{"id":128,"date":"2017-05-17T17:50:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T17:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/?p=128"},"modified":"2018-05-17T15:27:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T15:27:32","slug":"reading-vergil-ode-to-a-trumpeter-aeneid-6-162-174","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/2017\/05\/17\/reading-vergil-ode-to-a-trumpeter-aeneid-6-162-174\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: Ode to a Trumpeter (Aeneid 6.162-174)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hugh Downs discusses the character of Misenus in Vergil’s Aeneid<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Triton.<\/a>
Triton. Bronze sculpture by Giambologna, 1560-70. Metropolitan Museum, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are many stories in Roman mythology that involve mortals challenging the gods to contests. One of the best known is the tale of Arachne, the weaver who thought she was better than Minerva. Another less well-known story is that of Marsyas and Apollo. Marsyas was a satyr who challenged Apollo to a music contest but lost. More often than not, these stories do not end happily for the mortals. Arachne was turned into a spider and Marsyas was tied to a tree and flayed alive. This podcast will focus on another, more obscure character who challenged the gods and faced their wrath: Misenus, Aeneas\u2019 herald.<\/p>\n

Misenus\u2019 death occurs towards the beginning of Book 6. Aeneas and the Trojans have finally landed in Italy at Cumae. Aeneas seeks out the Sibyl and, after performing the required sacrifices, entreats her to tell him what lays in store for his weary band. The Sibyl assures him he will reach Lavinium but warns him that he will find war upon his arrival. Aeneas then begs the Sibyl to show him to the Underworld so that he can visit his father Anchises. The Sibyl tells him that he must first seek out a golden bough sacred to Proserpina and bring it back with him; this is his key to the underworld. Before he leaves, she tells Aeneas that one of his companions lies dead and must be properly laid to rest before he can begin his descent. This is where Misenus appears. The original Latin is as follows:<\/p>\n

Atque ill\u012b M\u012bs\u0113num in l\u012btore sicc\u014d,
\nut v\u0113n\u0113re, vident indign\u0101 morte per\u0113mptum,
\nM\u012bs\u0113num Aeolid\u0113n, qu\u014d n\u014dn praestantior alter
\naere ci\u0113re vir\u014ds M\u0101rtemque accendere cant\u016b. 165
\nHectoris hic magn\u012b fuerat comes, Hectora circum
\net litu\u014d pugn\u0101s \u012bnsignis ob\u012bbat et hast\u0101.
\npostquam illum v\u012bt\u0101 victor spoli\u0101vit Achill\u0113s,
\nDardani\u014d Aen\u0113ae s\u0113s\u0113 fortissimus h\u0113r\u014ds
\naddiderat socium, n\u014dn \u012bnferi\u014dra sec\u016btus. 170
\nSed tum, forte cav\u0101 dum personat aequora conch\u0101,
\nd\u0113m\u0113ns, et cant\u016b vocat in cert\u0101mina d\u012bv\u014ds,
\naemulus exceptum Tr\u012bt\u014dn, s\u012b cr\u0113dere dignum est,
\ninter saxa virum sp\u016bm\u014ds\u0101 immerserat und\u0101.<\/p>\n

Vergil spends the next 50 some lines describing the preparations the Trojans made for Misenus\u2019 funeral. He concludes the scene with the following lines:<\/p>\n

At pius Aen\u0113\u0101s ingent\u012b m\u014dle sepulcrum
\nimp\u014dnit suaque arma vir\u014d r\u0113mumque tubamque
\nmonte sub \u0101\u00ebri\u014d, qu\u012b nunc M\u012bs\u0113nus ab ill\u014d
\nd\u012bcitur aeternumque tenet per saecula n\u014dmen.<\/p>\n

Here is my interpretation of the Latin:
\nBut when they returned to the shore,
\nthey found Misenus cold in undeserved death on the dry sand.
\nMisenus, son of Aeolus, second to none in rousing men
\nAnd inciting Mars with a trumpet\u2019s call.
\nFirst a companion of great Hector, he was famous
\nFor fighting around the prince with both horn and spear.
\nAfter Hector was stripped of life by victorious Achilles,
\nMisenus, most brave of heroes, fell in with Dardan Aeneas, equal of Hector.
\nBut then, by chance while Misenus was making the seas resound
\nWith a hollow conch, he recklessly challenged the gods to a contest of song.
\nEnvious Triton seized the man, if the story is to be believed,
\nAnd among the rocks drowned him in the crashing waves.
\n…and Pius Aeneas established his tomb on a huge mound,
\nAnd lay down Misenus\u2019 arms and oar and trumpet
\nBelow the lofty mountain, which from that point on has been
\ncalled Misenum and will hold that name for all time.<\/p>\n

