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The Silence of Vergil and The End of The Aeneid

The author analyzes Vergil's strategic silences in the Aeneid, particularly at key moments that raise expectations based on literary tradition but are left unresolved. Specifically, the author discusses (1) Vergil's omission of the Danaids from his list of sinners in Tartarus, against tradition, (2) his silence on the fate of prisoners taken by Aeneas that were modeled on those of Achilles, and (3) his refusal to say whether Aeneas grants Turnus' final plea to return his body to his father, defying expectations set up by Homer. The author argues these silences are interpretively significant and reinforce ambiguities in the poem's ending.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
203 views10 pages

The Silence of Vergil and The End of The Aeneid

The author analyzes Vergil's strategic silences in the Aeneid, particularly at key moments that raise expectations based on literary tradition but are left unresolved. Specifically, the author discusses (1) Vergil's omission of the Danaids from his list of sinners in Tartarus, against tradition, (2) his silence on the fate of prisoners taken by Aeneas that were modeled on those of Achilles, and (3) his refusal to say whether Aeneas grants Turnus' final plea to return his body to his father, defying expectations set up by Homer. The author argues these silences are interpretively significant and reinforce ambiguities in the poem's ending.
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THE SILENCE OF VERGIL AND THE END OF THE "AENEID"

Author(s): ROBERT J. EDGEWORTH and REX STEM


Reviewed work(s):
Source: Vergilius (1959-), Vol. 51 (2005), pp. 3-11
Published by: The Vergilian Society
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THE SILENCE OF VERGIL AND
THE END OF THE AENEID

ROBERT J. EDGEWORTH,
Ed. REX STEM*

In the Aeneid Vergil is particularlycarefulto remainsilenton many


points which mighteasily have been made explicit. This silence should
be recognized and respected,for resolving it with certaintywould mar
the poem's artistic reticence. In fact, by his very silence on certain
points,Vergil reinforcesthe ambivalence of thepoem's finalscene. Thus
the silence of Vergil is interpretively significant,and suggests a new
perspectiveon the much-debatedend of thepoem.
In speaking of this silence I do not mean simply that Vergil often
does not answer certainquestions which we wish he had (for example,
what is that business of the Gate of Ivory all about?). Rather, I am
speaking primarilyof occasions when his use of specific elementsfrom
the literarytraditioncreates certain expectations in the minds of the
audience, but the poet does not tell us whetherthese expectations are
fulfilled. I shall give a couple of examples of this practice before
focusingon the end of thepoem.
In Book Six, on his Underworldjourney,Aeneas sees thetormentsof
the famoussinnersin Tartarus.The literarytraditionhad builtup a list of
persons usually named in such descents into the Underworld. Homer
startedit by naming Tityus, Tantalus, and Sisyphus ( Odyssey 11.576-
600; cf. Plato, Grgias 525 E). Lucretius' list of greatsinnersin Tartarus

* This at the2004
essayhas itsoriginsin a paperProfessorEdgeworth presented
Annual Meetingof the AmericanPhilologicalAssociation,"The Silence of
Vergil,"a versionof whichhe had submitted to Vergiliusbeforehis deathon
October 22, 2004. I would like to thankMrs. KathleeenEdgeworthfor
entrustingme withthetaskof revisingthatsubmission, as well as theeditorof
Vergiliusforhersupportof myroleas posthumous editor,a rolethatallowsme
to acknowledgemydeep respectforProfessor Edgeworth as a colleagueand as
a wonderfully learnedmanof greatintegrity. My primary contributionhas been
to incorporatethecontentsof his 2003 APA paper,"The End of theAeneid
intotheessayhe originally submitted,in thebeliefthatthisexpansionsharpens
and extendstheargument. Thus I am responsibleforthefocusof theargument
in thisversion,as well as someof itsstructuring,butall of itsideas,and indeed
almostall ofitswords,arehis.

