1. Armstrong, Rebecca. “Crete in the Aeneid: Recurring Trauma and Alternative Fate.”  Classical Quarterly 52 (2002): 321-341. (Eric Elijah)

      In this Article Rebecca Armstrong puts forth the argument that Aeneas’ short lived settlement in Crete is a viable alternative Rome.  Her arguments center around the fact that Crete is referenced numerous times throughout the text and parts of it parallel very closely with Theseus’ adventure in Crete.  In the story of Theseus, Ariadne helps Theseus slay a Minotaur who is trapped in a labyrinth by instructing him to use a ball of string to trace his way throughout the maze so he can find his way back after having killed the minotaur.  In this story, put to words by Catullus, Ariadne’s dialogue is very similar to Dido’s.  They both play similar roles of the noble women enchanted by a young adventurer and both are abandoned by those adventurers.  Also, many of the similes presented in the Aeneid deal with Crete.  Many passages refer to “labyrinthine” complexities or problems.  All of these continued references to Crete take on a new meaning for Armstrong and she puts Aeneas’ attempted settlement of Crete in a new perspective.  She puts forth the idea that Pergamea, Aeneas’ failed city, is an alternate Rome.  This alternate Rome is directly against the Gods’ Will and Fate.   She argues that this is a viable alternative which would put Free Will over Fate.  She suggests that since the Gods are always prodding the hero, Aeneas, along his destined course, they are trying to preserve destiny from the willful mind of man.  In a world with Free Will the Gods would lose much of their power over men’s minds and would be unable to keep their much cherished sacrifices.
      However, this city is not defeated by the Gods.  A plague spreads through Aeneas’ men and many die, so Aeneas is forced to abandon Crete, like the residents before.  Herein lies the fault in Armstrong’s argument.  This city, while an alternative Rome, is not a viable alternative.  The island of Crete seems to be cursed (its previous inhabitants fled the island after some nameless disaster) and by its very nature seems to be a Fate driven place.  With the stigma and curse attached to this island it does not seem to represent Free Will at all.  Unlike in other parts of the story, no God directly intervenes and spreads disease throughout the ranks of Aeneas’ men.  This alternative to Fate seems to be a very Fate-driven place after all with the infamous luck of the people who choose to settle there.  Therefore, Pergamea of Crete, while an alternative Rome, is a doomed alternative of Rome and does not represent a Rome built of Free Will instead of Fate.

2. Block, Elizabeth. The Effects of Divine Manifestation on the Reader’s Perspective in Vergil’s Aeneid. [city?], NH:Ayer Company, 1984. (Samuel Gabriel)

      Block’s book focuses on the numerous occasions within the Aeneid when gods or divinities have intervened, either indirectly through dream or directly through physical manifestation.  Such instances, like the apparition of Aeneas’ wife Creusa which tells him to go forward to his greater destiny and the shrouding of Aeneas in dark mist to hide him from sight before meeting Dido, can be reasoned as natural hallucinations or natural occurrences.  One story however needs to be justified; and that is the Laocoon passage in which snakes strangle and overtake the soothsayer Laocoon.  Block reasons that both Aeneas and the reader can see this event as an obvious foretelling of Troy’s downfall coupled with the two warnings: Cassandra’s ravings and the sound of arms within the Horse’s belly as it slid into Troy.  She states, “the Trojans destroy themselves; they misread one sign, and ignore two which warn them of danger.”  However, Block reminds us that the fatal misinterpretation of the two snakes was a plausible human error.  Only when the Fall of Troy has already occurred and the story is retold to Dido through Aeneas’ hindsight, do the events of the Horse and Troy’s seemingly preventable destruction look ridiculous and absurd.

3. Bond, Barbara. “Virgil's The Aeneid.”  The Explicator 61:2 (2003): 66-70. (Samuel Gabriel)

     In her article, Bond points out the rage albeit short-winded against Helen that Aeneas contemplates in one scene of the Aeneid.  This scene is the moment when Aeneas catches sight of Helen’s hiding within the holy vesta from the maurading Greeks who are in the process of cutting down the Trojan royal family.  Aeneas wants revenge against Helen for all her “whorishness” and to “rid the world” of her very presence.  Unlike his Grecian enemies Achilles and Agamemnon, Aeneas “arrests” his anger and prevents himself from murdering Helen after his mother Venus declares that from the very start, all events were the gods’ bidding, and Helen is not to blame.  Bond states, “Aeneas passes his first test of putting duty before feeling.”  Aeneas has a greater task at hand, and does not bog himself down with revenge.

