In Book 2 of the Aeneid, there is a disputed passage in which Aeneas claims that he wished to kill Helen, but was prevented by the goddess Venus (his mother). The lines in your text are 741-771 – if you are using a Latin text, they fall between lines 567-588. According to Servius, a fourth century commentator, the lines were written by Vergil but edited out by his literary executors, Tucca and Varius. Very few of the better Vergilian mss. contain the lines, although some do; for the most part, editors have either not printed the lines, or printed them in brackets to indicate that they are regarded as inauthentic.
Your task is to determine if you think the lines are genuine, i.e., do you think that Vergil meant to say that Aeneas would have killed Helen if his mother had not stopped him.
Some guidance: recall that Aeneas went with Paris to abduct Helen. Look at Book 13 of the Iliad and consider Aeneas’ behavior there, or consider the various stories about Aeneas that appear in the handout on Aeneas’ behavior during and after the Fall of Troy, as preserved in the Greek sources cited by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Also consider that the model for Aeneas is Odysseus. Examine the Odyssey, particularly in Book 10 and 22 (although there are other places you will have to find on your own). Would Odysseus kill a woman? What about Aeneas’ treatment of Dido – does his abandonment of her suggest that Aeneas is capable of murder? For the very industrious, you can check out other myths in which men murdered women in Greek or Roman mythology, or in Roman history. Are they plausible models? In short, could Vergil have made Aeneas a ruthless murderer and still have left him a plausible Roman hero? Did Varius and Tucca err when they removed the offending lines?
Rubrics:
The papers must be fully documented, 5+ pages long, and adhere to APA or MLA style. Double space only, add a title page, (which will NOT count toward the total) and turn in a hardcopy and an electronic copy. At least 5 sources will be cited.
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