51 (2005) 3-11
Vergilius

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4 The Silence ofVergiland the End ofthe Aeneid

consists of Tantalus, Tityus, Sisyphus, and the Danaids (De Rerum


Natura 3.980-1010). By Augustan times the list had become somewhat
expanded. Tibullus (at 1.3.71-80) gives us Ixion, Tityus, and the
Danaids. Horace gives us Ixion, Tityus, and the Danaids in one poem
0Odes 3.11.21-52), Tityus, Sisyphus, and the Danaids in another(Odes
2.14.8-20). Ovid gives us several lists: at Metamorphoses4.457-63 we
have Tityus,Tantalus, Sisyphus,Ixion, and the Danaids, while at 10.41-
44 we findTantalus, Ixion, the Danaids, Tityus (though unnamed), and
Sisyphus. Similarlyin the Ibis (171-80): Sisyphus,theDanaids, Tantalus,
and Tityus. Vergil's list (6.580-627) is the most comprehensiveof them
all, incorporatingeitherby name or by distinctivemannerof punishment
all of these figures and more. But there is one great exception: the
Danaids are not mentioned.Why not? Does Vergil not thinktheirdeeds
worthy of condemnation to Tartarus? Vergil's silence about their
conditionstandsagainstthe expectationof the literarytradition,a silence
thatadds significanceto wheretheydo ultimatelyappear in thepoem.
A second example of a significantVergilian silence comes at Aeneid
10.517-20, when Aeneas takes eightprisonersof war and intendsto offer
them as human sacrifices to the dead Pallas. The episode is clearly
modeled on Iliad 21.27-28, where Achilles takes twelve prisoners to
sacrificeto the spiritof Patroclus.Homer leaves us in no doubtas to their
fate: we are remindedof Achilles' intentionat 23.22-23, and at 23.175-
77 he kills themwith his own hands at Patroclus' pyre. This antecedent
creates an expectation in the minds of Vergil's audience, for whom
detailed knowledge of Homer is a given: eitherAeneas will fulfillhis
intention,like Achilles, or else (less probably) he will change his mind
and spare his prisonersin a strikingand significantdeparturefromthe
model. But instead, at Aeneid 11.81-93 Aeneas sends them off to
Evander, and we never learn anythingmore about them.Do theylive or
die? Does clementia (mercy) trumpfuror (rage)? Either way, the
outcome would have had strongimplicationsforone's readingof the end
of thepoem. But instead,what we get is: silence.
In discussingthe finalscene of the poem, the customaryview is that
Aeneas rejects Turnus' plea. The meritsof the decision are then hotly
debated. But in factTurnusmakes two pleas, offeringAeneas his choice:
either spare my life, or returnmy body to my aged fatherDaunus
(12.932-36). Aeneas does reject the firstplea; but it is astonishingthat
Vergil refuses to tell us whetherthe second plea will be granted or

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RobertJ. Edgeworth 5

denied.1Since the expectationsof the originalhearersof theAeneid were


conditionedin large part by theirknowledge of the Iliad , and the final
book of theIliad concernsitselfprimarilywiththe question of the return
to an aged father of the corpse of a fallen antagonist, the natural
expectationwould be thatthe end of the "Iliadic" portionof the Aeneid
would pay considerable attentionto this subject. Instead: not one word.
This silence flies in the face of the audience's expectations,and hence
should have been the subject of intense critical discussion long before
now. It has not.
Though strongestat the end of theIliad , Homer's preoccupationwith
thepropertreatment of the corpse of a fallenfoe is prominentthroughout
the poem. At Iliad 6.416-20 Andromache stressesthatAchilles showed
properrespectforthe corpse of her fatherEtion. At Iliad 7.79-86 Hector
proposes,beforehis duel withTelamonian Ajax, thatboth sides swear to
returnthe corpse of the fallen to his own people. He proposes the same
stipulationto Achilles, in vain, at Iliad 22.256-59. In contrastto the
expectations thus set up by Homeric precedent, the oaths sworn by
Aeneas and Latinus at Aeneid 12.175-221, oaths that are to secure the
termsforthe duel betweenAeneas and Turnus,say nothingof a returnof
bodies.2
One may object that Vergil intendsto end his work at a pitch of
feverishintensityand hence any attentionto the corpse's fatewould have
provided a degree of narrativeand emotional decompressionwhich the
poet chooses to reject.But on the contrary,it would have been quite easy
forVergil to adumbratethe futureobsequies of Turnus,for example as
part of Jupiter'sprophecy to Juno (12.830-40) or as, say, part of an
authorialapostropheto Juturna.Afterall, he has managed to tell us what
will happen later on to Aeneas: he will die before his time, but will be
deified(1.259-60, 4.615-20, 12.794-95).
Anotherobjection is thatAeneas will returnthe body because he did
so in the case of Lausus (10.827-28). But the two killingsare a studyin

