Taking dry foliage, brush, and brands to throw. Snatching up fire from hearths, despoiling altars, Wrought to a frenzy, all cried out together, Now truly wrought upon by signs and wonders, The goddess on strong wings went up to the sky Only when Iris reveals herself is their indecision resolved, in favor of burning the ships: The women are undecided, torn between comfort and hope. She urges them to burn the ships, forcing the Trojan refugees to remain in Sicily, but is quickly found out by Pyrgo, who recognizes that she is a goddess and not the true Beroë, who is ill: “Just observe / What traits she has of more than mortal beauty, / Her blazing eyes, her audacity, her face, / Her voice, her stride” (V.837-40). (For more on this episode see this post). When Juno sends Iris to convince the Trojan women to burn the ships, Iris disguises herself as an old Trojan woman, Beroë. Why may we not join hands and speak and hearīook V. Why tease your son so often with disguises? Knowing her for his mother, he called out
Aeneid fitzgerald snake lines full#
Her nape shone, her ambrosial hair exhaledĭivine perfume, her gown rippled full length,Īnd by her stride she showed herself a goddess. Only when she leaves does she reveal her true identity: Aeneas entirely ignores her denial (I.510), and Venus lets the matter drop.
She denies the charge (“Be sure I am not fit / For any such devotion” I.456-57) and proceeds to tell him Dido’s backstory. Aeneas immediately spots her divinity (though not her identity): “Your look’s not mortal, / Neither has your accent a mortal ring. Aeneas, having landed at Carthage, encounters his mother, Venus, “wearing a girl’s shape and a girl’s gear” (I.426). I ask because, based on the evidence of the Aeneid, the strategy is ineffective, at least at a first glance. When the gods speak to us, they often change their faces, divesting themselves of obvious divinity in favor of a more familiar human form.
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