4. Clausen, Wendell.  Virgil’s Aeneid and the Tradition of Hellenistic Poetry.  Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1987. (Eric Elijah)

      This source is largely used to compare the Aeneid to other works.  This book shows the various sources that Virgil drew upon when he was writing the Aeneid and how he made plays on words or used previous ideas in his epic.  However, there are a few interesting points brought up in this work.  One of these is the assertion that Dido would not have engaged in an adulterous relationship if her sister had not prodded her on to it.  Wendell backs up his claim with references to Dido’s speech, wherein she claims that she would rather die than be unfaithful to her dead husband.  Her sister implores her to follow her heart and pursue a relationship with Aeneas and this invokes the Tragedy of Dido.
      This is an interesting argument and it does have some validity.  However, it also seems to blame Anna, her sister, too much for Dido’s whole love affair.  It was, after all, Dido who betrayed her own word to be with Aeneas.  While it is true that without her sister she would probably never have engaged in her doomed relationship, equal blame can also be placed on Cupid for making her fall in love with Aeneas in the first place.  However, ultimately, it is her own fault that she could not resist the temptation that Aeneas presented.  She is not entirely blameless in her own tragic love affair. 

5. Lee, M. Owen. Fathers and Sons in Virgil’s Aeneid. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1979. (Collin Ferrel)

      M. Owen Lee puts forth the proposition that the Aeneid is the story of a hero, Aeneas, who went to fufill his destined role in history.  This hero did so with his father upon his shoulders and his son at his side, the eventual success of this hero, not covered in the epic, is dependent upon the sacrificial deaths of many surrogate sons. (Lee 6-7)  Lee primarily supports his claim through a close reading of the text of the Aeneid, specifically of book ten.  The author also uses textual references from the Aeneid to make his case stronger.  Many of the passages that are used are also in Latin, the language of Virgil.  The quotes are all used to support the claim that the Aeneid is a story revolving around father-son relationships.  The text that Lee chooses seems to support his argument, unfortunately I am not in a position to agree or disagree with M. Owen Lee’s thesis.  I have only read the first two books of the Aeneid and am woefully unprepared to render judgment on Lee’s thesis which centers on book ten.  The validity of his argument must be left up to those who have in fact read the whole text of the Aeneid.  An interesting idea that Lee did put forth was that Hercules was a mythic type of Aeneas.  A representation of Aeneas, a surrogate father to look to for Pallas in his time of need during the battle against Turnus is what Hercules represents.  Lee’s criticism is well written and convincing, however, not having read the whole Aeneid I cannot agree or disagree with M. Owen Lee’s argument. 

6. Michels, Agnes. “The Many Faces of Aeneas.” The Classical Journal 92:4 (1997): 399-416. (Collin Ferrel)

      Agnes Michels wrote about the many different character faces of Aeneas.  The article is one not of argument, but of critical reflection upon the character of Aeneas as he is portayed throughout the Aeneid.  Michels supports her theory through textual references to the Aeneid, and even other Latin works of the time, especially quoting Cicero.  Michels is especially fond of counting words, for instance she counted the times the word virtues was used in the Aeneid.  She found that it was used thirty-eight times.  Agnes michels’ approach to the critique of Aeneas character is unique.  She has taken a list of nouns and adjectives describing various attributes of his character and counted the number of times that they were used.  She then analyzes the context I which they were used and the meaning of each word.  By this Michels gains a more accurate portrayal of the character of Aeneas.  Based on the Argument that Michels makes I would have to agree with her, while I have not read the whole Aeneid, I find it hard to refute evidence when presented in such a fashion.  Her arguments are logical and soundly presented, with only the problem of misinterpretation of the Latin remaining as a question.  If Michels made a mistake here then her whole profile would be skewed.  However I believe she has succeeded in a unique criticism of Aeneas’ character.  One of the most enlightening ideas I was able to glean from her article was that of piety.  The ancient idea of piety was not that of our modern Christian understanding of piety.  In fact being pious had very little to do with gods.  Pieta was more of a duty to family and friends, a duty to father, sons, and close friends.  A kinship among men, the bond of loyalty, a duty, a responsibility to those one holds dear.  This article expands the technical knowledge about Aeneas but is dry reading with all of the counting of words that go along with the article.