1 An
example of a criticalapproachwhich seeks to abolish this silence is
affordedby RichardJenkyns, Virgil'sExperience(Oxford1998), 67: "Virgilis
movingwithsuchrapidity thathe does notpause to tellus if thissupplication
['returnmybody'] is granted, buthe does notneedto,forwe are surethatitis."
We can be sureofno suchthing.
2 Note how Turnusswearsthisoath.We are
Vergilis also silentaboutwhether
toldat 12.175-221thatAeneas takestheoath,thatLatinustakestheoath,that
Turnusstepsforward and veneratesthealtarand ... thenVergilcutsaway and
changesthesubject.

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6 The Silence ofVergiland the End ofthe Aeneid

contrasts.Aeneas is filled with pity and compassion at the death of


Lausus: miserons("feeling pity", 10.823), 'miserandepuer' ('"O pitiful
boy"', 10.825). He kills Turnus while furiis accensus et ira terribilis
("aflame with rage and terrifying in his anger," 12.946-47). Moreover,
Lausus was not wearing the armorof a fallen protg of Aeneas. What
mighthis rage now promptAeneas to do to Turnus' corpse, and will he
succumb to it?
The question is not an idle one, for the treatmentof the corpse of
Mezentius raises uneasiness in the reader's mind. As Mezentius dies he,
too, begs Aeneas for a favor.He begs forproperburial afterhis death,
and for Aeneas to ward off the rage of Mezentius' own rebel subjects
(10.903-6). How would this rage manifestitself?Surely in abuse of the
corpse, especially in view of the treatmentof Hector's corpse by the
Achaeans at Iliad 22.369-75. But evidentlyrage was vented upon the
corpse, for we learn at Aeneid 11.9-10 that Mezentius' breastplatehad
been pierced in twelve places. Aeneas had wounded him in the groin
with his spear (10.785-86), then dispatched him with a sword-thrust to
the throat(10.907-8). Since neitherblow cut throughthe breastplate,and
twelve piercingsare too manyto be plausible as near misses sustainedin
battle,these piercings are inflictedpost mortem ,3 Whose rage inflicted
them?Aeneas'? If so, it would create a grimexpectationin the mind of
the reader at the time of Turnus' plea. The Etruscans'? If the latter,was
the mutilationdone with or withoutAeneas' consent - that is, did he
rejectMezentius' dyingplea? Vergil is silenton all thesepoints.
Does the treatmentof Turnus' corpse make any difference?A great
deal. Homer rarelyexpresses, in sua persona, judgments on the moral
qualityof his characters'actions,but he does so emphaticallyin the case
of Achilles' abuse of Hector's corpse. These acts are twice describedas
eixa . . . epya ("disgracefuldeeds," Iliad 22.395, 23.24), characteristic
of a man whose heartis bereftof all feelingsofjustice (so says Apollo at
24.40-41). In contrast,Achilles' acceptance of Priam's ransom for the
body is described as ok euca ("not disgraceful,"24.594). Homer's
emphasis suggests how more is at issue than the corpse itself.
Reconciliation, the main theme of Iliad Twenty-Four, is thereby
expected but painfullyabsentin Aeneid Twelve. It is truethatthe Trojans
and the Latins are to become one people (12.834-40), but Vergil sternly
resisted the temptationto present,even as prolepsis, a reconciliation

