Narrative Skill

The Aeneid was composed by Virgil in the last ten years of his life; an epic poem of twelve books with the first six, modelled on Homer's Odyssey, focusing primarily on the protagonist, Aeneas, and his journey from the fallen Troy to his arrival in Italy. The remaining six books are considered by many to be the response of Rome to the Greek Iliad, concentrating on Aeneas' development as a leader of early Italy. Full of mystery and mysticism, the messages of his majestic masterpiece was one of imperial prowess and is full of political potency, the progeny of which, despite being incomplete at the time of his death, was immediately recognised at the time as a magnum opus, a work of genius which would go on to influence much of poesy in the following centuries including such prolific figures as Dante and Milton. The Aeneid is recognised as one of the greatest expressions of Roman literary prowess and to this extent it is important that we know why the potent, grave and reverend words of one man have continued to leave a learned legacy in its wake.

There are several passages in Book Two of the Aeneid which can be used to show the mastery of Virgil's narrative skill of which we have chosen only two. These are from lines 339-396 and lines 199-255. Both of these passages have been chosen due to the fact that in these lines Virgil evokes a sense of both awe and pathos whilst conveying the action, the 'periculum' and 'laborem' faced by his protagonist Aeneas as he fights through the Fall of Troy. In both we see how Virgil's use of simile, imagery, sounds, dramatic placing and sentence structure crafts Aeneas's tale.

Firstly, however, we must consider Virgil's use of language as it is this which continuously demonstrates his prowess as a writer as his selection of lexis often becomes the most poignant part of his narrative. This is particularly demonstrated in lines 390 - 395 where we see how this choice of diction alone is able to make the scene vivid. Through his cinematic attention to detail, he creates a 'vignette' depicting the Trojans as they put on the Greek armour. Here we are first drawn into the action by the delay of the word 'deinde', this lapse creates a sense of anticipation as it would normally be placed first. This is continued by the use of the word 'induitur' which is dramatically place at the beginning of line 393 emphasising the verb and thus the deeds occurring. Prior to this in line 392 there is a concentration on the change fro Trojan to Greek appearance which is accentuated by the placing of 'Androgei' at the beginning of the line, reminding us of the recent victory against the Greek troops and which is followed by the two types of arms 'galeam clipieque'. By placing these two words together, Virgil creates a vividness which emphasises the nobility and bravery of their situation whilst also accentuating the fact that it is weaponry and thus that their situation is one of a last defensive battle. This is picking up on the frequently demonstrated theme of futility which is reflected throughout the poem for example through his use of the word 'furor' in line 355. Following Aenaes' speech to the small band of men he has gathered it means 'frenzy' and reminds the audience of the irrationality of their action, reiterating the idea that in the situation all they can really do is fight and die.

Virgil's diction is also particularly effective earlier in the epic and is powerfully demonstrated from lines 199-209 where there is a deliberate string of words which draw out tension and suspense from the word 'aluid' (l.199), meaning 'something', is a consciously vague word which tells the audience nothing about what is 'maius miseris'. This is followed by words such as 'multoque' and 'magis' accentuating the greatness of this new fear the 'aluid' has evokes in them and which evokes apprehension in the reader. Similarly the reference to 'a large bull' being readied for sacrifice alludes to the idea that the Trojans are only inches away from penetrating the mystery of the Greek horse when the word 'ecce'(l.201) is placed emphatically at the beginning of a new line which exaggerates for the reader how closer the Trojans are to salvation. Likewise 'sanguine' and 'igni' are used in line 208 to further convey the 'ardentis … oculos' of the 'gemini … angues', in this phrase the use of pleonasm of 'ardentis' and 'igni' is used to stress the destructive and demonic nature of the snakes, which is further demonstrated by the fact that these words surround the rest of the line as they are placed at the beginning and the end of the line. The 'sanguine' here builds on this idea of destructiveness and acts as a portent vividly conveying the idea of the snakes representing a wrathful purpose in the tale.

However, his choice of diction is only made more pronounced through his usage of specific sounds to grasp the scene and make it more powerful. We can see from the examples above that Virgil uses alliteration frequently, as seen with the words ''maius miseris multoque', the labials here reflecting the seriousness of the situation whilst also giving the words a sense of force. Then we see in line 209 the bilabial 'l' and 'b' of 'lambebant linguis' emphasizes the power behind the snakes as they thrust themselves through the water, thus capturing the motion of the snakes but the internal sounds of the words also contains laterals and glottals to reflect the dangerous 'up-down' motion of the tongue as the snakes hiss. Virgil's narrative skill here is obviously reflected through his use of sounds as they manage to echo or enforce the meaning of the sentances allowing the reader to penetrate it and understand it more firmly. This is just as well demonstrated in line 354 'exegit caecos rabies catulique relicti / faucibus expectant siccis,' where the cacophonic 'c' and 'q' sounds act as harsh, cruel echoes of the sounds of battle, a feature which reoccurs in line 397 where the words 'caecam congressi' create an aural reflection of the battle scene at the same time as the word 'caecam' reflecting the chaos of the confrontation.

