Epics The Aeneid And Metamorphoses A Comparison free essay sample

Epic poems The Aeneid And Metamorphosiss: A Comparison Essay, Research Paper Epic poems The Aeneid and Metamorphosiss: A Comparison Both Vergil and Ovid imbedded implicit in significances in their heroic poems The Aeneid and Metamorphoses. In this paper I will concentrate on the underlying significance in the Underworld scene in Vergil # 8217 ; s The Aeneid ( lines 356 through 1199 ) . I will besides focal point on three scenes in Ovid # 8217 ; s Metamorphoses. Both heroic poems contain a larger message about the importance of the Roman yesteryear for its present and future under Augustus. The narrative of Aeneas in the Underworld can be interpreted as a brilliant rendering of the narrative of Rome # 8217 ; s past, nowadays, and hereafter. When Aeneas descends into the Underworld, he is escorted by the Sibyl ( lines 347 # 8211 ; 349 ) . This gives the readers a hint that what is to go on in the approaching text is a prediction of Roman hereafter because the Sibyl was a prophetess ( Course Packet, p16 ) . As Aeneas enters the Underworld, he sees legion atrocious sights: Grief, Disease, Old Age, Fear, Hunger, and several others. ( Lines 356 # 8211 ; 379 ) These unsettling and dark words bring hard images to the reader # 8217 ; s head. These lines foretell that there will be troubles while Rome is in its babyhood through phrases like # 8220 ; lonely dark # 8221 ; and # 8220 ; phantom kingdom # 8221 ; . Rome did so hold troubles in its babyhood ; in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE it was ruled by Etruscan male monarchs and was merely # 8220 ; # 8230 ; a small hill town. # 8221 ; ( Short Histories, p20 ) Lines 390 through 549 in The Aeneid trade with the crossing of the River Styx. This represents a great passage period in Rome. It symbolizes the initiation of the Republic. The battalion of hotfooting and teeming people ( Line 402 ) represents those that suffered the # 8220 ; internal convulsion # 8221 ; in the early phases of the Republic. ( Short Histories, p21 ) When Aeneas references, # 8220 ; # 8230 ; and by what regulation must some maintain off the bank # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Lines 419 # 8211 ; 421 ) he may symbolically be mentioning to the # 8220 ; Struggle of the Orders # 8221 ; that the early Republic experienced. ( Short Histories, p22 ) As Aeneas wanders through the Underworld, he notices Dido rolling approximately. ( Lines 593 # 8211 ; 626 ) He tries to speak to her, but his words serve no intent ; she flees from him. He so sees the psyche of those who died in conflict. ( Lines 628 # 8211 ; 650 ) These lines correspond to the Punic Wars that occurred from 264 to 146 BCE ( Short Histories, pg. 24 # 8211 ; 26 ) because Aeneas offended, and arguably caused the decease of, Dido when he left Carthage where he lived with Dido. ( The Aeneid Book IV, line 300 ) In lines 738 # 8211 ; 832 Aeneas beholds the fortress Tartarus and its dwellers who are being beaten and whipped. This ghastly scene can be related to Julius Caesar # 8217 ; s decease. The anguished psyches could stand for the enemies of Caesar. # 8220 ; Caesar had spared the lives of many of his most celebrated enemies # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Short Histories, p33 ) These enemies rose up and slew him for his kindness. The # 8220 ; Tyrant # 8211 ; Slayers # 8221 ; ( Short Histories, p34 ) were shortly embattled in war for their unpopular onslaught. After Aeneas witnesses the horrors of Tartarus, he comes upon the Groves of Bles sedness. This Utopian residence is where those that served good lives by assisting their state, being pious, or progressing the qualities of life reside. ( Lines 844 # 8211 ; 889 ) These lines really have two concealed significances. Following Thursday history of Rome, this is the period where Augustus ruled. Vergil is seeking to impress Augustus by associating his wisdom while governing to a celestial topographic point. The 2nd concealed significance is that Vergil wanted to portray that those who were # 8220 ; good Roman citizens # 8221 ; had a much greater hereafter to look frontward to that those who were # 8220 ; bad citizens # 8221 ; . After witnessing wholly he did in the Underworld, Aeneas eventually meets his male parent Anchises. From lines 999 through 1190, Anchises tells Aeneas what is to come in the close hereafter. Anchises lists the posterities of Aeneas, go forthing particular reference on Caesar by puting him straight after Romulus. Augustus is glorified as the boy of a God, and many great workss are spoken on his behalf. The heroic poem ends on a sad note: that of Marcellus # 8217 ; decease. ( Lines 1148 # 8211 ; 1182 ) This sad stoping foretells that Rome will neer accomplish its full potency, yet it will accomplish much. Ovid takes a different attack to his story-telling. Alternatively of building luxuriant events which have dual significances, he merely state several narratives. Ovid # 8217 ; s plants are less complex than Vergil # 8217 ; s, and there is much less intending within his narratives. When Pythagoras is talking, a repeating thought in his addresss is to non eat the flesh of another animate being. ( Ovid, p337 # 8211 ; 338 ) On a symbolic degree, he is talking about taking another individual # 8217 ; s life. In this sense, Pythagoras may be talking against slaying, and against war. By saying that # 8220 ; # 8230 ; animals seeking to kill us may be killed # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( p 337 ) he is connoting that it may be necessary to support one # 8217 ; s life against onslaught, but one should neer assail another. In position of Rome # 8217 ; s past, this talk may hold come approximately as a consequence of the Punic Wars when a big exile of males from Rome as soldiers caused a serious work force deficit within the metropolis. ( Short Histories, p 25 # 8211 ; 27 ) Another of import message in Pythagoras # 8217 ; address is that of alteration. Pythagoras gives several illustrations of how things seem to alter, yet they somehow remain in their original signifier. ( Ovid, p339 # 8211 ; 341 ) This narrative can be related to Rome itself. The metropolis, throughout the centuries, changed much. At times it was a mighty imperium, at times it was on the brink of prostration. Yet throughout the centuries, Rome has survived in some signifier, and will go on to make so. Ovid # 8217 ; s last narrative is that of Julius Caesar, his decease, and of Augustus # 8217 ; reign. In this portion of the heroic poem, the Gods play a function in the decease of Julius Caesar. Venus tries to allow Caesar populate, but the other Gods intervene and state her that it is his destiny to decease ( p 355 # 8211 ; 356 ) . Caesar does so decease, but he is turned into a God upon his decease. This glorifies is heir Augustus because he now is the boy of a God. Ovid is seeking to affect Augustus with blandishing words, and by affecting so many Gods in his narratives he is about doing Augustus a life God.