3 See R. O. A. M.
Lyne,Wordsand thePoet: Characteristic
TechniquesofStyle
in Vergil'sAeneid(Oxford1989),113.

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RobertJ. Edgeworth 7

scene between Aeneas and Daunus. Through this silence, in which he


leaves open both the possibilitythatthe body of Turnus be shamefully
abused by Aeneas and the possibility that it be returnedwith proper
honors, Vergil directly contributesto the uncertaintyabout Aeneas'
moral standingat the end of thepoem.
Certainlythe most disputed aspect of Vergilian studies forthe past
generationhas been the interpretationof Aeneas' action in the finalscene
of the Aeneid. "No single scene in Latin literaturehas proved to be as
great an ideological battlegroundas the end of the Aeneid," writes
Barbara Weiden Boyd.4Understandablyso: one's readingof the meaning
of thepoem as a whole mustbe informedin large partby one's "take" on
the ending. The two principal interpretiveviewpointsmay be described
as optimisticand pessimistic.To the formergroup certainlybelong Karl
Galinsky,Hans-PeterStahl, Francis Cairns, and forthe most partViktor
Pschl and Brooks Otis.5 In their eyes Aeneas does what is rightand
proper killing Turnus, rejecting his plea for mercy. The latter group
marshals the talentsof Michael Putnam,Richard Thomas, R. O. A. M.
Lyne, Steven Farron, and for the most part W. R. Johnson.6In their
perspective Aeneas fails in his mission, abandoning his obligations to
pietas and dementia in a surrenderto thatsense offurorwhich has been,
in various guises, the "villain" of the poem. Although it might be

4 BarbaraWeiden
Boyd,"'Tum PectoreSensus Vertuntur Varii': Readingand
TeachingtheEnd oftheAeneid," in W. S. AndersonandL. N. Quartarone, eds.,
Approachesto TeachingVergil'sAeneid(ModernLanguageAssociation2002),
80-86, at 80. See further Daniel M. Hooley, "TwentiethCenturyCritical
Perspectives,"in the same volume(22-31), as well as S. J. Harrison,"Some
Views of theAeneidin theTwentieth Century,"in S. J.Harrison,ed., Oxford
Readingsin Vergil'sAeneid(Oxford1990), 1-20.
Representative works: Karl Galinsky,"The Anger of Aeneas," AJP 109
(1988): 321-48; Hans-Peter Stahl,"The Death of Turnus:AugustanVergiland
thePoliticalRival," in K. A. Raaflauband M. Toher,eds., BetweenRepublic
and Empire:Interpretations of Augustusand his Principte(Berkeley1990),
174-211; Francis Cairns, Virgil'sAugustanEpic (Cambridge1989); Viktor
Pschl,TheArtof Vergil , tr.Gerda Seligson(Ann Arbor1962); BrooksOtis,
Virgil:A Studyin CivilizedPoetry(Oxford1963).
Representative works: Michael C. J. Putnam,The Poetryof the Aeneid
(Cambridge MA 1965); RichardF. Thomas,Virgiland theAugustanReception
(Cambridge2001); R. O. A. M. Lyne, FurtherVoices in Vergil'sAeneid
(Oxford,1987); StevenFarron,Vergil'sAeneid: A Poem of Griefand Love
(Leiden 1993); W. R. Johnson, Darkness Visible: A Studyof Vergil'sAeneid
(Berkeley1976).

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8 The Silence ofVergiland the End ofthe Aeneid

suggested that Vergil's intentwas to provide the reader with a free


choice between these (supposedly) mutually exclusive interpretations,
more commonly it is contended that the author intended only one of
these readingsand excluded the other.
I contend that each view is largely correct,but faultyin assuming
that we must choose between the two. Aeneas both triumphsand fails.
Vergil's poem is concernedboth withthe moral dimensionand with the
eschatological dimension of human choices. Vergil's probable intent,I
argue, is that the reader both be horrifiedat the enormityof Aeneas'
failurein the moral orderand be relieved thatby his failurethe proper
eschatological orderof eventsis secured.7
Pschl tells us thatthe overmasteringand suppressionoffuror is the
main themeof thepoem.8Furor is linkedexplicitlyand repeatedlyto the
devastatingharm wroughtby Juno,Allecto, and even Amata. Furor is
what kills Dido. Furor mustbe bound in a hundredbrazen links (1.294-
96). Pietas, on the other hand, is the special hallmark of Aeneas, as
Vergil tells us prominently, and is thequalityin which the Romans are to
surpass even the gods themselves,accordingto Jupiter(12.838-39). It is
clearly a virtue,perhapsone should say the supremevirtue- or, better,a
complex of relatedvirtues.Given the apparentand sustainedopposition
between these two key elements,we are almost completelyunprepared
forthe ending,which presentsa stunningreversal. It is sometimessaid
thatVergil tends to undercuteverythinghe affirms;9here at the end he
undercuts even pietas itself, the foundationof the moral order, and
redeems the worthof uglyfuror,upon which the eschatological orderof
eventsis shown (in part)to depend.
The key momentcomes at Aeneid 12.940-41, when Aeneas begins to
yield to Turnus' plea. Will he exercise dementia? Many assume that
Anchises' injunction at Aeneid 6.853 (parcere subiectis et debellare
superbos) requires him to do so. But in fact Anchises enjoins very
different treatmentforthe superbi and the subiecti,while Turnus in the

