Succedoque oneri: shouldering responsibility in the Aeneid

• Autores: Thomas Rendall
• Localización: Classical journal, ISSN 0009-8353, Vol. 112, Nº 2, 2016-2017, págs. 180-195
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The metaphor of shouldering responsibility for an action, good or bad, was current in Virgil's Latin, and his Aeneid includes three key scenes which draw on this meaning, Aeneas’ shouldering of his father, his shouldering of the shield of Roman destiny and Turnus’ wearing Pallas’ sword belt over his shoulder. Further instances of the motif both reinforce and complicate its significance—Atlas bearing up the universe, Aeneas wearing Dido's cloak, Camilla coveting Chloreus’ armor and Euryalus donning the plundered equipment of Rhamnes. The visual correspondences thus established reinforce the often noticed presence of verbal echoes between episodes of the Aeneid and also help explain the prominence Virgil gives to Pallas’ belt as the trigger for the abrupt and troubling conclusion of the poem by both linking and—more importantly—contrasting Aeneas and Turnus.