New! 5/1/15--Book XI dramatically begins the formal battle with a seige of the Trojan camp which Turnus, himself, compares with the Greek seige of Troy in hopes of a similar outcome.  One major factor rereading reveals is the connection between XI's episodes of extraordinary heroic energy (Turnus, Nisus and Euryalus) and the Iliad's emphasis on heroic energia that drives various warriors to their moments of arete or excellence/prowess.  Too much of this quality can lead to deadly results, as when Achilles' ferocious anger motivates his withdrawal from the battle and the Trojans' nearly successful assault upon the Greek army's ships.  Turnus certainly attempts to reproduce that feat in reverse in his attack on the Trojan fleet.  Is he successful, or does his success bring with it a danger he had not anticipated?  Similarly, Nisus and Euryalus' sortie from the Trojan camp to try to reach Aneeas in an attempt to win glory as much as to serve the Trojan cause, and like Odysseus, Diomedes and Dolon in Book X of the Iliad, they find that their boldness brings early victory and final tragic defeat for one (the Trojan spy, Dolon) and murderous success killing sleeping warriors for the other two (Odysseus and Diomede who slay Memnon and his troops).  Virgil fuses both results, making the success lead to disaster.  This balance between heroic energy and wise restraint seems very important to Virgil in his construction of Aeneas' character, as well.  The deaths of young warriors (Helenus and Numanus) and the dangerous exposure of Ascanius/Iulus to the hazards of battle put that balance to an even more crucial test--how can a hero's son be heroic without risking all, but if his survival is crucial to the fate of his entire people, what right does he have to take such risks with all their lives?  The authors of the Terminator movies might have had this in mind when inventing the predicament of John Connor.  Finally, Turnus, at the peak of his own arete, actually enters the Trojan camp and rages about in a battle fury so intense that he does not do the one thing which would have guaranteed the Trojans' doom--open the gates for his own army to enter.  (Troy themes are once again inverted.)  In Turnus' heroic, no other word for it, leap into the Tiber in full armor, he prefigures a famous Roman hero.  Horatius Cocles ("one-eyed") will one day hold back Lars Porcena's Etruscan army with only two companions at the Sublician Bridge into Rome, escaping by diving into the Tiber and swimming to safety.  You saw him, all unknowing just like Aeneas, in Book VIII, ll. 875-83 (253).  They are just names until history and destiny realize their importance.

         After the gods debate the fairness of their involvement in the war, Jupiter declares that men's deeds and their individual destinies must hereafter decide who lives and dies.  As Fitzgerald puts it, "And the fates / Will find their way" (fata viam inveniate).  Book X brings to a climax the "substitute victims" theme announced by Entellus when he dropped the ox dead in place of Dares.  All the threats to young sons that were introduced in Book XI come to a head in Turnus' killing of Pallas, whose "war-father," Aeneas, had promised Evander to protect and teach him.  Mezentius' son, Lausus, dies for his father in an act that finally humanizes the old man by humbling his god-scorning pride.  His faith in his mount, Rhaebus, both touching and fatal, binds them together in doom.  Virgil seems to be illustrating with puzzles Jupiter's judgment that our efforts will become our fates, even mine and yours.

Roman Name Generator--why "Ovid" and not "Publius Naso"?

"Walnut Boy"--some sources for research on "Fescennine Verses."

According the Registrar, English 230's final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, from 12:00 Noon to 2:00 PM in JR G27 (i.e., our classroom).  Bring lunch if you need it.  Should this schedule conflict with your travel home or elsewhere, please contact me to arrange an earlier time to take the exam.