There are some contextual notes that I\u2019d like to make which I think will be helpful for better understanding the section. Aeolus, Misenus\u2019 father, was the keeper of the winds, so it is fitting that his son should be a renowned trumpeter. The conch was Triton\u2019s \u201cspecial instrument\u201d (Austin, 91). so it makes sense that he specifically would punish any mortal who dared to challenge the gods with it. The place referred to here at the end is the modern day Cape Miseno, the northwest headland of the Bay of Naples. During Vergil\u2019s time it was a popular vacation spot for Rome\u2019s elite and housed many luxurious villas (Ganiban, 833). It was also the site of an important naval base during Augustus\u2019 reign (McKay, 8). The topography of the cape lends itself to Vergil\u2019s tale of Misenus as it bears a striking resemblance to a burial mound. The sounds the wind makes as it travels across the landscape through caves and grass are said to resemble to some degree those of a trumpet, strengthening the connection to Misenus (McKay, 7). By placing the death of Misenus here, Vergil is providing a link between the mythical past of his poem and the present day (Austin, 108). His Roman audience would have been very familiar with Cape Miseno, and making this connection would help them visualize and connect with the story more.<\/p>\n

These lines provide us with good examples of many stylistic features common to Vergil. For one thing, Vergil very often uses words that \u201care more at home in poetry than prose\u201d; these \u201cadd to the grandeur\u201d of the poem and serve to make it feel truly epic (O\u2019Hara, 255). Sicco<\/em>; peremptum<\/em>; lituo<\/em>; obibat<\/em>; aequora<\/em>; spumosa<\/em>; and immerserat<\/em> are all examples of words found much more often in poetry than prose.<\/p>\n

Another common stylistic feature found in these lines are assonance and alliteration. Alliteration had been used in Roman poetry long before Vergil came onto the scene, and Vergil uses it sparingly so as not to appear archaic (O\u2019Hara, 252). vita victor spoliavit<\/em> in line 168 is a good example of alliteration with the v<\/em>\u2019s, and line 165 contains both alliteration and assonance in aere ciere…accendere cantu<\/em>. The latter is especially interesting as Vergil uses the devices to imitate to some degree the trumpeting of Misenus (Austin, 90).<\/p>\n

Epanalepsis can also be found in this section. This is the unnecessary repetition of a word or phrase from a previous line so as to linger over an idea to add pathos or emphasis (O\u2019Hara 253). This is seen with the repetition of Misenum<\/em> in the first 3 lines. There is also repetition with Hectoris…Hectora<\/em> in line 166, which serves both as a reminder of \u201cTrojan pride and sorrow\u201d and to emphasize the honored position Misenus held (Austin, 91).<\/p>\n

The reason I like the Misenus story (apart from the fact that he\u2019s a literal blowhard), is the message it conveys about the relationship between gods and man. The story, like those of Arachne and Marsyas, shows that the gods thought themselves superior to man and did not take lightly to mortal challenges. Nor did they have any qualms about killing mortals who challenged their power. I think this humanizes the gods to a certain extent, because it shows that they could be petty too, just like humans.<\/p>\n

Thank you for listening, and I hope you now understand more about the character and significance of Misenus!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Austin, R.G. P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos, Liber Sextus<\/em>. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.<\/p>\n

Ganiban, Randal. \u201cMisenus,\u201d in Richard Thomas and Jan M. Ziolkowski, eds. The Virgil Encyclopedia<\/em>, vol. 2. (Chichester, West Sussex, UK : Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 833.<\/p>\n

McKay, Alexander G. \u201cAeneas’ Landfalls in Hesperia.\u201d Greece & Rome<\/em> 14 (1967): 3\u201311.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara, James. \u201cVirgil\u2019s Style,\u201d in The Cambridge Companion to Virgil<\/em>, Charles Martindale, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hugh Downs discusses the character of Misenus in Vergil’s Aeneid. There are many stories in Roman mythology that involve mortals challenging the gods to contests. One of the best known is the tale of Arachne, the weaver who thought she was better than Minerva. Another less well-known story is that of Marsyas and Apollo. Marsyas … Continue reading Podcast: Ode to a Trumpeter (Aeneid 6.162-174)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2573,138297],"tags":[5514,138305,138304,5513],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcasts","category-reading-vergil","tag-aeneid","tag-hugh-downs","tag-misenus","tag-vergil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/classicalstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}