They know these stories, they've grown up with them. Virgil is drawing upon people's collective memory to make his story more sympathetic, more vivid, more memorable.
ut quondam, “as he once was”. This is referring back to the idea that the Romans will know who Virgil is talking about and which part of the story he is talking about.
aterque cruento pulvere, “and black with blood and dust”. The -que means “and”, which when linked with perque on the next line creates the sense of a big list. You could be fancy and call it polysyndeton, which means many connectives, or you could just say there's a big list of how descriptive phrases to show Hector’s appearance. Literally the idea is that the blood from his death is now crusty with dust - which is very visceral.
We have enjambment, where the sentence flows over from one line into the next, which makes the pace of the speech speed up.
pulvere perque pedes: lots of plosive alliteration here, with the repeated Ps. I had lecturers at university who hated it when you talked about the sound of alliteration, because to us sounds have different connotations to what it would have had to the Romans. In this case, pulvere perque pedes, it's just drawing attention to the idea of the brutality that Hector has suffered. But you can, if you want, say that it sounds like someone beating upon their chest in grief, maybe. Or you can just say it draws attention to this vivid image.
traiectus “having been pierced” is a perfect passive participle. This is a very brutal verb. Basically Achilles has shoved a blade or a pointy arrowhead through Hector's ankles after killing him, to thread leather straps (lora) through them. He then used this to tie Hector’s body behind his chariot, and drag it around. Virgil uses this very violent verb, traiectus.
pedes tumentis, “his swollen feet”. This emphasises the pathos, the sympathy that we should be feeling for Hector.
Analysing Virgil: TLDR
As you can see, you can talk about a heck of a lot of things, and really you can say anything you want about the passage as long as you can back it up with reference to the text. This text was only 6 lines long, and I wrote over 1,200 words about it. Here’s a shorter summary:
Virgil’s style shines, through his selection of words and their emphasis. He employs emphatic positioning, placing key words at the beginning or end of lines to underscore importance. The use of superlatives and alliteration enriches the text, intensifying its emotional weight.
In the passage, verbs sometimes bookend lines, a device that controls the pace and heightens tension. Virgil skilfully uses elision, blending vowel-ending words with vowel-starting ones, creating a fast-paced rhythm that mirrors Aeneas’ emotional urgency.
Virgil also relies on the cultural knowledge of his audience, using imagery familiar to them to resonate deeply. His language captures the brutality of Hector’s treatment by Achilles and creates a profound empathy for his tragic fate.
As long as you can back these comments up with reference to the text by quoting the Latin, you can say whatever you want. That's why I love Latin poetry.
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Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you enjoyed analysing some Latin poetry. If you'd like me to do some more, let me know in the comments!
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