7 In
usingtheterm"eschatological"here,I refernotto theend of thecosmos,
butsimplyto thecourseof future events,and in particular
to thatfuturestateof
justice,peace, and harmony in which the human race, in its better
moments,
desiresto live.
8 See Pschl
(note5, above) 13-33.
9
E.g., PhilipHardie,TheEpic Successorsof Virgil(Cambridge1993),2: "the
Aeneid constantly worksagainstits own closure."More generally,see the
closing pages of Stephanie Quinn, ed., Why Vergil? A Collection of
Interpretations (Bolchazy-Carducci 2000),423-430.

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RobertJ. Edgeworth 9

final scene of the poem can be seen as simultaneouslysuperbus and


subiectus: herepaternalwisdom has reached its limits.
From a moral perspective,Aeneas does the wrongthing- not in that
he slays Turnus,but thathe does so in a total surrenderto rage, in which,
as Putnamargues, he takes on the persona of Junoherself.10Surrenderto
rage, especially afterdeliberation,is per se an immoralact,judged by the
standards established by the poem in its treatmentof furor over the
previous twelve books. Yet if Aeneas exercises dementia, then Rome
will never rise, forTurnus has been shown repeatedlyto be a promise-
breakerwho would backstab the Trojan at the firstopportunity."Given
the character of Turnus as shown in the text, he would, if spared,
certainlynot shake hands amicably and go back to spend his days
peacefullyin Ardea forevermore. Character,we are told, is destiny.
But Rome mustrise, since it is to be the vehicle by which the world
may finallyattainpeace and unity;thisis clearlyaffirmedin Book Six in
passages which are just as Vergilian as the darker ones. However,
Aeneas' humanitas inclines him to make the "wrong" decision (the
mercifulone). Astoundingly,Aeneas does what must be done precisely
because he succumbs to the demonic forceof rage, which saves the day
when virtue fails, even though we are repulsed by its moral ugliness.
Vergil sets up a tensionbetweenpietas and furor in Book One, sustains
it, then shows at the very last thatthe key momentsin historyrequirea
person (or a people) whose pietas is genuinebut can give place to bloody
furor in its turn.Aeneas is such a person,the Romans are such a people;
theircharacteris theirdestiny.12
Many previous readings of this scene have fallen short in part
because the legacy of the Christianinterpretive traditionhas imposed a
false dichotomy:to do evil is never acceptable, hence the killing must
eitherbe notreallyevil or else utterlyreprehensible.Mercy is assumed to
be always the "better" choice, but Vergil knew that the dementia
exercised by the greatJuliusultimatelybroughtdisasterboth to the man
and to the Roman world,while the horrorsof the proscriptionsproved to
be a preludeto thePax Augusta.
In craftingthe endingas he did, Vergil has come up witha resolution
10See Putnam his "Forward"to
(note 6, above) 190-201,and, morerecently,
Quinn(note9, above) vii-xii.
11See Stahl
(note5, above).
12Elizabeth
Henry,The Vigourof Prophecy(Carbondale1989), 177: "The
moralambiguity in Virgil'sjudgmenton Aeneas - and so on Rome's generals,
magistrates,priests,
emperors, forAeneasis all these- is profound."

