The Aeneid: Books 10-12
Apr. 3rd, 2013 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnThe thrilling conclusion! (I did, actually, very much like these books, after being somewhat bored by the last installment.) I wrote each book up right after reading it, which may account for some repetition/slight discrepancies in what I thought was going to happen vs. what actually happened.
Book 10: The gods, as usual, have an illuminating exchange that shows the superiority and maturity of these extremely powerful, intelligent, immortal beings compared to mere limited mortals.
Venus: Sheeee started it!
Juno: Sheeeee started it!
Zeus: I don't care who started it. You both go to your rooms right this instant!
In other news, a bunch more people die. Pallas, the son of Aeneas' ally Evander, dies in what is a surprisingly affecting scene. Aeneas then bashes the head in of someone who asks for mercy because he (Aeneas) is upset about Pallas' death, in a scene that made me roll my eyes at Aeneas. (Seriously, Aeneas and Turnus, does it ever occur to you that this does not improve the situation?) Mezentius. who is one of the Chief Minor Boss Bads (I think there needs to be an Aeneid: The Videogame... it would be awesome!) (also, okay, I am really suspecting this is where Mezentium comes from in the K.J. Parker books, if any of you besides![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
julianyap have read those) actually has a great scene in this book where his son saves his life and dies thereby; Mezentius, in despair, gets himself killed. It's an interesting parallel to the Pallas/Evander situation.
Turnus does not die; recall that he is the Big Bad, and it is a Rule that the Chief Minor Boss and the Big Bad can't be defeated on the same level. In fact, he is saved by Juno. Is he grateful? No, he is not. He's all "But I need to get back to the battlefieeeeeld or else everyone will think I am a big coward!" You gotta give him points for trying! (I think I am rooting for Turnus at this point because honestly Virgil has not sold me on Aeneas at all. I know, archetypal hero and all that, but right now I am hard-pressed to think of a time when Aeneas wasn't a jerk except at the very beginning and when he had the funeral games for his dad.)
Book 11: Pallas' body comes back to Evander, and again I was moved despite myself. Aeneas gives them a present of a robe from Dido to bury Pallas in (d'you remember Dido? Hi Dido! Have I mentioned that Aeneas is kind of a jerk when it comes to the womenfolk?) All the Latins decide they're tired of getting killed and apologize to Aeneas. Turnus and his allies had contacted Diomedes to see if he would help; the answer is, "Seriously, dudes, no." Latinus continues his trademark being annoyingly wimpy.
And even Lord Latinus fled the meeting
In the crisis, and put off his great endeavors --
Contrite that he'd not taken in Aeneas
Straight off, as son-in-law and city sharer.
I mean, okay, we're on Aeneas' side and all, but my gosh, Turnus is way less annoying than Latinus to me. Just pick a side and stick with it, Latinus.
Meanwhile, his daughter Lavinia gets to be in a scene! Hooray!
Beside [the queen] was the girl Lavinia
(Cause of the crisis), looking down with fine eyes.
Uh. Guess it was only two lines. Nice to see you too, Lavinia. Bye now! Hope to see you in Book 12!
But then we get Camilla, who is ten kinds of awesome (and I'm really a bit suspicious that Virgil has a total crush on her). While he was escaping from rebellion, her dad, in what is probably my favorite image in the entire book, tied baby Camilla to a spear and threw the spear across a river. Wow. With a beginning like that, she was bound to be cool. She's a favorite of Diana and goes around being, as far as I can tell, way more effective in the war than pretty much anyone else, including both Aeneas and Turnus. Apollo helps Arruns kill Camilla, which is a bit odd to me; I kind of wonder about what Diana had to say about that and whether there was some familial tension there. Then Artemis' handmaiden kills Arruns. Good times all around.
Book 12: Wow, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter.
King Latinus continues to be wimpily incompetent, so much so that I've ceased to be annoyed by him and now merely find him hilarious. He's all "Oh Aeneas, I'm so sorry about this whole war thing, I swear never to break this truce with you!" About five minutes later, the truce is broken (by Turnus' sister, who also happens to be a minor goddess -- yes, another whole character, and kind of an interesting one, introduced in the last book -- and everyone's fighting again.
Latinus' wife the queen, okay, Queen Amata is way too involved with Turnus.
The queen burst into tears, in deadly panic,
And held her child's suitor in her arms.
"If you regard me -- and these tears -- at all,
Turnus (my only hope now, my one solace
In old age; and Latinus' rule and honor --
And our whole tottering house-- are on your shoulders),
Tell me you won't fight hand-to-hand with Trojans.
I have a stake in how this combat ends.
Along with you, I'll leave this hateful daylight,
No captive of my son-in-law Aeneas."
Lavinia was there and heard her mother.
