17. ROMAN LEGEND

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Legend of Romulus and Remus

  • folktale motifs abound
    • twin sons exposed at birth–in boat on Tiber River
    • suckled by she-wolf, raised by shepherds
    • found new city, fight over whose name to give it
      • 6 birds appear to Remus (first)
      • 12 birds (more) appear to Romulus next
    • Remus killed in ensuing quarrel; city named Rome

Vergil's Aeneid

  • epic poem by Vergil (70-19 B.C.), written under patronage of emperor Augustus
    • deliberate imitation of Homer
      • Books 1-6 an odyssey, 7-12 an iliad
  • story: Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus, flees Troy after its fall
    • sails to Italy by way of Africa, interlude with Queen Dido
    • in Italy, conquers king Latinus of Latium, founds homeland there
    • interlude in Underworld, like Odysseus; guided by sibyl of Cumae (prophetic woman)
  • differences from Greek epic
    • written poetry; formal, organized, polished
    • self-conscious in use of Homer as model
    • emphasis on future history of Rome ("foreseen" in Underworld by ghost of Aeneas' father)

 Last update:10/11/07

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