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10 The Silence ofVergiland the End ofthe Aeneid

of the age-old Problem of Evil. The hoped-forfuture,humankind'sgoal,


rests in part on evil deeds, and it cannot be otherwise.The tree which
bears the golden apples of peace and harmonyis rooted in the dung-hill
of slaughterand revenge.Pietas is not enough. This fact does not make
evil good (or even excusable in moral terms),13merely necessary in
eschatological terms. Moral claims do not eliminate the validity of
eschatological demands, nor vice versa: both are valid, yet sometimes
conflicting.And this is our sad fate: we are caught between the two.
Even the good person cannot go throughlife with clean hands. How we
wish it were not so, but this is an inescapable part of the tragedyof the
human condition. This knowledge, this revelation,grinds the heart in
sorrowand yetgives hope in darkness.
Masterfully,it is the sightof Pallas' baldric which tips the scales for
Aeneas (12.941-46), thebaldricon which is engravedthe infamousact of
the Danaids (10.496-99). Now we can understandwhy Vergil does not
tell us whetherthe Danaids are in Hell. Their deed is simultaneouslyan
opus pietatis (fortheyare carryingout theirfather'swill) and assuredlya
horrifying nefas (as the poet himselfdeclares at 10.497). Their deed is
also Aeneas' deed, as theirpresence on the fatal baldric surely implies:
pietas and nefas are inextricablybound.14The baldric is the last element
in a series in which Aeneas fails to draw the inferencesfromworks of art
which are most evidentto the reader.15Standingat the Temple of Junoat
Carthage and viewing the murals which depict that goddess wreaking
terriblevengeance on her hated foes, the Trojans, Aeneas tells Achates,
"Relax: we're safe here" (1.463). Viewing the reliefs of Daedalus and

13Christine
Perkell,"The Lamentof Juturna: Pathosand Interpretation
in the
Aeneid TAPA 127 (1997): 257-286, articulateshow Vergil suggests"the
inadequacyof mere power eitherto undo or to compensatefor the moral
problemsthatconquestentails"(284).
14Sarah
Spence,"CinchingtheText:The Danaids and theEnd of theAeneid,"
Vergilius37 (1991): 11-19,showshowthereweregood reasons,bothofpublic
policy and of public art, for the Danaids to be on the minds of Vergil's
contemporaries. See furtherhercontributionto Andersonand Quartarone (note
"
4, above): Pietas and Furor: Motivational Forcesin theAeneid 46-52. She
stressestheinterdependence ofpietas andfuror,whileI say thatfurordepends,
notonpietas,buton humanmoralweakness,and thatwhatdependswponfuror
is notpietas,butthefuture (sometimes forgood,sometimesforill).
15 See
further AlessandroBarchiesi,"VirgilianNarrative:Ecphrasis,"in C.
Martindale, ed., The CambridgeCompanionto Virgil(Cambridge1997), 271-
81.

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RobertJ. Edgeworth 11

Icarus on the templedoors at Cumae, which depict a gulfbetween father


and son imposed by death,so vast thatit cannotbe bridged(6.14-33), he
respondsby saying,"I want to see my fatheragain" (6.106-9). He gazes
upon the scenes of futurehistoryengraved upon his great shield and,
despite his earlier "guided tour" of Elysium, we are told thathe simply
does not understand(8.730). Here, too, at the very end of the poem, he
looks upon a representationof pietas and nefas inextricablymixed, and
understandsnothing.Instead,he feels . . . and he acts.
And here we are, gazing at the Aeneid and beginningto suspect that
the Aeneid itself is exactly such a baldric, a great work of art which
depicts the bivalent nature of human action.16It does so throughits
lengthand breadth,but never more forcefullythan here at its end. Yet
one great reason for the Aeneid's ceaseless pull on human hearts and
minds is thatmany readerssomehow sense thatthe poem's ambivalence
is the way humanityis. We wish it were not so; what we long foris that
cool, lucid clarityofjustice forwhich we are foreverdoomed to thirst. . .
in vain. Vergil knows about the darknesswithinthe human heartand he
shows it to us plainly here at the end of the Aeneid. But Vergil gives us
more thantears forthe way thingsare (1.462); he gives us hope. For the
darkest deed that you or I shall ever do, even though it be to our
everlastingdiscredit,may yet prove to be the cornerstoneon which the
brightestof futuresmay rest.Be it so!
Be it so.

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

16See Dolores
O'Higgins,"The Emperor'sNew Clothes:Unseen Images on
Pallas' Baldric,"Hermathena158 (1995): 61-7,at 66.

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