The word 'caecam' brings us back to consider Virgil's lexis. Many characters, including Aeneas, have an 'epithet' or image which is attached to them. The word 'caecam' is frequently related to the Trojans in order to emphasise the fact that they were taken by surprise, completely unawares, by the Greeks and the idea of blindness thus often is part of a zeugma, acting on a literal and metaphorical level to describe both the darkness of the night that they fought in as well as the 'blindness' of the Trojans to the 'Greek treachery'. Thus we reveal another frequently occurring image. The repetition of the word 'fida' and 'fides' continually reminds us of the importance of trust as trustworthiness in the tale due to its connotations in relation to the Greeks. It is Virgil's casual reminder with words like this, throughout the two passages, that draws out the themes and conveys the personality of Aeneas' melancholy mindset as the narrator of Book II.

It is important to bear this in mind when we consider the simile in lines 305-308 where Aeneas is compared to a 'pastor' or 'shepherd' an image which occurs repeated through out the Aeneid as a whole. It is in this epic simile which we also see a great many stylistic features which once again remove any doubt in Virgil's narrative skills. Firstly the simile itself creates an elaborate pictorial image to aid the audience in identifying with the situation that Aeneas is put in by appealing to a more familiar scene than the action taking place in the narrative. The repetition of 'sternit' on line 306 vividly highlights the decimation taking place in Troy whilst the fact that 'agros' and 'sata' are the victims of this devastation metaphorically relates to Troy's foundation and origins as well as what they created and reaped the benefits of. The labiodentals in line 304 of 'flamma furentibus' emphasises the sounds of the flames being describes whereas the sibilance from lines 306-308 ('sternit…stupet…saxi') reflects the chaotic descruction taking place around the 'inscius…pastor'. It is interesting to consider the fact that Virgil is describing Aeneas as this 'inscius…pastor' through Aeneas himself which conveys to the reader the idea that as a protagonist, Aeneas is aware of his role as leader and guardian. The fact that this passage is one of the most emphasised through the numerous literary features only accentuates this idea that the 'pastor' image is one which is particularly poignant in terms of the epic as it is defining him, with great exaggeration, as the leader, as the guardian and protector of the Trojan people.

Simile is used on a less epic scale elsewhere in the poem, earlier on line 223 the word 'qualis' allows the sentence to be translated as 'like the bellowing' bull, alluding to the beast that was going to be sacrificed but put up a struggle. This image may seem simple and literal as Laocoon struggles to get vengeance on the snakes for eating his sons but actually has a much more ominous interpretation since by comparing him to a 'bellowing bull' he is being compared to a sacrifice and like the sacrifice that he tried and failed to make of the bull, it was considered a particularly bad omen for a sacrifice to struggle as they were meant to go willingly to their deaths. This is a portent therefore, for Troy as Laocoon is a sacrifice of theirs to the avenging twin snakes. Then from 378-80 Virgil uses another simile 'veluti qui - haud secus' to once again the idea of the 'unknowing' man stepping on a snake. The repetition of the 'snake' here reminds us of the fate of Laocoon and also the word 'improvisum' draws up images of the 'Greek treachery' again thus this simile is one which alludes to the rest of the poem as a whole whilst also being slightly ironic as this time it is the Greeks who are defeated.

Yet words, sounds and imagery are not the only things which show the reader the extent of Virgil's skills. Whilst intertwining his images and sounds he also intertwines the sentences. This is clearly demonstrated through the scansion of line217 where the dactyls and spondees alternate to reflect the way the coils of the twin snakes interweave with one another whilst the two monosyllables reflect the fact that the boys are tightly tied up by the snakes at the end of the line. Scansion is also used in line339 where the majority of the line is made up of spondees to create a sense of speed and efficiency as the Trojans group together. As well as this chiasmus and synchaesis are two more examples of how wordplay is used to make the scenes more vivid whilst demonstrating Virgil's literary prowess. For example in line283 synchaesis is used to emphasise the fact that 'densis' and 'armis' surround the 'circumfundimur' in a visual representation of their action whilst the two verbs are pushed forward in the line to emphasise 'ruimus' and the 'rush' that they are in. In contrast the use of caesura in line237 of 'pueri circum innuptaeque puellae' accentuates the contrast between boys and girls as well as giving the image the cyclic, surrounding feel that the sentence means thus, like the other syntactical examples, this image reflects the movement and design of the words themselves.

Through all of this we become well aware of Virgil's narrative skills and though we looked at only two passages from the Book II we can see clear examples of how Virgil's carefully chosen lexis is constructed to reflect, represent and reveal the same images that the words come to mean. His ability is undeniable and thus is it, without any shame, that we recognise, like so many before is, the prowess of Virgil.