The tears came pouring down her flaming cheeks,
Dashing across the heat of crimson blushes;
As a blood-purple dye stains Indian ivory,
Or roses bunched with lilies lend their shadow
Of read -- these were the colors on the girl's face.
He stared, distressed by love, which stoked his passion
To fight, and spoke a few words to Amata.
...it totally reads to me like she is the one who is desperately in love with Turnus, and vice versa (does the Latin specify whom Turnus is staring at?) and Lavinia is sitting there facepalming, "Oh my gods, my mom is in love with my fiance and AWKWARD." Of course, she doesn't actually get any lines (I have now, I think, given you the extent of her appearance in Book 12) so we don't know! Also, the queen's name is Amata, for gods' sake! So anyway, when it looks like some kind of harm might befall her darling Turnus, the queen commits suicide. (...yeah. Seriously overinvested in Turnus.)
Jupiter gives a speech to Juno that -- although I think both Jupiter and Juno come across as ninnies in the Aeneid as a whole -- I actually quite like:
Give way at last, I beg you. Don't let grief
Gnaw you in silence -- but I want an end
To brooding grievances from your dear mouth.
It's time now. You were free to hound the Trojans
On land and sea, ignite this evil war,
Destroy a house, bring mourning to a wedding.
I won't allow you more.
It ends, as it began, by Juno being annoying and ineffective. "Juno agreed [with Jupiter] and changed her mind, contented." Really? Whatever! (Okay, she does get the concession: Troy fell. Now let her name lie fallen with her. This whole scene I find quite powerful as poetry and as Rome-founding-myth, even if Juno as a character gets me all riled up.) Juturna, Turnus' sister, is quite distressed by this, understandably, as is Turnus, both of whom I'm rather liking at this point.
And, of course, we've got the Big Bad still to kill, but as I've said, Turnus has gotten a lot more screen time than Aeneas in the last several books, and as a result I'm feeling a lot more sympathetic towards him than Aeneas. (Well, when Aeneas gets screen time he's kind of obnoxious, too.) And I guess this is supposed to Make a Point when compared to the Illiad, sort of, but at the very end Turnus asks Aeneas to spare him or send his body back to his relatives. Aeneas is like, "Heck no" (he's still mad about Pallas, back from Book 10), and kills him in the third-to-last line (it takes Turnus two lines to die). The end. No, really. I was a little taken aback by both the suddenness and the unforgivingness of the ending relative to the Illiad -- Achilles kills Hector too, but at least he gives the body back!
The end! (And I apologize again for the two-month disappearance in the middle...) Hm, what should I read next?
Book 10: The gods, as usual, have an illuminating exchange that shows the superiority and maturity of these extremely powerful, intelligent, immortal beings compared to mere limited mortals.
Venus: Sheeee started it!
Juno: Sheeeee started it!
Zeus: I don't care who started it. You both go to your rooms right this instant!
In other news, a bunch more people die. Pallas, the son of Aeneas' ally Evander, dies in what is a surprisingly affecting scene. Aeneas then bashes the head in of someone who asks for mercy because he (Aeneas) is upset about Pallas' death, in a scene that made me roll my eyes at Aeneas. (Seriously, Aeneas and Turnus, does it ever occur to you that this does not improve the situation?) Mezentius. who is one of the Chief Minor Boss Bads (I think there needs to be an Aeneid: The Videogame... it would be awesome!) (also, okay, I am really suspecting this is where Mezentium comes from in the K.J. Parker books, if any of you besides
julianyap have read those) actually has a great scene in this book where his son saves his life and dies thereby; Mezentius, in despair, gets himself killed. It's an interesting parallel to the Pallas/Evander situation.Turnus does not die; recall that he is the Big Bad, and it is a Rule that the Chief Minor Boss and the Big Bad can't be defeated on the same level. In fact, he is saved by Juno. Is he grateful? No, he is not. He's all "But I need to get back to the battlefieeeeeld or else everyone will think I am a big coward!" You gotta give him points for trying! (I think I am rooting for Turnus at this point because honestly Virgil has not sold me on Aeneas at all. I know, archetypal hero and all that, but right now I am hard-pressed to think of a time when Aeneas wasn't a jerk except at the very beginning and when he had the funeral games for his dad.)
Book 11: Pallas' body comes back to Evander, and again I was moved despite myself. Aeneas gives them a present of a robe from Dido to bury Pallas in (d'you remember Dido? Hi Dido! Have I mentioned that Aeneas is kind of a jerk when it comes to the womenfolk?) All the Latins decide they're tired of getting killed and apologize to Aeneas. Turnus and his allies had contacted Diomedes to see if he would help; the answer is, "Seriously, dudes, no." Latinus continues his trademark being annoyingly wimpy.
