Verbal Artistry in Vergil: Anaphora in Aeneid 1.421-29
After Venus departs, Aeneas continues on and climbs a hill, from where he can descry the building of Carthage. Vergil writes:
Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam,
miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum.
Instant ardentes Tyrii: pars ducere muros,
molirique arcem et manibus subvolvere saxa,
pars optare locum tecto et concludere sulco. 425
Iura magistratusque legunt sanctumque senatum;
hic portus alii effodiunt; hic alta theatris
fundamenta locant alii, immanisque columnas
rupibus excidunt, scaenis decora alta futuris.
Not all of the words in bold above are examples of anaphora but should just be classed as repetition more generally. They do, however, contribute to the overall effect. One gets the sense of several (related) things all going on at once, but taken in piece by piece. In that respect the effect is rather cinematic, as Aeneas takes in the scene before him–perhaps adverted to by the references to theatra and scaenae at the close of the description?
Finally, the use of alta twice in the same line-position but with different senses is a nice touch; it takes the view from the low (alta fundamenta) to the high (and future) (decora alta).
There's 2 Comments So Far
October 6th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I haven’t really thought about this stuff in awhile, but what do you make of the prevalence of hephthemimeral caesurae (e.g., Miratur molem Aeneas)? I tend to think that even when a penthemimeral caesura is technically present because of a word break (e.g., Instant ardentes), the hephthemimeral caesura is the “real” one based on sense units (e.g., Instant ardentes Tyrii), and I see a few here. I seem to recall thinking when I taught AP Vergil that he used them when setting visual stages.
October 8th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Hmm, I’d never noticed that before. I’ll have to keep my eye out for it. Thanks.
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