The Aeneid (I)

The Aedeid, a translation by Fagles of which I have recently begun reading, is a poem written by Vergil, recounting the journey of Aeneas as he flees from the smoldering city of Troy to found what is ultimately to become Rome itself. I realize, writing this blogpost slightly later than the deadline, that the most popular passage after the first few pages is unequivocally the "Wars and a man I sing..."-paragraph (I.1). Though I too found these lines fascinating, charged with the sense of adventure that so characterizes this work, my attention was drawn, instead, to the following:

"My comrades, hardly strangers to pain before now,

we all have weathered worse. Some god will grant us

an end to this as well. You've threaded the rocks

resounding with Scylla's howling rabid dogs,

and taken the brunt of the Cyclops' boulders, too.

Call up your courage again. Dismiss your grief and fear.

A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.

Through so many hard straits, so many twists and turns

our course holds firm for Latium. There Fate holds out

a homeland, calm, at peace. There the gods decree

the kingdom of Troy will rise again. Bear up.

Save your strength for better times to come." (I.232-244)

This passage is, perhaps, most famous for the line, "A joy it will be one day...," which Latin teachers often facetiously point out especially, referring to Latin lessons. On a more serious note, these lines are notable through the formalist lens for their parallel structures. "... taken the brunt..." closely echoes "... threaded the rocks..." and "Call up your courage again...," "Dismiss your grief and fear...." More obvious anaphora is employed with "There Fate holds out a homeland...," and, "There the gods decree..." This effectively emphasizes the many struggles Aeneas's men were forced to endure along their odyssey, for, indeed, this story is nothing less than a Roman adaptation of Homer's beloved epic.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.