And even Lord Latinus fled the meeting
In the crisis, and put off his great endeavors --
Contrite that he'd not taken in Aeneas
Straight off, as son-in-law and city sharer.
I mean, okay, we're on Aeneas' side and all, but my gosh, Turnus is way less annoying than Latinus to me. Just pick a side and stick with it, Latinus.
Meanwhile, his daughter Lavinia gets to be in a scene! Hooray!
Beside [the queen] was the girl Lavinia
(Cause of the crisis), looking down with fine eyes.
Uh. Guess it was only two lines. Nice to see you too, Lavinia. Bye now! Hope to see you in Book 12!
But then we get Camilla, who is ten kinds of awesome (and I'm really a bit suspicious that Virgil has a total crush on her). While he was escaping from rebellion, her dad, in what is probably my favorite image in the entire book, tied baby Camilla to a spear and threw the spear across a river. Wow. With a beginning like that, she was bound to be cool. She's a favorite of Diana and goes around being, as far as I can tell, way more effective in the war than pretty much anyone else, including both Aeneas and Turnus. Apollo helps Arruns kill Camilla, which is a bit odd to me; I kind of wonder about what Diana had to say about that and whether there was some familial tension there. Then Artemis' handmaiden kills Arruns. Good times all around.
Book 12: Wow, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter.
King Latinus continues to be wimpily incompetent, so much so that I've ceased to be annoyed by him and now merely find him hilarious. He's all "Oh Aeneas, I'm so sorry about this whole war thing, I swear never to break this truce with you!" About five minutes later, the truce is broken (by Turnus' sister, who also happens to be a minor goddess -- yes, another whole character, and kind of an interesting one, introduced in the last book -- and everyone's fighting again.
Latinus' wife the queen, okay, Queen Amata is way too involved with Turnus.
The queen burst into tears, in deadly panic,
And held her child's suitor in her arms.
"If you regard me -- and these tears -- at all,
Turnus (my only hope now, my one solace
In old age; and Latinus' rule and honor --
And our whole tottering house-- are on your shoulders),
Tell me you won't fight hand-to-hand with Trojans.
I have a stake in how this combat ends.
Along with you, I'll leave this hateful daylight,
No captive of my son-in-law Aeneas."
Lavinia was there and heard her mother.
The tears came pouring down her flaming cheeks,
Dashing across the heat of crimson blushes;
As a blood-purple dye stains Indian ivory,
Or roses bunched with lilies lend their shadow
Of read -- these were the colors on the girl's face.
He stared, distressed by love, which stoked his passion
To fight, and spoke a few words to Amata.
...it totally reads to me like she is the one who is desperately in love with Turnus, and vice versa (does the Latin specify whom Turnus is staring at?) and Lavinia is sitting there facepalming, "Oh my gods, my mom is in love with my fiance and AWKWARD." Of course, she doesn't actually get any lines (I have now, I think, given you the extent of her appearance in Book 12) so we don't know! Also, the queen's name is Amata, for gods' sake! So anyway, when it looks like some kind of harm might befall her darling Turnus, the queen commits suicide. (...yeah. Seriously overinvested in Turnus.)
Jupiter gives a speech to Juno that -- although I think both Jupiter and Juno come across as ninnies in the Aeneid as a whole -- I actually quite like:
Give way at last, I beg you. Don't let grief
Gnaw you in silence -- but I want an end
To brooding grievances from your dear mouth.
It's time now. You were free to hound the Trojans
On land and sea, ignite this evil war,
Destroy a house, bring mourning to a wedding.
I won't allow you more.
It ends, as it began, by Juno being annoying and ineffective. "Juno agreed [with Jupiter] and changed her mind, contented." Really? Whatever! (Okay, she does get the concession: Troy fell. Now let her name lie fallen with her. This whole scene I find quite powerful as poetry and as Rome-founding-myth, even if Juno as a character gets me all riled up.) Juturna, Turnus' sister, is quite distressed by this, understandably, as is Turnus, both of whom I'm rather liking at this point.
And, of course, we've got the Big Bad still to kill, but as I've said, Turnus has gotten a lot more screen time than Aeneas in the last several books, and as a result I'm feeling a lot more sympathetic towards him than Aeneas. (Well, when Aeneas gets screen time he's kind of obnoxious, too.) And I guess this is supposed to Make a Point when compared to the Illiad, sort of, but at the very end Turnus asks Aeneas to spare him or send his body back to his relatives. Aeneas is like, "Heck no" (he's still mad about Pallas, back from Book 10), and kills him in the third-to-last line (it takes Turnus two lines to die). The end. No, really. I was a little taken aback by both the suddenness and the unforgivingness of the ending relative to the Illiad -- Achilles kills Hector too, but at least he gives the body back!
The end! (And I apologize again for the two-month disappearance in the middle...) Hm, what should I read next?
