How Vergil expanded the Underworld inAeneid6
2001; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 47; Linguagem: Inglês
10.1017/s0068673500000729
ISSN2053-5899
Autores Tópico(s)Classical Antiquity Studies
ResumoIn a recent article published in the CQ I argued the likelihood that in comparable underworld scenes Vergil modelled Charon's challenge to Aeneas in Aeneid 6.388–97 on Aeacus' challenge to Heracles in a surviving fragment of the tragedy Pirithous composed by either Euripides or Critias, and I took the episode to be a reinforcement or a possible modification of E. Norden's suggestion that Aeneas' descent into the Underworld is modelled on a catabasis of Heracles. In the play Aeacus sees a figure approaching him and demands to know of the stranger both his identity and his business in coming. Heracles responds by giving his name and explaining that he has come hither at Eurystheus' command to fetch Cerberus alive from Hades and bring him to Mycenae's gates. Heracles must then have overcome Aeacus. for we next find Theseus and Heracles conversing in the Underworld about Pirithous. Earlier in the play Pirithous had lamented that he still languishes in Hades for having attempted, with Theseus as his accomplice, to carry off from the world below the goddess Persephone to be his bride. In the usual version both heroes are caught and punished in the world below and only Theseus is rescued by Heracles. In this play, however, Heracles now heaps praise upon Theseus for his loyalty in electing to stay with his friend Pirithous in Hades. Heracles then rescues both heroes.
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