Four Samples of Tragic Epic

Virgil's Αeneid focuses on the story of the genesis of the Roman people. Virgil's work aimed to promote Augustus and present him as a divinely chosen ruler through his ancestral ties to Aeneas. The epic poem is a bridge between myth and history, reinforcing Roman values of divinity and destiny while further reflecting the contemporary political, social, and cultural landscape of Augustan Rome. My research focuses on four passages of Book 2 of Virgil's Aeneid. I compare three different translations to each other alongside my own. Specifically, I examine sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. The first passage contains Laocoön's warning, 2.040-2.056, emphasizing fate's role within the Aeneid. The second passage, 2.234-2.250, depicts the Greeks breaking into Troy, further reinforcing the theme of fate. The third passage, 2.594- 2.614, concerns Venus's proclamations to her son, Aeneas. The final passage comprehends the closing lines of book 2, 2.796 - 2.804, which leave a lasting impression on readers that contributes to the story's legacy. My research aims to provide a textual analysis predicated on the interpretative paradigm first established by Heinze in 1903. According to the German scholar, Virgil's accomplishment consisted in a synthesis of the Homeric epic with the V century experience of Greek tragedy, thus creating a new type of "tragic epic." The result is a reimagined heroic ideal embodied by Aeneas, who faces his tragic fate with undeterred resolve and paves the way to the foundation of Rome.