The Realisation of Aeneas During the Fall of Troy

..."Parting words. She vanished into the dense night.

And now they all come looming up before me,

terrible shapes, the deadly foes of Troy,

the gods gigantic in power..."

What struck me when reading the Aeneid, after reading the Iliad, was the view taken on the gods. The Aeneid represents the next and more subtle development of the Greek epic poems. In the Iliad the Trojan war was not between Greeks and Trojans, but between the feuding gods. This doesn't, however, diminish the power and resonance of the human characters, and it must be admitted that they do have agency. For example, the Greek warrior Diomedes, through sheer will, or one could say obstinacy, wounds the goddess Aphrodite, implying that the gods are not infallible. But not once in the Iliad, or the Odyssey, do we see a clear reflection on the fact that the gods are manipulating the show.

Beautifully rendered, the fall of troy is an incredibly powerful, dynamic and intense scene of the Aeneid; we see the highest degree of ruthlessnes that can be inflicted on another group of people; we see a great city, brimming with history and emotion, blaze and crumble; we see a king and his son mercilessly slaughtered in front of their family. In terms of dynamism and power, the description of the action is reminiscent of Achilles' careering, rampaging onslaught against the Trojans in the Iliad.

To me, the climax of the action in the fall of Troy, and the ultimate realisation that emerges from the scene, and perhaps the whole book, is found in this passage:

“Parting words. She vanished into the dense night.

And now they all come looming up before me,

terrible shapes, the deadly foes of Troy,

the gods gigantic in power"

I think Goethe also recognises the power of this passage, who executes his own version of it in Faust part 2: 

"Fleeing, I saw through the smoke and heat

And the blaze of the writhing flames

Gods approaching in hideous rage:

Figures of wonder striding

Giant-tall through the darksome

Reek that swirled in the fire's glow" (Goethe, 130, David Luke translation)

From his mother, Aeneas realises with great force and clarity that it is the gods who are behind the carnage of Troy's fall; thus the responsibility of the carnage falls squarely on them, the shadowy figures emerging from the smoke. Questions worth reflecting on, what do these shadowy figures represent? And how does their description indicate this?

"Whirling words—I was swept away by fury now

when all of a sudden there my loving mother stood

before my eyes, but I had never seen her so clearly,

her pure radiance shining down upon me through the night,

the goddess in all her glory, just as the gods behold

her build, her awesome beauty. Grasping my hand

she held me back, adding this from her rose-red lips:

‘My son, what grief could incite such blazing anger?

Why such fury? And the love you bore me once,

where has it all gone? Why don’t you look first

where you left your father, Anchises, spent with age?

Do your wife, Creusa, and son Ascanius still survive?

The Greek battalions are swarming round them all,

and if my love had never rushed to the rescue,

flames would have swept them off by now or

enemy sword-blades would have drained their blood.

 "Think: it’s not that beauty, Helen, you should hate,

not even Paris, the man that you should blame, no,

it’s the gods, the ruthless gods who are tearing down

the wealth of Troy, her toppling crown of towers.

Look around. I’ll sweep it all away, the mist

so murky, dark, and swirling around you now,

it clouds your vision, dulls your mortal sight.

You are my son. Never fear my orders.

Never refuse to bow to my commands.

“‘There,

yes, where you see the massive ramparts shattered,

blocks wrenched from blocks, the billowing smoke and ash—

it’s Neptune himself, prising loose with his giant trident

the foundation-stones of Troy, he’s making the walls quake,

ripping up the entire city by her roots.

“‘There’s Juno,

cruelest in fury, first to commandeer the Scaean Gates,

sword at her hip and mustering comrades, shock troops

streaming out of the ships.

“‘Already up on the heights—

turn around and look—there’s Pallas holding the fortress,

flaming out of the clouds, her savage Gorgon glaring.

Even Father himself, he’s filling the Greek hearts

with courage, stamina—Jove in person spurring the gods

to fight the Trojan armies!

“‘Run for your life, my son.

Put an end to your labors. I will never leave you,

I will set you safe at your father’s door.’

“Parting words. She vanished into the dense night.

And now they all come looming up before me,

terrible shapes, the deadly foes of Troy,

the gods gigantic in power" (Virgil, 93-94, Fagles translation)